Deviled!: Lake Erie Mysteries Book 2

by Maureen K. Howard

  The reassuring light of the full moon no longer guided our way. Clouds gathering in the night sky blotted out its beam as we made our way down the unpaved road that led to Bob’s cabin. We had come up with a plan, albeit not a very good one on such short notice.

  “I can hardly see my hand in front of my face. Are you sure we’re going in the right direction, June?”

  “Yes, I see a light up ahead. Angelina must be there already. Use the flashlight on your phone to light up this road. I don’t want to end up at the edge of another cliff.”

  We stopped walking so I could fish around in my purse for my ever-elusive phone. As I flipped through the screens to find my flashlight app, a dark figure slipped out of the woods just ahead of us. I stifled the urge to scream when I realized it was Gabriel.

  “What are you doing out here, Gabriel? You scared me half to death—maybe even more than half.” I had dropped my phone when he appeared, so I was speaking to his knees as I fumbled in the dirt and brush in search of my annoying electronic lifeline.

  “Francie, June, you ladies need to come with me. The police have issued a warrant for your arrest, and I think Angelina has lured you out here so the cops can swoop in and take you away. A police surveillance helicopter spotted you on Scorpion Island, and Detective Reed is convinced that you, Francie, and maybe even June, are my brother’s killers.”

  “Whaaat? But we didn’t do anything. This is all a big misunderstanding. I’m sure if we talk to the police everything can be sorted out. Don’t you think so, June?”

  Gabriel interrupted before I could get June’s take on the situation. “I wouldn’t risk it. The police want this case closed. People are starting to get anxious about not being able to come and go from the resort, and my brother and Angelina will stop at nothing to get this wrapped up. They are losing money hand over fist with travel shut down. This place is their livelihood, and I wouldn’t put it past them to throw you to the wolves in order to get things back up and running. You need to trust me. I’ve seen how ruthless they can be if their business is threatened. I’m not even sure they weren’t the ones behind Bob’s murder. He has been a thorn in their side since day one, and they have exhausted every resource trying to get him off this island.”

  I recalled Angelina’s words to the same effect when we first met her. It felt like the ground was shifting beneath my feet. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do. We can’t just hide out forever. This is an island, and the police will eventually catch up to us. Won’t hiding out like a pair of criminals make us look like a pair of criminals? And it’s not like we have any proof of who actually killed Bob. At this point, I’m so confused about who’s on what side that I could almost believe I did it. Say something June. What should we do?”

  “I’m trying to sort this out. First of all, it wasn’t you. I was with you all night, and furthermore, duh. Second, Angelina and Damien do have the most to gain from getting rid of Bob and having his murder pinned on someone else. And finally, whatever role Bob and the goons on Scorpion Island played in this whole creepy stalker thing just doesn’t add up. I think we need a little more time to put it all together before we get steamrolled and sent to the slammer for good. Even if orange is the new black, that’s one fashion trend I’m willing to skip.”

  The wind was increasing in intensity. Another summer storm would be upon us in a short time, and I didn’t want to get stuck outside in the rain again.

  “Where can we go, Gabriel? There can’t be many places here where Angelina or Damien wouldn’t think to tell the police to look for us.”

  “I know a place you can stay until I can get to my brother and his wife and talk some sense into them. There’s a cabin out on the edge of the island that hasn’t been used since the resort was built. It was our family’s summer vacation spot when my parents were still alive. Back then, this island was pretty much undeveloped, the construction of the amusement park had just begun, and of course we were pretty excited about the prospect. It was our little slice of paradise. We had the childhood every kid dreams about, at least until the accident.” Gabriel became still and silent, staring at nothing.

  “What happened, Gabriel?” June approached him and placed her hand on his forearm. We waited a moment, wondering if he would continue his story.

  “My parents died in a motorcycle accident. It happened in a construction zone on the freeway during the beginning phases of the amusement park’s development.” The look on his face was one of inconsolable grief. “I’m so sorry, Gabriel. I had no idea.”

  “Of course you didn’t. Why would you?”

  I shut my mouth and hoped I hadn’t put an end to his sharing.

  “The crash was caused by a hazardous roadway condition created by the highway contractor during construction. There were no warning signs alerting motorists of the condition, and there were no construction barrels placed over the hazard to protect motorists. Because of this, my dad encountered the hazard full-on while exiting the freeway and crashed. My mother was thrown from the bike and died instantly. Dad suffered catastrophic injuries that left him paralyzed. The severity of his injuries eventually resulted in his untimely death, but not until five years after the accident. Damien was sixteen when the accident happened; Roberto was fifteen, and I was eleven. My father’s lawyer had been actively pursuing a lawsuit against both the construction company and the amusement park from the time of the accident. A wrongful death case in regard to my mother had already been won, and when my father died, the terms of the settlement were doubled. Needless to say, the three of us would never want for money again.”

  June and I stood huddled under the umbrella of those words for a brief moment. The thought of all that money and security did nothing to keep the sense of pervasive loss from seeping through my skin, sinking deep into my bones.

