For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
“That is part of our job,” said Galyna, “oh, this is Rock, he is our team leader right now while Steve is having problems with that drug that he was given.” “So nice to meet you,” she said, “and I am so sorry about Steve, there are so many bad people around these days. It is hard to know who to trust, but I do trust all of you. Now, we should get back to packing, I want to move out of this chateau as soon as possible!”
Back to packing they went and Rock went and told Walter and Crandall to come in. They then joined us in another part of the basement. We came here through another secret passage and this part of the basement appears to be older than the other and there is a very sturdy looking stone wall separating the two. There is some old furniture down here and a few boxes, mostly empty, some with clothes and one small box full of old papers. That could prove interesting.
Meow!=Over here, me find door here! There was an old and heavy curtain covering a stone wall. Behind that curtain was a heavy wood door, but no way to open it. Rock likely could have broken it, but I did not want that. Rock noticed an iron handle up near the ceiling and he turned it. The door slid into the stone wall revealing a small, neat and clean room. There was a bed, a large comfortable chair and a very large old desk. There was also a couple of lamps which we turned on. It looked like it was used very recently.
Sky, Crystal, Kristina, Rock, Walter, Crandall and I sat down to talk. Walter and Crandall had gone to visit Mack and told him about Sofie, her son and their plan to get him out of the way so they could have the jewels to themselves. That angered him greatly so he was willing to do some talking. He had come earlier than he said to Sofie because he did not trust her. So he spent a few days watching the chateau. One night Thomas, son of Sofie, came out with his 3 friends and they were carrying Denise.
He followed them to that pond and watched from nearby trees as they went out in a rowboat and tossed Denise overboard, staying until she sunk out of sight. They waited a bit, then left. He took that same rowboat out and noticed that Denise was just barely 2 feet underwater. He jumped in and recovered her body and brought it back to the chateau after Sofie had gone to bed. He put the body in the trunk hoping it would be found and Sofie would be arrested for murder.
Then he could get the jewels. But we came along and spoiled everything. Mack then told all this to the police, so they will know this when they come to talk with Sofie today. “That should be interesting,” I said, “that could put Thomas and his friends in prison, but perhaps not Sofie, though she might get a short sentence.” “Unless Thomas will give evidence against his mother,” said Walter, “it was her idea and she covered it up.”
“True, but she could claim she was forced to go along with it by her son,” I said, “because of threats to her. At least we now know how Denise’s body got back here.” We start to look around the room a bit. Sky and I look through the desk. The one drawer was locked but MC had it open quickly. “Hey, this is her will,” I said to the others. It really did not say much, but Denise did leave everything she owned, including this chateau, to her sister Sofie.
There was also a small piece of paper with a note, apparently written by her husband Ben, which read, “To those looking for my treasure, you are without hope of finding it. I take the whereabouts of those jewels to the grave with me.” He signed his name at the end. “That is it!” I exclaimed, “that is where the jewels are! And Sofie knows it too.” “Well, where are they?” asked Sky. “In that big box with his ashes,” I said. “Hey, that makes sense,” said Crystal, “you do not need a big box like that for ashes.”
“And that is why she was so protective of that box,” said Sky, “she would not let anyone but her touch it. Now it is at her new flat.” “We need to get that,” said Walter. “Well, Galyna has a key to get into the building, and into the flat,” said Kristina, “so we could go without Sofie along.” “Good idea,” I said, “we can do that while the police are here questioning Sofie.”
Walter and Crandall discovered even more than I had hoped, but more on that later. We left just as the police were arriving, Kristina had gotten the keys from Galyna who wanted to stay behind and watch Sofie. Off we went and were soon inside the flat. Crystal remembered the box in which Sofie had packed the ‘urn’. It was sealed quite well, but we soon had it open. “Wow, look at all that!” exclaimed Sky, “it is all so beautiful.”
To Be Continued.
Β©2022 Steve McLeod.
