“Vanished?” repeated Susan, going pale.
Jenna frowned. “The Beatles can’t just vanish! They’ve got to be somewhere.”
Susan shook her head furiously, tears threatening to spill. “I knew it! Those terrible women took the Beatles away, and now Paul could be....” She couldn’t finish.
“Hang on.” Emma had a happier thought. “The Beatles have to be somewhere. We know they’re not anywhere Karen could find them....”
“And since I do know where they’re not, that should help us figure out where they are!” Karen finished, looking pleased. “Good one, Emma.”
“But we still don’t know where to start looking,” Susan added sadly. “Unless they’re still near that restaurant toi a dit they went to....”
“We’ll start there,” Karen decided. “Maybe somebody left a clue. Those fakers can’t hide our Beatles from us!”

Karen knew her way around town remarkably well, and she had a car, having gotten her driver’s license the précédant year. She was able to drive the other girls and Butch to the right place with no problem.
“No pets allowed, young lady,” a dit the doorman out front. “You’ll have to leave your dog outside.”
Jenna ignored him.
“Where were the Beatles sitting last night?” she said, approaching the maitre’d with Butch at her side. The other girls were right behind her.
“They were here last night, weren’t they?” Emma put in.
“With those – females,” added Karen, in a tone that suggested she wanted to call Morag, May, Emily, and Natalya something far worse.
“It’s urgent,” finished Susan appealingly.
The maitre’d looked down at them, eyebrows raised. “I’ve heard of teenagers asking where célébrités are sitting while they’re still here....”
“We need to know,” Karen supplied, in her most grown-up-sounding voice. “Those women are dangerous. They’ve done something to the Beatles, and we don’t know where they’ve gone.”
The maitre’d didn’t look convinced, but he smiled indulgently. “Of course. The Beatles’ girlfriends must be up to something, mustn’t they? Take a look at their table, tableau if toi must. I don’t see the harm in it; we’re not very busy this time of day. But you’ll have to leave that dog outside, miss,” he added to Jenna, who ignored him.
“Butch can spot a clue,” was her opinion. “He’s a smart dog; I trained him well.”
Jenna was right; as they reached the table, tableau the maitre’d had pointed out to them, Butch began barking and straining on his leash. The few people who were in the restaurant at that time of jour looked round at them, most looking scandalized that this teenager had brought her dog inside such a fancy restaurant.
“What is it?” Karen was puzzled. “Does he see a clue?” Her dark blue eyes swept the table. It was freshly set and ready for new customers. She couldn’t see anything....
“No,” Jenna realized excitedly. “He smells Ringo!” Quickly, she explained to the other girls how she had set Butch on the Beatles when they had first arrived last week, and how Butch had briefly caught Ringo before he got away. “Butch still remembers Ringo’s scent, and he still thinks he should follow it!” She patted Butch eagerly on the head. “Good boy!”
Emma clapped her hands eagerly, brown curls bouncing. “What are we waiting for? Butch can lead us straight to Ringo, and the rest of the Beatles!”
Jenna loosened her grip on Butch’s leash. “Follow him, boy! Find Ringo!”
Sniffing the ground eagerly, Butch led them out of the restaurant and across the car park, making his way to a nearby side road. The girls followed excitedly. Susan glanced up at all the houses lining the nearby road. Butch was definitely heading that way. Were the Beatles inside one of those very houses right now? Was she almost with Paul again? But – what state was he in? Were May and her evil cohorts in there, too?
But Butch led the little group to a certain spot on the side of the road, and then stopped, looking up at Jenna and whimpering slightly as though asking her what they should do now he’d brought them this far.
“What’s the matter with him?” cried Jenna. “He can’t have Lost the scent!”
Karen looked up and down the street, where several cars were parked on the sides. “I know what happened. The Beatles and those – women got into a car here. Then they drove our poor boys to who-knows-where. I knew they couldn’t have been hiding them in any of these houses. I would have known if they were somewhere in town.”
Susan’s eyes swept up and down the street. “They started from here, and then they drove somewhere Karen doesn’t know about....”
“Has to be out of town,” Karen supplied. “I know everything that goes on round here. Probably not too far, though, as they were driving and I’d think the Beatles would notice something was wrong eventually.”
“So all we’ve got to do is find someplace secluded in driving distance of this side of town,” Emma concluded, somehow making it sound like the easiest thing in the world. “Let’s go look at a map.”
The girls went to a small convenience store and bought a map. Spreading it out on the grass, they examined the area. They weren’t too far from the edge of town, as Karen had already known, and there was only one way the Beatles and their erstwhile girlfriends could have driven that would have quickly taken them somewhere unpopulated. Every other direction simply led into other parts of the city.
“This area, here –” Karen traced a long red fingernail over the map – “it’s positively deserted! I should have guessed it; that’s the only way they could have gotten away without my knowing!”
Susan shivered. “They brought the Beatles somewhere with absolutely no one around? I don’t like this....”
“They think they can hide there as it’s so big,” Jenna speculated. “But we’ll find them. We’ll find them even if we have to burn the whole place down!”
“But...” Susan could hardly get the words out, her voice was trembling so much – “but what if they just brought them into the woods and... and....” Her voice broke, and she buried her head in her hands, shoulders shaking.
“Shh.” Emma put her arm round Susan’s shoulders. “They’ll be fine. They’re our Beatles; they’ve got to be! So,” she turned her head to consult the map, “they must’ve been going along this road here, right?” She traced her finger across a narrow lane that wound its way through the deserted area where the Beatles probably were.
Karen followed her finger. “Probably. They had to follow some road as they were driving, and there’s no other road round here.”
Emma nodded. “Then all we’ve got to do is follow this road, and we’ll find them! ou at least,” she paused to give Butch a little scratch behind his pointy ears, “Butch will. He’ll pick up Ringo’s scent if we keep following them.”
Susan lifted her head, tears still streaking her face, but she couldn’t help but smile. Emma’s enthusiasm was contagious. Susan could almost believe that the Beatles were really all right.
“Or we’ll spot their car,” Karen agreed, in answer to Emma’s remark. “But first...” She tapped her long fingernails against her chin thoughtfully. “I think I’d better make a call ou two,” she decided. “See if I can find out anything about this area at all. It’ll give us a place to start looking.”
“We don’t have time for that!” Jenna protested. “We need to get going! Ringo is in danger!”
“Not for long,” Karen said. “Once I find out what’s out there, we’ll know exactly where to start looking. We’ll find them much faster, and then....”
Jenna smiled, convinced. “And then those women will be sorry they ever touched our Beatles.”