Tension was high at the remote area of the Mystery Spot, the
location of a secret government operation. Evan and Jenny worked undercover at
the Mystery Spot, Mackinac Bridge, and the Truck Stop Restaurant in St. Ignace,
Michigan. Their families agreed to keep their FBI employment a secret and told
their friends in St. Ignace they returned to St. Ignace because they missed
their family. An illegal pasty smuggling
ring, under investigation by the FBI, had all law enforcement personnel in the
area on alert in search of any suspicious behavior. The FBI learned that pasties
were being transported from Mackinac City and were being dispersed all over Upper
Peninsula and into the hands of people of all ages, including children. Part of
the illegal activity included the making and selling of illegal pasties,
pasties that were not made in the Upper Peninsula. The businesses were claiming
the pasties were made in the U.P. Pasties were discovered and made for miners a
long time ago to serve as a meal when they were working in the U.P. mines. They
were meat pies surrounded by a crust and usually included potatoes and
rutabagas. The goal of the secret government mission was to preserve the integrity
and authenticity of U.P. businesses selling pasties.
The Mystery Spot
served as the perfect spot for the secret government building which provided
the FBI with a top secret meeting facility. The building was located behind the
world renown tourist attraction known for its optical illusions. It was hidden
in the woods. A large building built of bricks to withstand the wet weather.
The building did not get a lot of sun, hidden amongst a heavy growth of trees.
A two-track dirt road led to the secret hide out. The road looked like any of
the roads traveled by people who enjoyed traveling by four wheelers all over
the scenic U.P. The large building had offices, meeting rooms and a place for
people to sleep when they came from out of town or they worked on projects in
the area. Jenny and Evan stayed at the building and drove older all terrain
jeeps so they did not stand out from the rest of residents.
Evan enjoyed his
part time job at the Mystery Spot. He fit into the Upper Peninsula’s Yooper
persona. He had long dark hair that was tied back with a pony-tail, had a beard
and wore flannel plaid shirts, t-shirts and blue jeans. Evan was born and
raised in St. Ignace and knew a lot of the locals. He went away to college to
fulfill his desire to work in law enforcement. He sought employment with the FBI after
fulfilling a role as the local sheriff in another U.P. town. He had an eye for
picking out suspicious characters and solved many crimes in his previous
position. He built a name for himself when he worked closely with the FBI on
many cases. He considered his current job, his dream job. Solving the crime of
the decade and saving the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) pasty business was of the
utmost importance.
Jenny had a
similar background. She was also born and raised in St. Ignace. Took a similar
path of going away to college and working in Marquette as a City Police
Officer. She ended up working with the FBI on many occasions to solve high
profile cases. Jenny also fit the U.P. persona. She was tall and lean, had
freckles and brown hair. She wore her
hair long and it was tied back in a pony-tail. She wore t-shirts, flannel shirts and jeans.
She could hunt deer with the best of the hunters in the area. She also built a
name for herself so when she applied to join the FBI, they welcomed her with
open arms. Her heart went out to the U.P. businesses that tried to sell locally
made pasties. “People need to be told the truth,” was one of her favorite
sayings. She hated lies. It was discovered that people were entering local
establishments in pairs from the lower peninsula to sell pasties saying they
are from the U.P. Their pasties were tasty so the authenticity of the goods was
not questioned.
Jenny and Evan
traveled to Marquette to locate the address listed on the billing statement
provided to the businesses that sold the pasties in question. The address was
the location of a automobile body repair shop. The owners of the shop never
heard of the pasty business. Their phones were tapped and they were under
surveillance. These efforts proved they were telling the truth. Businesses
ordered additional pasties by using a webpage or leaving a message at a phone
number with the 906 area code. The business owners were told to leave a
business name, address and the number of pasties they wanted to purchase. The
business owners thought they were busy, that’s why they had to use that method
to order additional pasties. The pasty company underpriced other pasty providers.
Jenny and Evan met
at Bentleys, a favored local restaurant, to discuss their plans.
“I want the fish
sandwich and a pop,” said Evan to the waitress.
“I will have the
same,” said Jenny.
“We should be
having a pasty, but I have been eating so many to compare that I am getting
tired of them.,” said Jenny.
“I never get sick
of pasties. So far, they are all tasting the same to some degree. I haven’t
tasted one that raised my radar, yet.”
“I haven’t
either.”
“When are we
holding our stake out at the Mackinac Bridge again?” asked Jenny.
“I think we need
to be at the bridge tonight. It’s Thursday night. Before the weekend. We may
spot some suspicious activity,” replied Evan.
“I will meet you
at the regular spot?” asked Jenny.
“Yes, meet me at
the bridge look out.”
