Gold Flake Chocolate Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 6) Read online

  “Pull the trigger,” Hawk growled at Lionel. “I'm not scared of cowards.”

  “Wait,” Nikki begged, terrified. It was clear from the look in Lionel's deadly eyes he would kill Hawk. “Mr. Perkins, please, you came here with a purpose. Please tell us what you want us to do.”

  “Sit down, mate,” Lionel ordered Hawk, “but first, your gun.”

  “Put your gun on the floor, Hawk,” Nikki begged.

  Hawk locked eyes with Lionel. Reluctantly, he placed his hand on his gun and withdrew it from his holster. “Okay, okay,” he told Lionel, bending down to the floor.

  “Nice and slow, there you go,” Lionel warned.

  “Nikki, where are your towels?” Herbert asked, walking into the kitchen.

  Hawk watched Lionel take his eyes off him and quickly focus on Herbert. Wasting no time and acting out of sheer survival instinct, Hawk drew his gun upward and prepared to fire. Lionel saw Hawk go into an offensive position from the corner of his left eye. Before he could get off a round, Hawk fired.

  Lionel felt a bullet bite into his right hand. “Don't move,” Hawk yelled, watching Lionel drop the Glock and grab his wounded right hand.

  “I can find the towels on my own,” Herbert said in a shaky voice and hurried away.

  Nikki ran across the kitchen and picked up the pistol Lionel had been holding. Lidia raced to the kitchen counter and grabbed a dish towel. She eased over to Lionel and tossed it at him. “Wrap your hand,” she told him.

  Lionel wrapped his wounded hand. “You’re fast, mate,” he told Hawk, gritting his teeth in pain.

  “Sit down,” Hawk ordered Lionel.

  Lionel walked to the kitchen table. Tori stood up. “I don't bite, beautiful,” Lionel promised Tori, trying to sound tough.

  “You're a disease,” Tori nearly spat at him.

  “Why?” Lionel barked back. “Because I don't conform to your system of fake justice? I steal from the rich, but I'm not Robin Hood. I steal from corrupt men who steal from the poor. I take what is rightfully mine. How much of my own money is stolen by the IRS? How much of my money is sent to countries that fund terrorism? How much of my money is spent buying jet fuel so our greedy senators can fly to their private golf courses and plan more ways to steal and oppress the little man? I'm a disease? Girly, you better wise up and realize who the real diseases are!”

  “Nice speech,” Tori replied in a bitter voice, “but you failed to mention one thing. I'm aware of the corruption in the country I call home, but I remain honest. Because if I become dishonest, I'm no better than the criminals that Detective Daily risks his life to put behind bars. Real men, like Detective Daily, fight corruption the honest way. You steal for selfish reasons. Detective Daily defends the little man as a hero. You are a disease, and men like Detective Hawk Daily are the cure.”

  Tori's words slapped Lionel across the face. He fought back but knew any words he spoke to Tori would be defeated by words of truth spoken from her mouth. “Tell us why you came here,” Nikki told Lionel. “Obviously, you want to take down Agent Ringston. Let us do that for you.”

  Lionel looked into Nikki's face, and then into Lidia's, and finally into Hawk's face. “You need a date,” he said in a serious voice. “You've figured out Fort Knox, and you have the location but not the date.”

  “The location is Fall Cliff,” Nikki said.

  Lionel nodded. “Underneath the city hall is an underground bunker designed to store the gold. This bunker is impenetrable. As clever as I am, I could never create a plan to outwit the bunker's design or security system.”

  “What's the date?” Hawk demanded.

  Lionel shook his head. “Not so fast, mate,” he said, wrapping the dish towel tighter around his right hand. “First there are certain facts you need to know. You're aware that Ringston and Wayberry sprang the Twenty-Four Thieves, yes?”

  “Yeah, we're aware,” Hawk said.

  Nikki folded her arms. “Some of the thieves are disguised as FBI Agents, as you are,” she told Lionel.

  “Give the lady a biscuit,” Lionel announced.

  “But why make it public?” Nikki asked confused. “Why draw all this attention when everything could have been done in secrecy? I'm sure Warden Wayberry and Agent Ringston could have carefully withdrawn each thief from the prison without any public fanfare.”

