“That's why Agent Ringston left Fall Cliff,” Nikki said suddenly. “One of his puppets stepped out of line, and he traveled to Maple Hills to get the man. Then he found out that I lived in Maple Hills and had to rush back down to Fall Cliff because I was there.”
“Seems to be that way,” Hawk agreed. “Nikki,” he said, draining a cold cup of water, “the rental cabin Pop and I drove out to was occupied by a homeless teenager, yet Sophie Raybenton reported seeing a man who matched the description of the convict who robbed the bank. Sophie is not the type of woman to call in a false report. The woman was a public accountant for thirty years. She's as stern and factual as anyone can ever be.”
“I see,” Nikki said, staring through the windshield into the falling rain. “Tori, turn up the defroster for me, please.”
Tori leaned forward and turned up the defroster. “Hawk, is it possible the escaped convict is still in Maple Hills?” she asked.
“Ringston left alone, that's all I know,” Hawk told Tori. “I think the convict was leaving some kind of message for you, Nikki.”
Nikki grew quiet. What Hawk told her made sense. “Okay, Hawk,” she finally said, “what do you suggest we do?” Suddenly returning to Fall Cliff seemed very foolish and deadly.
“Back down,” Hawk said regretfully. “Nikki, I hate to say this, but this case is out of my jurisdiction. All local authorities have been on stand-down. If I go poking my nose where it doesn't belong, I could lose my job and end up getting a lot of innocent people killed. Whatever Ringston is up to, it doesn't involve Maple Hills, and that's what matters to me.”
Tori gave Nikki a worried look. Nikki sighed miserably. Deep down she knew Hawk was right. “Tori—”
“But you said,” Tori burst out, “that if you do nothing, then you're guilty. Nikki, we can't sit on our hands.”
“I understand your anger,” Hawk told Tori, “but there are times when a lawman has to back down. It makes me sick to admit that, but it's true, Tori. Right now, we're outnumbered and outgunned. And that makes all the difference in the world. We can't go toe-to-toe when there are more of them and fewer of us...more of them who are armed and deadly, too.”
“Hawk is right,” Nikki said miserably. “Honey, maybe the wisest path for us to take is to try and figure out what kind of message the convict left for me and stay away from Fall Cliff.”
“I guess it's possible the convict who shot Lucy might still be in Maple Hills. It might not hurt to search for him,” Tori suggested. “Hawk could be right. This man could be trying to tell you something.”
“Maple Hills is still under lockdown,” Hawk warned Nikki. “Pop has his hands tied. We really took a chance going out to the rental cabin without telling the State Police and the FBI. Some guy named Agent Rooney is running the show. He's a real greenhorn, too. My guess is this guy is clean and was sent here because of his lack of experience and arrogant attitude.”
“If Ringston left alone,” Nikki pointed out, “I bet our missing convict is either in Canada by now or hiding out in Maple Hills.”
“I'm aiming for Canada,” Hawk admitted, “but I'm learning that when it comes to you, anything is possible.”
Nikki smiled. “Meet me at my cabin in two hours. I'll make some coffee, and you can crash on the couch.”
“I'll be there,” Hawk promised.
Tori lowered Nikki's cell phone and grew silent. Nikki gave her time to think. “I guess you're right,” she finally said.
“No, I'm not,” Nikki confessed. “I should go back to Fall Cliff and face Ringston. But Tori, honey, there are more ways to fight someone than going toe-to-toe. Let's see what happens when we get back home. My gut is suddenly telling me the missing convict isn't in Canada.”
“Really?” Tori questioned.
“I will not be complicit,” Nikki promised Tori, “but I'm also not stupid. If we go back to Fall Cliff right now, Agent Ringston might not let us leave alive.”
Tori looked out into the dark night. She grew silent and listened to the rain. The road ahead seemed uncertain and scary.
Chapter Seven
Hawk yawned. “Good morning,” he said, walking into the kitchen.
Nikki was sitting at the table, sipping coffee. “Actually, it's the afternoon,” she pointed out. “We didn't fall asleep until daybreak this morning.”
