The Investigators, Inc. The Case That Is Not. Chapter 12. More Traitors.

Once at the kitchen, Sky made coffee with French toast and bacon. “I know that is your favorite breakfast,” she said. “How did you know that?” I asked curiously. “I know more about you than you probably do,” she said smiling, “when Jenny said you would be coming, she told me to study everything I could find out about you so I would know you thoroughly. So, I did.” “Hmm, scary,” I said. She giggled.

“I have done a lot of thinking about this Steve,” she said, “and you are right, there must be two more traitors for this to work. Someone had to be in the basement to turn off the security system at just the right time and turn it on again. And someone had to be up here to let her know when to turn it off.” “But how would they communicate with each other?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Well, the day before there were plumbers here Carine said,” Sky began, “and one of them had a small light with a switch, not connected together. When Carine asked about it, he told her it was used for small, dark spots. He said the light was quite bright and the switch was remote. It sounded reasonable so she said no more about it. But if he left it here deliberately, then the traitors would have a way to communicate, and no one would know they even had it.

Then if one of them watched out the window for a signal from the man, then she could alert the one down the basement. The man did have a small flashlight with him and since it was during the day it would really only be visible to someone right in front of him.” I look at Sky. “What?” she asked, almost nervously. “That is amazing,” I said, “and it fits perfectly. How did you come up with this?”

“I had to do something all night to stay awake,” she said smiling, “and then, um, well, skip that for now.” “No, you will not,” I said, “tell me everything you have been thinking about, this is very important.” She put her head down. I lift it up again. “It is about Jennifer, right?” I asked. “Yes, when she got up from the table,” Sky began, “Luvia got up too and put her hand behind Jennifer’s neck.

I had Chung look and there was a tiny pin prick on her neck. Chung said that did not kill her completely but was likely the last part of the process. You were right, the poison had been absorbed through her skin from her clothes.” “So, Luvia killed Jennifer,” I said slowly. “Careful Steve,” said Sky. “No need to worry,” I said, “I want to catch all of them, I will not mess this up now. But I want to tell Mr. B of your theory, which I agree with completely, then we will plan the next step.

We just need to find out who was in the kitchen, who was looking out the window and who was missing totally from view, which would be the person in the basement. There are only 5 choices for that one since only 5 people have an access key to the security panel.” “That would be you, Mr. B and who else?” asked Sky. “Rock, Luvia and Kristina,” I replied, “Kristina was outside with us, which only leaves Rock, or possibly Annelie and Luvia. I think it is easy to figure out who it was.”

“So, we are back to finding out who her helper is,” said Sky. Later that morning Baldwin came over and Sky told him her ideas. “Hmm, very good,” said Baldwin, “we are getting somewhere, if only we knew who was at the window.” “MC went inside right away when we got back,” I said, “why not ask him?” Baldwin opened the library doors. “MC, we would like you here for a moment,” I said in a normal voice. “You expect him to hear that?” asked Sky. Just then, Wheeeeeeeeee! as MC came sliding into the library, stopping at my feet.

Baldwin closed the doors again. I asked him if he knew who was looking out the window at the time the shots were fired. Meow.=Yep, me know. “Um, could you tell me who?” I asked. Meow.=Yep, it human Sovia. “Thank you, you may go back to playing,” I said and held him in position. Baldwin opened the doors and out he went sliding down the hall, wheeeeeeeeeeee!

“They just love sliding on these floors,” I told Sky. “Obviously,” she said, “and it does look like fun!” “Well,” said Baldwin, “now we know who the third traitor is. I will be glad when this is over, now if we could just get a confession out of them, that would be even better.” “Leave me in a room with them for a while,” said Sky, “they will confess.”

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.