Title: Späte Rache (Late Revenge)
Book: #68
Radio Play: #69
Author: Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer
Summary
Official Summary"We have Pete! He has to pay for everything!" An anonymous letter startles Jupiter and Bob. Their own investigation into the fate of their Second Investigator prove fruitless, so they turn tot he Rocky Beach police for help. Their friend, Inspector Cotta, suggest they call in a police psychologist She's supposed to extract clues about the character of the kidnapper from the confession letter. And the expert comes to a surprising solution: the kidnapper is someone from a previous case of the Three Investigators. Jupiter and Bob search through their extensive archives because time is running out... Description
Very late one evening, Peter and Kelly are hanging out at the new club, 'Cocks'. After realizing how late it has gotten, the two decide to head for home, especially since they both had promised Pete's mother that he'd be home before midnight. Peter and Kelly part ways in the parking lot and after watching her depart, he gets into his own to drive home. As he is listening to the radio, someone reveals himself to be in his backseat and holds him at gunpoint, forcing Pete into the woods. After complying, the stranger knocks a frightened Peter out with Chloroform and he blacks out.
Sometime the next day, Jupiter is helping his aunt who wants to replace the curtains with a ladder, when she unfortunately falls. Jupiter calls Dr. Morrison, the Jones' family doctor and he arrives quickly to perform first aid. Half an hour later, she is taken to the hospital after it's revealed she broke her shoulder. Jupiter, who is feeling guilty about the accident, is unable to contact Uncle Titus and decides to call Peter to tell him about what happened.
However, when he calls, Jupiter is answered instead by Mrs. Crenshaw. By the tone of her voice, he notices something is wrong and she tells him that Peter had not returned home after going to the club with Kelly. Although he has a gut feeling that something is wrong, Jupiter reasons with her that he must be asleep at Kelly's and that had just forgotten the time and lies that he knows Kelly's parents are away as not to worry her. After the call ends, Jupiter calls Kelly, who has no idea where Peter is, and tells him that the last time she saw him is when they said goodbye in the parking lot.
Elsewhere, Peter wakes up in a dark room, illuminated only by a lamp that is chained to the floor. Peter calls out for help, but when no one answers, he investigates his surroundings and finds that the room is empty except for a metal bed in the corner. After listening for a moment, he determines that he is probably somewhere in the woods after smelling the forest air and hearing birds. Trying to console himself, he performs some exercises to keep in shape. He then realizes that all his belongings are gone, including his watch.
After the phone call with Kelly, Jupiter has grown increasingly concerned by the fact that Pete has not shown up yet. He plans to call the police at 2pm if he doesn't show up. Mrs. Shaw had called Jupiter again to keep her posted whether or not her son had shown up at his place. He also gets news that Aunt Mathilda is doing fine despite her circumstances, but confirms that there isn't anyone named 'Peter Crenshaw' in the hospital at the moment. Jupiter tries to call Bob, but Mr. Andrews answers and Jupiter explains to him what happened and the man tells Jupiter to keep him informed. Uncle Titus finally shows up at the junkyard and Jupiter guiltily tells him about Aunt Mathilda's accident and he speeds off to the hospital, Jupiter opting to stay at home as he blames himself for the accident.
While cleaning up the mess from the accident, the door rings and Jupiter answers it hopefully thinking it could be Peter, but is disappointed when he finds that it's Kelly instead, who is now looking for Pete. He catches her up to speed and the two decide to call the police despite it not being 2pm yet. He informs Inspector Cotta about Pete's disappearance and files a missing person's report. After the call, Jupiter informs Mrs. Crenshaw of the bad news before deciding to investigate the scene where Pete disappeared with Kelly to see if he can find out more about his missing friend.
Arriving at the scene, Jupiter and Kelly investigate the scene for clues to what happened to Peter. They find a load of cigarette butts in a spot on the floor and reason that someone must've been waiting there a long time. Due to the oddity of the scene, they rationalize that someone might've been waiting for Peter outside the club and hid inside his car before getting assaulted. Kelly also points out that Peter would've smelled the cigarettes if the kidnapper was hiding in the car and they both reason that there must have been more than one kidnapper.
As Jupiter and Kelly are musing on whether or not Peter knew his kidnappers, Peter wakes up in the dark room from a fitful sleep. Due to the darkness of the room, he was starting to lose track of time. He then realizes that he had woken up from a real sound and hears what sounds like a man outside his room, who gives him a meager spread of food. Although angry at his captor, Pete decides to eat the food anyway in order to keep up his strength. Midway through the meal, he comes to the realization that he was a prisoner and that his captor wanted revenge on him by inflicting that circumstance on him. The realization causes him to bang on the door, begging to be let out.