The townsfolk
thought Jenny and Evan were dating. They went to high school together and were
in the same grade. He played the role of a jock who happened to be a closet
book worm and she was openly a book worm. She hated jocks when she attended
high school. He did not get any of her attention. They were seen together a lot
lately and everyone thought there was a romance brewing. It was a small town
and the long-time residents liked
watching the relationship grow. Some of them were bold enough to ask if wedding
bells were in their future. They really didn’t know how they felt about each
other. They were too busy working lots of hours at their part time jobs and
doing surveillance which kept them tied up for hours each day. Jenny and Evan
discovered they had a lot in common. They both liked hunting deer, hiking in
the woods and fishing. The perfect ingredients for a successful relationship.
“I have to get to
work. Working as a maintenance worker for the Mackinac Bridge Authority
provides me with an opportunity to see a lot of people as they cross the
bridge. I have to clean windows today outside. Perfect opportunity for me to
see people crossing the bridge. Keep your ear plug in just in case I have to
reach you.” Evan preferred working at the Mystery Spot but the Mackinac Bridge
job afforded better opportunities to spy on people coming from the lower
peninsula. At the Mystery Spot he got to fool people by rolling a ball up hill
with ease, having people sit on chairs or stand on walls and lean out like they were floating and how they looked
taller than one another when they stood on cement platforms. A wife would appear taller than her husband.
It was a fun place to work. Only one of them was able to work at this location to
be close to the government building and he drew the lucky straw.
“I will keep my
ear plug in. My work at the Truck Stop gives me plenty of opportunity to spy on
people who travel from the lower peninsula,” said Jenny. Jenny was settling
into her job at the restaurant. She felt some of the truckers could be crude
and offensive. She considered the source and did not try to place too much
importance on their advances. Both Jenny and Evan did what a lot of St. Ignace
residences did to get by, work a variety of jobs to make ends meet. No one knew
what they did before they returned to St. Ignace.
They both climbed
into aged jeeps and headed to their jobs. Smiling and waving at each other as
they departed their parking spaces. Betsy, one of the Bentley waitresses,
watched them leave. She was a long-time St. Ignace resident. She smiled and
told Sally about what she saw. They had a wager going about how long it would
take for them to get married. Betsy thought it would be a year and Sally
thought within six months. They kept checking out Jenny’s stomach to see if
there was a bun in the oven. Both Sally and Betsy had to get married.
The Truck Stop was
especially busy today, the weekend before the famous car show the end of June. Jenny
was watching and listening as she served the customers. One of the customers
got her attention. He was talking about pasties and how he was traveling to a
town further north to deliver some pasties. Jenny headed to the kitchen to tell
Evan through their ear buds. At the same time, Evan spotted people traveling
north with lots of coolers sitting on the back seat of the car. He took out his
binoculars and took down the license plate number. They looked suspiciously
guilty like they were looking for the police. Things were happening fast. He
called in the license plate number to the main office.
Evan’s phone rang
soon after he sent in the license plate number. It was George from the main
office.
“Hello. What did
you find out George?” asked Evan.
“The number you
called in belonged to a man named Ethan Edwards who was brought in for
smuggling illegal souvenirs into the U.P. last year. He had alibis for the
times he was suspected of delivering the goods so they could not pin the
illegal activity on him. I wouldn’t put it past him concerning the illegal
pasties and fudge. People had made a lot of money selling pasties and fudge in
the U.P. for many years. He probably wants to make a profit, too. We put out an
alert and will have him located and followed.
We had a tracking unit attached to the bottom of their vehicle last year
when they were under suspicion. They should be easy to locate if he has the
same vehicle,” said George.
“I can’t believe
we finally have leads. Jenny overheard a conversation at the Truck Stop.”
“She plans on
watching them when they leave to take down their vehicle information.”
“Do you think
there are more than one person involved in this smuggling?” asked Evan.
“It wouldn’t
surprise me. There’s money to be made in the pasty and fudge business.”
George gave Evan
the web information to seek the location of the possible criminal. Evan entered
the information into his phone and saw the car approach a wooden area in the
U.P., possibly the location of a cabin.
“I am going to
pick you up and we are headed to a place where the smugglers may be,” said Evan
to Jenny.
“I just phoned in
the license number of the man I overheard talking about delivering pasties. I
got an earful about how this man was associated with a possible illegal
souvenir ring. He had an alibi for the times he may have been seen in the U.P.
so they could not pin it on him.”
“George gave me
the same information about the man I saw crossing the bridge with coolers in
his back seat. I think they may be working together. I think we are finally
going to break this case and be able to turn our focus on other cases in the
U.P.,” said Evan.
“I sure hope so.
We owe it to the people who lived in the U.P. all their lives to be represented
by people who only make the pasties in the U.P. You know my motto.”
“I know. People
must be told the truth.”
Evan picked up
Jenny at the Truck Stop and they headed to where the tracking device led them
to near the small town of Trout Lake. They called for back up while they headed
toward a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, the middle of the woods. They gave
their coordinates, so they could be located.
