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

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.