The Butterfly Conspiracy (18 page)

Chapter 19

Stephen felt cold.
 
It was dark.
 
He tried to move.
 
His head throbbed so badly he stopped.
 
He felt faint.
 
Stephen tried to reach up and feel his head but his arms would not move.
 
Why couldn’t he move them?
 
He drifted back into a light sleep.
 

Stephen’s eyes fluttered.
 
He struggled to stand up but his legs would not cooperate.
 
Another sharp pain at the side of his head brought an end to his attempt.
 
What was happening?
 

Slowly, memories began to form and Stephen remembered driving away from the Freighter with a car close behind him and then trying to pass.
 
I must have had a car accident.
 
Why can’t I move? Am I trapped inside the MG?
 
Stephen struggled to move his arms and legs.
 
He panicked.
 
Nothing was moving freely.
 
He tried to open his eyes wider to get a glimpse of his surroundings.
 
He felt something over his eyes.
 
He blinked and felt cloth rubbing against his eye lashes.
 
He tried to flex his arms.
 
His elbows felt free but he wasn’t able to move his wrists.
 
He slowly moved his legs.
 
He could feel his knees move, but not his ankles.

Suddenly it hit him.
 
He was bound and blindfolded! Nothing else made sense.
 
How could he have a car accident and then wake to be tied up and blindfolded?
 
Why had he even gone to Grand View in the first place? He remembered celebrating at the Freighter with Scott and Joe.
 
His head started to pound again and he felt like he may pass out. His arms and legs ached from being tied, but the pain was concentrated at the side of his head.
 
He stopped moving and closed his eyes.
 
Maybe it would help to dull the pain.

Chapter 20

Jeanette was getting ready for work.
 
She wondered what time Stephen had returned from Grand View.
 
She waited up for him until
midnight
.
 
When he had not returned, she had gone to bed.
 
She thought it was strange that he would spend so much time in town.
 
There really wasn’t that much to do.
 
Was he that upset about the issue with his uncle?
 

On the way to her office, Jeanette took a quick detour to the garage.
 
She was surprised to see the MG was not there.
 
She turned and walked back to her office. As she approached she could see Phillip was talking to Bobby.
 

“Bobby, have you seen the car Stephen used last night?”

“No, Mr. Kahle, I’ve been making the rounds.
 
The car hasn’t been here since Stephen left yesterday.”

Phillip turned to Jeanette.
 
“Stephen’s not back.
 
I didn’t feel comfortable about Stephen going to Grand View alone.
 
We have to do something.
 
We need to find him.”

Britt came around the corner and was surprised to see everyone huddled together in conversation.
 
She walked up to Bobby and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Stephen went to Grand View yesterday and didn’t come home last night.”

Britt said, “He’s a handsome guy, maybe he found a friend?”

“I doubt that very much.” Phillip said tensely. Jeanette saw Bobby stifle a laugh and then she asked, “Phillip, do you want me to call the sheriff’s office?”

“No, not yet.
 
Bobby, take the jeep and drive around the back roads surrounding the property and see if you can find the MG.
 
Jeanette, take the truck and drive to Grand View.
  
You know the Henderson’s that run the Grand View Campground, don’t you?”

“Yes, Scott and I went to school together.”

“Stephen mentioned meeting him and somebody named Joe.
 
I’m not sure who that is.
 
Can you drive over to the campground and see if you can find them?”

“I’ll leave now,” Jeanette said.

Phillip said, “While you do that, I’ll take the Porsche and head south on Route 77 and see if I can see any sign of him.
 
Let’s get going.”

Paulie was excited.
 
He had the kid and now he could get the hell out of this backwater town.
 
He needed to pick up a few groceries and return back to the cabin and wait till it got dark.
 
Then he could sneak back to the motel, pack his things during the night and head out with Stephen before dawn.

Paulie walked over to Stephen and bent down to make sure he was still breathing.
 
He checked the ropes.
 
They were secure.
 
He walked out of the cabin and checked out the perimeter, making sure nobody was around.
 
