For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
“Why are you calling me this time of night?”, answered a man with a husky voice. “We might have some trouble brewing,” replied Alex, the owner we had visited tonight. “What do you mean?”, asked the man. “We had someone visit here who is after Harold Stanton, and he came on rather strong,” said Alex, “seems he wants info about what Harold is doing and wants in on this.” “Then deal with the guy, get rid of him,” said the man. “It won’t be that easy Senator,” said Alex, “this guy has some muscle behind him, he came in here with 15 men tonight and trashed the place, taking pics of the patrons, took money and everything in my safe.”
“What do you keep in that safe of yours?”, asked the Senator. “Nothing important, a little about the business here, but nothing about what we are doing,” said Alex, “that stuff is all kept somewhere else where no one would think of looking.” “It better be safe,” said the Senator, “or you will not like what happens.” “Don’t worry,” said Alex, “but this guy is something to worry about.” “That’s your part,” said the Senator, “that’s why you’re on the payroll, so get rid of him, fast.” Then he hung up. “Let’s see if there is another phone call now,” I said.
We didn’t have to wait long. “Yeah,” answered a tough sounding man. “The guy that was in here tonight,” said Alex. “Done,” said the man and hung up. “You now have a price on your head Steve,” said Jennifer with a smile. “Good, we’re getting somewhere,” I said. “First time I have known someone to be happy about that,” said Kat, “so what now?” “Well, we have to let this person find me, and hopefully we stop him before he kills me,” I said, “and we want to stop him before paying Alex another visit.”
“Okay Steve,” said Annelie, “I have been checking and since you are an important hit right now the most likely man for the job is this man, who goes by the name of Stripe.” A picture shows up on our screen. Annelie, Rock and 2 men are in a car ahead of us. Kat, Jennifer, the cats and I, plus 2 men are in our car which is one of Baldwin’s armored cars, though it doesn’t look any different than a normal limousine. It’s bullet proof and even safe from a small bomb, though a large bomb might be a problem.
The other car is the same, and we each have computers and screens so everyone in the cars can see and hear what we are talking about. “His name is actually Steve Walters, but when he’s on a job he always uses Stripe,” said Annelie, “it’s because of his leather jacket which he always wears for a hit, that nice white leather stripe on the front.” “Makes him stand out nicely,” I said. “If you get a chance to see him,” said Annelie, “which isn’t easy. And it’s a rush job, and important, so he will have these two men with him, they are spotters, looking especially for you.”
Annelie did this sort of thing when she worked for Katrina, she knows everyone and how they work and who is most likely to do a job at any given time. We continue talking about what we are going to do tonight and within half an hour our driver spots a car following us. I tell him to pull into the parking lot of a nearby hotel and tell Rock to come up behind. We stop in the parking lot and I get out, somewhat nervously. Kat gets out the other side and one man from the front. The car following us pulled into the lot, but they should have been quicker. That means they dropped Stripe somewhere and he is now on foot.
The car stopped and Rock pulled in behind them and all of them jumped out running over to the car with guns out. I start walking over to them. Meow,meow!!=Fall!! And I did, just as a shot rang out. Kat responded quickly and the man fell. He had been standing by a tree across the street. A couple of the men ran to check and brought him back. It was Stripe. They dumped him in the back of the car that had been following us.
“Tell Alex if he tries that again he will be buried,” I told the men. Then we told them to leave, which they did rather quickly. “Okay Rock, take Annelie and some men, find out where Alex lives and check his house, thoroughly,” I said, “and keep in touch with Kat, she will be coordinating things for a bit. I’m taking Jennifer and the cats for a little trip and hopefully be back before morning.” “And what does that mean?”, asked Kat. I whispered to her what my plans were. She gave me that look as if to say I’m totally crazy. She might be right…
To Be Continued.
Β©2021 Steve McLeod.
