The Butterfly Conspiracy (30 page)

A feeling of terror was starting to grow.
 
He flashed back to the fright he experienced the last time he found himself alone in the woods.
 
Now, here he was, again.
 
Maybe he should have used Moon for this part of the job and then taken care of him later.
 

Paulie shrugged, looked down the narrow path and started walking.
 
His senses were on full alert.
 
He stopped and listened to every sound coming from the surrounding woods.
 
The trail began to climb.
 
He hefted the rife from his right shoulder to his left.
 
Paulie stopped.
 
He heard voices coming from the trail above him.
 
He dove into the woods and huddled down behind a large fallen tree.
 

Two women hikers strolled down the trail.
 

As Paulie waited for them to pass, he spotted a deep purple butterfly flitting just inches from his face.
 
He had never seen a butterfly like this one before.
 
He concentrated on memorizing the color patterns so he could look it up in his butterfly guidebook when he was done.
 
  

The women passed.
 
Paulie waited a few minutes until he didn’t hear any more activity.
 
He slowly returned to the trail.
 
Paulie started walking.
 
He felt something crawling on his hand.
 
He looked down to see a wood tick walking on his wrist.
 
Paulie shook it off.
 
He stopped and inspected his clothes.
 
Three more ticks were on his pant leg.
 
Paulie stopped and brushed them off.
 
His whole body felt like bugs were crawling on him.
 

The trail leveled off and the woods opened up to a large, open meadow.
 
From out of nowhere, a swarm of black flies started buzzing around his head.
 
Paulie felt a sharp bite on his ankle.
 
He bent down and grabbed his foot.
 
A black fly had bitten his ankle all the way through his sock. A fly landed on his neck.
 
He swatted it.
 
Another landed on his other ankle and he felt a sting.
 
Paulie shouted out as more flies descended on him.
 
Flies were buzzing around his hands, looking for any part of him that was uncovered.
 
Paulie stood up and started running down the path.
 
A swarm was following him a short distance away.
 
Paulie reached down and grabbed a handful of ferns and slapped wildly at the flies.
 

He ran down the trail. The meadow area merged back into the forest.
 
Thankfully, the flies stayed back in the open area.
 
Paulie continued walking, scratching at his bites.
 
With the area crawling with bears, blood sucking wood ticks and biting black flies, he wondered how these people did it.
 
The two hikers he observed seemed to actually enjoy being in the woods.

He thought of Central Park, his girlfriend Annette, the brownstones on his street,
 
the welcoming sound of traffic, car horns and police sirens.
 
Maybe he should just go back to the car right now. It would probably be better to take a chance of getting whacked by the boys back home, than to die by a bear or be sucked dry by something on this damned trail.
 
  

Again, the path started to climb.
 
Paulie strained to push up the steep incline.
 
His feet felt around for small steps in the trail that were steady enough to support him.
 
His shoes kept slipping on the rocky, clay soil.
 
He grabbed a tree limb and pulled on it to help him get up a steep section of the trail.
 
Finally he reached the summit.
 

At the top of the hill there was a post with three wooden signs. One sign said “Lakeshore Trail” and pointed straight ahead.
 
Another sign pointed down a path to the right said “Devils Kitchen Meadow 1/2 mile.” The third sign on the post said “
Devils
Kitchen
Cave
1/4 mile”.
 
The trail leading to the cave looked like it was headed straight up a cliff.
 
Paulie’s legs ached and his feet were killing him. He decided to head down the fairly level path to the right, the one that pointed to the meadow.
 

After several twists, the trail exited the woods and opened up to a beautiful field dotted with blue and white flowers.
 
The meadow was covered with butterflies.
 
Paulie had never seen anything like it in his life.
 
He gazed over the field in awe.
 
Then he saw Devil’s
Kitchen
Cave
looming up a hill right in front of him.
 
Paulie stepped back into the cover of the woods and decided to wait and see what was going to happen next.
 
 

Chapter 40

Jeanette and Stephen walked along the Lakeshore Trail for half an hour in total silence.
 
Jeanette had apprehensions about what was about to happen, but she didn’t want to share her fears with Stephen.
 
Jeanette was struggling with the probability that Moon could actually have any valid information to share about Britt’s murder.
 
If he did, why wouldn’t he just come to Cliffside Manor and talk to them?
 

