The Butterfly Conspiracy (15 page)

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Everyone was a little worried.
 
You didn’t show up for lunch and nobody has seen you all afternoon.
 
Britt said she saw you this morning headed to the overlook, but nobody’s seen you since.
 
I thought I would check to see if you were in your room.”

“I’m fine, I guess.
 
Remember how you said I should slide down the log slide and then climb back up someday?”

“Yes.”

“Well guess what?
 
That’s what I did today.”

“Oh, it sure didn’t take you long to give it a try.
 
You must be very adventurous.”

“Not as adventurous as you may think.
 
It wasn’t even my idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was pushed!”

Jeanette looked puzzled.
 
“Pushed?
 
Who pushed you?”

“Good question.
 
I don’t know.”
 

Chapter 17

 
The next day, as they worked at the campground, Scott and Joe fine-tuned their plan of what to do if they were lucky enough to run into the guy Stephen thought was following him.

“Scotty”, Joe said.
 
“This reminds me of those mystery books we used to read as a kid.”

 
“I know.
 
You’re already Joe, so maybe you should be calling me Frank from now on,” Scott said with a chuckle.

After supper, they headed straight over to The Freighter to see if their suspect showed up.
 
They had toyed with the idea of calling Moon to come too, but decided they didn’t need him.
 
Scott thought they could recognize the guy if he came in, based on Stephen’s sketch.

In the car, Scott asked Joe, “Are we all set?”

“Yeah, it’s in the trunk. Let’s hope the guy shows.”

“If he’s gonna go out, where else can he go?”
 
Scott asked.

As they approached the bar, Scott and Joe peered into the big plate glass windows.
 
A few tourists were sitting at tables, but no sign of the guy and no sign of Moon, either.
 
They took their usual places at the bar.
 

”Where do you think Moon is? I thought he about lived in this place,” Joe asked.

    
“I heard he was getting some dough to hold a sign in front of Mr. Kahle’s place.”

“No shit!” Joe exclaimed. “Who’s footing the bill for something as stupid as that?”

“I heard it was some big national hunting organization.
 
I guess they’re fed up with the stink Mr. Kahle’s girlfriend is causing.
 
She was on the news a few months ago, remember?”

“I wonder if this guy we’re looking for has anything to do with that?” Joe asked.
    
“Hmmm, I wond...” Scott’s sentence was cut off. Scott was looking into the large mirror behind the bar.
 

“Joe, look who’s coming in.”

    
Joe glanced up at the mirror.
 
Sure enough, a man fitting Stephen’s description was opening the door.
 
Crumpled suit, dark complexion, nose on the side of his face.
 
He walked straight towards them and sat down two barstools to Joe’s right.

    
“Bingo!” Joe whispered.

    
Paulie ordered a whiskey and water and looked around.
 
The place was pretty empty.
 
The two guys next to him looked to be locals, everyone else seemed to be tourists.
 
Paulie still needed a little more information.
 

    
Paulie motioned to the bartender, “Hey, buddy, get these two guys a beer on me.”
  

The bartender set down two drafts in front of Scott and Joe and nodded, indicating that they had come from the man in the suit.

    
Scott jumped to the occasion.
 
He drained what was left of his first beer, grabbed the one Paulie had just bought and headed over to where he was sitting.
 

“Thanks for the beer.”
 
Scott held out his hand.
 
“I’m Scott and this is my cousin Joe.”

“You guys from around here?” Paulie asked, even though he thought he knew the answer.
 

Joe piped in, “Yeah.
 
We work at the Grand View Campground.
 
Real nice place. You should check it out if you need a place to stay.”
 

    
“A campground? No, not for me.
 
I got a nice room at the Log Slide Mot…” Paulie stopped short.
 
“Ah, I’m staying in a place down the road.”

    
Scott took a sip from his beer.
 
“If you got some free time, there’s a lot of things to see around here.
 
We got the Pictured Rocks, that’s nice.
 
Have you been to
Tahquamenon
Falls
?
 
