The Other Side of Lone Mountain

Chapter Thirty

Several days later Vickie and Mark decided it was time to head back home. The children wanted to stay but Vickie promised they would come back for their first school break and daddy was feeling better. Paul and Mandy are there to see them off. Mark got into the car and turned to look up at Paul, “Hey man, thanks for everything and take care of that lady. Don’t lose her.”

“Thanks partner, I don’t intend to ever let go of her.”

“Well just remember I’m the best man” he laughed. Vickie hugged Mandy and thanked her for being such a good friend to them. Heather and Tommy hugged her also and told her that they were going to miss her and invited her to visit them. She said she would honestly try. Vickie went around the car to where Paul was still standing, she put her arms around him and kissed his cheek and thanked him again and told him not to take too long getting back home. The kids also kissed him and said goodbye.

Paul and Mandy stood with their arms around each other watching as Vickie pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. Once the car disappeared, Mandy got into the car as Paul slipped into the driver’s side. They headed for the Sheriff’s Office.

When they arrived at the station, they found Jeff talking to a man Mandy had never seen before. Jeff noticed them and motioned for them to come over. When they got there, Jeff said, “Ah! Mandy, Paul please come in. This is Inspector Engles with the Forestry Department. He’s here to investigate that incident on the mountain and some of the other so-called accidents we’ve had up there in the last three years or so.”

“Why is he investigating those now?” asked Mandy.

“Well I called the Forestry Department and told them what’s been going on here and what we suspect. They decided to send someone to investigate.”

“Actually, we’ve had our eyes on this particular Logging Camp for a while now. We believe there is some timber theft going on up there. We haven’t been able to catch them in the act, but we have trees missing in sections that are not a part of that particular forest preservation program.”

Paul not knowing anything about the forest preservation program; asked, “How can you tell if trees are missing?”

“Each logging group is allowed to cut only trees that are on land designated to them and only those tagged by a Forester. These timbers are then auctioned off to the highest bidder. Every tree that is felled and sold is carefully recorded. New growth is never tagged, and trees in what is called ancient forest are not allowed to be touched. We’ve been finding that quite a few of the new growth has been felled but there is no record of them and the Company knows nothing of them. That leads us to believe that someone is stealing timber and selling them illegally. We believe we know who is behind it but we can’t prove it.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked Mandy.

“We sent one of our men up there undercover, but somehow his cover was blown and he was killed. We couldn’t prove that he was murdered, so we were told to back off. We now need someone who can act as our eyes and ears. Someone who will not be questioned. Jeff, do you know of anyone?”

“Let me think about it and get back with you. I have someone in mind but I need to talk with him first.”

“Jeff, were you able to get any prints from Mark’s truck?” asked Paul. “Yes, as a matter of fact we did. Of course there was a set of prints belonging to Mark, but we also found two other sets of prints, and guess who they belonged to?” asked Jeff.
“Let me guess” replied Paul. “One belongs to that Steve guy I’ve been hearing about and the other I’ll bet belongs to our man, Gill. Am I right?”

“Right on the money!” said Jeff. “Now that we know they are a part of what happened to Mark, I’ll bet they’re up to their necks in that timber theft. I’d like to go up and talk to them”, said Mandy.

“Okay, but take Paul with you. If there is nothing else, I guess we’re through for tonight. We’ll let you know what we find, Mr. Engles.”

They stopped at the Bed and Breakfast on the way to Mandy’s, Paul wanted to pick up a couple of things and Mandy wanted to see her mother. When they reached Mandy’s house, there was a message on her phone. She pressed the button to retrieve the message, thinking it was a message from Lone Wolfe. Instead, it was what sounded like a man’s voice but hard to tell because it was so muffled. The message was clearly a warning and it made Mandy’s blood run cold. The voice announced, “Don’t get involved any further, unless you and your boyfriend want to end up like your father and late husband.” She turned to Paul and he could see the fear in her eyes, but he also recognized something else. Was it determination or anger? Maybe it was a little of both. She walked over to Paul and he took her into his arms. He was glad he had decided to come home with her. He would not have wanted her to face that message alone. She whispered, “I’ll be damned if these people are going to scare me away. I will see them in hell first.” Even though she whispered, Paul could hear the anger and maybe just a bit of hatred in her voice. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was not going to back down. If anything, he believed she was even more determined than ever to catch the people behind this conspiracy or whatever it was that was going on. She looked up at him and said between clenched teeth, “I want to catch these bastards and put them out of business.” There was so much determination in her voice that Paul was quite sure that she would succeed.

“Are you going to call Jeff and tell him about this?” he asked.

“Not tonight, I’ll tell him in the morning when I get to work. I’ll take the tape in with me and let him hear it. He may be able to recognize the voice although I doubt it.”

