The Investigators, Inc. The Ghost House Case. Chapter 9. Five Brothers.

The thought occurred to me that if there is a cousin of Giselle operating the nightclub in Paris, and Trapper is also a cousin, then perhaps those 2 are more closely related to each other. I decided to meet with Trapper since he and his friends are in Paris right now in case we need them for anything. So, Jennifer and I, along with Amerie, Dawn and Melanie met with Trapper at a restaurant. He knew about the cousin, but he didn’t know he had a nightclub in Paris.

He hasn’t seen him since they were 14 and Trapper never really cared about looking for him, since they never liked each other anyway. Apparently his name is also Pierre, the two cousins were born on the same day and their parents thought it would be fun to give them the same name. The two boys didn’t seem to agree with that. The two Pierre’s, as they got older, hated each other, but also tolerated each other in ‘business’ ventures.

Trapper’s Dad was one of 5 brothers which included the two Pierre’s Dads, Giselle’s Dad and one other man that disappeared around 30 years ago and was presumed dead. Giselle’s Dad never wanted anything to do with criminal activities, but his first wife was part of the family business, though Trapper never really knew what that family business was all about. Giselle’s parents were never really married since she was still married to someone else and for some reason never wanted to get a divorce.

Trapper had heard that man is still alive, but he doesn’t know where he lives. He always hated Giselle’s Dad for stealing his wife. He apparently made a small fortune with good investments. Hmm, a thought just came to me, perhaps that man is responsible for killing Giselle’s family by hiring Beau to do it for him. We will have to check into that later today.

Annelie is back now so she will be able to take over from Penny and Brook again. I’m sure they will be happy about that, I have certainly kept them busy the last few days. “I sense trouble close by,” I said to Jennifer. “I noticed that too,” Jennifer agreed. Just then some men stood up and came over to our table. “Hi Trapper, remember me?” said the one man. “Pierre, is that really you?” asked a surprised Trapper. “Good, you do remember,” said Pierre, “now, let’s you and I go have a talk.”

“Sorry Pierre, I’m busy right now,” said Trapper, “maybe another time.” Just then more men stood up behind us. That makes 11 now, one more than us when we include Trapper’s friends. “Sky,” I said. “I thought perhaps you were going to wait too long again,” she said smiling. “Hey, where did she come from?” asked Pierre. “Why do men always ask the same question?” responded Sky. “I think you and your friends should leave now,” I told Pierre, “before you get hurt.”

“This is my territory PI,” he said, “you and your PI friends are the ones that should leave, or maybe you will be the ones to get hurt. Oh, I also want Giselle, she has something that belongs to me.” “No, she does not,” I said, “and no, you will not get her either. Now, it’s time for you to leave, we’re busy.” It was at that point the fight started. Sky grabbed Pierre and literally threw him about 10 feet where he landed against a wall, knocking him out.

Then she took care of the other 5 men that were with him. While she was doing that, Melanie, Dawn and Amerie took care of the other 5 men. Those girls are getting faster all the time, and I think Sky is as well. We then left and went back to the house. Giselle had been looking through that old book and tucked into the back cover was some kind of a map, showing what looked like a garden. It looked very much like what would have been a garden area behind that old stone house.

Interestingly, that old house was referred to as the Ghost House in that old book. The original owners had been murdered and it is said they haunt the house to this day, or at least, to the time the book was written. Annelie did some searching and discovered that those owners were distant relatives of the 5 brothers. This really is a family affair. I have another thought, except it just doesn’t quite fit the picture, so I need to think a bit more.

I called Matt and asked him if he and his boys could break into the first Pierre’s nightclub and empty his safe. “That shouldn’t be a big problem Steve,” he said, “his alarm system is terrible.” I also told him that Kristina would meet him and give him a note to leave from Suzette. The next morning Pierre got a call at home from one of his men. “Pierre, you will want to come down to the club right away,” he said, “you are not going to believe this.”

Pierre arrived quickly and read the note in which she said thanks for inviting her to open his safe. She also thanked him for all the nice money. “How much did she take?” asked Pierre. His man opened the door to the large walk-in safe, it was completely empty. Then he looked at the two guards and then said to his other men to take them out and lose them somewhere. Now, back to us. My thought was that when Giselle’s Dad took her Mom out somewhere, he had taken her out to kill her.

That would explain the blood on his clothes. Then, he had to bury her somewhere. And in her grave he put whatever it was she had stolen, so that no one would ever find it again. However, that old stone house was much too far away to bury her out there and get back by the next morning, so there must be another garden around that looks much the same as that one, only close by.

I believe that Giselle knows that garden, but she is blocking it from her mind. Maybe she even followed her Dad to the spot. Then there is Giselle’s mother’s husband, did he finally track down everyone and have them all killed? That sounds like a very real possibility, so we need to find that man as quickly as possible.

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.