Hey!! That was almost too easy!! I hope the cops can turn Sophie’s son against her and they all go to prison for a long long time!!π€¨
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Things usually are easy once you have the right clues. The hard part now is getting some evidence against Sofie that will put her in prison for a long time. Right now she is just an accomplice to things, and barely that, so her prison time would be short. We want to get her on something that will put her away for good. But it will require to have her make a mistake somehow. Loose ends will be tied together soon though, I’m sure of that. π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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But she doesn’t have the jewels!!π
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That’s true, but I want her going to prison for Denise’s death if possible. But proof might be hard to find. π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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I’m sure that someone on the team will have an idea on how to trick her into admitting it.π€
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Yep, that is what we need, a confession without actually trapping her into a confession. It needs to appear natural or a good lawyer will get her off to easily. But we are going to use the best lawyers to make it hard for her. And we do have some evidence for another crime if all else fails. π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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That is a good thing… she has been lucky so far!!
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Yes, that’s for sure. But we have learned some things. Those old papers in the basement were interesting. Plus Mack gave us some new news bits too. Now I know why he was so upset with Ben, and now with Sofie. We are in the process of acquiring some evidence against her. If we can do it, she is in for life! π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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I wondered what could be in those papers!π€
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Yep, interesting stuff, things that might show up in the next case even! But that’s too far away. Sometimes thieves, and others, like to keep news articles about their exploits. But there is more than that in those papers! π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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Ah….. now that could prove troublesome for Sophie and Mack I suspect?π€
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Most definitely! Ben liked to keep things, guess he never figured anyone would find them down there. π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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And didn’t count on Mack showing up again either probably..
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Yes, I think he was hoping Mack would stay away now, but it didn’t work out that way. π€π΅οΈββοΈπ
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He won’t make that mistake again!!π€π€
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That would be seem to be quite an obvious observation! π€π©π΅οΈββοΈπ
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Hey… I’m just an apprentice PI making an observation!ππ€ππ
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You’re doing good too. Now if only you can figure out some other loose ends too. π€π©π΅οΈββοΈπ
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I’m working on it!!ππ€
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Work faster, I need ideas, sort of. Well, not really I guess. But I like to know what people think. π€π©π΅οΈββοΈπ
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I still think that Sophie’s son is going to rat her out when he discovers she already had the jewels and didn’t tell him!π€¨
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That’s possible. But I don’t think he knows the whole story like we do. Still his testimony would be helpful if he does turn against her. But remember, blood is thicker than granite as the old saying goes. π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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That’s only because you haven’t told him yet!ππ
Yes I suppose the blood thing is true… but somehow I don’t think ut matters much to him.π€
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That’s true enough. Yes, he did threaten to kill his mother already and send her body to the bottom of that pond too! So it might be interesting to see what he would do. π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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I think so also.. but we’ll see!π€
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Yes, we certainly shall see. I just wonder what? π€π©π΅οΈββοΈπ
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Hopefully Sophie going to prison for a longgggggg……. time!π
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We will try to make it nice and long! π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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That woukd be ideal.
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Yep, but somehow I have a nasty feeling that it… π€π²π΅οΈββοΈ
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Won’t be until Monday??π²π³
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π²π²π²π΅οΈββοΈ
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I know!!!!!π³ Right???π²π²π²
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Pretty amazing to find the jewels but there has to be more to the story.
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Yes, we have found the jewels, but you’re right, there is more to come. But we are nearing the end. Just a few loose ends to deal with, if we can. We want to get Sofie into prison, along with her son and his friends. We just need to get some proof to do this. Amazing how things will fit together nicely, if we can do something first. π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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π
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Well , interesting info ! π― waiting to hear your next chapter ! βοΈπ΅οΈββοΈπΌπΌπΌπ©π©βπ¦°π©βπ¦±π©βπ¦°
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Yep, finding the jewels was a good thing, but now we need to put Sofie in prison where she belongs. But we need some proof to get her into prison. π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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