The Investigators, Inc. Something Strange Case. Chapter 11. Chateau.

Well, two of the three counter attacks were done, successfully. The third one is a bit different, however, it is more of a trap for Jud and his men. Jud is a terrible man, big and strong, he loves to hurt people, just for the fun of it. His kind of fun anyway. He has no feelings whatever, and Sky knows him very well. He is the right hand man, and brother, of Carole Ann.

It’s hard to understand why he would take orders from Carole Ann. But he does. He hurt Sky as much as Carole Ann did. Jud always laughed when he hurt Sky and so did Carole Ann. They put fear into Sky that remains to this day, even though they can’t touch her or hurt her anymore. Back at the chateau everyone was ready to set the trap.

Even Sienna had her bullet proof vest on and gun in her hand. That is, until Sky spotted her. “And what do you think you’re doing?” Sky asked. “I’m joining this fight Sky,” she said firmly. “No,” said Sky, “Steve said no and I’m saying no, so you go back to your safe room. Or if you really want to help, go to the clinic and help look after any wounded people.”

Sky then took her hand and they were now in the clinic. “I have a feeling we will need extra help in the clinic,” said Sky, “so stay here and help where you can.” Sky disappeared again and went back to her post, waiting for Jud and his men to come in through that “weak” entrance. We deliberately made it weak, just for this attack.

But, Jud was not stupid, he thought this whole thing seemed too easy, so he came a different way, one that truly was weak now since it was not being watched. Only I could be blamed for making that mistake. The actual weak spot? The front door. We did have our surveillance system in place and working, with Cristy watching things on her computer.

But without electricity, it doesn’t work. We do have a backup though in case the electricity is shut off. Jud figured that too and he searched ahead of time and found the company that put in that backup for us. He hacked their computers and discovered how it was set up and also how to turn it off.

He had well trained men in his group since he knew the chateau would not be easy. They coordinated things perfectly. The electricity and backup went off at the same time. Fortunately the clinic has it’s own backup and it was not affected. Everything went dark inside. Well, it was still daylight, so not completely dark.

“Oh, oh,” said Cristy, “lost everything.” She had her vest on too and she grabbed her gun to join the fight, nothing else she could do anyway. Suddenly there was a large explosion and the front door was blown apart. Jud and his men began pouring inside. Cristy was supposed to be at the back of the team, but now she was right at the front.

Jud came along but Cristy’s gun jammed, so she kicked him twice knocking him against the wall. Another man grabbed Cristy and she threw him over her shoulder, just like Misty does to me. Then Jud grabbed Cristy and tossed her against the wall and slammed his strong arm against her throat. She began choking and fell to the floor.

Jud continued with his men. The cats were also now at the front and they tried to reorganize but Jud was accurate with his gun, deadly accurate and one after another he shot the cats. Snow flipped over and shot, getting Jud on the side of his head. He fell to the floor and Snow ran fast as she could under a chair.

Unfortunately she had taken her wrong backpack and so she only had rubber balls, not steel ones, but she didn’t know that. So Jud was only knocked out, not dead. Still, at the moment that was better than nothing. Misty and a few others took another hallway and came in behind Jud’s men. Sky appeared with them once they were in place.

Then they attacked, but Misty stopped when she saw Cristy. As she knelt beside Cristy, one of Jud’s men shot her in the head, but she managed to say my name before falling over. I appeared immediately, but too late. I shot a lightning ball and two men were dead.

I then disappeared and reappeared next to Kat, grabbed her hand and brought her back with me. “Help her Kat, please,” I said, “do something if you can.” “It’s bad Steve,” was all she said, but she began working on Misty. Then she told me to take Cristy to the clinic, so I picked her up and appeared inside the clinic, calling for Dr. Jorgenson.

I left Cristy with him and went back to Ireland, grabbed a couple Bad Girls and brought them back to the chateau. I called to Sky and the two of us transported the Bad Girls back with us and Jud’s men were quickly overwhelmed. Jud actually had 30 men with him, well trained and well armed. Fifteen of his men died, the others gave up, tossing down their weapons.

On our side, 5 died, all from Sienna’s security force, plus 5 more of her people wounded. Six of our girls were wounded, four cats wounded, three cats dead. We called the police who arrested Jud and his men. They will be in prison for a long time. We, or really it was I , learned a lesson the hard way. Well, things have settled down and getting back to normal, sort of anyway.

“Cristy, okay?” asked Misty. “I told you yesterday that she will be okay,” I said, “and I mean it, but it will take a while. Now, concentrate on you getting better, please, for me.” “Yep, I will,” she said. “And no talking,” I said. I closed her mouth and gave her a kiss, on her lips. She tried a weak smile.

“As soon as possible I will get you and Cristy in the same room,” I said, “now rest for a while.” I then left. “Misty is okay?” asked Cristy. Basically it was the same conversation. Today was the first time Cristy could speak and it was nice to hear her voice again.

I visited each of our patients, including the cats, then I had a long talk with Snow who was feeling so bad that she had taken her wrong backpack. But I reminded her of what a good job she did. She stopped Jud from killing more cats, which he would have done and now he will spend a long time in jail, hopefully he will be a very old man by the time he gets out, if he lives that long.

He failed and Carole Ann hates failure, so she will likely try to have him killed while in prison. I gave a nice pep talk to all of our team to encourage everyone after all we have been through. The next day I knocked on a door. “Come in,” said the woman. I entered the room and sat down on a chair, a big comfortable one.

The woman looked at me. I started to cry. “Even as a ghost, if that’s what I am,” I began, “I can’t handle this stress. It’s all my fault. I should have realized Jud would not fall for our trap. I should have had all entrances watched. I should have…” “I should have, I should have,” repeated Galyna, “not one of our girls, or guys either, would agree with you Steve. Neither would the cats.

Now, you and I are going to have a very long talk.” She then went on the speaker to let all patients that have scheduled appointments with her today, that they are cancelled. She then called Jennifer and told her to come to her office and bring Muffin with her. Yep, it was a very long talk. This case is over, as much as it can be, but I’m sure it won’t be long before another case arrives.

The End. A new case is soon to arrive.

©2025 Steve McLeod.