For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
In the morning, after a delicious and huge breakfast, Jessica and I went to town. Amazingly Muffin wanted to stay behind and look around some more. I told her to stay in the hotel and I opened all the doors for her and put her slingshot on her nice and snug. Then I gave her some instructions and we were off to town. Muffin doesn’t really enjoy shopping and she did hear a mouse during the night. She loses all fear when there is a mouse around. The town, if it can be called that, is only about half an hour away. There is one old style general store, with gas pumps out front and a nice little coffee shop to one side. There is a small police station, another small hotel which also has a restaurant inside. Plus a few houses and vacant buildings. Seems like the town was a bit larger in the past.
The interesting part was the fact of another hotel in town. After our shopping we sat and had some coffee in the little coffee shop. They also had good muffins in that place, so I bought a couple extra to bring back for Muffin. She loves anything maple flavored! I asked Jessica about the other hotel. She said it had been closed for several years but it opened again just 2 months before her and Bill bought their hotel. Apparently a single woman bought the place. She was young, very pretty, a little taller than Jessica and had short dark hair. Her name is Patricia Williams, said Jessica, but everyone calls her Trish. Has she ever been out to your place? Only once when we first bought the hotel, she came out to invite us for dinner at her new restaurant, so naturally we went, said Jessica, in a town this size it’s only natural, everyone is so nice and friendly here.
Everyone except the one who killed your husband, I reminded her. We can’t trust anyone, so no talking to people about me. That’s okay, said Jessica, I haven’t told anyone at all. Good, if someone asks, I’m just a new handyman staying out there to help you for a while. Sounds good, said Jessica, does that mean you’ll be doing some handyman work for me too? Sure will, have to make this look real. On the way back to the hotel, Jessica asked if I thought that Trish had something to do with this. Everyone is treated as a suspect at the beginning, I said. Bill did go over there a lot to help her with different things, commented Jessica, but why would she kill him then? Lots of reasons. Perhaps she fell in love with him but he wasn’t willing to reciprocate. Jealousy can do strange things to people. However, don’t think that way, she is probably innocent.
Do you suspect me too?, asked Jessica. Like I said, everyone is a suspect at first, but don’t worry about that, for some reason I don’t think you had anything to do with Bill’s death. Jessica just looked at me. We get back to the hotel after about 2 hours and the front door is wide open again. This isn’t good and we both go running inside, Jessica right behind me. I call for Muffin, but no answer. I call again and Muffin comes jumping down from inside the fireplace. How odd. Muffin, are you okay? Meow, meow!=We need private talk, lots to tell. Is anything wrong?, asked Jessica. Meow, meow.=I saw ghosts. She’s quieter this time. Muffin and I are going to look around outside for a while. Okay, lunch in half an hour, Jessica called out from the kitchen.
Once we got outside Muffin started to tell me what she saw. Meow, meow!=2 ghosts come in front door, look all around and close all doors. Muffin, there are no ghosts. How often do I need to tell you that? Meow, meow!=There is ghosts, Jessica’s husband and a woman! What?! I pull out a picture of Bill and show Muffin. Meow, meow!=That’s him, the ghost! But Muffin, Bill is dead and buried. Meow, meow!=Exactly, now he is ghost and woman must be too! Hmm, this is getting interesting. What did the woman look like Muffin? Meow, meow.=Young, pretty, taller than Jessica and short dark hair. That sounds like Trish, the woman who owns the other hotel. Now we’re getting somewhere.
To be continued.
Steve and Muffin.
© 2020 Steve McLeod.
