The Investigators, Inc. The Stone House Mystery. Chapter 11. Where is the Money?

Well, Matt and his Knight Riders had stopped in to visit Wicks at his pub but Wicks was not really very hospitable at first and was unwilling to even talk with Matt. He did eventually come out, with Cliff, to talk once Matt mentioned Ann Graham. Then Matt told him about their connection to Kat and her Wildcats letting Wicks know he was not too happy with what Ann did. So, then he called his Riders into the pub and they began to smash everything in sight.

They were only about half done when Matt stopped them so that customers could leave. Now Matt pointed his gun at Wicks. “Perhaps you are more willing to talk with me now,” said Matt, “and maybe you can tell me more about Ann Graham. Who is she? What is her strength, apart from Karl Hoffman? By the way, if you are thinking about getting help from Hoffman, me and my boys could take him and his organization apart very easily. I have a lot more muscle than what you are seeing here today.”

Then he took out a photo and dropped it in front of Wicks. “Have you seen him before?” asked Matt. “Nope, never,” he said, and he handed the photo to Cliff. “Yeah, I have seen him,” said Cliff, “he bought the stone house next to me. Said he was a PI, but I don’t believe him, he drove a huge limousine, had some tough guy for his driver. I figured he was from Canada because of his accent.” Matt just smiled. “Being a PI is one of his, um, occupations,” said Matt, “amazing what a man can learn that way working for people. He is also my boss.”

That got Wicks and Cliff suddenly very nervous since they realized they were up against a big organization. He then called Mac over. “Ever see this guy before?” asked Matt. “Yeah, your boss’s driver,” said Cliff, “nice way you got things set up.” “Now, back to Ann,” said Matt, “aside from my first two questions, what does she want?” “She was born here, right in this town,” said Wicks, “but her parents moved to Canada when she was a kid.

She hooked up with a gang over there in Quebec, then she came here to start a gang connected with that Canadian gang. But they wanted too much money and too much control. So when the police busted her gang she used the opportunity to pull away from that Canadian outfit and get Hoffman to back her. Now she has about 20 men working for her, including me, Cliff and Al here. But we’re fed up with her, she makes too many stupid decisions and we all end up paying, like killing one of them Wildcats.”

“She also killed one of my boys,” said Matt, “a new recruit, which she and her gang will pay for, in blood.” Now Wicks, Cliff and Al were very nervous and not sure what to do or say. “Uh, you said your boss bought that stone house,” said Wicks. “Actually it was Cliff that said that,” Matt reminded him. “Oh, yeah, anyway, there is a fortune hidden away somewhere in that house,” said Wicks, “Cliff here hid it there himself.” “If that is true, then why haven’t you retrieved it yet Cliff?” asked Matt, “You have been out of prison long enough to get it.”

“Yeah, well, Ann got herself a boyfriend while I was in prison,” he said, “that was Emberlyn’s husband Thomas. He found the money and hid it again in a different spot for safekeeping. But he wouldn’t tell Ann where he hid it and she finally got so angry with him that she came up behind him one day while he was walking by the stream and she hit him with a shovel and he fell in the stream, hit his head on a rock and landed face down in the water and drowned.

I told her that was stupid, now we have no idea where he hid the loot. Emberlyn is part of the gang too but when Ann pressured her to let us look in the house, she refused and called her old friend Cinnamon, who apparently is a Wildcat member and that brought the Wildcats into the picture. Ann just doesn’t think, she does things on impulse. But she is a tough one, mean, with no conscience whatever. She likes to do her own killing, gets a thrill out of it she says.” “I think you boys need to get rid of her,” said Matt.

“Yeah, but now she has Hoffman on her side and he apparently likes the way she works,” said Wicks, “he is much the same as Ann, he cares about nothing and nobody but himself and money. If we try to touch Ann, he will come in and get rid of us all.” “You guys are nothing but cowards,” said Matt, “where can I find her?” “Tell him Cliff,” said Wicks. “She runs the pub on the other side of town,” he said, “The Red Raven”. “I would suggest, for your own health, that you do not let her know we are coming,” said Matt, “you won’t like what the rest of my boys will do to you if she is warned.

Oh, you might want to close the pub for a few minutes until we return.” Matt left Aari, John and Willie behind to watch things while they were gone. Cliff didn’t seem to be very scared now, but Wicks and Al were certainly sweating. Matt told Aari to watch Cliff especially. Matt did notice that Cliff left his phone on the whole time they were talking, though he didn’t do much with it. But he may have been recording their conversation and sent it to Ann, therefore they would need to be careful as they could be walking into a trap. Or, Ann may have escaped already.

On their way over to the Red Raven Matt called Kat and told her to be on the watch for Ann’s return to the house, and if she does, it’s time to eliminate her. He also told her about Emberlyn being part of Ann’s gang too. Emberlyn has been deceiving us all along and that is going to hurt Cinnamon when she finds out. Emberlyn is really responsible for the death’s of two of our members and the wounding of two others.

Now, who killed Sheila? I thought it was maybe Ann or Cliff, now I’m not so sure. Perhaps it was Thomas and Emberlyn? But why would they want to kill her? She was part of the same gang and Cliff’s girlfriend. It seems to me it would be dangerous to kill her, unless Ann told them to get rid of her before Cliff got out of prison. Still too many questions. I wonder what Matt and the Knight Riders will find at the Red Raven…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.