Trouble is brewing ! Watch out ! Good thing you have the cats with you ! π΅οΈββοΈπ©πΌπΌ
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Yes indeed! Muffin was on top of things tonight! I’m sure they will be more help yet as well. Things are moving along well now.π€π±ββοΈπΎπΎπ±ββοΈπ©π π΅οΈββοΈ
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Nice setup!! Well done!!ππ
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Thank you! Things are moving along quite nicely now!π€π±ββοΈπΎπΎπ±ββοΈπ©π π΅οΈββοΈ
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We’ll see if they’re able to still surprise you even when you know they’re coming!ππ
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We’re ready for anything on this case, if not, we’re going to lose someone.π³π¬
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And now you’re going to try something without letting the whole team know you’re up to something!!π²π²π³π¬π¬π¬
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Yes, well, for this next part it’s best that everyone doesn’t know what’s going on, less problems for everyone. If Jennifer and I get caught, that’s only 2, the others don’t know anything. That cats just might get us out of this one if things go wrong. We have 2 places to visit, quickly.π¬π±ββοΈππ
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Good thinking as long as it goes correctly!!π¬π¬
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Well, if it doesn’t we could get arrested, or we could get shot, depending on where we’re at. I didn’t even tell Kat everything, she only knows the first part, otherwise she might not have let me go.π³π¬
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Not good!! Keeping secrets can only lead to trouble!!π¬π¬π¬
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No, it’s to keep Kat out of trouble. Jennifer doesn’t know either, though she will find out and she has no choice, she can’t back out. Kat already knows that things like this might happen on this case. We carry no ID with us except to our first destination and all our ID from fingerprints to DNA has been changed so no one can find out anything about us.π³π³
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Wow!! That’s pretty thorough!!π²π³
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We don’t want the bad guys knowing who we are or where we are from. Or the police for that matter. We’re playing bad guys right now and we need to keep our past hidden.π¬ππ
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Steve 007 1/2 ππππ
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I’m one up from 007, I’m 008!
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The 8 ball!! I like it!!πππ
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Yep, and we’re behind it all the way!ππ±
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LOL π π π€£ πΉ
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Something tells me I said that wrong.π€ππ
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I don’t think so….π€π€π€
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Now I know I did.
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The only thing behind an 8 ball is a que ball!!ππ
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Perfect, we’re well hidden then!
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You do know they hit the 8 ball with the queball…π€π€
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Only if it can catch us!
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Okay….ππππππ
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The 8 ball is faster, it’s always in the lead!ππ
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Always running somewhere π ππ
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Just rollin along.πππ
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Ya got me!! I got nothin..ππ that says it all!!ππππ
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Wow, amazing!π₯³π₯³π₯³π€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ£π₯π£π₯π§¨π₯π§¨π₯π‘π‘π‘πππππππ
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Oh c’mon…. it doesn’t qualify for all that kinda carrying on…π€¨ππππππππππππ
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Actually I held back a bit.ππππππ€£π€£π€£
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Ha and ha!!ππππππ
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Thank you, thank you!
Wow, Muffin is really snoring loud tonight. And she’s dreaming, those little feet are doing 60!
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Sounds like me when I sleep!ππππ₯΅π₯΅
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Maybe if you tied weights to your feet?π€π€
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Maybe if I get some air when I sleep my brain and body won’t keep trying to wake me up??πππ
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Try keeping your window open.
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Not while I’m living in this part of the country!!ππππ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Άπ₯Ά
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ππππππ
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Cock a doodle doo!!ππππππππ€£π€£π€£π€£
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You’re too early to crow.ππππ
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Never too early!!ππππππ
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Good Morning Steve!πππππ
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You’re late, but thanks anyway.
Good afternoon to you!πββ
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Sorry about being late… had a conference call until 1230.π₯΅
How are you doing today?π€π
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No problem.
I’m having a rough day after another episode with those bears and cleaning up my garbage again.
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You need an air horn like they have for boats! They are very loud and would scare the bears π» π»ββ π³ away with one toot!πππππ
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Yep, I have seen people use them here, works the first few times, but they soon realize that there is no harm from them. Same with the deer. These critters are smart!ππ»π»π³π
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Yes they are!!
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Thank you for your agreement on this agreeable statement of agreeable sentiments and being agreeable to the agreeabilities of the aforementioned agreement of agreeable agreeabilities.π
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You’ve been reading too many contracts!!π€ͺπ€ͺπ€ͺ
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All in the day of being a PI.πππΉπΉ
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It appears that way to be sure!!πππ€£π€£π€£
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Have to be careful these days, people sue for the tiniest thing now! So we have to make sure we’re sure of what we have to.π€ππ¬
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That is a certainty!! You can get sued for looking at someone and thinking about something else for too long!! Makes them uncomfortable, but it has nothing to do with them..
