Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 9. Good News.
We are not doing well on this case, a fact I’m sure I have mentioned before, but it’s worth mentioning again. Whoever is committing these murders is making us look like fools. Like we don’t have a clue what we are doing. I don’t like that at all. It makes us look like amateurs. We have to turn things around quickly. Not for us though, but for this family. They have been trusting us to keep them safe and catch the murderer, or murderers. We have done neither one. We have to change that, and fast too! Cristy said that she had some news for me, both good and bad.
I asked her to tell me the bad news first so we can get that out of the way. Then the good news will feel even better. I hope so anyway. The bad news was one of the secretaries was found dead in her flat by her neighbor. The neighbor told the police she heard yelling and crashing, then the door slammed and she heard footsteps running down the stairs. When it was quiet she went over to the secretaries flat, the door was partially open so she went in and found her body on the living room floor. Apparently there was only one person who left the flat.
The other secretary has disappeared without a trace. I think it can be assumed that she is dead also, though I certainly hope not. Someone is keeping a close watch on things in this case. That makes me think it must be someone in the family. But, the family keeps shrinking, so it looks more and more like it must be someone else doing the murders. Though it could be a combination of the two. I have sent Galyna and Victoria over as well, they are two of our counselors and can tell if someone is lying. Galyna was with Kat, Kristina, Nakedra and Engla as they talked with Astrid.
She has asked us to have team members in the house with her now because she is genuinely scared. She also realizes that if she had not opposed us being in the house before, then Leif would still be alive. She actually broke down crying when she said that. She also told the girls that she truly loved Leif and that she is responsible for his death because of her pride thinking they could handle things on their own, just like Stellan did. Now she is a widow with two young children.
I told Kat to bring Macy and Jackie in with them too and maybe they could help with the kids right now. Astrid thanked Kat for doing so. Macy and Jackie are great with kids and are looking forward to helping in this way. I want them in the children’s room too at night for added protection. Since the house is fairly big, they will also have four cats with them to patrol throughout the night. “Would you like to hear the good news now?” asked Cristy, “Or are you going to keep talking to the team?” She had this kind of impatient look on her face when she said that. Very strange.
“Yes, I definitely want to hear the good news,” I said, “we certainly need some right now.” “Okay,” she began, “you wanted me to find someone who had been away for the past 10 months or so, and I found someone. You’ll never guess who it is though.” “Astrid?” I asked. “No!” she exclaimed. “Daddy is terrible guesser,” said Steffie shaking her head, “that why he not be able to do puzzles. Have to guess sometimes doing puzzles. That why he not able to find hidden things like rooms and slides and tunnels and everynothing…”
“May I finish telling Daddy about my good news Steffie?” asked a now, very impatient, Cristy. “Ooops, me sorry, I go sliding now,” she said, “better step back so not go sliding too.” Now, Steffie meant her back, since she was facing the slide. Cristy was facing me, so she stepped back just as the stairs turned into a slide. “Yaaaaaaaaaa!” “Wheeeeeeeee!” Cristy sounds just like Misty at times like this. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” yelled Misty. Then there was a big WHUMP, followed by a crash and groaning.
“You supposed to get out of way when people sliding Auntie Misty,” said Steffie. “I’m supposed to stay in bed when you’re sliding,” Misty responded, groaning some more. “Hey, my donuts!” yelled Misty, “Come back here you mini donut thief!” “I think you broke my arm,” said Cristy. “I think you broke my leg,” said Misty. “I think you broke my head,” they said together. They finally hobbled their way up to my office. “Thanks for the donuts Misty,” I said cheerfully. “Stop being so cheerful and stuff a donut in my mouth,” she said groaning. So I did.
“Miffmuflemothmiff,” she said. “Auntie Misty sayed thank you,” said Steffie. Hmm, she’s also a good interpreter now. I handed a donut to Cristy, then Chantelle arrived with some nice, hot coffee, and juice for Steffie. “May I have the good news now Cristy?” I asked cheerfully. “Stop being so cheerful,” she replied. Hmm, sounds just like Misty. “Okay, here it is,” she said, “there is one person that was away for about that length of time, about 9 months really. It’s someone we were not thinking about at the beginning. That’s the police officer, Johan Berg. He’s part of the Civil Defense force here and goes in for training now and then. He was gone for a 9 month refresher up north. And guess what else?”
“There is more?” I asked, “Things are starting to fit together, including the fact that he is always first at the crime when the police are called. Could he have been seeing Lotta, Stellan’s wife? That would explain why he could get up close to her without scaring her.” “I don’t know that part,” she said, “but with this family, it’s entirely possible. Though I don’t understand why he would be killing the whole family. Oh, he is also an excellent swimmer, and an excellent sniper.” I then called our sniper’s to see what they have found out.
Charlotte said that they found an empty office that had a clear shot of where Stellan was inside his car. The window inside that office opened which would make things easy and then she began to tell me what kind of rifle the shooter used. “A typical rifle that a sniper would use,” she said, “and it would be an easy shot from here.” “And how do you know what kind of rifle it was?” I asked. “There must have been people in the hall when he wanted to leave,” she explained, “so he put it at the back of a high shelf in a closet so it wouldn’t be noticed. I found it by thinking like Steffie.”
Amazing, my team members are doing their job by thinking like a 5 year old. I guess if it works, why not? Well, things are coming together finally. Johan Berg, our friendly police officer appears to be our murderer, or one of them anyway. Could he be working alone? Somehow I doubt it, one of the family members must be involved, or at least, they were involved.
Perhaps that family member had second thoughts so he killed him, or her, too. There are only 4 family members left, and all of them want our protection and help, so obviously they don’t work with him. Though maybe Astrid was working with him and has now changed her mind, that is something we don’t know. Meanwhile, there was someone ringing the doorbell at Ronja’s flat. It turned out to be her best friend, Sanna Larsson…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
The bad news of one of the secretary’s death was not a surprise. The second one is probably also dead because they could identify who some of the killers are.
The police officer being out of town, after the first murders of the parents is also not a surprise. He certainly was the first responder to the death scenes and could have done the killings. He probably has an issue with money and greed, wanting the family business to be his. Perhaps he also has other motivations. Exactly, who in the family working with him should soon be uncovered. Perhaps it is Astrid.
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