The Investigators, Inc. The Widow’s Case. Chapter 13. Cousins.

Sky had just brought Venus and Friskie back to the clinic, although Friskie isn’t hurt but Jennifer wanted her back to guard Venus, Misty and I. Then Sky took Jennifer back to the hotel, after which she brought the drugs, money and guns back here to the chateau for safe keeping. Now that Venus is back here, there is no one left to guard except Elenore, which makes things much easier for our teams. The girls heard on the news that Williams had been shot, then his club had been set on fire.

But the part where Williams’ body was found didn’t burn so it was easy to identify him. No other bodies were found. Over at Fiske’s club no bodies have been found yet, but the fire was still burning in one part. So, Jennifer, Sky and the Bad Girls went to look for Sandra at her house. They also took some of the cats with them to help check her house for “extra” things.

Meanwhile, back home. “You know what we need in here?” I asked. “Donuts!” said Misty and I together. Kat came walking back in at that moment and heard us. “Oh no you don’t,” said Kat, “remember the new clinic rule, no donuts allowed. And that also means you do not ask someone to bring you donuts. Anyone caught doing so will be given 8 demerits and 30 days of cleaning duty.” “That’s not fair,” I said, “it takes all the fun out of being in the clinic.” “I second that,” said Misty.

“Too bad,” said Kat and off she went. When Sky brought back the suitcases of stuff from Gordon, she was also able to bring one more person back, so Jennifer said to bring Celestine. It was now after breakfast here which was cold toast and warm coffee. “What happened to our toaster?” I asked Jackie. “The one in the clinic quit working so we’re using the one in the kitchen,” she said, “that’s a long ways from here, so the toast cools off a bit.” “A bit?” I asked, “It feels like it came out of the fridge.”

“Oooo, don’t make me laugh,” said Venus, “my stomach hurts! Glad I ordered cereal though.” “I’ll try to bring you some hot coffee though,” said Jackie and off she went. Then Celestine came in wearing her bikini and carrying her pool bag. “Hey, you’re not supposed to wear bikinis except at the pool,” said Misty frowning. Celestine reached into her bag, then tossed a donut to Misty. “Wear a bikini all you want,” said Misty, “doesn’t bother me.” “I second that,” I said while munching on my donut.”

“These are fantastic!” said Venus, “Now if we just had some hot coffee.” “Did someone mention coffee?” asked Macy as she came in with a fresh carafe. Then she stopped and looked at me with my donut. She just shook her head at me, and at Celestine. “Eat fast,” said Macy, “Bridgette will be here in 20 minutes to check on you.”

Meanwhile, back with Jennifer and the Bad Girls. “We’re getting close to Sandra’s house now,” said Sky. It was late afternoon and with the fires they figured that Sandra would likely be at home, unless she died in the fire, which Jennifer thought would be unlikely. She was thinking that Sandra was the mastermind of this whole operation and she likely wanted to get rid of both Fiske and Williams, plus Swann. However, Swann was not found, so maybe he decided to go into hiding. Unless he also is a boyfriend of Sandra, and maybe her favorite boyfriend?

Hard to know exactly what is going on with that group. All we know for certain is that Christopher and Williams are both dead. We don’t know anything about Fiske or Swann. Some of the girls are keeping an eye on Gordon’s place though, just in case Swann does show up, even though he would be very late now. Most likely he phoned Gordon and found out what happened and decided to hide. Then there is Helene, and there are some girls keeping an eye on her hotel too, in case she decides to go somewhere.

They have orders to watch only and don’t try to stop her if she has others with her. Soon the team was at Sandra’s house but there were no cars around and she had no garage to park in, so she must not be home. “I will go take a look first,” said Jennifer, and she walked up to the house and through the door. She came back to the van after a short time. “She’s not there,” said Jennifer, “looks like she moved out, very recently too, the place is completely empty. We appear to be striking out and that’s not good.”

Then they heard on the news that Swann and Fiske were found dead in a dumpster behind Fiske’s nightclub. Both had been shot once, in the forehead, just like Williams and the police were looking for a woman named Sandra Poirier. Then they decided to drive over to Helene’s hotel and have a talk with her. But when they went to the front desk, they were told that she had left early that morning. Things were not going well for our team, but I told them to keep watching those places until morning and to keep guarding Elenore for now too.

Things did not go the way we had planned, but the same could be said for Sandra’s side too. I don’t mind losing Sandra as much as losing Helene again. Then Cristy told me that she discovered Sandra and Helene are cousins, that’s why we lost both of them. However, they might not be far away and may have even come back to our little town. So, I told Jennifer to head back, I have a hunch, and maybe it will pay off for us…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.