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I can always tell when someone looks at me and is actually thinking about me. They laugh loud and long!πππΉπΉ
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Now that made me laugh!!ππππ
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That’s why I’m here!ππ
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It’s a good thing you’re not all there… then!ππππ€£π€£
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I keep saying I’m not there, I’m here!ππ
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There’s no way to argue you aren’t all there… that’s for sure!!πππ
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That’s what I have been saying, pay attention.ππ€¨
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I can’t to pay anyone else for anything!! How much will this cost me??π€π€
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I don’t know, you’ll have to ask A. Tension.π€
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He’s too high priced!! I’m not paying nothin!!π€π€π€πππππ
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You would rather pay somethin?π²π²
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No way! I rather pay nobody!! He is very deserving!πππ€π€
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Nobody is my middle name!πππ
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Lucky you!!ππππ€£π€£π€£π€£
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Only if somebody wants nobody.ππ
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Hey… that’s me!! You can’t!! I’m firstπ€£π€£
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That’s okay, being second is best anyway.π
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Yep the first loser!π€£π€£π€£π€£ π π π
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They always say, “second best”, never say “first best”, so being second is better because it’s best!ππππ
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Okay, I can believe that!!ππ
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Thank you!π₯³π₯³π₯³π€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈππππ£π₯π§¨π₯πππ‘π‘ππππ
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That was easy!!π€£π€£π€£πππππ
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Easy is good, I like easy, but sometimes hard is good too, just depends, or mediocre can be good too just like medium is good and middle is good so then medium of mediocre about mediocrity can be good too.π€ππππ
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That’s profound!π²π²π³π³π€―π€― did you just make that up??π€π
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As fast as I could type.ππ
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Even more astonishing!π²π³π€―
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Thank you. Bruiser and Browser are back. It’s only 19F, why are they here? They are supposed to be hibernating. I beat them though, today was trash pick up day so there’s no garbage for them!ππ»π»π³
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Now maybe they’ll finally go to bed!! What is up with those two?? Very odd this late in the season!!
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I don’t understand it, there’s snow, it’s cold, bears often hibernate even before snow comes. Doesn’t make sense.π€π»π» But speaking of going to bed, that’s a good idea.
Good night Dusty!
Talk tomorrow!πππ΄π΄
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Good Night! Rest well!
We’ll chatter it up good Tomorrw!ππ
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Did the twins show up again?π€π€
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Nope, which is fine with me. Of course, they still might. I really don’t want to clean up that mess again.ππ»π»
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Maybe they finally went to bed for the winter..
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I sure hope so, it would be nice to leave the feeders out at night.
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Yep, especially with your ability to slip and fall on the deck….
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Precisely my thoughts exactly!
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Do you use salt on your deck for the ice π§ π€
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My landlord doesn’t want me using salt, but I use sand all the time, it works good after i put it on the ice.
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Good idea π‘
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I thought so. Of course it’s in a bucket on the deck, so I have to step on the ice in order to get the sand to put on the ice.
I was looking at bags of sand for sale at Walmart the other day. It looked like sand to me but it was called “tiny crushed rock”.ππππ
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That would work also… I’ve even used cat litter or oil dri… it doesn’t melt the ice but it provides some traction!!
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Actually cat litter provides the best traction on ice than anything else. But it is messy.
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Yep indeed it is!! But it blows away in the spring!πππ
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It makes a mess of my rug by the door. But I do like it though, never slip with that stuff.π
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That’s the important part!!πππ
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Precisely my thoughts exactly!π
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Ya really need to reduce the number of falls..ππππ
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Yep, best 3 out of 2!
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You’re the champ!!π ππππ
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Thank you, thank you!!πππππ
Now it’s time for us champs to sleep.π΄
Good night Dusty, talk again tomorrow!πππ΄
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Yes indeed!! That it is!!
Sleep Good π΄ π talk tomorrow!ππ
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As far the crazy part…. do I really need to….?π€ππ€ͺπ€ͺπ€ͺπ€ͺ
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No, you can forget that part.π€¨π
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Ahhh.. nuts! ππ
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πππ€£π€£
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Just had to take away my fun!!πππππππ
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Honest, I didn’t take anything,π³π I already have my own fun.π
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Yeah… torturing me!!π€¨π€¨
πππππππ
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Aww, you guessed!ππ
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Not really a guess! More like educated guess or better yet conditioned response!!πππππ
πππππππππ
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How odd, maybe you need to get reconditioned.π€ππ
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Physically?? Absolutely!!!πππππ
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Well, actually…ππ
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Ha ha!ππ
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Thank you!π
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Sure anytime!ππππ
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