The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 4. Sniffing.

I’m glad that I decided to send Sky along at the last minute. Well, okay, Jennifer decided it might be a good idea to send Sky, just in case her speed is needed for travel purposes. “Sky,” I said. “Right here,” she said, “oops, sorry, still invisible.” “Thank you, that’s much better,” I said. “I keep forgetting you’re not a ghost and can’t see us when we’re invisible,” she replied with a smile, “and here they are!” She held up a little plastic bag with the cigarette butts in it. “Plus these!” she said cheerfully. In her other hand was a glass and a decanter.

“Someone had a drink,” she said, “hopefully it was the man so his finger prints will be on them.” “Well, the decanter could have finger prints from the house owner,” I said, “but the glass is a good find for sure. Take them to Samantha, she’s waiting for you.” Off she went, then she returned to me and I told her to stay in that house tonight with two of the girls and a cat. Carine will be staying in the empty house with two of the Black Wolves tonight, plus one cat.

I also sent Rascal back with Sky, he will make a trip around the house every half hour, along with the other two cats, except they only go one direction and he will completely circle the house. Being a wildcat he just might pick up scent that the other cats miss. We already have DNA samples from everyone in the family, something I requested at the beginning and they all gave a sample without question, except Stellan. He argued a bit but Oskar was finally able to convince him it would help us find the murderer of his parents.

He has been the only one to object to us, something I find rather strange, especially since he seemed eager to have us help at the beginning. He also didn’t want anyone in the house guarding him and his wife, he felt he could do that himself. He found out that was not a good decision, but he still doesn’t want anyone in the house with him. Why is he being so stubborn? Samantha soon got back to me, the one cigarette was definitely smoked by Astrid, Leif’s wife. She has the same name as our Astrid, which is kind of confusing.

However, this is interesting, why was she in that house with the other two? Were any of them involved in killing Stellan’s wife? The man stayed all night, but we don’t know about the women, they must have left early while it was still dark, or they would have been seen more easily. I sent the fingerprints Samantha found on the glass to Rossana and she got back to me an hour later. “They belong to a man named Frank Meyers,” she said, “he is a well-known hit man from Germany. He’s deadly accurate and very dangerous, don’t expect to sneak up on him except with one of your ghosts.

Anyone else won’t come back alive. It would seem that your murderer is hiring out the work and keeping a safe distance. That could mean a woman.” I told her we had some DNA from a woman that we can’t find, so maybe that’s her. Meanwhile, Steffie had gone to visit Samantha, something she does at times, but this time as she came into her lab she stopped. Samantha looked at her and noticed she was sniffing the air and suddenly her eyes opened wide and she ran to Samantha! “He here, he here!” she cried, “Please don’t let him hurt me, please!” Samantha hit the Code Red button for the clinic.

Our girls began running there and Jennifer led the way, but I called Sky back too. “Samantha, fast!” I yelled and she was gone! Unfortunately the Code Red Clinic sealed the clinic so our girls couldn’t get in, though it didn’t stop Jennifer and Sky. Samantha should have hit the general Code Red so the clinic wouldn’t seal, it would still show up as the clinic. I unlocked the doors quickly for our girls to get through as well. Jennifer and Sky found Samantha and a totally hysterical Steffie who kept screaming “Don’t let him hurt me!”, so Sky brought her and Jennifer to me right away.

Poor Steffie clung to me so tightly it was hard to believe she was only 5 years old. I managed to calm her down slightly but she was crying so much she couldn’t talk. Samantha then called me. “I’ll bet it was that one cigarette she smelled,” said Samantha, “it wasn’t a normal brand, highly unusual mixture and smell. Perhaps the same type smoked by that man who held her captive before.” “Sky, take Kitty back with you and bring Friskie home,” said Jennifer quietly, and off she went. Soon she returned with Friskie.

“Hey honey,” she said softly, “remember that bad man is dead now so he can’t hurt you anymore, Daddy made sure of that. You know Daddy wouldn’t lie to you when he told us that, right?” Steffie looked up at me and gave me a little smile, then she went to Friskie. “I will stay here with you now,” she said, still softly. After a while Misty arrived with donuts for all of us, then she and Steffie went sliding again. Brave girl. “Yaaaaa!” yelled Misty. “You not suppose to go head first Auntie Misty!” squealed Steffie.

Then there was a loud “thwump!” “Ooooooh, my poor head,” groaned Misty. “I tolded you,” said Steffie. Then, “Wheeeee!” Yaaaaa!” “Those two have so much fun,” I said laughing. Now we have a lead on our mystery woman, since she is the one with this specialty cigarette. Apparently it is such a specialty that it is only sold in certain upscale tobacco stores, which are hard to find these days. There is one in Stockholm, one in Paris and one in Germany.

There were some others too, but those 3 intrigued me the most so I sent our girls to all three to check about our mystery woman. Unfortunately we didn’t have much to go on, no name and no photo or address. And maybe she didn’t pick them up herself, perhaps a servant did that, or a husband or boyfriend. But, we had to check so that hopefully we can stop more murders from taking place…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.