Scarlett Hood & the Hunter

by Pumpkin Spice

  “Are you sure about that?” Granny Hood really did not care for the puppet master.

  Scarlet interjected, "Granny, you're talking about my Godfather."

  Granny waved her away. "He's also the Godfather to an entire family."

  I knew the inference. The Italian Geppetto was a puppet master in more than one sense. In the old country he was a mafia don. Since moving to Amāre he had retired his old ways and adopted the Amāre way of life—where sharing and caring went hand-in-hand. I gently smiled in Granny’s direction. “I promise you. Geppetto has nothing to do with this. Let me explain it and hopefully it’ll make sense.” The two women nodded. “Okay, so Bernie Wolfe has been running a Pinocchio scheme where he uses newly acquired money, like Blue’s holdings, to pay investment returns to previous investors. If he was a really good money manager and investor he wouldn’t have to resort to a Pinocchio scheme to make up for all his terrible stock market buys.” I glanced at Scarlett and Granny. They again nodded, so I continued. “Giant Investment Services is basically a dummy corporation—hence the name Pinocchio—that’s about to fall like a house of cards. Wolfe has created a ton of dummy corporations that he uses to falsify and show profits from. But in reality these corporations are nothing more than make-believe. And like Pinocchio, Wolfe is prone to telling lies and fabricating stories for each and every investor he lures with his long tales of financial success.”

  Scarlett leaned back in her chair. “I believed him. I was taking him to meet my Granny.”

  Granny folded her hands in front of her on the table. “And Blue. My dear, sweet friend, this Wolfe has already darkened her door.”

  I grimly nodded. “Afraid so.”

  “Why couldn’t you stop him?” Scarlett’s tone was suddenly clipped and defensive.

  “My work with the SEC is very clear. I was brought on to track Wolfe and his activities and report them back to the field office. The SEC gave me a long rope, but not long enough to interfere until we had Wolfe in a position to make a case against him. And right now we don’t have enough proof. So if Blue did or does invest with Wolfe, it’s my job to get a copy of the depository trust receipt. That way the SEC will have proof that Wolfe is running a Pinocchio scheme.”

  “Don’t they have other investors’ receipts? Surely Blue isn’t the first client that Wolfe has targeted.” Granny studied me with green eyes that darkened and eyebrows that furrowed.

  I exhaled. “Well that’s the thing. I became suspicious when my Granny lost everything after she signed with Wolfe. That’s when I notified the SEC. They looked into what my Granny had signed, and Wolfe had gotten smarter. He had her sign a ‘hold harmless’ claim that if his investments didn’t pan out, my Granny couldn’t hold Wolfe for any malfeasance.”

  “That’s just not right,” Granny said.

  “It isn’t. But since my Granny lost everything and then word started spreading in Amāre that she was penniless after we lost our bean crop and all our stocks, Wolfe upped his game.”

  “How?” Scarlett leaned forward in her chair. Her beauty was enough to take a man’s breath away. She still had wet hair from the shower she had taken, and when I inhaled the subtle scent of lavender filled me with a renewed sense of purpose.

  “And I’m sorry for snapping at you,” she said and gently touched my hand. “It’s just that when it comes to Granny and Blue I don’t think clearly.”

  “I understand,” I said. “So let me explain more about how this works because I really do understand. My Granny lost everything. And the how of it is that Giant Investments Services always claimed to make huge profits for its investors, even during the Great Recession. But when a couple of investors saw what happened to my Granny they tried to cash out their investments.” I paused because what I had to say next wasn’t going to be easy to tell either of the Hood women. They seemed to sense my hesitation. Scarlett went from touching my hand to holding it.

  “Whatever you have to say, you can trust us,” she said with her hand cupped around mine.

  I gently smiled. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you or want what was best for you and your Granny.” I squeezed her hand and then gently released it. I didn’t want her to take it off with what I had to tell them. And her Granny might need her comfort more. “When a few investors tried to cash out their investments,” I said, “they suddenly died under mysterious circumstances.”

  I could see in Granny’s face the connection forming. “Woody Pig,” she said, “One of the Pig Construction Brothers died when his house blew up supposedly by a gas leak.”

