Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The English Hotel Case. Chapter 5.
“Okay you three,” said Sky, “do not let your feelings get in the way here. This man told Bridgette that he works for Mandar, so until we prove otherwise we have to assume he is telling the truth.” “Perhaps that is the reason for the “M” name that he uses,” said Angel, “though it does seem hard to understand.” “I will call Mandar and find out what is going on,” said Sky.
So she did, and a man answered the phone which was odd since this was supposed to be Mandar’s phone number, not his company. “I would like to speak with Mr. M, this is urgent, please let him know it is Sky calling,” she said. “I do not care if the sky is falling miss,” said the man, “and I do not know of any Mr. M.” Then he hung up. Sky was furious! “This seems to prove that M might just be right,” said Sky, “why would Mr. M. change his number without telling us and then not talk with us.”
“Hmm, that is not so good,” said Rock, “though I still do not understand why he would change so suddenly. It makes no sense.” Sky then phoned Baldwin and let him know what Bridgette had said and what happened when she called Mandar. “I will get in touch with Mandar myself,” he said. “I am sorry,” said the same man, “but Mr. Mandar is in a very important business meeting and cannot be disturbed for 2 weeks.”
“You tell Mandar that if he wants that contract from me, he better get in touch with me today!” said Baldwin. “I will give him your message at the first opportunity,” said the man, and he hung up. But there was no return call that day. The next day Angel decided to try and call Mandar. She knew they desperately needed help and Mandar was the obvious one who could help them.
“I would like to speak with Mandar please,” she began, “tell him Angel is calling and it is extremely important.” “Oh, you again,” said the man, “look Angel in the sky, Mr. Mandar is not available for two weeks, so stop calling.” He then hung up. “Two weeks??” she said, “we cannot wait 2 weeks.” “I guess we cannot count on Mandar anymore,” said Tracy. “That is so sad,” said Sky, “we had gotten to be good friends too and now he turns on us!”
“And to think we got him that nice little cat too,” said Astrid. Meow,meow.=Yep, she nice cat too, now she have bad human. Meow.=Yep, make me mad that we find her for him. Meowr.=Should have kept her here with us. “Okay everyone,” said Sky, “I am upset too, but we have more important things to do right now, like finding Steve and the others. There must be some clues around, we need to check that tunnel in the basement and check that old jail again too. Perhaps they left something behind that would help us.”
“All we found on that dead man was a card from a restaurant in London, a phone number that no longer works and a blank piece of paper,” said Astrid. “Let me see that paper,” said Macey. She looked it over closely holding it up to the light. Then she went back to her room for a minute, followed by Astrid and Angel. They all came back smiling.
“It has the name of a hotel in London on it,” said Macey, “makeup is handy for many things.” “It certainly brought out that faint marking on the paper anyway,” said Angel. “Hmm, it is a long shot, but perhaps they stayed there,” said Sky, “and, perhaps they are still there.” Meanwhile, “Any phone calls today Craig?” asked Bob. “Yeah, if you count crank calls by women,” he said shaking his head, “why do I get the weird ones?” “What were they saying?” asked Bob.
“I cannot really remember, but both wanted to talk with Mandar,” he said, “one said the sky was calling and then the other said she was an angel calling.” Bob just looked at him. “Did you look at that list over there,” said Bob, “the one that lists important people that you put through to Mandar right away?” “Oh, I meant to do that,” he said, “but never got around to it.”
“Well, look at it now, right now,” said Bob, getting rather angry.” Craig did so and saw that Baldwin, Kristina, Sky, and Angel were the top 4 on the list. “Oh, guess I made a little mistake there,” he laughed. Bob was not laughing however. “Get Mandar on the phone and tell him that Sky needs him to call immediately, that it is urgent,” said Bob, “no, wait, I will do it myself.”
He did so and told Mandar what Craig had done. “Pay Craig for his time,” said Mandar, “then fire him.” Bob was more than happy to do so. Meanwhile, I opened my eyes, but I was in a dark room so it was hard to see. It was also cold and damp. I was chained to the wall and so were the girls, all except Annelie. I remember hearing something break, then a cloudy mist, and now we are here. But how did that happen? We are all awake now so I take the opportunity to speak with the girls. I hear footsteps…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
I sure hope Mandar returns that call quickly!!! This could lead to a very bad misunderstanding!!😬🫣😳😲
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Yes, that is very true! This Craig fella was a new guy and didn’t know, but he should have known, he was told. But can Mandar help anyway? Guess we will find out. I sure hope he can help.🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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Perhaps he knows who this mysterious Mr. M is??
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That is possible, hopefully he does! And maybe he knows things that will make the team able to find us quickly. Maybe he even knows where M lives! Especially if M worked for him before.🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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That’s what I was thinking also… he must know Mandar in some way….🤔 but why all this with you and the girls?? There’s a piece that’s still missing here! They need to find that connection to Mandar!!🤨
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Yes, I agree, something is missing for sure. Why does this M want us, or me anyway? Though I think he wants all 5 of us. It doesn’t make sense to bring the girls if all he wants is me.🤔👩🕵️♂️
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But what is he after? What’s motivating him to do this??🤔🤔🤔
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That is a very good question. Perhaps we will find out more when he finally gets around to talking with me. Or if he is a crazy man, perhaps he is just doing this for fun.🤔👩🕵️♂️
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Let’s hope he has a motive!!😬😬 Otherwise you could be difficult to find… speaking if locating….🙄 why haven’t you activated your locators?? The team could use a bit of assistance right now…
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We don’t have those anymore, they kept breaking down and were just too unreliable. Baldwin’s company is trying to work on a new model for us. Bad timing for sure.🤔👩🕵️♂️
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Oh man….🥺🥺 what else could go wrong??😳😳
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I have no idea, but hopefully nothing else. I just hope we don’t have to stay in this dark prison, or whatever it is, for too long.😲🕵️♂️
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It’s gonna be a tough time while you’re there! I sure hope he doesn’t take to beating you up!😬😬 You might not survive!!