It’s about a hundred miles from here, but it’s real nice, too.”

    
“No.
 
I got some business up here.” Paulie said.

Scott pretended not to hear him. Scott gave a nod to Joe.

“Another interesting place is that big house just outside of town.” Joe said.
 
“You can’t go in and walk around, but it’s kind of famous around here. It belongs to a movie director named Kahle.
  
You ever heard of him?”

Paulie gave a start.
 
“Yeah, I heard of him.”

“That guy’s a piece of work.”
 
Joe continued.
 
“He drives around in a fancy car like he owns the place.
 
He gets people to work for him and he don’t pay them shit. We can’t stand him.”

    
Paulie perked up.
 
“Really? I got this guy that want’s me to take a look at that place, but I hear you can’t get past the gate.
 
I drove over there yesterday.
 
There was a bunch of guys walking around with some signs.
 
I didn’t know what they were up to so I got the hell outta there.”

“Why does he want you to take a look at the place?”
 
Scott asked.

“It’s one of them real estate deals.
 
My guy’s real famous.
 
He don’t want everyone to know he’s looking to buy.
 
You know, then the damn price goes up.”

“I didn’t know Cliffside Manor was for sale?”
 
Joe asked.

“Good.”
 
Paulie said.
 
“That’s the way my guy wants it, you know what I mean?”

“I guess so.”
 
Joe replied.

“So, you guys know a way to get in there other than through that damned locked gate, so I can take a good look around?”

    
“Are you kidding me?” Scott said, “That’s easy.
 
I know an old logging road that can get you right to the back of that property.”
 

    
Paulie reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
 
He flashed a twenty dollar bill and said,”How about you show me and then forget anything happened?”

    
“You’ve got a deal” Scott said, “but keep your money. If we’re lucky, your buddy will buy Kahle’s place and the asshole will move back to
Hollywood
where he belongs.
 
You want to go now before it gets real dark?”
  
    
“Yeah, let’s go!” Paulie nodded.

Scott, Joe and Paulie all piled into Scott’s car.
 
As they drove out of town, Scott told Paulie about the old logging road they were headed to and how it meandered through the woods, finally ending up very close to the back of Cliffside Manor.
 
Most of Scott’s information was true except the logging road ended up going miles in the opposite direction of Mr. Kahle’s property.
 
Scott was not worried about this slight inaccuracy.
 
If their plan worked, old Paulie would not be getting anywhere near Cliffside Manor.

    
The car turned onto the opening of a narrow, bumpy road. It had been a logging road forty years ago when loggers were working the land.
 
Now, it was just a narrow overgrown path through dense forest.
 

Scott drove about a quarter of a mile and pulled over into a small clearing.
 
They all got out.
 
Paulie looked around.
 
It was much darker in the forest than it had been on the main road.
 

Joe said “Youse guys get started.
 
I’ve got to take a leak. Too many beers, I’ll catch up.”
 

    
“Okay”, Scott said.
 
“Come on, Paulie, it’s this way.”

They started walking down the dense path.
 
Paulie was moving slowly, his head turning from side to side.
 
Scott was ahead of him, walking faster.
 
Scott turned around to see where Paulie was.
 

“Come on, we need to get there before it gets dark.”
 
    
Paulie started running up to Scott.
 

“Hey, not do damn fast.
 
This ain’t a walk in the park. Maybe it’s too dark for this tonight.
 
I’m thinking tomorrow is probably a better deal.
 
You know, with more light and everything.”

Scott just kept walking.

    
Joe watched as they disappeared around the first turn in the path.
 
He quietly popped opened the trunk and unrolled a bear skin rug that normally covered the floor in the basement of the Moose Lodge.
 
He draped it over his shoulders and headed to a shortcut through the woods.
 

    
Every time Paulie heard a sound in the forest he would slow down and peer into the dense underbrush. This was causing Scott to get further and further ahead.
 
Paulie looked up just in time to see Scott disappear around a bend in the path, two city blocks ahead.