The Investigators, Inc. The Stone House Mystery. Chapter 1. Emberlyn.

I am still on recovery because of that hit on the head which was a bit more serious than I thought. Good thing Kat was able to help with that, Dr. Jorgenson said it should have killed me. That is twice that Kat has kept me alive. Today Sky and some of the girls went to the city for some time away shopping, one of their favorite pastimes, though I don’t understand why. Shopping is definitely not a favorite activity of mine, that is for sure.

Jennifer went along too as a bodyguard for Sky, so I have my regular bodyguards today. Beryan was giving me a massage when there was a knock at the door. It was Cinnamon and she wanted to talk about something private. I remembered that Jennifer had told me she thought Cinnamon was having a problem of some kind. So, I told everyone to leave, my 4 bodyguards would have to position themselves in the hall for now.

Cinnamon told me she had a friend in England, Emberlyn, and she was having some trouble right now. She had been married for 3 years but a month ago her husband drowned in a stream that runs through their property. The neighbors have been helping her with different things around her place since that time. But, the husband is the one that comes mostly and he has been getting too friendly. She has told him to stop but he doesn’t and finally she told him not to come over anymore, but he still does.

His wife is no help and she thinks that Emberlyn is the problem. Cinnamon would like some time off to visit with Emberlyn for a while and help her out. Then she mentioned something else that was interesting. “About 2 years ago this neighbor, George, tried to buy the house and property from Emberlyn and her husband,” said Cinnamon, “but they liked it there and did not want to sell.

He kept after them, though, bringing up the subject about every 2 months and for the past 6 months he kept asking to buy the place nearly every week or so. That’s when Thomas (Emberlyn’s husband) got angry with George and told him not to bring up the subject again. It was 8 days later when George found Thomas’s body in the stream and called the police.” “Is this stream on the neighbor’s property?” I asked. “Nope, only on Emberlyn’s property, and it’s quite a distance from the property line too,” replied Cinnamon.

“So, why was George by the stream?” I asked. “Apparently he was just out for a stroll since it was a nice day,” she said, “and accidentally wandered onto their property. Thomas had been dead about 3 hours when George found him.” “That is a bit too coincidental for me,” I said, “how big is this stream?” “About 3 feet wide with about 6 inches of water in it,” she replied, “it looked like he slid into the stream, fell and hit his head on a rock and landing face down in the water.”

“Didn’t the police think it was a bit coincidental that it should happen like that?” I asked again. “Seems they were satisfied that it was an accident,” she said, “George’s wife said he had been at home until about 15 minutes before he found Thomas’s body.” “Someone didn’t investigate things too well,” I said, “did the police know about George trying to buy the property, or about the argument?”

“The police never asked about the relationship between the neighbors,” she said, “and they didn’t know about the offers for buying the property I guess. The police ruled it an accident and the case was closed.” I called Kat to my bedroom to join our talk and explained it all to her. She agreed that it all seemed too coincidental. I asked Cinnamon to call her friend and ask if she can bring 5 friends with her. She did so and her friend said there would be no problem, she had six bedrooms in the house.

I told Kat to pick out four more Wildcats and get going. “I really think that Emberlyn is in danger right now,” I said, “so keep an eye on her at all times.” Kat chose Tracy, Kera, Aoife and Cassie to go along and they decided on using their motorcycles this time. When they arrived the next day no one answered their knocking at the door. Then they heard a scream from the back and ran around the house. “You can’t have my house!” screamed Emberlyn while George was holding both her arms tightly.

Cinnamon ran onto the deck and yelled at George to let go. He threw Emberlyn onto a chair and turned to Cinnamon who slapped him nice and hard. He didn’t flinch and just punched Cinnamon in the stomach, causing her to fall. “Hey mister!” yelled Kat, “No one hits one of my Wildcats and gets away with it!” She then kicked him in the stomach and he bent over and she then gave him a hard back handed slap, knocking him down.

Kat waited for the man to get up and he then took a swing at her but before his fist hit her his whole arm was suddenly paralyzed and would not move. Kat then kicked him once more, knocking him down again. He just lay there for a while. Finally he got up again and Kat nodded to Cinnamon who then kicked George one more time and he fell to his knees. Kat then told him to go back home and not come back again.

“You’re going to regret this lady,” he said, “and you can’t stop me from coming back, Emberlyn needs me for doing work around this place.” “Not any more, she has us now,” said Kat, “so stay at home where you belong.” He turned and looked at Emberlyn with anger and hatred, but he left, walking down the road to his house. Tracy and Kera watched to make sure he went back home. He was likely too sore to do anything else anyway. “Sorry you had such a bad welcome,” apologized Emberlyn, “he has really gotten scary.”

“Hey, you’re shaking,” said Cinnamon, “we’re here to help you now, so it will be okay.” They all went inside to have some tea and talk things over. It was a big house on the outside, but much smaller inside. Emberlyn said they had been slowly renovating the old house but were only half done. “Guess it will never get finished now,” she said, “I am tempted to sell it to George, just so I can get away from him. I’m not really much of a fighter like you girls, that was quite impressive.”

“Guys like him are not a problem,” said Kat, “they like to act tough when the other person can’t fight back.” “I hope he didn’t hurt you too much with that punch, Cinnamon,” Emberlyn said, looking a bit worried. “It hurt, but I’ll get over it,” she answered smiling. “Why does he want to buy this place, is there something special about it?” asked Kat.

“No idea why he wants it, except he said that he has always wanted a stone house,” said Emberlyn, “their house is modern. But he only wants to pay one third of what we paid and we have put a lot of money into the house since we bought it. I really don’t know what to do…”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.