20/20 Investigations, Inc…The Hotel, Chapter 1.

Posted on March 9, 2020 by

46 Comments

Well, here we are, on our way to our next case and new adventure in the American west.  The plane will be landing soon, the trip has been rather uneventful, but I feel a bit uneasy right now.  There is a rather large man on the other side of the plane that keeps looking over this way and talking with a woman beside him.  Probably nothing to be concerned about, but I sent Muffin over to check on things anyway.  She comes back with the man’s wallet.  One of these times she’s going to get caught doing that.  I copy down the man’s name and, hmm, a business card that says he’s an insurance investigator.  That’s interesting.  I give the wallet back to Muffin and she returns it.  When she comes back she meows quietly to me that he mentioned a hotel in the forest somewhere.  That’s even more interesting.

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Male Redpoll

The plane has landed and we enter the airport.  What a crowd, how will we find the woman we are looking for here.  Hmm, my name is being paged so we head off to the location mentioned.  The woman’s name is Jessica Collins, I have her picture and she is a very beautiful woman with long brown hair and brown eyes.  She claims to be 35 but looks much younger, but perhaps it’s an older picture.  There she is now and she definitely looks young.  We have a brief introduction, poor Jessica looked quite puzzled when she found out that my partner was a cat.  I assured her that Muffin was very good at her job and helped out a lot in our cases.  Okay, she said, time to go, it’s a long drive and I will fill you in along the way.

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Female Redpoll in apple tree

Apparently Jessica and her husband both had a dream to own a hotel and they fell in love with this place when they saw it, so they bought it.  She said the place needs work to make it usable again but they didn’t mind that.  There is an old gold mine behind the place and the hotel was originally used as a place for the workers to live.  Then the mine closed around 1910 and the place was converted to a hotel.  The original owners disappeared mysteriously in the early 1950s and the hotel has been abandoned since then.  The relatives sold it to Jessica and her husband Bill.

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Mama deer

One day Bill didn’t come in for lunch so Jessica went looking for him all through the hotel and couldn’t find him.  So she went out to the mine and he was there, but dead.  Seems a rock had fallen on his head so the police figured it was just an accident.  Jessica doesn’t agree.  She said Bill would never go into the mine without wearing a hardhat.  Plus, he would have had to go through the kitchen to get out to the mine, and she was in the kitchen the whole time.  I suggested he could have gone out the front door, but Jessica said the hardhats were by the kitchen door.  Hmm.  Muffin meows quietly to me.  Meow, meow.=Sounds like a good time for us to leave.  Forget it Muffin.  Jessica said, wow, that was a big sigh from Muffin.  Does she do that a lot?  Yes, she does, I replied.

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Getting tired from all my picture taking

Finally after a 3 hour drive on a very rough road we arrive at this hotel in the middle of nowhere.  Why would anyone want a hotel out here?  It has a beautiful, large porch out front with large log columns.  There is some nice antique chairs and rocking chairs on the porch and a nice swinging bench on one end.  Jessica and Bill had just bought the place a month ago, not a very good beginning to their hotel adventure.  But Jessica is determined to carry on with their dream.  She lives way out here by herself except for a handyman that comes out to help with different things around the place.  She stops the truck in front of the hotel and we all get out.  Something is wrong, says Jessica.

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.

Category: Adventure, Country, Country Living, Danger, Fiction, Mystery, Positive, Relax, Story, Strange Happenings, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , , , ,

46 Comments on “20/20 Investigations, Inc…The Hotel, Chapter 1.”

  1. Uh oh!! Better make sure you wear your hard hat when you go near the mine!! You never know when someone might throw a loose rock at you! Sounds like another cliff hanger of a story! 🤠🐱‍👤🕵️‍♀️

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  3. Ahhh!!!! I 💓 it!
    I like how Muffin has evolved from such a scaredy cat—to such a take-charge kinda gal! Wears her battle scars like medals. 😺👍
    And the moon is full today….🌕

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    • Thanks very much Nina! Hmm, I’m not quite sure if Muffin has gotten rid of her scaredy cat ways yet, but she is much better. And more surprises coming up for her too.😁😸🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️☕
      Yes, the pic I used today is the full moon here this morning. Unfortunately I only got one clear shot at it, I need to be up earlier to get it above the trees.😂😹🌕

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      • And now with the time change earlier is later…wait…oh I get it all muddled up! Heehee. Beautiful picture.
        Well, Muffin, you just take your time—it’s ok to be cautious and take things slowly. I have faith in you. Look forward to more surprised indeed! 👍

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      • Yep, Muffin is outfitted with all sorts of new gadgets this time and she will need them too. Oops, got to be careful, might give something away. Lots of questions already that need to be answered. Lots of fun coming up! And of course…
        Yep, I will have to be up at 5, which is really 4 which is early right now. Sigh. But there will be another super moon April 7 if I don’t get this one tomorrow morning.😃😺📷🌙

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      • Awesome! No don’t give anything away. Keep it secret….and suspenseful. I had fun catching up with earlier stories. That Muffin! 😸quite a character.

        That little bit of rain we had sure made the garden perk up. Time to start pulling weeds again. Enjoy the rest of your day, Steve!😊

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      • Pulling weeds already! Oh my, the only thing we can pull here today is ice, although that is a bit hard to do as well.😂 We had nice sunny skies with a temp of -10F today.🥶 Amazing, and on Saturday it was 45F.🌞😎 Such a difference.🙀
        Right, no more clues.🤔 Muffin gives the story some life!😸 Hope your day is going well Nina!😁😺🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

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  6. So far so good ! ! …patiently waiting for chapter 2 !…beautiful pics of the birds Steve !☕️☕️🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️😺😺

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  7. What? Suspense 🙄😳 On the first part itself 🙄 Only you can do it, I’m telling you 😄 Only you can do it Steve ✨ So how did the stone hit bills head? Does it have legs? Is it a flying stone 🤔 who killed Bill 😕 or is he really dead? now Jessica should say what is wrong, did she stopped at a wrong hotel, or there is more snow on the road to shovel😉 Time for investigation ✨😎 eagerly waiting for next part 😍😍😍✨

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    • Glad you are enjoying it already Simon! 😀Great questions, you beat me to it!🤔😄 But you missed one, can we trust Jessica?🤔😳 Maybe there’s some lost gold she wants us to find.😀 Or not.😕 We’ll find out more in chapter 2!😃😺🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️🔎🔎🔦

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      • Thank you Steve, learned it from you, Just trying to help my teacher 😉 About Jessica, Isn’t she worried about her husband 🤔 Or is it about gold, or her dream of running hotel “alone” 😄 I’ll wait and see, meanwhile let me Ping Jessica about her name in this story 😎😉😜

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      • Yep, you’re doing good with those questions.😀 You’re right, Jessica doesn’t seem too worried about the death of her husband even though she wants us to investigate.🤔 Hmm, is she hiding something?🤔😳🙄 Stay tuned for more!😁😜😸🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

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  9. Loving this start. I feel a slight affinity with Jessica. Same name, same age, same eye color (cough, looking younger for our age) 1910 is the year my father-in-law was born, but there’s no way I’m letting my husband die… on the other side. Hand down to Muffin showing a lot of braveness.

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    • Yep, Muffin shows being brave at times, but then…she doesn’t like ghosts.🙀👻
      Hope you don’t change your mind after a while!😳 Who said that?😂😹🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

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      • 😂😹 but I can’t blame Muffin, I think you can hardly find anyone not creep out by ghost. I was but not so much anymore 🙂

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