The Investigators, Inc. The Chambers Case. Chapter 5. Steve Dies, Again.

Well, Helene decided to eat dinner in the restaurant this evening, but she ordered food for us first. She then left after our food arrived. She also warned us that there were guards outside our door, just in case we might think of leaving her hospitality. I said we would not try such a thing. She promised that her men would not come into the suite while she was gone, and I thanked her for that.

Once she left we began eating and I must say, she is certainly feeding us well. These are expensive meals that she orders for us. If she’s going to kill us, at least we’re going out in style. Of course, she doesn’t know she can’t kill me, however, that’s beside the point. I had already told the girls about a plan I had and it worked out better than I had hoped since our two door guards decided to come in and check on Sherry and Caleigh.

Before that however, we talked things over so the girls would know their parts. “Sounds like a good plan Steve,” said Sherry, “except for one part.” “What is that?” I aske her. “The part where you punch me in the face,” she said a little sheepishly, “um, that’s going to hurt, a lot.” “She has a point Steve,” said Caleigh, “punch me instead.

I have been punched in the face 3 times before, so I know what it’s like and what to expect.” “But that’s not fair,” said Sherry, “I didn’t mean to pass it off on you.” “I know that Sherry,” said Caleigh smiling, “it’s still better for me to do it.” “I will make it up to you Caleigh,” I said, “just name it and it’s yours, 4 times for 2 punches.”

“Hmm, maybe I could do it,” said Sherry, trying to sound braver, “nope, forget it, I’m a wimp.” “Don’t worry Sherry,” I said, “you’ll be rewarded too for your part.” “My part?” she asked, “My only part was not paying attention and getting captured. For that I should be put on inactive duty for 30 days and go for retraining.”

“Hey, I’m the one that makes those decisions Sherry,” I said, “yes, you messed up a bit, but no one was hurt because of it. Fluffy is nice to have, but if you had a real cat with you it would not have happened the way it did. You were selfless and let someone else have your cat because you said she should be first. Now, no more worrying about what happened, okay?”

“Okay,” she said smiling. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to punch Caleigh twice in the face. She ended up with a nice black eye out of one and a big bruise on her cheek bone on the other side of her face. The girls then laid on the extra bed in the main room. Well, Sherry first knocked on the door, then jumped onto the bed with Caleigh. Claude and Hubert came in quickly, with Claude having his gun out.

“No! Don’t shoot him!” yelled Sherry and she jumped up, grabbed Claude’s gun hand and caused him to shoot once. The bullet hit me just under my heart. I fell against the wall, then onto the floor, dead. There was a listening device in the room and 3 men in another room were listening. They came running into the room and quickly took the guns from Claude and Hubert.

“Don’t let him hurt me anymore, please!” yelled Caleigh. “He shot Steve!” yelled Sherry. Meanwhile Bunker and Helene were just finishing their dinner when Bunker got a call from Josh. “You better get up here Bunker,” said Josh, “bad news.” Bunker soon arrived and Helene wasn’t far behind him. “It’s her fault!” yelled Claude, “She attacked me.”

“He was going to shoot Steve,” she said, “so naturally I attacked him. These guys came in and tried to rape us and that guy (pointing to Claude) punched Caleigh when she resisted.” “That’s a lie,” he said, “they’re just trying to get me in trouble.” “Seems like you’re doing that all by yourself Claude,” said Bunker. “What do you say Hubert?” asked Helene.

“Well, uh, Claude said we should check out these girls while you were eating, cause they were real beauties,” he replied. “Are you trying to get me in trouble too?” asked Claude. “Well, you did say that,” said Hubert, “and he said Steve was too crippled to help the girls and it would be easy for us to deny everything.” “I’ll get you for that Hubert!” exclaimed Claude.

“That man, Claude, he say that if I scream again he would mess up my face so no one would recognize me,” said Caleigh. “I did not say that you little liar!” yelled Claude and he began to move toward Caleigh. However, Bunker intervened and pushed Claude away. “Well Hubert?” asked Helene. “I can’t remember if that was his exact words,” said Hubert, “but it was something like that.”

This went on for a while, then Helene said to take them out and make sure they don’t come back. “Now what Helene?” asked Bunker. “We leave, quickly,” she said, “did you check Steve carefully?” “Yep, he’s dead as could be,” he replied. “Well, I hate to leave you two girls in this mess,” said Helene apologetically, “but I’m sure you understand that I must leave rather quickly.

Once Jennifer finds out that her husband is dead, she will be rather upset and she will likely want to chase after me. Please let her know this was not my doing and the two men involved are being taken care of as we speak.” She then took out a briefcase from the closet and opened it on the table. It was full of money. She took out some and left it on the table.

“This is for Jennifer,” she said, “perhaps for burial costs.” Then she brought money over to the girls and dropped it on the bed. “Buy yourselves some nice clothes,” she said, “something other than jeans for a change.” “Thank you,” they both said together. Then Helene and Bunker left.

After about an hour Sherry looked over the edge of the bed. Then she got up and knelt beside me and touched my hand. That put a bubble around us so we could talk without being heard. Caleigh quickly joined us.

“I had to wait and make sure they were gone,” I said, “otherwise our plan would go flying out the window. Good thing those 2 had talked about coming in here anyway, that really helped our story.” “Yep, sure did,” said Caleigh, “and these bruises barely hurt, unless I laugh. Hey, no fair tickling Steve!” Just then the door to our room opened…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.