The Investigators, Inc. The Black House Mystery. Chapter 9. Traps Are Set.

I wondered why Katresa did not tell us about the relationship with her parents and Liana. Suzette said that Cricket didn’t know that her mom and Liana were sisters. Her mom kept that a real secret for some reason. But Suzette found out one day when she was cleaning up some things on Sebastien’s laptop, she was his secretary, sort of, plus she did a lot of other things in the gang. Suzette didn’t know how Cricket would handle that news, so she never told her.

That was probably a good thing, Cricket, I mean Katresa, didn’t need anymore stress to deal with. I’m sure I could tell these girls that Cricket is still alive, but it might still be better to wait until we are on the jet heading home. I do trust the girls though. If any of them were still working for Sebastien, they would have turned in the rest of the girls by now. I’m quite sure he would like to get his hands on all of them since they all betrayed him.

They are actually very brave girls, living on the street or abandoned houses, with Sebastien chasing after them. They could never really relax. Yet, they are full of life, joke around and always seem to be smiling, just like Katresa when we found her. Well, our trap is set, now we just wait for Katresa’s parents to come home.

Amerie and Suzette have no family at all, Chloe, Caleigh and Colette have family, but because of being in Sebastien’s gang and each have spent some time in jail, their families will have nothing to do with them. They have tried several times to get some help from their families, even just getting a little food, but each time they are told to go steal it, since that is what they are good at doing. So, they finally gave up and started stealing or digging through dumpsters at grocery stores where they can find a lot of vegetables and bread.

They even found a birthday cake for Amerie’s birthday last week. Then they stole some balloons and decorations from a dollar store not far away. The way they were all talking, it was obvious they had a lot of fun. “Here they come now,” said Caleigh. Meanwhile, back at the black house, the guys had set their own trap for the intruders living in that secret room. Matt figured there must be a different way into that room, otherwise they would hear them walking through the house and going into the basement.

It took a little while, but Rascal finally found it. There was a small metal handle on the foundation outside that room and when pulled part of the wall would lift up making an easy, though narrow, way to get into the room. It fit so well with a rather zig zag cut with the siding, that it was nearly impossible to tell that this opening was there. Once they found this, they could easily set their trap, which they did. Perhaps a similar, and simple, system was used to hide that upstairs window.

They will check that out later, right now this is more important. They need to catch the people who are pretending to be ghosts out here in that black house. As long as people are getting into that house, it will not be safe for Theresa and Martha to live there. That evening Paul and his 9 men, who are now part of the Knight Riders, were outside standing guard. They heard what sounded like motorcycles coming down the road, but still quite far away, then the noise stopped.

Paul had informed Matt and the others so they came out too, but nothing more came of that motorcycle noise, so Matt and the others went back indoors to watch their trap. Matt was a bit concerned that the motorcycles might have been a distraction so the “ghosts” could get inside undetected. However, the trap was still set and ready. Then one of Paul’s men thought he heard something in the long grass on the other side of the road. They all got ready, but it turned out to be a dog running in the ditch.

The guys were getting a bit jumpy perhaps. Matt had thought to have half of Paul’s men and half Riders since his boys had more experience in this, but Paul said his men could handle this no problem. People shouldn’t say such things. Suddenly several men came out of that ditch across the road and started shooting. Others came from the side of the house. Matt and his Riders came out the back, splitting up to go around each side of the house.

More men attacked from the other side of the house, so Matt had the right idea. The attackers thought they only needed to deal with Paul and his men, so they were a bit surprised by Matt and his men showing up. Then the motorcycles came roaring in so the men in the ditch came out into the open thinking it was their own gang joining them. However, it was our own Wildcats and it didn’t take long to finish off the attacking gang of White Cowboys.

Things were bad on our side though, three of Paul’s men were dead and three with minor wounds. There were 8 Cowboys dead and 6 wounded. Matt had to call the police in for this one which led to a lot of questions. Matt was able to handle the questions easily enough, as was Aari and Rock. Since Kat wasn’t there, she had left Amber in charge and she likewise had no difficulty with questions.

However, the police decided to arrest the Wildcats anyway since they were wearing their jackets which had their name on them. That led the police to believe they were perhaps a rival gang and they wanted to stop a gang war from breaking out. Matt called Annelie who then told Baldwin and soon the state police were involved and they apologized to the Wildcats and released them. Well, they didn’t have a very good evening.

Their “ghosts” didn’t show up either. It is quite likely they were scared away by all the action at the house that evening. Or perhaps the White Cowboys are the “ghosts” after all. Somehow I don’t think so though, someone else is haunting that house, but who? Perhaps some relatives of the original Silverton’s? But why would they be doing it? Something is still not making sense.

Meanwhile, back to us watching Katresa’s parent’s house as they have just returned, parking in the driveway. The two of them, along with the two sons, got out of the car and went up to the door. It was rather funny watching them trying to get their house key into the lock which we had changed that afternoon. Finally the father gave keys to one of the sons and he ran around back to unlock the back door. The front door opened for them and the other three went inside.

But, the son was nowhere in sight. We could hear them calling for their son, but he didn’t answer, he was kind of tied up at the time. They soon found him in one of the bedrooms, tied and gagged and lying on the bed. The other son went to untie him but suddenly a head, from Kat, began to float around in front of the bed, causing the second son to run. “What are you doing in my house?” asked Kat, “I order you to leave now or terrible things will happen to you!”

The father pulled out a gun but immediately dropped it yelling that it was hot of fire! Then someone tapped on the mother’s shoulder. She turned and screamed! Behind her was Jennifer, without her head. “It isn’t real,” said the father and touched Jennifer’s arm. He was alarmed to find out that he could touch her and backed away. Now they didn’t know what to do…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.