The Investigators, Inc. The Stone House Mystery. Chapter 8. Karl Hoffman.

Well, we had found Sheila’s body, the previous girlfriend of Cliff that suddenly disappeared after he was released from prison a year ago. She was definitely murdered, having been shot in the head. Perhaps Thomas found out about this, or found her body in his shed and decided to confront Cliff about it. That would lead to his murder for sure. If he had found out, he should have gone to the police, not to someone he thought had committed the murder.

That is just simply dangerous and foolish for someone to do. Today several of us are sitting in the library and I’m enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee, Sky is sitting beside me, still reading her book. Hmm, it must be quite interesting, this is the third day she has been reading it. Jennifer is sitting on the other end of the couch, also drinking coffee and talking to Galyna who is sitting on a chair next to her. I had talked with Aari about this Karl Hoffman and he did know him and was able to tell me quite a bit about the man.

It is always good to know your enemy. “Hmm, you know, I was thinking,” I said to Sky, and that was as far as I got. “No,” she said. I looked at her. She didn’t even look up from her book when she said that. “Anyway,” I began… “No!” she said more emphatically, still reading. I look at her again. “You didn’t give me a chance to say anything,” I said to her. “Because I knew what you were going to say,” she replied, “and the answer is still no.”

“Oh, but what if I was going to say something different,” I said, “maybe I was going to say, ‘I love you.” She looks up from her book. “I love you too,” she said, “and the answer is still no.” She went back to reading. “Well, at least you looked at me that time,” I said. She kept reading. Sigh. “Jennifer, come closer for a minute please,” I said nicely. She came over. “I have been thinking,” I began… “No,” she said, and smiled. “You don’t know what I was going to say,” I told her.

“Yes, I do,” she said, still smiling. Right then Dawn came into the library and I asked her to sit down. Jennifer went back to talking with Galyna and Dawn sat beside me. “I have been thinking,” I began… “Ooo, sounds interesting,” she said, “I’ll come for sure!” “Great!” I said, then I called Charlotte to come in. She arrived quickly. “I need two of your girls,” I told her, “two that are brave, can act cool under pressure, excellent with a gun and our new special weapon and excellent fighters.”

“You described all of us Steve,” she said, “this is how we have been trained.” “They also need to dress a certain way,” I said. “To attract the eyes of men that might be in the room,” she said, “correct?” “Yes, that is correct,” I said, “they must be told that coming back might not be possible.” “I understand, Steve,” she said. “And it is strictly volunteer, no orders,” I added. “When?” she asked. “We will leave after lunch,” I said. Off she went to talk with her girls. Sky looked at me.

“You don’t listen very well,” she said, frowning, “you are still in recovery, only a vote of all team leaders can restore you to active duty.” I showed her on my phone the vote results from the team leaders voting this morning. “It is just for temporary restoration of active duty to visit Karl Hoffman.” “Temporary is right,” she said, “since you won’t be coming back.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said. “I hope Jennifer is going with you,” she said. “Jennifer said no, so I am taking this beautiful lady,” I said, pointing to Dawn.

Sky looks. “Those team leaders should be given demerits for voting you back in,” said Sky, shaking her head. “Did you hear that D…” I began to say. Jennifer was now sitting beside me. “What happened to Dawn?” I asked. “She changed her mind,” said Jennifer, “so I figured since you were going anyway, I would come along and look after you, for Sky’s sake.” “Oh, thank you,” I said. We arrived by evening and went to Hoffman’s favorite club, which he owned.

Vlora and Nakedra, from Charlotte’s team joined us on this trip. Entering the club we had to pass through their security screening and give up our guns. The girls had their purses searched as well. I told the men I wished to speak with Karl Hoffman. “He’s busy tonight,” said one man, “you can make an appointment for next week.” “He will want to see me tonight,” I said, “next week will be too late… for him.” We then went to sit down. A beautiful young lady led us to a table.

“I don’t know him,” said Hoffman, “but he’s brave, so I will talk with him for a few minutes.” “Mr. Hoffman will talk with you now, but just for a few minutes,” said the guard. We all stood up. “No, not the ladies, just you,” said the guard. Jennifer dropped something and bent over to pick it up and disappeared. She then followed us down the hall to Hoffman’s office, which was very large and everything was very expensive looking. Hoffman told me to sit down.

Then there was a knock at the door. One of the men opened the door, but no one was there. “Thought I heard someone knock,” he said, “but no one is there.” He stood in front of the door. Again there was a knock, louder this time so we all heard it. The man opened the door quickly and Jennifer was standing there. She tried to come in. “No ladies, you were told that,” he said. She just pushed him aside. “That was very rude to close the door in my face,” she said, then she turned to Hoffman, “I go where my husband goes.”

She sat on a chair next to me. The doorman was about to try removing Jennifer, but Hoffman waved him off. “You know a woman named Ann Graham,” I began, “she has a small gang of, for lack of a better word, misfits, in England. Apparently she claims to have you for a backer. Is that true?” “Might be,” he said, “and what is that to you?” “Ann, or possibly her boyfriend Cliff, have been causing problems for a friend,” I said, “her name is Emberlyn and she lives next door to Ann and Cliff.

They already killed Emberlyn’s husband Thomas and when I sent some of my girls out there, Ann killed one of them. I do not like when someone kills or even hurts one of my girls. Ann also wounded another of my girls. You might be familiar with them, they are called The Wildcats. If not, you can easily look them up.” “I know about them,” said Hoffman, “and what do you want me to do about this?”

“Nothing,” I said, “just stay out out of this, it doesn’t concern you and I have no quarrel with you right now.” “You know, I could just keep you here and have my men take you out for a drive,” said Hoffman, and his men pulled out their guns. “Silly men,” said Jennifer, “your guns are too hot to hold onto.” They suddenly dropped their guns saying they were hot as fire…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.