He left to the sound of her dead bolting the door.
CHAPTER 15
* * *
Sunday morning arrived and Tabby was up early knowing she had a lot to get accomplished. Not only was she clearing out the farmhouse, but if she had time, she would also make several trips to the drive-in with items from the library basement storage area. She grabbed a coffee at The Tilted Coffee Cup and headed to the Pelton farmhouse.
She unlocked the door and stepped in. Looking around she felt bad that the haunted house wouldn’t be held here as Anthony had wished. He had just started to participate in town functions and was becoming a part of the local community. It was too bad that a little of his spirit hadn’t rubbed off on his wife. At least Isabella wasn’t in the area so Tabby didn’t have to worry about her popping up out of nowhere and catching her in the act of searching for the hidden room.
There were a dozen boxes of Halloween decorations that Anthony had gone out and purchased and donated to the cause. There were also life-size figures of a vampire, a mummy, and a witch. It would take two trips to get everything into town and off the property.
Tabby turned her attention to finding the secret room that Anthony had told her about in his letter. His body was found in the pantry so she would start her search there. Two of the pantry walls were abutting the outside so Tabby concentrated her efforts on the other two walls. She ran her fingers over the top and bottom of each shelf trying to find a trigger that would open a secret panel. She couldn’t find anything.
Stepping back, she noted everything around her. An old-fashioned, rusty can opener hung from the wall. It looked like it hadn’t been used for many years. Tabby walked over and turned the handle. It moved slowly because of the rust, but nothing magically opened. Seeing nothing more of interest she moved to the living room to look around.
She walked around rapping on walls to see if anything sounded hollow. Finding nothing, she turned her attention to the fireplace which was nearest to the kitchen and the pantry.
Brass candle sticks in descending sizes were lined up on each end of the mantle. A mahogany mantle clock held the place of honor between the candlesticks. Years of dust had settled on the mantle and it’s collectibles; except for the one small candlestick on the right end. There were several places on the base of the brass that looked like it had been touched recently.
Tabby tried to pick it up, but it wouldn’t budge. She lined up her fingers on the spots in the disturbed dust and tried to move the base of the candlestick. She heard a faint click. This time, instead of pushing it, she twisted the base. A second click sounded and a secret panel slid silently open on the wall to the right of the fireplace.
Taking her flashlight out of her back pocket, she entered the passage way. It took a slight turn to the left and opened up into a small room. A table and a single chair, along with an old army cot were the only furniture contained in the space. Open boxes stuffed with various items lined one wall of the room.
What was on top of the table interested Tabby the most. Wallets, watches, jewelry, and many other small personal items covered the table. A black leather journal caught her attention. Opening it, she gasped. It was a record of the bodies buried in the field and how much had been paid and to who when the contract had been filled. Alexander Martinelli’s name was listed as the contract holder many times in the ledger. The dates ran from the 1970’s to as recently as this month.
Anthony Capri’s name was the last entry listed in the book. Alexander Martinelli had been hired to dispose of his cousin’s husband. Who hired him was not listed, but at least Tabby had the proof that Alex murdered Anthony. The body probably would have been buried in the cornfield had Tabby not stumbled on it by accident. Anthony would have disappeared, nobody ever knowing what happened to him; just like Salvatore Salmeri had disappeared in his day.
Anthony Capri was killed because of what he found out about the Peletroni family and that he wasn’t going to keep quiet about it. Tabby took out her phone and took pictures of each page of the journal and a dozen or so more of driver’s licenses. She stuffed the journal into one of the boxes on the wall not wanting to leave it in plain sight making it easy for someone to grab it and run. It had to be left on the property or the evidence would be thrown out in court as being obtained illegally without the proper search warrant.
She started looking through the boxes. Many held items that she was sure belonged to the men killed and buried in Pelton fields.
Several smaller boxes caught her attention. They held women’s items such as jewelry, silver, and other expensive items worth quite a bit of money. Insurance contracts and copies of wills were also scattered around. Tabby realized that these smaller containers held Alexander Martinelli’s “wives” personal items. This was where he hid all the evidence of his murderous ways and when he needed money, he could come raid the expensive items and sell them off.
Tabby almost cried when she looked into the last box. It was filled with cash and all the supposed legal papers dealing with Jenny and her business. Alex never did anything with the money he had been embezzling from the bookstore figuring he had the time to finish the job and move on. Several of Jenny’s “first editions” that were worth a lot of money were also contained in the box.
She took Jenny’s stuff and hid it in under some of the Halloween decorations that she would be moving out of the house. She returned the empty box to its place on the wall and transferred some of the other women’s items into it so it wouldn’t be obvious that someone had been there.
Alex was dead and no one would know the difference if Jenny’s belongings had been there or not. Jenny was still alive. The other items could be returned to the dead women’s families once the case broke open.
