Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Mountain Cabin Murder Mystery. Chapter 8. Rescue.
This is not a good day for us, we have a whole team trapped in the cellar of that old mansion and if we try to rescue them, the whole mansion will be destroyed. Angel is with the team, but can she protect 20 other girls? That’s asking a lot of one ghost. Right now our computer girls are trying to connect that female voice to one of the fake mothers of the “adventure girls”, but Cristy just told me it wasn’t any of them. Now they will try to match the voice with other women we know who hate us, perhaps it is one of them. I know our girls in that room, if Angel can’t protect all of them, then none will accept protection.
I can understand that. How do you decide who gets saved and who doesn’t? I communicated with Angel to have Misty send us pictures of that new smaller room. After all, those fake ghosts got in there a different way, so we need to find that way out. Unfortunately, Angel just got back to me and said none of the phones are working, which means they have a way of blocking their signals. Good thing they don’t know we can still communicate, but without phones there is no way to send us pictures. I asked Sky to bring Cynthia back home.
Steffie is our best puzzle solver, though Cynthia is good too. But Cynthia is our best problem solver, along with Celestine. Perhaps with those three working together they can think of a way to get our team safely out of there. Carolyn, one of our best inventors, next to Kat, volunteered to help the other three as well. Now there is four, and I certainly don’t mind the extra help. Angel is trying to describe the room, naming every detail she can see, and she is fantastic at seeing things that others don’t.
Angel is sending the information to Jennifer who then tells Celestine and she puts it in the room on her computer program that she developed for this purpose. The one big problem is the stone wall in that room, the other three walls are wood. But all Celestine could do is make a stone wall, without making it an exact replica. That’s a problem. There might be something on that stone wall, like a special stone, that would help to find a hidden door. But for now we will concentrate on the furniture in the room. Or, at least, the girls will concentrate on it.
I am not even going to look at it, otherwise I will mess up their concentration. I would like to get everyone else out of the mansion, but then these people would know we can still communicate with our girls, and I don’t want that information getting out just yet. “Kat, can Angel possibly protect all of the girls?” I asked her. “It’s possible,” she said, “but there is no guarantee. That is a lot of people to protect, I think you asked that before.” “Yes, I did,” I said, “but I thought maybe you would have thought of a way it could be done. Sorry, I’m stressed.”
“That’s okay,” she said, “you’re allowed.” The girls were looking at their computer simulation of that room and Carolyn asked about the lighting so they had to make their room darker, but not much. Steffie asked if there were any pretty stones in the wall. “Pretty stones?” asked Angel, “What constitutes a pretty stone?” “Pretty colors, you know, something different than typical grays,” said Celestine, “or even different shapes than the others, maybe an odd size.”
“Oh, well, there’s a pink one over there, a yellowish one here, a white one there and there and there. There’s a nice black, smooth one here, even a couple of blue ones.” “Oooo, nice, can you bring a blue one back for me?” asked Celestine. Jennifer was communicating all of this back and forth and she just finished Celestine’s request for a blue stone when she stopped and rolled her eyes. “Um, keep on topic please,” said Jennifer sternly. “That was on topic,” said Celestine, “I love blue stones!” “She has a point Jennifer,” I said, “that does make it on topic.”
In retrospect I should probably have kept my mouth shut. Jennifer grabbed me and “AAAAAAAAA!!!!” I went flying through the air and landed on the bed! “Tickle fight!” yelled Steffie and she jumped on the bed tickling Jennifer who was tickling me. Friskie tried to grab Steffie but Cynthia jumped in and started tickling Friskie! Celestine and Carolyn looked at each other and sighed, then they jumped in and started tickling everyone! Finally Jennifer got up and pulled me through everyone, kind of handy being able to do that. “Hey, where did they go?” asked Carolyn.
That stopped everyone and they just laid on the bed, worn out. Jennifer and I sat on the big chair and relaxed for a bit. Angel was a bit worried though, she wasn’t getting any answer from Jennifer. “Okay everyone, back to work,” I said. “It’s bedtime for Steffie,” said Friskie, “past actually.” “But Auntie Misty and Sneakers not safe yet,” pouted Steffie. “Okay, just a little longer,” said Friskie, “if you get too tired then you won’t be able to help anyway.”
“Hey, that’s it!” I exclaimed, “Jennifer, you could bring those girls out, just like you just pulled me through everyone, couldn’t you? You can go through the door, or wall.” “Yes, if I can get through that door or wall, then I can bring them out two at a time,” she said, “but I would have to do it invisibly.” “Right, then Sky could take them, invisibly, upstairs to the others again,” I said, “since they likely have a camera in that room at the bottom of the stairs too.” I then called Sky and asked her to take Carine and Jennifer back and I explained what they were going to do.
Kristina and Kitty would help with this too so we can get the girls out of there and upstairs quickly. Kat would have to look after the “adventure girls” by herself for a while, although the Bad Girls would also be there to help her. The ghost went down to the cellar room and Jennifer went through the wall to get the girls, taking them by twos out through the wall to the other ghosts who took them upstairs. While back, Sky finally noticed the hidden camera in the cellar room and shot some electricity at it which destroyed it and the cameras in the other rooms too, since they were all connected.
Meanwhile, “What happened to the cameras?” “I don’t know sir, there was a blinding light and they all went off, just like the ones upstairs.” “That’s just great, now we can’t see what they are doing. What about the emergency camera?” “I’m trying to get it connected now sir. Aha, there it is!” “Hey, all those women are gone! How did they get out of there?” “No idea sir, the door is still shut, there is no way to get out except the other hidden door and it hasn’t been opened either.” “I don’t like this, I don’t like it at all.”
Back to us, “We got them all out safely Steve,” said Jennifer after Sky brought her and Carine back home. Carine had some other information for me too…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
The female voice is probably someone you have had contact with in the last few months. You definitely have had contact with her. Angel has a big task watching so many but with the team working together, nothing is impossible. Glad that they there for each other. What one misses another sees. Great teamwork that confuses the enemy. The communication including Steve is also working. Yes! Nothing like a Tice fest to relieve the tension.
The team is still in the mansion, so they will have to remain vigilant.
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