Warden Wayberry looked at Lionel with deadly eyes. “What is this woman talking about?”
“Lionel Perkins was sent to kill Ringston by Malloy Trally,” Nikki explained. “All the while feeding Trally vital information about plans to steal the real gold and switch it with the fake gold. But, some of the thieves didn't care for the plan, did they? And they remained loyal to Ringston, who knew all about the plan from the start. Now Ringston is going to get his gold.”
Warden Wayberry swung around and aimed his gun at Perkins. “You betrayed me, Perkins?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Hey, mate, this woman is lying. I've never worked for the CIA before in my life,” Lionel protested. “I've been straight with you from day one. I've been your number one man. I'm the one who sent my co-workers to infiltrate the blasted security detail.”
“Yeah, and how did you do that so easily?” Warden Wayberry suddenly wondered. “It seems kinda fishy that you were able to call on some outside friends who just happened to be willing to risk their lives.”
Nikki rubbed her chin, “And it seemed strange to me how a man in your position let yourself be seen, too. Unless, you were planning on faking your own death and wanted people to believe you were still in Maple Hills. The teenager hiding in the rental cabin wasn't there by chance, either. He was placed there. And I bet he looks a lot like you, Mr. Perkins. Some poor kid who was played into believing you were going to help him, when in fact you were going to kill him and make his body appear as yours.”
“Please,” Mayor Brown begged. “Everyone calm down. We can talk this through, logically, calmly, and rationally.”
“No, we can't,” Agent Ringston said.
Nikki watched Agent Ringston step through into the office and knock Perkins unconscious with a Glock 17. He then pointed his gun at Warden Wayberry. “Drop it or die.”
Warden Wayberry dropped his gun. “Don't be rash,” he warned Ringston. “All the banks want is the gold. Give us the gold and we'll go away.”
“The gold is already in the caves, you moron,” Agent Ringston snapped at Warden Wayberry. “The gold arrived last night. It was me who ordered Ms. Bates here. It was me who needed to distract you. The thieves have been on my side all along, working for me, not the banks. Trally, get in here!”
A tall, thin, man in his early seventies stepped into the office, wearing a dark gray suit and sporting a stylish walking cane. The man's thick gray hair and thin mustache made him appear very distinguished and deadly. “We knew the banks were going to send someone,” Malloy Trally said in a calm tone that sounded a little British, “but we were not certain who. Until, now, thanks to Ms. Bates and her skill to see the obvious.”
“The banks will have the gold,” Warden Wayberry growled, unafraid and standing his ground.
“Will they?” Agent Trally chuckled. “Why, we set such a web that no one really knows who has the gold and where the real gold truly is... except the people standing in this very room. All the thieves, except for my inside man, who is currently lying unconscious on the floor, have been eliminated, their bodies thrown into a very deep cave, it seems.”
Agent Ringston focused on Mayor Brown. “You did well.”
Mayor Brown sat down in his seat and wiped sweat from his forehead. “I was wondering where you were.”
“Waiting for Ms. Bates to hear our planned phone call and for you to feed her false information to bait the mole,” Agent Ringston explained. “You see, Ms. Bates, Trally and I knew Perkins had betrayed us, but we weren't certain with whom. Someone sent Perkins to kill me. I couldn't let on that I knew. I had to play their game. When I realized you live in Maple Falls and were in Fall Cliff the same day the prison escape took place, I made out that you were a thorn in my side.”
“You used me as bait,” Nikki said.
“Yes,” Agent Ringston replied and focused his gun on Nikki. “You played your part well, Ms. Bates. You must understand, when so much gold is at stake, extreme precautions must be taken. We must eliminate every loose end. Thanks to you, we found out who our missing banker is.”
“You can kill me, but you know the banks will keep sending more men,” Warden Wayberry promised Ringston. “The banks designed the war against Libya. The banks funded the terrorist cells that convinced the American people Libya had to be dealt with. The banks created the vault to store the gold. Do you really think you're going to walk away from the victor?”
“The banks are heading west with a train full of fake gold,” Ringston laughed at Warden Wayberry. “My band of thieves were very skilled in their work. And the ones I left behind, pretending to be agents, they were useful in standing guard while the real gold was delivered to the caves. As we speak, it is sitting underground.”
“So, you knew I was lying?” Nikki asked Ringston.
“You lie very well,” Agent Ringston congratulated Nikki. “But you tried to bluff the wrong man. And you,” Ringston said to Warden Wayberry, “were foolish in forcing Ms. Bates to distract me.”
