For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Two more helicopters took off from the airport after my phone call. They flew low and around coming up quickly over the hill to the south of the estate. They were equipped with machine guns and they blasted away all around the perimeter of the estate. Then they each shot two small rockets into the mansion and it quickly burst into flames. The helicopters were already heading back home as that happened.
Later Mandar had called the police who in turn called the military and they all went in together to the estate. There was no identification on any of the dead soldiers that they found, which makes sense. There was not much left of the mansion, it had burned quite well. But Mandar and his men did find one unopened safe which they took back with them. In that safe Mandar found a lot of jewels, antique coins and a lot of money from different countries.
True to his word, Mandar tried diligently to find the owners of the jewels and was quite successful for most of them. But some seemed to be legitimate purchases by M, including receipts for them. Those were kept by Mandar. Well, sort of. He gave one jewel to each of our girls and he still had some left over. Well, it seems the doctor managed to get away, for now, but we will meet again. He won this round, but he will lose next time. Still, Toledo is the main person to catch.
He is behind all of this and is now responsible for the deaths of Kat, Jennifer and Chung. I will soon be chasing him, he is a very dangerous man and needs to be stopped. Baldwin is still in the hospital, but he will live. It was close for him, but I am certainly glad I did not lose him too. Calling Li Jing, who is Chung’s niece, was very hard, but I needed to do it. Chung asked me to. He also asked me to look after her for him. He was her only family.
They were both looking forward to her joining our team. She is a doctor and Saranna is really looking forward to having another doctor around. Li means, logic, reason. Jing means, quiet, still and gentle. Among other meanings too. But these certainly fit Li Jing. Today is the funeral for Chung and Li Jing is having a hard time, but all the girls are doing their best to help her. We are at the cemetery now and Chung has been buried next to Kat and Jennifer. I
had a strange feeling come over me just now, like trouble was near, but there are security people all around us here. No reason to worry about trouble right now. Mandar turned and walked away. He then saw a young woman standing between two of Baldwin’s security men, so he went over to see what was going on. “Hello my dear,” he said, “my name is Mandar, may I help you with something?”
“I, um, I, am a friend of Steve, sorta,” she said slowly and softly, “but I guess I came at a bad time. I, I, did not think I would be arrested.” “Oh my dear, you have not been arrested,” he said, “but there have been some problems lately and these men are just protecting Steve. We just buried a very good friend of his today.” “Yes, I see, um, maybe I should just leave and forget about talking to Steve,” she said, then she put her head down, then looked at Mandar, “I have nowhere else to turn, no one to help me. I have nothing left now. Oh, my name is Kathee, I should go, Steve probably does not remember me anyway.”
“Nonsense, my dear,” said Mandar, “you will wait here with me. I am sure Steve will want to speak with you.” Right then Muffin turned to watch Mandar and suddenly her ears went straight up! Then she ran as fast as she could right over to Kathee. MC and Storm saw Muffin run away and they ran after her. Kathee saw Muffin coming and she got down on her knees and Muffin jumped into her arms. “Muffin, my precious little one, you remember me!” she said excitedly.
Meow,meow!=Yep, me remember my human Kathee! “And who are your friends?” she asked. Meow,meow!=Oh, oh, this MC, he my hubby cat, we married! And this best friend, his name is Storm, he wildcat, called Margay! “Wow, such handsome male cats they are,” she said, “can I hug you two boys?” They jump into her arms together and she hugged them.
Meow.=You nice human Kathee person, me tell. Meowr.=Yep, me say same thing too. “Wow, you two can talk also,” said Kathee, “how fabulous.” Sky turned to see what happened to Muffin and saw the cats with Kathee. “I think there is someone to see you,” she said to me.
To Be Continued as “The Case of the Dead Lawyer”.
Β©2023 Steve McLeod.
Now who is Kathee?π€ I don’t recall her from any past stories….π
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Oh my, you don’t remember Kathee?? Another question is, is Kathee the trouble that I sensed? Or is it something else? Muffin seems to really like Kathee though, so how could she be trouble?π€π©πΊπΊπΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Could be the Wolf in sheep’s clothing π€ π
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Well, she doesn’t look like a wolf or a sheep. Um, but I’m not sure if I should say what she looks like, Sky is standing next to me.ππ©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Was she Kats relative?π€π€π€ Either a wolf or has trouble that will spill over to you most likely π€
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Nope, no relative of Kat. Kathee goes waaaaaaaaaaay back to the beginning, and before really, as we will soon see. Now, you might have something there, she did hint at maybe having a problem.π€π©πΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Yes, I gathered that, and in your line of work…. that translates into trouble for you!ππ
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Yeah, it usually does mean trouble. That’s why people show up looking for me.π€π©πΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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That’s the job!ππ But I’m sure you’ll have it sorted in no time. Oh course there is always Toledo to deal withπ€π€π€¨
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Well, maybe this has something to do with Toledo. Sometimes these cases overlap that way and one leads to the other with bigger trouble all the time. Or maybe it will be something minor and easy, which would be even nicer.π€π©πΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Yes, it would… but not nearly as exciting!!ππ
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Well, it would be nice to have a case where I didn’t end up in the hospital for change. People are going to start calling me Scar! Besides, even a simple, easy case can be exciting.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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Yeah… sorta like your vacations!π€π€π
But a simple case would be a bit of a relief for everyone.