  When Gabriel spoke again, I found it difficult to meet his eyes. “Damien, being the oldest, decided he wanted to take over the amusement park development and expand the whole operation, turning it into a world-renowned destination. He would keep the memory of our parents and the DeVille family alive, whatever it took. He became obsessed with the place. He convinced Bob to sell him his share under the condition that he would stay on and manage the marina for as long as he wanted. Bob jumped at the chance. He would have security for life. He had neither the ambition nor the intelligence to manage his own finances and was elated to fall into his role as black sheep—until this week, that is.”

  “What about you?” I asked. “You were only eleven when the accident happened and sixteen when your father died.”

  “I couldn’t stand the thought of staying there another day longer than I had to. My money was still in a trust fund, but I agreed to let my brother manage it under the supervision of the family lawyer, retaining my stake in the corporate earnings and receiving dividends. As soon as school let out for the year, I moved to Chicago to live with my uncle. I’ve been there ever since.”

  “So, Damien is finally rid of the one sore spot in the operation,” June ventured. “But what about you? It would benefit him financially if you were out of the picture, wouldn’t it?”

  “We need to move if we’re going to keep you out of harm’s way.”

  It was evident Gabriel had revealed as much of his story as he was willing to share for now.

  There was a green tinge to the sky and not even a breeze was left to stir the ominous air. It was the calm before the storm.

  34

  God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

  Hamlet

  Gabriel’s car was parked at the marina, so we headed back the way we’d come, moving twice as quickly because of the encroaching storm and the fact that we had a guide who knew his way around the entire property. I slipped into the back seat of the shiny black sports car, while June got in the front with Gabriel. After a short distance, he turned from the paved street, reduced his speed, and drove down the overgrown lane that led to the outermost edge of the island. Away fr
om the artificial lights of the resort and the glow of the shrouded moon, it was inky dark.

  Gabriel pulled into the short driveway of a cottage that would have been considered quaint in its prime. Cedar siding stained gray, complemented by blue shutters, must have presented a charming fairy-tale face to the world at one time. But now the exterior was chipped and worn by time and neglect, and rough boards were nailed over the windows, blinding them to the spectacular views of the great lake. The overgrown yard, momentarily illuminated by the car’s headlights, still hinted at a once well-maintained landscape.

  Gabriel left the car running with us in it and darted around to the back of the cottage. The porch light blinked on, and he appeared at the front door, strode back to the car, and snagged his keys from the ignition. Fat raindrops plopped on the windshield. I had been trying to straighten out the damp, crumpled pages from the envelope Eddie had thrust upon me right before we set out to meet our rescuer, but I didn’t think there were going to be enough left to be able to make sense of their content when we finally got the opportunity to look at them in the light for more than three seconds. I had the papers in my hand when Gabriel pulled the front seat forward and extended his hand into the back seat to assist me in my exit. A violent gust of wind threatened to slam the door on both of us, but I managed to brace it open with my foot at the expense of losing even more pages from the envelope.

  The sky opened up and rain soaked us as we ran to the front door of the cottage. Once inside, I leaned against the wall of the cramped foyer, wheezing from that last burst of intense energy. My energy reserve was officially empty. I wasn’t sure I could even make it past the entry hall into the living room. Between breathing and trying to get my bearings, I pushed the heavy strands of matted, wet hair away from eyes and took in my surroundings. There wasn’t a whole lot to see from where I stood. The faint glow of one dusty table lamp threw a meager halo of light in a three-foot circle, casting deep, menacing shadows around the rest of the room.

  My gaze found its way back to the front door where Gabriel was concentrating on fastening a series of complicated locks. I wondered why so much security was needed for an abandoned cottage and looked to June for an answer. She was right beside me, white as a ghost, her eyes round as pennies, her hands shaking as she pointed at our host. That’s when I noticed it. His white button-down shirt was plastered to his skin, and through the lightweight fabric it was plain to see the intricate scorpion tattoo covering his back from just below his neck to his . . . well, I couldn’t tell exactly where it ended, but it was a statement impossible to ignore.

  Gabriel turned around to find us clinging to each other, inching away from him and the horrifying evidence that he, too, was somehow involved in the intricate web of the mysterious scorpion entity. His handsome face contorted into a menacing look that made my skin crawl. How could we have been duped by his heart-wrenching story about family tragedy and believe he wanted to help us? The truth had been staring us in the face the entire time.

  “I see you noticed my family’s crest.”

  “What family is that?” Although I was boiling with anger on the inside, my voice came out weak and uncertain. “Isn’t the story you just told us about your parents true?”

  “The Scorpione family of Chicago is my true family. They took me in after my own parents got themselves killed on that stupid motorcycle. I mean, what kind of responsible parents go flitting around on a two-wheeled death trap? I didn’t want to hang around Ohio and be harassed by all the phony friends wanting me to finance their worthless schemes. As soon as I could leave, I did. That part was true. My brothers were old enough to be on their own and didn’t much care if I went to live with our uncle in Chicago. We were separated by choice, and we each found our own way to deal with our misfortune.”

  June had a thing or two of her own to say to the stranger who stood before us. “It doesn’t exactly sound like you were wallowing in grief, more like millions of dollars.”

