The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Steve’s Daughter. Chapter 1. Disappear.

Posted on April 7, 2026 by

400 Comments

Here we are waiting for another case to come our way. Everyone wants another case so we can get out and be active again. Sometimes, though, we need to be more careful what we wish for, not all cases are good for us. Friskie told Jennifer and I about her secret that she had told Steffie, and she was right, she should have told us first. Jennifer looked at me. “You will have to make an announcement about this Steve,” she said, “otherwise everyone is going to spend all their free time trying to figure out what this secret is, so do that today.”

“But, everyone will know,” said Friskie with a worried look. “Better to find out now from Steve,” said Jennifer, “than to find out from Steffie later.” “Maybe we should wait a day or two though,” I said, “until everyone is out of the clinic.” “Right, I agree with Steve!” said Friskie emphatically. “Just a minute,” said Jennifer quietly, “keep talking though.” I was still in the clinic at this time. Jennifer went invisible, obviously someone was listening outside the door again. Steffie was here visiting again too.

Suddenly, outside the door… “AAAAAAA!!!!!, and then… “YAAAAA!!!!”, and there was a thud. I thought Jennifer would know by now, but guess not. Jennifer and Misty came inside the room. “It’s okay Steffie,” I said, “it’s just Auntie Misty again.” Steffie comes out from under the blanket again. “You always scare me with yelling!” she said, as she sat with arms folded and frowning at the two of them. Some time later, after Kat had checked me out thoroughly and made some changes to me, I was feeling much better.

“You should be okay now,” said Kat smiling. “I sure hope so sis,” said Jennifer, “it would be nice not having to worry about Steve all the time.” “Well, you can stop your worrying now,” said Kat, “he’s back to normal again, even better actually.” “Good thing you added the word ‘better’,” said Jennifer, “or I would have to start worrying again.” Soon all of us were out of the clinic, though some of the girls were still not cleared for going on cases yet. But, we don’t have a case right now anyway.

But maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon. One morning several of the girls had the younger children outside for some play time so I decided to go outside and join them for a while. All of the cats were outside with us as well and we were having a great time. That is, until something happened. Suddenly several armed men showed up and one of them quickly grabbed Steffie and put a gun to her head. I wish I had the ability to make guns red hot like our ghosts, but I don’t. The next thing that happened was we were all shot with some type of sleeping dart, even some of the cats.

Oddly, no one in the chateau noticed anything wrong outside, and our electronic surveillance hasn’t been working for the last couple of days. We always seem to have trouble with that. Suddenly the alarm went off when the cats pressed their alarm buttons! Code Red, Attack! This kept repeating while the team came rushing out to look for us, ghosts leading the way. The cats met everyone and began telling what happened.

The ghosts went to the spot and picked up the children that had been left behind, only Steffie had been taken, along with me, Dawn, Milena, Macy, Jackie, Valeria, Brandy, Celestine, Ivy and Catalina. Also four of the cats, Storm, Jewel, Ginger and Sir Night. I’m not sure why they took so many of us, but I guess they have their reason and will let us know eventually. Perhaps they want us to do something for them, that would explain taking Steffie, they can use her to pressure us into working for them. My idea was almost correct, but not quite, as we shall see.

Somewhat later at the chateau a car drove up with a lone occupant. The man got out of the car and was told to give his name and nature of his business. He said his name was Jeremy Copeland and he needed help rescuing some friends of his. He was allowed to come in after being thoroughly checked for weapons. He seemed like a very nice and polite gentleman in his early 40s, an American and his friends had gone missing while on vacation in Mexico. They are now being held against their will.

“We would like to help you Mr. Copeland,” said Kat, “but we already have a case that we are presently working on and that leaves us no time to help you.” “I think you will want to change your mind,” he said, “here, take a look at this bracelet.” He handed it to Kat and she recognized it right away. “So, you’re the kidnapper of our team and the little girl who was wearing this bracelet,” said Kat calmly. “Kidnapping is such a bad word,” he said, “we are just giving them a change of scenery for a while. They are being well cared for, I promise you.”