Hawk nodded and walked to the coffee pot. Nikki looked beautiful in the dark, long-sleeved dress she was wearing. She had her hair tied into a ponytail and looked like a woman in deep, serious thought. Hawk was wearing a wrinkled gray hockey shirt and a pair of old blue jeans. His hair was messy, and his face unshaven. “We make a pair—you're beautiful, and I look like a tired black bear,” he said, pouring coffee into a mug that resembled a dog’s face that he had brought over from his apartment.
“You're very handsome,” Nikki assured him. “I see how the women in this town look at you, Hawk.”
Hawk rolled his eyes. “They look at me because I probably have something unpleasant in my nose,” he joked.
“Silly!” Nikki smiled. “Are you hungry? I can cook us breakfast.”
“No thanks,” Hawk answered politely. “All I want is some coffee and a hot shower. We've got a long day ahead of us.”
“And a wet one,” Nikki said and nodded toward the kitchen window. “I checked the weather. It's going to be raining for the next few days.”
Hawk sat down across from Nikki. “You're thinking about the convict. His name is Lionel Perkins, age twenty-seven. Occupation: thief, nationality: British, location unknown.”
Nikki glanced down at two photos sitting on the kitchen table. Hawk had printed out Lionel Perkins’ mug shot for Nikki and a photo of the man's face caught on the security cameras at the Maple Hills Community Bank. “Hawk, I've never seen this man before in my life. I've been trying to place his face for hours, but I can't. How can he know me?”
Hawk took a drink of his coffee. “The ‘Twenty-Four Thieves,' as they called themselves, operated all over the United States. They were captured on Long Island because the ringleader called for a meeting, pulling the low-lifes all into one location. The NYPD got an anonymous tip about the meeting and moved in. Maybe Perkins knows you from Atlanta?”
“Maybe.” Nikki wrinkled her forehead. “Hawk, are we really sure Perkins was trying to leave a message? Maybe he's not a killer. When a man is robbing a bank, his adrenalin is really pumping. He knows he has very little time and has to act fast.”
“You don't believe that, Nikki,” Hawk pointed out.
“No,” Nikki confessed. “Someone drove Perkins to Maple Hills to rob the bank. The robbery was supposed to go quickly and cleanly, with the purpose of making the authorities rush here.”
“We're spread out pretty thin,” Hawk went on. “The media is chewing up this story alive. Reporters are everywhere. Washington is yelling at the governor for answers. The tri-state area is on full alert. People are scared, Nikki.”
“I know,” Nikki replied, staring down at photos of a man with thin brown hair and a face that seemed very pleasant and intelligent—a face that looked innocent, kind, gentle and caring. Yet, underneath the fake mask lay a deadly monster. “Hawk, Warden Wayberry could lose his job, couldn't he?”
“Most likely, with all the media attention on the prison break,” Hawk agreed.
Nikki rubbed her chin. “Maybe that's exactly what Wayberry wants, too.”
“What do you mean?” Hawk asked.
Before Nikki could reply, Tori walked into the kitchen. “Good morning,” she yawned. “Sorry about the way I look.”
“You look lovely,” Nikki replied. She admired the gray and white dress Tori was wearing and grinned when she saw sneakers on her feet. “Very stylish.”
Tori looked down at her feet. “Old habits,” she blushed. “I assumed we were going to be doing a lot of walking today.”
“We might,” Nikki assured her. “Are you hungry?”
“I'll get some cereal.”
&nbs
p; Tori poured herself a bowl of corn flakes and sat down next to Hawk. He knew that Nikki's love and care were helping Tori develop into the young woman she was meant to be. “Still mad at me?”
“No.” Tori smiled at Hawk. “I've had time to think, and you were right, Hawk. We can't walk into a fight when we're outnumbered.”
“Listen, guys,” Nikki interrupted and quickly finished her coffee. “I have a theory—and it's just a theory for now—but it might bear some weight, I don't know.”
“Spill the beans,” Hawk told her.
Nikki drew in a deep breath. “Fort Knox,” she said in a quick voice and waited for Hawk and Tori to laugh at her. When she saw them lean forward in their chairs with intent eyes instead, she carefully continued. “Back in Atlanta, I knew a reporter who was into all kinds of conspiracy theories. Some of the theories were half-baked, yet other theories actually had merit. Anyway, as I was lying in bed this morning, out of the blue, the words Fort Knox came into my mind. Maybe I had been thinking about Fort Knox subconsciously—I don't really know how that idea came into my mind—and I remembered having a conversation with that reporter from Atlanta about Fort Knox one day during my lunch hour.”
