The Butterfly Conspiracy (6 page)

If Stephen had not mentioned the possibility of being followed, Phillip wasn’t sure he would have noticed this car.
 

Trying to sound casual, Phillip asked, “Stephen, who else knew you were coming to visit me this summer besides your parents?”

“Let me think.
 
My three best friends at Bastion Academy.
 
They gave me a hard time about spending my summer in the woods.
 
Two nights before I left, Mom and Dad had a cocktail party and we also talked about my trip then.”

“That must have been nice.
 
Who was there?” Uncle Phil asked casually.

“Let’s see.
 
My Dad’s literary agent, Mr. Plotnick and his wife.
 
The couple that live upstairs.
 
They had just returned home from
Europe
so they wanted to tell us all about their trip.
 
There was also another couple I didn’t really know.
 
I’m not sure why they were at the party, but I think their names were Beach.
 
Mrs. Beach had a little too much to drink and Mr. Beach just sat there.
 
He was a quiet guy, he didn’t say too much.”

Uncle Phillip thought for a while.
 
“Well, I want you to know I’m very happy you decided to spend your summer with me.
 
When did you come up with this idea?”

    
“About a week before school got out, Dad called and said he had a great idea.
 
When he told me what it was, I thought it sounded like a lot of fun.”

    
They drove passed a sign welcoming them to the Seney Wildlife Refuge boundary when Stephen spotted something running next to the road.
 

“What is that?” Stephen said, pointing out the window.

“Let’s see…is it a coyote, no too big.” Phillip said as he slowed the car down to a crawl.
 
“Too big for a coyote means that’s a timberwolf.”

“A wolf?”

“I told you we were in the middle of nowhere!”
 
Uncle Phil answered with a note of pride in his voice.
 

Chapter 87

It wasn’t hot, but Paulie was sweating. Nothing felt right about this job.
 
If he had known he was headed to hicksville in the middle of the thickest, deepest damned forest he could ever imagine, he would have never accepted this worthless job.
 
Ever since
Milwaukee
, the roads and towns got smaller and smaller and the woods got bigger and darker.
 
He was never afraid walking the streets and parks of
New York City
alone at night, but this was something else.
 
It was hard to concentrate on not being spotted by the Porsche.
 
Paulie thought of Al and Mr. Sabatini.
 
He hammered the steering wheel with his hand, “Those idiots better give me a good job after this bullshit.”

Phillip crested a hill and pointed.

“Take a look at that sign.
 
We’re almost home.”

The sign read ‘Welcome to Grand View, Population 478’.
 
Phillip drove a short distance over the hill and without slowing down, made a quick left turn onto Pine Ridge Road.
 
The turn was fast and unexpected.
 
Stephen lurched over to the right and hit his shoulder hard on the passenger door.
 
 

“Whoa, this car really corners!
 
Warn me next time, will you?” He laughed.

“Sorry about that.
 
I forgot I had a passenger.”
 
Phillip slowed the car and watched through the rear view mirror as the blue Ford continued straight ahead, unaware of their quick exit.
 
Uncle Phillip smiled.
 

“Only two more miles, Stephen.
 
Then we’re home.”

Paulie’s rental car crested the hill. He read the sign.
 
Population 478!
 
You’ve got to be kidding me, Paulie thought.
 
There’s more people living in my building than in this whole damn town!
 

Paulie stared at the road ahead of him.
 
There was no sign of the Porsche.
 
What the hell?
 
All Paulie could see was several
 
billboards advertising a bar, a few restaurants, and one motel.
 

Pine Ridge Road
was somewhat misleading since it was only a narrow gravel path through the woods.
 
After two miles they came to a gentle curve and the Porsche pulled up to the front of a huge gate.
 
A large brass sign mounted to a fieldstone wall read Cliffside Manor.
 
Phillip pushed a button and the gate quietly swung open.
 
They had driven past a few cars parked a block or two before the gate and several people had been milling around.
 
Phillip ignored them and they seemed to ignore him, too.
 
No one attempted to enter when the gate opened.
 

“Who are they?” Stephen asked.
 

“Those guys are a big pain in my ass,” Phillip said, his face darkening. “I’ll tell you all about them sometime when Britt’s not around.”
  

