Part 13
The next 3 nights went the very same way. The one thread between each dream being that they end in destruction. After her dream about Blossom Maple, she saw a robbery at The Riverdale Register and a riot at The Whyte Wyrm.
They were all at a loss. What were these dreams? Would they all come true? Who was trying to cause all this destruction? And why was Olivia the one receiving these ‘premonitions’?
All good questions, all left unanswered.
-
Although Cheryl and Toni told her to leave it be while they did their own digging, Olivia hunkered down with the clues she had, determined to bring this mess to an end. For some unknown reason she was chosen as the catalyst for this mystery.
She set up shop in the bunker with Chloe and Annie where they met a few times and set up their own mystery board, of sorts. So far all she’d determined was that the target was Riverdale’s family businesses, specifically those owned by her own family.
“Okay, so the big questions are 1, who, obviously, who is doing this? 2, why are they doing this? And why are they attacking our small businesses? And 3, why is Olivia the one receiving these…’messages’?”
Annie recited signaling to notes and images on the board at the appropriate times.
“And what are our leads?” Chloe asked from her seat at the table.
“Just that casino guy, Ellio Grande. You know, the one who stole all my moms employees,”
“Okay, well that’s kind of a motive. But why would he try to take out other businesses?” Olivia rebuked.
“Money? Power?”
“We need proof, or something more to go on…”
“I know what you’re about to say and I already vote no-“
“We need to get into that casino,” Olivia followed up cutting off Annie.
“And how would we do that? We have no business being there, we’re not even 18.” Chloe raised.
“Oh!” Olivia says suddenly, “I’ve got it!”
-
It wasn’t even 24 hours later and the girls were knocking on the door of Gaston, an old friend of the family. They grew up watching him working as the head chef at La Bon Nuit. They hadn’t seen him in a while as he jumped ship to Ellio’s casino with the rest of their staff.
The door finally opened to reveal a sweet looking old man, 70s maybe. His face lit up immediately.
“Girls!” He laughed out while opening up his arms for them to rush in.
Gaston was like a grandfather to them, the three of them not having one of their own for one reason or another. But Gaston had been there since the day each one of them came home from the hospital. He’s never missed a talent show, birthday, or graduation. When Ellio’s casino approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse, he went directly to Veronica and she accepted with understanding. It had still been a little awkward thought which is why they hadn’t seen him in a bit.
“Oh! Come in! Come in!” He said after pulling away. He ushered them into his living room and offered them all a soda which he never drank but bought specifically for when they’d come over.
Once settled and greeted, the girls turned a bit serious.
“Gaston, you heard about what happen at La Bon Nuit right?”
“Oh yes! How terrible. I talked to your mom last week, how are you feeling Olivia?”
“I’m good, thank you. That’s sort of why we’re here, we have reason to believe that your boss at the casino, Ellio Grande, might have been a part of that set up,”
“To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t be that surprised, he is nothing like Mrs. Lodge. He’s rude and dismissive, like he’s paying you so he can treat you however he wants. Not a good man if you ask me.”
“So do you think you can help us?! We need to get into the casino to find some kind of proof,”
“That’s awfully dangerous girls, and illegal,”
“Please, Gaston, we think he might be planning to do it again. We have to protect the town.”
He paused to think.
“Okay, listen, on Friday’s Mr. Grande leaves early to spend the weekend out in the Hamptons. Maybe I can get you guys in around closing time.”
“Can you get us into his office?” Annie asked.
“I’ll see what I can do,”
-
On Friday night at midnight the casino restaurant was closed and only a small crowd remained gambling til the wee hours of the morning.
The girls, dressed in their best sleuthing clothes, were stationed behind the kitchen waiting for Gaston to let them in.
The plan was simple, scope out the office to find some sort of documentation that connects Ellio to the event. Sounds easy enough. However, upon the thought of leaving with nothing, they may be back to square one.
The light above the back kitchen exit flashed once, twice, three times. That was their signal. The girls swiftly moved through the night to the door and once opened a crack, slid swiftly inside.
The only concern once inside the building were the cameras, of course a casino would have cameras. But after some digging into her Tracy True knowledge, Chloe learned how to dodge them by using mirrors.
Once they reached the office Chloe used the iconic ‘Betty Cooper bobby pin’ to unlock the door. They went in with flashlights as not to raise suspicion by turning on the lights. Having the three of them together made them feel confident that they’d be able to cover more ground is less time. Chloe went for the file cabinets, Annie went for the books, and Olivia, the desk.
They were thorough, searching documents forwards and backwards. Their time was coming to an end and all they’d found were casino contracts and building maintenance.
“There’s nothing here,” Annie said closing the last book.
“Nothing in here either, just a bunch of building code and contracts,” Chloe followed up.
“Okay well, aside from the safe, the only place we haven’t checked is here, the locked drawer in his desk. Chloe do you still have that bobby pin?”
She nodded and quickly made her way over to Olivia at the desk. She pulled out the pin and started picking away, holding her flash light between her teeth to keep it at the right angle.
CLICK
It had taken so long she was starting to think it wouldn’t go. They pulled out the small drawer all the way which seemed to trigger another chamber of the desk. The left corner popped open revealing a few file folders neatly stacked.
The drawer was empty, it’s only purpose no doubt to trigger the hidden corner. Each girl grabbed a folder and started reading. The room was silent and everything seemed to move in slow motion. This was their last shot.
“Nothing,” Chloe and Annie both said.
“Well actually this is definitely proof that he’s running a twisted casino but, not the crime we were looking for,” Chloe continued until-
“Wait,” Olivia interjected.
The girls waited impatiently and she continued to study the document.
“Annie, why would your grandfather and Ellio being doing business?”
“What?”
“This is a log of wire transfers between them, for very large sums of money. Why would Ellio be paying Hiram Lodge?”
-
Once they had returned home to the Jones’ house where they’d planned to spend the night, Annie divulged all the information she knew about her grandfather.
“I mean it’s not much, he was a shady business man with shady clients. He got arrested when my mom was a sophomore, which is when she and my Abuela moved here. Even when he got out of jail he seemed to only care about business and money. Mom said they ran him out of town before we were born because he was trying to destroy Riverdale and drive business to this new town he was trying to create. Sodale, like Riverdale for rich people. No one’s seen or heard from him since.”
“Okay, well, it’s a lead, right?”