The Investigators, Inc. The Stone House Mystery. Chapter 9. Liza.

Hoffman’s men, there were 3 in the office with us, had just dropped their guns, being too hot for them to handle thanks to Jennifer. “Their guns will remain hot until after we leave,” I told Hoffman, “and that includes the gun in your desk drawer that you are trying to get, I would suggest you do not.” “Mind if I check?” he asked sarcastically. “It’s your fingers,” said Jennifer. Hoffman tried to pick up his gun, very carefully, and still burned his fingers.

“Good trick,” he said. “I don’t do tricks Mr. Hoffman,” said Jennifer, “I give warnings, or sometimes just have fun with people who want to try and hurt us.” “I could kill you with my bare hands,” said the doorman. “You would have to see me first,” she said. “Hey, where did she go?” he growled. Hoffman looked at him, then at Jennifer. The other two did the same. “She is still sitting on the chair beside me,” I said. “She is not!” he yelled, “Where is she?”

“She is on the chair Wade,” said Hoffman. “Then how come I can’t see her?” he asked. Jennifer then made herself visible to him again. “Because I did not want you to see me,” she said, “I can do many things you humans can’t do, because I am a ghost.” “I don’t believe this!” said the doorman, “What do you think this is, a circus? Boss, let me kill her right now!” “I could kill you just by pointing my finger at you,” said Jennifer, “just as easily as showing you my cat.”

She then reached onto her shoulder and as she brought her hands down, Jewel was there. “She is very real too,” said Jennifer, “would you like to touch her Mr. Hoffman?” She then walked over to his desk and he actually petted Jewel and she purred. Jennifer then picked her up and dropped her over the floor, but Jewel immediately disappeared. “But if you want to kill me, pick up your gun and shoot me,” she said, “it’s cold again now and I dare you to try shooting me.”

“By the way, only his gun is cold,” I said. He carefully bent down to pick it up and discovered it was indeed cold so he quickly shot three times. “Ooh, he got me!” she said, putting on quite an act. “Nice, pretty bullets,” she then said, and put them on Hoffman’s desk. “She caught those bullets,” said one of the others, “I actually saw her do it.” “You can’t kill a ghost,” she said, “I am already dead and you can’t kill someone who is already dead.”

Then the doorman’s gun returned to being hot, he yelled, and dropped his gun again. He got angry and started toward Jennifer. “Now, you die!” she said, pointing her finger at him. He fell to his knees, then flat on his face. “Check him,” said Hoffman. A man named Weller was closest, so he checked the doorman. “Cold as a rock,” he told Hoffman. “I did give him enough warnings,” said Jennifer as she sat down beside me again. “Okay, Hoffman, fun time is over,” I said, “this club of yours is surrounded by my people.

I just need to give the word and they will destroy this place and a lot of your customers will get hurt, or perhaps even killed. Your men definitely would get killed, though I might let you live. But as I said before, I have no quarrel with you right now, I just want you to stay out of my way and don’t help Ann.” “She owes me a lot of money,” he said, “when smaller groups want my backing they need to pay for it, on a monthly basis.

She is behind about a year, but she assures me that soon the money will be there once it is retrieved from a house next door to her. I take it the house belongs to your friend, correct?” “It did,” I said, “but I bought the house from her a couple days ago, so Ann has no way of retrieving the money now. Apparently it is quite a substantial amount, hidden somewhere in the house. My people have not found it yet, but they will.”

“Steve, there are a couple of gentlemen here that want to take us somewhere,” said Vlora, “and we told them we don’t wish to go anywhere. But they seem very insistent. Shall we be a bit more bold in our reply?” “One minute Vlora,” I said and looked at Hoffman, “would you care to remove your men Hoffman?” “Leave them alone Boris,” he said and the two men left the girls right away. “Thank you Hoffman,” I said, “now, we shall leave and let you enjoy your evening.” We then got up and left, joining the girls in the main room.

While we had been visiting Hoffman, the young lady that had seated us at a table when we came in, brought the girls order, along with a note. It was written in French, which Nakedra knows fluently. It was a plea for help, asking if we would take her away to safety. When we rejoined the girls the waitress arrived and Nakedra said we would take her with us and asked if she needed to pick up anything. She had her purse and said that was the only important thing she needed.

So we went to the door and the two doormen told the waitress she can’t leave, and went to grab her. But both men became paralyzed, totally unable to move. “Men are so stubborn,” said Jennifer, shaking her head. As we got outside she added, “that includes you, Steve.” Our car was waiting for us at the door and we all got in and drove away, followed by numerous motorcycles. “He did have a lot of people with him,” said Weller, as he watched the security cameras, “and they took Liza with them.”

“She finally got away,” said Hoffman, “she certainly tried enough times. But she knows nothing about our organization that can hurt us, so I will let her go this time.” I think Hoffman meant to say that he was too scared to chase after her since she was with us. “That guy certainly has a big limo,” said Weller, “I wonder who he is, really? He says the Wildcats are his girls, but when I look them up there is no mention of their boss being a man, it only mentions a woman named Kat.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want his association with those Wildcats to be known,” said Hoffman, “depending who he is, it could hurt his reputation, or his business. Keep looking for him.” “Shall do boss,” said Weller. What wasn’t mentioned earlier is that Jennifer and I had worn disguises so our faces would not be easily recognized. And, of course, Vlora and Nakedra are not on our team and can’t be easily traced, Mandar made sure of that. Now it is time to let Ann know that she made a big mistake killing two of our team members…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.