The next day after school, Jupiter and Bob (who has finally returned from his trip with Elisabeth, went to visit Pete's parents. By this point, Peter has been missing for over forty hours and his parents are absolutely distraught. Jupiter informs them that Inspector Cotta is on the case, though the two are skeptical about the theory that he had been kidnapped as they are not rich enough to be ransomed.
Afterwards, Jupiter and Bob go to the police station to talk with Inspector Cotta and they give him the cigarette butts that Jupe and Kelly had collected earlier from the parking lot discuss the theory that Peter must have been kidnapped and the motive behind it. Thinking that the perpetrator might be someone from an old case, they decide to look through old case files to see if there are any targets. As the chapter ends, Cotta asks how Jupiter and Bob are so composed despite the fact that their best friend is kidnapped and they tell him they have a feeling things will be alright.
Jupiter goes to visit his Aunt Mathilda at the hospital and she introduces him to the patient next to her, an Erna Feidler, who is less than friendly and had broken her leg while fishing. Jupiter then tells his aunt about Peter's disappearance. Aunt Mathilda jokes that Peter must've been training his short distance swimming, but Peter confirms that Peter has been missing since Saturday and hasn't appeared at school despite still having classes until Thursday. As he is telling this story, Jupiter suspects that Erna is listening into the conversation. He then leaves and calls Aunt Mathilda on the payphone and tells her to act as if Uncle Titus is calling her. Even though she is confused, Mathilda complies and Jupiter asks had told Erna anything about their detective work, which she didn't. After that, Jupiter leaves the hospital.
When he returns to the Scrapyard, Uncle Titus informs him that a letter had come in the mail presumably from Peter's kidnappers.
In his prison, Pete wakes up feeling somewhat refreshed. He checks to see if more food has come in, but none has yet. Deciding that he has to make some sort of plan, Pete starts plotting a way to trick his captor. Using the blanket, his clothes, and the tray that delivered his food earlier, he makes a dummy to make it look like he was sleeping in the bed, while going underneath the bed. After some more exercises to keep himself fit, he hears a noise outside the door, he rushes to lie in wait underneath the bed just as the a key clicks in the door.
Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly arrive at the police station and Inspector Cotta takes them to see Dr. Hannah Ferguson, a police psychologist, who is supposed to help them come up with a criminal profile of the kidnapper. After studying the cases that Jupiter picked out, she eliminates four candidates as she deems them too rough and determines they would have rather killed Pete than kidnap him. After trading some more info and theories, she tells them to come back tomorrow.
Peter is watching his captor come into the room, approaching the bed and tries to get him to stand up. Right when the man is standing by the bed, Peter ambushes him and the two get into a fight. The man is wearing a mask so Pete is unable to recognize him. Despite having a gun, Peter decides to keep fighting back and even manages to take the gun from him. The man escapes outside into his car and threatens to run him over, though eventually the car turns to leave. Having successfully fended off his captor and was now free after being trapped in the room for three days now, he basks in an overhead storm. Suddenly, he sees a shadow between the trees which seems to be approaching him and Peter inexplicitly goes on his knees and whistles.
The next day, Jupiter is visiting his aunt at the hospital with his uncle. He takes a moment on a walk to slip away and goes into the hospital room to visit Erna Fiedler. When Jupiter asks her what she wants from him and she claims that she knows where Peter is. Using a crystal ball, he tells him that Peter is somewhere in the forest with deer trophies on the wall, even giving him a rough location of where he is. Jupiter is skeptical about it all and returns to his aunt and uncle.
Later that day, Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly are back at the police station to meet up with Dr. Ferguson. By now, Peter has been missing for a total of four days. Unfortunately, the police psychologist tells them that none of the persons they had brought up were the kidnappers. Inspector Cotta tells them that Peter's picture would be printed in the paper tomorrow with a reward of ten thousand dollars to information that would lead to his discovery. Afterwards, Kelly seems to have an idea and wants to look through the cases again. Jupiter has an errand to run with Uncle Titus, so Bob and Kelly go to the scrapyard to the headquarters.
