A Game of Greed and Deception: A Mystery Drama

by John Mathews

  Maria went back into the living room and noticed that the door to the den was closed. Remembering that Tammy had said she was sleeping in there, she tried to open the door, but it was locked. Then she saw that the door to the master bedroom was open and went inside. The bedding was a mess and some of her stepmother’s clothes were scattered on the floor near her suitcase. She also saw one of her father’s finest shirts lying on the bed with a sleeve torn off. She picked up the shirt and examined it. And that’s dad’s shirt. Why is it torn like that? Who could’ve torn it? He wasn’t wearing it when we were out so it must’ve been in his suitcase. She looked near the bed and saw her father’s suitcase opened with some of his clothes thrown on top.

  Maria opened Tammy’s suitcase and began to rummage around inside. She discovered the private prepaid cell phone which she had never seen before. Also inside the suitcase under some neatly folded clothes was a small notebook. Maria took out the notebook, being careful not to mess up the folded clothing, and looked through the pages. All of the pages were empty except for two. One of them had a list of items to pack and bring to the cabin, and a list of things to do. The other had a list of overseas travel destinations, hotel accommodations, and rental car companies. At the end of this list were written the words “Here’s to the good life, baby!”

  Puzzled, Maria carefully put the notebook back under the clothes just as she had found it. Then she walked around the bed and to the entry to the walk-in closet. There was an empty can of coca-cola on the floor. She turned a small light on and went inside.

  The two foot stools were stacked one on top of the other and pushed under a shelf. The oval antique mirror was leaning against the wall near the closet entry. At the back of the closet, the pinewood door to the wine cellar was slightly ajar. In front of the door was the brass lantern with a small wick extending, already lit and burning. Maria opened the door all the way and gazed into the darkness below. She called out in case someone was down there.

  “Tammy? Are you down there?” She paused for a few moments. “Hello? Dad?” There was no reply. She took the lantern and held it up higher while peering down the stone stairway. Not seeing anyone, she called out again loudly. “Hello, is anyone down there?” She waited a few moments in total silence and then started down the stairs.

  ***

  Police officer Gerald Benson finished drinking his morning coffee and set the mug down on his office desk. He’d been working with the small-town police force for more than twenty years. If something terrible had happened to a traveler, surely someone would have seen something, he thought. People were tight up here, and he’d never even had to deal with a single murder case. The prospect that someone would just disappear into the mountains at night seemed rather unlikely. In fact, even in the blizzard with most of the roads being treacherous, the local hotel was open all night, and anyone could seek shelter there if needed. The only other possibility that he could think of was the slim chance that someone could have been thrown from a car during the blizzard, injured, and frozen to death under the rapidly falling snow.

  He Googled the names “Tammy Worthington” and “Stephen Worthington”. It didn’t take him long to find the records from Stephen’s business sales. Forty-six years old, originally from Washington State, obtained a Business Finance Degree from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Then he moved and lived in Los Angeles, and had a private capital lending business. Sold his business nine years ago for ten million. Damn, I’m in the wrong line of work. The officer went to his official background check database and punched in Stephen’s name and birth date. No brothers or sisters, parents from Washington, passed away less than two years ago. Misdemeanor marijuana possession charge twelve years ago, no criminal convictions. The rest of his record looks pretty clean.

  Then he started to look up some information on Tammy Worthington. Let’s see…originally Tammy Caldwell, married Stephen Worthington a year ago, 23 years old….whoa. Half his age – I guess he likes ‘em young. From Wilmington, has an older sister, high school education. He entered Tammy’s full name into the background check database. Well, well –what do we have here. Felony charge for credit card fraud and identity theft at age 17. Suspended sentence, three years probation with no jail time. Diagnosed as mentally unstable and required to take anger management classes and prescribed medications. Probation violation for missing assigned classes. Completed required community service assignment to avoid jail time. He put in some more information to pull up Tammy’s school and childhood records with accompanying notes. Suspended from school at age 8 for behavioral problems. Had been withdrawing socially from other children. Shoved a child off the slide at the playground causing injury, and yet felt a sense of satisfaction. Sent to a child psychologist at the recommendation of the school counselor. Diagnosed with an Antisocial Personality Disorder. Shows lack of empathy to other students and teachers. Acts in a cold, callous, and cynical manner, and is always seeking attention and praise from others. Yet can be very charming with the other kids and many are envious of her.

  Gerald Benson looked away from the computer screen and leaned his short, stocky body back in his swivel chair. He ran his hands through his salt and pepper black hair. Well I’ll say one thing for sure – Mr. Worthington sure didn’t marry no angel. She has quite the little history. But there aren’t any really violent crimes listed here. She was the one who called me to report the accident and sounded frantic on the phone. A desperate cry for help or a scheming crazy woman? She hasn’t hardly said a thing about her stepdaughter stuck up there with her. Is she really more concerned about her own damn safety than that of the child, or is she that frazzled from her husband being missing? Damn this blizzard – I need to get someone out to that cabin.

