The Butterfly Conspiracy

by James Nelson

  A rife fired again and Stephen heard the bullet zip between him and Jeanette. Jeanette lunged at Stephen to push him down. As she grabbed for Stephen, Jeanette lost her footing on the narrow ledge and disappeared over the cliff. Stephen threw himself down on the trail and attempted to work himself over to the ledge. A rifle cracked again and a bullet lodged into the path just in front of him.

  Still another bullet tore past. This time, the sound came from behind. Stephen thought he must be surrounded. He inched himself to the edge of the narrow trail and frantically peered over the steep cliff for any sign of Jeanette.

  Stephen turned as he heard commotion in the woods near the entrance of the trail they had just walked. Three men dressed in camouflage, each carrying an assault rife, burst from the forest. Two men ran over to Stephen and pulled him up, one on each side. A shot rang out from the meadow below. The third camouflaged man threw himself flat on the trail and started pumping bullets in the direction of the last shot.

  Paulie dropped behind a rock as three bullets peppered the area around him. He jumped up, fired a round and ducked back behind a boulder. A bullet ripped though the leaves just above his head. Paulie inched out from behind the rock, searching the trail high above him for any movement.

  A shot rang out and Paulie screamed in pain. He dropped his rifle and grabbed his thigh with both hands. He saw blood seeping from his leg. Paulie stumbled and fell to his knees. He tried to steady himself as he rolled down a hill.

  Three more shots hit the ground just behind him. Paulie came to rest in a clump of cedar. He scrambled behind an overturned tree and pushed hard on his thigh, trying to slow the bleeding.

  The men on each side of Stephen dragged him to safety behind the mouth of the cave. The man on his right loosened his grip on Stephen’s arm and said, “Stephen Moorehouse, you’re being arrested for the murder of Britt Adolfson.”

  Stephen just stood there. He was trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

  “Are you kidding? What about that idiot Moon, trying to kill us?” Stephen struggled to pull away. “Let go of me. My girlfriend fell over the cliff. I need to look for her now!”

  The two men restrained him.

  “We have backup in the area. A team of agents have already found the shooter’s car and they’re headed our way. We saw Ms. St. Jacques fall and another agent is searching for her now. Please come with us, Mr. Moorehouse.”

  On the march back down the trail, Stephen had one agent in front of him and the other walked closely behind. Stephen’s hands were handcuffed behind his back. Stephen asked the officer in front of him, “What makes you think I killed Ms. Adolfson?”

  “Sir, I can’t comment on the case, but I will tell you we found a bloody knife, identified as belonging to you, hidden up underneath a ceiling tile in Ms. Adolfson bedroom.”

  Stephen stopped walking. The officer behind him gave him a poke.

  “Get moving.”

  Stephen’s mind was racing. Had someone moved the knife to an even more incriminating place?

  Stephen walked the rest of the way in silence. He was steadily falling into a deep despair while trying to make sense of the latest developments. He found it impossible to fully comprehend what was happening. He had just been arrested for murder.

  His beautiful Jeanette was probably lying dead at the base of the cliff and Moon was still roaming free.

  The trail was getting dim as the moon was beginning to rise. Stephen shuffled his way down the path, following the policeman directly ahead of him. From the uneven pace, it was apparent the cops were not as familiar with the trail as Jeanette had been. Even with a bright flashlight, the agent leading the way had to stop every now and then and hunt for the trail several times before they made it back to the staging area at Cliffside Manor.

  Chapter 41

  Jeanette lay wedged against a fallen hickory log. Once she felt the trail crumple under her feet, she knew she was in trouble.

  The cliff edge dropped straight down twelve feet but, lucky for her, a thick growth of evergreens softened her fall. She rolled another twenty feet before slamming into the side of the log.

  Jeanette fought to catch her breath. She lay still as she heard more gunfire. She moved her right arm. It seemed okay. She flexed her left arm and then her legs. There didn’t seem to be any broken bones. She listened for more rifle shots. She heard only silence, and then in the distance she heard voices crackling over what sounded like hand-held radios. Above, she could hear men scrambling down the steep cliff face.