Knowing she was pushing her luck in case the men in the black car might be around even if Isabella was out of town, she closed up the secret passage and started to load the Halloween items into her car making sure to load the box with Jenny’s stuff in it first. Next, she loaded what she could use the most for the haunted house incase there was any reason she couldn’t come back again.
Her car filled to the max, she left for town with a witch and vampire seated next to her in the front seat. As she exited the dirt road, she noticed the black sedan hidden in the cornfield. They had been there the whole time watching for her to leave. She was glad that she filled the car so they would think that she was doing what she said she would and nothing more.
When she was out of their sight, she pulled out her cell phone and called Sheriff Puckett to tell him where to find the car. He said he would send the deputies out right away to bring in the sedan’s occupants for questioning.
She also told him that she found the secret room that Anthony had found and what she was bringing in hidden amongst the decorations. He agreed to meet her at the drive-in snack bar in twenty minutes and would return to the farmhouse with her on the second trip.
The sheriff took possession of the evidence Tabby had confiscated from the farmhouse. With the pictures of the pages of the ledger and the map that Anthony Capri drew, he was sure he could obtain a warrant to go into the cornfield and the rest of the property. He would stop by the bookstore later when Greg was going over the books with Jenny and tell them he had her missing money, but would have to hold it as evidence until they knew if all the money actually belonged to Jenny’s business.
Deputy Small reported in on the radio that the black sedan was gone out of the cornfield when they arrived on scene. The sheriff told them to stay put, that he and Tabby would join them shortly. They unloaded the rest of Tabby’s car and locked up the snack bar.
Sheriff Puckett followed Tabby back to the farmhouse. The two deputies who had been waiting at the end of the road followed them into the farmhouse. As they got out of their cars, the black sedan shot by them, coming from the direction of the Capri house.
“Go get them,” the sheriff shouted to his deputies.
Tabby ran to the front door of the farmhouse
. It was open and she knew she had locked it when she left. Entering the living room, with the sheriff right on her heels, she saw the panel was open to the secret room.
The room had been destroyed. The boxes had been emptied, the cot tipped over, and the expensive items from the women’s boxes were gone. The wallets, licenses, and men’s jewelry that were on top of the table were also among the missing.
Tabby started sifting through box items that were strewn around the floor.
“What are you doing?” Sheriff Puckett asked.
“I hid the journal in the pocket of one of the pairs of pants and piled clothes on top and below to shield it. I am trying to find those pants to see if they found the journal,” Tabby answered.
“Smart thinking,” he commented.
“It’s gone,” Tabby stated, holding up a pair of pants.
“At least we have the pictures you took.”
“I know, but I should have hidden it better; maybe in another room in the house.”
“There’s nothing you can do now. Hopefully, it will be in the car when Billy and Clyde pull them over,” the sheriff said.
“Sheriff, we lost them. They tried to plow into a group of people walking on Main Street. We had to stop to make sure everyone was all right,” said a voice over the sheriff’s shoulder radio. “Do you want us to come back to the farmhouse?”
“No. They won’t come anywhere near here now,” the sheriff stated. “I’ll meet you back at the station.”
“Let’s close up the room. I’ll help you finish loading the Halloween stuff into your car and we will both leave together. I don’t want you coming back here by yourself or even with Greg,” Sheriff Puckett stated. “These people mean business and now that they know you have seen the ledger you are a threat to them. I’m posting a deputy at your back door for the next couple of days for safety sake.”
“I don’t need a deputy at my place,” Tabby insisted.
“Until those two are caught, that is the way it’s going to be,” the sheriff said firmly.
“This evening I am going to check on Gage. Greg has been in Larsen since Friday and won’t be home until tomorrow so Gage has been by himself,” Tabby said. “I should be home around ten or so.”
“We’ll keep an eye on you no matter where you are,” Sheriff Puckett responded.
“Fine,” Tabby said a little frustrated.
They finished loading the decorations into Tabby’s car and she locked the front door. Deciding to keep the keys for just a little while longer, she tucked them into her purse and walked to her car where the sheriff was waiting. He followed her out to the main road and all the way into town. He veered off into the station parking lot and Tabby continued on her way. She still had room in her car, so she stopped at the library and loaded what would fit in her car from the Halloween inventory they kept in the basement storage area.
While she unloaded the car, her mind processed the various things she had learned in the last few days. Alexander Martinelli must have been sent here to watch over the farm property by the Peletroni family. He just happened to stumble upon Jenny, his next wife victim, while he was here on other matters.
Isabella, on the other hand, was harder to figure out. She seemed innocent to the goings on of the farm; or was it all just an act? Her temper led Tabby to believe that she was more powerful than she led on. And why didn’t she even ask where they found her husband’s body? Unless, of course, she already knew where it was and was acting the whole time. There was too much about Isabella Capri that didn’t set right with Tabby.
Tabby reached home to the loud meowing of two cats that had been locked up in the apartment all day. She fed them and they quieted down. She decided on a quick supper of salad and grilled cheese and ham so she could go check on Gage before it got too late. Greg would be back from Larsen tomorrow and the young man wouldn’t be by himself anymore.