Back at the hideout, Kelly tells Bob her epiphany. She wonders if the kidnapper was someone who was acquitted instead of being arrested. After looking through the files, they find a 'Matt Brady', which had been part of a case only Jupiter and Peter had been part of as Bob was on holiday. Brady had been imprisoned for eight months before he was released due to lack of sufficient evidence. Deeming him the most prime suspect, Kelly and Bob decide to visit him.The two make their way to Pacific Avenue, where Matt Brady lives, getting excited of the prospect that they might be really close to Peter. While Kelly does a distraction, Bob sneaks in through the back.
Meanwhile, Peter is recovering from the intense duel he had with his captor, with is new friend, an Irish Wolfhound who seemed to have been left behind by his captor, which he names Shadow. Deciding that the storm was too intense to travel through, Peter decides to stay the night at the cabin he's in. The next day, he wakes up to to see the storm has stopped and realizes the cabin he was in was full of hunting trophies. He spends a moment playing with Shadow, who he summons with a whistle. After eating the cold food that was meant for him yesterday, which he also shares with Shadow, Peter decides to make the trek back to civilization with is new companion.
Back at Matt Brady's residence, Bob and Kelly confront a young man named John, who doesn't seem to know anything about the kidnapping. Suddenly, Matt Brady himself shows up and John is revealed to be his son. Bob and Kelly try to question Matt Brady about Peter's disappearance, but he takes them hostage. He makes his son drive with Bob and Kelly in the backseat and him in the front seat, threatening them.
Having got, Bob and Kelly's note, Jupiter also realizes how Matt Brady was a perfect suspect. He gets a message from his aunt telling him that Erna has something important to tell him, so Jupiter goes to the hospital to confront her about him. He tells her that he knows that she is pretending to be a psychic and that she really did actually know where Peter is. She confesses to him that she suspects that her brother-in-law, Matt Brady, had been the one to kidnap his friend. Erna also tells him that his son must have helped him. Realizing that Bob and Kelly might be in danger, Jupiter calls Inspector Cotta. The two arrive at the house, but find that no one is home and Cotta organizes a manhunt for him. He also calls Erna who tells him that the son who helped him kidnap Pete was likely Jerimiah, the older one, not John.
In the car, Bon and Kelly are forced to be silent as they drive to Pasadena, where they think Pete might be. Kelly is managing to loosen her bonds. Then suddenly, John parks the car and confronts his father, saying that he won't participate in whatever he's doing and that he won't let them kidnap Bob and Kelly like he did with Peter and reveals that he did forgery and was a real criminal after all. His courage disarms Mr. Brady, and Kelly is able to take his firearm from him. Realizing how much he messed up, Matt Brady decides to make a run for it, not before telling them that Peter had escaped since last night. As Mr. Brady disappears, Inspector Cotta, Jupiter, and the police arrive and Bob and Kelly reunite with Jupiter, who tell them that Peter was free. Jupiter wonders if he is home by now, but Kelly suspects that he's still got a journey ahead of them. Cotta also confirms that Jerimiah Brady smokes the same cigarettes they found at the parking lot.
The next day, Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly visit the Crenshaw household, where Peter is finally home. The whole ordeal has caused Peter to lose weight, but he happily greets his friends and girlfriend at the door. Peter tells everyone about what happened and it's revealed also that the paper had printed about Pete's kidnapping and his daring duel and escape. In the end, Peter introduces Shadow to everyone, the dog who he befriended and the same one who accompanied him back home. Unfortunately, Peter couldn't keep him, so he ends up giving the dog to Jupiter.
Sometime the next day, Jupiter is helping his aunt who wants to replace the curtains with a ladder, when she unfortunately falls. Jupiter calls Dr. Morrison, the Jones' family doctor and he arrives quickly to perform first aid. Half an hour later, she is taken to the hospital after it's revealed she broke her shoulder. Jupiter, who is feeling guilty about the accident, is unable to contact Uncle Titus and decides to call Peter to tell him about what happened.
However, when he calls, Jupiter is answered instead by Mrs. Crenshaw. By the tone of her voice, he notices something is wrong and she tells him that Peter had not returned home after going to the club with Kelly. Although he has a gut feeling that something is wrong, Jupiter reasons with her that he must be asleep at Kelly's and that had just forgotten the time and lies that he knows Kelly's parents are away as not to worry her. After the call ends, Jupiter calls Kelly, who has no idea where Peter is, and tells him that the last time she saw him is when they said goodbye in the parking lot.
