The Investigators, Inc. The Killer Mystery. Chapter 7. Warren Hampton.

Well, we found out that Warren Hampton is the CEO of Hampton Enterprises, a rather large company in London, with additional offices in New York, Paris, and Hamburg. “I finally found a photo to go with that name,” said Cristy, “and you won’t believe who it is!” “Harley’s father,” I replied. There was a short silence. “Steve, sometimes you are no fun at all,” she said, sighing loudly, “but yes, you’re right, it is him.” “Keep digging my favorite, fantastic, fun-loving digger of information!” I told her. There was a short silence. “Um, thanks Steve,” she said. I imagine she is probably red with embarrassment right now.

I told her to send the photo to Jennifer right away, but she had already done that. Sometimes I feel a little bit obsolete. People are doing things right and getting things done without me telling them what to do now, and I’m usually last on the list of people to get this information. But then, they can handle things quite nicely without any input from me now. Oh well, I always did want to do more reading anyway and now is a good time for that. Hmm, I need to sneak out of the house and go for a walk to do some thinking for a while.

That isn’t going to be easy though, Dawn is good at her job. And she is very determined not to let me out of her sight. Fortunately she spends her time at the front door, when she is actually at a door. I have never seen her at any of the other doors in this huge chateau. So, I will pick one of them, but how do I get away from my ghost bodyguards? “I smell donuts,” I said, “but that means it’s too late for us, sigh.” “I’ll check anyway,” said Friskie and off she went. Angel was lying on the bed reading intently. I got up quietly and walked slowly and quietly to the door.

When I got there, Angel was standing there leaning on the door frame. “You weren’t thinking of going somewhere, were you?” she asked. She then pointed to my chair. Sigh. I keep forgetting that she has amazing hearing. Meanwhile, back in London. “I sense danger,” said Jennifer as they were now in the parking lot of their hotel. Then they heard a shot and Roxanne went down! The Bad Girls scattered. “Take her back Sky,” said Jennifer.

Back with us and the Code Red Clinic Incoming sounded and I communicated with Jennifer right away. She told me what had happened and I told her not to let that go unanswered. I also told Sky to take Emily, one of our snipers, back with her, which she did. “Okay Bad Girls,” said Sky, “let’s get them!” “Where did they all go?” asked a man. “I don’t know, they’re hiding among the cars,” said another man. They were behind the hotel looking intently at the cars. “You want us, Englishmen?” asked Amerie.

They turned but Amerie and Suzette shot first. “I wonder who shot?” asked another man. “How should I know?” answered his friend. “You are lost?” asked Chloe. The men turned and she shot them both. This kept happening time after time until Jennifer stopped sensing danger. They all returned to the vans and off they went to look for Warren Hampton. Jennifer called his office, but he wasn’t in yet and wasn’t expected for another hour. So, they headed over to his house. “There will likely be security cameras,” said Melanie.

Sky went off to look around and she found cameras at the front gate and by the front door of the house. She destroyed the house cameras first, then the ones by the gate. She then opened the gate for the vans and they came driving up to the house quickly. A nice lightning ball blasted the door to pieces, then Sky and Jennifer went in first to deal with guards. The rest of the girls came in behind them, but there was no one at home, which was rather odd. Jennifer contacted Cristy who assured her that he only had one house in London. Obviously he knew they would be coming.

However, there was one other thing they could do and soon they were on their way. A few minutes later the house was engulfed by flames! Interestingly, no one saw the vans come or go that morning which was a real plus for the team. Jennifer communicated this with me and I told her to keep looking for Hampton, we can’t allow him to get away with what he did. She understood and said they would continue looking for him. “No one kills one of my Bad Girls and gets away with it!” exclaimed Sky. The rest of the girls yelled in response.

They decided to try his office again, but will go in this time and not phone. Jennifer thinks he was there all along, but his secretary just said he wasn’t. In they went and the receptionist greeted them but she suddenly fell asleep as Amerie had gone behind her and touched her neck with her ring. Sky was keeping her invisible so she could get close to the receptionist. Jennifer had 2 girls with her and Sky had four. They walked down the hall to Hampton’s office, but the door was locked, so Jennifer went in and unlocked it. The door was opened and the others came walking in.

The secretary saw the door open and was about to alert Hampton, but Jennifer touched her neck and she was asleep. The inner door was unlocked and the girls burst into the office! “Stop them!” yelled Hampton to his guards. But the guards yelled and dropped their hot guns and the Bad Girls began to fight, taking care of the men easily. Hampton then raised his hands and said he surrendered. “You killed your own wife,” said Jennifer, “you killed your own daughter, you killed one of my girls and you want to surrender so you can be set free by one of your friends in high places. You know, Mr. Hampton, you don’t look well at all, perhaps you should sit down.”

“You’re right, I don’t feel well,” he said and he sat down once again. He then slumped over onto his desk and the girls left, invisibly. Before they went, Sky noticed that in one corner of the office was the place where they recorded the security cameras. So, she went over and shot some electricity into the machine before leaving with the others. In the van Sky told Jennifer they won’t see anything on that security footage except a bright light. They went directly to the airport and were soon on their way home. Richard had people pick up the vans right away.

Meanwhile, back in our nearby city. “Hey Deborah, check out the news,” said Herman. She looked up and saw that Warren Hampton was found dead in his office. He had died of a heart attack. “Steve had something to do with that,” said Deborah, “I know he did!” “But how could he do it?” asked Herman, “Hampton had his security guards in the room with him, and his secretary in the outer office, none of them saw anyone come in.” “Yes, I know, he always was complaining about not feeling well,” she said, “so maybe he did have a bad heart. Get everyone together for a meeting Monday evening at the Brooks House.”

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.