As the car rounded a corner, a huge English Tudor mansion came into view.
 
Stephen recognized it immediately.
 
It looked exactly like the mansion in his Uncle’s movie, Attack of the Piltdown Man.
 
Behind the house, set off to the left, was a smaller dwelling, designed in the same style.
 
Uncle Phillip pulled up to the massive front door and stopped the car.
 
Stephen jumped out and grabbed his bags.
 
Uncle Phillip held the door open as they entered the mansion.

The foyer was open and extended up three stories.
 
To the right was what looked to be an oak paneled office.
 
On the left was a very comfortable lounge, complete with a ten point buck mounted over a fireplace, and an eight foot stuffed brown bear standing in a corner.

“That’s the trophy room”.
 
Uncle Phillip said, as he walked to the door of the office.

“That’s quite a bear,” Stephen remarked.
 

“I’ve got an even bigger one somewhere in storage,” Uncle Phillip replied.
 
Phillip called down the hallway, “Jeanette, we’re back.”

A young woman in her early 20’s walked out of the office.
 
“And this must be Stephen”, she said, extending her hand.
 
“I’m
Jeanette St
. Jacques, your uncle’s personal assistant.
 
Very nice to meet you.”

    
Stephen took her hand, “Nice to meet you, too.” Stephen liked what he saw.
 
Maybe not a
Hollywood
starlet, he thought, but pretty close.
 
  

    
Jeanette was about 5’6”, with an athletic frame.
 
She had straight black hair that went down over her shoulders, blue eyes and high cheekbones.
 

    
Uncle Phillip said, “Stephen, welcome to Cliffside Manor.
 
Please make yourself at home.
 
I have a long distance call in thirty minutes I have to prepare for.
 
I’ll let Jeanette show you around.
 
I’m sure you won’t mind. We can all meet in the dinning room for lunch in a couple of hours.”

    
Stephen took another look at Jeanette.
 
“That’s fine, Uncle Phillip.
 
Not a problem.”
 

Jeanette grabbed Stephen’s carry on bag.
 
“Let me give you a quick tour while I show you where you will be staying.”

“Okay, that would be nice.”

“Let’s start in this first downstairs room, the trophy room.
 
Mr. Kahle’s decorated it in a very northern
Michigan
style with the deer head and bear. He’s not a hunter, but he wanted a very rustic comfortable room.
 
Most of his relaxing time is spent in here.”

“I like the stone fireplace.”
 
Stephen added.

“It comes in very handy since we don’t get many warm days around here.” Jeanette said.
 
“As you will see, this mansion is built on a cliff that rises three hundred feet above
Lake Superior
.
 
Superior
is the great lakes deepest lake so it never warms up in the summer which makes the breezes very cool. There are spectacular views from every room in the back of the mansion.”

“I noticed how cool it was when I got out of the car.”

“Get used to it, it’s that almost every day.”
  
 

“My office is over here.
 
You have to walk through my office to get to your uncle’s.
 
I’m both his assistant and his gate keeper.” Jeanette said, with a laugh.
 
“Even though he comes up here to get away, he does work every day.”

“What kind of work?” Stephen inquired.

“Script writing, mostly.
 
But there are a lot of business things to take care of when doing a picture.”
 

Jeanette pointed, “Down that hall and to the left is the dinning room and kitchen.
 
Running along the back of the house is a large glassed-in area we call the conservatory.”

Jeanette was marching down hallways pointing out various rooms and architectural features.
 
Clearly she had conducted this tour many times before. Lugging his suitcase, Stephen was struggling to keep up.

“Do you know where the design of Cliffside Manor came from?” Jeanette asked.

“It looks like the house in his movie ‘Attack of the Piltdown Man.”

“Very good, Stephen.
 
I’m impressed.”
 
That was the third movie he produced in
Hollywood
and it turned out to be very profitable.
 
Because of that, it was possible to build this estate.
 
Your Uncle thought it would be fun to design this house just like the mansion in the movie.” Jeanette stopped to let Stephen catch up.
       

“Okay, now for the second floor.”
 

True to the design, the staircase looked old and somewhat sinister.
 

“Mr. Kahle’s bedroom suite is at the far end of this hall.
 
My room is here and at this end there are four guest suites.
 
You are staying in suite number three.”