We were in the car, sitting outside the main gate of the Stewart Winery, with Odelia and Chase arguing amongst themselves as to the best way to proceed. It was a miracle I’d managed to get them both out of bed. It had taken me a long time to convince Odelia, and had taken her an even longer time to convince her husband. But there we were, and if we didn’t get a move on, it could be too late.
“We can’t just ring the bell and ask them to let us in,” said Odelia.
“So we scale the fence,” said Chase, as if it was the kind of thing he did every day. “It’s not that far to the house, and it’s like Max says: if we don’t do this, and someone dies, we’re going to feel horrible knowing we could have stopped it.”
That seemed to decide Odelia, for she opened the car door and got out.
Further down the road another car was parked, but as far as I could tell there was no one in it. It was a dark sedan, and I wondered if whoever had parked it also had business with the Stewarts.
We watched as Chase expertly scaled the fence, after ascertaining that it wasn’t charged with electricity, which wouldn’t have been a good experience. Odelia helped me and Dooley up, then was helped herself by Chase. Moments later we were in the vineyard, and our adventure had started for real!
“We should have told someone we were coming,” said Dooley. “Now they will think we’re intruders, and Ian will get out his big gun, or maybe Larry, and they’ll shoot holes in us!”
“Not if they don’t know we’re here,” I pointed out.
“But I’ll bet they have alarm systems, and cameras!”
I had to admit I wasn’t entirely convinced I was right either. But I was willing to take a chance. Though as we snuck along the dirt road that led through the vineyard and up to the house, I was starting to get a little uneasy in my mind. What had I got us into this time!
Soon we reached destination’s end, and found ourselves looking up at that great house. All the windows were dark, with not a soul in sight. Chase pointed to the window in question, and Odelia nodded. And so we snuck around the house, and onto the patio. If I was correct about this, the back door would be unlocked, and the alarm switched off.
Chase took a deep breath, then put his hand on the door handle. He locked eyes with Odelia, who gave him a curt nod, and he pushed down on the handle.
The door easily swung open, and as we stood there, no alarm sounded.
Phew!
And now for the hard part: sneaking through a house filled with people without getting caught!
For Dooley and me this was a piece of cake, of course. Cats are built for sneaking. But for Odelia and Chase this was a lot harder. But they managed admirably. First we passed through the kitchen, then into the hallway, and up the sweeping marble staircase to reach the second-floor landing. Odelia counted the doors as we snuck along the corridor, until finally we had reached journey’s end.
“This is it!” Chase mounted. “No turning back now.”
We all took a deep breath, and Chase opened the door and we entered the room.
And there, on the bed, I could see a dark figure straddling another figure. Chase must have seen it, too, for instantly he flicked the switch and the room was bathed in a bright light. The figure on the bed was a man dressed in black from head to toe, and he was straddling David Felfan, strangling the man with what looked like a piece of wire! Next to David, Pauline lay motionless, eyes closed. She looked dead—as dead as David would have been if we had arrived a minute later!
The man immediately jumped from the bed, and made for the window. But Chase cut off that avenue of escape, and since Odelia was between him and the door, there was simply no way out. He must have realized this, for he held out his hands at this point, as a sign of surrender.“You cops?” he asked.
“Detective Kingsley,” said Chase in response. “Hampton Cove PD.”
“Shush!” I said suddenly, for I’d heard a sound in the corridor.
Immediately Odelia turned off the light again, and moments later the door opened and a man entered.“How is it going?” asked the man. “They dead yet?”
Odelia turned on the light, and we all found ourselves looking into the surprised face of… Ian Stewart.
CHAPTER 44
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“I don’t get it,” said Harriet. “Ian Stewart killed his own son-in-law?”
“He didn’t kill him with his own hands,” I said. “But he did hire a professional assassin to have Jeff killed. And then he hired that same assassin to kill Jeff’s parents.” Though lucky for them we had arrived just in time to save both David and Pauline Felfan’s lives. Ian had knockedthem both out by putting GBH in their wine glass before retiring to bed. And then let this friendly neighborhood hitman into the house by unlocking the door and switching off the alarm.
“His name is Novio Bosiaki,” said Dooley, rolling the words on his tongue. “It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? He’s Serbian, or so Chase was told.”