Once he felt everything was under control, Paulie backed out of the driveway and headed to the store.
 
He picked out a few sandwiches, a bag of chips and a twelve pack of beer. Paulie walked back to the car and put away the bags.
 
He noticed a payphone next to the store and thought it would be a good time to give Al an update.
 
He fed some coins into the phone and dialed Al’s number.

“Al, I got the kid.
 
Everything’s on plan.
 
We’re gonna head back some time before daylight, tomorrow.”

“Way to go, Paulie.
 
The boys are going to be surprised.
 
Don’t do anything to get yourself pulled over.
 
You better ditch that car you rented and grab yourself another one.”

“Okay, Al.”
 
Al hung up.
   

Paulie headed back to the cabin.
 
He was feeling good.
 
Al and the boys were happily surprised.
 
He wished Stephen was in the car with him now so they could just head back to the city. He wasn’t looking forward to going back to the cabin in the woods.
 

Paulie pulled into the narrow
 
driveway and unloaded the groceries. He walked into the living room and was surprised to see Stephen had rolled to a sitting position.
 
The blindfold was still on.
 
Paulie walked over and pulled the it off.
 
Dried blood was glued to the left side of Stephen’s face and his right eye was starting to turn black.
 
Paulie bent down to see how bad the wound was.
 
There was a small piece of glass embedded in his head from when the MG had hit the ditch.
 
Paulie grabbed the glass and pulled it out.
 
Stephen winced but didn’t make a sound.

“You look like hell, kid, but I think you’re gonna make it,” Paulie commented, as he untied Stephen’s hands.
 
He handed Stephen a sandwich.
 
“Eat something.”

Stephen took a bite and stared at the man who was standing over him.

“I remember you from the train and from the art gallery, too.
 
You’ve been following me since I left
New York
. Why?”

“Your old man, kid. He loves to play the ponies, but he don’t like to pay.
 
He owes the boys a shit load of dough.
 
Your old man finds out I got you, you better hope he changes his mind.
 
Right?”

Paulie walked to the kitchen and returned with two cold beers.
 
He popped them both open and handed one to Stephen.
 

“Here, kid.
 
Look, for me this is just a job, okay?
 
Nothing personal.
 
My boss tells me to do something, I do it. You got a little banged up, but I think you’re fine.
 
We gotta get you the hell out of here and get us both back to
New York
.
 
And if you ask me, it can’t be too soon.
 
Your old man pays, you go home.
 
Easy as pie.”

Stephen heard what Paulie was saying, but it was hard to comprehend.
 
He knew his father went to the track occasionally, but he had no idea he had a gambling problem.
 

Chapter 21

Bobby was driving down
Pine Ridge Road
, almost to the intersection of Route 77 when he saw someone on a bicycle heading his way.
 
Bobby pulled up next to him and motioned for him to stop.
 

“Hey, Moo…ahh...Francis, where you headed?”

“I’m on my way to the gate so I can get some picketing money.”
 

“Picketing money?”

“Yeah, we get paid a buck fifty an hour to stand outside the gate and wave a damn sign.
 
You can’t beat that.”

Bobby wondered who the hell was bankrolling that but instead he asked, “Mr. Kahle’s nephew didn’t come back from Grand View last night.
 
You ever met him?
 
Do you know where he could be?”

“Yeah, I met the guy.
 
He bought me a beer at The Freighter. He seems okay, but no, I don’t know where he is.”

    
“If you hear anything, let me know.
 
I’m sure Mr. Kahle would make it worth your while, if you know what I mean.”

Bobby drove off and watched in his rear view mirror as Moon resumed peddling the bicycle towards the gate.
 
Abruptly Moon stopped. He turned the bicycle around and headed back in the direction he came from.
 
Moon was thinking to hell with this buck fifty an hour bullshit job.
 
I should be able to make some real money now!

Jeanette pulled into the Grand View Campground and walked up to the office.
 
She asked if Scott was working and was directed to look for him behind a partially constructed recreation hall.

