by James Nelson
Paulie was excited. He had the kid and now he could get the hell out of this backwater town. He needed to pick up a few groceries and return back to the cabin and wait till it got dark. Then he could sneak back to the motel, pack his things during the night and head out with Stephen before dawn.
Paulie walked over to Stephen and bent down to make sure he was still breathing. He checked the ropes. They were secure. He walked out of the cabin and checked out the perimeter, making sure nobody was around. Once he felt everything was under control, Paulie backed out of the driveway and headed to the store. He picked out a few sandwiches, a bag of chips and a twelve pack of beer. Paulie walked back to the car and put away the bags. He noticed a payphone next to the store and thought it would be a good time to give Al an update. He fed some coins into the phone and dialed Al’s number.
“Al, I got the kid. Everything’s on plan. We’re gonna head back some time before daylight, tomorrow.”
“Way to go, Paulie. The boys are going to be surprised. Don’t do anything to get yourself pulled over. You better ditch that car you rented and grab yourself another one.”
“Okay, Al.” Al hung up.
Paulie headed back to the cabin. He was feeling good. Al and the boys were happily surprised. He wished Stephen was in the car with him now so they could just head back to the city. He wasn’t looking forward to going back to the cabin in the woods.
Paulie pulled into the narrow driveway and unloaded the groceries. He walked into the living room and was surprised to see Stephen had rolled to a sitting position. The blindfold was still on. Paulie walked over and pulled the it off. Dried blood was glued to the left side of Stephen’s face and his right eye was starting to turn black. Paulie bent down to see how bad the wound was. There was a small piece of glass embedded in his head from when the MG had hit the ditch. Paulie grabbed the glass and pulled it out. Stephen winced but didn’t make a sound.
“You look like hell, kid, but I think you’re gonna make it,” Paulie commented, as he untied Stephen’s hands. He handed Stephen a sandwich. “Eat something.”
Stephen took a bite and stared at the man who was standing over him.
“I remember you from the train and from the art gallery, too. You’ve been following me since I left New York. Why?”
“Your old man, kid. He loves to play the ponies, but he don’t like to pay. He owes the boys a shit load of dough. Your old man finds out I got you, you better hope he changes his mind. Right?”
Paulie walked to the kitchen and returned with two cold beers. He popped them both open and handed one to Stephen.
“Here, kid. Look, for me this is just a job, okay? Nothing personal. My boss tells me to do something, I do it. You got a little banged up, but I think you’re fine. We gotta get you the hell out of here and get us both back to New York. And if you ask me, it can’t be too soon. Your old man pays, you go home. Easy as pie.”
Stephen heard what Paulie was saying, but it was hard to comprehend. He knew his father went to the track occasionally, but he had no idea he had a gambling problem.
Chapter 21
Bobby was driving down Pine Ridge Road, almost to the intersection of Route 77 when he saw someone on a bicycle heading his way. Bobby pulled up next to him and motioned for him to stop.
“Hey, Moo…ahh...Francis, where you headed?”
“I’m on my way to the gate so I can get some picketing money.”
“Picketing money?”
“Yeah, we get paid a buck fifty an hour to stand outside the gate and wave a damn sign. You can’t beat that.”
Bobby wondered who the hell was bankrolling that but instead he asked, “Mr. Kahle’s nephew didn’t come back from Grand View last night. You ever met him? Do you know where he could be?”
“Yeah, I met the guy. He bought me a beer at The Freighter. He seems okay, but no, I don’t know where he is.”
“If you hear anything, let me know. I’m sure Mr. Kahle would make it worth your while, if you know what I mean.”
Bobby drove off and watched in his rear view mirror as Moon resumed peddling the bicycle towards the gate. Abruptly Moon stopped. He turned the bicycle around and headed back in the direction he came from. Moon was thinking to hell with this buck fifty an hour bullshit job. I should be able to make some real money now!
Jeanette pulled into the Grand View Campground and walked up to the office. She asked if Scott was working and was directed to look for him behind a partially constructed recreation hall.
