The Investigators, Inc. Mountain Cabin Murder Mystery. Chapter 4. More Puzzles.

Samantha told me that Nicole would have died if not for Kat being able to heal her as there was nothing she could do. I’m certainly glad Kat was able to step in and help, it would have been terrible losing Nicole too, after losing Bomber. Whoever the murderer, or murderers, are out there, they made a big mistake attacking us and killing Bomber. The “adventure girls” are now with Jennifer and I, pleading with us to let them go back to the old mansion to help look for the murderer. “We are not cowards,” said Darlene, “we want to help and we promise to obey your teams and not get in the way. But please, let us help.”

“Yes,” said Kerry, “Julie wouldn’t give up on us.” “Right,” said Megan, “sitting here in safety makes us feel like we don’t care.” Jennifer then communicated something with me so I told the girls to wait in the library while we talked things over. I then called Kat to join us. “We already have 3 ghosts out there,” said Jennifer, “we could send two more. That way we could protect those “adventure girls” better, especially at night. And, we could send more cats along too. I could be one and Kristina the other ghost.” “Oh no, I want you here with me,” I said, “that way I won’t be so stressed.”

“Good point,” said Kat, “but I could go along with Kristina, so there would be 5 of us out there. And, as long as the “adventure girls” obey the rules, they can stay, but if they disobey, then they come back here to stay.” “Okay, sounds good to me,” I told them. We put the “adventure girls” to sleep once again and took them back to the old mansion. Last of all Sky returned to the mansion wearing her fur coat, a live fur coat of cats! The other cats were all excited, telling the new arrivals about all the country mice out there. That really excited Rascal, Macy’s ocelot.

Storm is the Leader of the cat team and he is very good at keeping them concentrating on their job. However, he does allow them some mousing time too. There were a couple of large bedrooms that could easily sleep 8 by moving some extra beds into the room, so that is what the girls did. That way the “adventure girls” can all sleep in the same room and two of our ghosts will join them at night. Then we know that nothing can happen to the girls at night anyway.

During the day they will have to stay with their ghost guards. There will be 3 girls and two ghosts on each team as they look around during the day. They need to look for hidden doors, halls and rooms. There must be some out there. Oddly, whoever tried to kill Nicole in that outhouse, didn’t leave any footprints in the grass. That grass should have been flattened out a bit, but it wasn’t. That is a real puzzle. The grass is long behind those outhouses, though there is a nice rocky path from the mansion to the group of outhouses. Steffie came into my office while I was thinking about that little problem.

Yes, Samantha had let me out of the clinic early this time, with a promise not to overdo things. Jennifer told her I would keep my promise this time. Not quite sure what she meant by that. Amazing how quickly she answered Samantha too, almost like she didn’t want me to say anything. Very strange. Anyway, back to Steffie visiting with me. Jennifer had gone and Steffie peeked in the door to see if I was alone, then she came running in and jumped on my lap! Naturally she had her little bag of donuts with her. “I only could get 6 today Daddy,” she said, “and that was hard even, I nearly get caught this time!”

“You’re the best Sneaker around,” I said, “but you do have to be careful still, that’s important.” “Yep, sure is,” she said, “specially when Mommy close by.” We both laughed. Erika then joined us with some hot coffee for me. They both looked at me with those pleading eyes. Soon we were all drinking some coffee. “What are you thinking about Daddy?” asked Erika. “What makes you think I’m thinking about something?” I asked in return. “You’re always thinking about something,” she said, “especially when there is a case.” “Yep, that right,” added Steffie, “oooo, hot, hot, hot!”

“True, I was just trying to figure out how someone could walk through that long grass and not flatten it,” I said, “the grass behind that outhouse.” “That easy,” said Steffie, “he not walk on grass, maybe come out of ground.” I looked at her. Then I communicated that with Sky and she took some girls and cats with her. Sure enough, they found a wood trap door buried under 6 inches of soil and grass. However, it must have been locked from the inside and they were not able to open it. That proves there are hidden tunnels in that old mansion, they just have to find them.

Kat then communicated with me that she found another body, but this one was old. “Oh, you found a skinny?” I asked. “Yes, I did,” she said, “and it was lying on my bed, which I did not appreciate at all. And stop laughing Steve!” “How did you know I was laughing?” I asked. “You always laugh when something odd happens to me,” she said, “but it was not funny.” “Hmm, I wonder if they know you’re a ghost?” I asked. “How could they know that?” she asked in return, “Even our “adventure girls” don’t know that one.” “Hmm, yes, that’s very true,” I said, “guess it was just a coincidence, after all, someone had to get it.”

I then told Steffie and she was rolling all over the bed laughing. “Did you tell Steffie about skinny?” asked Kat. “Um, yes, and she’s rolling on the bed laughing,” I said. “I will tickle her when I get back,” said Kat. That night while Kat and Kristina were watching the “adventure girls”, Kristina heard a noise and she woke Kat. “You look out the window,” whispered Kat, “while I check the hallway.” However, neither of them saw or heard anything more, but Kat stayed awake the rest of the night with Kristina.

In the morning Megan woke each of the girls, but Rhianna didn’t wake up. Cindy, our nurse on Misty’s team, confirmed that Rhianna was dead, and there was only a very tiny pin prick on her neck. Sky brought her home and Samantha confirmed she had been poisoned by some rare tropical poison from the Amazon jungle. Our murderer gets around. Obviously a noise was made to get the attention of our ghosts so the murderer could do this. But even with extensive searching they were unable to find a hidden door in the bedroom.

I said to send photos back from that bedroom and I showed them to Steffie. I told her where Rhianna was sleeping. “Slide little table up, then down, listen to click,” she began, “then slide little picture on wall to left, listen to click. Turn little picture upside down, listen to click. See little wood piece on floor? Slide into wall.” Kat was following the directions and suddenly the door opened! I looked at Steffie and she smiled. Whoever came in that door moved very fast, and silent…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.