Scott was on his knees, holding a level, as Joe was pounding in a stake next to a 2-by-4 footing.
 
King was panting in the shade of a huge red oak tree.
 
Scott glanced up and saw Jeanette walking towards them.
 
She had a worried look.

“Hi, Jeanette.
 
What brings you to the campground?”

“You met Stephen, Mr. Kahle’s nephew, right, Scott?”

Joe threw down his hammer and walked towards Scott and Jeanette.

“Yeah, we’ve met him.
 
Seems like a nice guy, why? What’s the matter?”

“Well, he didn’t come home last night.
 
He had Mr. Kahle’s MG and left unexpectedly for Grand View.
 
We looked all over Cliffside Manor and he didn’t return.”

“Oh, shit,” Scott muttered.
 

“What?” Jeanette asked.

Scott and Joe explained how they had been watching out for the person Stephen thought was following him and how they had set up a prank to give the guy a good scare.
 
Hoping that would be enough to get him to go back to where he came from.
 

They explained how they had called Stephen and asked him to come by the Freighter for a drink so they could let him in on what happened.
 
The last time they saw Stephen was around ten thirty the night before when he left the bar to return to Cliffside Manor.

 
“Maybe our little prank wasn’t such a good idea.”
 
Joe said.

“You can’t second guess what’s already happened,” Jeanette said. “We have to do something about finding Stephen and we need to do it now.”

“Why don’t we head over to The Freighter and start there” Scott proposed.
 
“That’s the last place we saw Stephen.”
 

They piled into Scott’s car, including King, and headed into town.
 
Scott pulled up to the front of the bar.

“Okay, what now?” Joe asked.
  

Scott said,” When Stephen left, he told us he was heading back to Cliffside Manor.
 
Let’s retrace his steps and see if we can see anything on the way.”

Scott pulled out onto
Lake Street
and they slowly headed out of town, following Route 77.
 
Jeanette and Joe watched the road to the right while Scott took the left.
  
Scott drove slowly, nobody was talking.
 

As they got to an area half a mile before the intersection of
Pine Ridge Road
and Route 77, Joe yelled, “Scott, stop the car!”

Scott slammed on the brakes and pulled off onto the shoulder.
 

“What did you see?” Scott asked.

Joe jumped out of the car and headed towards the ditch, King at his heels.

“Look, deep tire tracks going off the shoulder in the mud.”

Scott and Jeanette scrambled behind him.
 
Joe was following the tracks as they lead up the ditch and into the woods.

“I found the car!” Joe yelled.

Scott and Jeanette were right behind him.
 

“Look at it!” Jeanette said. “Something slammed into the driver’s side.
 
There’s blood!”

Scott and Joe ran over to the smashed driver’s side window.
 
They could clearly see the blood stains.
 
Scott walked along the shoulder of the road examining two sets of car tracks.
 
 
  

Scott said, “Someone forced Stephen off the road.
 
It has to be that
New York
guy, Paulie.
 
Joe, this is close to the road we took Paulie down when we played that trick on him.”

Chapter 22

 
Paulie was sitting in the living room area working on his fourth beer.
 
Stephen was feeling a little better after having had something to eat.
 

There was a rustling noise from the woods.
 
Paulie jumped up.

“What was that?”
 

Paulie ran to the bunk beds and came back holding his gun.
 
He ducked down under the open kitchen window and slowly rose, peeking over the sill. He planted his legs wide and held the revolver with both hands.
 
He peered out the window into the woods.
 
The bushes quivered and a huge porcupine strolled out of the underbrush, heading towards the cabin.
 
Paulie had never seen anything like it.
 

The spiny creature slowly ambled through the leaves towards the back porch of the cabin.
 
Paulie reacted instinctively.
 
He aimed and pulled the trigger.
 
A shot rang out, piercing the silence.
 
The porcupine squealed, flew up into the air in a backwards somersault, and landed behind some bushes.
 

Stephen stiffened.
 
Was someone coming to rescue him?
 
He stumbled to his feet, his legs still bound together, and peered out of the window.