Two Little Girls in Blue (2006), a Novel by Mary Higgins Clark: summary

The 390-page novel published by Pocket Books in 2006, a mystery book that is delivered in simple and comprehensive one. Mary Higgins Clark is American suspense writer. The story follows the kidnapping of identical twins. 

“There is no greater sorrow than losing a child.”

Two Little Girls in Blue, a Novel by Mary Higgins Clark: summary

It was the third birthday of the Frawleys identical twins girls. Hours after the excitement party, Kathy and Kelly were kidnapped and a ransom note demanding eight million dollars left in their bed. On the next morning the kidnapping of the Frawley twins was headline news all along and by early afternoon had become a national media event. The birthday picture of beautiful little girls with their angelic faces, and long blond hair and dressed, was shown on television news channels and printed in newspapers all over the country. Steve and Margaret Frawley appeared on television in front of their home. Margaret said to the kidnappers she only could promise two hundred thousand dollars in cash from her friends were taking up collection. Kathy was sick.

Steve Frawley was a new employee at the global investment firm. He had got an MBA and law degree. He was smart and solid. Gregg Standford, the chief financial officer and Norman Bond, the next director to offer an opinion had the same decision. Bond was the one hired Steve and voted for offering to put up the ransom money. The kidnapper’s leader called the media. Angie Ames aka Mona and her boyfriend Clint Downes aka Harry with his friend Lucas Wohl aka Bert kept the twins. A man on the phone set the kidnapping and arranged the transaction. The voice on the phone, whoever he was, had ordered Lucas to dump in the ocean anything they had that could be connected to the kidnapping. They used the typewriter to write the ransom note, any clothes or toys or blanket that might had their DNA on them. They put them on the box.

Lucas Wohl has been dead for twenty years, and his real name was Jimmy Nelson in prison and he was his cellmate. He now was a personal driver to Frankley Bailey, the chief officer of a family-owned grocery chain. Franklin Bailey’s neighbor just got the call from man who admitted as the kidnapper and had instructions for Bailey. He identified himself as Pied Piper. His instructions were brief and explicit; wiring seven million dollars to an overseas account and the remaining million dollars in ransom was to be ready for delivery. As the Pied Piper was giving instructions, Angie was shopping in drugstore for keeping Kathy from getting any sicker. Angie and Clint watched the interview on TV when the guy who was head of Steve Frawley’s company promised to pay ransom money.

Although neither the family not the FBI will confirm it, it is believed that the Pied Piper had communicated his demands for paying the ransom by calling Frawleys on the neighbor’s phone. Kidnapper chose Franklin Bailey to deliver the ransom money and Clint who pick up the money from the trash bin. Bailey ordered Lucas to drive him to deliver the money. In the case the feds happened to be at Bailey’s house, it would be one way showing that he was a conscientious limo driver, no more, no less.

Lila Jackson, a sales clerk at a clothes store had become something of celebrity to her family and friends. She had been the one to sell the twin’s blue velvet dresses to Margaret Frawley two days before kidnapping. She recognized both Margaret and the dresses the kidnapped twins were wearing in the picture she saw on television. It was the sixth day since Kathy and Kelly were taken from their bedroom. She remembered a woman who bought clothing for twins. 

She bought overalls and polo shirts, underwear, and socks. She didn’t buy shoes because she didn’t know the size. The receipt for the clothes had been signed by Mrs. Clint Downes, using a Visa card. She asked Jim Gilbert, a retired cop, was having dinner with her mother. Jim said he knew Clint Downes, the caretaker who lived in cottage at the club. The woman was Clint’s girlfriend and not Mrs. Downes. She did a fair amount of babysitting. Lila found Clint at his house but didn’t see Kathy and Angie.

The ransom drop had been completed, but agents had lost the people who picked up the money. Seventy- five-year-old Monsignor Joseph Romney got a call from someone claiming to be the Pied Piper. He asked the Reverend to pick up the twin behind an old restaurant and informed Kathy had a heavy cold. The twins were in a locked car and the priest went to Margaret and Steve said Kelly was safe but Kathy has been taken to Him. The news that one of the twins was dead triggered an avalanche of national sympathy.

Angie called the Pied Piper said that Lucas was dead and she had Kathy. It had been confirmed that Lucas Wohl had flown his plane out of airport, carrying a heavy box, and returned shortly after without the box. That box was believed to have held the body of little Kathy Frawley. According to the suicide note, Lucas Wohl buried Kathy at the sea. Angie had killed Lucas because she wanted Kathy.

The physical examination showed that Kelly had not been molested, but the bruises on her arms and legs suggested that she had been pinched viciously. The pediatrician Dr. Sylvia Harris said the pinching was a woman’s trick. There was a faint smell of Vick’s on Kelly’s pajamas. They found Kelly began to talk in her sleep. She said two names Mona and Harry. The loss of her twin made Kelly was very fragile emotions.

