Bound for the Outer Banks (26 page)

Every year The Ball ended precisely at 9:30. Two and a half hours of dancing in heavy ball gowns and three piece suits was enough for anyone, Melody had surmised. Also, she figured two and a half hours was as long as she was willing to ask the volunteer musicians to play.

The older guests usually went straight home after the dance, but the younger folks felt the night was young and continued the evening at one of the late night spots on Manteo’s waterfront. Lacey and Sam had invited Desiree, Steve, Ella, Chief, and Tanqueray to join them for a late night cruise up Roanoke Sound to Shallowbag Bay on the Lacey Lorelei. Tanqueray, who’d danced with only Vinn the entire night, asked if he’d like to join them. He happily accepted and told Harmony and Raj that he would not be riding back to the hotel with them. Steve had offered to take him back later.

Chogan and Ella stopped by the cottage to change in to more comfortable clothes. Steve let Vinn borrow a shirt and he kept on his knee breeches from The Ball. Half an hour later everyone met at the marina in Wanchese. The night was clear and the moon was more than half full. The group boarded the boat, with Chief hopping on last after he untied the boat from the dock cleat. Almost immediately dolphins began riding the bow wave of the boat. Lacey was pouring glasses of wine for the ladies while Sam had filled a cooler full of beer for the men including Chief’s non-alcoholic beer. When the Lacey Lorelei rounded Ballast Point the lights of The Shallowbag Bay Club Marina came in to view. They cruised around the edge of the bay taking in the lights of The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, The Manteo Boardwalk, and The Roanoke Island Festival Park. A concert was still in full swing at the pavilion. The stage backed up directly to the bay. Sam dropped anchor for a while to allow the passengers to enjoy the music.

After the bay cruise, Sam returned the Lacey Lorelei back to the slip in Wanchese. Steve delivered Vinn back to his hotel on the waterfront. Vinn was completing his pediatric residency at Vidant Children’s Hospital where Harmony and his uncle worked. Manteo was in desperate need of a pediatric office for the island’s residents. Dr. Patel was hoping to convince Vinn to start a practice on Roanoke Island. The night of The Peacock Ball could not have been a better recruitment tool.

Ella and Chief walked back to Chief’s vacation rental. After making love, they drifted off to sleep. The next morning, Ella wanted to surprise Chief by cooking a large breakfast for him. The vacation rental’s kitchen was stocked with everything imaginable, unlike her sparse kitchen back at the cottage. She lifted his jeans from the floor, careful not to wake him, to search for the truck keys. She first pulled out his cell phone in order to reach the keys. The face of the phone showed that Chief had received a message earlier that morning. Ella figured it was Lacey and Sam inviting them over for brunch which had become a Sunday tradition the last several weeks. She wanted to tell Lacey that she and Chief were eating in on this morning. Ella clicked the message icon. She was stunned. The message was from “BOSS” and read, How are you? How’s our girl?

Ella yanked the covers off Chief’s nude body. He quickly pulled the quilt up and yelled, “Hey! What are you doing?”

“Who’s your girl?” asked Ella through gritted teeth.

“Is this a trick question? You are,” answered Chief.

“Who’s your boss? And what does he mean by this?” demanded Ella. She threw the phone at Chief, but he batted it down before it hit his chest.

Chief read the text from Flynn.

“Who’s your girl?!” Ella repeated.

Chief was silent.

“You’ve brought a whole new meaning to bringing your work home with you! I guess this little arrangement has made your job immensely easier!” Ella stormed out the door and began walking up the street bent on making it all the way to Manteo. Chief quickly pulled on a pair of shorts.

“Belle! Belle! Stop! I’ll take you home!” Chief made his way to the front door but Ella had already made it to the street. He jumped in his truck and rolled up beside Ella. “Get in the truck Belle.”

“That’s not my name! But you already knew that!” screamed Ella.

“Get.In.The.Truck.” said Chief sternly.

“Fine,” Ella said with a smirk. She walked behind the truck, climbed over the tailgate, sat down, and leaned back on the cab of the truck.

