The Investigators, Inc. The Case of the Grandchildren. Chapter 14. Death Comes.

We certainly had some fighting to do and I’m glad we came through it fairly well. For us, poor Colette was the only one wounded and fortunately it was not too serious. She was trying to help Dorothy, but she didn’t get too far, however, she did disrupt things long enough that others could arrive and help. Namely that was Sky again. Perhaps I need her to teach me a few things. Forget the perhaps, I do need her to teach me, and we will start that when we get home.

Jennifer’s team had 3 wounded, but the attackers lost 10 men dead and 4 others wounded who surrendered to the Black Wolves. Their wounds were not as serious as our girls, however, so they had to wait a bit for their help. Also, Joseph and Gabriella died in the fight, something that their brother, John Meyer, may not be happy about. It will depend how close that family truly is and how much they are willing to fight for each other.

Right now, though, we know that Tony and Camille are in Paris looking for Arielle. We can, and will, keep Arielle safe from them, but we also want to stop those two and put an end to their sex trafficking with children. I know we can’t stop everyone involved in that business, but we can certainly try to stop the ones we do know about. And this case was about those missing children, even if it was not quite as it was told to us.

We probably will never find those children, it is quite likely they are already dead, or have been sold to someone in another country. That is the sad part. It is also possible that they are still with another member of the Meyer family. Misty is going to look into that matter for us, as much as she can anyway. The Black Wolves escorted Jennifer and her small team back home, then they continued on to another location, since they were not that far away.

I also have a small team, but I have Sky and Angel with me. One of our helicopters quickly picked up Colette to take back to our clinic and it also dropped off Suzette, Chloe, Caleigh, Melanie and Crystal from The Bad Girls team. They had been waiting close by with the helicopter, just in case they were needed. And they are needed now. First thing we have to do is find Tony and Camille, then capture them, or at least capture Camille and find out what she did with those kids.

And hopefully convince them both to forget about Arielle and just leave her alone completely. It probably won’t work, but we can try. If Camille tells us where to find the children, then we will let her go, once we check out her story. If we can anyway. Kat and her Wildcats are helping us locate Tony and Camille and it shouldn’t really be too hard. We found Arielle by looking in the part of the city where she would be working, so Tony and Camille will likely do the same.

It didn’t take them long and Kat was communicating with me their whereabouts. “Me Fluffy, me say car parked just ahead on right side, close to cafe shop.” Sure enough, there it was, and they must be inside, perhaps asking questions. We parked a little further ahead and proceeded to walk back to the cafe. “Try to be more careful this time, please,” said Sky, looking at me. I wonder what she meant by that? I just smiled back and she sighed.

There was Sky, Angel, Arielle and myself. Suzette, Chloe, Caleigh and Crystal sat at a different table than us and we pretended not to know each other. We all sat outside and the waitress brought coffee to us, and a muffin. We deliberately had Arielle facing the cafe so when Tony and Camille came out, they would see her easily. They did come out, carrying their coffee and they stopped momentarily, but then sat at a table and watched us. Finally Camille couldn’t wait any longer and she came over to our table.

“Hi Arielle,” she said, “Tony and I would like to talk with you privately please.” “This is my boyfriend Steve,” said Arielle, “he’s like family, so he comes too.” “That’s okay,” she replied, “I’m Camille, Arielle’s older sister, and Tony over there is my husband.” “Nice to meet you,” I said. Then Arielle and I went over to their table and sat down. Sky could see us clearly and she watched us very carefully. “Tony,” I said, “put away the gun now, or I will kill you.”

He had taken out a gun and had it hidden under the table so we couldn’t see it, or so he thought. But I could see it clearly. He tried to tell me he didn’t have a gun. I was holding Arielle’s hand, so she was safe, at least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. It does for the other ghosts anyway and Sky assured me it would work for me too. Then he shot twice and Arielle fell off the chair and onto the sidewalk.

I then reached over and grabbed Tony’s shirt, right at his chest and he screamed, then fell to the sidewalk as well. “Don’t try to run,” I told Camille, “you wouldn’t get far.” All the girls were standing now and Crystal was checking Arielle. “She’s dead Steve,” said Crystal with tears, as she looked up at me. “Aw, too bad,” said Camille, “guess you weren’t able to help her after all. My little plan worked perfectly, oh, and I know who you are too. As for those children you are supposed to find, they don’t exist.

We just used photos and created lives for them that seemed real enough. Fooled you and your Investigators anyway. Though the plan to eliminate all of you did fail, too bad really. But, there’s not much you can do with me, I surrender. All you can do now is turn me over to the police, and I will be back home tomorrow.” “Maybe not,” I said, “look down the street, third floor of that old building, there’s an open window with a rifle sticking out.”

“You can’t shoot me, I surrendered,” she said smiling. “Whoever that person is,” I said, as I walked away, “doesn’t work for me.” Camille’s smile disappeared quickly. Suddenly Camille fell to the sidewalk. Our girls picked up Arielle’s body and put her in our car, and off we went. A little while later the police arrived. For some reason no one at the cafe could remember what had happened and it became an unsolved crime for the police.

They called it a crime anyway, because they didn’t know what had happened. We headed home. It was time to add yet another person to our cemetery. Mr. Meyer disappeared without a trace so I told Misty to come back home as well. She was a bit disappointed by that, but looking for Mr. Meyer was not part of our case and since he departed to wherever, there was no point in continuing to look for him.

Her team suffered two girls being seriously beaten by Wolfgang, but no one killed, plus Misty being beaten too, but not too badly. Well, I guess our case is done. We learned some things and we will have to fix some things on our side too, including me. Cristy felt bad that she was not able to do better and she hid in their “den”. Misty joined her, bringing along a dozen donuts that she had “sneaked” from the kitchen while being invisible. “Sneaked donuts are the best kind,” said Cristy. “Yep,” agreed Misty, as they munched on their donuts.

The End. A new case will be coming along soon. ©2025 Steve McLeod.