Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Accidental Murder Case. Chapter 13. Rooms.
Annelie was doing the video so Sky and myself could see and talk with Cindy. It was very helpful to see how Cindy handled herself and answered questions. “How old are you Cindy?” asked Sky. “I am 22,” she answered. “Why did you hook up with John?” Sky continued, “He is much older than you.” “I don’t care about age,” Cindy replied, “John is fun, and he treats me good.” “That is great Cindy,” I said, “you will do just fine with this. Now, are you sure yourself, you did not get much warning about this assignment.”
“No problem,” replied Cindy, “if it means maybe getting that creep Alonzo out of action, then I really do not mind helping out with this. He has done too much harm already, so I hope this stops him cold.” “I hope so too,” said Sky, “hey Annelie, how is Tuva doing?” Annelie was silent. I knew what that meant, and I think Sky did too. “She did not make it,” said Annelie quietly, “you will stop Alonzo, right Steve?” “I guarantee we will stop him,” I said, “one way or another he is going to pay for killing Tuva. Even though Mandi did the driving, it was still Alonzo that did it with his order to kill her. He is just too much of a coward to do his own work.”
Afterward I called the girls together and told them about Tuva, Mandi actually started to cry when she heard the news. Perhaps she really has changed. Then we planned our day of searching. “You know Steve,” said Sky, “I do not think anyone was listening at our door. They got away too quickly for that. I think there is another secret door in the hallway close to our door, and that is what they were aiming for all along.” “Hmm, you could be right about that,” I said, “okay cats, time to do some sniffing.”
We all went into the hall. Mandi said she did not know of any door here, apart from the one in our bedroom. The cats sniffed around. Meowr.=Me think maybe here. Muffin and MC checked it too and they agreed. “Well, there is certainly enough space between the 2 bedrooms for another passageway,” said Angel, “but how does it open?” There was a light switch on the wall which seemed like an odd place for one. Mandi said it did not work.
Hmm, I decided to turn the whole thing and sure enough, another door opened to a narrow passage going down some stairs. The cats went first again, but there were no traps along the way. At the bottom was a heavy wood door. I opened it and shone my flashlight into a fairly large room. I found the light switch and turned it on. “This is the room Alonzo uses for his forgery work,” I said. He was working on false identity papers for 2 dozen people, obviously coming into the country illegally. “He can do most anything in here,” I said, “this is quite an operation he has going.”
Just then I heard the cats growling at another heavy wood door at the end of the long room. Is someone in there perhaps? We all took out our guns and went over to the door. This time Sigurbjorn insisted on opening the door and had me stand off to the side. Once the door was open, the cats ran into the dark room. We all entered slowly. I spotted the lamp and turned it on. What do you know, Mandi was telling the truth after all. This was a huge haul of drugs, plus weapons of every description and large amounts of cash in euros, pounds and American dollars.
Sky had the money counted amazingly fast and she said it added up to $15 million or so, converting it all to American money. Plus the $20 million in drugs, that is a lot of value down here. And all these weapons would be worth a lot as well. Mandi did say that Alonzo wanted to hire a small army to help him. Perhaps those two dozen people he is making false identity papers for? There was another wood door in this room, so we opened that one too. This was his photo studio, if it can be called that.
Once Sky saw what it was, she turned and went back out. The other girls were puzzled by that. I went to her. “Sorry you saw that Sky,” I said. She turned and looked at me through tears. I hugged her and she began sobbing loudly. I told everyone to come back upstairs. Once in our bedroom Sky was able to settle down again. “I, I am sorry everyone,” she apologized. “You do not need to apologize for that,” said Kristina, “and you do not need to explain either.” The other girls all said the same thing.