Nice
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Thank you very much! If you want to catch up on chapters you missed, they are on my home page listed under 20/20 Investigations, Inc. All the stories are in there. Have a great day!😃😺🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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Thanks a lot
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Uh oh!!!! Jealously and an affair!! Yikes! That sounds like big trouble!! You better listen to Muffin this time!😬😲😟🤠
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Did Muffin really see Bill?🤔 Maybe she did see a ghost.👻 Maybe she needs glasses.👓 Maybe she’s just trying to get me to leave.😾✈ Maybe I need more coffee!😹😂☕☕Thanks for reading Dusty!😁😸🕵️♂️🕵️♀️🔎🕯🔦
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Maybe!!! But if she’s seeing ghosts you’ve got real problems! Somehow though I think you’ll find the answers!!😉 You alwYs do!!🤠😁
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So true, but if Bill is alive, then I’m out of work, since I was hired to find his killer.😬 Hmm, this is getting complicated.🤔🙄 But who would want to kill him and not his wife?🤔😳 But sometimes not every case can be solved.🙄 Another possibility.🤔
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But maybe Bill isn’t the only one who looks like Bill? Maybe Benny looks like Bill? Or maybe it was Benny who was killed and not Bill?🤔 Oh you’re right! This getting complicated! Or!! They could actually be ghodts that Muffin saw!😲 Or! Maybe Muffin made it up to see if Bill’s wife would react? Aye yae yae! Now I need to wait until Monday to find out! You and your stories so many posibilities!🥴
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Some good points there for sure, only time will tell what’s going on and why. I don’t want to give things away.😁 Besides, I’m not sure myself.😬🙀😵 Oh well, guess we will all see on Monday which direction this will go. Or will we?🤔🙄😄🕵️♂️🕵️♀️🔎🕯🔦
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Good Night Steve!
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Good morning! I think you’re a bit mixed up🤔, must be all that snow.😂😹🙄
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Mixed up to be sure! But just a little slow today 😅😅😅😂😂
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Yeah, I am a bit slow too. I think.🤔🙄😂😂
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Well Good Morning anyway!😁
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Good morning Dusty!😀🌞☕
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Im on my 4th cup of coffee. How about you?
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Only 2 for me. I was going to go for a third but changed to a cup of mint tea instead.😀☕🌱
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Mmmmm.. that sounds delicious too! Enjoy!! Any cookies to go along with the tea?
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Nope, no cookies, though I was going to try and bake some today. Then I decided to continue with my cleaning instead. Sigh.
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What?? Cleaning over Cookies?? Are feeling alright?😬🥴
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Didn’t have everything I needed for baking.🤔 Sigh. And I wasn’t going back to the store again today!😬 Too crazy there for me!!😳😲🙄
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Lots of people grocery shopping up there? I haven’t gone yet. I thought I’d wait until this evening let the crowds pass. I hope they will still have food left when I go! Hehehe😂😂😂
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I shopped yesterday. People are panicking up here and buying everything in sight, nothing but bare shelves all over the place. But mostly buying other stuff, not food. TP, paper towels, tissues, cleaning supplies( I needed and couldn’t get), hand sanitizer, soap, laundry detergent(I also needed and couldn’t get). I got my food anyway. But it was crazy the way people were hoarding stuff. And it will be a while before the stores get more around here. It’s just crazy. Sigh. I don’t like shopping at the best of times, but I really don’t like huge crowds. It was like shopping right before Christmas. And people were coughing and sneezing all over the place, and not even covering their mouth or nose. Sigh. Poor lady at the checkout, the lady ahead of me was coughing constantly without covering her mouth.😲😳😬😂People panic so easily.
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Yeah, they need to calm down and think a little bit before reacting. Human nature I guess!
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Yep, people like panic better than relaxing. Panic just causes stress, why do people want that? Amazing really.
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Yep I agree!
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The important thing to do now is wait for the stores to restock and then go get what you need to last you about 6 weeks. But TP and paper towels shouldn’t be on the list. Soups and nonperishables and drinks with electrolytes in them. Once you have those your set. It’ll all pass in a few weeks I think. But what do I know.😂😂
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The problem is stores around here don’t restock that often, could take days or weeks to get new stock in here. Sigh.
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Well, you make sure you keep yourself and Muffin as healthy as you can be.
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Most definitely, fresh air, stay away from people, exercise, stay away from people, eat right, stay away from people.
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Most importantly stay away from people! Not sure if you new that or not!😂😁😊
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Good idea, I’ll add that to my list!😂😹
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Good idea!😂😂😂
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I thought so too!
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Ooooohh women are trouble!