“And what makes you think I will let you go?” asked Kat. “Because if you kept me,” he said, “then your friends would be killed, one each day, until I am allowed to leave. If you work for us, then we look after your friends and they will be returned to you when the job is done.” “What, exactly, is the job?” asked Kat. “I have some friends in a Mexican prison, Anthony, Stanley and Herbert Rowland, three brothers. Plus Eugene Rainer,” he said, “and I want them out within the next 8 days. I know you have done this sort of thing before, so you shouldn’t have any difficulty.”

“I can’t make the decision myself,” said Kat, “we need to have a meeting of our team leaders first. I can let you know later today.” “Very well,” he said, “this is the hotel where I’m staying, you can reach me there.” He then got up and Kat said to let him leave, which he did…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod

Category: Adventure, Danger, Fiction, Mystery, Story, Strange Happenings, Suspense, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , , , , ,

400 Comments on “The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Steve’s Daughter. Chapter 1. Disappear.”

    • Yes, I sure did. My neck is sure sore today too for some reason. I was sorting more photos, then my new bedframe came today! One of those electric adjustable types. I’m glad the delivery guy was kind enough to bring it into my apartment for me, it’s a bit on the heavy side.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Then perhaps you’ll be able to get more consistent sleep which should help you feel better.
    How did the plant that fell the other day do? Is it showing signs of recovering?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yes, it should help, at least I’m hoping it will. Can’t really know for sure until I get to using it regularly, but I think it will help. My doctor thought it would be a good idea too.
      Yes, that plant is doing well, like nothing happened at all. Fortunately that one is a tough plant variety. Tough plants are tough to find although this tough plant is not too tough to find, I would say it’s just moderately tough to find but a good tough plant for people who need tough plants.😃🪴

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Stupid Steve is a name I gave myself years ago when I kept doing so many stupid things. Um, well, I still do, but that’s beside the point. The name came years ago and it stuck. It just seems to fit me. Like yesterday, sliding off that rock and hurting myself, see what I mean? That’s Stupid Steve at work. It’s a name that fits me, really, and I don’t mind, really. I look at it comically in a comical sort of way. Oh well. I know, you said super. Speaking of plants, I think those bugs are finally gone again, I hope so anyway, no sign of them for a while now.😃🪴

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Those fruit fly critters around plants are actually fungus gnats, but they are related to fruit flies. These others were thrips, terrible critters that are next to impossible to get rid of without poison. Or using 91% alcohol rubbed on each individual leaf, which is what I do. Isopropyl alcohol.
      Well, time for the ol’ bed idea again. I will be back tomorrow with more exciting conversation to converse with you with you with. Have a good night!😃😴🌛

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Cold 🥶 at first… then it began to warm slowly. But I got pretty much everything accomplished that I went there to do. My daughter is now paying the utilities which makes a bunch more room in my budget finally.
    So you’re not feeling so good these days huh?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It finally started to warm up here today, kind of nice, maybe I’ll start to feel better. My back has been extra bad lately and getting it checked didn’t produce anything abnormal, so perhaps just weather related. Or I think perhaps this old chair of mine might have something to do with it too. I desperately need to get a new chair, but it’s so hard to find one that fits me, except something in the 4,000 to 5,000 dollar range, which is out of my budget.

      Glad you were able to get everything done, now you should be able to stay away for a couple of months.😃

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. Yeppers! My Granddaughter graduates high school this spring but she’s not having a grad party until July sometime so I’ll fly back for a couple of days for that but, yeah, done driving that’s for sure! Ugh… I drove 20 hours on Saturday and another 3 1/2 on Sunday. I was completely shot when I got here. It’s taken me until today to start feeling back to normal!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Well, it was a nice, sunny, warm day with a temperature of 64 degrees! 🌞 I was on my balcony for a while this afternoon cleaning it up a bit and just relaxing for a while. I managed to get Stupid Steve Project 192 finished today. Then my back gave out and since then I am barely able to walk around the pain is so bad.😞

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. What’s project 192?🤔
    Sounds like heaven there today. It rained here early this morning until around 10:30 then the clouds moved out and the sun shone and mid 80s 🌞 ☀️