  “They could have, but remember, they were dealing with thieves,” Lionel reminded Nikki. “Now all twenty-four of us have their face posted on every TV, magazine and newspaper across the globe.”

  “I see,” Nikki said. “Warden Wayberry and Agent Ringston had to put leashes around your necks, is that it?”

  “Yes,” Lionel agreed, “also forcing each thief to put the state of Vermont into an absolute panic while forcing the badges to chase their tails. No offense, cop, but you guys are stupid. You set up roadblocks and conduct press conferences and send out helicopters and let the hound-dogs loose. All the while, we're standing off in the distance laughing at your futile efforts. American leadership is a riot.”

  “You're the one sitting here with a wounded hand,” Tori snapped at Lionel.

  “And I could have crossed over into Canada with over seventy-five thousand dollars in my back pocket last night,” Lionel told Tori, withholding his temper from her. “Yesterday I walked down the main street of your fair little town. Not one single person noticed me.”

  “You were spotted out near a rental cabin,” Hawk pointed out. “Someone did notice you.”

  “The old lady sitting out in her backyard painting...alas, the least likely are the obvious ones,” Lionel said in a dramatic voice. “I let her see me,” he finished, turning his voice serious again.

  “Why?” Hawk demanded.

  “To let you know I was still around,” Lionel explained. “Call it a desperate attempt to get Ms. Bates’ attention. Obviously, if this woman is worried about Ringston, then she is of precious use to me.”

  “Okay, but why go out and make hot spots all over the state?” Nikki asked, confused. “If you're expecting a gold shipment to arrive, putting Vermont into a state of fright will certainly cancel...” Nikki paused. “Oh dear, that's what they want.”

  Lionel drew in a deep, painful breath. “If the gold ever gets into the bunker, there is no way Ringston, Wayberry or Brown will ever get it back out. The U.S. Government is very particular about its money. Never take away money that can send a politician on a golfing vacation, don't you know.”

  “How can the escaped convicts go around parading like FBI Agents with their faces all over the news?” Hawk cut in. “Come on, knock off the nonsense.”

  “It's not nonsense,” Lionel barked at Hawk. “Every guy has a facial mask that was designed to change his appearance. We were fitted while sitting idle at North Hill. We also had our fingerprints burned off. But no man got a mask until he agreed to have a tracking chip implanted under his skin.”

  “Why would you and the clowns you got shipped off to prison with agree to such a thing? You're all supposed to be brilliant, yet you've allowed yourselves to become slaves to a slave master,” Hawk commented.

  Lionel grinned. “Are we slaves?” he asked. “Sometimes a thief can never be tracked. A thief always has a window to escape through, mate.”

  Hawk frowned. The devious expression in Lionel's eyes revealed that the Twenty-Four Thieves had a plan of their own. “Your job was to kill Ringston. You failed. Then you decided to use the press, AKA Nikki Bates, to take down Ringston while you and your clown friends carried out your own plan. Does that about wrap it up?”

  “Almost,” Lionel told Hawk. “You forgot one very important detail.”

  “What?”

  “The gold shipment itself,” Lionel told Hawk. “Mate, you're as blind as a bat trying to fly around in a soundproof room. The prison break was made public to delay the gold shipment. The gold was supposed to arrive directly tomorrow morning. Now the shipment has been delayed until further notice. And that's exactly what Ringston wants
.”

  “Why?” Hawk demanded.

  “Because he is positioning the thieves to take the gold, you idiot,” Lionel snapped. “He didn't free a bunch of thieves just to use them to scare a bunch of backwoods syrup-drinkers and steal some gold. Ringston is going to use the gold to propel himself into power. But mind you, mate, Ringston isn't stupid. Once the gold is stolen, your government will be scouring the land for it. So where will Ringston hide the gold?”

  “In Fall Cliff,” Tori answered in a shocked voice.

  “Give the lady a cookie,” Lionel told Tori. “Ringston has every detail planned down to the last penny. Of course, so do we.”

  Nikki studied each word Lionel spoke. “Ringston isn't willingly releasing this vital information to you, Mr. Perkins. You have an insider.”

  “Yes, I do,” Lionel smiled. “A trap has been set, and Ringston must go down, and you, Nikki Bates, must play your part. Take down Ringston for us, and we'll leave like smoke in the wind. Fight us, and every thief will dedicate his miserable life to ensuring you will lose everyone and everything you love. Remember, it's because of you that Ringston is still alive. If that rat hadn’t chased out of here after you, he would be sleeping in the dirt by now.”