She ate, cleaned up the kitchen and sent a text to Greg telling him she was fine and on her way over to check on Gage. Now that the cats had full bellies and were happy, they were tearing up and down the hall chasing each other. Tabby alarmed the place and left for Greg’s house.
The place was in darkness except for the television screen that Tabby could see emanating light in the living room.
He must be playing video games.
She walked up to the front door and knocked. No answer.
Maybe he has headphones on and can’t hear me knocking.
She tried again, this time with a little more force. Still no answer. Unlocking the door, she walked into the dark foyer. She took two steps towards the living and sensed a presence behind her. Everything went black.
CHAPTER 16
* * *
Tabby woke up some time later, laying on the floor in front of the couch. Her head felt like it was exploding it throbbed so bad. She tried to focus her eyes on what or who was around her using the light from the television screen.
Gage was bound and gagged in a dining room chair that had been brought into the living room. He looked at Tabby with wide eyes and she could feel his extreme fear. Standing on the opposite side of the room was Isabella Capri, gun in hand, staring at Tabby, smiling.
“I knew you would wake sooner or later,” she stated. “I’m a patient person; up to a point.”
Tabby knew this was a bad situation. She had to get everything that was said on video in case her and Gage disappeared like all the others who got in the way of the Peletroni family.
She struggled to sit up against the couch, feeling for her cell phone that was in her back pocket as she did.
“Don’t bother looking for your cell phone; it is here with me,” Isabella informed her, waving the phone around and then placing it back on the mantle. “Do you think I am that stupid?”
“Apparently not,” Tabby answered, holding the back of her head. “But, you are a quite an actress.”
“Si, I am an excellent actress, no? What do you think has got me this far in my life?” Isabella replied. “I play stupid and weak and they leave me alone.”
“And obviously you are neither,” Tabby mumbled. “Why are you here, Isabella? What do you want?”
“I want the boy’s copy of the new will. No, I demand it. That farm has been in the Peletroni family for decades and will not be inherited by a Salmeri; trash, all of them,” she stated staring at Gage, her voice rising.
“Isn’t it a fact that the land was originally owned by the Salmeri family, Salvatore Salmeri to be exact, until he mysteriously disappeared and your family managed to buy the place at auction?” Tabby inquired. “Were you already burying bodies on the farm back then?”
“I see you are good at what you do, yes; Anthony was right. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”
“So you killed him?”
“Oh, no, I did not kill him, but, I wanted to after finding out about his illegitimate son. He disgraced my family and me. My father did not think I could murder my own husband, so he sent my cousin, Alexander, to do what had to be done.”
“You knew he was already dead when the sheriff told you and that is why you didn’t even ask where his body was found. The near-fainting was a little over dramatic, don’t you think?” Tabby asked sarcastically.
“You were all so concerned for me, yes? I knew where Anthony’s body was. He was going to be buried in the cornfield, but you had to show up and find the body before we could dispose of it.”
“How did you get him to come back to the farm?”
“I called my loving husband and told him that men had come to the house, men I did not know. I told him I fled to the farmhouse to hide. He, of course, turned around to come home to protect me. Alexander was waiting for him in the secret room when Anthony arrived at the farmhouse and the contract was filled.”
“You are so cold that you could talk about your husband’s murder that way,” Tabby said.
“It is the family way. No one crosses the Peletroni family and lives to get away with
it.”
“Speaking of the family way, I asked Doc Holden about your so called visit to his office. You never went to see him that day and there was no baby; nice touch, by the way. So, where were you?”
“Why don’t we let low-life answer that question?” Isabella said, walking over to Gage and ripping the duct tape off that covered his mouth.
“Geez, you took the skin right off of my lips,” he complained, licking them.
“Where you are going, you won’t have to worry about your stupid lips,” Isabella threatened. “So, shall we tell Miss Nosy where I was?
Gage didn’t answer. He hung his head and closed his eyes.
“Now you say nothing?” Isabella demanded.
“I was upset,” he muttered under his breath. “He laughed when he told me he killed my dad. I lost it and I’m so sorry I did, but I did.”
“You are trash just like all the Salmeris. Own up to what you did; be a man,” Isabella shrieked. “You are your father’s son; both losers.
“Okay, I stabbed him with the letter opener. There, are you happy, I said it,” Gage yelled back.
“Gage, you attacked Alex at the bookstore?” Tabby asked in surprise. “That whole story about Isabella killing Anthony was just that, a story? You knew who killed your dad before you came to the apartment that night, didn’t you?
“Yes, I did. He laughed when he told me how my dad quivered on the floor as the poison took its effect. He dismissed me like I didn’t matter and returned to counting the money on the counter in front of him. So I picked up the letter opener off the desk and stabbed him with it,” Gage admitted. “I panicked when I realized what I had done and I ran.”
Bloody Good Marmalade Page 13
