The Legend of Fuller’s Island

by Jan Fields

  After the moment of shock, his face lit up. “Nora!” he said. “I found you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Nora asked.

  “I brought him.”

  The voice came from behind Andrew. He stepped out of the way to reveal Stella, looking as out of place as possible in her neat beige suit and sensible shoes. “When you didn’t return, I insisted upon going to the mainland for help,” Stella said. “That’s when Charles showed his true colors. He tried to force me out of the boat! I had to smack him on the head with some odd tool thing I found and pilot the boat back myself!”

  “Where did the explosions come from?” Ian asked.

  “Me,” Andrew said. “I make fireworks. It’s not my smartest hobby and not strictly legal, but it comes in handy when you need a big boom.”

  “Do you know where the man with the gun is?” Annie asked.

  Andrew shook his head. “Probably near the main buildings where I had the fireworks set to blow.”

  “You blew up buildings?” Nora asked, eyes wide.

  “No, of course not,” Andrew said. “I blew up some of the rubble though.”

  “The gunman has Ellie,” Annie said. “We need to get her.”

  “Ellie was with them,” Mary Beth said.

  “She’s also just a kid,” Jim said. “We can’t leave without her.”

  Since Jim and Alice had to be the two most eager to get off Fuller’s Island, Annie felt her heart warm with pride at her friend.

  “So how do we find them?” Stella asked.

  Suddenly the group jumped as gunshots rang out in the near distance. “Sounds like a clue to me,” Andrew said. “Though I never thought I’d run toward gunfire.”

  “I don’t think we all need to go,” Ian said. “Andrew and I can check out the gunshots and try to get Ellie while the rest of you head for the boat.”

  “Yeah,” Mary Beth said. “That’s not going to work. We’re all going to rescue Ellie.” She gave Ian a slight push, and they all turned back to the path. They moved as carefully as possible.

  “The clearing with the main buildings isn’t far now,” Nora whispered after a few minutes.

  They slipped into the clearing, and Alice cried out softly. One of the large dogs lay on the ground ahead of them. She slipped out from under Jim’s arm and ran to the dog, kneeling beside it. The dog raised its head and licked her hand. “It’s been shot,” Alice said.

  “I guess we know why the guy was shooting,” Ian said quietly. “I think we can sneak up on the bad guy easier with fewer people. Could I talk some of you into staying here?”

  “I’ll stay,” Stella said.

  “I’m with Red,” Jim said. “Whatever she wants to do.”

  Alice looked up, blinking tears. “I’m going to stay with the dog.”

  “I’ll stay too,” Mary Beth said.

  Nora pointed at Ian. “I’m with you. When we get out of here, I’m going to have the story of the century.”

  “I’m coming too,” Annie said. “I’ve spent enough time wondering if my friends are all still alive. I don’t want to stay behind and worry about you too.”

  Andrew took the lead just ahead of Ian since he had more experience on the island. Annie followed close behind them, and Nora stayed on Annie’s heels. They walked carefully through the brush and debris as they approached the buildings. At any moment, Annie expected to hear another gunshot, but she forced one foot in front of the other.

  Ian stopped and held up his hand. When everyone froze, they heard voices up ahead. Ian crept forward until they could see around the building. To their surprise, they saw the gunman facing Bob Maynard and Ellie. Maynard kept his eyes on the other man’s gun, but he didn’t back down.

  “I just want Ellie,” Maynard said. “I don’t care about the dogs.”

  “I don’t like it when townies get all mouthy with me,” the gunman said. “I have enough trouble. Now if you don’t want to carry a bullet home in your guts, then the girl needs to come with me.”

  Ellie started to step around her uncle, but the tall man put out an arm to block her way. “We’re done doing what you say. There’s too many people involved. This is coming out into the open, and I’m not going to be associated with anything that gets people killed.”

  “I have it under control,” the gunman snarled.

  Then Annie heard another snarl, this one deeper and much, much scarier. A huge black dog slammed into the gunman from behind. The gun fired as the man went down, and Annie heard Ellie scream.

  The second the man hit the ground, Ian and Andrew were on him, pulling the gun away. The man tried to fight at first, but the dog stood directly over his face, growling and snapping until the man stopped thrashing. “Get that thing off me,” he whispered.

  “Funny,” Ian said. “They seem to like everyone but you.”

  “Just get it off.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Ian said. “But I do recommend you lay very, very still.”