Lucas Wohl had been connected with the kidnapping and killed himself. Agent Realto was suspicious on Franklin Bailey. He admitted he met Margaret was on line at the post office. She and Steve attended the same mass at the same church where he was a parishioner. Since then they had chatted several times after the mass. Bailey was mayor of the town for twenty years. Bailey has lost considerable amount money in a scam ten years ago. Richard Mason as slippery a con artist and Steve Frawley’s half brother.

Norman Bond was not surprised when two FBI agents arrived at his office. Gregg Stanford was chief financial officer because his wife’s family owned ten percent of the voting stock. Bond hired Steve Frawly something about corporate politics. The other candidates wanted his job. Steve Frawley appeared to be a loyal man, a very smart, a truly ethical man and a rarity these days. A combination of brains and personality. Bond’s wife did not give birth to twin boys who died at birth and she a left him shortly after that. She remarried fairly quickly. Theresa disappeared several years after she remarried. Bond insisted he had noting to do with his late wife’s disappearance, as well as with the kidnapping of the Frawley twins. He called his former wife as a late wife.

FBI Agent Walter Carlson set the lie detector test to Margaret and Steve Farwley, not only them but their family member too. Richard Mason was Steve’s half brother. Richard’s father died when he was only two. His mother married Tom Frawley three years later, and no human being could have been a better father to a child than Tom has been to Richard. When he was a teenager, he got in with the wrong crowd and never got back on track again. He was always been jealous of Steve. Richie was really smart, but dropped out in his freshman year and took off for Las Vegas. He even tried to date Margaret before she met Steve. Richie was financially sophisticated, which is why he was able to deceive many people with that phony investment.

FBI agents Angus Sommers and Ruthanne Scaturro investigated Amy Lindcroft, the first wife of Gregg Standford. She was the college roommate of Tina Olsen, the pharmaceutical heiress. Looking back, she realized that Gregg married her so he could worm his way in Tina’s world. Gregg was smart and he was working for a small investment firm. He kept ingratiating himself to Mr. Olsen, who finally asked him to join his staff. After ten years marriage, she finally had become pregnant. The cheating of her husband and her best friend Tina caused a miscarriage. It lasted six years, until

Tina found Gregg was cheating with someone else and got rid of him. Tina apologized to Amy. She said it wasn’t only his womanizing that got to her; her father had learned that he’d been milking the company with phony expenses. Mr. Olsen covered the expenses himself to avoid the scandal. Gregg’s new wife was tough lady and she made a sign prenup that said that if the marriage didn’t last seven years, he got zip, noting, not a dollar. The prenup expired in a few weeks and the doorman of their apartment told him he wasn’t allowed in the building.

The fed found Jimmy Nelson, who at some time took on the name of his deceased cousin, Lucas Wohl drove Gregg frequently during his marriage to Tina Olsen. Amy Lindcroft believed Lucas continued to drive him long after the breakup of the marriage. Margaret believed Kathy was a live, Kelly was communicating with Kathy – the telepathy. Kelly even said her sister was asleep and tied to bed. Kelly was probably getting her sister’s cold. She was experiencing Kathy’s pain. Kathy whispered to Kelly she was in a place named Old Cape Cod. Elsie Stone, an old waitress at McDonald held a local newspaper and telephoned the police. She almost certain she saw Kathy with a woman in her town Cape Cod. Every cop on the Cape was on the lookout for Angie’s van and Clint was under arrest for possession of stolen motor vehicle.

After studying Clint’s face, the cop compared him with the description the police undoubtedly had of him. The Pied Piper had watched as the squad cars cut of Clint’s stolen vehicle. Clint didn’t know his real name, but as soon as he described him, the fed would be on his doorstep. It was only Lucas knew who he was. He had got seven million dollars, less the bank cut, waiting for him in Switzerland. The passport was in his pocket. Clint admitted to Margaret that Kathy was with Angie. He and Angie wanted a family. The feds found Kathy was in the van – on the floor in the back and Angie was not moving. Grace Frawley informed his son Richie Mason that Kathy was found alive, but Richie was under arrest by FBI for using phony document – under his brother’s name.

Before Norman Bond killed his wife, Theresa had begged for life of the twins she expecting the way Margaret Frawley had begged for the safe return of her children. Bond saw the FBI agent who had come to his office and who had become hostile and suspicious when his slip about “my late wife”. Theresa‘s wedding ring given her by second husband was on a chain around his neck. Theresa was wearing it the night she disappeared. In a sudden panic he did not see the vehicle that was making a U-turn. The impact of the truck hitting him was explosion that seemed to rip him apart. He was gone. At least now her second husband could get on with his life. For seventeen years he had held on to the hope that she was still alive.