  She slowly rolled to her knees and peered over the log into open space. She could see just beyond the log. The cliff dropped straight down to the Lake Superior shore hundreds of feet below.

  There was movement above her. Two men in uniforms were headed her way. Both men had guns drawn. She knew one of them, Dave Saunders, from school. She waved her arm.

  “Dave, here…over here!”

  She felt the log move slightly. Both policemen stopped moving.

  “Don’t move, Jeanette. That log is the only thing between you and the shoreline.”

  The cliff was sheer where the policemen were standing and it was a very steep drop to where Jeanette lay. Dave slowly lowered himself to his hands and knees, trying not to topple over the incline. He laid flat on the ground and inched his way head first to Jeanette. Dave turned to the other policeman.

  “Jim, hold my foot. I’m going to crawl closer and see if I can grab her.”

  The other officer held on to Dave’s ankle as he inched his way closer.

  “Jeanette, can you turn and grab my hand? You have to move very slowly.”

  Jeanette started to turn but stopped when she felt the log move closer to the cliff.

  “You’re close, Jeanette. My hand’s only six inches away. Try again, but move slowly.”

  As Jeanette reached out, she felt the log give way and tumble over the edge. Jeanette pushed off with her foot and flung herself at Dave’s outstretched hand. She felt strong fingers wrap around her wrist.

  “Jim, hang on. I’ve got you, Jeanette.”

  Dave pulled as Jeanette slowly eased herself away from the cliff edge.

  Jim was able to steady Dave as they slowly climbed back to the path up above. Once the officers pulled Jeanette to the safety of the trail, they all sat and caught their breath for several minutes.

  Dave glanced over at Jeanette and saw her arm was bleeding.

  “Are you okay?” Dave asked.

  “My chest and arm are starting to ache,” Jeanette said, rubbing her left arm.

  “Let’s take a look,” Dave said. He pushed the sleeve of her shirt up and looked at her elbow. There was blood on her shirt. He slowly moved her forearm up and down.

  “It doesn’t look like it’s broken. You had one heck of a fall. Lucky for you that log was there. You may have cracked a rib when you slammed into it, though.”

  “Let’s get you back to Mr. Kahle’s,” Jim said. “We’ll have an ambulance ready for you.”

  “How’s Stephen? Did he get hit?”

  “No, he’s okay. He’s headed back to Mr. Kahle’s now.”

  Phillip was pacing back and forth on the brick driveway as Stephen and the police finally made it back to Cliffside Manor.

  He had been briefed a few hours earlier, when they showed up looking for his nephew. As they placed Stephen in a police car, Phillip leaned in and said, “Don’t worry, Stephen. We’ll get you out of this mess. This whole thing is preposterous.”

  “Uncle Phil, Jeanette fell off the cliff at Devil’s Kitchen. She was trying to push me out of the way when someone was shooting at us. You need to find her and see if she’s okay!”

  Phillip turned to one of the policemen. “Is this true?”

  “Yes, Mr. Kahle. We have radio contact with another team and they tell me she’s been found and she’s okay. A few cuts and bruises, but doing fine. They’re headed back to your place now and should be here in about thirty minutes.”

  Phil
lip leaned into the police car. “Did you hear that, Stephen?”

  “Yes, at least something turned out well tonight.”

  A policeman jumped in the driver’s seat, the window next to Stephen rolled up, and the car turned down the driveway on the way to Grand View and the county jail. Stephen looked out the rear window and watched as his uncle disappeared from view.

  Chapter 42

  Paulie felt the ground beneath him start to get wet from his blood. He was feeling light headed. He started going over his options. He had dropped his gun and he was bleeding badly. He was immobile behind a log and he didn’t know how many cops were shooting at him. He was unsure if he had made good on plan B. Was the kid still alive? If so, the boys back home were not going to be happy. He knew what that meant; lie here and bleed to death, or try and get back home so he could get whacked. Neither option was very appealing.

