The Butterfly Conspiracy (24 page)

“Oh, Phillip.” Jeanette started crying.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but Britt, Britt’s dead.”

There was a long silence on the phone.

“Jeanette, was there an accident?”

    
“We’re not quite sure, but the police are here now and there is a detective with me in my office. Yes, I’ll put him on.”
 
Jeanette handed the phone to Detective Drew.

Chapter 28

    
Moon’s back was killing him.
 
He rolled over on his side.
 
Why was he on the floor?
 
He heard snoring from across the room.
 
It all came back.
 
Oh yeah, Paulie was staying at his place.
 

Moon remembered coming back to the apartment with 2 six-packs and 3 bottles of wine.
 
He thought about how mad he got when Paulie refused to drink the wine he bought. What an ass, Moon thought.
 
Since when was Manischewitz Black Berry cheap wine?

Moon sat up and stretched.
 
Once Paulie started drinking beer last night, the stories really flowed. Even though Moon had drunk plenty, it wasn’t enough to block out Paulie’s stories.
 
Even if only half of them were true, Moon knew he was dealing with a dangerous man.

The phone rang, piercing the stillness of the morning.
  
Moon jumped up and stumbled to the phone.
 
He tried to grab it before it rang again, waking up his guest. It was Jimmy Hebbard, a fellow picketer from Mr. Kahle’s mansion.

    
“Hey, Jimmy,” Moon whispered into the phone.
 
“What’s going on.”

    
“Don’t bother picketing today or any other day, for that matter.
 
A bunch of us just got grilled by the cops.
 
I think old man Kahle’s girlfriend is dead and nobody knows what’s happened.”

    
“Dead?” Moon glanced over at Paulie, sleeping on the couch.

 
  
“Yeah, can you believe it?
 
They were asking us a bunch of questions, like they think one of us had something to do with it.
 
I don’t know what happened, but it doesn’t look good. I’m just telling you to not come down for your schedule today.
 
I’d lay very low if I was you, with your record and everything.”

 
   
“Shit, Jimmy.
 
This sounds bad.
 
Give me a call if you get any more information, will you?”
 
Moon put down the phone.
 
He glanced over at Paulie again.
 

    
Moon grabbed a towel and washcloth and headed down to the communal bathroom.
 
When he returned, Paulie was sitting at the card table, looking out the dusty window.

 
   
“Morning,” Moon said warily.
 

“What’s good about it?” Paulie barked.
 

“Ah, well, for starters I said morning, not good morning”, Moon replied. “Paulie, were you here all night or did you slip out and go somewhere?”

    
“After all those cheap beers, I flopped on the couch and fell asleep.
 
Why?”

    
“That call I just got.
 
It was from a guy that pickets the Kahle place with me. Looks like something happened to Mr. Kahle’s girlfriend.
 
She’s dead and the cops are asking a lot of questions.”

Paulie stood up.
 
“No shit.
 
And you think I did it?”

 
“That ain’t what I said.
 
Nobody knows what happened.
 
We don’t got people getting bumped off much around here so I think the heat’s going to be turned way up until this thing gets sorted out.
 
If you had anything to do with this, I need to know.”

    
“You’re nuts.
 
You’re spending too much time with them dead birds.
 
I don’t even know who this Kahle guy is, I never heard of his girlfriend and besides that gate, I’ve never been close to the place.”

    
Moon paced back and forth.
 
“It doesn’t matter.
 
It’s going to make snatching Stephen a lot harder with all this attention. With this shit going on, I don’t like this deal much anymore.
 
You need to get out of town fast.”

Paulie’s face darkened.
 
He stomped over to Moon.
  

“Sorry, buddy.
 
That ain’t happening.
 
I came up here to do a job and I’m sure as hell going to do it.”

Moon looked up at Paulie.
 

“Here’s how I see it.
 
Think about this for a minute.
 
Probably where you’re from, kidnappings and mysterious deaths go on all the time. It ain’t like that here.

The cops know Stephen was already grabbed and got away.
 
Now some dumb blond is dead at the same place Stephen is staying.
 
This doesn’t sound much like a coincidence to me.
 
The cops are going to be all over this area.
 
I already spent my time in lockup.
 
I don’t want to go back.
 
So if I was you, I’d grab your suitcase and hit the road while you can.”

Paulie reached down and jerked Moon up by his pajama top.
 
Moon’s feet were swinging in the air.
 
One slipper fell to the floor with a plop.
  

“Well, that ain’t quite like I got it figured, you little weasel.
 
You said you had a plan and you better carry it out. I need that kid, and guess what?
 
I’m not leaving without him.
 
I’ll be a nice guy and kick in some extra dough.
 
I’ll give you six hundred but you need a plan to get me out of here with what I came for.
 
If you don’t, the cops will be wondering what happened to you, too.
 
You got that, Moonie?”

Moon’s feet were flailing in the air and his face was turning red.
 
His pajama top was knotted so tight against his chest he could only nod in agreement.
 
Paulie let go and Moon hit the floor with a thud.
 
He lay on the floor gasping for breath.

Chapter 29

Phillip caught a red eye to
Chicago
and then got a small commuter plane to
Green Bay
, where he rented a car and drove back to Grand View.
 
While in
Los Angeles
, he had contacted Britt’s family in
Sweden
and together, they made the necessary arrangements.
  

Detective Drew had commandeered the trophy room as his working area.
 
He had questioned Cora, Bobby, Stephen, and Jeanette several times, each time asking slightly different questions.
 
He still wasn’t giving out any meaningful information.
 
Jeanette was surprised when the police marched several picketers into the trophy room to meet with the Detectives.
 

Jeanette was trying to get some things accomplished in her office, but it just wasn’t happening.
 
She could not concentrate and whenever she thought about Britt or Phillip, she would break down in tears.
 
The mansion had always been a respite from the real world.
 
It was a safe place where good things always seemed to happen.
 
Oh, there were arguments and hurt feelings now and then, but they never seemed to last.
 

Detective Drew stuck his head in her door.
 

“Jeanette, could I please have a moment of your time?”

“Certainly.”
 
Jeanette dabbed her red eyes with a tissue.
 

The detective entered her office, closed the door behind him and pulled up a chair next to Jeanette’s desk.
 

“As you know, I’ve been talking to everyone who either was around or could have been around at the time of Ms. Adolfson death.
 
I understand there was a small party the night before Ms. Adolfson died and towards the end, she and Mr. Kahle had words.
 
He wanted her to leave the gathering and she didn’t want to.
 
Is that correct?”

“I wouldn’t call it ‘words’.
 
I know Mr. Kahle wanted to leave because he had to get up early for his trip to
California
and he asked Britt to leave with him, but she wanted to stay with the party.
 
That’s really all that happened.”

Detective Drew scribbled a few notes.
 
“I understand Mr. Kahle’s nephew was also at the gathering.”

“Yes, he was, and so was I.”

“Did it seem to you that Ms. Adolfson had an interest in staying at the party to be with Mr. Kahle’s nephew?”

“Britt was a flirt.
 
What more can I say.
 
She loved to flirt and she seemed to enjoy being the center of attention, especially in front of Mr. Kahle.
 
But, as far as I know, that’s as far as it went.
 
It was a game for her.
 
She’s been a flirt for all the years I’ve known her.
 
This was certainly not an isolated incident the night of the party.
 
And I’ve seen no signs that Stephen was romantically interested in Ms. Adolfson.”

“I see.”
 
Detective Drew scribbled some more.
 
“But it can be said that when Mr. Kahle left the party, he was angry with Ms. Adolfson, is that right?”