The Investigators, Inc. The Stone House Mystery. Chapter 7. Carver is Back.

Lester was a very surprised man when he saw Carver standing in front of him. When Carver joined our team after years as a hit man, we then faked his death and gave him a whole new identity. That way criminal organizations that had used his services previously would not go hunting for him. Some well known criminal organizations were represented at his ‘funeral’. We did nothing about them since we needed them to prove Carver’s death.

“I am dead Lester,” said Mac, “I have come back as a ghost now, looking for some of my old ‘friends’. “Ha! I don’t believe in ghosts!” sneered Lester, and he stood up. “Sit down, Lester, “and let’s have us a little talk,” said Mac. He did so and Mac told him it would be unhealthy to work for Ann, Cliff or anyone else from her little gang. “Ha! Shows you don’t know much Carver,” snorted Lester, “she’s part of Karl Hoffman’s outfit now and you would be smart to stay away from Ann, she’s cold as a rock, that one.”

Mac was standing close to Lester but turned his back for just a moment. That is what Lester was waiting for and he grabbed a knife hidden under the seat of his chair and immediately he went for Mac. But, Mac turned right then and used his knife first. Lester fell to the floor, dead. “In our business Lester, you need to have a good memory,” said Mac. He remembered that Lester always kept a knife handy under chairs in the rooms where he stayed. Mac then quickly left the room and no one saw him come or go.

For some reason the security cameras were not working at that time. Kat has invented a little gadget that will prevent security cameras from working, and Mac was the first to try it out, except for our home experiments. Mac relayed the information about Karl Hoffman, a Swiss crime boss now living and operating from Germany. “Hmm, this is making things a bit more complicated,” I said to Sky. “Maybe you should send the Wildcats to have a talk with him,” she replied, while reading a book, “then he may not think it worthwhile to keep up his acquaintance with Ann.”

“That would be good, but I want them to stay with Emberlyn,” I said, “unless Kristina’s team takes over that role, except for Cinnamon. However, that would leave Kat with 1 less Wildcat.” “Unless you send some of our team along,” added Sky, still reading her book, “then she would have more than normal.” “Hmm, that might work,” I said, “I will talk with Aari first, he likely knows this Karl Hoffman.” Meanwhile, back in England with Mac. Suddenly the old fashioned blind went slapping to the top of the window! A man named Crowley woke up quickly and fumbled around under his pillow.

“Looking for your gun Crowley?” asked that deep voice, “It’s over on the dresser. You should be ashamed of yourself Crowley, using such an old trick.” “It works, usually,” said Crowley, “who you be?” “A man that can use a knife with the skill of a surgeon,” said the deep voice. “Look, I don’t like games,” he growled, “just give me your name!” But he suddenly stopped talking as his eyes finally got accustomed to the brightness of the sunshine in his bedroom, and he looked at Mac.

“Carver!” he exclaimed, “I was told you were dead!” “You should never believe rumors Crowley,” said Mac, “it is just not healthy. Neither is staying in bed until noon.” “Noon!” said Crowley, “That’s midnight for me.” Unfortunately, Crowley was uncooperative, just like Lester. He would later be found dead, lying on his bed. Now we head back to Cliff who is still at his favorite pub in town.

“Who’s your friend in the van?” asked the owner, Ralph. “Probably one of those women who call themselves Wildcats,” he replied, “she has a lot to learn about following someone though, I had her picked out right away.” “Unless she wants you to know she’s watching you,” said Ralph. He told one of his workers to look up the Wildcats.

“They’re a tough group of women, Ralph,” said the man, “a gang that can be found here in England, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Poland and even in the USA. A good bunch to stay away from, seems to me.” “Why are they following you Cliff?” asked Ralph. So Cliff explained to him what has been going on. “That idiot, Ann, she just had to go and kill one of them!” exclaimed Ralph, “Just the kind of attention we don’t want! Wendel, go get Lester and Crowley for me, and tell them his is rush!”

“Right away Ralph,” said Wendel, and off he went, not knowing what he was about to find. A short while later Wendel returned, running into the pub. “You’re not going to like this Ralph,” said Wendel, “both Lester and Crowley are dead, stabbed the same way.” “That’s definitely a hit,” said Ralph, “think those Wildcats could do it?”

“Nah,” said Cliff, “but their leader is some rich guy, from Canada I would say, by his accent.” “Did you ever stop to think it could be that old gang you were associated with before?” asked Ralph. “No, never did, but the leader of that gang is a woman,” said Cliff. “You are behind times Cliff,” said Wendel, “she got knocked off and a man now runs the operation.” “Oh, that’s just great,” said Cliff, “and they are probably not too happy that Ann went to someone else.”

Meanwhile, back to the stone house. Rusty and Chipper were sniffing around part of the stone house in the area that wasn’t renovated, as were Krystal and Jasmine, the other two cats on the Wildcats team. Well, Rascal was also on that team, but he is helping to look for a grave of the woman who lived next door, Sheila. Rascal, Aasta, Ginnifer, Amber and Aoife, were walking around by one of the sheds further back from the house.

Suddenly Rascal was scratching at the door of the shed, so Aasta opened it for him. Right in the center of the shed was a depression in the dirt floor. Rascal was sniffing around. Meowrrr!= Me smell human people in ground! The girls took turns digging and sure enough, they found the remains of Sheila. But can we prove that Ann, or Cliff, killed her? We will certainly try. She had been shot in the head at close range…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.