The Investigators, Inc. The Killer Mystery. Chapter 11. Concluding.

Posted on June 13, 2026 by

499 Comments

Man in leather jacket reading notes with ghostly woman beside him in office

Steffie had just finished her little speech and everyone throughout the chateau had gone silent while she spoke. Cristy had allowed everyone in the chateau to hear Steffie, all but Jennifer and I. We were in my office and Cristy turned off the speaker into the office so we couldn’t hear what was going on. At first Friskie had reprimanded Steffie for saying her aunties were bad, but now she was silent too. Sky had heard Jennifer and I talking before Steffie began her speech and she “sneaked” some donuts from the other girls to bring to me as a present while she apologized to me.

Sky has the ability to hear me talking no matter where I am, even if I’m half way around the world. She just doesn’t normally use that ability unless necessary. However, at times she likes to listen in, the sneak. I think Jennifer is angry just like Steffie and she says that there will be some major changes within the Investigators from now on. Sky agreed that changes need to be made. “We need to get those changes done quickly,” said Sky, “I know you can do it Steve.” “That was a quick move from ‘we’ to ‘you’,” I said sighing. “Well, you are the leader,” she said smiling.

“Sometimes I’m not so sure about that,” I replied. “I will be making the changes myself if Steve doesn’t get things moving,” said Jennifer. “Oooh, sounds interesting,” said Sky excitedly. The Black Wolves and Wildcats made it back home safely and I announced to everyone that tomorrow was going to be a free day to just relax, then we would have a team picnic two days later since that is the date that Muffin and I launched the Investigators, Inc. Everyone was totally excited about that and much of the work was already done by the home team during this last case.

That case is officially closed since there really was nothing else we could do anyway. We did close down what we could of that international gang of sex traffickers and whatever else they were. With help from Kat, Samantha was able to get Harley up and walking around again so that she will be able to participate in our anniversary picnic. Yes, we did do a little misleading of our enemies in order to bring them out in the open so that we could stop them. We just never imagined how big that group was!

I’m so glad that Harley survived, I would have felt totally responsible for her death because we never checked out her family before sending her back home. That is something we are going to do from now on though, just in case. We had to make things look good just in case we were being watched. We almost lost John though and although Samantha says he will recover, she isn’t sure if he will recover fully so he can go on cases. I think that will be harder on John than it is on me having to stay home. However, there are other ways he could still work for us, such as a driver, something that we always need.

The day between our free day and our picnic we will be having a team leaders meeting which will also include all ghosts, Samantha, Galyna, Celestine, Victoria and Sienna. I wanted our doctor and 3 counselors to be in attendance to give their opinion on some things. Sienna also has a wealth of knowledge that she can share with us. Storm, Jewel and Snow will also attend this meeting. I even called Mandar to join us if he has the time as I’m sure he could also have much wisdom to share with us.

He wasn’t quite sure if he could make it until I mentioned our anniversary picnic that would be on the following day. He then said there was indeed an opening on his calendar so he would be happy to join us. Nothing like food to get Mandar’s attention! Well, the day of our meeting has now arrived after a very relaxing day yesterday and our meeting is now underway. I told everyone that we need better communication from now on, especially keeping me informed as to what is happening on a case. So they will give me a daily update, more often if there is a problem of any kind.

Team leaders will also pick a junior leader who can take their place in an emergency. They will each give me their pick but I will have the final say. Junior leaders can’t be any of the ghosts, however, since the ghosts get moved around a lot on cases even though normally assigned to a specific team. We will also have a team leaders meeting before all cases so everyone knows what is going on first hand. There will be two ghosts at home at all times, which is something we do now, but we will try to change which of them stays home each time so that all get a chance to go on cases too.

I will not be confined to my office, or even inside, as long as both ghosts are with me at all times while outside. And one of them will have to hold my hand at all times while outdoors in order to ensure my safety. Jennifer will stay home most of the time with me as one of the ghosts, unless she specifically needs to be on a case. Mandar is going to provide extra security for our picnic so that all of our team can participate.

The last time we had such a large team picnic we were attacked by Toledo and Kat was killed. Mandar wants to make sure there is no such repeat, especially since he will be here too. Well, I wonder what kind of case we will have come our way next? I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a simple case for us, but perhaps something that isn’t quite so complex would be nice. We shall see.