Scott was on his knees, holding a level, as Joe was pounding in a stake next to a 2-by-4 footing. King was panting in the shade of a huge red oak tree. Scott glanced up and saw Jeanette walking towards them. She had a worried look.
“Hi, Jeanette. What brings you to the campground?”
“You met Stephen, Mr. Kahle’s nephew, right, Scott?”
Joe threw down his hammer and walked towards Scott and Jeanette.
“Yeah, we’ve met him. Seems like a nice guy, why? What’s the matter?”
“Well, he didn’t come home last night. He had Mr. Kahle’s MG and left unexpectedly for Grand View. We looked all over Cliffside Manor and he didn’t return.”
“Oh, shit,” Scott muttered.
“What?” Jeanette asked.
Scott and Joe explained how they had been watching out for the person Stephen thought was following him and how they had set up a prank to give the guy a good scare. Hoping that would be enough to get him to go back to where he came from.
They explained how they had called Stephen and asked him to come by the Freighter for a drink so they could let him in on what happened. The last time they saw Stephen was around ten thirty the night before when he left the bar to return to Cliffside Manor.
“Maybe our little prank wasn’t such a good idea.” Joe said.
“You can’t second guess what’s already happened,” Jeanette said. “We have to do something about finding Stephen and we need to do it now.”
“Why don’t we head over to The Freighter and start there” Scott proposed. “That’s the last place we saw Stephen.”
They piled into Scott’s car, including King, and headed into town. Scott pulled up to the front of the bar.
“Okay, what now?” Joe asked.
Scott said,” When Stephen left, he told us he was heading back to Cliffside Manor. Let’s retrace his steps and see if we can see anything on the way.”
Scott pulled out onto Lake Street and they slowly headed out of town, following Route 77. Jeanette and Joe watched the road to the right while Scott took the left. Scott drove slowly, nobody was talking.
As they got to an area half a mile before the intersection of Pine Ridge Road and Route 77, Joe yelled, “Scott, stop the car!”
Scott slammed on the brakes and pulled off onto the shoulder.
“What did you see?” Scott asked.
Joe jumped out of the car and headed towards the ditch, King at his heels.
“Look, deep tire tracks going off the shoulder in the mud.”
Scott and Jeanette scrambled behind him. Joe was following the tracks as they lead up the ditch and into the woods.
“I found the car!” Joe yelled.
Scott and Jeanette were right behind him.
“Look at it!” Jeanette said. “Something slammed into the driver’s side. There’s blood!”
Scott and Joe ran over to the smashed driver’s side window. They could clearly see the blood stains. Scott walked along the shoulder of the road examining two sets of car tracks.
Scott said, “Someone forced Stephen off the road. It has to be that New York guy, Paulie. Joe, this is close to the road we took Paulie down when we played that trick on him.”
Chapter 22
Paulie was sitting in the living room area working on his fourth beer. Stephen was feeling a little better after having had something to eat.
There was a rustling noise from the woods. Paulie jumped up.
“What was that?”
> Paulie ran to the bunk beds and came back holding his gun. He ducked down under the open kitchen window and slowly rose, peeking over the sill. He planted his legs wide and held the revolver with both hands. He peered out the window into the woods. The bushes quivered and a huge porcupine strolled out of the underbrush, heading towards the cabin. Paulie had never seen anything like it.
The spiny creature slowly ambled through the leaves towards the back porch of the cabin. Paulie reacted instinctively. He aimed and pulled the trigger. A shot rang out, piercing the silence. The porcupine squealed, flew up into the air in a backwards somersault, and landed behind some bushes.
Stephen stiffened. Was someone coming to rescue him? He stumbled to his feet, his legs still bound together, and peered out of the window.
“What was that?” Stephen asked.
“Some wild animal was heading towards the back door. Paulie muttered. “How do people live out here?”
Scott, Joe and Jeanette all hit the ground when the shot rang out.