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Well, if he wants my help for something, beating me will not get it! I just hope he doesn’t beat the girls to get my submission to helping him.😲👩👩👩👩🕵️♂️
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That is also a very likely scenario 😳😯 I sure hope you’re strong enough to endure his torture!!
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I don’t care as long as he doesn’t touch the girls. But I have a feeling he wants us to do something for him that he and his men can’t do. But I wonder what that could be?🤔👩🕵️♂️
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Something nefarious no doubt… but why not just approach you about it?? He kinda chose the hard way of doing it right away!! He doesn’t sound like a very bright individual!😂😂😂
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Yes, the better way would have been to just ask, then kidnap us if I said no. Perhaps it is nothing too bad, but more likely he wants us to do something illegal, which is why he chose to do it this way. It will be interesting to meet this individual finally.🙄🕵️♂️
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I don’t like him…😒😒🤨🤨 he sounds like a brut that acts like a child when he doesn’t get what he wants!😠
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It does certainly seem that way, why else to beat Bridgette and Annelie, plus killing his own man. Definitely an anger problem, among other things. Not in his right mind sort of thing. Which makes him dangerous.😲🕵️♂️
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Indeed!! The trick will be to find out what triggers that behavior and use it against him if possible..🤔
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I would rather not test him, if you don’t mind, the man must weigh 500 pounds!😲🕵️♂️
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Yes, that would be better not to aggravate him more than is needed.
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I really do not wish to feel him punching me. My body has enough problems at the moment. I think the best approach would be to try and make friends with him. Get him to trust me if possible so we might have a chance to try and escape.🤔🕵️♂️
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Good thinking 🤔 it might work if he’s at all rational… you can also hope that his helpers are tired if him and might just help you..🙄🙄
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Yes, that is also a possibility. I am sure he does not treat his men the best so they might be willing to help us escape.🤔🕵️♂️
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It might be worth a try if things aren’t going well.🤔🙄
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Yes indeed, I will try what it takes to get us out of here.🤔🕵️♂️
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Monday should be a good chapter… I wonder if you will get to meet this mysterious M on Monday?🤔🤔
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Hard to say what might happen in the next chapter. It might be about the team and Mandar. Or it might be about Baldwin and Rock. Or it might be about him and him. Or it might be about us and M. Or maybe even her and him. Hmm, lots of choices ahead.🤔🕵️♂️
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You are so…. not nice🤨🤨🤨😜😜
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Just trying to help out with some choices to think about over the weekend.🙄 Or I might be nice and toss in another chapter tomorrow.🤔🕵️♂️
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Say… now that I like!😉😁 That would be awesome!!😊
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Really? I will try to remember that. But Saturday is a busy day though, so it might not happen until Sunday.🤔🕵️♂️
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That’s still good by me!😉
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Good, then maybe we can find out what this M has got planned. Unless his plans are not nice, then maybe we will stay with our team looking for clues on how to find us.🤔🕵️♂️
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I have a feeling you’ll be sticking with your team…🙄
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I wish I was sticking with them instead of being in this dark hole in the ground. Now wouldn’t that be something if we were under the hotel?🤔🕵️♂️
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Ooooo…. that would be a twist in story now wouldn’t it??🤔🤔🤔
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I thought so too, I did I did. We won’t know until we know though!🤔🕵️♂️
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Okay… I guess I’ll need to wait and read!!🤔🤔
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How long will you be able to hold out in that damp place ? 🤔🥺 …a small mistake can end up in a lot of headaches for you all ! 🕵️♂️😼😼😼👩🦰👩👩😯❗️
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Yes, hopefully we will not be in this place for long. But who knows what this M has in store for us. He might just leave us here. Hopefully Mandar can throw some light on who M is and what he is like or what he might want. We shall see.🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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Who was Craig and why was he answering the phone for Mandar? Does he have a connection to M? Where is Steve and the others? Somewhere dark and damp! Too many questions to answer. M does have a temper and doesn’t pay close attention to details as he left Storm’s collar, earlier. Hopefully, there will be some answers.
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Craig appeared to be a new man working for Mandar, but he didn’t pay attention to the important list he was supposed to know. Fortunately Bob came along when he did, so hopefully things will get straightened out quickly. Yes, M did leave that important collar behind, his first mistake. I am sure he will make more mistakes. I would like to know where we are, it would be interesting if we were somewhere beneath that hotel! Is he just playing with us? But why would he do that?🤔👩😾😾😾🕵️♂️
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You definitely need more information. Hopefully the team will check the tunnel, the old jail, and the chateau. There are always clues that the team must have eyes to see.
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Yes indeed! And I think they might need some help with this one so they can understand the clues that are left behind. For that they will need…
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Guess I will have to wait for a chapter yet to come, to see what they need. They definitely need to be very detail oriented and to pay attention to the smallest clue.
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Yes indeed, and more to be found out in today’s chapter, but not sure if it will help just yet.🤔🕵️♂️
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