The Butterfly Conspiracy (32 page)

Stephen followed the guard downstairs and found Uncle Phillip and Jeanette anxiously waiting for him.
 
Jeanette rushed up to him and attempted to give him a big hug.
 
The hug turned out to be somewhat lopsided since only one of Jeanette’s arms was involved.
 

Stephen saw the bandage on Jeanette’s left arm.
 

“What happened?” Stephen asked, “Did you get shot?”

“No, I scraped my elbow when I fell. Nothing serious.”

Stephen and Jeanette climbed into Uncle Phillip’s car and headed back to Cliffside Manor.

As they walked into the foyer, Uncle Phillip said, “Cora has prepared something for you to eat, Stephen.
 
I imagine you’re starving.
 
It looks like you didn’t get much sleep last night.
 
Why don’t you head up to your room and get some rest after lunch.
 
We can all meet in the trophy room and update each other on all that has happened.”

Stephen wolfed down his lunch and headed to his room.
 
He took a quick shower and collapsed into bed.

Around
three thirty
, while Stephen was still sleeping, Detective Drew showed up at Jeanette’s office looking for Mr. Kahle.
 
Jeanette showed him into Phillip’s office.
 

“Hello, Detective.
 
What can I do for you? Are you here to check on Stephen?”

“No.
 
Actually, I wanted you to know we have arrested the man who was shooting at Jeanette and your nephew last night.”

Phillip jumped up.
 
“That’s great news!”

“His name is Paul De Luca.
 
He’s a small time criminal from
New York City
who may have some mob connections.
 
We‘re still checking him out, but we think he may have followed your nephew from
New York
when he came to visit you.”

“Stephen said he thought he may have been followed,” Phillip added.

“De Luca’s singing like a bird.
 
He doesn’t want to go back to
New York
.
 
From what he says, Stephen’s father got in a little too deep playing the ponies and the mob sent him here to kidnap Stephen.”

Phillip did not comment.
 

“We also think he was being assisted a local man by the name of Francis Murchie.”
 
The detective continued.
 
“I sent an officer over to his house to ask him a few questions.
 
Unfortunately, Mr. Murchie was found dead and stuffed in a closet.
 
We’ve booked Mr. De Luca on suspicions of murder and kidnapping charges.”

Phillip sat quietly for a few moments.
 
“Do you think this De Luca guy could be responsible for Britt’s murder, Detective?”

“The evidence does not support that theory. But it’s something we need to keep working on, Mr. Kahle.”
 

Detective Drew stood, “I’ve taken enough of your time, I just wanted to update you in person about the man that was stalking your nephew.”

Around
six thirty
, Stephen made an appearance in the trophy room.
 
Jeanette and Phillip were having a drink.
 
Jeanette ran to Stephen as he entered the room.
 

“How are you feeling, Stephen?” Uncle Phillip asked.

“Much better.
 
Cora’s cooking and a long nap made a big difference.”

Phillip walked to the bar and handed Stephen a drink.
 
Stephen took it and settled into an overstuffed chair. Phillip took a seat next to him.
  

“Detective Drew was here earlier and updated me on some developments while you slept.”

Stephen turned to Uncle Phillip.
 
“Have they found Britt’s killer?”
 

“Unfortunately, no.
 
It looks like you’re still suspect number one.
 
That’s why I wanted us all to meet tonight.
 
We need to put our heads together and see if we can get to the bottom of this.”
 

Uncle Phillip proceeded to tell Stephen about Paulie De Luca and the disturbing news about the recently deceased Moon Murchie.”

Stephen sat quietly.
 
So many thoughts were running in his head.
 
How could his father do something to put him in so much danger?
 
He felt lucky that Paulie didn’t hurt or kill him when he had the chance.
 
And finally, he felt terrible that another person was dead.
 

Jeanette and Phillip sat quietly and let Stephen have his introspection.
 
Finally Stephen looked at Jeanette and said, “I guess one mystery is solved but we still have one more to go.
 
Now we need to figure out what happened to Britt.”

Phillip was about to say something when the phone rang in Jeanette’s office.
 
She got up to answer it.
 
Jeanette leaned out of her office doorway, “Stephen, you have a call,” she said, with a slight look of irritation.

“Is it my mother?” Stephen asked.

“No”

“My dad?”

“No, it’s a girl named Jill.”

Stephen didn’t move, he just looked at Jeanette.
 

“Do you want to take the call?”
 

“I don’t know.”

Jeanette asked, “Should I tell her you aren’t here?”

Stephen slowly rose from his chair.
 
“No, I’ll take it.” he said as he entered the office.
 
Jeanette handed him the receiver and stepped out.

Stephen settled into Jeanette’s chair. “Hello.”

He heard a familiar voice, “Hi, Stephen.
 
I bet you weren’t expecting to hear from me.”

“You’ve got that right, Jill.
 
What’s going on?
 
How did you get this number?”

“I didn’t think your mother would give it to me so I had your friend Butch call and get it.”

“Where are you?” Stephen asked.

“Not in
Europe
, if that’s what your wondering.”

“Why not?
 
What happened?”

“Well, for starters, I was a real idiot.
 
Ralph and I didn’t get along and I really want to apologize for what I did to you.” There was a pause. “I’d like to see you when you get back.”

“You’re right, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.
 
I’m sorry your trip didn’t work out and I appreciate your apology, but I don’t think it would be a very good idea for us to get together.”

“Look Stephen, I’m very sorry about what happened and I would really like to see you.
 
How about if I take a quick trip to
Michigan
?
 
I got back from
Europe
earlier than planned and I’ve never been to
Michigan
before.
 
It would be fun.”

Stephen thought for a moment.
 
“No, Jill.
 
You really hurt me when you decided to take off like you did.
 
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what happened, thinking about us.
 
Believe me, coming here would not be a good idea.”

“But I really want to see you.”

 
“I have to tell you, I’ve actually met a really fantastic girl here, and I’m hoping she’ll come back with me when I go to art school.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
 
“Okay, Stephen.
 
I’m sorry, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Take care.”

Stephen hung up the receiver and walked back into the trophy room.

Jeanette looked inquisitively at Stephen.

“You won’t believe that call.
 
I’ll explain later.”
 

Phillip said, “While you were on the phone, Jeanette and I were talking.
 
Stephen, can you explain how the knife I gave you ended up hidden in the ceiling panels of Britt’s bedroom.”

“No, I can’t.
 
But I can tell you where we first found the knife.”

“Where?”

“Jeanette and I had watched your Piltdown Man movie in the theater room.
 
After the movie, we went to the library to talk.
 
We noticed the same lion figure in the movie was on the wall in the library.
 
I thought I would turn it to see if anything happened like it did in the movie.
 
Sure enough, when I turned it, the bookcase opened up and we found the hidden passageway.
 
Needless to say, we were curious to see where it went, so we followed it all the way over to Britt’s place.”

“What about the knife?”
 

“When we came back, Jeanette and I found it wrapped in bloody rags hidden behind the stuffed bear in the passageway.
 
I didn’t want to disturb it because I knew it was evidence, so we left it there.”

“I thought they found it in Britt’s bedroom?” Phillip asked.

Jeanette turned to Phillip, “They did.
 
We were going to tell the police but then I got a call from someone who sounded a lot like Moon Murchie telling me he had information about Britt’s murder.
 
He told us to meet him up at the cave.”

“So who put the knife up in the ceiling tiles above Britt’s bed?” Uncle Phil asked.

Stephen spoke up, “It had to be the killer trying to frame me.”

Phillip rose from his chair.
 
“I need to see where you found the knife, Stephen.”