The Investigators, Inc. Ghost Town Mystery. Chapter 3. Strange Things.

We all met in our bedroom again before settling down for the night. Each room had a couple of kerosene lamps for light, plus candles, which gave a nice cozy atmosphere. Muffin and MC sat by the door to listen for anyone who might want to spy on us. It did not take long and Muffin came over and tugged at my leg. I motioned to the others to keep talking while Jennifer and I checked out who our “guest” might be. MC had stayed by the door just in case the person left, but whoever it was, was still there.

I got ready to open the door and Jennifer and I had our guns out. I quickly pulled the door open and we all went out speedily into the hall, but no one was there. We checked the girls rooms but none had been opened, our alarm locks were still in place. There is no way to open those doors, or windows, without setting off the alarm which is very loud. “Maybe they went down the stairs,” said Jennifer. We were on the second floor. “We would have heard anyone running down those old wood stairs,” I said.

Meow,meow.=Someone was at door, we know. Meow.=Yep, and no one leave. We go back into our room. “Well, who was it?”, asked Kat. “No one was there,” said Jennifer. Meow.=Someone there, but invisible. Meow,meow!=That mean it ghost! We go back home now! “Muffin, there are no ghosts,” I reminded her, “how many times must I tell you?” Meow,meow.=Lots more times, but explain invisible human. “Good idea,” said Kat, “I would like to hear the explanation for that too.”

“Ha, ha,” I said, “there must be an explanation, I just do not know what it is yet.” “That is rather scary,” said Carine, “could there be hidden passages in here?” “I doubt it,” I said, “there just is not enough space between the rooms for passages, not even narrow ones.” “That is true,” said Axelina, “Kristina and I did some measuring earlier just to make sure. Unless there is a trapdoor in the floor where they could have hidden.”

I decide to go and check out that possibility but there was no trapdoor, the cats even sniffed around and said there was nothing. This is a rather strange development, maybe it is things like this that are making the owners so scared. I will have to find out in the morning. I also want to take a look at that truck those people were driving to find out what the problem might be. We all decided on an early night, everyone was tired from the trip anyway.

Jennifer and Kristina shared a room, Carine, Galyna and MC were together, Angel, Axelina and Storm were together, plus Kat, I and Muffin. I told the others to be very careful and keep guns handy. Muffin woke me during the night and said she heard something outside. I got up to look out the window. Our room was at the front of the hotel, the moon was shining nicely so I could see down the street quite well, and over to the owners house. Hmm, looks like someone working on the engine of that truck.

I tell Muffin to stay with Kat while I go take a look. She did not think it was a good idea but said she would stay. I took my gun and went down to the street. Hmm, no one at the truck now, but I went over to look anyway. I could see no evidence of anyone being there. Then I thought I saw movement by the bus so went in that direction. As I got closer I felt a bullet hit my vest. I returned fire in the direction it would have come from. Then I went over to look but could see no one around.

There were 3 old buildings behind the bus but I was not about to check them by myself. Someone was behind me now, and very close. I quickly turned…it was Jennifer and Kristina. Muffin had called them to tell me what I was doing, so they came down right away. We went to check the 3 small buildings but all were locked so we went back to the hotel and stood on the street for a few minutes. “You should not have gone by yourself,” said Jennifer, “too dangerous.”

“It was only one person,” I explained. “And how many could you not see?”, asked Kristina. “Okay, you have me on that one,” I said, “but I did not want to wake everyone.” They just looked at me. We all went back to our rooms. Kat was still sleeping which was good. The rest of the night went by peacefully. In the morning I told Sam what happened. He checked the bus, the battery was missing. He did not hear any shots though.

I looked at the wall my shots had hit, but not a sign of them. That is impossible, those are old weathered boards, they could not have been fixed overnight. Sam said there have been a lot of unexplainable things happening. He also said there is nothing valuable about this property. There was an old copper mine here for years, but the copper ran out and the mine closed. That was a hundred years ago. So why the interest in this place?

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.