The Investigators, Inc. The Jigsaw Puzzle Mystery. Chapter 6. Play Before Work.

The next morning things were a little mixed up around here. Misty went into Sky’s bedroom, which she shares with Angel, to wake her up. “Sky, wake up, wake up!” yelled Misty as she vigorously shook Sky. “Yaaaaaaa, we’re under attack!” yelled Sky in return. She then zapped Misty. “AAAAAAAA!” yelled Misty, “Why did you zap me?” “Because you attacked me while I was sleeping and you woke me up!” Sky yelled at Misty. “Of course I woke you up,” said Misty, “you were sleeping. If you were awake I wouldn’t be able to wake you up because you would be awake. I can only wake you up when you’re sleeping and you were sleeping so I…AAAAAAAAAA! You zapped me again!”

“That’s because you were talking nonsense,” said Sky, “and you woke me up. Now go away so I can sleep.” “You can’t sleep, it’s time for breakfast,” said Misty. Sky looked at the clock. “AAA, why didn’t you tell me it was so late,” said Sky, “I need to shower and get dressed. Now I’m going to be late for breakfast and I won’t get any pancakes. Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” “I tried that once and you zapped me,” said Misty, “and why did you disappear while I was talking to you last night?”

“I had to go, Steve called me,” said Sky. “Great! Did you fight off all the enemies by yourself?” asked Misty all excited, “Did you toss some lightning balls at them? Maybe kick them and hit them and throw them around? Just use straight lightning at them? C’mon, tell me all about it!” “I didn’t fight anyone,” she said, “I only saw Steve and Helene.” “Great! You really smacked Helene around, right?” asked Misty, “Did you pull her out of her bed? Did you zap her hundreds of times?” “She wasn’t in her bed,” said Sky, “and I didn’t fight her. She was in Steve’s bed.”

“Great! You rescued Steve just in time while Helene was beating him and probably ready to stab him, right?” asked Misty. Sky sighed. “She wasn’t fighting Steve,” said Sky as they entered the kitchen, “she was lying beside him with her head on his shoulder.” “Great! Steve had her in a choke hold!” exclaimed Misty, “I knew Steve could handle her, he was just holding her until you arrived, right?” Sky sighed even louder. “Steve wasn’t choking her,” said Sky, “he had his arm around her cuddling her, or comforting her, or something, because she was crying.”

Everyone in the kitchen was silent now. “Anyway, I brought them both back here last night,” said Sky calmly. Alyson was standing there with her mouth open holding a plate with 12 pancakes. “For me?” asked Sky, “Thank you Alyson!” She took them, sat down and poured lots of maple syrup on them and began to eat. Jennifer then came into the kitchen and stopped. “Why is everyone so quiet?” she asked, “And why is Sky eating a dozen pancakes?” “Sky told us about Helene coming here,” said Dawn.

“Oh good,” said Jennifer, “now remember, Helene is a guest, no wait, she is part of our family now, so please make her feel welcome. She has been through a lot and needs our help, she has changed and wants to get her life going in a positive direction now.” Helene came into the kitchen at that moment and said good morning to everyone. Dawn got up right away and hugged her, welcoming her to our family. Then everyone did the same thing.

“I’m surprised that you had that jigsaw puzzle about 3/4 done,” said Helene, “you must have been working around the clock.” “Yes, actually we were,” said Jennifer, “and your house is only about a 3 hour drive from here.” Helene laughed. “Well, I really didn’t want to make it too hard for you,” she said, “that place is just one of 4 that I have…” Her voice got quiet near the end. “You know, we can go back and pick up anything you want,” said Jennifer. “I don’t want you to risk your team for a few possessions,” said Helene. “Oh, we wouldn’t be risking any lives Helene,” said Jennifer, “we have ways of going in and out without being detected.”

“Like Sky arriving out of thin air last night?” she asked. “Yes, much the same way,” said Jennifer, “though that must be a secret for now.” Alyson then put another plate of pancakes on the table which Sky took immediately. “We need more maple syrup and butter,” said Sky. Alyson put more on the table, then looked at the empty plate, then at Sky, then she sighed. She then called Morning and Sugar to return and help her out. Kat filled us in on Alex and the prison she is in right now.

Sienna told us what her lawyers said and they could likely get a new trial, but that would take time, perhaps a year. Alex likely wouldn’t be alive by then. According to Rossana there has already been an attempt on her life. Another juror has been found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. The defense lawyer is being watched by our team, plus the 5 remaining jurors. “We have a complete layout of the prison,” said Kat, “but it won’t be easy getting her out of there. This is a fairly new prison, high tech and well guarded.”

“Too high tech for our computer girls?” I asked. “Nothing is too high tech for our girls!” exclaimed Misty, “They can do anything. That’s what Cristy told me.” “Cristy is your twin sister, correct?” asked Helene. “Yep, we’re identical twins,” said Misty. “Ha!” said Sky. Misty just looked at her and Sky giggled. Sugar put a plate of pancakes on the table, then she got more maple syrup. “Wow, you girls sure at those pancakes fast,” she said. “We never got any,” said Misty, “Mrs. Ghosty here is eating them all.”

“I’m hungry this morning,” said Sky, “you should be faster.” “Hey, look at that!” said Misty and Sky turned to look. Misty then took 2 pancakes and put them on her plate. That’s when Sky put her finger on Misty’s hand. “AaAaAa!” exclaimed Misty as Sky zapped her again. However, Misty kept her pancakes. “By the way,” said Misty, “how can you be hungry since you’re a…AAAAAAAA!” Sky had zapped her again so she wouldn’t say ghost again. Sigh. After breakfast we held a general meeting telling everyone about Helene and that we would soon make plans to get Alex out of prison before she is killed. We will need a very good and well coordinated plan for this one…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.