Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Accidental Murder Case. Chapter 1. Mandi.
It has been a nice peaceful 6 weeks and we are all getting well rested. I think, too, that everyone would like to get going on another case as well. Carine seems to be making progress with Benson, he actually talks to her now. Sky is fitting in very nicely with everyone and has become good friends with Tracy. We had a week of training exercises, something we will be doing regularly from now on. Sky is amazing with a gun.
She is the only one to take top points in that. Everyone else did well too, however. Hmm, Sky is over playing with the cats, and talking to them. I wonder what they are up to? Right then my phone rang. It was Rossana, apparently some friends of hers inherited an old castle, well, kind of a castle anyway. They found something among old documents in the castle that lead them to believe there is a treasure buried on the premises.
However, that is not what the call is about. Apparently, the woman’s husband died in what the police called an accident. But the woman, whose name is Mandi, does not believe it is an accident, she believes her husband was murdered and she needs someone to prove it. That is where we come in. Rossana wanted to help her, but she is on an important case right now and cannot get the time off work. Her friend is not much for crowds of people though, so she asked if I would come with just a few of the team.
That sounds fine to me. Also, Rossana told her I had just gotten married. Thanks so much Rossana. Now I have to figure out which of the girls to ask to pretend being my wife on this case. It was so easy before. It needs to be easy now. Muffin comes over. Meow,meow?=What wrong, you look worried. “We have a new case, helping one of Rossana’s friends find out who killed her husband,” I said, “and Rossana told her friend I had just gotten married, to make her friend feel better about having me around. Now I need a wife. Who should I pick? This is not easy anymore. It was so easy before.”
Meow,meow.=Still easy, you marry Sky, she make good wife, she already like kissing. I look at her. Actually, she might be right, Sky would probably be able to act the part more easily than any of the others. “Okay, go tell Sky to come here so I can ask her if she will,” I told her. Muffin ran as fast as she could. I hope Muffin does not get this mixed up, that would be terrible. Sky comes running over. “Muffin says you want to ask me something important,” she said with a smile.
“Um, yes, well, we have a new case,” I began somewhat nervously, “I am supposed to be newly married for this and, well, um, I was wondering, um, if you would consider being my wife.” I am not sure why I was so nervous about this, it felt like I was actually proposing. Sky looked at me with a huge smile. “YES!” she screamed, “yes, yes, yes!” The other girls came running over. “What is going on here?” asked Sigurbjorn. Meow,meow!=My human just ask human Sky to be wife!
Suddenly there was a lot of shrieking. Somehow I do not think this went quite the way I planned. “You certainly took your time,” said Sky, still smiling. “Um, we have only known each other for 2 months,” I reminded her, “and, um, well, Muffin, I need your help here.” Muffin giggled, so did Sky. “It is okay Steve,” said Sky, “Muffin told me it was just pretending for the case.” Everyone groaned. That was a relief.
“But I am still happy that you wanted me to play the part of your wife,” she said, still smiling. She needs to stop smiling like that, it does something to me and I cannot think straight. Besides, it is only 2 months, people cannot fall in love that fast. Then again, well…sigh. Now, Muffin will join us, plus 3 other girls. Hmm, I would say Sigurbjorn, Kristina and Tuva. I think Tuva needs more opportunities for a main role.
I will leave Rock in charge of things while we are gone. But that same day Baldwin asked Rock, Benson and John to check one of his factories for some “irregularities”. So, I left Carine in charge instead. However, she was not to take any cases unless it was first approved by Baldwin. He would be over each day to check on things too. I really did not think he would skip his afternoon coffee and donuts.
The next morning we were on our way to Italy. It really was not that far from where we lived, so we drove instead of flying this time. And we took 2 cars, that way we could take something smaller and less noticeable. We got to the castle and introduced ourselves. I thought Sky looked young, but Mandi looks about 14. Turns out she is 17 and her husband was 30.