Elsewhere, Peter wakes up in a dark room, illuminated only by a lamp that is chained to the floor. Peter calls out for help, but when no one answers, he investigates his surroundings and finds that the room is empty except for a metal bed in the corner. After listening for a moment, he determines that he is probably somewhere in the woods after smelling the forest air and hearing birds. Trying to console himself, he performs some exercises to keep in shape. He then realizes that all his belongings are gone, including his watch.
After the phone call with Kelly, Jupiter has grown increasingly concerned by the fact that Pete has not shown up yet. He plans to call the police at 2pm if he doesn't show up. Mrs. Shaw had called Jupiter again to keep her posted whether or not her son had shown up at his place. He also gets news that Aunt Mathilda is doing fine despite her circumstances, but confirms that there isn't anyone named 'Peter Crenshaw' in the hospital at the moment. Jupiter tries to call Bob, but Mr. Andrews answers and Jupiter explains to him what happened and the man tells Jupiter to keep him informed. Uncle Titus finally shows up at the junkyard and Jupiter guiltily tells him about Aunt Mathilda's accident and he speeds off to the hospital, Jupiter opting to stay at home as he blames himself for the accident.
While cleaning up the mess from the accident, the door rings and Jupiter answers it hopefully thinking it could be Peter, but is disappointed when he finds that it's Kelly instead, who is now looking for Pete. He catches her up to speed and the two decide to call the police despite it not being 2pm yet. He informs Inspector Cotta about Pete's disappearance and files a missing person's report. After the call, Jupiter informs Mrs. Crenshaw of the bad news before deciding to investigate the scene where Pete disappeared with Kelly to see if he can find out more about his missing friend.
Arriving at the scene, Jupiter and Kelly investigate the scene for clues to what happened to Peter. They find a load of cigarette butts in a spot on the floor and reason that someone must've been waiting there a long time. Due to the oddity of the scene, they rationalize that someone might've been waiting for Peter outside the club and hid inside his car before getting assaulted. Kelly also points out that Peter would've smelled the cigarettes if the kidnapper was hiding in the car and they both reason that there must have been more than one kidnapper.
As Jupiter and Kelly are musing on whether or not Peter knew his kidnappers, Peter wakes up in the dark room from a fitful sleep. Due to the darkness of the room, he was starting to lose track of time. He then realizes that he had woken up from a real sound and hears what sounds like a man outside his room, who gives him a meager spread of food. Although angry at his captor, Pete decides to eat the food anyway in order to keep up his strength. Midway through the meal, he comes to the realization that he was a prisoner and that his captor wanted revenge on him by inflicting that circumstance on him. The realization causes him to bang on the door, begging to be let out.
The next day after school, Jupiter and Bob (who has finally returned from his trip with Elisabeth, went to visit Pete's parents. By this point, Peter has been missing for over forty hours and his parents are absolutely distraught. Jupiter informs them that Inspector Cotta is on the case, though the two are skeptical about the theory that he had been kidnapped as they are not rich enough to be ransomed.
Afterwards, Jupiter and Bob go to the police station to talk with Inspector Cotta and they give him the cigarette butts that Jupe and Kelly had collected earlier from the parking lot discuss the theory that Peter must have been kidnapped and the motive behind it. Thinking that the perpetrator might be someone from an old case, they decide to look through old case files to see if there are any targets. As the chapter ends, Cotta asks how Jupiter and Bob are so composed despite the fact that their best friend is kidnapped and they tell him they have a feeling things will be alright.
Jupiter goes to visit his Aunt Mathilda at the hospital and she introduces him to the patient next to her, an Erna Feidler, who is less than friendly and had broken her leg while fishing. Jupiter then tells his aunt about Peter's disappearance. Aunt Mathilda jokes that Peter must've been training his short distance swimming, but Peter confirms that Peter has been missing since Saturday and hasn't appeared at school despite still having classes until Thursday. As he is telling this story, Jupiter suspects that Erna is listening into the conversation. He then leaves and calls Aunt Mathilda on the payphone and tells her to act as if Uncle Titus is calling her. Even though she is confused, Mathilda complies and Jupiter asks had told Erna anything about their detective work, which she didn't. After that, Jupiter leaves the hospital.
When he returns to the Scrapyard, Uncle Titus informs him that a letter had come in the mail presumably from Peter's kidnappers.