“I see a cabin
with a light on over there,” Jenny said. She pointed to the far left of where
they were driving.
“I see it, too,”
replied Evan.
They parked the
jeep in a small area near the side of the road and walked towards the cabin.
The pulled their guns and walked as quietly as possible.
Evan stepped on a
twig and it sounded like it echoed throughout the woods. Jenny glared at him.
He looked at her with an apologetic look. She motioned for him to walk behind
her on the moss-covered ground. He followed her. They approached the cabin
which appeared to be quiet and looked inside one of the back windows. They saw
a light on in the front room and two men were sitting on a couch starring
ahead. Evan and Jenny crept to the front of the cabin to look in. Both men were
watching the television and laughing at what they saw. It appeared to be a
movie about the Three Stooges. Jenny frowned. She thought shows about
ridiculous antics were below her. The two men did not look familiar to her.
They were not at the Truck Stop earlier. They knocked on the front door and
decided to pretend they got lost and were looking for the main road.
“Hi, my name is
John and this is Sally. We were out exploring some of the dirt roads and we can’t find our way back to the main road,”
said Evan. Jenny tried to look forlorn and nervous.
“Come in. We are
just enjoying some tv before we turn in. We are hunters who come up here to
hunt and explore the back woods,” said one of the men.
“Can I use your
bathroom. We’ve been on the road for a while?” asked Jenny.
“Sure. It’s over
there,” said the other man. He pointed down a hall.
Jenny walked down
the hall to the bathroom and while Evan was distracting them she explored the
back rooms and discovered coolers of pasties in one of the rooms. She motioned
to Evan that she made the discovery. They planned on waiting for back up before
the men were questioned.
“How long have you
been coming to this cabin?” asked Evan. Jenny looked at him surprised that she
didn’t think of asking them the same question.
“We’ve been coming
here for years,” lied one of the men.
“What do you hunt
for?” asked Jenny. She wanted to find out if they knew where they were at and
what people hunted for in the U.P.
“We are hunting elk?”
said one of the men.
They fell for the
trap. Elk are not hunted in the U.P.
“Have you had any
success?” asked Evan.
“Yes, we bagged
two last year,” lied the man.
Just as the man
got those words out, vehicles pulled up outside the cabin. The men looked at
each other with a look of surprise. FBI and the sheriff’s department stormed
into the cabin.
“We have a warrant
to search your cabin said one of the officers.”
Jenny pointed to
the back room and two of the men headed in the direction she pointed. They called out that they found the pasties.
“Give us your
drivers’ licenses,” ordered Evan. They looked confused and angry at the same
time.
“I work for the
FBI and we have been on the trail of the smuggling of illegal pasties for a
couple of years. We know that some of the businesses have been tricked into
believing they were purchasing pasties made in the U.P. but they were actually
made in the lower peninsula. The people in the U.P. deserve the truth and
should not be swindled into thinking they are buying locally made goods,” said
Gary, an FBI officer.
The ID they
provided had an address of Marquette, Michigan and the names on the ID’s were Ethan
Edwards and Ely Goodman. Their fingerprints were taken and it was discovered
that they had different names and came from a small town near Petoskey,
Michigan. They broke and confessed that they have been selling pasties
pretending they were made in the U.P. for a couple of years and they told the officers that they
were a part of the phony U.P. souvenir racket. They folded and sat on the couch
heavily like the world was lifted off their shoulders.
“We really like
the U.P. and we are sorry we tried to trick the people here. What’s going to
happen to us?”
“Passing off goods
by false advertisement is a federal offense. You will at the very least be
facing some heavy fines,” responded Gary.
The night ended
with hauling both men off to spend time in the St. Ignace jail pending their
day in court. The pasties were confiscated as evidence. They also found some of
the illegal souvenirs in same room where the pasties were stored.
“I think things
ended just the way they needed to end. We saved the reputation of the people of
the U.P. and captured the culprits who were passing off goods that were not
made in the U.P. Their business with the phony Marquette address has been
closed down for good. We do good work, my friend,” said Evan as he tapped
Jenny’s hand. They were sitting at their favorite restaurant eating an
authentically made pastie.
“This was a case
against the trolls that live below the bridge and the Yoopers in the U.P. and
we won,” exclaimed Jenny. Evan smiled back at her.
“Why don’t you try
ketchup on your pastie next time?” asked Evan.
“No, thanks. I
like salt and pepper.”
Disclaimer: Actual names of places and towns have been used.
The characters and actions in this book are fiction. There is no secret
government facility located behind the Mystery Spot in St.Ignace, MIchigan. Or is there? The author worked at the Mystery
Spot when she was a teenager and enjoyed the experience. She remembers saying
“You have heard of Isaac Newton’s theory, what goes up must come down. Not at
the Mystery Spot” as she rolled a ball at what appeared to be up hill. The
author was also aware of places of business that claimed the pasties they were
selling, they made. She felt that was
false advertisement.