Chief grunted and headed for Cemetery Road. Before the truck came to a complete stop Ella had swung her leg over the tailgate and stepped on the bumper. “Hey!” yelled Chief. “Are you crazy?”

“Being crazy is better than being an asshole!” Ella shouted back. She slung her other leg over and jumped down.

Chief stepped out of the truck and followed Ella up the walk.

“Stay away from me! I actually CARED about you!” She grabbed the handle of the screen door.

“I care about you, Belle.” The name was second nature now to Chief. He’d rarely seen or heard Belle Butler’s real name in the last few months.

“You don’t care about me. I’m just a job to you. That’s why it was such an easy thing for you. You knew I’d be moved along soon and you’d go back to your regular job. No harm. No foul,” she said.

“Oh yeah! And you DIDN’T know that you’d be transferred soon? Maybe you were playing me! Maybe you’ve left a trail of men in every town The Bureau has placed you in! It’s not like they can look you up after you disappear!”

“You know nothing about me!” Ella yelled and then slammed the door in Chief’s face.

Chief balled up his fist and lightly hit the door. “Damn it,” he said under his breath. He then slowly walked back to his truck.

Chapter 25

The next week was almost unbearable. Ella had no one to talk to about her situation. She couldn’t even tell Lacey, her closest friend, what was going on. When Lacey inquired about Chief, Ella told her that they had cooled things off since she would be moving away soon on an assignment and Chief’s boss said he would be called back to work soon. Lacey asked Ella if there was any way she could stay on The Banks and just travel for assignments. Ella smiled and assured Lacey that if there was any way she could stay she would. She had cried for days and this day, during the conversation with Lacey, was no different.

The only thing Ella had to look forward to, besides her visits with Lacey, was dog sitting Bobby Lee Majors for Art and Mary Lynn. They were traveling up the coast of New England on a fall foliage bus tour. Ella wondered if one day she would derive pleasure from merely riding around with her spouse watching leaves turn from green to orange. At this rate she seriously doubted it.

Ella rode her bike to Sassy Sweets for a therapeutic piece of carrot cake. She assumed that Chief was still keeping tabs on her. Indeed he had been. Chief was hounding Flynn to get back to work, but Flynn told Chief to watch Ella even more closely. Dante Vitali had demanded to see his lawyer, Giovanni Mangano, the morning before and was acting belligerent. He demanded the guards allow his attorney in as soon as possible. This put the agents on notice because only conversations with an inmate’s attorney could not be recorded. If Dante wanted to give instructions to anyone on the outside it would be through Mangano.

When Mangano arrived, the attorney and client did not speak. Instead, Dante pushed a folded USA Today across the table toward Mangano. The paper was folded to reveal a photo from the LIFE section. In the picture was a couple dressed in 18
th
century clothing, with hands lifted, dancing. In the background, a woman’s face was circled in pencil. The caption read
This week’s semi-finalist from Manteo, North Carolina. Historic Roanoke Island is the location of The Peacock Ball, a fundraiser for a local animal shelter.
Dante had paid one of the guards to bring him a USA Today every morning. It was common for wealthier inmates to receive perks.

The photo from The Peacock Ball had been placed on the front cover of the small Manteo newspaper but no one had mentioned it. Most people Ella’s age read news online if they read the news at all. Brandon Davis, the local photographer who’d been on a quick deadline to submit The Ball photo to the Manteo Times Recorder, also sent in the photo by email to the USA Today “Picture America” contest on a whim.

Dante had really enjoyed Ella’s company but she possessed information that could pinch some of the biggest players in The Unita Sacra Corona. The RICO statute, The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, had brought down several leaders of crime syndicates in the past. Dante Vitali was a business man first and foremost and this was considered family business. Eleanor Augusta Barrantine’s days were numbered.