“We were desperate,” Warden Wayberry confessed. “The gold had to be switched out and fast.”
“We know,” Trally said in a cold voice. “But our men were on top of the game every step of the way. We fed everyone false information to cause confusion and delay. That's how the game works. All the while, we had the real gold delivered to the caves while the state of Vermont was in a mode of absolute panic.”
Nikki squeezed Tori's hand. She had been played like a fiddle, yet she was alive. At least now the case made sense to her. “Betrayal is the name of the game, is that it?” she asked Trally.
“Yes,” Trally answered Nikki. “Leak false information, make your allies begin to question one another, set false traps, cause conflict among the ranks, and all the while, you work in the shadows, achieving your goal.”
“And,” Agent Ringston said, not knowing he was making a grave mistake, “no one except the people standing in this room knows where the gold is hidden. All that is left to do is tie up a few more loose ends, and we'll be through.”
“Yes, we will,” Trally said and fired his gun. Agent Ringston dropped to the floor before he knew what hit him. “His mistake was in actually trusting me,” Trally said in a disappointed voice. “Such a shame. He had potential. Now, who will be next?”
Warden Wayberry, with no fear for his life, ran for his gun. Trally dropped him with a single bullet. Tori screamed and threw her hands over her mouth. “Please,” Mayor Brown begged, “I did everything that was asked of me.”
“So you did,” Trally said and aimed his gun at Mayor Brown. “You've been Mayor too long. It's time I placed my own man in this town. Goodbye, Mayor Brown and—”
“I would put down your gun,” Nikki interrupted Trally.
“And why is that?”
“Me,” Eric said, stepping into the office holding a baseball bat in his hands. Before Trally could react, Eric smacked the gun out of his hand, breaking the man's wrist. Trally screamed out in pain. Eric ignored the scream and threw the front of the bat into Trally's stomach. Trally dropped to his knees. Eric raised the bat in the air and hit him in the shoulder blades. “It's over, Trally, you lose,” he said and threw down the bat.
“You...will suffer for...this,” Trally promised Eric. Oblivious to Lionel, he tried to crawl to his gun. He didn't see Lionel raise his gun and fire. Trally dropped forward and lay still.
Slowly, Perkins stood up to his feet. “I could kill you all,” he said in a painful voice, “but I won't. I saved your lives, so remember that. I'm not all bad.”
“You're still a monster,” Tori yelled at Lionel with tears flowing from her eyes. “You'll always be a monster.”
“Maybe so,” Lionel agreed and eased back toward the office door. “Brown, if you're smart, you'll vanish like me. If you stay here, you're a dead man.”
“But the gold,” Mayor Brown said.
“Mate, forget the gold, it's... fool’s gold, now.” Lionel turned and ran but ran right into Hawk'
s fist. Stumbling back into the office, he tripped over his feet and tumbled down onto the floor. Eric quickly grabbed his bat and swung at Lionel's gun, knocking it out of his hands.
“I was wondering when you were going to get here,” Nikki said in a shaky voice. Running to Hawk, she wrapped her arms around him as a dozen state troopers rushed into the office. Eric grabbed Tori and pulled her out into the hallway.
“I was called to the hospital as soon as I returned to town. Something about a customer claiming she became very ill after eating one of my cheeseburgers. A customer who matched Tori’s description. And when the nurse told me she suddenly left the Emergency Room with Warden Wayberry, I knew something was wrong. I began driving around town and saw Ms. Bates’ SUV parked in front of the City Hall.”
“Thank you,” Nikki told Eric and hugged him. “You saved our lives.”
“No,” Eric said, looking down at Trally's dead body, “you saved mine. Come on, let's go to my restaurant and have a cheeseburger.”
“Sounds great,” Nikki said.
Tori wasn't so sure. “Three men were shot and killed...” she said looking at the hectic commotion taking place in Mayor's Brown office. “I... just don't understand any of this.”
Nikki gently wrapped her arm around Tori's shoulder. “Sometimes, honey, the bad guys kill the bad guys. This case wasn't an easy one. I was even fooled by Agent Ringston. I truly believed I had bluffed him, when in fact, he’d bluffed me. But in the end, he didn't fool the one man that truly needed to be beat.”
Tori wiped at her tears. “I guess I shouldn't be crying for criminals...it's just all so sad to me.”
“You have a heart.” Nikki hugged Tori. “Come on, let's go.”
“Hawk looked into the office at Lionel Perkins. “Let it end here or else,” he warned him.
