The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Ivy’s Missing Life. Chapter 4. Standoff and Murder.

We were now at Ivy’s house, getting ready to take possession of it from the people who were living there illegally. We had already told their lawyer to stand aside, which he did. It was then that we heard the roar of motorcycles coming down the street. That would be Aari and the Black Wolves, I thought to myself. I was wrong, however. It turned out to be some kind of street gang that had come along to help their friends who were living in the house. There were 20 of them riding up onto the lawn in front of the house. Then the police chief and 5 officers came along next.

“I think it’s time for you and your girlfriends to turn around and head back to your hotel,” said the chief, “then tomorrow morning I want you out of our town.” “You are either a very brave man chief,” I said, “or perhaps a very foolish man. Which do you think fits better? We have the law on our side, and as a police officer, it is your duty to help us, not them. They are in Miss Peterson’s house illegally and you know it. Now, this is how it works, either you get them out right now, or we will.

As for your ultimatum for tomorrow, you can forget that too. We are staying until we find Miss Peterson’s family, or their bodies. If we find bodies, you will have a lot to answer for chief. I know all about your connection to the City Club in New York. You are all a bunch of criminals and I could easily call in the state police to deal with you since I have plenty of evidence to back up my claim. By the way, that new house next door is sitting on Miss Peterson’s empty lot.

She, nor her family, sold that lot, so, that lot and the house on it now belongs to Miss Peterson. Either someone buys it from her or we tear it down, tonight.” “You can’t do that!” he exclaimed, “The people who bought it are moving in next week!” “The person who bought it is the mayor’s son, who paid the town $100 for it,” I said, “and that is an illegal transaction. If he wants to challenge our decision in court, let him.” The police chief was obviously quite surprised by our knowledge of affairs in this town and he wasn’t quite sure what to do now. He then made a phone call and I said we would wait, temporarily.

The street gang boys were itching for a fight, that was easy to see, but also kind of funny. Sky and Angel could deal with them very quickly, actually, it wouldn’t even take both of them. I wonder how many of them would even hang around if Courage showed up? We would certainly find out how many of them had courage! However, I didn’t want to let these people know about our ghosts just yet, sometimes it’s better to wait. So, I called in the other girls who came driving up quickly in the vans. Once stopped, the girls jumped out and came onto the lawn in front of the street gang.

Their leader came over to me, trying to taunt me a bit. “You expect those little girls to fight my boys old man?” he said and laughed. I gave him a hard backhanded slap, knocking him off his feet and landing on his side on the ground. His gang got their clubs and knives out and started walking toward the girls. They immediately pulled their guns out which made the guys stop right away. “I would suggest you tell your little boys to get back on their bikes and go back where you came from, before you get killed,” I told him. “Uh, yeah, good idea Dan,” said the chief, “take your friends out of here, we don’t want trouble.”

“Fine,” he said, “you never told us about a bunch of women with guns.” They then rode off down the street, but the opposite way than they came. A bad decision on their part, but they will find out. “That was an interesting comment that he made chief,” I said, “obviously you told them to come here. Now, please tell your officers to stay out of our way.” “Now wait,” he said, “you gave these people until 4pm tomorrow to come up with the cash to buy the house. And that would, of course, mean the lot next door as well.”

“True, but now the price is going to be higher since there is a house on that lot,” I said, “that will add another $300,000 to the price.” “But you can’t do that,” he said, “the people have already spent that much building the house!” “Well, that is something they will have to work out with the new owners,” I said, “it’s the people in the house that will have to pay the extra money. Okay, they have until 4pm tomorrow, and it’s cash that Miss Peterson wants, that way we know she will get the money. That’s now $800,000 owed to Miss Peterson, and there will be no more delays.”

I then sensed serious trouble close at hand. Ivy had lowered the side window of the limousine to hear us talking. I turned and told her to raise it now. She did so and barely got it closed when it was hit with three bullets. Our two snipers, Charlotte and Emily had stayed in one of the vans watching each side of the street. Charlotte spotted the sniper in a large oak tree and shot once. A man fell to the ground. “She just killed a police officer!” yelled chief Winters. “And why was a police officer trying to kill Miss Peterson?” I asked him.

“He was?” he asked, “Oh, uh, I didn’t see where the bullets went.” He was much quieter when he said that. “Well chief Winters,” I said, “we will see you again tomorrow.” We then got back in our vehicles and went back to the hotel for dinner. The owner/manager and his staff seemed to be the only ones happy to have us in town. The owner made a lot of money from us during a slow time of the year for his hotel and we tipped generously so the staff gave us extra good service.

When we arrived at the hotel, we just went into the restaurant without going to our rooms first, but as we sat down I sensed something was wrong and I asked Sky to check it out. She disappeared and went to our room first. She expected to find Muffin, Storm and Sneaker, but no cats showed up, so she looked for them, then communicated with me. The waitress had just come and I asked her if anyone had been into our rooms while we were out.

She said two men had been in not long before we came back. The owner had given them a key to our room, but the waitress didn’t see the men leave. I asked her to tell the owner I wanted to see him, immediately. She went to his office and she screamed loud enough for all of us to hear. The night desk person and I went to the office when we heard the scream. The owner had been shot, in the forehead…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.