The Investigators, Inc. The Case of a Young Couple. Chapter 8. This is Not That.

Jennifer had made Misty the Leader so that she could lie down and try to sleep for a while. It can be stressful as Leader 1, which Kat and Jennifer have now discovered. Cristy had gone to be also and Tracy replaced her at the computer since we like to have someone looking after our computer 24 hours a day.

Dawn and 3 other girls were staying with Eloise for protection, we don’t want anything to happen to Eloise since she is the one who hired us. Clarisse is with Kristina, Emerald and Brandy at a local hotel, also for her protection. Now, for some reason, Clarisse tried to get away from the girls at the hotel, late at night, but she was stopped by Kristina.

Clarisse is refusing to cooperate with the girls right now and won’t tell why she was trying to get away. “Jennifer?” asked Kristina. “No, this is Misty,” came the reply, “Jennifer made me Leader while she is sleeping. There was silence on the other end. “You still there Kristina?” asked Misty. “Um, yeah,” she said, “we have a problem, Clarisse tried to get away from us and now she won’t tell us why.”

“That’s interesting,” said Misty, “bring her back here and put her in our detention room for now, until Jennifer wakes up.” “Okay, we’re on our way,” said Kristina. “Hey, Dawn finally sent us some pictures of Eloise for our records,” said Tracy, “she had to sneak them since Eloise hates having her picture taken.” “Oooo, I love sneaky,” said Misty, “let me see the pictures.”

“You’re looking at them,” said a puzzled Tracy. “Is she hiding behind that, um, big, um, large, um, huge woman?” “Misty, that’s not nice,” said Tracy, “that is Eloise.” Misty stood there blinking at Tracy. “Don’t blink like that,” said Tracy, “it makes me dizzy.” “That is not Eloise,” said Misty, “Eloise is small, 5 foot 3 inches and 110 pounds.” “Misty, she’s 5 foot 10 inches tall and 280 pounds,” said Tracy, “she was here, remember?”

“I didn’t see her when she was here,” said Misty, “I would remember someone that big. Cristy did a full history of the family and showed me before she went to bed. Here, take a look. That is Eloise, and here is her husband that died suspiciously two years ago.” “He had a heart attack,” said Tracy, “Eloise told us, or, at least the big Eloise told us.” “The coroner said suspicious,” replied Misty, “and there is Clarisse’s two brothers.” “She has no brothers, she told us herself,” said Tracy, “she has two sisters.”

“She has no sisters, only two brothers,” continued Misty, “one is Thomas who lives in New York, and that is where Eloise is right now, visiting with him. The other is named Florian, but he didn’t like that name, so he uses his middle name which is Jacques. He lives just outside of Paris.” “They were taking Steve to see Jacques in Paris!” exclaimed Tracy. “Then it was a trap all along!” exclaimed Misty, “It had nothing to do with Marcel and Clarisse, they wanted Steve!

Akila, wake up and come to the library right away! Cynthia, wake up and come to the library right away!” “Hey, you can’t give orders Misty,” said Cynthia. “She can now,” said Tracy, “Jennifer made Misty the Leader.” “I’ll be there in two minutes!” yelled Cynthia. Akila was already in the library. “What’s up, besides us at this terrible hour?” asked Akila.

“We need you to check the fake Eloise’s computer, once Dawn brings it to us,” said Misty, “um, Dawn?” “Yes Misty,” said Dawn. “I want you to bring that fake Eloise to our detention center,” said Misty, “and bring her computer for Akila to check out.” “You say that so easily,” said Dawn, “are you sending help?” “Why?” asked Misty, “There are four of you and only one of her.” “She’s worth 8 of us easily,” said Dawn, “but we’ll be there, um, sometime.”

“That’s the way!” said Misty encouragingly. Sometime later Dawn called in. “Misty?” she asked. “Yep, I’m here Dawn, did you get that fake Eloise?” asked Misty cheerfully. “You’re too cheerful,” said Dawn, “as Leader you’re supposed to be serious, not cheerful. Anyway, we’re almost home, call Samantha and get her ready to receive casualties.” Then Misty hit the button. Code Red, Clinic Alert, Casualties!

That got everyone awake fast thinking we must be under attack. “How can there be casualties?” Samantha asked herself, “I didn’t know we were fighting right now.” Misty had 6 girls ready to take custody of the fake Eloise, but there wasn’t much fight left in her now. Suzette and Beryan were in the worst condition, with broken bones. Dawn and Amerie were mostly just covered with bruises and a bit swollen in places. “Misty, what happened?” asked Jennifer. Misty went to her and saluted.

“We picked up two enemies tonight Jennifer,” she said in a serious tone, “but there are injuries on our side.” “Misty, stop saluting me please,” said Jennifer sighing. “Oops, sorry, forgot,” said Misty. “Misty, you do not need to hit Code Red for something like that,” said Jennifer, “just call the clinic, that way it doesn’t wake up everyone. Remember I said not to disturb me?” “Um, yeah, I forgot, I guess,” said Misty.

“Now, what is going on?” asked Jennifer. “Misty got it all figured out Jennifer,” said Tracy smiling, “that big Eloise is a fake, it was all a trap to get Steve. Misty figured it out right away once she saw a picture of what we thought was the real Eloise, but she knew the woman was a fake because she had seen a picture of the real Eloise that Cristy had found earlier. And there’s more that she figured out too, she’s amazing!”

“Where did Misty go?” asked Jennifer. “Right here,” said Cristy, “she almost got away.” “Misty, come back here please,” said Jennifer. Misty zipped back and saluted. “Misty, you’re saluting again,” said Jennifer. She quickly put her hand down. “What else did you discover?” asked Jennifer. “Um, well, the real Eloise is small and visiting her son in New York and she is the sister of Toledo’s mother which makes Jacques the cousin of Toledo.

It was all a trap for Steve right from the beginning, nothing to do with Clarisse and Marcel. I think Clarisse works for this gang too, maybe also the mother. But there’s no evidence that Thomas is involved. Actually, Thomas and Jacques don’t like each other at all which is why Thomas moved to New York years ago. But Cristy did most of this work, not me, she deserves all the credit, not me, I only kinda put some pieces together that were kinda sitting around.

So, it’s really Cristy and Tracy that deserve the credit, not me. And, well, I’m sorry for waking everyone by declaring a Code Red.” “Actually Misty,” said Jennifer, “you deserve more credit than you usually get. And don’t worry about the Code Red, it isn’t easy being Leader 1, that’s why I needed some time off. Now, call Steve and tell him what you learned.”

So, she called me and now things are starting to make sense, but somehow I don’t think Jacques wants to kill me or he could have done that already. He must want me to do something for him. Do I play along? Or should we just head back home? Hmm, guess I should ask our Leader what she thinks.

Misty said to come back home and see if we can find out more information from Clarisse, or Eloise, or Eloise’s computer before doing anything else. That does make good sense, so, for now we are on our way home. But the Black Wolves and Wildcats are going to stay in Paris a while longer, just in case…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.