Angie was dead. Clint did not recognize the Pied Piper and he never saw his face clearly. He tried giving the descriptions, but he realized he was from the company that paid the ransom. He was on the TV saying that he shouldn’t have paid it. Gregg Standford was in airport for catching a plane in late night. Stanford hadn’t got much bargain with. He plotted the kidnapping because he was panicking. He was afraid his wife had found out about his philandering and was going to divorce him. He had to have a backup fund. Stanford hatched the scheme after Steve showed him pictures of the twins. Clint Downes was a kidnapper and murderer. He still denied he killed Angie.

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A time in Yamaguchi University, Japan

Sekapur Sirih

Mary Higgins Clark adalah novelis laris berkebangsaan Amerika kelahiran tahun 1927. Penulis telah menorehkan sejumlah karya suspens dan telah menyentuh angka lima puluhan. Ini pertama kali saya membaca karyanya.  Two Little Girl in Blue yang diterbitkan oleh Pocket Books pada tahun 2006 bergenre misteri.  

Kisah penculikan si kembar yang disampaikan dalam narasi dan percakapan yang mudah dimengerti sehingga bagi pembaca pemula, buku setebal 390 halaman ini akan cocok. Plot ceritanya bagus dan membuat pembaca penasaran siapa penculik sesungguhnya. Agak sedikit rancu karena memasukkan  percakapan telepati dalam penyelesaian walau memang fakta bukti pendukung tetap acuan utama para penyidik.

Bagi peminat hiburan bertema thriller atau misteri dengan gaya ringan dan tulisan bagus maka buku ini cocok. Setelah membaca novel ini, mungkin para orang tua yang memiliki anak kecil akan tergubah dan menjaga anaknya seaman-amannya. Novel ini turut menemani perjalanan saya ketika berkunjung ke Universitas Yamaguchi Jepang.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Two Little Girl in Blue Karya Mary Higgins Clark

Malam itu menjadi malam bahagia bagi keluarga Frawley. Beberapa jam lalu si kembar Kelly dan Kathy baru saja merayakan ulang tahunnya yang ke tiga. Setelah acara ulang tahun kedua putrinya suami istri Steve dan Margaret Frawley menghadiri acara makan malam. Trish Logan, gadis pengasuh putri mereka dikejutkan dengan hilangnya si kembar dan menemukan catatan permintaan uang tebusan pada secari kertas. Keesokan paginya berita penculikan si kembar menjadi berita utama di media televisi dari pagi hingga malam. Dua gadis kecil berparas malaikat dalam balutan baju biru velvet pada foto ulang tahun mereka beberapa jam lalu.

Petugas FBI pun segera tanggap dan para awak media pun mengerumuni kediaman keluarga Frawley. Margaret mengatakan putrinya Kahty saat ini sedang sakit dan memohon pada penculik bahwa dia tidak memiliki uang tebusan 8 juta dolar. Sekalipun teman-temannya sudah mengumpulkan dana namun hanya dua ratus lima puluh ribu dolar saja. Dia janji akan memberi semua uang itu asal kedua putrinya dibebaskan. Sang penculik pun tiada takutnya malah menghubungi media secara langsung.

Akhirnya perusahaan dimana Steve bekerja tergerak ingin memberikan uang tebusan itu. Steve Frawley baru saja bekerja pada perusahaan firma penanaman modal. Dia seorang lulusan MBA dan lulusan hukum, di samping dia cerdas dia juga pegawai yang solid dan setia. Setelah rundingan para pejabat perusahaan akhirnya ransom 8 juta pun diberikan. Kembali si penculik yang menamakan dirinya the Pied Piper menelpon Franklin Bailey, seorang pengusaha dan mantan walikota di kota itu. Lewat telepon tetangganya sang pengusaha itu disuruh mentransfer 7 juta dolar ke bank Swiss dan selebihnya diantarkan tunai pada sebuah tempat yang ditunjuk.

Awalnya FBI dan keluarga Frawley kurang percaya dengan telepon itu namun setelah diyakinkan penculik transaksi pun dilakukan. Kini perusahaan di mana Steve bekerja menjadi terkenal dan mendapat pujian. Beberapa petinggi perusahaan mengadakan wawancara di televisi. Sesuai kesepakatan Bailey pun mengantarkan uang tebusan dan diantar oleh supir limo langganannya Lucas Wohl.  Disepakati uang akan dilempar ke dalam tempat sampah dan si kembar pun akan diserahkan. Dengan sigap Lucas pun memasukkan tebusan itu ke dalam limo yang dibawanya. Uang diambil, tapi pihak FBI tidak dapat mengidentifikasi si pengambil uang.