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
It sounds like Mandi likes older men. Between Sky and Mandi you are dealing with teens! But I am sure this will be an interesting mystery.
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Actually, Sky is 23, the youngest in our team is Tracy who is 22. Rock and Annelie are the 2 oldest at 34. Not counting Baldwin and Chung who are in their 50s. I will soon be doing an update on our story characters, there have been a lot of changes since the last update. I need to find out more info about Mandi and her husband for sure. Something does not sound quite right. 🤔👩😼🕵️♂️
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well, this could be a puzzler ! 🤔 But since this is just the beginning I shall wait to see whatever the problems are or could be ! Sky is very young but seems to be gifted with a gun., so we shall see whether this is good or bad…do not let her age sway you in to wrong decisions ! 🕵️♂️👩😯😼❗️
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You’re off to a good start! The infusion of youth should keep things interesting! They somehow have a way of attracting action to them! Can’t wait to read today’s chapter!!😉😊
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Thank you. Yes, there could be more action to come in this case. But I wonder if there really is a case. 🤔👩😼🕵️♂️
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Perhaps the supposed treasure was an excuse to get you there to help her with her family because she is scared 😱 of them?🤔
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I am wondering about the treasure part. David certainly did not need it and so far we have not seen anything to suggest there is one. It could be more about her family for sure. 🤔👩😼🕵️♂️
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Maybe Annalie should do some family background investigation to see if there are any questionable things going on? Ut sure seems wrong for a family to pressure her as hard as they did!!🤔🤔
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Yes, she is already working on it, but first she is checking on some other people. Yes, I wonder why they would pressure her so much. Although money would be the big factor. But how would Alonzo know she would be a young widow? Unless he knew what was going to happen. 🤔👩😼🕵️♂️
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That’s exactly what I was thinking 🤔 did he have a life insurance policy?🤔 How much was it for? Perhaps she herself could be in danger from her family?🤨
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Yes, that’s true. David was already worth millions and he did have a sizeable insurance policy. I am sure if Alonzo pressured her so much to marry this guy, he likely had her make a will too, but who would be the beneficiary? Alonzo perhaps? 🤔👩😾🕵️♂️
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It would be a hey piece of info to have… And it may be prudent to have someone staying very close to Mandi just on case.
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Yes, I am hoping she might allow Tuva to stay with her at night, but I did not want to ask the first night. But once her family knows we are here, it might change things completely. 🤔👩😾🕵️♂️
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That’s for sure! I have a feeling Mandi is in danger and no one realizes it just yet!🤔
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Yes, I agree with that. Hey, wait a minute, I realize it, kinda, depending on Annelie’s report. 🤔🕵️♂️
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I sure hope her Mandi’s brother isn’t already 2 steps ahead of you?😬😬🤔
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Yes, me too, but not much I can do about it at the moment. We need to find out if there are any hidden passages in this place and likely there are some. Maybe that’s how someone got behind David and pushed him down the stairs. There were no invited guests the day it happened, so there must have been an uninvited guest. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Maybe some finger prints?🤔 Has her family been in the mansion?🙄🤔
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Only her oldest brother and oldest sister. All the rest of the family live in southern Italy. Those 2 live about 2 hours away. 🤔🕵️♂️
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So if they’ve been there then prints are out the window unless you find them in a hidden passage way…🤔
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Yes, if we can find them in a hidden passage, then we have something. Although that alone would not prove murder, but it would help for turning up the heat on someone. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Yepper diddly dooser!!
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It would be bad if they were Mandi’s prints though. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Ooooo😲😳 That would not look good fir her!!😬
She doesn’t strike me as a killer though🙄🤔🤔
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That’s true, but it would still not look good. She may have found some passages and did some exploring, but I don’t see her as being that brave either. 🤔🕵️♂️
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She has a lot of secrets yet to be revealed 🤔🤔
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Yes, I am sure that she does. 🤔🕵️♂️
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If you can persuade her to talk…
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Yep, and that is up to Tuva now. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Indeedlydo 😁
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