CHAPTER 20
PROOF
In the clubroom, the Den mothers were serving hot chocolate and home baked cookies to the Cubs and their friends.
When Dan stepped into the room which buzzed with conversation, he noted at once that the Bay Shore boys had not accepted an invitation to share refreshments. This was not surprising, for in previous games Pat and his followers had left the building immediately after the contest.
As he scanned the crowd, Brad and Midge came over to speak to him.
“Have you seen Chub?” the Den Chief asked anxiously.
Before Dan could reveal what he knew, Brad went on: “Right after the game, he came to me and thanked me for being nice to him. Said the Cubs all had been swell, and he wanted me to tell them so for him. I didn’t think much about it at the time. But now I’m worried.”
“Chub’s gone.”
“Gone where, Dan?”
“I don’t know. But I have a hunch he’s with his father, and that we’ll never see either of them again.”
Dan then related his own last meeting with Chub and recounted Pat’s report of seeing the two leave the church together in a taxi.