The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 1. Friends.

It has been a few days since our last case and we are all relaxing still and enjoying our down time. We don’t get much of that. Misty and her team are in the city shopping right now, that’s how they like to relax. Actually, it seems most of the team likes to relax by shopping. Personally I don’t find that relaxing and prefer to shop online where I don’t have to fight crowds, or walk around for hours. Jennifer, Friskie and Kitty are with them as well. I like to have some of the ghosts along at all times, just in case. It doesn’t always help, but it makes me feel better anyway.

Oskar asked if he could go visit his parents since he hasn’t seen them for over a year. I gave him permission but said he had to take 3 other guys with him, or he could take 3 of our 6 Nordic girls with him if he preferred. He nearly fainted when I suggested that. He was afraid his parents might think one of them was his girlfriend and start wedding plans. Apparently they are anxiously waiting for him to get married. He is a bit shy around women, guess that’s why he doesn’t come around here much. Rather amazing that he and Astrid were friends back in Sweden, she is the only woman that he will talk to for more than 5 minutes.

Anyway, John, Burk and Mike went with him. He said it was no problem since his parents have a large house so there is lots of room even with 3 of his siblings still living at home. The next day Sky and her Bad Girls were in the city shopping. They took Kristina along with them since there is already Sky and Angel on that team. While at home Oskar’s parents told the guys what had just happened to a friend of theirs, whom Oskar also knew. He was friends with their oldest son. Apparently last year the father drowned while the family was enjoying some time at one of the local beaches.

That was odd since he was an excellent swimmer and there were a lot of people at the beach that day, but no one saw him in distress at all. He just suddenly disappeared from view and police divers recovered his body later that day, quite a bit further out than when he was last seen. But it was not considered suspicious, just accidental drowning and that could be what happened. Even experienced swimmers can drown. However, a week later his wife received a letter, or a note really, in the mail which simply read, “One less on the wall”. No one thought anything of it, however, since it made no sense.

The police looked into it a bit but figured it was just someone playing a prank by sending random notes to people. It had been mailed from some place in Greece. Two days ago the wife was found dead in the bathtub, she too had drowned. The coroner said it was accidental drowning. She had been reading and likely fell asleep, then slipped under the water and drowned. The youngest daughter found her, which must have been traumatic for her. No one was home at the time the mother died, a son and daughter were at work and the youngest daughter had been out shopping with a friend.

There was no evidence of foul play or that anyone had entered the home. Today they found a note taped to the front door which simply read, “Two less on the wall”. This is definitely not a coincidence, or a random prank, this is deliberate murder, but what does the note mean? “Family pictures on wall lots of times,” said Steffie. Yep, that’s it! The murderer is going after the family from oldest to youngest, unless he just wanted to kill the parents. But why wait a whole year to kill the wife, well, okay, it was just 10 months.

“Maybe something prevented him from committing the second murder until now,” said Misty, “like, maybe he was in jail for some other crime.” “Cristy, check that out please,” I said, “just see if anyone from that city had been released from jail recently, like within the last month.” “On it Steve,” she said. “Maybe bad person live somewhere else,” said Steffie, “and just come there to kill family.” “I thought you and Auntie Misty were going to play this morning?” I asked her. She looked at me blinking her eyes, then smiled. “That right Auntie Misty,” she exclaimed, “we go sliding first!”

“But donuts are ready,” she said. “Forget donuts,” she said, “playing even better!” She then grabbed Misty’s hand and practically dragged her upstairs. Bump, thump, bang, “ouch!”, bump, wonk, “my head!” “Stand up Auntie Misty,” said Steffie, “we go faster.” Hmm, guess she was actually dragging Misty upstairs. “Wait, I’m not…AAAAAAA!!!” yelled Misty. Whump! “Awww, Auntie Misty, you slowed me down,” said Steffie, “but we try again.” “My poor head,” said Misty. Soon… “Yaaaaa! Wheeeee!”

“Not hard to tell who’s who,” I said chuckling. “AAAAAAAA!!!” yelled Misty, then there were screams and a crash! “You supposed to stop at bottom Auntie Misty,” said Steffie, “not roll like bowling ball.” “She got five girls and a dozen donuts that time,” said Jennifer. “Great, a new record!” I exclaimed. “Let’s go play tunnels now Auntie Misty!” yelled Steffie. “Oh good, that’s safer,” said Misty. “I think Misty forgot she got stuck last time they played tunnels,” said Jennifer. Meanwhile, in a flat somewhere in Sweden… “Two down and six to go. They will regret what they did to me!”

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.