- "We have Peter. An Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."- The newspaper lettered note in the envelope
In his prison, Pete wakes up feeling somewhat refreshed. He checks to see if more food has come in, but none has yet. Deciding that he has to make some sort of plan, Pete starts plotting a way to trick his captor. Using the blanket, his clothes, and the tray that delivered his food earlier, he makes a dummy to make it look like he was sleeping in the bed, while going underneath the bed. After some more exercises to keep himself fit, he hears a noise outside the door, he rushes to lie in wait underneath the bed just as the a key clicks in the door.
Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly arrive at the police station and Inspector Cotta takes them to see Dr. Hannah Ferguson, a police psychologist, who is supposed to help them come up with a criminal profile of the kidnapper. After studying the cases that Jupiter picked out, she eliminates four candidates as she deems them too rough and determines they would have rather killed Pete than kidnap him. After trading some more info and theories, she tells them to come back tomorrow.
Peter is watching his captor come into the room, approaching the bed and tries to get him to stand up. Right when the man is standing by the bed, Peter ambushes him and the two get into a fight. The man is wearing a mask so Pete is unable to recognize him. Despite having a gun, Peter decides to keep fighting back and even manages to take the gun from him. The man escapes outside into his car and threatens to run him over, though eventually the car turns to leave. Having successfully fended off his captor and was now free after being trapped in the room for three days now, he basks in an overhead storm. Suddenly, he sees a shadow between the trees which seems to be approaching him and Peter inexplicitly goes on his knees and whistles.
The next day, Jupiter is visiting his aunt at the hospital with his uncle. He takes a moment on a walk to slip away and goes into the hospital room to visit Erna Fiedler. When Jupiter asks her what she wants from him and she claims that she knows where Peter is. Using a crystal ball, he tells him that Peter is somewhere in the forest with deer trophies on the wall, even giving him a rough location of where he is. Jupiter is skeptical about it all and returns to his aunt and uncle.
Later that day, Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly are back at the police station to meet up with Dr. Ferguson. By now, Peter has been missing for a total of four days. Unfortunately, the police psychologist tells them that none of the persons they had brought up were the kidnappers. Inspector Cotta tells them that Peter's picture would be printed in the paper tomorrow with a reward of ten thousand dollars to information that would lead to his discovery. Afterwards, Kelly seems to have an idea and wants to look through the cases again. Jupiter has an errand to run with Uncle Titus, so Bob and Kelly go to the scrapyard to the headquarters.
Back at the hideout, Kelly tells Bob her epiphany. She wonders if the kidnapper was someone who was acquitted instead of being arrested. After looking through the files, they find a 'Matt Brady', which had been part of a case only Jupiter and Peter had been part of as Bob was on holiday. Brady had been imprisoned for eight months before he was released due to lack of sufficient evidence. Deeming him the most prime suspect, Kelly and Bob decide to visit him.The two make their way to Pacific Avenue, where Matt Brady lives, getting excited of the prospect that they might be really close to Peter. While Kelly does a distraction, Bob sneaks in through the back.
Meanwhile, Peter is recovering from the intense duel he had with his captor, with is new friend, an Irish Wolfhound who seemed to have been left behind by his captor, which he names Shadow. Deciding that the storm was too intense to travel through, Peter decides to stay the night at the cabin he's in. The next day, he wakes up to to see the storm has stopped and realizes the cabin he was in was full of hunting trophies. He spends a moment playing with Shadow, who he summons with a whistle. After eating the cold food that was meant for him yesterday, which he also shares with Shadow, Peter decides to make the trek back to civilization with is new companion.
Back at Matt Brady's residence, Bob and Kelly confront a young man named John, who doesn't seem to know anything about the kidnapping. Suddenly, Matt Brady himself shows up and John is revealed to be his son. Bob and Kelly try to question Matt Brady about Peter's disappearance, but he takes them hostage. He makes his son drive with Bob and Kelly in the backseat and him in the front seat, threatening them.
Having got, Bob and Kelly's note, Jupiter also realizes how Matt Brady was a perfect suspect. He gets a message from his aunt telling him that Erna has something important to tell him, so Jupiter goes to the hospital to confront her about him. He tells her that he knows that she is pretending to be a psychic and that she really did actually know where Peter is. She confesses to him that she suspects that her brother-in-law, Matt Brady, had been the one to kidnap his friend. Erna also tells him that his son must have helped him. Realizing that Bob and Kelly might be in danger, Jupiter calls Inspector Cotta. The two arrive at the house, but find that no one is home and Cotta organizes a manhunt for him. He also calls Erna who tells him that the son who helped him kidnap Pete was likely Jerimiah, the older one, not John.
