Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Treasure Hunt. Chapter 5.
I couldn’t believe what we saw…it was Linnea! “Be careful Steve,” she said, “someone wants to kill you.” Then she turned and ran down the hall with Muffin and I right behind her, but when we entered the hall, Linnea was gone. We went down the hall to the end, but there was no sign of her at all. How? Linnea is dead, though we haven’t had the funeral yet. Muffin and I look at each other. “What do you think Muffin?”, I ask. Meow,meow!=It ghost, must be, Linnea dead. “No,” I said, “it wasn’t a ghost. It had to be a real person though, it was just too real to be a projected image, without having the right equipment anyway.” Calanthe called us, dinner was ready. I told Muffin not to say anything right now, I didn’t want to scare Calanthe since we would be staying here tonight.
We finished eating and the alarm on my wristband beeped. “We have some visitors coming,” I said quietly. Then I thought about what Linnea had said. Was she warning me about these visitors? They came in the front door which I had already unlocked for them. “Well, well,” said a rather large, or I should say, fat, man, “I see you are expecting us.” He had a tall thin man with a gun with him. “Please close the door and tell your man to put away his gun,” I said sternly. “Oh, this is my bodyguard,” said the fat man, “it is necessary for him to carry a gun.” “Meow?”, I asked. Meow, meow. “Meow.”, I said. Muffin was on her back and “thwock!”, the bodyguard fell to the floor. “Don’t worry,” I said, “he’s not dead, just enjoying some much needed sleep.”
“My, my,” said the fat man, “and he was such a good bodyguard. Too bad he will have to go.” Then he turned to me and now I had my gun out. “Now we can talk,” I said, “though I don’t know what we might want to talk about.” “Hmm, we seem to have gotten off to a bad start here,” he said, “perhaps we can change that and be more civilized now. Oh, by the way, I’m forgetting my manners, my name is Baldwin Deichert, born and raised in America.” “You are talking about being civil?”, I ask, “and yet you go around killing people.” “What?!”, he exclaimed, “I do not go around killing people.” “No, your men do it for you, but it’s the same thing,” I said. “You have the situation confused sir,” he continued, “all I wish is to buy this chateau.” “Have a seat,” I said to him while I went over and took the bodyguard’s gun and tied his hands with specially designed rubber handcuffs.
“You have been after Linnea for a long time to buy this chateau and she wouldn’t sell, so you killed her,” I said, “and you tried to kill us also while we were in the hospital.” “I assure you, all of this talk is news to me, I only heard today that Ms. Linnea had died and that you were in charge of selling the chateau now,” he said, “and that’s why I’m here. But, I did not kill Ms. Linnea, or anyone else.” “No,” I said, “the nurse that works for you did the killing.” “I have no nurse in my employment,” he said quite firmly. “If what you say is true, then there is another player in this game who also wants this chateau, and is willing to kill to get it,” I explained. “I don’t like having other players around,” he said with a frown, “but I am willing to pay fair market value for this chateau, plus an extra 300,000 euros on top. I need a nice quiet place for my corporation headquarters.”
Hmm, I knew what he meant by that. I looked at Calanthe. “Sounds like a good deal to me Steve,” she said. “I agree,” I said, “but, I was hired to do a job and I want to find Linnea’s killer.” “Well, I wish to expand my business,” said Baldwin, “and this would fit my needs perfectly. Do we have a deal then?,” “I want 7 days to try and locate the killers I’m after,” I said, “then we can close our deal.” “Good,” said Baldwin, “I am going to look around myself, as I said, I don’t like having other players involved, it can make things messy.” After this he left with his bodyguard who had awakened by this time. “Would you prefer to sleep in here or in the guest cottage tonight?,” I asked Calanthe. “I say the cottage, this place is just too creepy now,” she said. The cats agreed too so off to the cottage we went. I took the first watch, I needed time to think anyway.
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story, plus other stories can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
This is getting out of control ! Now another guy is in the picture…he sounds like he is up to no good ! Glad Muffin was a great help ! Be careful everyone ! …I like the added pics you show , esp. the cats ! ☕️☕️🕵️♂️🤔🙀😼👩‼️I beat Simon !
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Simon was likely in bed by the time this came out. Yes, now someone else. Do I trust what he says? Somehow I think I can. These kind of guys don’t need to lie about things. And what about Linnea? She’s dead, yet we saw her, or did we?🤔🙀🙀🕵️♂️👩
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This so good! 😳 Linnea is still alive??? 😲. If so, why did she run? 🤔
Another villain is on the scene!! 😬. The cats are amazing! Way to go, Muffin! 👏 Looking forward to the next chapter! 😁
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Is Linnea still alive?🤔 I saw her dead. But who did I see? Muffin saw her too, she was real, but…are we going crazy?😬🙀 Yep, this guy is no good and yet I think I can trust him, he has no reason to lie, guys like him don’t need to.😳 Yep, the cats keep getting better!😁😸😸🕵️♂️👩
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Are you sure it was Linnea that died?🤔🙄
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Yes, I saw her myself, checked her to make sure, she wasn’t breathing, no heart beat, no pulse. But this was no projected image, too real. Are we going crazy??😳🙀
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Well… let’s not get too scared.. I’m sure there is a logical answer.🤔🤔 Maybe… she was a twin??😲😳
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Nope, she was an only child and her only living relative got killed in the last case. Therefore she’s…meow,meow!=A GHOST!🙀👻 No, there’s no ghosts Muffin.🙄 Meow,meow?=Then how you explain she alive when she dead?😾 Well, right now I can’t, but I will…I hope. Got to think.🤔🙄
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Run Muffin!! He’s gonna think again🥴😲😯🥺 This won’t be pretty!!😬
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Hmm, good thought, maybe I’ll just think about thinking.🤔😳
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Linnea a ghost? No something is amiss and a fat man who wants to expand a business? No It’s the treasure if it’s there you best find it fast, and don’t trust Calanthe. Nothing is as it seems.
Keep laughing, It don’t cost nothing
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I think this fat man is involved in some kind of illegal activities, perhaps that’s why the chateau is good for him, lots of tunnels for hiding things. But everything is a bit strange right now, I need to find out what it is and yes, I need to find that treasure or prove it’s not there anymore. I agree, nothing is as it seems.
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Oh my my…Linnea is alive or is a ghost? At this point is very confusing….too many bad people here….and definitely you can’t trust this Baldwin either 😾😾
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Linnea showing up is strange, I know she died, I checked her myself. Could it be someone made to look like Linnea? Baldwin definitely can’t be trusted, I’m sure he is involved in illegal activities, that’s why he wants the chateau, it’s away from other people, all those tunnels to hide stuff. And yet, in some ways I do trust him…😬😾😾🕵️♂️👩
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Wow wow wow, I am not missing a book while reading this. You are making a Huge Novel here. Just reminding you, this is getting awesome 😻😍
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Thank you so much Simon! Glad you are enjoying this one!😀😺🌞
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