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Right! Well, forget those. It has been a while since we had something simple though. Yes, it would be a relief and we wouldn’t have to use everyone on the case either.π€π©πΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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It would be good to give some a rest…. then switch it about on the next case.π€
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Yes, that is what I was thinking too. Then if we all get killed, we won’t all get killed. Or if we get in trouble they can come and rescue us.π€π©πΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Seem a sound plan! I think you should do it that way.π€π
I sure hope she isn’t going to lead you into a larger problem though…ππ
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Yeah, like maybe get me kidnapped or something. I hope she isn’t deliberately doing something to trap me though, that would not be nice at all. She was always such a nice, gentle, fun loving, gentle, warm, gentle, friendly, gentle, kind of person.π€π©πΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Well, since she is so gentle I’m sure if she did it would only be because she was forced to do it against her will.π€π€¨
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That’s very true. Or perhaps she doesn’t know it will be dangerous. Or perhaps she does know and will tell me. Or maybe she just wants to visit?π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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I guess only future chapters will tell!π€
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Of course, the name of the next case is a bit of a clue too.π€π©πΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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I’ll be certain to read it carefully for any potential cluesππ΅
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Well, did you read it? It does give one very obvious clue.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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So there is a connection between Li Jing and Kathee!π€π€π€
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Not that title, the title of the next case, at the bottom of the post.
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Oh! I didn’t notice ππ¬ brb
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Okie.
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I don’t know why I missed that!π€ͺ A dead lawyer though…. maybe that’s why I missed it?π€ They’re not my favorite people ππ
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Well, in this case of the case, the lawyer is important, to me and to Kathee. I wonder if Sky will have a problem with this one?π²π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Why would she?π€ You married Sky not Kathee and unless she is intent on hurting you or any team members I don’t think she would π€
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Oh good, very good, I feel better now. Still, she can sure slap hard.ππ©π΅οΈββοΈ
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You knew that part going in!ππ First time you met her if memory serves correctly?ππ€ But! If it’s all innocent, no problem!ππ€
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Yes, first time we met is right. Good thing she had that giggle. You have a good memory, and I’m the one that got slapped. Right, that’s what I will say to her. But will she believe me when she sees my reaction?π€π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Depends on your reaction I suppose?π€π«£π¬
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Didn’t I just say that? I have to be cool, calm and pretend I barely know her.π€π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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I think that cats already out of the bag π ππ but you could try…ππ
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Hey, that’s very good! Especially since the cats were all over Kathee!π€π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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See? I do comprehend most of what I read…π€
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That’s a good thing to know!ππ΅οΈββοΈ
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Maybe… it all depends on what what I read!ππ
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Have you figured out anything about Kathee yet?π€
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A little bit…. if I remember correctly and that is a big if…. you and her were very closeπ€ but she had to disappear to safe guard her life?
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Very good, but only 50% on that one, a yes and a no. We were good friends, we shall find out and she helped Muffin and I a lot when we were first starting The Investigators. She also put us in touch with a good lawyer, her dad. Could that be what this is about? Perhaps. Or not.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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Oh, perhaps her father is the lawyer in the title?π€π€ That is intriguing π€
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Yes, that would be. But it could be a different lawyer and she might be here because she wants to join our team.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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That could be good and or bad.π€
Depends on why she wants to join the group π€ is it because she has nowhere else to go, or does she need protection from someone or something π€
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Very true, now you’re thinking! Maybe she is looking for protection from someone and that could bring trouble our way. Or is she hiding from the police maybe?π€π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Yeas… that could be also be…π€ if I had to guess that would seem most likely. But… is it because she actually did something against the law, or is it because someone is making it look like that?
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Another good thought, you are catching on quick here and we haven’t even begun this new segment. But then, I am giving hints.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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That is true! I could never predict what your mind could come up with.ππππ
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Neither could I, it is incredibly difficult to know what I might do!π²π΅οΈββοΈ
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No truer words have been written!ππππ
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Kathee cannot be bringing good news, even if the cats like her. There is definitely danger ahead. A dead lawyer does not sound promising. Glad the estate was burned down and Mandar got the safe with the jewels and some of them returned to their owners. The evil country ties will still be hanging somewhere. But I understand you want Toledo and hopefully he will lay low on this next case but I don’t know if he will.
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Well, Kathee was part of our past, Muffin and I, that is. A nice part of our past too. Muffin really liked her and she loved Muffin. And of course Muffin tried to play matchmaker but failed. She did help me a lot though, especially when starting The Investigators, and she helped me find a good lawyer, her dad. Perhaps that is what this is about. We will find out shortly. The doctor and that country may be back again at some point and I know that Toledo will be, since I will soon be chasing after him. But first, Kathee, and that may include Toledo, one never knows.π€π©πΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Steve, I am glad you can remember all your characters in your investigatons. I have read all the stories but don’t remember them all. One thing I do know is no case is small or without danger and excitment. Toledo may be behind the scenes because he wants to draw you into the open.
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Well, sometimes these things just come out briefly as a side thought in an investigation so are easily forgotten. Kathee didn’t show up really, just in a conversation a couple times. But more will be told about her in this new story and how she helped Muffin and I. Yep, Toledo might be in the background, using others like he always does. He does want to stop me for killing Avina, even though I didn’t kill her, someone else did, but he blames me. He might be using Kathee as a trap for me.π€π©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Very true!
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More to come in chapter one!π€π©πΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Waiting!
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Ready to be read!
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Thank you!
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I am not going to do any guesses…I will wait for more info about Kathleen π΅οΈββοΈπ©π©π©βπ¦°π©βπ¦°π»πΌπΌβοΈ
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Yes, a bit early, but today’s chapter will tell much for our introduction to this story. We will find out more about Kathee today and what is going on.π€π©πΎπΎπΎπ΅οΈββοΈ
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