  While the men were subduing the gunman, Annie ran toward Ellie. The girl was fussing over her uncle who stood with one hand clasped over his arm. Blood leaked from between his fingers, and he looked distinctly paler.

  “How bad is it?” Annie asked.

  “Hurts like you wouldn’t believe,” Maynard said. “But I don’t think it’s bad.”

  Nora began pulling bandages and tape from her knapsack. She alternated between clucking over the wound and scolding Maynard for ever going along with the dogfighters. “I know, I know,” Maynard said. “I just didn’t want to risk Ellie.”

  “How did that work out for you?” Nora snapped.

  “You’re right,” Maynard said wearily. “I’ve been an idiot.”

  Annie turned back to where Ian and Andrew were tying the gunman’s hands behind his back with strips torn from Andrew’s shirt. “I’m going to miss that shirt,” Andrew said mournfully, jerking the makeshift rope tighter.

  As they talked, the rest of their friends filed into the clearing with the wounded dog limping along beside them. “Well, looks like you didn’t need us to rescue you,” Alice said.

  The dog that had tackled the gunman trotted over to the other dog and began sniffing noses in a friendly way.

  “Looks like we’re ready to go,” Jim said.

  “But we’re still missing a bad policeman,” Annie said.

  “Maybe we’ll find him along the way,” Ian said. With the dogs along, I don’t think he’ll sneak up on us.” They reached the narrow path and began trooping along.

  “I’m already dreaming of the long, hot bath waiting for me,” Alice said.

  “Once we find a different inn,” Stella said with a sniff. “I doubt our accommodations at the Ayers’s will be available once the chief arrests Mrs. Ayers and her ridiculous brother.”

  “Come on, Stella,” Mary Beth said. “Didn’t you find him at least a little charming?”

  “I thought he was very charming,” Stella said seriously. “That’s one reason I didn’t trust him. Men like him don’t waste charm on women their own age—not without a reason.”

  “He could have just liked you,” Annie said.

  Stella smiled slightly. “If he did, I doubt he does now.”

  Suddenly, the group heard barking coming from up ahead. “Leroy, maybe?” Nora said.

  Ian and Andrew took the lead with Bob Maynard watching the prisoner closely. They broke into a tiny clearing not far from the cove. The dogs were clustered around one of the twisted trees that dripped moss. The tree held Leroy, clinging to a branch. His pants were torn, and Annie could see a trickle of blood on his leg.

  “Help!” Leroy shouted. “They tried to kill me.”

  “Good for them!” Alice called back.

  It took the group a few minutes to coax the dogs away from the tree. It helped that Nora had shoved a food bag from the cage into her knapsack. The dogs definitely preferred sandwiches over the taste of Leroy. The group brought the injured dog with them. They would take him to
a veterinarian when they got back to the mainland.

  Finally, the group and their prisoners reached the cove where Ellie had first taken them and where Bob Maynard had left his boat.

  “What are we going to do about the rest of the dogs?” Alice asked. “Just leave them?”

  “Once we let the authorities know they’re here, someone will come out,” Nora said.

  “But will they be OK?” Alice asked.

  Nora shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. They’re nice dogs, but they were bred to be dangerous. I’m not sure what will happen to them.”

  Alice cast sad eyes back toward the jungle before following everyone into Maynard’s boat. He gave them a lift out to where Andrew had dropped anchor.

  Charles Bonneau sat tied up in Andrew’s boat. “This has all been a misunderstanding,” he insisted.

  “No way are you getting out of this, Bonneau,” the bound gunman said.

  “You should be quiet until you talk to your lawyer, young man,” Bonneau told him.

  “Forget it,” the bound gunman said. “The one thing I’m not planning to be is quiet.”

  “How could you be involved in dogfighting?” Stella asked. “That’s vile!”

  Charles Bonneau smiled his charming smile, but Annie found it less appealing now. “There is nothing more thrilling than betting on a blood sport, my dear,” he said.

  “I’m not ‘your dear,’” Stella snapped. Then she took a seat as far as possible from the two men and rode the rest of the way to the mainland in silence.

  18

  We never saw the dogs, not really. I have memories of eyes glowing in the darkness and dark shapes moving through the brush. I remember running and falling and being pulled to my feet by my father. I remember reaching the house with the stench of death chasing us. But I don’t know how much was real and how much imagined. I wonder now. What would I find if I returned to the family island? What lurks in the darkness of the overgrown gardens and forgotten buildings? I wonder about these things and about how long it will be until curiosity drives me to the island again. And if it does, will I ever leave … alive?