That night as they lay in bed, Mandy heard a noise. She quietly slipped out of bed and got her gun from the top draw of her nightstand. Silently she went from room to room. She heard the back door close so she ran to the kitchen and threw open the door. She looked up and down the street but saw no one. She went back inside. She heard Paul calling her so she went into the living room where she found him. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I thought I heard someone in the house so I got up to check. Then I heard the back door in the kitchen close, but when I got there and opened the door and looked out I didn’t see anyone. She walked over to the wall and switched on the light. On the wall where her small prints were hanging, was scrawled in what looked to be blood; (Mind your own business bitch or die!). Paul watched as the blood drained from her face and her eyes grew as large as saucers and there was fear registered in those beautiful eyes. She had covered her mouth to stifle a scream she felt rising in her throat. He followed her gaze and was shocked at what he saw. He quickly walked over to her and took her in his arms. He could feel her entire body shaking. He pulled her closer to him and said, “It’ll be alright, but I think we should call the Sheriff, he needs to see this.” Mandy was so stunned all she could do was shake her head in agreement. Paul went to the phone and called the station. He was told that the Sheriff had gone home for the night, but when he told them what had happened, they told him that they would contact him immediately and have him go over there.

“Paul, how did they get in? I know I locked all the doors and I didn’t hear any glass break.”

“Well let’s wait until Jeff gets here and we’ll check. In the meantime, here, drink this.” He had poured her a glass of cognac.

Twenty-five minutes later, Jeff was standing in Mandy’s living room looking at the message scrawled on the wall. He walked up to the wall and rubbed his finger over one of the letters. “It’s still wet.” He rubbed the liquid between his thumb and forefinger; then he brought it up to his nose and smells it. He looked at Paul and Mandy and announced, “Its red paint! To be specific, a child’s finger paint. I know because my kids loved to play with finger paint when they were younger.”

“Finger paint!” Mandy said credulously.

“Yup” said Jeff. “Now you said you’re sure you locked all the doors and all the windows are locked, but you didn’t hear any glass break. Do you think they were already in the house?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think so” replied Mandy.

“Well let’s check the house and see if we can find an entry point. Mandy you take the bedroom, Paul you take the living room and the side room off the living room and I’ll take the kitchen. If you find the point of entry, call out.” Paul checked the living room but found nothing disturbed. Mandy did the same with her bedroom. They heard Jeff call to them to join him in the kitchen. When they joined him he asked Mandy, “You said you opened the kitchen door and went out?”

“Yes, I thought I heard someone shut the door so I ran in and tried to catch them, but there was no one here and I didn’t see anyone outside so I came back in.”

“You didn’t notice anything different about the door?”

“No, why?”

“Take a look at this.” Mandy walked over to the kitchen door, Paul next to her. Jeff pulled back the curtain and showed them a small hole, just large enough for someone to stick their hand through and reach the lock.

Mandy and Paul looked at the hole and Mandy said, “No wonder I didn’t hear any breaking glass, whoever it was, used a glass cutter. I guess I was so busy trying to chase the person down that I never looked at the glass on the door.”

With that solved they returned to the living room. Paul looked at Jeff and said, “Jeff, there’s more. Earlier, when we got here, Mandy had a message on her voice mail. I think you should hear it.” Mandy was seated on the couch, visibly very shaken. Paul went over to the phone and punched the replay button. Jeff listened to the message but made no comment. He simply opened the tape machine and pulled the tape.

He turned and looked at Mandy and said, “I’m going to send this to our boys and see if they can clean it up enough so that we might be able to recognize the voice. I don’t think you should stay here. Why don’t you go over to your mom’s; at least for tonight.”

“I’ll be fine right here. I think they just wanted to scare me. Besides I don’t think they’ll be back tonight and I don’t want to scare my mother.” Looking at Paul, she said, “I’m sure I’ll be fine Jeff.”

“I’m going to send forensic out here to dust the place. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a good set of prints.”

“Thanks Jeff.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning. If anything else happens call me at home.” He handed Paul a card with his home phone on it. “Just in case” he said.

After Jeff left, Paul went over to Mandy and put his arms around her. She still looked very shaken. “I’m going to find something to cover that panel in the door with, you should go back to bed, I’ll be in shortly. Would you like me to get you anything?”

“Paul, I don’t want to go back to bed just yet, but I could use another shot of that cognac.”

“You just sit right there and I’ll get it for you.”

“Thanks” she replied as she laid her head back and closed her eyes. When Paul returned with her cognac he noticed tears quietly running down her cheeks.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead and whispered, “I’ll never let anything happen to you, I promise.” She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. Mandy believed that Paul would give up his own life to save her. At that moment Mandy knew that she loved him more than life itself and didn’t want to ever spend another day without him.

Paul found a small piece of plywood in the back yard and some tools and patched the panel temporarily. He returned to the living room with her cognac. After handing it to her he walked over to the linen closet and returned with a sheet that he hung over the message. By this time Mandy seemed to be recovering and was ready to return to bed so he led her back to the bedroom.

“You rest; I’ll deal with the forensic team when they get here. I’ll make sure they don’t disturb you. After they leave I’ll come back to bed.”

“Paul, thanks you for being here. I love you.” He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. As he left the room he switched off the light and gently closed the door behind him.