  “You're in no position to threaten anyone, you stinking punk,” Hawk roared. He ran up to Lionel, but Nikki stopped him.

  “Don't, Hawk,” she pleaded. Staring into Lionel's eyes, she knew the man was as devious as he was deadly. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Go back to Fall Cliff and get under Ringston's skin. Ask some questions about the prison break. Don't worry, someone will be there to assist you,” Lionel informed Nikki. “I want you to keep Ringston occupied. In five days, you will come back to Maple Hills and run a story about Ringston—with evidence, of course—proving he orchestrated the prison break.”

  Hawk watched Lionel stand up. “Sit down,” he ordered.

  Lionel shook his head. “If you arrest me, your girlfriend will suffer the consequences...or should I say, her son will suffer.”

  “My son... how do you—?” Nikki gasped. “Hawk, let him go,” she demanded as fear gripped her heart. “Go, Mr. Perkins. I'll do what you have asked of me. You have my word.”

  “Very good,” Lionel grinned and then winced in pain. “I should kill you, cop, but if I do, I'm afraid Ms. Bates will refuse to offer her services. But someday, we'll play poker, eh, mate?”

  “Any day you think you're man enough,” Hawk promised.

  Lionel stared into Hawk's eyes. He saw a man who stood strong and brave—a man who would face him in a fair fight, fist to fist, a man who possessed true honor instead of fake honor. “I'll be leaving now.”

  “So much for having a conscience, you liar,” Tori told Lionel. “You didn't come here because you cared about the little man. You lied to me.”

  “Half-lies, half-truths... isn't that the way of us all?” Lionel said, easing toward the back door.

  “No, not all of us,” Tori scolded him.

  “See you soon,” Lionel winked at Tori and opened the back door. “Leave for Fall Cliff tonight,” he ordered Nikki.

  “I'm not going alone.”

  “Who said you had to?” Lionel answered and vanished out into the rain, like a poisonous shadow slithering away into the gray afternoon.

  Chapter Nine

  Tori walked to the back door and slammed it shut. “I'm very confused,” she admitted in her anger. “What's going on here?”

  Lidia put her hand on Nikki's trembling shoulder. “I'm going with you, honey. We'll get through this.”

  “I'm going, too,” Hawk told Nikki.

  “Me, too,” Tori chimed in.

  “No...no,” Nikki said, lifting her shaking hands up to her mouth. Closing her eyes, she thought as images of her innocent son whispered into her scared mind. “Hawk, you stay here. Lidia and Tori will come with me.”

  “No way,” Hawk disagreed in a firm voice. “Ringston is a deadly man.”

  “Both sides are playing a game, Hawk. Can't you see that? Ringston is very clever. I think I know why he's disguising the thieves as FBI Agents, too. But there's a traitor in his ranks. I think that traitor is Mayor Brown. Perkins said Ringston had men set up to steal the gold at another location. How did he know that?”

  “You’re right, there has to be an insider,” Hawk admitted.

  Nikki drew in a deep breath as her mind created a clumsy theory. “Ringston is going to send his thieves to steal the gold. They'll deliver it to Cliff Falls dressed like government men, but the gold will be placed in a secret location and not the designated bunker. Ringston will then blame the thieves for the stolen gold and attempt to eliminate them.” Nikki paused and paced around her kitchen. “The thieves have a plan of their own. They want Ringston occupied. And Ringston must be taken out of the picture in the end, too... Perkins said he would give me evidence to go with my story, right?”

  “They want Ringston looking right instead of left for a few days,” Hawk said. “My guess is the thieves are going to replace the real gold with fake gold and deliver the fake gold right to Ringston's front door.”

  “And when the fake gold arrives, the authorities will be arriving with it,” Nikki finished Hawk's thought for him.

  Hawk nodded. “But,” he added, “Ringston was supposed to be taken out of the photo, so the fake gold, if we're right, is meant to take down someone else. So, let's see who we have here, okay? We have Ringston, Warden Wayberry, and Mayor Brown. We know Ringston isn't leaking information to the thieves. The thieves have been in prison, which means it's not likely Mayor Brown has been making secret visits.”

