For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Kat and Jennifer come into the library together. “Okay Steve,” said one of them, “remember what we said.” “Yes,” said the other, “if you can tell us apart, then we will stay behind, otherwise we come with.” They are doing their best performance to try and fool me, but it will not work, I can always tell them apart. Muffin was sitting behind them and she points her tail to the real Kat. I go over to her, “you are my wife Kat.” Muffin quickly hid behind a chair. Jennifer looked around but did not see her. “See?, I asked, “no problem at all.”
“Okay, you win,” said Kat, “but you make sure to keep in touch!” “I will definitely do that,” I said, “so don’t worry, it will be okay.” “Somehow I don’t believe you Steve,” said Jennifer. However, we were soon on our way flying across the ocean. “Okay you two,” I began, “just how much did you tell Kat and Jennifer?” They looked at each other, then at me, and hung their heads. “I thought so,” I said, “didn’t I say not to tell them anything?” Meow,meow.=It not our fault, we get scooped. “And what is ‘scooped’?”, I ask them.
Meow.=Well, sometime when they want to know something, they come up sneaky like and scoop us up. Meow,meow.=Yep, put hand here and pick up real fast, not have time to get away. We call being scooped. “Hmm, so that means they will be following us,” I said, “and that will make John run away and we will not be able to catch him. However, they don’t know exactly where we are going, so perhaps we can lose them. Unless Baldwin lets them use one of his jets, and I am sure he will. Um, did she put trackers on you two?”
Their ears go straight up and they started to sniff. Sure enough, there were trackers on the back of their collars. “We will have to check our luggage when we land as well,” I said, “hmm, check me.” Sure enough, in my one shoe was a tracker. It was 11pm when we landed so we went straight to our hotel and tomorrow we would be flying to our destination. We found 3 more trackers at the hotel, all went in the garbage. We had to be at the airport by 8am so we were up early and on our way. Soon we were in the air again heading south to a town I had never heard of before. Olivia was supposed to meet us at the airport.
There was nothing interesting on the flight except that two men were watching a young woman the whole time. Finally the woman came over and introduced herself and asked if she could talk to me. Her name was Susan Cardon and she was on her way to see her aunt, who was in some kind of trouble. “I just don’t trust my cousin,” she said, “aunt Olivia has not seen him for so long and she says this man does not even look like Roger.” That caught our attention right away. The cats ears went straight up hearing Olivia’s name mentioned.
“Is your aunt’s name Olivia Stratton?”, I ask her. She looked rather surprised. “Why, yes, it is,” she answered, “but how did you know that?” So I introduced myself a little more clearly telling her I was a PI that her aunt had hired to help her. “Aunt Olivia did mention she wanted to hire a private investigator,” she said, still surprised, “but coming all the way from France!” “Well, I am actually Canadian, now living in France,” I explained, “and somehow she heard of me, which I found a little odd. I do not think the man is her son Roger however. I think his name is John, and he is a very dangerous man. I have been trying to catch him for a long time now.”
I did not want to mention I think this is a trap for us. No need to scare her more than necessary. “And those two men over there, they have been following me since I left home this morning,” she confided. “Yes, I have noticed they have been watching you,” I said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I think perhaps we should stay together since we are going to the same place.” “That is fine with me,” she said, “I’m kind of scared being followed like that.”
“By the way, this is Muffin and MC, my two PI cats that help me a lot on my cases,” I explained, “I know that might sound odd, but it is true, they are a very important part of my team.” “There are others with you too?”, she asked. “Not on this trip,” I said, “I think we can solve this case alone, right guys?” They both meow appropriately to look like normal cats. Soon we are at our destination and Olivia is waiting for us. She seems genuinely surprised to see her niece here with us, and very happy too. That might make things easier for us. Those two men watch as we go outside…
To Be Continued.
Β©2022 Steve McLeod.
All right! Off to an amazing start!! Better take out those two oglers before you get to involved.
