For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, Sandra just finished an attack on Elenore’s house, destroying it completely and everything inside. But everyone got out in time so that no one was killed, or even hurt. Sky just finished bringing Elenore back here and at the moment she is sleeping peacefully here at the clinic. She isn’t hurt, but there are no beds available anywhere in the rest of the chateau right now and we have quite a few empty rooms here at the clinic, so why not use them? Friskie will keep checking on Elenore, since they know each other now and that will make it easier for Elenore too.
I communicated with Jennifer that it’s time to get this case closed and I have everything ready to go on this end. Even though we have our plans rehearsed, or at least they do, I told Jennifer to be careful anyway. Sandra and Beau are monsters and we don’t want to underestimate them right now and end up with more of our team in the clinic, or worse with some being killed. They will be watching Swann’s house where Sandra and company are located right now.
Then in the early morning hours of tomorrow they will attack the house and force the occupants to run outside where we can stop them quickly. However, if anyone tries to leave overnight, then the attack will begin sooner. “Hey Steve,” said Misty, “you are not supposed to be out of bed right now. And stop pacing back and forth, you’re making me nervous.” “I second that thought,” said Venus, “it’s making me nervous too.” Sigh. I sat down on the big chair that’s in the corner of the room.
“That is not your bed,” said Misty. “I second that,” said Venus without even looking up from her puzzle book. I stood up to walk back to my bed, but as I began to walk I yelled and fell to the floor. Venus pressed the emergency button while Misty got out of bed as quickly as she could and came over to me. When she got to me she realized there was nothing she could do to help, since she was still unable to bend down. Samantha and Bridgette were in the room quickly though and they helped me get back into bed.
“Now you know why I told you to stay in bed,” said Samantha frowning at me, “do as you’re told from now on.” “I second that!” exclaimed Misty. “Me too!” added Venus. “Call Kat,” I said. Samantha and Bridgette were just going out of the room, but came back right away. “Kat,” said Samantha, “come to Steve’s room right away please.” Kat was here right away but there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with me, so they took me into the examining room for a thorough examination. However, they could not find anything wrong with me, though it seemed obvious something was wrong, but they know best.
Meanwhile, back at my old home town. No one had left Swann’s house overnight, so that meant everyone is still relaxing inside, and most likely in bed. Once there was reasonable daylight plans were put into motion. Jennifer took Angel and Kitty inside with Angel changing into Courage and Kitty turning into Miss Kitty. Then they ran upstairs while Jennifer checked downstairs After a few minutes, Angel and Kitty came back downstairs and reported to Jennifer that no one was upstairs at all.
She said that no one was downstairs either, then they checked in the basement, but once more they turned up nothing. Jennifer communicated this with me, so I told them to get out of the house quickly since there might be another explosive trap waiting for them. They quickly left and everyone moved away from the house. Then when nothing happened after half an hour, Jennifer, Sky and Angel went back inside and down to the basement. After looking around for a few minutes, they discovered a door. Angel used her lion strength to open it and there was a long, dark tunnel.
Sky used her lightning power to light up the tunnel and the three of them followed it over to the next street where it came out of the side of a rock hill. Unfortunately no one was around, they must have gone sometime during the night. They returned to the other girls and told them the bad news. However, they decided to look around town to see if they can find them somewhere, though not knowing what kind of vehicles they are driving will make it harder to find them. After a while they gave up and I told them to return home.
We have made it harder for them to do anything and we had brought in true police which have rounded up and arrested those who had been working for Sandra. A couple days after our team left, the police found Sandra and some of her men. They refused to surrender, however, and they were all killed in a shootout with the police. We didn’t get Sandra, but at least she has been stopped. Unfortunately Beau was not with her at the time, so he got away, perhaps with Helene.
We will meet those two again some day I’m sure. Misty and Venus are out of the clinic now and Elenore has returned to Canada where she will be living with her sister in Calgary. I am still in the clinic, but getting better. The three wounded girls are out of the clinic now as well, but not back to work yet, they will get another 3 weeks for rest. So, I’m by myself here in the clinic. Sigh.
Then I saw a head poking in the door. “All clear,” said Mandy. She and Erika came in quickly and closed the door. Then they pulled a plate of donuts out of their beach bag and sat on the bed with me as we munched donuts. They even remembered to bring some hot coffee with them. Mandy fluffed my pillow too, just right. I have the greatest daughters. I wonder what the next case will be like?
The End. A new case will begin soon. ©2026 Steve McLeod.