Murder in the Devil's Cauldron (9 page)

"That way, our friends can celebrate with us,
and we'll be able to go home, rest up and then go out for a lovely
intimate dinner," he said. "We'll have it all for our special
day."

"You think of everything," she had said. The
idea had appealed to her romantic nature as he had known it would.
She would see nothing but the romantic that day, blinding her to
everything else he might do. She had also gone along with the idea
of spending a few days at the mansion before going up to the North
Shore for their official honeymoon.

"Just the two of us for a few days," he had
said. "The North Shore will be a wonderful way to spend our
honeymoon, but there will be other people around. I'd like to have
you all to myself for a day or two. It'll start things off so
nicely."

Besides, he thought, even though he'd have to
put up with her for those few days, it would give him the time he
needed to get the information he needed to put all the pieces in
place for the next part of his plan.

The wedding and luncheon had gone very well
and Fowler had played his part to perfection around her friends and
small (and fortunately distant) family. Now, as they returned home,
Fowler got out of the Bentley he had leased for the duration and
came around to let her out.

"You really don't have to do that," she said
as she got out of the car.

"Of course I do," Fowler said. "I still can't
believe I finally met the one woman I could lose my heart to. I
want you to always feel as special as you are." He put his arms
around her and kissed her gently. "What do you say we take a little
siesta before we go to dinner."

"You are such a naughty man," she smiled.

As they went in, Fowler let his eyes linger
on the oriental rugs and other priceless furnishings. He drank it
all in as he escorted her up the stairs. It was now all his. And,
better yet, in a few days, he wouldn't even have to share it.

She stopped on the stairs, one hand on the
banister. "This was such a good idea, darling," she said. "It's
been such a whirlwind the last few days and I'm exhausted. Much
more than I expected."

"I'm so glad," he said warmly as he joined
her on the stairs, his fingers caressing the polished banister.

"Tell you what," he said as he nuzzled her
neck. "Let's make today all about us. Tomorrow you can show me
where everything is and maybe I can find a way to take a few things
off your shoulders. But right now, let's not even think about
anything but us."

"That sounds heavenly," Diana said.

That afternoon, Starr took the jam out of the
desk drawer and popped it back into her backpack, along with the
biscuits she had filched from the breakfast buffet and a blanket
and went to sit out on the edge of the lake. She found a boulder
shaped like a giant's armchair that gave her a wide view of the
lake. She folded the blanket so it was nice and thick, then sat on
it cross-legged, her back against the warm rock and the backpack
next to her. She'd forgotten to bring a knife, so she simply broke
the biscuits into pieces and dipped them into the jam. While she
couldn't see the bottom of the cliff from where she was sitting,
the land curved off into the distance and she could see the water
beating up against the rocks with bursts of white spray.

It felt so good to sit and do nothing after
all the days of work needed to pack, move, and unpack. Even now it
wasn't quite done. There were still a few boxes the movers had
brought that still had to be unpacked, but Starr figured she could
do that later this afternoon and still have plenty of time to meet
her mother for dinner.

What she hadn't counted on was being so tired
and comfortable that she simply dozed off in the warmth of the
afternoon sun. When she finally opened her eyes, the sun was
significantly closer to the horizon and she stared at her watch in
horror. Not only had she not gotten any of the unpacking done, she
was going to be late for dinner. Her mother was going to kill
her.

Starr grabbed her backpack and sprinted up
the path back to the cabin. She skidded slightly as she leapt up
onto the porch, but righted herself by grabbing the doorknob. When
she tried to unlock the door, though, she was moving too fast and
the key stuck and wouldn't turn. Starr kicked the door, furious her
mother was being so picky about keeping the door locked. "Aghh,"
she yelled as she kicked the door again.

Finally, though she was able to wiggle the
key slightly to get it all the way in and the door finally
unlocked. She dashed to her bedroom and tossed the backpack in the
closet. She'd take care of the jam later. Then she washed her hands
because she knew that would be the first question her mother would
ask, locked up the cabin again and then made a mad dash up the path
to the Lodge.

As she came into the Lodge, she saw the clock
in the lobby click on five-thirty and Starr ran down the hallway
towards the buffet, narrowly missing one of the servers who was
coming out of the kitchen as she ran past.

"Sorry," she called as she ran past.

"Take it easy, kid," the waitress said.
"There's plenty of food tonight."

Starr would have smiled if the situation
hadn't been so desperate. As it was, she knew she was a minute late
by the time she reached the buffet. She hoped it was close enough,
but her mother was looking at her watch with one of her patented
pissed-as-hell looks as Starr came to a stop in front of her.

"Sorry," she said.

"You always are," her mother said.

"I was almost on time," Starr pointed out.
After all, she wasn't really all
that
late. "I had to stop
and wash up."

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand
grenades," her mother said flatly. "Next time let's try to make it
right on time, shall we?" She stretched her mouth into a bright,
but not quite real, smile. "Even better, what do you say we get
here a few minutes early for a change? Hmmm?" She held Starr's gaze
for a long time and then turned to the buffet and took a plate.

Starr made a face, then let out her breath
and went through the line selecting her dinner. "Are we eating here
tonight?"

"No. Put your plate on the tray and put one
of the covers on top of it to keep it warm. You can't come back for
seconds, so take what you think you'll eat, but I don't want to see
you being a pig either."

Starr rolled her eyes after making sure her
mother's back was turned, but chose carefully. They had a bunch of
plastic containers at the cabin and she knew that if she had
anything left, she could put them in the frig and have them for a
snack later. There was a big heap of brownies at the end of the
table, but when Starr reached for a second one, her mother made her
put it back.