“Was someone shooting at us?” Joe asked.
“I don’t know, it sounded very close,” Scott replied.
Jeanette slowly rose to her knees and looked over to where the sound came from. “I think it came from Peterson’s camp.” she said.
“Let’s find out,” Scott said, “but don’t take the road. Head through the woods.”
Scott grabbed King’s collar so he wouldn’t get too far ahead and they started to move slowly through the trees. As they approached the cabin clearing, Scott motioned for them to stop
“Look, there’s a car parked on the side of the house.”
Scott said to Jeanette, “You stay and watch from here. Joe, go around to the other side of the cabin, but stay in the woods. I’ll go check out the back and we’ll meet here.”
He looked at the dog, “King, stay.” The dog immediately sat at Jeanette’s feet.
Joe and Scott disappeared into the woods, each taking different paths. They proceeded slowly and quietly, making sure not to snap any limbs or twigs. Years of hunting experience kicked in.
Twenty minutes later, they returned to Jeanette. Joe whispered, “The car behind the cabin is a rental. It’s got some damage on the passenger side. Paint scrapes match the color on the MG. Stephen’s standing by the window and Paulie is sitting in a chair drinking a beer. He has a gun.”
Jeanette said, “We need to go and get the police.”
“We don’t have time. You said it was time to do something, remember?” Scott said. “A pane of glass is busted out of the back door. Jeanette, you stay here and watch the front door. Joe and I will sneak over to the back. We need to surprise Paulie and get Stephen out.”
Scott and Joe disappeared back into the woods. They made their way to the clearing behind the cabin and stopped to observe.
Joe heard something move in the bushes and froze. Scott turned to see where the sound was coming from. The foliage parted and a bloody porcupine limped out of the brush, dragging its hind leg. It ambled into the clearing, heading back towards the cabin.
From a distance, Jeanette watched as a porcupine waddled out into the clearing. King sniffed the air and jumped to his feet. The hair on the back of his neck stood up straight. He let out a bark and flew full speed through the woods towards the bleeding porcupine.
Hearing more commotion, Paulie jumped from the chair, knocking over his can of beer. He ran to the living room window and saw a big blur rushing towards the cabin.
Stephen heard Paulie scream, “It’s a wolf!” He saw Paulie take aim and fire the gun right through the window.
Hearing a shot from the inside the cabin, Scott and Joe ran from the woods and burst through the back door.
Paulie spun from the window, aiming the gun towards the noise. Scott threw himself low, hitting Paulie in the knees. Paulie was knocked off his feet and fell squarely on Scott. Joe raced over and tried to wrestle the gun from his grip.
“I’ve got him, Scotty.”
Paulie squeezed off two rounds as he struggled with Joe. One bullet thumped into a wall behind Stephen. The other bullet shattered a mirror in the kitchen. King barked, ran past the porcupine and jumped into the cabin through the shattered living room window. The dog leapt over Joe, sunk his teeth deep into Paulie’s gun hand, and shook his head back and forth. Paulie let out a piercing scream as the gun slid into a corner of the living room.
“Get him off me!” Paulie hollered.
Scott commanded, “King, sit.” As Joe ran over and picked up the gun. King let go of Paulie’s hand, took a step back and sat down. Joe pointed the gun at Paulie. “Don’t move.”
Stephen jumped over a toppled chair and tossed Scott the rope that had recently been around his arms.
“Use this to tie him up.”
Chapter 23
Phillip came out of the office shaking his head, while Britt sat on the leather couch filing her nails.
“I just got off the phone with Martin. I had to tell him about Stephen. As usual with Martin, there always seems to be a little more to the story than meets the eye.”
“What’s his story this time?” Britt asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Now he tells me there was another reason he wanted Stephen to come up and stay with me. At first, he told me how nice it would be for Stephen to get away from the city and have him try and forget about his old girlfriend before he goes to off to school in the fall.”
“That wasn’t the case?” Britt asked.