  ***

  Maria went down the stone stairs taking each step slowly while nervously looking back and forth at either side of the clay walls. She got to the bottom of the stairwell and walked slowly along the red tile walkway. She looked up as she went, intrigued by the carefully crafted brick ceiling. As she got to the arch-shaped opening, she stopped in her tracks, frozen for a moment. She saw some red smear marks on the brick around the arch that looked like blood. “Is anybody down here? Tammy, can you hear me?” she called out timidly. She waited a few moments as her blood pumped faster and her brow started to sweat.

  Maria hastily moved through the archway and into a larger room. She came up to a table with a small, empty wooden box on top, next to a partially smoked cigar. She examined the cigar which looked as if someone had been puffing on it recently. She held it and took a deep whiff. It was a sweet fragrance that she had never smelled before. She sat the cigar back down and turned around to notice some wrapped meats hanging from the ceiling that let out an aroma of fresh herbs and spices.

  She made her way past the table over to some small cubby holes along the walls, and held the lantern up to look inside them. She felt inside a couple and then quickly pulled her hand out from the feel of spider webs. Inside one of them she saw a metal vice. When she got to the last cubby hole, she saw inside it a wrinkled folded piece of paper and a pair of well-worn leather gloves. She picked up the piece of paper and opened it. On it were a series of hand-drawn diagrams showing the image of a person being put into what looked like a coffin or wooden box with huge spikes inside. Maria felt a lump in the back of her throat while looking around nervously to be sure that nobody else was there. She tossed the paper to the ground and kept walking towards the back of the room.

  On her right she noticed a pile of hay in front of a tightly wrapped bale with two canisters on top. Remembering what Tammy had told her about the covered trap, she knelt down and brushed the hay off the floor. Underneath was a large piece of plywood. She pulled on the plywood and it didn’t budge. Then she walked right onto the plywood, set the lantern down, and picked up the canister of propane. The trap that was supposed to have been there before was gone.

  She shook the canister and it seemed empty, so she left it on the bale. T
he canister of hydrogen gas had a “danger” symbol on it, so she left it alone. She got to the rear of the room and saw that there was a bunch of barrels stacked one on top of the other, with one barrel standing in front of the others and covered with a sheet. The sheet looked like the ones that had been used in the master bedroom upstairs. On top of the sheet was a candy-red lipstick tube. That’s Tammy’s lipstick and bed sheet. Why would she bring those things down here? She never said anything to me about that. She said there was some kind of trap down here but I didn’t find one.

  Maria pulled the sheet until it slid off to see that the top of the barrel had been written on in lipstick with the words “Now You Will Die”. She gasped, swallowing a big gulp of air, and jumped backwards.

  She grabbed the lantern again, and headed back through the room towards the walkway. A few steps ahead, she heard a distinct buzzing sound. Some small, grey, paper-like nests had drifted from the walkway into the room. Each nest was a winter hibernation cell for one black and white bald-faced hornet queen. But these nests had obviously been taken from their colder habitat to awaken the queens. Some warm air coming from the open duct in the cellar blew the nests across the floor. One by one, the angry hornets emerged from their two-inch wide hibernation cells and began flying around wildly.

  Maria recalled being stung twice a couple of years ago by a swarm of yellow jackets. Her eyes had swelled up and throat had partially swollen shut, causing her difficulty in breathing. The stinging queens were now flying around their nests at the end of the room, blocking the way to the stairwell. The buzzing sound and image of the darting, dotted insects illuminated by the light from the lantern put her into a state of panic. She stood still for a few moments, wondering if she could run past the imposing threat. Then the hornets began to move towards the light coming from the lantern. Their sound became mind-numbing as they got closer to Maria. They flew up towards the ceiling, darting around for a few seconds, and then down at the lantern. Terrified of being stung, Maria scurried back against the stack of barrels, knelt down, and buried her face between her knees. In her haste, she dropped the lantern to the floor. The glass shattered and the flame was extinguished leaving 10-year old Maria in total darkness.

  ***

  Tammy opened her eyes as some sun shone through the windows in the den. It must be early morning she thought, sitting up on the sofa bed. She glanced up right away at the cinder block and saw that it was still balancing on top of the window ledge as she had left it. The cardboard was still in place and the window slightly ajar. Well darn, he didn’t try to come in here last night. I was really hoping to squash that big head of his. I need to check out the rest of the cabin. She got out of bed, put on a pair of slippers, and went into the living room. The front door was still closed and locked. Sitting on the sofa, she lit up a cigarette and put her foot up on the coffee table. She rolled up the leg of her pajamas to examine her injured leg, and breathed a big sigh of relief to see that the wound indeed looked much better than it had the day before.

  As Tammy lay back inhaling a puff of her cigarette, she noticed that the coffee table had been moved out of position. Feeling puzzled, she stood up and saw that it was turned around the other way and in an entirely different spot than where she had left it. It was also not as well centered on top of the shag rug, and Stephen’s lighter was lying on the floor. Maria must have been out here fooling around with things. What the hell would she be doing up so early? I dang told her to stay in her room and she should still be sleeping. Tammy picked up her cell phone and saw that there was a message on her call waiting. She eagerly listened.

