Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Jigsaw Puzzle Mystery. Chapter 2. Alex.
I was certainly taken on a long trip to Helene’s home, or was it very long? It was definitely a long time but we could have been traveling in circles for much of that time without going far. Somehow I imagine we didn’t go far, that would be Helene’s way of doing things, however, she might have changed just to confuse me. That would also be something she would do. She can be quite confusing at times and that also makes it hard to find her and stop her.
Most people we deal with are very predictable which makes things a lot easier. Oh well. She still hasn’t told me why she wants me even though I have asked. She just said we will keep business separate from meals, it’s better for digestion she said. I had to agree with her about that. I did thank her for treating the girls nicely and letting them go quickly. She said the girls were very nice and polite so they were treated the same way. She also mentioned that Steffie was quite bold and energetic. I had to agree with her about that as well. After breakfast we talked a bit.
“I want you to help get someone out of prison,” she said, “there is a young woman who is serving a life sentence for a murder she did not commit.” “Are you absolutely certain she is innocent?” I asked. “Yes, that is why I want your organization to help her,” she said, “you can do some amazing things, remarkable things, even hard to explain things. If anyone can prove her innocence, you can. If not, then rescue her from that torture and give her to me and I will hide her.” “And keeping her hidden the rest of her life is better than prison?” I asked, “There really is not much difference if you can’t get out and live your life, even if she has a nice place to live.”
“You have done it with some of the women who work for you,” she reminded me, “you gave them a new identity and they can live freely, even though they are guilty of crimes.” “Yes, that is true,” I said, “we could do the same for you if you wanted to change your ways and join us.” “Did I say that?” she asked smiling, “I am quite happy where I am.” “Somehow I don’t believe that,” I said, “however, let’s stay with the present problem of proving this woman is innocent. I will need a name.”
“Her name is Alexandra Holden, she is 18 years old, no parents, no family except for one brother who inherited the family fortune because Alexandra went to prison. That was a stipulation in the family will, no child in prison would inherit any part of the family estate. The estate is worth around 20 million US dollars, not really a great deal of money, especially if it had to be split between the two children. I believe he set her up so she would be convicted of murder. His name is Patrick. The defense lawyer was a total joke, the so-called evidence was so good that it had to be planted or just fabricated and didn’t actually exist.
The jury took 15 minutes to come to their verdict. Interestingly, 5 of them have died since the trial. Now, we need to call your team so that they can see you are okay and I can explain some things to them.” We talked a bit more and then made the video call. “Good morning Investigators,” said Helene, “I want you to know that Steve is alive and well, as you can see for yourself.” I waved at this point but said nothing, which I agreed to before we made this call. “I’m sure you are wondering about that clue and the jigsaw puzzle pieces that Erika had,” began Helene, “think of this as a little test of your skills.
Figure out the clue and it will lead you to another spot with another clue and more pieces of that jigsaw puzzle. The completed puzzle will show you where to find Steve, and really, you should be able to find him without completing the puzzle. I promise to look after Steve and he will have full freedom within my house, providing he behaves himself and doesn’t do anything stupid. Then I would be forced to lock him up. I will give you 5 days to find Steve. With your amazing skills that should be enough time. Now I will let Steve do some talking.”
“Alexandra Holden and her brother Patrick,” I said, “I want their life history from the time they were born until the present. Alexandra is in prison, convicted of murder, she may be totally innocent, trapped by her brother. Check out the two lawyers involved, plus the judge and jury. Five of the jurors have died since the court case. Alex, her preferred name, is only 18. Cristy, get your computer girls on this right now. Jennifer, get some good lawyers to go over this case thoroughly.” “Is kidnapping Steve the best way to get us to work for you Helene?” Jennifer asked.
“Don’t think of it as kidnapping,” she replied, “think of it as a test of your skills. I’m not asking you to get Alex out of prison right away, I first want to see if you can find Steve. If you can find Steve, then I know you can help Alex. He did warn me about those bracelets he wears so we will allow him to keep those on. I am surprised there was only one tracker on him, and in his belt no less, not very original and easy to remove. Considering all of the inventions Steve has told me about, I’m sure your inventors could do better. Steve asked to talk with his cat Snow.”
“Snow, come here please,” said Jennifer. “About now she is sliding across the library floor and should be bumping into Jennifer’s foot right now,” I said to Helene. “She just came sliding across the floor and bumped into my foot,” said Jennifer as she picked up Snow. “Oh my, she is a beautiful little cat,” said Helene. Snow began to purr right away in response. “Meowy, meow, meow, mew, meowy,” I said to Snow. Meowy, meowy, mew, mew, meow! Snow responded and Jennifer put her down on the floor again. We all said good bye at that point and Helene said she would stay in touch.
“Is that some kind of secret code for Jennifer?” asked Helene, “And after I was being so nice to you.” “I was talking only to Snow, not to Jennifer,” I said, “it is not a secret code.” “I’m not sure if I should believe you or not Steve,” said Helene, “but for now I will. Please do not try to trick me though. I know my way of getting you here was not the best, but I could hardly come to your chateau and expect to leave again. I am wanted by the police in several countries, including France where you live, so I need to be careful.”
“We have had criminals come to our chateau before,” I told her, “and I have allowed them to leave.” “Even murderers?” she asked, “I have killed people Steve and you know it, and not just through my men, I have done it myself.” Oddly enough she had tears when she said that, but she got up and went into the living room before I could say anything. I then followed her and sat down on a chair. “As I said, you may have the freedom of the house,” she reminded me, “but please don’t try to go outside, my men will stop you and they may get a little rough. Just a fair warning.”
