The Investigators, Inc. The Killer Mystery. Chapter 4. Obscure Woman.

There is a meeting taking place at the newest ManWell Escorts location with Norman Wellhouse, a woman named Deborah and several other people including the city Mayor and some prominent business people. Suddenly there was a large booming sound in the building’s lobby area. “What was that Norman?” asked one of the men present. “Go check on that noise!” Norman yelled at two of his men. They quickly left the meeting room. Then, suddenly, the door to the meeting room flew off it’s hinges and Rock came storming into the room. He grabbed one man and threw him at another man!

Aari, Carine, Kristina, Kitty and Sky came in next, followed by Bear, Joseph and Mac. “Well, well, look who we find here,” said Aari, “Norman and his fellow sex traffickers. And this lovely woman must be Deborah. My name is Aari Jensen, I’m leader of the Black Wolves. I guess you have all heard of the death of a young woman named Harley Corner, the beautiful young woman murdered by Norman.” “I murdered no one!” he exclaimed, “I already said it was one of my men, the one she fought with today.” He was pointing to Kristina.

“You murdered her!” said Aari firmly, “You ordered your man to do it and that’s the same as killing her yourself.” He then gave Norman a hard backhanded slap, knocking him off his chair. “Get back on your chair you coward,” said Aari, then he turned to Bear, “tell the others to take this place apart.” “Shall do Aari,” he said with a big smile. “Are these all your friends and backers Norman?” asked Aari, but Norman said nothing. He then hit Norman again, knocking him off his chair!

“When I ask a question, I expect an answer,” said Aari, he then turned to the next man, “well, how about you? Are these all his backers or are there others?” “There’s more, please don’t hurt me!” pleaded the man as he sat there with sweat rolling down his forehead. “Yes, there is more,” said Aari, “I just wanted you to admit it. You decided to check on us Deborah, a very wise thing to do, unlike your boyfriend here.” “Boyfriend?! Ha!” she said, “That thing is no boyfriend of mine, but he is quite helpful to have around, most of the time. However, sometimes he does make terrible mistakes, like underestimating you and your gang.”

“Very true, he should have checked things out much better,” said Aari, “then he would have realized we are more than a minor disturbance, and yes, we have a rather large handful of men available to us Norman. As for being more talk than tough, what would you say now Norman?” However, Norman just sat there like before, not saying a word, so Aari calmly hit him a third time, knocking him to the floor again. “You don’t learn very quickly dear Norman,” said Deborah, “just answer the man and you will have fewer bruises on that pretty face of yours that you spend so much time with.”

“Or perhaps you would prefer to have Kristina give you some bruises like she gave Marcel?” asked Aari. “No, I would not,” he said quietly. “Now you are showing more wisdom,” said Aari. “Ha! More cowardice would be a better fit for him,” said Deborah, then she said “Uncle Major”, but in Italian. Aari, however, was too smart to answer her, knowing that would give him away. “I think Deborah was talking to you my darling,” said Carine. He then turned toward her. “I think you know my name, please use it when addressing me,” said Aari.

“I was hoping that I was,” she said, “you remind me of someone that I once knew.” “You are a bit too young,” he said smiling. “It was back when I was a little girl,” she continued, “a man just like you would come to visit my father. He would always carry me around on his shoulders and I called him Uncle Major.” “Sounds like a good memory,” he said, “too bad I was not part of it.” “Would you mind taking off your dark glasses so I can be sure?” she asked nicely. “I’m sorry,” said Carine, “but these type of lights bother my husband’s eyes terribly, even for a short time.”

That gave Wellhouse an idea and he lunged at Aari to try and knock his glasses off! But Carine moved lightning fast and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall backward and over his chair and onto the floor once more! “Wow, I didn’t even see her leg move!” said Lucien, a prominent businessman. “Neither did I!” said Pascal, a government official. “Ah, Lucien and Pascal can actually speak,” said Deborah sarcastically, “may I ask one more question Mr. Jensen?” “Go right ahead,” he replied. “Why are you so interested in one obscure young woman?” she then asked.

“Perhaps because I have a soft spot for obscure young women,” he said, “also, my sister asked if I would help since I was visiting anyway. She is married to Steve of the Investigators.” “Interesting that you two chose different paths,” she said, “yet you still keep in touch.” “Well, I try not to hold it against my sister for marrying a private investigator,” he said chuckling. “And Steve doesn’t try to turn you over to the police?” she asked. “He has no quarrel with me here,” said Aari, “and he seldom comes to Canada on official business.”

While all this was going on, the Black Wolves were having fun destroying the new ManWell Escorts Club and making a lot of noise doing it. “May we leave now?” said another woman angrily. “Oh my, Alodie, you speak too,” laughed Deborah. She is another government official. Our girls at home are digging up information about each of the named people. “You may leave,” said Aari, “when I say you may leave, and not before.” “Do you realize how much money we spent building this new club?” asked Jean loudly.

“I don’t really care,” replied Aari, “we are just going to destroy it. And if you rebuild, we will return and destroy that one too. By the way, the two locations you have in London and the two in Paris are now closed for repairs too. I hear that all four locations have burned down. It’s so terrible how arsonists run around as they do these days.” While this talking was going on, no one noticed a secret door open behind Aari and a man stepped out with a gun and pulled the trigger…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.