Crime of the Century

Yesterday started out like any normal Sunday. Got up, had breakfast, got ready, went to church. Ellie was sick so Jeff stayed home with her but beyond that a totally regular day. After church is when it got strange. Normally the kids all go to the foyer and wait for me to get there. Yesterday when I walked up with Charlie I saw Dayton and Tucker but no Duncan. Usually he is the first one there. That should have been a warning to me but I was distracted by the wind and rain outside since we had walked to church. Luckily a neighbor offered to give us a ride home...I looked around again for Duncan and then Tucker said that he had seen him with Bryce, their cousin. I figured that he had gone home with them so we could go ahead and get a ride home. Once we got home I was planning to call and make sure he was with them and if not I could drive back to the church and look some more. But before I had the chance to call I received a text to my phone with this picture:

and the accompanying message 'Ransom = brownies'. 

Horrors!! What had happened to my oldest child???

After a slight delay to get Charlie down for a nap I got right to work making brownies. While they were cooking I heard my phone ding again. My stomach knotted up with dread as I wondered what was next.

That's when I knew that they must be doing terrible things to him. Duncan would never, ever tell me he loved me on his own accord. I willed the brownies to cook faster.

Once the brownies were ready I received these instructions:

I started to worry since the brownies had turned out a little funky. The edges were way overcooked and the middle was still gooey. I either had to start over or take a gamble. I decided to just send the middle brownies and leave the edges in the pan. I quickly instructed Dayton and Tucker on the finer points of a ransom drop and hoped for the best.

A few minutes later my phone dinged again:

 Oh no. Maybe they weren't going to release him on account of not getting enough brownies. We went outside to wait and see...but my sad face must have done the trick because within a few minutes a car with dark, tinted windows pulled up to the curb, slowed for a second, and before it had even come to a complete stop Duncan was shoved out with a pillowcase over his head and hands tied behind his back. As he stumbled across the lawn the car squealed away. Hooray! Duncan came home safe and sound. The nightmare was over.