  —Steven Fuller, 1925

  It took a couple of days to tie up all the loose ends and track down all of Jim and Alice’s belongings. Jim’s cameras were still in the basement of the dog-breeding building when they led the police back to the lair. His car was hidden not far from Maynard’s boat rental shop. Both Maynard and Chief Harper did a lot of apologizing.

  They learned that Charles Bonneau was the one who thought Fuller’s Island would be the perfect spot for breeding a new kind of fighting dog. When Annie heard the amounts of money involved, she was shocked and horrified. Apparently the amounts were enough to entice Bonneau’s sister over to the dark side with him.

  They didn’t find anyone else who knew exactly what was happening on Fuller’s Island. Most of the people just kept quiet because Maynard asked them to, and his own involvement began and ended with being threatened.

  “When I went out to find my boat,” Maynard said, “that’s when I met that goon Oscar. He had a gun and made it sound like he wasn’t alone on the island. He knew about Ellie, probably from Leroy. That weasel would sell out his own mother. Anyway, I just wanted to keep my family safe.”

  The Stony Pointers found out that a rescue group was going to capture all of the dogs from Fuller's Island and find them all good homes. Even though they were bred for violence, the “devil dogs” were a loyal, dependable breed.

  Ian and Annie also heard from the veterinarian to whom they had taken the heroic dog shot in the melee. The animal would make a full recovery, they were assured, and the vet himself had decided to adopt him.

  On their last night before the drive home, Annie was packing when she heard a soft tap at the door. She opened it to find Ian standing in the hall. “May I come in?” he asked.

  “Of course,” Annie said, stepping back.

  Ian looked around the clean, but plain, motel room. “It doesn’t really have the charm of the Preacher’s Rest,” he said.

  “No, but none of us have disappeared yet,” Annie said.

  Ian looked at her. “These mysteries of yours scare me, Annie.”

  “This one wasn’t totally mine,” she said.

  He sighed. “I used to think I could talk you into being safe, but that’s not really going to happen, is it?”

  “I don’t go looking for trouble,” she said.

  He nodded, stepping closer to her. “But you don’t run from it either, and once you get hold of something, you won’t let go.”

  Annie raised a shoulder in a half-shrug. “I can’t change who I am.”

  Ian reached out and gently lifted a strand of Annie’s blond hair away from her face. “How do I keep you safe?”

  “You don’t,” she said. “It’s not your job.”

  “Maybe I’d like it to be,” Ian said.

  Annie cleared her throat and took a step back. “Ian, I’m not looking for someone to look after me. I can look after myself.”

  “So there’s no place for me?” Ian asked.

  Annie smiled a little. “I didn’t say that.”

  He took a step closer to her again and opened his mouth to say something when a knock at the door made them both jump. Annie slipped around Ian and opened the door. Jim and Alice stood in the doorway.

  “Ah, the mayor’s here too,” Jim said cheerfully. “Alice and I wanted to see if anyone wanted to ride back to Stony Point in our car.”

  “Why? Did you think you might find some other near-death experience to take Annie and Alice on between here and Stony Point?” Ian asked.

  Jim raised an eyebrow but just said, “You never know what we might find, mayor.”

  “You could have gotten Alice killed,” Ian said. “And Annie too.”

  “I didn’t drive Annie to South Carolina. Some other guy did,” Jim said. “Oh, right, it was you.”

  “Hey, now,” Alice said, stepping between them and slipping an arm through Jim’s. “We saved those dogs from a horrible future, broke up a dogfighting ring, and freed a town from fear. We’re heroes here. It all worked out for the best.”

  “This time,” Ian said. “What happens next time?”

  “I don’t know,” Alice said. “But I wouldn’t miss it for the world. How about you, Annie?”

  Annie looked between her friends. “Well, I could do without the swamp stench. I had to throw away two pairs of shoes.” Then she smiled. “But it was exciting. And we helped people.” She turned a mischievous glance toward Alice. “Those bad guys would have gotten away with it … .”

  “If it hadn’t been for us meddling kids,” Alice finished before bursting into laughter.

  Ian moaned and shook his head. Annie felt the last bit of tension fade from the room, and she looked at all her friends fondly. It was wonderful having everything back to normal. At least until something else interesting turned up in the attic.