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We might actually get into the 80s by Monday, looks like a jump right into summer for us. Wow, over a year to build your next plane, now that’s patience! Gasp, you were away from your phone?!?!🤯😮

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. Sorry I missed you earlier today. I was off going over the plans for my next plane build which will be probably a year to complete so I was away from Mt phone.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. Uh hahum… pants/britches/ long shorts…😖
    I don’t not have it very often. Maybe I should start doing it more often🤔 ahh nevermind… no one really ever contacts me except you and that’s the way I like it.😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Oh, pants, not plants. Guess I read too fast, or something. Sigh. Oh, Stupid Steve Project 192 was a small table to use for plants. My other small table that I was, and still am, using was too crowded for all the plants, now they are spread out more and can stretch their leaves. Now I’m working on S. S. Project 193, which hopefully I will finish tomorrow, then I can start S. S. Project 194. Both are small easy projects, however it will depend how well my back improves by tomorrow. Somehow I have my doubts. Awww, thanks!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  18. You’re welcome!😁 I remember the table plan! Ya gotta give’em some space to grow and just be a plant.😅 How is the plant posting coming along?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. It works better on some days than others… but today it’s good. I slept until after 9 am today. That felt great after the last few nights I didn’t sleep very well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. I am awake tonight! Sorry about yesterday. I fell asleep 😴 💤 I didn’t wake up until around 10 pm and then went to bed and woke up around 7:30. I must still be car lagged🤪
    How are you?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Wow, that’s really something! I would like to do something like that, but it doesn’t work for me. Very rough day today, I think the cold and rain might have something to do with it. 😞🌧️

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yep, it managed to reach 46 and rained all day, so it was a damp cold. Supposed to warm up beginning Monday and get up into the low 80s. If the forecast is correct. My PSW was late tonight, she was running very late actually.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Nope, our holiday weekend was last weekend and it was cold, rainy and snowy. The nurseries have not been too happy this spring, hard to sell plants when it’s too cold to put them outside. Our holiday weekend is usually the one that begins our gardening season. It’s going to take a while to warm up the ground before planting can really begin.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yep, the plant is doing okay now. Found those nasty bugs on a couple more plants though, but I have a new way to deal with them which seems to work okay. But they need to be sprayed every 3 days for 4 times. No project for today, just relaxing.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  25. I saw on YouTube on Thursday and video where they mixed hydrogen peroxide with water i think at 3 to 1 ratio and water the plants with it and it’s supposed to kill the larvae and get rid of those pesky bugs! You should look it up.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yep, I know about that trick, but it doesn’t work on these bugs, that one is for bugs in the soil, these bugs live on the leaves and it takes something quite strong to kill them. But that hydrogen peroxide is great for root rot and giving extra oxygen to the roots to keep them healthy, plus killing any soil bugs. Peroxide has a multitude of uses around the house and garden! And it’s not very expensive.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  26. Sorry on the delay. Charging my batteries and packing my truck for flying in the morning.
    Yes, Thats very true! It has a multitude of uses.
    You going to church in the morning?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  27. Not much wind here tomorrow. This is the first time in about 4 weeks I’ve been able to go. I’ve got to get a bunch of flying in in the next few weeks before father’s day. There’s a big warbird gathering in Waco TX on father’s day weekend and I’m going to go and fly and meet people and look at all the planes!😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Uh huh, riiiiight!
      Ooooo, sounds like a fun time coming up! And war planes too, now that sounds exciting. They must have a big field out there for flying around.
      Well, sorry to say, but it’s time to hit the hay at the end of another day. Have a good night and I’ll be back tomorrow! Have fun flying!😃🌛😴

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  29. Yep! Went flying, had a great time nice and hot 🔥 then went to the Dairy Queen for a banana split 😋 then home to air conditioning and get ready to do it again tomorrow 😀
    How’s about yous? Nice up that direction?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yep, it was a nice day, sunny and 64 degrees. Amazing, you move down to the warm country and then you freeze yourself with the air conditioning! Proves you like the cold of MN better! 😂🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • No fires up this way, it has been too cold and wet, though in the far west they have had a few fires, not much yet however. We’re supposed to have a wetter than normal summer here.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Shopping first thing. Clean up balcony. Make some kind of stand for one of my plants. Repot a couple of plants. Plant my flowers in their pots on the balcony. Buy parlor palm (yes, yes, yes).😃😃😃

