The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 11. Plans and Traps.

Johan, the police officer, is trying to kidnap Ronja and Sanna, so we have to stop him and also expose him, if possible. But we need a quick plan to prevent his trap from working and maybe the best plan is to involve Dagmar. Unless, of course, she is involved in this trap too. But, if she is, then we will find out and maybe put an end to these murders finally. There could be other people involved, though, but I think that Dagmar and Johan are the two main people in this murdering rampage. We do need Ronja’s help and that means telling her we think her sister, whom she is very close to, is one of the murderers of her family.

That is not going to be easy for her to accept. She is only 18, just beginning her adult life, and she has already had to deal with so many deaths of her family members, those she loved and was close to for the past 18 years. I communicated with Jennifer, telling her of a plan to stop Johan and expose him. She agreed this might not be very easy for Ronja, but at least she has her best friend here right now and that might help her deal with the information Jennifer will share with her.

“Are you brave?” asked Jennifer. “Sometimes,” she replied, “but I’m certainly not like you women.” “We’re not always brave either,” said Sigrid, “but we do what we have to do so we can get the job done, even if it’s dangerous. I think you can be very brave if you want to be.” Ronja smiled and looked at Sanna. “We stayed overnight in a haunted house last summer,” said Sanna, “even with all the weird noises, bats and rats, we didn’t run off!” “Yeah, that’s true enough,” said Ronja, “and two weeks later someone was found dead in that house by some kids that decided to explore the house one day. He apparently died of a heart attack. Everyone says he was frightened to death by a ghost!”

“Aw, ghosts don’t exist,” said Sanna firmly, “everyone knows that.” Meow, mew.= “Yep, ghost not real and talking cats not real too.” “Jewel, that’s not nice saying things like that,” said Jennifer. Ronja and Sanna just stared at Jewel as Jennifer picked her up. “Wow, you’re a fantastic ventriloquist!” said Ronja, “It really sounded like Jewel was talking, how come you never did that before?” “Jennifer doesn’t like to show off,” said Astrid. “Anyway, call Dagmar and see if she really has agreed to this police protection idea,” said Jennifer.

“Oh, okay, I can do that,” said Ronja. Jennifer told her to put the phone on speaker, so they can all hear it, which she did. Kitty has excellent hearing, better than Jennifer, so she relayed the conversation to me. “Hi Dagmar, can you talk?” asked Ronja. “Perfect timing, it’s my break,” she said, “what’s up?” “Johan is here wanting me to go with him so I can be put in police protection,” said Ronja, “he told me you already agreed to do that, so I was just checking.”

“Why that wretched beast!!” she exclaimed, “Don’t go with him Ronja and tell those private investigators to protect you from Johan. Maybe he will try to force you to go and they can kill him for us, then we can’t be blamed. That would be even better than my plan for Johan. This may come as a shock Ronja, but it has been Johan and I that have been killing the family. That way you and I will inherit the family business and it will be 50/50, just you and me on top for a change! We have always been at the bottom of the family all our lives.

The boys got everything new, we got used clothes and toys from our cousins and friends, it was always so embarrassing for us, remember? Well, that is changing. I needed Johan’s help to do the murders, I couldn’t do them all myself. Then I planned to kill him one night at the business by pretending there was someone breaking in while we worked late some night. I was going to hire some street guy to break in and Johan would kill him, then I would kill Johan and put my gun in the street man’s hand. Then I would call the police, it would be perfect. But if those PI’s kill Johan for us, that would be even better.”

“But won’t the police find out that you helped kill some of the family?” asked Ronja, sounding a bit nervous. “How can they find out?” she asked in return, “We won’t tell them. We’ll just live in luxury the rest of our lives, finally, instead of being at the bottom and working for the rest of the family. Now we will be on top, just you and me.” “Wow, my head is swirling right now trying to process all of this,” said Ronja. “Well, just go take care of Johan right now, then let me know how it went,” said Dagmar. “Okay, I will get someone here to help me deal with him,” said Ronja.

“Well, how did I do?” asked a still nervous Ronja, “I, I, just can’t believe that Dagmar would do this to our family. I mean, she was right about things when we were kids, but that had all changed as we got older.” She then broke down crying, falling to her knees. Jennifer got down there with her to comfort her. “Well, I’m going to pay Johan a visit,” said Astrid, “want to come along Kelsey?” “I better come too,” said Kitty. I communicated with Kitty to make sure nothing happens to the girls and they don’t have to be nice with Johan.

Kitty mentioned that to Astrid and Kelsey and they both smiled. “Well, where’s Ronja and Sanna?” asked Johan, “I can’t wait here all day.” “They won’t be coming out Johan,” said Astrid, “you’re little trap for those girls has backfired and now it is time for you to go to jail, for a very long time for all those murders you and Dagmar have committed.” Johan backed up a little, then pulled his gun out remarkably fast and shooting right at Astrid’s stomach. But the bullet barely came out of the end of the gun barrel and dropped to the sidewalk.

Then he dropped his gun because it was so hot! That’s when Astrid grabbed his arm and raising her leg, she broke his arm over her knee. That caused him to scream in pain but when Kelsey went to hold him next to his car she didn’t see the knife in his other hand and he went to stab her. However, she moved quickly, but he still managed to slice her arm with the knife so that she now screamed. Just then came the familiar sound of “Thwock! Thwock!”, and Johan fell to the sidewalk, dead.

Jennifer had let 2 of the cats go help when she heard the screams. It was Tiia and Maple, Galyna’s cat, that had both used their slingshots when they saw Johan attack Kelsey. This might be a little hard to explain to the police, however, even if it was self defense. Fortunately the building had security cameras out front and a lady walking along that way stopped and took a video of the whole altercation with her phone. So, the police were satisfied with our story and Jennifer said we would soon be giving all of our information we have gathered about these murders over to the police. When the police went to Johan’s flat they made another interesting discovery…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.