Tori's eyes grew large. “Nikki,” she said, “where's your phone?”
Nikki stood up, walked to the kitchen counter, and picked up her phone from beside the coffee pot. “Here, honey. What's on your mind?”
“The photo,” Tori blurted, “the photo of the license plate on the black car—a sedan, right?”
“Right,” Nikki said and looked at Hawk. Hawk waited. Together they watched Tori go through the photos on the phone.
“Here,” Tori exclaimed, “and look at the license plate number...6-18-20-6-14-24…FRT-KX.”
“My goodness,” Nikki gasped and took her phone from Tori. “Hawk, look! Tori is absolutely right.”
“That's why you remembered,” Tori beamed. “The sequence of those numbers grabbed my attention when I saw the photo, but I couldn't understand why. I kept running the letters associated with the numbers over in my mind. Now it all makes perfect sense.”
Hawk took Nikki's phone and studied the license plate in the photo. “Government tag with the numbers 6-18-20-6-14-24. Lot of numbers for a government car, unless—”
“Unless it wasn't a real government plate,” Nikki exclaimed. “Tori, you're a genius.”
“I thank you.” She smiled and blushed.
“So, what about this Fort Knox theory you and your friend talked about?” Hawk asked, eagerly handing Nikki back her phone.
Nikki struggled to settle her excited mind. “Mitch—that was my friend’s name—claimed that the real Fort Knox was empty. He claimed that America was broke, and that's why the American government was going after Libya, to steal the gold in that country—real off-the-wall stuff, or so it seemed at the time. Anyway, Mitch claimed that the gold America took from Libya would be stored in Vermont. He never said what town, though.” Nikki looked at Hawk and Tori. “According to Mitch, not only was the government in Libya housing more gold than we can imagine, but Libya was hiding wealthy gold mines from the United Nations.”
Hawk leaned back in his chair. “Nikki, last year NATO imposed a no-fly zone over Libya and began bombing operations. I could never make any sense of why NATO was bombing Libya. Sure, the country isn't the top tourist spot in the world, but there are worse countries to worry about.”
“If America was after the gold in Libya, how long would it take to transfer that gold here?” Tori asked.
“Not overnight, that's for sure,” Hawk told Tori and rubbed his chin. “So, this Mitch said the new Fort Knox would be in Vermont?”
“Yeah,” Nikki said trying to control her nerves. “Hawk, my goodness, this is major and—”
“And what?” Hawk asked, alarmed.
“When were the Twenty-Four Thieves arrested?”
“Last year,” Hawk said and then understood. “Around the time America began bombing Libya.” Hawk stood up and paced. “Somehow Ringston found out about the gold; that has to be it.”
Hearing someone knock on the back door, Nikki glanced at Hawk. Hawk placed his hand on the gun resting in a holster clipped to his belt. “Who is it?” he asked.
“Lidia and Herbert,” Lidia called out. “Hurry, it's flooding out here.”
Nikki ran to the back door and opened it. She pulled Lidia and Herbert inside. Herbert shook rain off his green rain jacket. Lidia closed her blue umbrella and placed it down into a wooden umbrella holder sitting beside the back door. “The campground is deserted. Everyone has left,” Lidia told Nikki. Nikki watched Lidia take off her blue rain jacket and hang it up on the wooden coat rack next to the umbrella holder. “Herbert and I decided it was better if we stay with you a while. We have our luggage out in the car.”
“Of course, my home is your home,” Nikki said in a sincere voice. She hugged Lidia and Herbert and offered them coffee.
“May I take a shower first?” Herbert asked. “My head is aching and I feel dirty. I haven't had the opportunity to shower, and both Lidia and I have had very little sleep.”
Nikki studied Lidia's tired face and noticed her friend was still wearing the same clothes she had worn the day before. “Please, go rest,” she begged.
Lidia patted Herbert on the arm. “Herbert, go shower. I'll bring in our luggage.”
“I'll do that,” Hawk told Lidia and hurried outside into the rain before Lidia could object.
“Good man,” Herbert told Nikki and wandered away toward the bathroom.