  “You have no idea what it was like. My brothers didn’t want a punk teenager hanging around, spoiling their grandiose plans. Uncle John thought I was needy and rebellious, so he had no objections when I started hanging around Joey Scorpione shortly after I went to live with him. Joey introduced me to a world where forgotten kids like me and my street friend Senora could belong and even take on the world.”

  It was my turn to have my say. “Oh, I’m sure they were more than happy to welcome you and your millions with open arms. What made you think they were any different from the people back home who wanted to take advantage of you and your trust fund?”

  “That’s exactly it. The money was in a trust fund. I couldn’t access it at will even if I wanted to. And besides, no one knew about the money except for my uncle, and he wasn’t spreading the word to strangers. He was biding his time, waiting for his own chance to dip his paws in the honeypot.”

  “Whoa! Back the train up.” It took me an extra beat to register what Gabriel had said a moment ago. “Did you say Senora? As in the crazy woman who tried to kill us last month?”

  “Yes, Francesca, Nora is my Scorpione sister. I’m sure you noticed her tattoo. The way she dressed, it was pretty much impossible not to. I told her she should’ve gotten it in a more discreet place, but she’s always loved to be the center of attention. She knows she’s beautiful and knows how to work a crowd.”

  “Well, she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was,” June interjected, “and I doubt her outfits have been showing off her tattoo to its best advantage in her new digs.”

  Gabriel waved his hand as if to dismiss us. “I heard all about your meddling in her business when I visited her in the penitentiary before I came out here. She hasn’t forgotten either of you, to say the least. Imagine my surprise when I recognized your names on the convention registration list.”

  I wiped my sweaty palms on my once-white, once-clean, linen trousers. My lips were dry and cracked in spite of the tubes of lip gloss still tucked in my handbag. My voice had been reduced to a raspy whisper. “This cannot be happening again. What do you want from us? Are you trying to frame us to avenge Senora?”

  “It’s really nothing so diabolical, ladies. Senora got what she deserved in the end. She had no one to blame but herself. I had my own plan that didn’t involve her in any way, but it was still kind of sad to see her sitting in that cell wearing an ugly orange jumpsuit.”

  He didn’t look sad to me. Before I could visualize the scene between Gabriel and his former gang girlfriend—or whatever she was—he continued.

  “I had always intended to eliminate my dear brother Roberto. Let’s face it; he was nothing but a thorn in everyone’s side. He had all that money and was too lazy to do anything with it. The only thing he spent it on was expensive cameras and high-powered surveillance equipment. Damien was actually worried about the little perv after Angelina found that box of souvenirs in his house in the spring. No one did anything about it though. That was Bob’s ace in the hole. He got to live out his pathetic life, spying on people all over the resort and grabbing every opportunity to blackmail anyone who didn’t want their secrets exposed—and believe me, there was no shortage of those. As long as he didn’t interfere with the business, no one cared how he occupied his time. It worked out for me too. My only regret is that I didn’t get to see your faces when you watched the video from those pathetic clowns. Bob was blackmailing them, of course, and when the small-time thieves got wind of your meddling in his murder investigation, they thought they could use you to find and destroy the evidence of their stupid operation once and for all. I just went with the flow. It kept the spotlight far away from me, which is just the way I wanted it.

  June hadn’t said a word in a long time. I couldn’t tell what was going on in her head, but I sure hoped she had a plan. I had nothing.

  “As for Damien, he was getting a bit too wrapped up in the resort and was becoming a threat to my Chicago family’s plans to move forward with Devil’s Island. The easy answer was to p
in Bob’s death on Damien and take him out of the picture. His assets would be frozen while he got free room and board courtesy of the state, but that wouldn’t make much difference. We didn’t need his funding, just carte blanche control of the resort and all its operations.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing or seeing. The gracious convention host had been replaced by a pacing, hand-wringing, nervous wreck of a man. His transformation scared me. If he could murder his own brother in cold blood and set up his other brother to take the blame, what else could he do? What plans did he have for June and me? The only thing I could think of was to keep him talking. I think June had come to the same conclusion.

  “How does your unholy plan include Francie and me? We just came to the island for some entertainment and a little education.”

  “You’ve gotten an education, don’t you agree? You’ve learned much more than you need to know, as far as I’m concerned. I guess I’d have to call you overachievers. Unfortunately, you two kept getting in the way and taking the suspicion away from Damien. I wouldn’t care if you both got arrested, but it’s really Damien I want out of the picture. I have respect for my older brother—at least he’s smart and ambitious, not a waste of space like Bob. I never wanted him dead; I just wanted him out of my way. It’s taken some extra planning, but things should work out in the end, and I have to say it’s been amusing playing this game. It’s time to bring this project to a close, and that means saying goodbye to you dear ladies. I think news of your departure will be a fitting birthday gift for my dear Nora. Her birthday is on the Fourth of July, you know.”

  I had to hold on to June’s hand for dear life. She was vibrating and snarling like a lioness protecting her cubs. And then she roared right in Gabriel’s face.