In the car, Bon and Kelly are forced to be silent as they drive to Pasadena, where they think Pete might be. Kelly is managing to loosen her bonds. Then suddenly, John parks the car and confronts his father, saying that he won't participate in whatever he's doing and that he won't let them kidnap Bob and Kelly like he did with Peter and reveals that he did forgery and was a real criminal after all. His courage disarms Mr. Brady, and Kelly is able to take his firearm from him. Realizing how much he messed up, Matt Brady decides to make a run for it, not before telling them that Peter had escaped since last night. As Mr. Brady disappears, Inspector Cotta, Jupiter, and the police arrive and Bob and Kelly reunite with Jupiter, who tell them that Peter was free. Jupiter wonders if he is home by now, but Kelly suspects that he's still got a journey ahead of them. Cotta also confirms that Jerimiah Brady smokes the same cigarettes they found at the parking lot.
The next day, Jupiter, Bob, and Kelly visit the Crenshaw household, where Peter is finally home. The whole ordeal has caused Peter to lose weight, but he happily greets his friends and girlfriend at the door. Peter tells everyone about what happened and it's revealed also that the paper had printed about Pete's kidnapping and his daring duel and escape. In the end, Peter introduces Shadow to everyone, the dog who he befriended and the same one who accompanied him back home. Unfortunately, Peter couldn't keep him, so he ends up giving the dog to Jupiter.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Deviation: Pete's side of the story was completely cut in the radio play. Instead, the radio play focuses more on Jupe, Bob, and Kelly as they try to find out what happened to their missing friend. Also Pete seems to have escaped much earlier from his imprisonment, as he answered when Jupe called him at the radio play. Shadow the Dog, is also not mentioned at all.
- Bat Deduction: How Jupiter and Kelly figure out that someone had been waiting for Pete outside the club: they find a whole bunch of cigarettes outside the club and somehow conclude that this mysterious individual was actually two mysterious individuals and that the non-smoking one was the one who got into Pete's car and took hostage of after Pete started driving.
- Jupiter also concludes that Pete's life is likely not in danger due to the 'Eye for an Eye' comment in the hostage note that had been sent because Pete had never killed anyone.
- Big Friendly Dog: Shadow, an Irish wolfhound that Pete befriended after Jerimiah presumably leaves him behind. Despite his fearsome appearance, he seems to be fairly friendly and adores Pete.
- Cut-and-Paste Note: The kidnappers send Jupiter a note that was constructed just like this.
- Dude Out of Distress: Pete manages to free himself from his kidnapping by cleverly using his clothes, a tray, and a blanket to disguise a fake body so he can ambush this captor.
- Didn't Think This Through: Brady's whole revenge plot is this. He had been acquitted from his crimes, but he was still so hung over being wrongly accused that he kidnapped a teenager and had planned to just let him rot in a makeshift prison and... for what? In the end, he was sent to jail for kidnapping a kid and his crimes were brought to light and confirmed to be true.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Pete had spent three days trapped in a dark room and fought his way to escape. After spending a night in a cabin in the woods due to the storm, he hikes through the woods with a dog he befriended and finally made it back home. He reunites with his friends and family, and has a new doggy companion to boot.
- Dude in Distress: This entire story is about Pete's kidnapping.
- I Will Find You: Jupe, Bob, and Kelly collectively decide this when they realize that Pete had been kidnapped.
- I'm Not Afraid of You: John says this to his father when he captures Bob and Kelly. Not wanting to be a part of this, he says this word for word, which gets him to give up and make a run for it.
- It's All My Fault: Jupiter blames himself for Aunt Mathilda falling from the ladder and breaking her shoulder.
- Kidnapped from Behind: Pete was kidnapped by Jerimiah, who hid in his car with a gun before chloroform-ing him from the back seat.
- Lack of Empathy: Uncle Titus accuses Jupiter of this when he notices that his nephew is acting a little too calm for someone whose best friend was mysteriously kidnapped. It isn't that Jupe doesn't care, he just has confidence that he, Bob, and Kelly would find him.
- Phony Psychic: Erna Fielder tried to pretend to be a psychic to indirectly tell Jupiter where Pete was being held. The reason she did this is because she realized that her brother-in-law, Matt Brady, was likely the one who kidnapped Pete, but she didn't want to outright betray her family, hence the fortune teller bit.