The only reason Jeanette could think of was Moon always had a thing for being dramatic.
 
Maybe this was just another variation of his next big score.
 
He was always going to do something new and different, but it never seemed to ever happen.
  

As Stephen walked down the trail, he was still trying to imagine how his knife could possibly have ended up in the hidden corridor behind the library.
 
Walking through the narrow forest path made him feel uneasy.
 
He marveled at Jeanette’s fearless grace, as she moved along the trail just ahead of him. Jeanette slowed down, pointing at a faint break in the woods.
 

“Stephen, this is an unmarked trail that will take us to the back of Devil’s
Kitchen
Cave
.”

Stephen followed Jeanette, wondering how she knew where she was going.
 
Abruptly the trail opened up to a beautiful vista overlooking
Lake Superior
.
 
The path narrowed and ran along the cliff side.
 
Jeanette led Stephen along the trail.

“Walk slowly, Stephen.
 
It’s a long way down.”

Stephen didn’t need to be reminded.
 
The trail dropped down hundreds of feet to the shoreline.
 
He pressed himself close to the side of the cliff and tried not to look down. They came to a wide spot on the trail, about fifty feet from the cave opening and stopped to catch their breath.
 
Stephen looked out at the lake.
 
The view was spectacular.
 

“Jeanette, too bad we can’t stop and enjoy this view without worrying about all our problems.”
 

As Jeanette turned to respond, a shot rang out from the meadow below.
 
Pieces of rock exploded just above Stephen’s head.
 
Jeanette screamed, “Moon’s shooting at us!
 
Get Down.”

Stephen yelled, “I thought you said he wasn’t dangerous?”

A rife fired again and Stephen heard the bullet zip between him and Jeanette.
 
Jeanette lunged at Stephen to push him down.
 
As she grabbed for Stephen, Jeanette lost her footing on the narrow ledge and disappeared over the cliff. Stephen threw himself down on the trail and attempted to work himself over to the ledge. A rifle cracked again and a bullet lodged into the path just in front of him.
   

Still another bullet tore past.
 
This time, the sound came from behind.
 
Stephen thought he must be surrounded.
 
He inched himself to the edge of the narrow trail and frantically peered over the steep cliff for any sign of Jeanette.
 
 

Stephen turned as he heard commotion in the woods near the entrance of the trail they had just walked.
 
Three men dressed in camouflage, each carrying an assault rife, burst from the forest.
 
Two men ran over to Stephen and pulled him up, one on each side.
 
A shot rang out from the meadow below.
 
The third camouflaged man threw himself flat on the trail and started pumping bullets in the direction of the last shot.

Paulie dropped behind a rock as three bullets peppered the area around him.
 
He jumped up, fired a round and ducked back behind a boulder.
 
A bullet ripped though the leaves just above his head.
 
Paulie inched out from behind the rock, searching the trail high above him for any movement.
 

A shot rang out and Paulie screamed in pain.
 
He dropped his rifle and grabbed his thigh with both hands.
 
He saw blood seeping from his leg.
 
Paulie stumbled and fell to his knees.
 
He tried to steady himself as he rolled down a hill.
 

Three more shots hit the ground just behind him.
 
Paulie came to rest in a clump of cedar.
 
He scrambled behind an overturned tree and pushed hard on his thigh, trying to slow the bleeding.
 

The men on each side of Stephen dragged him to safety behind the mouth of the cave.
 
The man on his right loosened his grip on Stephen’s arm and said, “Stephen Moorehouse, you’re being arrested for the murder of Britt Adolfson.”

Stephen just stood there.
 
He was trying to comprehend what he had just heard.
 

“Are you kidding? What about that idiot Moon, trying to kill us?”
 
Stephen struggled to pull away.
 
“Let go of me.
 
My girlfriend fell over the cliff.
 
I need to look for her now!”

The two men restrained him.
 

“We have backup in the area.
 
A team of agents have already found the shooter’s car and they’re headed our way.
 
We saw Ms. St. Jacques fall and another agent is searching for her now.
 
Please come with us, Mr. Moorehouse.”

On the march back down the trail, Stephen had one agent in front of him and the other walked closely behind. Stephen’s hands were handcuffed behind his back.
 
Stephen asked the officer in front of him, “What makes you think I killed Ms. Adolfson?”