Mary Lynn told Ella they’d be by in a few hours to drop off Bobby Lee. The tour bus would depart from Charlotte early the next morning. She and Art had rented a hotel for the night so they could make it on to the bus by 8:00 A.M. When Art knocked on the door early that evening, Ella was sitting on the couch polishing off a pint of Haagen-Dazs Sea Salt Caramel ice cream. Ella opened the door to find Art holding Bobby Lee’s leash and bag of food in one hand and a large rifle in the other hand.

Art quickly explained, “Belle, I hope you don’t mind if I drop this off for Chief. He and Sam are supposed to go hunting this weekend and he wanted to borrow my deer rifle. We got a late start and I don’t have time to drop it in Wanchese.”

Clearly Art had not received the memo on Ella’s and Chief’s parting of ways. She hadn’t exactly advertised it though, acting stoic and unaffected when she went out and not mentioning it. Art handed Ella the leash and walked the rifle into the kitchen and leaned it against the back door. He then set Bobby Lee’s bag of food on the counter. Finally Art dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a Ziploc bag of large bullets. “I’m sure Sam will have extra ammo but just in case give these to Chief,” instructed Art.

Ella didn’t have the heart to go into her breakup explanation with Art, besides, he was obviously in a hurry. “Is that loaded?” asked Ella, pointing to the weapon.

“Oh no,” said Art. While Ella watched, he opened the bolt and showed her the empty chamber. “There’s no way this weapon can fire with the bolt open and this switch pointing to “S” which means safety.”

Ella understood Art was trying to make her feel more at ease about having a gun in her home, but what he didn’t know was that Ella secretly liked the idea of having a gun in the house given the quandary she found herself in these days. She assured Art that she would get the gun to Chief the next morning. Ella desperately missed him. This would give her an excuse to see him no matter how brief the visit.

After Art left, Ella put on her running clothes. She took Bobby Lee on a run to the north end of the island. They ran along the edge of the Elizabethan Gardens and Ella took in all the different fragrances of the plants and flowers. Bobby Lee’s long legs allowed him to easily keep up with Ella’s pace. Next to the grand gardens was The Lost Colony Waterside Theater. Ella loved to run past it and take in the view of the bay which was framed by the structure of the theater. Although she couldn’t see the bay on this night, she could see the lights of Manteo’s waterfront. She was looking forward to more runs like this with Bobby Lee while Art and Mary Lynn were on their foliage tour.

Once home, Ella sautéed some zucchini and squash in olive oil and placed them over a plate of rigatoni. She gave Bobby Lee a bowl of water and his kibble and he quickly devoured it. Ella showered and put on a set of sorbet striped shorty pajamas. She crawled into bed and patted the mattress signaling Bobby Lee that he was welcome up on the bed. He circled a few times then plopped down next to Ella. She scratched behind his ears while she read the national news on her phone. She then played a few rounds of Scramble with Friends. Ella had been playing the same opponents since she’d entered protective custody. She had no earthly idea about the real identities of Broadway210, earthrambler12, or Papawhite1 but they were one of the few constants in her ever changing existence. In the same respect they knew nothing about designchick70 which was a good thing.

Ella used her last coin and laid down her phone. She drifted off to sleep while scratching the top of Bobby Lee’s head. Ella awakened to Bobby Lee’s muffled growl. He was standing beside the bed, staring across the hall toward the door of the master bedroom. Ella immediately heard someone rattling the window in the back bedroom. She took a split second to congratulate herself on foregoing the larger bedroom and taking the bedroom on the front side of the house. She grabbed Bobby Lee’s collar and pulled him with her to the kitchen. She pulled apart the Ziploc bag and took out a brass, rocket shaped bullet. Her hands were shaking and her mouth was as dry as cotton, a phrase she’d heard Lacey use more than once. She lifted the gun off the floor. Art had left the bolt open. Quickly Ella shoved the tip of the bullet into the hole leading to the barrel. She then grabbed the bolt and shoved it forward. She hesitated then remembered the little button beside the “S.” She pushed it over to the other side next to the “F.” For some reason she immediately pictured a star trek commander giving an order to “fire at will.”

