The Investigators, Inc. The Search. Chapter 14.

Well, we could wait at the Inn for John to come back, but I want to know who he is meeting. Perhaps it’s the third person, the one that kidnapped Annelie. So off we go to the castle. We went a little past the usual parking lot for the castle and parked on the opposite side of the road, out of sight. Then we walked over to the castle and got ourselves set up around the broken wall. John and 4 men were sitting in the courtyard area, obviously still waiting for someone. John doesn’t like to wait, that much I know. It was about 20 minutes later when Anthony came out of the main castle, and with Annelie.

“This lady says that the woman who calls herself Jennifer, is dead and buried,” said Anthony to John. “She lies,” said John, “it’s Kat that is dead and buried, we dug her up and proved it was her!” “How did you prove it?”, asked Anthony, “I have a nice reward for you if it’s true.” “It’s true, my best man here, Brent, went down and touched her eyes,” said John, “she wasn’t wearing contacts, so it had to be Kat.” “Ha!,” said Annelie, “can you really tell if someone is wearing contacts?” “Of course I can,” said Brent. “Then check my eyes,” said Annelie, “am I wearing contacts?”

Brent went over and touched her eye. “No, you’re not,” he said laughing. Then Annelie put her finger to her eye. “Then what do you call this?”, she said holding a contact lens. Brent didn’t know what to say. John however, is never at a loss for words. “You idiot!!”, he yelled, “that means Kat is still alive and Jennifer is dead!” Then he turned and said to Anthony, “guess your search is over, I can show you your sister’s grave if you like.” Then he started laughing like he usually does. Anthony wasn’t too much in a laughing mood however.

Then Jennifer suddenly appeared standing on some stone stairs behind Anthony. “Are you looking for me Anthony?”, said the ghostly Jennifer. Anthony turned, and everyone looked over at what appeared to be a ghost like figure of Jennifer. “I’m going to follow you wherever you go Anthony, until you join me in the grave,” said the ghostly Jennifer. Anthony never said a word, he just emptied the clip in his gun shooting at Jennifer. But the bullets just ricocheted off the stone steps, going right through Jennifer. Then Jennifer began laughing. “You can’t kill me Anthony, I’m already dead!”, said the ghostly Jennifer. “It’s a trick!,” yelled John, “I know it is!” “Your time is up John,” I called out from my spot on a pile of rubble not far from him. John turned to look at me and Anthony yelled out, “you’re the idiot John, this is a trap!”

I shot, but John had moved just at that moment, so I missed. Then he shot at me but missed also. Annelie ran behind another pile of rubble for protection. Then “Thwock!, Thwock!”, and Anthony’s two bodyguards were down. I shot again, three times, and John fell. Meanwhile Anthony looked back toward the steps where Jennifer had been, but she wasn’t there. “I’m here Anthony!”, she yelled, standing over close to me. He turned and she shot. Anthony went down.

John’s men gave up at that point and threw down their guns. Rock and his men went over to put handcuffs on them and he checked on John and Anthony. Jennifer knew Anthony was dead, she couldn’t give him a chance or she would be dead. She came over to me crying. Even though Anthony was out to kill her, it was still hard for her killing her own brother. Meow,meow.=M.C. and me were ready to shoot just in case. Muffin was hugging Jennifer. “Thank you Muffin and M.C.,” she said. Annelie came running over. “Sorry I couldn’t communicate after the first time,” she said, “they discovered my transmitter in the shoe and gave me different shoes to wear.”

“That’s okay,” I said, “it’s all over now anyway.” “Not quite,” said Jennifer, “now it’s time for you to relax like your doctor told you.” “What do you think I have been doing for the past 3 weeks?”, I asked. “You have been looking after Kat, that’s not relaxing,” she said, “now I’m going to be Kat’s nurse, and yours too, until you’re both back on your feet again.” “I’m on my feet now,” I said, somewhat limping along the path. “Limping doesn’t count,” she said, “and you will listen to me, Kat will make sure of that.” “Sigh, I’m outnumbered,” I said. Everyone, even the cats, laughed at that. But how long will I get to relax? It never seems to work around here, no matter how hard we try. Back at the chateau there is a mountain of mail waiting for us. Hmm, this letter looks interesting…

The End.

©2021 Steve McLeod.