The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Cassie’s Friend. Chapter 3. Hanging.

Tucker waited a while after Kat and the Wildcats left and then called two of his men into his office. He also called another man in and told him to check on these ‘Wildcats’ and find out everything there is to know about them. He sat down right away at his laptop and began to look them up. Then Tucker turned to the other two men. “Joseph, you and Bender take this money to the bank right away,” said Tucker, “I do not want it around here tonight, I just don’t trust that woman.”

“Okay, Mr. Tucker,” said Joseph, “we should have just enough time to get there.” However, before they had a chance to leave, Tucker got a call from upstairs. “There is a man here to see you Mr. Tucker,” said Weller, “he said you will want to talk with him. There are 2 men and two women with him, plus a cat.” “A cat?” asked Tucker, “Did you tell him no animals are allowed in here?” “Um, yes, Mr. Tucker,” said Weller, “but he was quite insistent.” “Okay, I will be right up,” said Tucker, then turning to Joseph, “put the money in the safe for tonight, I do not want any problems with that. And I want 6 guards on that tonight.”

“Shall do, Mr. Tucker,” said Joseph. Tucker then went upstairs and sat down with the man and his cat. Tucker had Weller sit down with them. The man’s friends sat at the table beside them. “What can I do for you?” asked Tucker, rather annoyed. “My name is Mandar,” he replied, “I noticed that the Wildcats left here a short time ago, and that interested me. They are a rather new motorcycle gang, as they like to call themselves, and they have become quite annoying, to me and others as well.

They are from France, where I do considerable business. I am from Britain and was flying over to Miami for business reasons when I heard that the Wildcats were in this area, which I found rather odd, so I had to come and see what they were up to in this area. They normally only go where there is money to be made and that just does not seem likely here.” Tucker chuckled. “Well, this time they are giving away money,” he said, “they decided to pay the debt of someone who had borrowed a considerable sum from me over the last few years. I was very happy to relieve them of their money, but why they did it I have no idea.”

“That is very strange indeed,” said Mandar, “but do not underestimate those women, they are all highly trained. If they are willing to give away a lot of money, especially if it was more than $50,000, then I would be willing to bet it was stolen money. Although, to my knowledge, they have never stolen large sums of money. But, smaller sums can add up quite quickly.” “Tim,” said Tucker, “get the accountant to check that money and see if it is marked. They better not have made a fool of me, they will regret it if they have.”

“As I mentioned before,” said Mandar, “do not underestimate these women, they can be quite ruthless. The leader, a woman named Kat, hates men and she loves to make fools of them.” “And they will definitely regret it,” said Tucker. “I am still puzzled as to why they would even get involved in something like this,” said Mandar, “that makes me very curious indeed. There must be money to be made, or they would not be here. It must have something to do with the woman they are helping, or pretending to help. But then, it could just be she is a friend of Kat, which might make more sense.

Still, she made me lose a great deal of money a while back by scaring off a potential customer of mine and this might be a good time for me to even that score, when she is least expecting it.” “Be my guest,” said Tucker, “she is no friend of mine.” “Then I shall bid you good night,” said Mandar, “and perhaps I can do you a favor in getting rid of that annoying woman.” Mandar and his friends then left. “What do you think Mr. Tucker?” asked Weller. “I think we will just sit back and see what happens to those Wildcats,” laughed Tucker. Meanwhile, back at the house.

“I hope this works,” said Sunrise, “but I doubt Tucker will stop coming after me. And that was a lot of money you gave away, how can I repay you?” “You do not need to repay us,” said Kat, “now, I think it is time we all got to bed.” About 2am Kari had been to the bathroom and she heard some noise downstairs. She and others were on the second floor so she went to the top of the stairs to see if she could hear who was on the main floor. She knew enough not to go down by herself, however, so she just stood there listening.

Back home at the chateau Jennifer was catching up on some reading before bringing Sky out for her daily outdoors time. She and 3 others stay with her while she is outside because she has gotten more violent in recent days. Jennifer is the only one who can handle Sky in a fight by herself when Kat is away. Pacca and Cheryl ended up in the clinic when Sky attacked them just after the Wildcats left. Suddenly Jennifer sat up and she tried to send a message to Kat, but Kat was asleep, so she sent a message to Midnight.

Eeek! And Midnight jumped on Kat to wake her up. Meeow!=Thought ghosts not need to sleep! Get up, big trouble downstairs! Kat, Tracy and Kera were up quickly and headed downstairs. Right at the bottom of the stairs, hanging from a beam, was Kari. Kat jumped and with one slice of her knife she cut the rope and Kari fell into the arms of the other two girls. By this time all the other girls were gathered around and Samantha (a nurse on loan from Mandar) helped with Kari.

She obviously had not been hanging for too long which was a good thing, so she will be okay. “Good thing you woke me up Midnight,” said Kat. Meeow.=It not me, human ghost Jennifer call, tell me to wake you because danger near. “Wow, you must have been really sleeping Kat,” said Tracy. “Hmm, yes, it would seem so,” said Kat, “I will have to be more careful about that. This means we have someone else living in this old house, or at least someone else knows how to get in here whenever they want.” “That is a very scary thought,” said Sunrise, obviously very shaken by what happened.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town. “This is an easy safe,” said Mac, “it will be open quick.” He was right, there was not even an alarm with it. “Hey Matt, look at this,” said Mac as he handed some papers to him. “Take some pics Alfred,” said Matt and Alfred did so right away. Then they returned the papers to the safe and left. Weller arrived first in the morning and found all six guards sleeping peacefully. The safe was closed and locked, but there was a note taped to the door…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.