“It's over, mate,” Lionel assured Hawk as the state trooper handcuffed him. “But not for you. Someday we'll play again.”
“Anytime,” Hawk promised and walked away with Nikki and Tori.
“You promised after this it's making chocolate and working on your book,” Hawk told Nikki.
“I intend to keep my promise, too,” Nikki sighed in an exhausted voice. “Hawk, you promised to treat me to dinner. Do you plan to keep that promise?”
“You bet,” Hawk smiled. Leaning over, he kissed Nikki on the cheek. As he walked through the front lobby, he saw the old woman still working on her Sudoku puzzle. The old woman looked up, smiled at him, and went back to working trying to figure out what columns her numbers belonged in.
Chapter Fourteen
“What about the gold?” Herbert insisted, standing in Nikki's chocolate store.
Nikki rolled her eyes. Putting a fresh rack of peppermint chocolate into the front display case, she wondered what she would do about Herbert. “Lidia, will you handle Herbert for me?”
Lidia snapped at Herbert. “No one knows where the gold is, Herbert. Drop the matter.”
Herbert watched Nikki wipe powdered sugar off the pink dress she was wearing. He would not let the matter of the gold rest. “You know where the gold is. I know you do.”
Tori giggled. “Herbert, the good guys won the battle. And as long as the gold remains hidden, we'll continue to win the battle.”
Lidia patted Tori on the shoulder. She was pleased Tori was back in the store helping out. “You tell him, dear.”
“Can you at least tell me why in the world you made Tori fake being sick?” Herbert asked Nikki. “What were you really planning to do?”
“I feared Eric might try and kill Trally. I wanted Tori to trap him at the hospital, that's all. It's a good thing I did make Tori do it, because Eric saved our lives.” Nikki smiled at Tori.
“Ah,” Herbert said, frustrated, and walked outside. “You women and your silly plans.”
Hawk laughed. Leaning against the front counter, eating a piece of homemade peppermint bark, he watched Herbert fuss to himself out on the front sidewalk. “Poor guy,” he said.
“Speaking of poor guy,” Nikki said and cuddled up next to Hawk, “where's my dinner? I'm starving.”
Hawk leaned forward and kissed Nikki. “Dinner is waiting at the diner, beautiful. But before we go, I need to tell everyone something.”
“Oh no,” Lidia said and nearly plugged her ears.
“As it stands, no one knows that the gold is hidden down in the cave. Nikki and I went to the cave last week and rappelled down into it.”
“You did what?” Lidia burst out.
“We were safe,” Nikki assured Lidia. “The cave is very deep, and if you keep going straight down, you won't reach the bottom. But, there are side caves all along the wall. We...well, I'll let Hawk tell you.”
“We found the gold...all of it, melted down into tiny marbles, settled in wooden crates.” Hawk explained.
“We didn't find anyone down in the caves,” Nikki told Tori and Lidia. “Anyway, the gold appears to be safe and well-hidden for now. Hawk and I... well, we committed a crime.”
“I took some dynamite with me,” Hawk confessed. “The tunnel leading into the cave is now caved in.”
“We nearly got ourselves killed,” Nikki said and rolled her eyes at Hawk. “You and your dynamite.”
Hawk blushed a little. “Guess I used too much. But hey, we learned how to run and climb real fast, didn't we?”
“Remind me to stay home next time,” Nikki told Hawk and nudged him in the side with her elbow.
Lidia listened, amazed. “My goodness,” was all she could say. But Tori smiled. She whistled and went back to work.
“Sometimes the good guys win, and no one gets the stolen gold,” Tori whispered to herself. “And sometimes the smell of sweet chocolate is all the gold you need.”
Nikki, Lidia, and Hawk looked at each and then looked back at Tori. They all shrugged their shoulders and smiled. Far away, Lionel Perkins, sitting in a prison cell, carved Hawk's name on a gray wall with the edge of a broken dinner spoon. “Someday, mate, someday. But don't worry, it'll be Nikki Bates I go after first.”
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About the Author
Wendy Meadows is an emerging author of cozy mysteries. She lives in “The Granite State” with her husband, two sons, two cats and lovable Labradoodle.
When she isn’t working on her stories she likes to tend to her flower garden, relax with adult coloring and play video games with her family.
Get in Touch with Wendy
@wmeadowscozy
AuthorWendyMeadows
www.wendymeadows.com
[email protected]
Gold Flake Chocolate Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 6) Page 8