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • It’s a palm that you put in the parlor. Basically a mini palm tree. They are beautiful and really add a nice tropical feel to a room! Getting it home won’t be easy though.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Good morning Dusty! Sorry for disappearing last night, but my laptop crashed on me so i went to bed. Took me a while to get things working again, but it seems to be fine now. Guess it’s getting old, I do spend a lot of time on this machine so I’m sure it ages twice as fast. Nice day though, got up to 83 degrees today and sunny. Very humid too due to thunderstorms overnight. Fantastic lightning too, but not much rain.⛈️🌞

      Like

      Reply

    • Good morning Dusty! How’s things? Get out flying today? Another beautiful day here with a high of 77 degrees, a little cooler than yesterday, but still nice.😃🌞

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  36. Good Morning 😁
    Nice to see you’re up and at’em today!
    It’s nice to hear the weather may have finally begun to warm up in the arctic!😂🤭
    Sorry I missed you yesterday, I went flying again and then went to help Bruce fix his plane as his motor died in flight again. I told him to change something when he was installing the engine and he didn’t do it, so, you can guess the rest. He did a belly landing, he didn’t really break anything but we needed to change that and reassemble and it got late. Got home around 9:30.
    No flying today though either, to windy again. Got lots of rain over this past week.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yeah, it was even nicer yesterday, but that north wind cooled things down a bit. Supposed to be sunny and warm all week, perfect weather! 🌞 Just wish I could get out somewhere for some picture taking fun!😃📷 But my friend is a bit busy this week.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • My PSW just left, this one gives such a good massage! There’s nothing around here to take pictures of unfortunately. And it’s dangerous to carry my camera around in this neighborhood. Someone tried to take it from me one day, fortunately a guy came along to help and the other guy ran off.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • This town isn’t so quiet anymore. We have one of the biggest drug problems of any town in Canada. So thefts are on the rise too and violence. I never carry my wallet with me when I go out walking anymore either.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  39. Time to use caution ⚠️ then and not put yourself in a vulnerable spot. It’s to bad you can’t move to a nice quiet little town.🙁
    But, change is constant and maybe the police will be able to start to clean it up.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I don’t think we have enough police officers to handle the situation here anymore. Our town council complains that the police service is already costing too much. We had two drug dealers in our building, one was evicted a while back and he is now on a dangerous persons list. The other one is supposed to get evicted next week. That should help keep buyers away from our building now which will be nice.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  40. Any improvement in keeping them out of the neighborhood is a good change to start with. So, what’s your week looking like? Is it going to stay warm? More plants to tend to?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yep, sunny and warm all week and maybe into next week too! I have five more plants that need to be repotted. This warm weather is perfect for that since I can do it outside and keep the mess out there. One plant is rather big, so doing it outside will be perfect.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • My notification alerts are not working tonight, so I don’t know when your comments come in. Sigh. There’s actually three vines and all are doing great on their new climbing poles, but they are climbing the window, not the door. I lost another plant to those crazy thrips, that makes 6 now. Sigh. I don’t see them on any other plants right now though, so that is good.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Isopropyl alcohol at 91%, mixed with a bit of dish soap. Kills on contact. But it has to be done 3 or 4 times 3 days apart because it doesn’t kill the eggs. I use a spray bottle. I got the idea from YouTube place.😃

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • I thought so too, amazing the things I think of at times! Did I mention that I got a parlor palm? I got a parlor palm! Just in case I didn’t mention it. Now hopefully I can keep it alive!😂🪴

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Good thing you’re back now, but I gotta go now, I can barely stay awake, didn’t sleep well last night, too much thinking. Sigh. Oh well, I shall be back tomorrow for more chatter and clatter! Have a good night!😃🌛😴

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment

Steve’s Country Archives
Translate Steve’s Country

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Steve`s Country on WordPress.com