Fortunately, once they were back at the
cabin, dinner went quickly. Starr had been starving, so there
weren't any leftovers after all. When they were finished, her
mother rinsed the dishes and then got out a big canvas carrier and
a couple of plastic bags from the grocery store.

"This is how I want you to do it from now
on," she told Starr. "Rinse the dishes, put them in the plastic
bags and then put everything into the carrier. Then they go up to
the Lodge." Her mother put on her jacket and picked up the carrier.
"Come on."

"Tonight?"

"Of course. Otherwise they won't really get
clean and I don't want dirty dishes standing around here gathering
bugs. Besides, I still have work to do."

Starr ran to her room to get a long sleeved
shirt and followed her mother back to the Lodge.

Once the dishes had been placed on the
conveyor belt, Starr took the carrier while her mother vanished
down the hallway to her office. When she was sure her mother had
gone, she checked the buffet just in case there were any brownies
left, but everything had been cleared. Next time, she thought, she
would put a plastic bag in her backpack and sneak a couple in there
when her mother wasn't looking. Although that wasn't always easy,
Starr knew how to be quick and next time she would be prepared.

It wasn't until she was back outside that
Starr remembered she hadn't told her mother about the screen. She
looked at the door to the Lodge and thought about going back in.
Then she quickly squashed that idea. Her mother would be pissed if
Starr bothered her at work. She'd have to tell her later.

When Fae returned to her workroom, she
started with the scams Devious Dave had run under the name Daniel
Morrison. It looked like those were mostly the Spanish Prisoner
cons that the Nigerians had taken such excellent advantage of
lately. The scam apparently worked well for him because he used the
name of someone who was a partner at Lennon, Joplin & Morrison,
a well-known brokerage house in Minneapolis. One file folder
detailed the headaches Devious Dave's activities had caused for the
real Daniel Morrison. Fae made a note to call him and see what she
could learn. He was probably fed up with the whole thing at this
point, but he might be able to give her useful information.

Fae also made a note to bring a copy of the
photo with her when she saw him. She was hoping he could tell her
if Devious Dave had used Morrison's name recently. The real
Morrison would be far more likely to know that than anyone.

She made a list of the names of the victims
and their information. Most of them wouldn't be able to tell her
much more, but some might. She particularly wanted to know about
accomplices. There was little on them in the files and she knew
that most conmen used an accomplice from time to time. Perhaps that
would be a way to get a break in this case.

Next Fae turned to the scams committed under
the name David Mondreau. Those turned out to be an entirely
different kind of con and had an even longer list of victims.

And then there were the blank spots. What
bothered Fae the most was that there were too many and for periods
of time that were far too long. Her brain shifting into fourth
gear, she started jotting down ideas as they came to her on a
separate legal pad. As she worked, the pain in her back receded to
a distant throb. She felt the juice of the hunt take over.
This
is what I live for
, she thought as some of her old energy came
flowing back.
This is what will keep me going
. It was the
best she had felt in a really long time.

Finally, she picked up the phone and started
making appointments.

After returning the carrier to the cabin,
Starr decided to explore now that she could relax. She had seen a
gazebo just up from the main entrance to the Lodge that looked
really neat and decided to start there.

She locked up carefully and made her way back
to the Lodge. As she neared the entrance, she took the path that
branched off to the left and was also lined with fairy lights. She
followed it up the hill past the glass-enclosed swimming pool. The
gazebo at the top would have been completely dark, but, like the
Lodge, was outlined with little blue lights. Everything Starr had
seen so far made her feel as if she had set foot in a magical
kingdom and she hoped she wouldn't wake up in the morning and
discover it was only a dream.

As she reached the steps, she breathed a sigh
of relief. It looked empty, so she didn't have to worry about a
guest reporting her. But, as she got to the top step, she realized
someone was there, hidden in the shadows.

Starr stopped in surprise. "Hello," she
said.

The other person turned and, for a moment,
Starr thought it was a gnome straight from the hall of the Mountain
King. Then it moved into the light and she realized her impression
was just the effect of the flickering lights and that the gnome was
really just another girl.

"Hi," the other girl said. "You must be
Starr."

"How… how did you know?" Starr had never been
so surprised in her entire life. That was the last thing she'd been
expecting.

"Everybody knows," the other girl laughed.
"Your mom's the new general manager and since you're the only new
people to come here in the last million years, it was pretty easy.
Besides," she continued with a grin. "You don't look old enough to
manage the Storm Point Lodge, so you have to be Starr."

Starr grinned. "I could be a guest."

"Hah," the other girl scoffed. "Most of them
are from the Cities. They don't let their kids out after dark."

Starr leaned up against a post. "I'm from the
Cities."

"Not any more."

This place was getting better and better. "So
who are
you
?" Starr asked.

"I'm Charlie," the other girl announced.
"It's really Charlotte, but who wants to be named after a spider?
My dad's in charge of the kitchen and we live in the cabin at the
far end of the complex."

"What does your mom do?"

"She died," Charlie said
matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Starr wasn't sure what to say next.

"It's OK," Charlie said. "It was a long time
ago and I don't really remember her all that well. Besides, my
dad's pretty cool, so it's OK."

"How long have you been here?"

"All my life. So's my dad. He's part Ojibway
and part French from when the Voyageurs were here."

"Oh." Starr knew that the Ojibway were
American Indians, but she didn't know what the Voyageurs were.

"You don't know all that stuff yet," Charlie
continued. "But you'll find out. It's a big part of what went on
here before it got all civilized and everything."

Starr grinned. "So you know all the good
stuff about where to go and all that sort of thing."