  “And his brother, Haley?” Scarlett said. “Didn’t he die, too?

  “Yes, I went to back-to-back funerals,” Granny said.

  “Haley Pig’s house blew up when his propane barbeque exploded like a bomb,” I said. “Two out of the three Pig Brothers died under mysterious circumstances after they both tried to cash out their investments with Giant Financial Services.”

  “Wolfe said he worked for the Pig Brothers and that’s how he earned his start-up money. I can’t believe he’d do that to the. What about the third Pig?” Scarlett asked.

  “The eldest Pig never invested,” I said. “He’s also the one that took the company from a stick and log house builder to brick. He spotted Wolfe a mile away and stayed clear of him. But his brothers wouldn’t listen to his advice and Wolfe blew their houses down—literally.”

  “And the SEC hasn’t been able to tie this all back to Wolfe?” Scarlett said.

  “Well, that’s the thing. Until recently Wolfe has been very territorial and only targeted primarily elderly clients and particularly widows. He’s had an affinity for the elderly. But when he went after the Pig Brothers that’s where he tripped himself up.”

  “How?” Granny asked.

  “Every investor with Giant Investment Services gets a free life insurance policy. The investors choose their beneficiaries, but in cases of accidental death, there’s a hidden double indemnity clause that doubles the payout. The exception is that the other half of the payout goes to Bernie.”

  The women gasped.

  “I know. So when the Pig Brothers both died, Wolfe doubled his profit on their life insurance payout.”

  “That’s unbelievable. I can’t believe he’s getting away with this,” Scarlett said. “There’s got to be something we can do.”

  “The only thing we can do at this point is to either catch Wolfe in the act of trying to kill off one of his investors, which now that word has traveled in Amāre about the Pig Brothers, I doubt any investors will want to cash out. Or…”

  “What?” Scarlett and Granny looked at me.

  “We create our own Pinocchio scheme and dummy corporation that we get Wolfe to invest in. The SEC hasn’t tied my hands so tightly that I couldn’t pull this off,” I said.

  “Why would he invest when he does all these fake investments?” Scarlett said.

  “Because he’s greedy,” Granny said. “And if he thinks there’s a new stock that he can get in on the ground floor it’ll buy him the time he needs while the SEC investigates him.”

  I nodded.

  “Does he know the SEC is investigating him?” Scarlett asked.

  “If he didn’t, he did tonight.” I shook my head. “I was trying to knock him out and buy time while I figured out my next move, but…”

  “He saw you coming?” Granny said.

  Scarlett laughed deeply and loudly. It made me smile and my cheeks tinge with heat at the same time. “Granny, it was kind of hard not to see Jack—he came barreling through the forest on a vine like he was on fire.”

  “Yeah, I hadn’t expected Wolfe to see me and then when he did it was too late,” I said.

  “Then you might want to rethink screaming like Tarzan,” Scarlett said.

  “Point well taken.” I could feel my ears burn with embarrassment. At least she didn’t realize I was screaming out of fear.

  “Okay so he saw you,” Granny said. “But anyone in Amāre know
s you’re a bean farmer. How would Wolfe know you’re with the SEC?”

  I sat back in my chair. “That’s a good point.”

  “Heck for all he knows, you were just some love-crazed man after my granddaughter’s heart.”

  Maybe I am. I smiled inwardly, but outwardly rubbed the stubble on my chin. “So perhaps this could work after all. Wolfe doesn’t know I’m working with the SEC or that I’m on to his little Pinocchio scheme. Unless he finds my briefcase.” I grimaced. “Crud. That’s still in the forest. I tucked it behind the willow tree.”

  “We’ll go get it together,” Scarlett said. “And unless your name is all over that briefcase, Wolfe still doesn’t know what you were doing in the forest.”

  I nodded. “My name isn’t on it. And it’s locked. Not that he couldn’t rip it open. That guy looked pretty cut.”

  Scarlett shook her head. “He’s hairy and gross.”

  I chuckled. “So we get the briefcase and then…”

  “Create a dummy corporation to lure him to us,” Scarlett said.