  Paulie winced in pain as he tried to get on his knees. He pulled himself up on the log and started hollering, “Hey, stop shooting, it’s me. Here I am, hold your fire. I’m over here!”

  Stephen spent a sleepless night in jail. The previous night’s activities were replaying over in his mind. There were so many unanswered questions. How was Jeanette? Who had taken his knife? Why had it been moved? How could anyone possibly think he could have murdered Britt? Who had been shooting at them up at Devil’s Kitchen Cave? How was Moon involved? What about that lunatic who had followed him all the way from New York and what part did he play in all of this?

  Stephen finally was able to doze off sometime before dawn. He rolled over on his thin mattress as someone yelled “breakfast” and Stephen heard a tray slide into his cell. He had just finished eating a dry piece of toast and some watery oatmeal when a guard opened the cell.

  “Looks like you know all the right people,” the guard said as he pushed open the cell door. “We don’t get many murderers around here, and when we do, they don’t get out on bond the very next day.”

  “I’m not a murderer,” Stephen snapped.

  The guard ignored him. “Your uncle’s waiting for you downstairs. Don’t jump bail, kid. If you do, it’s going cost him half a million bucks.”

  Stephen said, “I’m not running away from anything. Am I free to go now?”

  “Not really. But since everyone around here knows your uncle and they know he’s got that security guard, you’re going to be under some kind of house arrest.”

  Stephen followed the guard downstairs and found Uncle Phillip and Jeanette anxiously waiting for him. Jeanette rushed up to him and attempted to give him a big hug. The hug turned out to be somewhat lopsided since only one of Jeanette’s arms was involved.

  Stephen saw the bandage on Jeanette’s left arm.

  “What happened?” Stephen asked, “Did you get shot?”

  “No, I scraped my elbow when I fell. Nothing serious.”

  Stephen and Jeanette climbed into Uncle Phillip’s car and headed back to Cliffside Manor.

  As they walked into the foyer, Uncle Phillip said, “Cora has prepared something for you to eat, Stephen. I imagine you’re starving. It looks like you didn’t get much sleep last night. Why don’t you head up to your room and get some rest after lunch. We can all meet in the trophy room and update each other on all that has happened.”

  Stephen wolfed down his lunch and headed to his room. He took a quick shower and collapsed into bed.

  Around three thirty, while Stephen was still sleeping, Detective Drew showed up at Jeanette’s office looking for Mr. Kahle. Jeanette showed him into Phillip’s office.

  “Hello, Detective. What can I do for you? Are you here to check on Stephen?”

  “No. Actually, I wanted you to know we have arrested the man who was shooting at Jeanette and your nephew last night.”

  Phillip jumped up. “That’s great news!”

  “His name is Paul De Luca. He’s a small time criminal from New York City who may have some mob connections. We‘re still checking him out, but we think he may have followed your nephew from New York when he came to visit you.”

  “Stephen said he thought he may have been followed,” Phillip added.

  “De Luca’s singing like a bird. He doesn’t want to go back to New York. From what he says, Stephen’s father got in a little too deep playing the ponies and the mob sent him here to kidnap Stephen.”

  Phillip did not comment.

  “We also think he was being assisted a local man by the name of Francis Murchie.” The detective continued. “I sent an officer over to his house to ask him a few questions. Unfortunately, Mr. Murchie was found dead and stuffed in a closet. We’ve booked Mr. De Luca on suspicions of murder and kidnapping charges.”

  Phillip sat quietly for a few moments. “Do you think this De Luca guy could be responsible for Britt’s murder, Detective?”

  “The evidence does not support that theory. But it’s something we need to keep working on, Mr. Kahle.”

  Detective Drew stood, “I’ve taken enough of your time, I just wanted to update you in person about the man that was stalking your nephew.”

  Around six thirty, Stephen made an appearance in the trophy room. Jeanette and Phillip were having a drink. Jeanette ran to Stephen as he entered the room.

  “How are you feeling, Stephen?” Uncle Phillip asked.

  “Much better. Cora’s cooking and a long nap made a big difference.”