  “Warden Wayberry is the insider,” Nikki mumbled. “The thieves will use the fake gold to capture him in their trap and Warden Wayberry will be sent off to prison. It's the perfect punishment for a man like him.”

  “Which leaves Mayor Brown,” Hawk said suspiciously. “We have Ringston, and we found our insider, but what about the Mayor? He has to be involved.”

  “I guess it'll be my job to find out how,” Nikki told Hawk. “Lidia, Tori, let's go pack. We're going back to Fall Cliff.”

  Lidia drew in a scared breath. “And I was hoping to spend the day sipping coffee and making delicious chocolates with you,” she told Nikki.

  Nikki studied Lidia's scared eyes. Her dear friend was thinking about her husband, yet, regardless of her fear, Lidia would place herself in danger to stand by Nikki's side. “Stay here,” Nikki told Lidia in a loving voice. “Tori and I will handle this. Herbert needs you, and you need him. You mind the cabin for me while we're gone, okay?”

  Lidia felt tears fall from her eyes. “Please don't hate me.”

  Nikki ran to Lidia and hugged her. “I could never hate you. I love you. I love all of you.”

  Tori rushed over and hugged Nikki and Lidia. “We're a family,” she told Lidia and nearly cried herself.

  “Before we leave,” Nikki told Lidia and Tori, “I have to meet Eric.” Turning to Hawk, Nikki wiped a tear out of her eye. “Hawk, let me tell you about Eric...”

  Hawk stood still and listened to Nikki explain about the man named Eric. As Nikki talked, he formed a plan of his own. Outside, the heavy rain continued to fall.

  Chapter Ten

  Nikki sat in the front seat of Eric's brown truck. Facing the Maple Hills Diner, she sat in silence and listened to the rain falling, waiting for Eric to speak. “I helped design the bunker,” Eric finally said. Holding a diet soda in his hand, he took a drink and then hesitated. “The bunker under the courthouse is a decoy, but the thieves believe it is the real thing.”

  “How do you know this?” Nikki asked, confused. “Eric, who are you?”

  “I worked for the CIA,” Eric told Nikki in a calm voice. Staring into the rain, he studied the front of the diner. Inside, he imagined his granddaughter had already placed her order. “I was sent to Fall Cliff to oversee the building of the specialized CA-16 Bunker.”

  “Was Mayor Brown in office a
t the time?” Nikki asked.

  Eric nodded. “Yes.” He took another drink of his diet soda. “Brown was stationed in an old courthouse. We maneuvered it this way to convince the local citizens that a new courthouse was being built. We wanted the locals to get used to seeing construction machinery around. We built the decoy bunker under the new courthouse and built the real bunker four miles north of town under a deserted concrete company. We started a forest fire in that area to keep the locals out.”

  “When were the two bunkers built?” Nikki asked.

  “Five years ago,” Eric explained. “And before you ask, yes, the Pentagon was already in the early stages of operational planning against Libya. America was going broke quickly. In the span of ten years, if America didn't back up the petrodollar with gold instead of paper currency, the Middle Eastern countries would have begun selling their oil against the petrodollar, which would have meant economic ruin for America.”

  “I think I understand.”

  Eric put his diet soda into a cup holder. “You can't ship four trillion dollars’ worth of gold overnight. Careful planning has to take place.”

  “Four trillion—are you—how is that possible?” Nikki gasped.

  Eric sighed. “Libya had its own gold reserve, into the billions. But, to play cat-and-mouse with the U.S. government, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Egypt were all hiding their gold in Libya. You see, Libya was playing nice with America, as well as Russia and China. Libya became a kind of meeting ground for all three countries to agree on.”

  “Iraq fell; Egypt nearly fell. They're trying to make Syria fall right now...and Iran is protected by Russia,” Nikki replied as her memory recalled current and old foreign news events.

  Eric nodded. “Last year, the American government took down Libya. This upset Russia and China, which is why those two countries have become hostile. You see, somehow America found out about all the gold Libya was hoarding and devised a plan to steal it. But how? How could America be justified in bombing Libya?” Eric made a sick sound in his throat. “You create a false terror group, that's how, and make the world believe you're playing hero when you're actually playing thief and murderer.”