Part III

  Mystic Connecticut

  30 years later

  Chapter 34

  The cargo van driver had been watching the cemetery from different locations in the early morning hours for several days. The gates would not officially open until 8:00 AM, but the man was not going to visit during regular visiting hours. An early morning jogger approached the cemetery gate. He stopped and looked both ways down the tree-lined road before swiftly moving to the massive iron gates. He wore black Nike sweatpants and a matching hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head to conceal his identity.

  He had the lock picked in seconds. He then pulled out his cell phone and made the call.

  “We’re in.”

  The reply was short, “Half a minute.”

  The jogger walked back to the road and pretended to stretch his legs. Twenty-five seconds later, a rusty Ford Econoline pulled off the road and up to the cemetery gates. The jogger was waiting, and as soon as the van pulled off the road, he swung the twin gates open, and the van shot through the massive stone entrance and into the cemetery without being noticed. The jogger closed the gates, took up a position out of sight from the road, and waited.

  *****

  There was a cool chill in the air as the sun was just starting to light up the eastern horizon on a clear, cloudless sky. Sunrise was less than a half hour away on what was about to be a spectacular fall day in Connecticut. The trees were changing into a kaleidoscope of colors, and the earthy smell of decaying leaves filled the air. The van had no front license plate, and the back plate was covered by a tarp protruding from the rear cargo doors. Following the map, the driver followed the road to the gravesite. As he traveled down the road, he could hear the sounds of birds singing in the trees and the sounds of the van’s tires crunching on the loose gravel through the open widow. He finally stopped at the location marked on the map and turned off the motor. A tall, slender man of Middle Eastern descent stepped out of the van and approached the family burial site. The names on the headstones matched those on his map. The large elm tree was precisely where it was supposed to be. It was positioned on a slight rise just above the soon-to-be-occupied but now empty gravesite.

  The man knew he had to work quickly. It was absolutely imperative that he not be observed or heard. Looking in every direction, he started the Honda generator inside the cargo area and ran an extension cord to the elm tree. He grabbed a black case from the van, shut the door, and proceeded to the tree. He had practiced this many times on similar trees and knew just how long it should take. After measuring the correct height and angle, he pulled a template out of the black case and placed it on the tree. He marked the prearranged holes on the tree with five quarter-inch black dots, four at the corners and one in the middle. Then using an electric hammer drill, he screwed a large lag bolt into the center mark. He reversed the lag screw and inserted an eye bolt into the threaded hole, and screwed it in by hand.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  He started his first plunge cut between the first two black dots just eight minutes after he cleared the gate. The modified twenty-inch Stihl chainsaw had been reworked to emit only twenty-five decibels from the usually very noisy exhaust. He would exchange the lower decibel levels for performance any day. The man didn’t want to attract any undue attention. The chain was super sharp and cut easily despite its reduced power. After connecting all four dots to make an eight-inch square opening, he turned to the side of the tree and made another plunge cut to cut the back of the box out. As he did, he watched the square cut of wood in the front of the tree as it finally came loose. He put the chain saw down, grabbed the eyebolt, and pulled out the block of wood.

  He measured the cutout depth, quickly removed the eyebolt, and cut the back off the chunk of wood, leaving just the bark and one inch of wood. He returned to the van and grabbed a heavy stainless steel box.

  *****

  The man placed the box into the tree opening. The seven-inch square by six-inch deep box fit into the tree with ease. He placed two long lag screws into the tubes that were welded to the sides of the box and drove them into the tree with the hammer drill, thus securing it into the nest. He grabbed the single thin wire that was sealed, coming out of the box, and ran it out of the tree opening. Next, he picked up the cut-off tree bark and plug, placed it over the nails that were welded to the face of the box, and centered it in the opening. He tapped the plug into the nails with a hard rubber mallet and flushed it with the outside of the tree.

  Satisfied with his work, he returned to the van with most of his tools and put them away. He next grabbed a five-gallon pail filled with supplies and a shop vacuum, then headed for the tree again. He placed precut wooden shims into the gaps around the plug and caulked them into place. Plugging in the vacuum, he switched it on the sucked up all the woodcuttings. Next, he removed the art supplies from the pail and completed his masterpiece. When he was finished, no one could tell that he had been there. The tree looked just as it did before he started. No one would even spot the thin wire running along the bark.

  *****

  When everything was finished, he took out an instrument and passed it over the tree where the box was now hidden. He was very pleased with the results; it didn’t set off the alarm. He removed a camera from his pocket and took several digital photos. After carefully looking the whole area over for potential witnesses and finding none, he got into his van and headed for the exit where he would pick up his spotter. He was on the street just as most of the citizens of the sleepy little town were having their morning coffee. He had completed his task in twenty-eight minutes. Two minutes under his target time. Later that morning and miles away he inserted a sim card into a clean cell phone and sent a text message. “Flowers planted just need watering