  Phillip walked to the bar and handed Stephen a drink. Stephen took it and settled into an overstuffed chair. Phillip took a seat next to him.

  “Detective Drew was here earlier and updated me on some developments while you slept.”

  Stephen turned to Uncle Phillip. “Have they found Britt’s killer?”

  “Unfortunately, no. It looks like you’re still suspect number one. That’s why I wanted us all to meet tonight. We need to put our heads together and see if we can get to the bottom of this.”

  Uncle Phillip proceeded to tell Stephen about Paulie De Luca and the disturbing news about the recently deceased Moon Murchie.”

  Stephen sat quietly. So many thoughts were running in his head. How could his father do something to put him in so much danger? He felt lucky that Paulie didn’t hurt or kill him when he had the chance. And finally, he felt terrible that another person was dead.

  Jeanette and Phillip sat quietly and let Stephen have his introspection. Finally Stephen looked at Jeanette and said, “I guess one mystery is solved but we still have one more to go. Now we need to figure out what happened to Britt.”

  Phillip was about to say something when the phone rang in Jeanette’s office. She got up to answer it. Jeanette leaned out of her office doorway, “Stephen, you have a call,” she said, with a slight look of irritation.

  “Is it my mother?” Stephen asked.

  “No”

  “My dad?”

  “No, it’s a girl named Jill.”

  Stephen didn’t move, he just looked at Jeanette.

  “Do you want to take the call?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Jeanette asked, “Should I tell her you aren’t here?”

  Stephen slowly rose from his chair. “No, I’ll take it.” he said as he entered the office. Jeanette handed him the receiver and stepped out.

  Stephen settled into Jeanette’s chair. “Hello.”

  He heard a familiar voice, “Hi, Stephen. I bet you weren’t expecting to hear from me.”

  “You’ve got that right, Jill. What’s going on? How did you get this number?”

  “I didn’t think your mother would give it to me so I had your friend Butch call and get it.”

  “Where are you?” Stephen asked.

  “Not in Europe, if that’s what your wondering.”

  “Why not? What happened?”

  “Well, for starters, I was a real idiot. Ralph and I didn’t get along and I really want to apologize for what I did to you.” There was a pause. “I’d like to see you when you get back.”

  “You’re right, I w
asn’t expecting to hear from you. I’m sorry your trip didn’t work out and I appreciate your apology, but I don’t think it would be a very good idea for us to get together.”

  “Look Stephen, I’m very sorry about what happened and I would really like to see you. How about if I take a quick trip to Michigan? I got back from Europe earlier than planned and I’ve never been to Michigan before. It would be fun.”

  Stephen thought for a moment. “No, Jill. You really hurt me when you decided to take off like you did. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what happened, thinking about us. Believe me, coming here would not be a good idea.”

  “But I really want to see you.”

  “I have to tell you, I’ve actually met a really fantastic girl here, and I’m hoping she’ll come back with me when I go to art school.”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “Okay, Stephen. I’m sorry, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Take care.”

  Stephen hung up the receiver and walked back into the trophy room.

  Jeanette looked inquisitively at Stephen.

  “You won’t believe that call. I’ll explain later.”

  Phillip said, “While you were on the phone, Jeanette and I were talking. Stephen, can you explain how the knife I gave you ended up hidden in the ceiling panels of Britt’s bedroom.”

  “No, I can’t. But I can tell you where we first found the knife.”

  “Where?”

  “Jeanette and I had watched your Piltdown Man movie in the theater room. After the movie, we went to the library to talk. We noticed the same lion figure in the movie was on the wall in the library. I thought I would turn it to see if anything happened like it did in the movie. Sure enough, when I turned it, the bookcase opened up and we found the hidden passageway. Needless to say, we were curious to see where it went, so we followed it all the way over to Britt’s place.”

  “What about the knife?”

  “When we came back, Jeanette and I found it wrapped in bloody rags hidden behind the stuffed bear in the passageway. I didn’t want to disturb it because I knew it was evidence, so we left it there.”