The Investigators, Inc. The Chambers Case. Chapter 10. Koffman.

Well, we are back home and somewhat relaxing after dealing with Helene and Wendel. Or maybe I should say we tried to deal with them and lost. Helene once again outsmarted us and got away. I’m still not quite sure how, since we had that house under surveillance at all times. But somehow Helene got away in a rather common way, by getaway car.

Amazing really. I admit, those of us in the house were a bit distracted by my fight with Wendel, which Misty finally ended for me. Sigh. I need to practice more so I can fight properly. Defensive I’m okay, but offensively I definitely need to upgrade my ability. For too long I have not been fighting, due to all my health problems, so others have been there to protect me.

I still need some bodyguards, at least for a while. Anyway, we have been tracking Wendel, but just like I thought, he seems to be staying away from Helene for now. I was sitting in the library enjoying my morning coffee, with a donut, and Muffin came along and jumped onto my lap.

Meow, meow.= Not worry too much, we find human Helene. Just need to catch scent again, then pounce real quick. Always keep one eye on mouse, human Wendel is mouse, but always keep two eyes on rat. Human Helene is rat, she more dangerous. “Thank you Muffin,” I said, “I will remember that.” She purred.

That’s when Jennifer joined us. “And what are you thinking about Steve?” she asked. “Muffin was just giving me some advice,” I said, “she thinks I need to be more watchful.” “She’s right,” said Jennifer. “Hmm, okay, maybe I do, just a little,” I admitted. I then reached for the remainder of my donut. It was gone!

“That sneak!” I said, “She distracted me and stole my donut!” Just then Cristy came in with 2 donuts for me, giggling as she handed them to me. “I saw what Muffin did,” she said, “she accomplished that so perfectly. So I thought I would be nice and bring you 2 to replace it.” “Thank you so much Misty,” I said, “you are number 1.” She looked at me.

“Uh, Steve, I’m Cristy, not Misty,” she said. “That’s what I meant,” I remarked, “you’re Misty, not Cristy.” “That’s better,” she said, “and after I brought you donuts too.” “I’m sorry Misty,” I said, “I’m just tired and constantly thinking about Helene.” “You’re forgiven,” she said and she began to walk out of the room as Misty was coming in.

Cristy stopped and looked at Misty. “He did it to me,” she said, “Steve won!” She put her head down and shuffled out. Misty came over. “That wasn’t nice,” she said, “whatever it was.” “If you don’t know what it was, how do you know it wasn’t nice?” I asked. “No, stop it,” she said, “you just want to confuse me.” “Okay Cristy,” I said, “you’re right, I’ll stop.”

“Good, thank you,” she said smiling and began to walk away just as Cristy was coming back into the library, still shuffling. Misty looked at her. “Steve did it to me too,” she said. They looked at each other, then they began to shuffle out the door. “That wasn’t nice,” said Jennifer, “you apologize right now. After all, they are your favorite girls.”

I called them back and asked them to sit on each side of me. I put my arms around them and apologized. They each kissed me on the cheek and went skipping off to work like normal. Dawn then came over and stood beside me pouting. “I always thought I was your favorite,” she said, looking at me with such sad eyes.

“Sit down on my lap,” I said, “please.” So she did. I whispered in her ear and held a donut in my hand. She smiled, broke it in half, gave me a kiss and went back to her book she was reading. “And what did you say to her?” asked Jennifer. “I only share donuts with my favorite girls,” I replied. I then held out my other donut to Jennifer.

“I’m keeping the whole donut,” she said. “I wanted you to do that,” I replied. “Phone call for you Steve,” said Tracy, “it’s from an old…friend.” The way she said it meant it was not really a friend, but that had me curious. “Hi Steve, remember me?” said the voice. I recognized him right away. “Yes Koffman, I do indeed,” I replied, “though I must say that I’m rather surprised by your call.”

He laughed. “Well, I heard you were looking for a certain woman,” he continued, “by the name of Helene. Ring a bell?” “Very funny. But I see that word gets around quickly,” I said, “and I haven’t even been trying to get the word out. Mainly because I didn’t want to alert Helene too much.”

“Well, I didn’t hear from the usual sources,” he said, “but from Helene herself. I do know her, though I would prefer not to. She grabs more territory all the time, and with very few men too.” “And she has even fewer now,” I said. “Yes, she told me that,” he said, “she also said that one of her men shot and killed you and now you have come back as a ghost to haunt her and Wendel. Is any of that true?”

I chuckled a bit. “Well, I think Helene might have embellished the story just a bit,” I told him, “she seems to be thinking about ghosts a lot lately. Apparently she believes in ghosts and she wanted to buy one from me.” Koffman couldn’t hold back any longer and he roared with laughter when I said that. “Is that a new side business Steve, selling ghosts?” and he laughed some more.

“Hey, she offered me $10 million for one of my girls that she said was a ghost,” I told him. “If that had been me, I would gladly have sold her,” he said, still laughing so much he could hardly talk. We talked a bit more, then he got more serious. “How much would you be willing to pay to find out where Helene is hiding?” he asked.

“What is your price?” I asked in return. “2 hundred thousand,” he said, “and I need it in 2 days, in cash.” “Well, that is a lot of money Koffman, and a short space of time,” I said. “What can you raise in that space of time?” he asked again. “Probably half of that,” I told him. “Okay, that’s a deal,” he said, “bring the money to me the day after tomorrow and I will tell you where to find her.”

“Fine, but don’t play with me Koffman,” I said, “I can easily destroy you.” “I won’t argue that point,” he said, “no games, just a simple transaction.” Sienna was happy to supply the money if it meant catching Helene. I really don’t think Koffman is just playing with me, I think he really does know where Helene is hiding.

But perhaps she wants him to tell us in order to trap us. But she would need a lot of men to effectively trap us, so this seems legitimate. We need to check it out anyway…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.