The Secret of Skull Island by Zack Norris Page B

about the DVDs in the secret passage,” said Aunt Edith. “I specifically asked that they not send Officer Tano, but an operator said there was no one else available. He never showed up anyway.”
    The phone rang and she hurried to answer it. When she hung up, her face was pale. “That was the police chief,” she said. “They found Officer Tano unconscious near the boating docks. Then they checked his call records and phoned. I told him what I just heard,” she said. “He’s coming right over.”
    Everyone turned to stare at Ronnie Walker. “Uh—Tano figured out that our DVD operation was blown and we’d be leaving the island,” he said. “He came to the boat and wanted more money. He said he’d tell everyone we kidnapped Jamal. Cordell knocked him out. He wanted to do worse, but I talked him out of it.”
    â€œI hope you’re telling the truth,” said Maxim. “It would be the only decent thing you’ve done. Now we’ve just got to wait for the police chief.”
    â€œWait a minute,” said Otis. “We left Mr. Keller and Mr. Cordell tied up on the boat. They might escape.”
    Helen Wallace and Eric Barber stood up. “We’ll go keep an eye on them.”
    â€œYou two?” Maxim asked skeptically.
    Helen Wallace laughed. “Oh, we’re quite capable of guarding criminals. We’ve had lots of experience. Go on ahead. We’ll explain later.”
    *
    Police Chief Dorado arrived at the inn moments later. It took almost an hour to tell him the whole story. Dorado listened patiently, asking questions from time to time. When he heard about the “accidents” that had been occurring at the inn and the way that Officer Tano had been treating them all as a joke, he was not amused.
    â€œOfficer Tano has been in on the operation for a long time,” admitted Walker. “He was paid to look the other way.”
    The chief clasped his hands together. “I want to hear everything you know about this, Mr. Walker,” he said. “The whole story. Don’t leave out a single thing. Cooperation is the only way to make things easier for yourself.”
    Walker nodded and launched into his story. It grew more and more amazing.
    â€œWe … the three of us … work for Moe Kleese. He’s been using the island as a hideout and a base of operations for his pirated DVD business, and other rackets as well, since the nineties. He never bought the inn because it had been abandoned for years. He thought that buying it would only draw attention to his activities. He never dreamed that anyone else would want to buy it.”
    He threw up his hands. “Then this woman buys the place from the government for cash. Before anybody knew what was going on, there was a problem.”
    Walker shifted in his seat. “‘Steve Cordell’ is an alias for Jimmy Black, also known as Bobo. The guy who’s been calling himself ‘Sam Keller’ is his brother, John, also known as Jojo. Bobo and Jojo have been part of Moe’s gang for a long time. We did some jobs together years ago, and they recruited me to help in their kidnapping plan.”
    â€œWas that when you were Jamal’s bodyguard?” asked the chief.
    Walker nodded. “I was going to stay out of crime, but they talked about so much money I couldn’t refuse. They figured it was enough so they could stop working for Kleese, and there would be plenty for me, too. All I had to do was convince Jamal and his parents that he should come to Calavera Island. It was easy.”
    Walker took a sip of water. “When Kleese found out that someone was opening an inn, he sent Jojo to pose as a worker. He made sure that things would go wrong. Later, when he came back to the island, Bobo helped out with it. They were trying to scare people away and shut down the inn, but it didn’t work.”
    Walker went on to tell about the