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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Jennifer didn’t want me going on this case, she didn’t think I was quite ready to go out again after the last one. She thinks that drug used on me is what led me to see this “woman” at the cemetery, and maybe she’s right about that. Samantha agrees with Jennifer about the drug idea, which doesn’t help. “I need to go,” I told Jennifer, “it will help me by getting involved so I don’t just sit here and think all the time, right Celestine?”
“I agree, it might be very helpful,” she said, “just sitting around thinking and doing nothing never helps anyone. That’s why you left on your, um, vacation, last time.” “I didn’t ask for your input,” said Jennifer frowning. “But Steve did,” she replied nicely. “I have more authority than Steve in matters like this,” said Jennifer. “I didn’t know that,” I said. “Well, I do, sort of,” she said. Then she sighed and smiled. “Sorry Celestine,” she said, “I’m just worried about Steve.”
“That’s understandable,” said Celestine, “why not check with Samantha and Galyna and see what they say.” “Hey, that sounds like a good idea,” I said, “if they say it’s okay, then I go, otherwise I stay.” Jennifer sighed, but agreed. Much to her disappointment, Samantha and Galyna agreed it would be good for me to go. “Okay, but you just coordinate, you don’t get involved,” said Jennifer, “and Sherry drives, Mac is your bodyguard, and you take at least 3 ghosts with you.” She was smiling at me.
“I agree, and I will take 4 ghosts. The guys team will be our backup, so Carine will also be along, making 5. I will take the Bad Girls on this one.” “Plus someone to be your wife,” said Jennifer. We were up early in the morning and on the road. We’re not actually that far from Bremen, so we should arrive by lunch time, or shortly after. The Black Wolves will arrive later in the day and will be staying at a hotel in the city. Jazzy’s house is just outside the city she said, though it was hard to tell, still looked like part of the city to me.
Anyway, we will be staying with Jazzy in the house, she said there was lots of room, and she wasn’t joking, that “house” is huge, with a section that had been added on about 200 years ago. That is where this young family had been living. I’m going to assume they have been kidnapped and will be used to force Jazzy to sell the house. Or, there could be a different reason for their disappearance. They may have been scared for their safety and decided to take their kids and run.
That would not be an unreasonable thing to do, though why they left everything including their clothes is somewhat of a mystery. They must have left in a real hurry, if they left, and I really hope they did. Jazzy showed us to our rooms, then we all met in the huge living room to talk. We put out two scramblers first so we could be sure of our privacy. “So why do we need the scramblers?” asked Jazzy. “These ‘ghosts’ have had plenty of time to put listening devices and cameras all through this huge house of yours,” I reminded her.
“Hmm, yes, I did think of that,” she said, “which is why I sat in my car when I called you, just so they don’t know who you are.” “Good thinking Jazzy,” I said, “now, what is the name of this kind, gentleman who wishes to buy your house?” “Very funny,” she said, “he may not be using his real name though, but he said it was Emil Schultz, a businessman from Berlin. He is expanding his business to Bremen and wants this house to live in while here twice a year. I did not like his tone, however, it was very threatening, something I do not like.
I would like you to check him out and try to find my caretaker family. Personally I think this Mr. Schultz kidnapped them to use against me.” “Yes, that is what I figured too,” I told her. Then I contacted Wisty to check on this Emil Schultz. “Um, why do you have a pretend wife with you?” asked Jazzy. “Jennifer says I always need a wife with me,” I explained, “to keep me from doing stupid things and…” That’s as far as I got since Jazzy was laughing so hard after I said that. Sigh.
After talking some more we began looking around the house. Cynthia, Akila, Crystal, Cassie and Jazzy, plus 4 cats, looked around the caretakers suite for clues. The rest of us split up and looked around the main house which took quite some time without producing anything useful. There were no clues in the caretakers suite either. We did find numerous listening devices and cameras which we destroyed. For now we didn’t worry much about the rooms we were not using, we’ll tackle those tomorrow.
On this case I am posing as Jazzy’s younger brother, the leader of a gang called Steve’s Bad Girls. Kat and Jennifer thought it would be better to have my name in there instead of Sky’s, since I am the leader. Since Sky is short two girls on her team, we borrowed Sherry, Sabina and Ivy from the Wildcats. For ghosts we have Sky, Angel, Kristina and Kitty. Since Celestine thought it would be good for me to go on this case, Jennifer appointed her to be my wife. Poor girl, although since we will be mostly in this house it makes her job easier.
Later that day Wisty called with information about Emil Schultz. He is a legitimate businessman from Berlin and is planning to expand his business to Bremen. However, he is single and 40 years old, so why does he want such a big place if he only uses it occasionally? Makes me think he has other plans for this house so I asked Wisty to keep digging and see if he is involved in any other “business” ventures, even as a junior partner. She will ask Trixie and Melody to help her dig so it will go faster.
Cristy got involved too even though she isn’t supposed to, but she wants to help. I can understand that. The room that Celestine and I have is huge, with 2 queen size beds, so Sky and Angel are staying in the room with us too, plus 4 cats. The night passed quietly, which was nice and after breakfast we once again began searching around this house. There was a large, heavy wood, round topped door leading to the cellar and it was locked. “Hey Jazzy, did you put a new lock on this door?” I asked.
“No,” she replied as she came into the kitchen, “that lock is as old as the door.” “It has a new lock on it now,” I said. Jazzy couldn’t understand that, Rick, the caretaker, always told her when he did anything to the house. She also didn’t have a key, which was no problem since we had Mac with us. He had it open in no time and down we went. Although Jazzy had electric lights installed in the cellar, none of them worked.
However, we brought our own large battery packs with us and soon had lights working so we could see easily. The cellar went under the entire house which means there are no hidden rooms. That was disappointing, but why did someone put a new lock on the door? There were 10 rooms in this cellar some empty, some with old furniture, some with empty wood boxes. There were also some old wood and metal trunks, or chests, but all were locked.
Jazzy had never looked in them and considering all the dust, no one else has looked in them recently either. By mid afternoon we had searched the entire house, including the attic which was totally empty. So, my guess is that this Mr. Schultz wants to use the house for something, other than to live in it. Now, did he kidnap the caretaker family or is that totally unrelated to him?
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Jennifer worries about Steve but gets over ruled by others. Steve likes action, rather than overthinking and sitting getting overcome with grief. This case will be challenging and require thinking on one’s feet. Mr. Schultz is confident he will have the house for his criminal endeavors. His placing a new lock on the cellar door and planting cameras and listening devices is brazen. The caretaker and hid family were kidnapped and possibly killed. He was involved in this but would like to have the attention elsewhere.
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