Ella heard the intruder twisting the knob on the bedroom door. On the other side was Nicky “The Knife” Shifano who’d received the order to go to Roanoke Island. His assignment was to retrieve “the goods” and silence the girl in the most discreet way possible. Ella saw the outline of a figure exiting the master bedroom with a suitcase. He was headed for Ella’s bedroom when Bobby Lee let out a long growl. Nicky Shifano quickly turned toward the sound. He was holding Old Finnegan in one hand and a knife in the other.

Since when did The Bureau allow witnesses to arm themselves, thought Nicky. He was staring down the barrel of a 30-06 rifle and his .45 was tucked into his waist band. He slowly approached Ella who was paralyzed with fear. Sam had told her that Lacey could shoot the stinger off a bee, but Ella had never shot a gun in her life. In New York it practically took an act of congress to own a gun. Ella became frighteningly aware that she only had one bullet in the gun and that meant one chance to hit her target.

“Ella,” said Nicky, “Dante misses you. Come back to New York with me.” Nicky reached out his hand toward her. He’d put the knife in the hand that was also wrapped around the handle of Old Finnegan. He took another step toward Ella.

Ella knew that this man had no intention of doing anything but silencing her forever. She also now knew that somehow Old Finnegan contained something Dante needed. The intruder had not released his grip on the old suitcase.

“I loved him,” said Ella trying to buy time and lure the man closer.

“I know, and Dante still loves you,” he said, taking another step closer. Bobby Lee lowered his head and let out a loud growl followed by a bark.

“Stay!” Ella screamed. She was visibly shaking, but her finger had not moved from the trigger.

“You’re not going to shoot me, Ella. Just give me the gun,” he said, reaching out to Ella and taking another step closer.

Bobby Lee lowered his head, bared his teeth, and barked. In that instant Ella saw Nicky reach for the .45.

Chief had been sitting at the end of Cemetery Road watching the front of Ella’s house. He’d been vigilant about keeping tabs on her since receiving the message from Flynn about Dante’s meeting with Mangano. He heard a gunshot come from Ella’s cottage. Chief jumped from the truck and sprinted down the sidewalk to the house. He drew his weapon, flung open the screen door, and kicked in the front entrance. He held up his gun and quickly scanned the living room. He then walked toward the kitchen where he heard Bobby Lee whimpering. The dog was lying next to Ella’s body on the floor.

Chief shoved his gun in his waist band and knelt beside Ella. Her neck and torso were covered with blood. Chief wiped away the blood on her neck looking for an entry wound. He then lifted her pajama shirt to check her chest. Ella gasped. Chief cradled her neck.

“Were you touching my boobs?” asked Ella.

Chief was astounded. “I thought you’d been shot!”

“I shot one of Dante’s men,” she said. Ella then took a deep breath and said, “My head hurts.”

Chief held Ella’s head in his palm and felt her blood soaked hair. He looked up at the refrigerator and realized the recoil from the large caliber rifle had made Ella’s head snap back and hit the sharp edge of the stainless steel freezer handle.

She had shot Nicky Shifano in his upper left chest, shattering his collar bone and nicking his brachial artery. The arterial blood spurts had covered Ella’s neck and chest with blood. Chief stood up and stepped over to the still opened back door. Nicky “The Knife” Shifano was lying at the bottom of the back steps, his hand still firmly wrapped around his namesake and the handle of Old Finnegan. Someone had most certainly heard the gun shot and Chief saw blue lights headed down Lord Essex Avenue. He quickly devised a plan.

By the time Chief turned around, Ella had risen up and was pressing her hand against the back of her throbbing head. “Lay down and don’t move!” yelled Chief.

“What?” asked Ella.

“Do it!” he shouted.

Ella obeyed and lay back down on the floor.

“Do you have any ketchup?” asked Chief.

“What?” Ella asked, again wondering what in the world Chief was thinking.

Chief didn’t wait for an answer. With his foot he gently pushed Ella’s head out of the way of the edge of the refrigerator door. He opened it and found a family size bottle of ketchup. He began pouring ketchup on one side of Ella’s head.