Tebusan diterima, the Pied Piper menghubungi pendeta tua, gembala gereja di mana Steve dan keluarganya mengikuti misa mingguan. Lewat pendeta itu diketahui keberadaan Kelly. Gadis kecil itu kedinginan ketika ditemukan namun Kathy tidak ada. Sebuah catatan bunuh diri dari Lucas Wohl ditemukan yang mengatakan Kathy telah tiada dan dikubur di laut. Dia tidak sengaja membunuhnya. Angie menginginkan Kathy dan mengingkari kesepakatan. Lucas pun dibunuhnya dan membuat pesan bunuh diri.

Kesedihan atas kematian Kathy sangat memukul keluarga Frawley, apalagi Kelly. Rupanya gadis itu bisa merasakan apa yang sedang dirasa saudari kembarnya. Walau sudah dirawat oleh dokternya, dia merasa sakit seperti yang dirasa Kathy. Gadis itu mengigau dalam tidurnya dan sering menyebut Kathy masih hidup. Walau tanpa jasad upacara pemakaman Kathy telah dilakukan, tapi Kelly yakin saudarinya masih hidup. Dia bahkan bertanya di mana Kathy dan memberitahu nama sebuah tempat. Penculiknya Angie membawa Kathy ke restaurant McDonald dan wanita tua pelayan tidak mengenal anak itu karena didandani seperti lelaki. Ketika ditanya gadis kecil itu menjawab namanya Kathy.

Pelayan tadi membaca Koran lokal dan melihat berita penculikan di televisi dan ia pun tersadar bahwa anak itu adalah Kathy. Nenek itu pun segara melaporkan pada polisi. Tempat yang diberitahu Kelly dan laporan nenek itu mengacu pada nama kota Cape Cod. Tim FBI pun bergegas dan memblokir jalan raya dan telah mendapati identitas lengkap para penculik. Angie Ames dengan samaran Mona, Lucas Wohl dengan nama samara Bert, dan Clint Downes, kekasih Angie dengan samara Harry. Kelly sering menyebut nama Mona dan Harry.

Lila Jackson gadis penjual di toko pakaian di mana Margaret membeli baju ulang tahun si kembar mengaku menjual baju kembar pada seorang wanita dengan menggunakan kartu kredit atas nama Clint Downes, dia mengira wanita itu pasti istri Clint Downes. Wanita itu tidak tahu persis ukuran sepatu si kembar dan Lila pun menanyakan teman lelaki ibunya yang juga mantan polisi. Lelaki itu mengenal Clint Downes seorang penjaga dan pembersih sebuah klub yang hidup tak jauh dari rumah Lila. Angie nama wanita itu, dia seorang babysitter dan dia hanya kekasih Clint, bukan istri. Lila Jackson pun penasaran dan mencari Angie dengan berpura-pura mengganti baju cacat. Downes agak berkeringat ketika dia bertanya tentang Angie dan si kembar.

Sepanjang jalan Cape Cod, operasi razia membuat Clint tertangkap atas kepemilikan mobil curian. Polisi pun mengamati wajah itu dan membandingkan dengan deskripsi foto buronan Clint, dan persis. Clint pun akhirnya mengakui di mana Kathy dan Angie. Dia dan Angie tidak bermaksud menyakiti Kathy, mereka hanya ingin membangun sebuah keluarga. Di dalam sebuah van, Kathy ditemukan dalam kondisi sakit keras dan Angie ditemukan tewas tak bergerak.

The Pied Piper boleh senang karena pada faktanya Angie dan Clint tidak mengenalinya secara jelas hanya lewat suara dari telepon. Namun terakhir Clint memantau gestur tubuhnya dari kejauhan ketika mengikuti Angie dan Kathy. Dari gambaran yang diberi Clint, FBI semakin yakin otak penculikan itu adalah Gregg Stanford. Lelaki itu telah terancam miskin karena somasi istrinya dalam perjanjian sebelum menikah bahwa dia tidak akan mendapatkan satu dolar pun apabila perkawinan mereka gagal sebelum usia tujuh tahun.

Dia sangat panik dan merencanakan penculikan itu. Ide pun muncul ketika Steve Frawley menunjukkan padanya foto putri kembarnya. Lucas dahulu supir mantan istrinya Gregg tapi masih tetap berhubungan dengannya. Mantan napi itu sebenarnya mengambil nama teman selnya Lucas Wohl, nama aslinya Jimmy Nelson. Jimmy handal dalam mencuri, dia mengenal Clint dalam  dalam penjara. Gregg menjalani hidup di penjara atas rencana penculikan dan penculikan si kembar. Angie mati dibunuh Clint walau lelaki itu tidak pernah mau mengakuinya.

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