“Warning heard,” I said, “I will behave and stay indoors.” She didn’t say anything more except to say there was a tablet on the table beside me with games on it which I could use, but it has no internet connection on that one. I don’t think she fully trusts me. She is a hard one to figure out, I wonder what relationship Alex is to her…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
I’m guessing a granddaughter 😁😉
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Good guess except that Helene is only 27 herself. That was something mentioned the first time we met her which was a long time ago now. I should probably mention her age again.🤔👩😼👻🕵️♂️
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Probably 🙄
This case seems very similar to one you did earlier this year. The one where you had to hike to the border and barely made it…🤔
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Hmm, kind of similar I guess, both times we were sort of kidnapped. That ends the similarity though. Hopefully all we need to do this time is prove the girls innocence, but I doubt it will be that easy.🤔🕵️♂️
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You typically find out quickly what the truth is. What if she is guilty?🤔 What direction will your moral compass 🧭 point you in?🤔 Will you break her out???
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Hopefully we can do that, find the truth quickly, but if she was set up to take the fall for this murder, then it might be harder. We will need to see the evidence in the case and hopefully talk to some of the jurors before any more of them die. We also want to find out how those 5 died, that might prove interesting too. I think that I am here with Helene just in case we have to break Alex out of prison, or at least the team would, otherwise my life could be in danger. Helene did say she has killed people herself, I think she was trying to tell me something. We don’t work under threat of extortion or blackmail or threat to my life. This could be interesting. Of course, I could leave any time I wanted, I just need to call Sky and she would take me out of here. But for now, we will play Helene’s game. 🤔👩😾👻🕵️♂️
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Yes, as I mentioned in my comment yesterday, it seemed like it might not have been such a long journey to Helene’s house as it seemed. She likes to confuse things a bit and always be in control. She really knows quite a bit about you and your team. It does seem out of character that she would be so interested in someone who was wrongly convicted of murder. She does have an interest in Alex, which is intriguing. How does she know Alex? Is she a relative, someone who works for Helene, best friend, or who?
Helene is very suspicious of Snow and seems quite bright in noticing nuances. This will be a dangerous case, in order to find out the truth and break her out of prison. It seems that there is a well funded campaign against Alex. Is it only that her brother wants all the money, or more complicated?
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Helene is crafty, she definitely likes to be in control of things and yes, she likes to confuse people and with me that is easy. It would be interesting to find out why Helene is so interested in Alex. It could be she is a favorite employee or perhaps a relative. However, we could not find any living relatives for her before, but we might have missed one. I’m thinking perhaps a niece but I’m probably wrong. Alex is 18 and Helene is 27, they could be friends.
Helene doesn’t trust anyone it seems, not even Snow, or perhaps it’s because I wanted to talk with Snow. Helene does know a lot about us, but there is a lot she doesn’t know. I could call Sky and be out of here right away, but for now I will play her game. We need to find out more about Patrick, perhaps he is part of a larger organization. I think the 5 days given the team to find me is meant to give them time to find out if Alex is innocent or not. Perhaps we will have to break her out of prison. Doing so without getting caught may not be easy. 🤔👩😾👻🕵️♂️
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Guess all we know is that Alex is important to her. The team is going to have to move quickly. Patrick could well be a part of a larger organization. There is sure to be bumps along the way.
By the way, you missed my comment on Chapter 1.
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Yes, I’m sure we will find out soon why she is so interested in Alex. Yes, I hope the team is working overtime on this one. It will be a good test for them to see how they work without me around. I could call Sky to get me free, but I want to find out more about Helene, information that might help us deal with her. They need to find out more about Patrick quickly too, and somehow I don’t think Alex is safe in prison. If Patrick is part of a larger organization, they might have her killed. I’m also not communicating with Jennifer right now in case Helene has a way to monitor that communication that we use. 🤔👩😾👻🕵️♂️
Oops, how did I ever miss that? I will check it out right away.
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Maybe she just likes having you around to keep her company? 🤔😉
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That would be out of character for Helene. We were never able to find a man in her life at any time, except for those who work for her.
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You know ger better than I do. There’s a reason other than the game she’s playing on you crew. I don’t know what it is, but she’s got something other than that girl in mind. She really never said why, other than she thinks she’s innocent. So, what else is hiding behind that lack of information??🤔
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Yes, she hasn’t really given us much to go on, I suppose she figures we will find out for ourselves. She never did like giving away too much information, though in this case it would be helpful. I’m the pawn to make my team do what she wants. Alex must be special to Helene in some way
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Maybe Helene was responsible for the murder… hmmmm….🤔
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She did say that she has killed people herself, plus using her men to commit murder. 🤔🕵️♂️
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Yeah…. soooo….. maybe ya need to look at what she was doing at the time…
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I’m sure the team will check things carefully, I can’t exactly tell them what to do, they will have to think of that themselves. However, Helene is very secretive with her whereabouts, so that won’t be easy. She just seems to appear and disappear quickly and easily.🤔🕵️♂️
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Ooo… like a ghost??🤔🤔
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One would almost think so, but I don’t think so.🤔
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So, just I think so? That’s a lonely place to be! I’ll bet part of your team agrees with me!😛
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That’s quite possible, though I don’t see how she could be a ghost, she doesn’t look like one. And she had no contact with Dr. W.
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That you know of!😉🤔 You said yourself she very secretive and hard to track. But you’re probably right…
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Besides, if she was a ghost then she would know about our ghosts, and our ghosts would know about her. Ghosts can tell if someone is a ghost.
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If you say so…🙄
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I knew you would agree. We will be finding out some interesting details in the next chapter, which won’t be until tomorrow. We will find out who Alex is, plus some new details about Helene.
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That should be eye opening.
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It shall be for sure!
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