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Hmmm…. perhaps a photo of Sky in her previous life?🤔 Very odd that she reacted that way. But!! You did find the workshop! Now what to do with that info?🤔🤔
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Yep, we found everything we need now, we just need to make good use of this information. Not really so odd about Sky’s reaction, if you remember what she did back when she was 18. The setup and pictures hanging around reminded her of that time and it was too much. 🤔👩😼😼😼🕵️♂️
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That seems so long ago now! She has kinda taken over the storyline and one forgets those little bits of information. 😐
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Yep, I guess that is true. She is a main character now for sure. But that reminder was just too much for her. The other girls know nothing about her past which is why they were puzzled by her reaction. 🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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Completely understandable! So…. what is the plan? Are you gonna wait fir him in his studio?🤔
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That might be an idea, but it might also be a long wait. He might not come back before his meeting with the Major. We did take pics of everything we found down there and all this info will be going to John to use how he wants. I think we will do some old fashioned PI work and watch Alonzo for a while and see where he goes and what he does. 🤔👩😾🕵️♂️
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That’s a great idea! Then he can shape his story to fit what’s available! Smart!🤔
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Yep, that’s what I figured too. I trust John to make his story good, the way he thinks best. After all, this is stuff he knows well, so he will know what to do with it. 🤔👩😾🕵️♂️
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I think that’s a call on your part.
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That’s why I surround myself with people who are knowledgeable in many different things. We all complement each other to make an effective organization. I would really like to get Alonzo on a murder rap though and get him put away for a long time. Still… 🤔👩😾🕵️♂️
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Well you’ve got Mandi’s testimony to help with Tuvas case.🤔
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But it was Mandi that did the job, Alonzo could just say he had nothing to do with it. Mandi would end up in prison either way. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Yeah… I suppose that you’re right about that… but how else could you prove he’s responsible for her death?🤔
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I don’t know what we can do. We might be able to keep Mandi out of prison since she has helped us on the case by telling us about the drugs and other things. But I don’t think her testimony about Tuva would hold up anyway. Unless we can somehow prove he killed someone else. But how? I wonder if David’s ex wife might know something more?🤔🕵️♂️
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That’s a good place to start… but you’ll need to be careful not to accidentally tip Alonzo off…
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Yes, that is definitely a problem, I don’t know, perhaps David’s ex wife is working for Alonzo too. 😲🕵️♂️
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Hmmm. Well, maybe John could get him to incriminate himself by bragging about it or other deaths he caused??🤔 That might work!!
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John can’t go near Alonzo or the Major will think he’s being trapped and that will be the end of John and Cindy! 😲🕵️♂️
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See?? That’s why you’re the pi!! You think of that stuff!! I woukd have gotten them both killed!!😲😳
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Yep, got to be careful around this crowd, they can be a dangerous bunch. Especially being involved with the likes of Victor and the Major. 😲🕵️♂️
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Yeah… what about this Major anyways??🤔🤔 What’s known about him??
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He is Victor’s right hand man, his tough guy that deals with others. He is a friend to some but not to others. You don’t want to be on his bad side. He does whatever Victor tells him, without question. 🤔🕵️♂️
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So glad you found the secret passageway and the place for forgery, drugs, money, and pornography studio. It is now to entrap Alonzo and his syndicate. He has had his hands in a number of crimes and criminals get sloppy. when they think everyone is too stupid to catch them in the act.
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Yes, now it is time for us to start closing in on Alonzo and catching him in a trap he can’t get out of. He thinks he is smart and can get away with most everything. You are right, they do get sloppy and make mistakes. Alonzo will find out he is just a little boy trying to play in a big boys world and it will sting him! 🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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😎
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It looks like Mandi is okay at this point 🤔 Perhaps Alonzo ‘s ex-wife is in the mix…🤔 ! Maybe she is working with you…people can easily change their appearance…hmmm…Has anyone on your team been involved in theatrical work in the past ? MC and Muffin have shown their abilities over and over again ! Truly they are vital to your team ! 😼😼❗️ Vert interesting chapter Steve ! 🕵️♂️👩👩👩 ponder your evidence again ! Watch your back !
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Yes, Mandi appears to have changed now, hopefully she stays that way. No, unfortunately no one on our team has any theatrical experience, that would be a good thing to have in our business. Yep, the cats are valuable indeed! They can sniff things out very well. We will be watching our backs, it is getting into some very dangerous territory now. 🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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