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Yes, we definitely don’t want anyone else getting involved with this. Unless perhaps they already are involved and working with John.π³π¬
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Oh oh… do we have a spy in the house??π€ππ²π³
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Interesting thing, Susan didn’t tell her aunt she was coming, so why are those 2 guys following her? How did they know?π€
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Telephone line tap??π€
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Hmm, now that is thinking. Quite possible. Now I’m also going to need to explain to Kat our new addition to this case. She might not be too happy.ππ
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Phone tap… she had to make arrangements to go, they could have been listening to her phone conversations. π
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Yes, that’s true. They would already know she has been talking to her aunt, so that would make them watch her more closely. You’ll be a PI yet!π΅οΈββοΈ
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ππ Really??? Me?? Sweet!! Woooo hooo!!π§ββοΈπ€Έπ€Έπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈ
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Yessir, your catching on quick here!
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No gun though right?π¬π
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Hey, everyone gets shot at now and then.π€π«πΉπ£π₯π§¨π₯
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Okay.. do I get a body armor?ππ³
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Nope, newbies have to go a year on their own, if they can survive then they get a vest. And shin pads.π
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Oh!! Niceπππππ¬π¬
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It helps sharpen up those much needed skills.π
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I better start target practice then!!ππ
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We’ll let Kristina do the shooting, she needs the practice too.ππ
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Oh sure I get to be the target!π³π²
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Well, you need practice not getting hit and she needs practice hitting a moving target.π What could be better?π€π
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A non human moving target?ππππ
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But that wouldn’t help you. Nothing like real bullets to keep a person on their toes.π
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My toes don’t need exercise!!π€¨π€¨πππ
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The way Kristina shoots they will!ππ
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I might rethink that PI thing… I can shoot just fine, but I’ve had bullets whiz past my head before and I didn’t like it much!!π
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Hmm, how about the fighting section? I could have Rock teach you fighting. But you would need good health insurance.ππ
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I’m not sure that’s my strong suitπ€π€ I like to shoot things and I’m pretty good at it!ππ
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Hmm, well, you and Kristina can take turns shooting at each other, but don’t worry, she will have a bullet proof glass shield to protect her.π
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Oh that sounds fair!ππππ
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Your bullets will also leave little dots of paint on her shield so we can tell how well you do.π
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Oh geez a paint ball gun?? Cool!!πππ€£π€£
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No, real bullets from a real gun. But these bullets were developed at one of Baldwin’s companies, the tip is paint, just a tiny bit, meant for this kind of target practice so we can tell how accurate your shooting is. Kristina would just use real bullets of course, since you wouldn’t have a shield.
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Huh.. ya don’t say… I’ll need to consider that whole deal a little more…π€π
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We could always use a secretary, and Baldwin needs a new butler.
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Oooo… hey now that might be my style!π€£π€£π€£π€£π€£
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Baldwin likes a butler that can shoot, but you have to be able to get sprayed with coffee now and then without complaining. He also pays better than we do.π
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I can put up with coffee β π€£π€£π€£
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He supplies the uniform. But there is a 2 month trial.
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Background check??ππ€
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Yep, sure is, big time, all the way back to when you were born!π¬
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Have fun!ππππ it’s pretty…. boring!ππ
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Baldwin has to make sure, he’s important you know.ππ
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Well he will be the other boss!ππ€
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Hey, there is no “other” boss around here, there is only one boss and that’s m…Kat!ππ¬ππ¬
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That’s what I thoughtπ€π€π€π€
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Have to be so careful sometimes!π³π³
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It’s the only smart way to be!!π€π€
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Good Morning ππ π βοΈ
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Good morning sleepy!ππββ
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Me?? Where you been??ππππ€
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Right here, but I don’t get online until at least 8.π€π
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Ah.. makes sense! Got to feed the birds and the Muffin.ππ
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Yep.π»π¦
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π
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Did you sleep giod?
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What’s a giod?π€
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Good fat fingers again……π
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In that case, yep!π΄
Got to go do my morning post, back later.
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Alrighty TTYT
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The next chapter is ready for reading if you’re ready to read.π
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That I am!ππ
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Good!
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Omg, Steve, I didnβt know you could write so so good.. or wait, yes, I did, but wow, you are amazingβ€οΈ
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Thank you so very much Lillian! Your kind words are a real encouragement to me!ππ»π
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