  She’s sexy and smart. I nodded.

  “But what corporation would get his attention?” she asked.

  “The one I’m sure he’s been trying to land for a long, long time,” Granny said.

  I looked at her and tilted my head. “The lumberyard?”

  Gray curls shook toward me.

  “The one his father, Wolfe Sr., sent our way,” Granny said. “The one Bunyan fought off for years, but now that’s dead, the pack keeps coming pack stronger and stronger.”

  I still couldn’t connect the dots.

  “The union,” Scarlett said and kissed the top of her Granny’s head. “Yes, of course. The union!”

  I snapped my fingers. “Brilliant! That’s the one entity that Wolfe would buy into. If we could create a dummy union that the lumberjacks have agreed to join, then Wolfe has everything he’s ever wanted. He’d have the end of Wood Hood and Amāre would become Wolfe Town.”

  “Wolfe town?” Scarlett said with a touch of skepticism.

  “Absolutely. If Wolfe becomes the largest land owner by swallowing up Blue’s assets whole and is able to add the lumberjacks to the mix there’d be nothing left of Amāre. He would have devoured it all. And for a man like Wolfe, there’s nothing more satisfying than gobbling everything up,” I said.

  “So we’d better to get work,” Scarlett said.

  I exhaled a large sigh of relief. I hadn’t broken little red riding hood when I came tumbling in trying to rescue her. And better yet now I was going to work beside the sexy, redheaded beauty to bring down one of Amāre’s worst villains.

  Chapter Nine

  Finding Jack’s briefcase was easy. It appeared untouched, and when he programmed in the key code, it opened and everything the SEC had on Wolfe was still safely tucked inside. But it wasn’t enough to bring down the Wolfe of Wall Street. That’s where Granny worked her magic. She assembled the lumberjacks together, and they awaited their instructions.

  “They’d do anything for the queen of Wood Hood,” I said to Jack who was by my side.

  He stood stoically like he was about to address an army of wooden soldiers, and in a way he was. Jack was about to send them on a mission. My camera was slung over my shoulder. Jack and I had decided that if word didn’t reach Wolfe, I’d post a few mock photos on the radio’s website of the lumberjack’s “unionizing”.

  “The lumberjacks are key, but having Geppetto involved is truly remarkable,” Jack said with his focus on the men in front of him.

  “Ah, that was nothing,” I said.

  He turned and looked at me with the zoom-like focus of a telephoto lens.

  “What?” I said. “Do I have something in my hair?” I reached up and patted my spiral curls. “Because that happens all the time. My hair is a kind of magnet for birds, debris.” I chuckled. “Anything that wants to land in it.”

  Jack gently reached out and tucked a curl behind my ear. His touch instantly relaxed me. My shoulders dropped, and I felt like I was floating on air.

  “Your hair is a magnet,” he said. “It’s beautiful, but that’s not why I was looking at you.”

  I couldn’t do anything but smile when I was around Jack. Whether he was barreling through tree branches or carrying me in his arms to my Granny’s house, he had a way about him that was remarkably heroic in the most unremarkable ways.

  “Scarlett, what you did wasn’t nothing. It was brilliant. No one else could have convinced Geppetto to get on board with our plan,” he said.

  “He wanted to protect me. I’m his goddaughter.”

  For a moment, I thought Jack was going to kiss me. He looked at my lips and even leaned toward me, but instead he repositioned my wayward curl that refused to behave.

  “It’s still amazing that Geppetto agreed to be the CEO of the fictional Wood Hood Union and let people think he’s fallen back to his old mafia ways,” Jack said.

  “I know, right?” I shrugged. “He’s so badass.”

  “Well, I did come up with that part of the plan,” Jack said.

  I grinned to stop from laughing. “Yes, you did. And what a plan it is.” I elbowed him. “I came up with the photo gallery idea.”

  Jack playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s a good plan B.”

  I laughed.

  Granny whistled at us from the side of the lumberyard. “We’re ready when you are.”

  Jack quickly turned to me. “Make sure you don’t get me in the photos. Only Geppetto and the lumberjacks. ”

  I held up my thumb. “Yeah, got it. This ain’t my first rodeo.”

