The Investigators, Inc. Case of the Kidnapped Family. Chapter 11.

The police did have a lot of questions for our team after the fight at the photo studio, but Aari showed his ID and told the officer in charge that they had been hired to find a woman and her children. They had good information that the children were there at that studio, but unfortunately they did not find them. The adult women that were also prisoners there were able to tell the officers the full story of that studio and that it was actually for the purpose of sex trafficking.

They also said the kids in question had been there until the previous day, then they disappeared. They said that happened numerous times after they no longer wanted the children. Hopefully they haven’t killed Amanda’s children, but it sure looks like they did. We need to leave Aari down there looking around for another day or 2, but we also need to send a team out to California to look for Amanda.

The longer we wait on that, the less chance of finding her alive. But, if we send a team to California, that will spread us rather thin, and that is dangerous. Guess we need to bring more of our team over here and that means I will have to ask Mandar for a couple of teams to help protect our chateau. So, I called Cristy.

“Jazzy said you were much too slow asking for help,” she told me, “so her, Hannah and most of Team 1 should be landing in Los Angeles in about 2 hours. Jazzy took some of her people along too, and Mandar sent two of his teams over here to help guard the chateau.” She sounded very cheerful, as usual.

I did leave Hannah in charge of my Team 1 and told her she could make decisions as she saw fit to do. She is an excellent leader, as I well know, we fought each other for a long time. She knows how to do things and make good decisions. I hope they can turn up some good news for us, we sure need it right now. Cristy said they would be in touch with me just before landing.

Not long after I called Cristy, Mac showed up at our room. “Find anything?” I asked. “Yeah, found a small crypt with the Greene Family on a plaque above the door. I went inside and there were 4 urns of ashes, Emerald’s parents and her two siblings, plus an empty urn with Emerald’s name on the name tag beneath it. Her death is listed as being today.

I removed the name tag and replaced it with a sticker I had with Governor Haugen’s name on it. I told a worker at the cemetery that the crypt door was open and he went to check. Hope he saw the name change.” “I hope so too,” I said, “that should cause some interesting noise, which I’m sure we will hear about. We also need to be extra vigilant today and keep Emerald and Cindy safe and alive.

They undoubtedly want Cindy dead as well.” Hannah called next and I told her that 3 vans would be ready for their use. They could pick their own hotel, an expensive one so our enemies know we have someone with money backing us. I wish they had one of the ghosts with them, but I guess they will be fine. Next we heard an interesting conversation in Cairns office.

“Those PI’s found the crypt with the ashes of Emerald’s family,” bellowed Haugen, “and they removed Emerald’s name from the empty urn and put my cousin’s name in place of it! I don’t think that is funny!” “No, no, neither do I,” said Cairns rather nervously, “but we can just say it was a prank done by kids, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“And if news got out, it would be a big problem for the Governor,” said Haugen, “have you found Amanda yet?” “Um, no, not yet,” said Cairns, “but my men are working on it.” “What about the kids?” asked Haugen, “Or has that insane Ms. Cameron killed them already?” “I’m not sure,” said Cairns, “the police have raided her place and arrested everyone, including Ms. Cameron.

Lester told me this, and he also said that there were other people there, a bunch of men and one woman who seemed to be the leader. They had police ID and were working undercover.” “Oh great, I do not like that at all,” said Haugen, “that means the police could be watching us here as well.” “Maybe not,” said Cairns, “it might have been because that woman from the florist shop registered a complaint about the photo studio.”

“Hopefully that was it,” said Haugen, “but the timing with the Governor’s name on that empty urn makes me nervous. And I don’t like being nervous!” Meanwhile, Kat’s Wildcats found Felicity at home and had a talk with her. She claimed not knowing where Amanda was right now, but when she discovered that we would give her $100,000 to know specifically where Amanda is, she then agreed to find out from Martin.

Apparently he told her he knows where she is, but he didn’t want to tell her or Cairns might get upset. Felicity went over to Martin’s house right away to get this information for us, if she could. Fortunately we have his house bugged everywhere, so we will be able to hear their conversation no matter where they talk.

Martin didn’t appear willing to tell her at first, but she reminded him about their agreement, which, unfortunately, they didn’t talk about. “Okay, okay,” said Martin, “just make sure you don’t tell Cairns that I told you. He knows where Amanda is, but hasn’t told Mr. Clarke. If Clarke finds out, he would kill Cairns and Amanda, and maybe us too.

Amanda is out at the Triple X Ranch near Los Angeles, it’s a big sex trafficking place. Cairns just manages it for someone else, but I don’t know who.” I was calling Hannah right away and told her where to find Amanda, and to get there quickly. “Don’t take chances,” I said, “it’s a big place and that likely means a lot of guards.

Cairns is only the caretaker, I don’t know who owns it.” “We can find out the owner for you Steve,” she said. “Don’t worry about that right now,” I said, “get Amanda out and somewhere safe, that’s the main thing. And please, be very careful.” “That we will Steve,” she said, “that we will.” I then talked with Sky, just to see if she might be able to travel over there to help out.

“I just need to know where they are,” she said. So, I gave her the name of the hotel and their room number. We then checked the coordinates for the hotel and off she went, with Angel. I didn’t mean for her to take Angel, but she had been leaning on Angel’s shoulder and that was enough to take them both. Hopefully they won’t be gone too long.

But, I guess we only need one ghost to protect Emerald and Cindy, along with some Bad Girls and some cats. Another ghost to look after me, with some Bad Girls and some cats. Kat’s Wildcats will have to be on their own for now. It didn’t take Felicity long to be at my hotel door, knocking. Amerie answered and let her in.

I asked if she found out anything and she told us where to find Amanda, giving us the right information. She then told us something else, Martin told her a man named Raven owned the Triple X and a photo studio in Dallas. “That man is supposed to be very dangerous,” she said, “he told me that when he walked me out to my car.

(Then she got very quiet) I really hope you find her and the kids, I never wanted anything bad to happen to them, really I didn’t. When he first started dating me 2 years ago, I didn’t even know he was married. He didn’t tell me until 3 weeks ago when I suggested we get married. Oh, keep the money, I just hope you find Amanda and her kids safe.” She then left…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.