  “Mrs. Worthington, this is police officer Gerald Benson. I had some of my personnel look all around the mountain side and area where your husband’s car was found. The snow is really deep down there and they spent the last several hours digging it out. We have not found any trace of your husband or any evidence of foul play. In fact, it looks as if the car went over the mountain road unoccupied. I am going to send an officer out to where you are just to make sure that everything is all right and ask you a few more questions. Please call me back as soon as possible.”

  Tammy set her phone down, feeling agitated. Shit, they are gonna send out an officer before too long. If Stephen finds them, he’ll tell them what happened with the car and accuse me for sure. Then it’s gonna be a big mess and his word against mine. But there will not be any proof that I did anything wrong out here. If Stephen really thinks I tried to kill him, he will have them investigate every damn thing I own. But I don’t really think he wants to bring the police into it if he is stalking me here outside the cabin. If he did, he woulda called them already himself. I think he wants to punish me first. She put out her cigarette and got up to go look for Maria, but was startled by a sudden noise. Someone was knocking on the front door of the cabin.

  TEN

  Tammy jumped up off the couch with her heart racing and started towards the door. Shit, I hope that’s the hunter and not the fucking police. She stood with her back close to the living room wall several feet from the door, so that she could look through the front window without being seen. There was a huge black man standing out on the front porch. He was about a foot taller than she was, with a football player build, big round brown eyes, and some facial hair. Who in the hell is THAT? Fuck. If they sent out a plain clothes detective, I need to get him in and out as quickly as possible. I can’t tell him anything about Stephen lurking outside the cabin. “Who’s there?” she called out meekly before opening the door.

  A deep, scratchy voice replied from outside. “Are you Tammy?”

  “Yes sir, I am.”

  “My name is Darnell. I was hired by Tom Murphy.”

  “How do you know Tom and what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Please let me in so I can explain everything to you in detail and tell you what happened with our plan.”

  Tammy felt nervous and not sure of what to do. She spoke quietly through the door. “But why are you here, Darnell? We were never supposed to meet. What if someone saw you come up to the cabin?”

  “Nobody saw me come up here. I’ve been looking all ‘round these woods. I haven’t seen nobody else out here, especially in this snowstorm. Please let me in so I can explain some more things to you.”

  Tammy reluctantly opened the door and waved him inside. She was struck by the sheer mass of this man who looked to be in his thirties. He had on a thick insulated winter coat, a knit scarf and hat, and big, black snow boots. “Come with me into the den, it’s more private. My stepdaughter is sleeping in one of the bedrooms and I don’t want her to see you.” They went into the den, closed the door, and had a seat on the sofa. Tammy crossed her legs and lit up a cigarette. “So you’re the guy that Tom Murphy hired?”

  “Yes Ma’am. I got out here a just few days ago and had everything all set up. You already know all about the plan. I had carefully rigged that guard rail to break on impact. Then while you and your husband were eating at that restaurant, I took care of the car. And I watched when you guys were walking back to the cabin. Just before he came driving back down, I poured water all over that sharp turn in the road. The cold air froze it immediately – slick as glass I tell you. Everything shoulda gone just how we’d planned it.”

  “So then what in the hell happened?” Tammy sat up straight, looking Darnell square in the eye. “How did Stephen get out of the dang car?”

  Darnell shrugged with a perplexed look. “I don’t really know. I was sitting in my truck, but down the road a piece. I didn’t wanna be too close to the road when the car went over. Then I heard the crash and everything. So I walked back down the road and saw that the car went through the rail just as I’d set it up. I saw it smoldering way down the mountainside. I thought everything was done and drove my truck down the road to that small hotel. I stayed in the parking lot for the night and was sleeping in the truck bed. I wasn’t ‘bout to drive all the way down the mountain in the snow storm. After I woke up, Tom called me and t
old me you said that Stephen wasn’t inside the car.”

  Tammy nodded emphatically. “Yes, that was right after the police had called me back. They didn’t find a body anywhere around the car. In fact, they just left another message and are going to send an officer out to talk to me. But the worst part is, Stephen has been stalking me from outside the cabin and trying to kill me!”

  Darnell leaned over towards Tammy. “Wait a moment – he’s trying to kill you? What’s he been doing?”

  “For starters, he put a cinder block down the chimney right after I’d made a fire, and the whole place filled up with smoke. And I think he’s been inside the cabin at night while I’m sleeping. There was a booby trap full of spikes set up in the wine cellar, covered with hay for me to fall into. And I found a knife with blood stains. Also the water lines froze up and there is nothing to drink. There has been one disaster after another, Darnell. I am telling you that I think Stephen has plotted massive revenge against me. But how in the hell could he escape from the car without getting injured? And where would he be staying at night in this weather?”

  Darnell waited before responding, trying to take in all that Tammy had told him. “I don’t know. After Tom called me, I went down the road again and drove all ‘round. I saw the guard rail was smashed apart and the car was still at the bottom of the cliff. I couldn’t get out of the truck and risk being caught looking ‘round here. You gotta remember Tammy that nobody knows that I got anything to do with you. And the ice storm was so bad last night that I really can’t get back down the mountain now. It’s too dangerous, even in a four by four. I walked more than two miles up the road to come talk with you now.”