Nikki quickly grabbed Lidia's hand and sat her down at the kitchen table next to Tori. “Fort Knox,” she told Lidia in an excited voice. “Lidia, this entire mess involves gold—billions of billions of dollars’ worth of gold.”
Nikki explained the new theory to Lidia, who then listened to Tori speak about the license plate number she had decoded. “My goodness,” Lidia whispered. “This is all so...disturbing.”
“This means,” Nikki assured her friends, “that anyone who interferes will be eliminated without question. We're on shaky ground. No wonder Eric said we were in shark-infested waters.”
And just then, Nikki's cell phone rang. Nikki checked the incoming caller. Her eyes grew wide. “It's Eric!” she said, shocked.
“Answer the call,” Tori begged.
Nikki pressed the accept button. “Hello?”
“How did you like your cheeseburger meal?” Eric asked Nikki in a pleasant voice.
“Best cheeseburger I ever ate,” Nikki confirmed. “I was just thinking about you, Eric.”
“I was wondering why my ears were burning. Doesn’t that mean somebody is talking about you?”
“I'm not sure.” Nikki smiled. “Perhaps if I give your restaurant a good review you might help me?”
“Perhaps,” Eric replied, “you might treat me for dinner tonight? I'm in your vicinity. I decided I should take my granddaughter to see an old friend upstate.”
“I'll even cover the tip,” Nikki promised Eric.
“No tip—private dinner,” Eric cautioned Nikki.
“Of course,” Nikki confirmed. “Where do I meet you?”
“I'll be in your area in about thirty minutes.”
“Great,” Nikki told Eric. “The town is under lockdown, so you will have to go through a roadblock to get into the county. When you pass the roadblock, call me. I will meet you downtown at my store.”
“Will do,” Eric replied and ended the call.
Hawk burst through the back door, carrying two brown suitcases. “Here you go,” he told Lidia, soaking wet. “I'll take them to the guest room.”
As Hawk closed the kitchen door with the back of his right foot, a hard hand shoved it open. Lionel Perkins stepped into the doorway with a Glock 17 in his wet hands.
Chapter Eight
Lionel Perkins stepped into the kitchen wearing a black suit and black loafers. Kicking the back door shut, he studied Hawk. “Listen, mate” he said in a thick Briti
sh accent, “take your gun and put it down on the floor.”
“You shot an innocent woman, you piece of filth,” Hawk snarled at Lionel.
“I had no other choice,” Lionel told Hawk in a calm voice. “I had to bring Ringston to your quaint little town. My desire was complete annihilation of that nasty man. You see, I went against orders. Because of my...disobedience, Ringston was forced to come and take care of me, only the nasty little man left town before I could kill him.”
“So you didn't shoot Lucy to leave me a message?” Nikki asked.
Lionel gave Nikki a steady look. “I wasn't even aware of your reputation until recently. I wasn't even supposed to come to this town. Ringston made this town a no-go, and that is why I chose to have my driver, at gunpoint, of course, bring me here.”
“I think I'm beginning to understand,” Nikki said. “When Ringston found out I wasn't in town, he rushed back down to Fall Cliff to ensure I wasn't posing any clear and present threats to his operation by snooping around.”
“You're going back to prison,” Hawk promised Lionel.
“I don't think so, mate,” Lionel replied, narrowing his eyes at him. “I have what I need to walk over the border into the vastness of Canada. But before I take my holiday, I knew I needed to pay Ms. Bates a visit. It seems like you're the woman who can get the truth out.”
“What truth?” Nikki asked, playing dumb.
Lionel shook his head. “Don't insult me, Ms. Bates,” he said in a deadly voice as rain dripped from his hair. “I've been listening to every word you and your group of detective friends have been saying to one another. You know about Fort Knox.”
“So we do,” Nikki stated calmly. “Chance, blind assumption, problem-solving skills, process of elimination—many elements in the story. We seem to be missing a date.”
Hawk looked at Lionel with angry eyes. There was no way he would let the scumbag get away and cross over into Canada. “Tell us what you know, Perkins,” he ordered in a tough voice.
Perkins aimed the Glock at Hawk's chest. “Don't push me, mate,” he warned Hawk. “I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Are we clear?”
Gold Flake Chocolate Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 6) Page 4