The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Steve’s Disappearance. Chapter 5. Brochures.

We decided to eat before checking out this next clue we just found, well, Celestine found it actually. “I want to wear my new dress,” she said, “but it’s a shame to wear it for the first time at home.” I think she was probably hinting at something, so I suggested we should go out for dinner. “I’ll change right away!” she said and ran off to her bedroom, with me running behind her. “Hey, you can’t come in here while I change,” she said, with her hands on her hips.

“If I don’t come in, then you won’t change,” I said firmly, “remember I said that we stay together at all times. I will turn around while you change, but I must be in the room with you, for safety reasons, that’s all.” “Oh, right, I forgot,” she said, “but you don’t have to turn around, I have one of those changing screens to use.” It didn’t take long and we were sitting in the restaurant.

“Hey, that’s the real estate agent,” said Celestine, “and he’s with 2 men, one is quite chubby, just like one of the ghosts that came into my room.” I had sensed trouble when we came in, but thought it must be from outside. Obviously not. I looked over to their table. That chubby man was actually quite a big man and likely quite strong. Glad I’m a ghost, or I might be worried. He’s the kind of man that would be good for Rock, but, Rock is not here, I am. I’m certainly not leaving Celestine alone until this has been taken care of, totally. I looked at her.

“You look positively beautiful in that dress, my little sister,” I said, smiling. “You be careful with those compliments Mr. Steve,” she said, “or I might have to throw you out of my house.” “Would you really do that?” I asked, looking at her rather worriedly. She giggled. “No, of course not,” she said, “I enjoy having my new older brother around.” Then she looked out the window and I could see tears sliding down her cheeks.

“No you don’t,” I said, “we are here to enjoy ourselves, this is no time for tears. So, what are they for?” “Oh, I was just thinking about when you go back home,” she said, “and I will be alone again.” She looked at me. “Would it be possible to take me with you?” she asked, her voice quivering a bit, “Or would your wife not want me around?” “I already decided to bring you home with me,” I said, “there is no way I would leave you here all alone again. I could never live with myself if I did that.”

Then Rosie, our waitress, returned with our food. “Rosie, you know everyone around,” said Celestine, “who is that big man with the long beard?” Without even looking at the man, she told us to stay away from him, he is trouble. “He owns a big nightclub and has lots of big, tough men working for him,” she said, “he scares me every time I see him. The other two are new, I have never seen them before, neither has our boss, and he knows more people than I do.”

“He told us he is a real estate agent and knew some people that wanted to buy Celestine’s house,” I said. “No, he isn’t, he’s just trouble,” she said again, then she returned to the kitchen. I then asked some questions about Celestine’s family. “How did you get your brother’s phone so quickly?” I asked. “Hmm, don’t trust me now,” she said smiling, “it’s quite simple really, he was here visiting me for a week when he was shot by some thieves one evening when he went out for a walk.

I had to go identify the body and they gave me his belongings that he had on him, which wasn’t much. I was going to send them to his wife, but she told me to keep them. She has 3 young kids to raise and has no job, so her parents are helping her and she lives with them for now. He had a good job with an insurance company and had life insurance through them as part of his contract. But when she tried to collect, they said there was no insurance and he never even worked at their company.

That was a lie! She met him at work many times because there was a restaurant on the main floor and they would go there for lunch. Why would they lie like that Steve?” “Because someone put some pressure on them,” I said, “I know this might hurt, but he may have had some illegal dealings with someone else and those people had great influence.” “I believe that Steve,” she said, “he told me, when he was here, that he was working on some other type of employment, but he wouldn’t say what it was.

My two oldest brothers are involved with a criminal group of some kind too. I think my parents were also involved in the same one.” She then looked straight at me. “You are probably saying that you don’t want me around with you now, right?” she asked. “No, I wasn’t saying that at all,” I said, “more than half of the people that are on my team came from criminal organizations or are women who had been involved, involuntarily, in sex trafficking. I don’t think you’re involved in anything criminal, and what your family does has no reflection on you.”

We finished our desert and left. We then drove down to the beach and walked around for a while, talking the whole time. That night I checked Celestine’s bedroom again and discovered the cameras and projectors were back in place, so I removed them again. I then made another phone call to Jennifer after I communicated with her what to do. She then made the call public this time and I didn’t say much, but Celestine said something that would have been barely audible. I’m being really bad now.

Meanwhile, back home. “It sounded like someone said something at the end,” said Aari. “It was a woman,” said Carine, “and she said, “time’s up”.” “That proves that Steve is in trouble!” exclaimed Misty. “Yes, I agree,” said Dawn. “It still could be a test,” said Tracy, “though perhaps that option is less likely now.” Just then Storm came in the library pulling his little wagon full of vacation brochures. “Storm, not now!” exclaimed Cristy, “We have more important things to do.”

So, he turned around and hauled it back to the cat’s playroom. Meow, meow?= “What they say?” Meowr.= “They say go away, not want to look.” Meow, meow.= “Okay, then we look for missing brochure, we show humans we good detective cats.” All the cats jumped with excitement and Rascal dumped over the wagon and they divided the brochures around to all the cats. After a while Misty came looking for the cats.

Meowr!= “Hey, no human people allowed, we do own detective work!” “Wait, I didn’t chase you away, that was Cristy,” said Misty, “I want to help too.” She smiled. Meowr.= “Okay, we look for missing brochure, all have numbers and here is checklist. We find brochure and take it off list, last one on list is where human Steve is.” Misty looked at them, blinking her eyes. Meow, meow!= “AAAAAA, she trying to hippo two eyes us, run!”

“Come back here!” she called, “I’m ready to help, this is a great idea!” Now, back to Celestine and I. “Can we wait until tomorrow to tackle that next clue?” asked Celestine, “I’m really tired tonight.” “Sounds good to me,” I said. I convinced her we need to stay together at all times, so that means sleeping too. Sir Night slept between us, stretched out long. “Tomorrow morning we work on that last clue,” I said. “Oh no, right after an early breakfast we go on a hike, remember?” she asked, “Afternoons are for clues.”

“Okay, but you must promise to wake me up before you get up in the morning,” I said, “it’s important.” “Okay, I promise,” she said, and both of us were soon asleep. I was awake first this time and shook Celestine, but it didn’t work. Meower.= “Need to lick nose.” I couldn’t see me doing that, so I decided to kiss her nose instead. However, she moved, I missed her nose and she slapped me. But she did wake up…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.