I like it—I treat everyone as a suspect or a spy…
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But maybe Muffin really saw a ghost.😬👻 Or she’s trying to get me to leave.😾✈ Or I need more coffee!🤪☕☕ Enjoy your weekend waiting for chapter 4!😁😸🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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More coffee…Looking forward to it! Hey I just posted chapter 4! Great minds….👼
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Yes, I really enjoyed it! Today is going by too fast!😬 Need to get my nature’s art out today, something a bit different for today’s post.🙂 Chapter 4 on the way!😳😬 Hmm, not sure if I fall under the classification of great minds!😂😹
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Oh whatever. Teehee. Ok, how about perfectly average minds? We are perfectly average minds.🙃
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Okay, I’ll go along with that.😂😹It’s staying cold today, not warming up much. So much ice out there now, I have to be very careful with my walking.😬 But off I go.😁🚶♂️
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Good. Germs don’t like fresh air. We woke up to snow this morning, but it melted just as quickly. Lots of fast moving clouds. Really pretty day. But too windy for pictures. Already seeing false morel mushrooms. That means real morels coming soon!! Yum!
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I hope to get pics of some of the early mushrooms this year, got started a bit late last year. So many amazing varieties.😃😺📷🍄
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This is a poser ! Can’t wait to see what is going on ! Poor Muffin ! 🕵️♂️☕️🔍☕️😿🙀
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Yes, lots of questions in here now, but what is the answer? More to come on Monday!😁😸🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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Hmm…now this is interesting 🧐
Beautiful pictures in between Steve! And Muffin really deserves that naps 😻
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Yes, this has taken an odd twist giving more questions. Muffin is doing a great job, so yes, she deserves her naps!😃😺😻🕵️♂️🕵️♀️☕
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okay, Now Trish seems to be a suspect, But why? If there is an affair with Trish and him Jessica is the one that supposed to be dead isn’t it? 😉 May be trish is innocent or may be Jessica is not innocent like she looks 😀 May be muffin is changing the crime scene. Great One Steve, you are breaking all the expectations.. 😉 Good work, Keep up 🙂 Looking forward for the next chapter 🙂
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Yes, things are not always the way they seem to be, or should be.🤔🙄 If Bill and Trish are having an affair, they would kill Jessica,😲 but if Jessica found out, then maybe she killed Bill.🤔😲 But then why hire Muffin and me to find the killer if she did it?🤔😃😺 Very strange.😬 But if Bill is dead, why is he walking around?🤔🚶♂️ Is he really a ghost?👻☠ Has everyone gone crazy?😵🙀 Should I pack up and leave?✈ I need more coffee!!😳😳☕☕😹🙄🕵️♂️🕵️♀️🔦🕯
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That’s a good question, Bill and Trish is like a real suspect, but we still need to figure out what author has in mind 😳🙄 You know he will give an unexpected suspense in next part, I know him, just a planet away from my home, with his muffin 😜 I’ll ask him 😁 😋 let me know if you see him 😸
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Yep, that author is a tricky one,😾😉 got to keep an eye on him,🤔👁 he’s a suspect too.😳 After all, he’s involved in this somehow,😬🤪 maybe withholding evidence!😲 Hmm….🤔🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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You know right 😉 I know it too 😜 I think he has an affair with Jessica, I think he manipulated her to invite him to investigate the case by himself ☺️ let’s keep an eye on him 😎
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Hmm, more possibilities.🤔 Got to watch things closely from now on.😬 And then there is….oops, can’t mention that one yet!😳😲
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Suspense at comment section too 😳🙄 he is obsessed with suspense 😜 Good supesne Steve ✨😉 I’m waiting 😎
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Yep, I like my suspense for sure!😁😄 I’m having a hard time waiting for the next chapter too!😂😹🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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Very interesting!
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Thanks Lydia!😃😺🕵️♂️🕵️♀️🔎🔦🕯
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You’re welcome!
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Jessica… EVERYONE is a suspect, look Steve’s eyes is on you… hehehe 😁
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No way, never get involved with a client! I think, but then….😁😸🕵️♂️🕵️♀️
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Haha 😄 silly I know that. What I meant is that since EVERYONE is a suspect… she’s not completely out of the hook. You’re also keeping an eye on her hehehe 🤭
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Yep, that’s true, I always include the client as a suspect too until I prove otherwise. But I think Muffin has other plans!🙄😸😻
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