  Heat rose to his cheeks. “Right.” He clapped his hands together and raised an eyebrow. “Then, Scarlett Hood, let’s get this party started!”

  My spirits soared like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. This Jack Hunter was truly so different from any other man I had ever met in Amāre. I watched with pride as he took a giant step up onto the tree stump that Bunyan always used to address his men. While Jack looked small on the stump compared to how Bunyan had always looked, his voice was big and carried a message of hope.

  “Gentlemen, thank you for joining us. I think together we can put an end to Giant Investment Services and save our merry little village of Amāre.” He glanced over at Granny, who nodded.

  Geppetto walked toward Jack and joined him on the stump. The two men shook hands before Jack continued to explain our plan.

  I focused my camera on him and my lenses absorbed him. I couldn’t seem to take my sights off him. I zoomed in on the lumberjacks, and he held their attention, too. I smiled. Jack wasn’t their size. He couldn’t do what they did. But they recognized a quality in him that I had—Jack exuded confidence. And that commanded respect.

  “Geppetto has agreed to be the CEO of the fictional Wood Hood Union. He’s doing this at the cost of his reputation. Everyone else in Amāre will believe that Geppetto has fallen back to his old mafia ways.” Jack looked at my Godfather I’m sure for assurance. My Godfather gave him the head nod to proceed. “Geppetto wants it to be known around town that he wants someone else to run the operation so that he can concentrate on his puppet creations. We have to work together to get word back to Wolfe that Geppetto is willing to half what the union is worth if he gets an interested backer.”

  A rumble of murmurs spread across the men.

  Jack held up his hand. “Remember this is all make-believe. None of this is true. We’re out to capture Wolfe at his own game, but to do that, we all have to sell it as if it were true. So that’s why we’re having every lumberjack sign up to be part of Geppetto’s union.”

  The rumblings died down.

  “Once we gather the signatures we’re going to head into town and The Enchanted Forest. The new bartender, Snow, was the last person to spot Wolfe. We think he’s hiding out there in some sheepish attire to go undetected. So the plan is to go down to the tavern have some of the Bear Brothers’ Honey Pot wine, or maple shots, or whatever you’d normally dri
nk and while you’re there, get talking.” Jack paused and then smiled. “And get loud.” He looked over at me, and I lowered the camera.

  “I’ll be wooing Scarlett at a corner table.” He laughed at himself, and I felt my heart skip a beat. “The last time Wolfe saw Scarlett, I kind of crashed into them. I’m not the real Romeo type, so any tips you men may have I’m open to hearing.”

  A rowdy cheer erupted from the lumberjacks. “You can do this, Jack!”

  “You tackled that giant bean stock, you can handle one date!”

  I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment, and an odd sense of pride filled me. Jack was claiming me as his own. No man had ever done that. Plenty of men had dated me, but none had ever had enough conviction or fortitude to actually court me, let alone tell a forest full of lumberjacks that they were going to woo me. Jack, be nimble. Jack, be quick.

  Jack fanned down the crowd with his hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll give it my hundred percent, and I need your hundred, too. Remember,” he said. “We have to get word out that Geppetto is willing to let someone else run the union, but only in cash.”

  The men suddenly quieted down.

  “This is key,” Jack said. “We don’t want Wolfe to offer Geppetto stock options in Giant Investment Services because it’s a dummy corporation, so it’s basically not worth the stock certificate it’s printed on. We want Wolfe’s cash—up front.”

  “How will this bring him down?” One of the lumberjacks yelled.

  “We heard he already swindled Blue for all she’s worth,” another called out.

  I looked over at my Granny. Blue had opted to stay at home.

  Granny’s voice suddenly rose above the men, Jack, and Geppetto. “I spoke to Blue early this morning. She fully supports our measures to bring this Wolfe to his knees. When she’s feeling better she’ll come down to the lumberyard to see each of you. She wanted me to pass on her apologies for placing you in this situation.”

  The men jeered. “Blue don’t owe us no apology. She’s our gal. We’d fight to the death for her.”