The End. A new case will be on the way shortly. ©2026 Steve McLeod.

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

499 Comments on “The Investigators, Inc. The Killer Mystery. Chapter 11. Concluding.”

  1. Well… that’s not a good way to start the day 😕
    Sometimes it feels like you should’ve just stayed in bed!🤕
    I slept until 7:15 this morning which is a considerable improvement over the past few days.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yep, sometimes it’s safer!
      Hey, that’s not bad! Today I slept until 5:01, which isn’t too bad for me. Hey, I found out that Safeway sells cheese that is dairy free and gluten free, so I bought some and made a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Not quite like real cheese, but it tasted quite good anyway. Now I have cheese to put on my macaroni!😃

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • It’s made with oat cream which is a blend of oat flour, peas and water, plus some other things. Color comes from peppers, apples and tomatoes. There are a few other things that I don’t remember. Oh, sugar and salt, but not much of either.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yep, all natural and yet all fake at the same time! Yes, it will be nice to have something extra in my diet, sometimes it can be a little hard eating the same thing all the time. However, it could be worse, but I’m sure thankful for something new!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • They actually deliver groceries?? Wow, you sure got some amazing things down there.
      Um, well, my day didn’t go too well, hurt my back so bad this morning that I could hardly move all day. And all I was doing was watering my plants. But my back went pop pop pop and the pain was horrendous. It has settled down a bit, but it’s still bad. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. Yep, they sure do! It sure saves on going to the store and fighting the crowds.
    Im sorry to here you hurt your back again today. Im sure it made for a long day.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Probably saves a lot of time too. Yeah, the day was a long one alrighty. The fair is in town, all the rides are set up in the park across the street. Nothing but screaming, yelling and fighting…then there’s the noisy kids too.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yeah, that place is crowded this evening, nice and colorful now that it’s dark. I think they close at 9 tonight, tomorrow and Saturday they stay open later. Do you get to see the moon eclipse tonight?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • The peak hits at 11:13 central time, so I’m off to lie down for a while until 11 and then get up for some pictures. Have a good night Dusty, talk tomorrow!😃🥱😴🌛📷

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Good morning Dusty! 😃 How’s things today? Did ya see the lunar eclipse? I managed to get some nice photos though it wasn’t easy because of that tiny sliver of brightness at the top since it wasn’t total eclipse.🌛📷

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. Things are good today. How’s about yous?
    The only eclipse I saw were my eye lids eclipsing my eye balls 👁 😴
    But I did see it on the TV before I fell to snoozing land.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • My back was in too much pain for sleeping last night anyway, or I likely would have fallen asleep before the eclipse happened. I did lie down for a while before going out onto the balcony for pictures. I only ended up with about 3 and a half hours of sleep, but I kept waking up about every 45 minutes during that time, so my sleep was very disrupted. Therefore today I didn’t do much. I did fall asleep for about 1 and a half hours this morning though. Does that count for doing something?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. Yepperie it sure does!
    Yeah, I thought the other fellas were gonna be flying this morning, so I got up late, then realized I hadn’t charged my batteries, so I charged the quickly and hustled out to the field and found …. no one else was there!😒🙄 So, I turned around and went back home. I didn’t fall back to sleep though I probably could have.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Well, you could have done some flying anyway just so you didn’t waste the trip. Those fair rides are noisy across the street. Well, the rides are not noisy, it’s the kids that are noisy. That one ride in particular really gets the kids screaming LOUDLY. 😬 I wouldn’t go on that ride even if I was paid to do it, even in my younger days. Nope, not me, not a chance, never. 😱

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. Sounds like me getting out of bed in the .morning!😂😂
    It’s almost September already! Where did the summer go??😲 Soon you’ll be telling me it’s snowing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Shopping and grilled cheese? In the same day?😲
    Now that’s living your best life!!😉😂
    Not me though…😒 Eggs and sausage and toast foe breakfast and turkey burgers for supper

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hmm, that’s not bad! I should eat a bigger breakfast like that. Except I can’t get gluten free sausage around here. Hmm, starting to get cloudy again, more rain on the way.🙄