“Partly true, but more importantly, Martin actually wanted to get him out of there because he had collected some gambling debts he couldn’t repay.”
“This sounds serious. How bad is it?” Britt asked.
“I’m not sure. Martin has always enjoyed gambling. He loves playing the horses. From what he told me, his gambling got out of hand and he’s in trouble with his bookies. I tried to find out what kind of debt he was talking about, but when Martin heard Stephen was missing, he went to pieces and the conversation ended,” Phillip sighed.
“I also know he’s having problems with his latest play. It’s not coming together as quickly as he thought. He was due another check when he delivered the first draft.”
Britt lit a cigarette. “If the play was done on time, he would have had money to fix his problem, right?”
“Exactly. That was what he was counting on to pay off his debts. When that didn’t happen, things got out of control fast. Bookies don’t like not getting paid. They want their money. Stephen’s just being used as a guarantee at this point.”
The phone rang in Jeanette’s office. Phillip walked across the hall and picked it up. Britt poured herself a brandy from the decanter on the bar and took a sip.
“I can’t believe this!” Phillip said as he walked back into the trophy room.
“Is it about Stephen?” Britt asked.
“No, you won’t believe the timing on this. It was my brokers in Hollywood. They finally want to talk to me about funding for the next picture.”
“That’s wonderful!” Britt exclaimed.
“How is that wonderful?” Phillip frowned. “With Stephen missing, I can’t go now!”
Chapter 24
Paulie was hunched forward in the backseat of the car as Scott drove back to Grand View. Paulie’s hands were tied behind his back. Joe sat next to him with Paulie’s revolver pointed at his chest. Stephen was squeezed in next to Joe. Jeanette and King were in the front passenger seat.
Paulie stared sullenly out the window. He was trying to think how many times had he been tied up before. Was it two or three? He remembered the first time was when the Bewinski brothers ambushed him near Coney Island. They tied his hands behind his back and beat him to a pulp with a pipe.
The second time was when those three Puerto Ricans jumped him. Again, they tied him up and gave him a hell of a beating. That was the first time his nose got broken. He remembered how Al laughed like hell when he heard about it.
Al pulled him aside and said
, “Why you letting those punks beat you up like that? Look at your nose. Paulie, you’re gonna lose your good looks if you keep this up. Let me show you a little trick for next time.”
Al got a piece of rope and as he was tying Paulie’s hands behind his back, he showed him how to lock his fingers together and keep the palms of his hands pushed out a ways. Paulie tried it and sure enough, when he squeezed his hands together, the bindings became loose enough to work off his wrists.
Paulie turned from the window.
“You hicks don’t know who you’re messing with here,” he said. “Believe me, the best thing for everyone is to let me take the kid back to the city, my guys get paid and he waltzes home. This way everybody’s happy and no one gets hurt.”
As he was speaking, Paulie pushed his hands together and tried Al’s trick. Sure enough, he felt the ropes loosen. He squeezed his hands together tighter and moved his little finger up to the bottom strand of rope. Paulie pulled steadily and felt the rope slip off. He gave a slight shake and another strand fell down, freeing his hands.
Scott laughed. “If you think we’re going to hand over our friend to the likes of you, mister, you got another thing coming. We’ll drop your ass off at the Sheriff’s office and they can sort this out. Attempted murder, kidnapping and breaking and entering should keep them busy with you for quite a while.”
“No shit!” Joe said, glancing at Scott.
This was just the opening Paulie was looking for. He shot his left hand over and grabbed Joe’s gun hand. He punched Joe hard in the face and wrenched the gun free. Blood poured from Joe’s nose.
Jeanette screamed. “He’s got the gun!”
Scott swerved onto the gravel shoulder of the road. As the car was slowing to a stop, Scott turned to Stephen and motioned for him to get out. Stephen opened the passenger door, jumped out, and ran up a hillside into the woods. As the car came to a dusty halt, Paulie jumped out holding the gun. He shouted, “Everybody out.”
He looked around. “Where’s the kid?”