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • We don’t need more rain right now, especially around here, we have had lots. Yep, the rain has helped with the fires, not many of them left now and none of those remaining are expanding much. Unfortunately, they are calling for a dry winter and that will make it bad again for next year.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • AAAAAAAAA!!!😱 That word again! 😬 The leaves are already falling a lot! Laying all over the ground! Grackles in flocks by the hundreds getting ready to fly south, saw a huge flock this morning.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • No, no, it can’t happen! 😱 At least not until November anyway. Or December would be nicer.😬
      Yes, I did notice the *, that was nice of you, maybe next time try *no*. 😂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • That works too, but *no* is what I like to say to that white lumpy rain!😂
      Well, it’s time for bed again, have a good night Dusty and I shall return tomorrow! 😃🥱😴🌛

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Good morning Dusty! I sure love that new car of yours, just so perfect for you! Been busy today? We had a strong wind last night and it blew my balcony plants around, smashing them badly.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  28. Oh…. your neighbor was yelling??? That could be a lot of wind for sure!🤭
    Yes, I was kind of busy today. I spent the morning working on my plane, and the afternoon working on Bruce’s plane. And now I’m catching a few minutes off my feet to chat with you. But, keeping busy makes the days go by fast.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Ah, there you are, was wondering what happened to you. Yep, good to keep busy, that’s for sure. I’m definitely not keeping busy lately, but mainly my back is to blame for that. And my friend has been rather busy lately so he doesn’t have time to take me out for pictures. Now it’s supposed to be cloudy with showers for the next few days. Sigh.🙄📷 Oh, I like your new pic!😃👢

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yes, it fits very well indeed. Ooo, the ol’ hunt for a new hobby is progressing nicely. I figure something new will be ready to go by, oh, spring or summer…2028. Sigh. I do have a couple of new ideas though. Once I have four ideas I will write them on pieces of paper, roll them into balls and put them in my hat, then pick one out without looking and that will be the one I try first!😃

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Well, they only kinda partly broke, except for the biggest one that kinda got flattened. I really didn’t think they would be in danger even though there was strong wind gusts. Oh well, the season is mostly over anyway.
      Yep, better not to have all that pressure pressurizing me into making a pressurized decision while being pressured and I won’t let pressures pressure me, no sirree!🤯🤔🙄

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  32. It is indeed. On to the next quick dollar to be made. It seems there’s a storm going on in the Gulf of America this week. I wonder if any of it may make its way over to my neighborhood 🤔? We could use the rain I suppose.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • You don’t want storms, rain perhaps, but not storms. Storms are stormy. And stormy storms storm too much storminess. There I go again. Sigh. It’s hard getting used to these longer nights, it’s been dark for 15 minutes already. Sigh. Guess it’s time for bed again, have a good night Dusty, sleep well and I will return um, oh yeah, tomorrow! 😃🥱😴🌛

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • That makes sense, better than the trial and error kind of way to learn. Oh my, the smell of weed is so strong in here this evening! My PSW mentioned it too and said it was even stronger out in the hallway. And I have my windows open right now, later when I close them it will be even worse. Too cool at night to leave my windows open now. It gives me such a headache. Sigh.🙄

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  36. Ugh…🤮 I hate that smell. My old neighbor in MN used to smoke it all the time in his garage with it open and it would seep over into my garage and I would need to go inside until he wad finished. Im glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yeah, several people in this building smoke it. I think the one guy down the hall smokes his own particular blend of drugs or whatever and my next door neighbor has a special native blend of grasses and plants to smoke, it’s even worse. Fortunately she doesn’t do it often. AAAAAA, this evening is one of those times, she just started!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Hmm, I could always get some skunk spray. She came home late last night, drunk as a skunk and when she opened the door to her apartment, her cats ran out into the hallway, so she spent the next 20 minutes trying to get them back. Must have been a bad night for drinking, this morning she was puking her guts out for the longest time, moaning and groaning something awful. It will be like this for the next 2 weeks until she runs out of money. It’s the same every month. Sigh.🙄

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Yeah, sometimes it gets a little stressful which makes it hard to sleep. One of the reasons I’m so tired all the time and go to bed so early. Oh well, can’t do much about it.🙄
      And, it’s dark, been dark for 20 minutes or so already. Time for bed, unfortunately. Have a good night Dusty, shall return with another exciting episode tomorrow! 😂🥱😴🌛🙄

      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