The Investigators, Inc. The Stray Cat Mystery. Chapter 5. The Visit.

Marlene was busy trying to decode the message on the back of the photo, as were a couple of the other girls. Tracy was checking out Wemyss’ businesses, plus his estate. She was trying to find a weak spot for entering his estate without being seen, but that seemed hopeless, except for using our ghosts to get in and that is likely what we will have to do. Helene has now joined Marlene in trying to decode that message, she is checking through the journals again to see if something was missed that would help. She then read in one journal where Callison talked about a stuffed cat toy she had as a girl and she would pretend to be a spy.

Her and Fuzzy, her cat toy, would have a special code to use for secret messages and she went on to explain how it worked. Her and Marlene then tried it on the message and it worked! Except, it didn’t seem to make much sense, so they came to me. I agreed, it didn’t make much sense. “Read it to me Daddy,” said Steffie. So I did. “The message says, ‘ Once there was a house made with sticks very big, hiding on a tall mountain with a rat and a twig. Once it had a cellar full of food and roots, you will need to dig wearing rotten leather boots. Have a heart that sounds like floor, though you will not work anymore.’ ”

“Why that is hard?” she asked, “Find falling down log cabin house high on mountain with funny name, then open door to cellar with roots, dig with shovel under old rotten boots, there you find 4 hearts that not work. That kinda weird though.” “Steffie is right, why is that hard?” asked Marlene. “I need some coffee,” said Helene. Off they both went. I looked at Steffie. “Maybe we’re all working too hard lately,” I said. “Yep, that probably it,” she replied. Then she went sliding back downstairs.

Hmm, I decided to try that too and it was great, until…AAAAAAAA!!!! Whump, thump, whack…groan. “I knew that was a mistake,” I said weakly. “I should have stayed in bed today,” said Misty weakly. Oh well, I then called Aari and told him how to find those hearts we want, and that Wemyss wants as well. After it was dark the Black Wolves went on their way to look for those 4 Hearts of India. Hopefully we figured that out correctly, and hopefully no one else has found them prior to this. Next, the Bad Girls and the Wildcats will need to visit with Wemyss, somehow.

This is where Sky gets her extra frequent flying points. She will take both teams, plus a few extra, to London where Sienna will have vans and a couple cars waiting for us to use on our trip to Aberdeen, Scotland. Hopefully by doing things this way, Wemyss won’t know we are coming until we arrive at his estate. Since the Black Wolves left after dark, I decided it would be a good time for us to travel as well. Poor Sky, she was busy taking the two teams plus extra ghosts and me to London. By using the ghosts, however, she was able to take four with her instead of just two, so it reduced the number of trips a little.

We stayed in a hotel that night, or actually, two hotels since we didn’t want to make reservations ahead of time. At least we could get each team into their own hotel, and quite close together too. Cristy made sure they had no connection to Wemyss whatever or our surprise would be gone. The next day we began our journey to Scotland which should take a little over 9 hours, however, allowing for stops, we will say 11 hours instead. We are split into two groups, ours has a car and two vans and the second group has a car and three vans.

Each van is a different color this time as well which will make us blend in with other traffic better. Our car, which is a limousine type vehicle, is white this time, usually we use a black car. Sienna has been making changes in vehicles and she prefers white. I suggested perhaps a blue car but Sienna just rolled her eyes. So, the car is white. Unfortunately we will be arriving too late for visiting Wemyss tonight which gives him an opportunity to find out about us before our visit tomorrow. Hopefully the two hotels we are staying at are not connected to Wemyss in any way, or perhaps have employees that are friendly with Wemyss.

Sienna made the reservations in her name which might help us, until we check in at least. Sherry is driving our car, she is definitely the best, except for Jennifer and Sky, but they have other duties. Fluffy is with us again too, can’t forget him. We did discover that Cat’s name is Fuzzy and he really does look fuzzy too. It makes sense that Callison would name him after her toy cat she had as a little girl. I hope we can unite those two again. Unlike some of our enemies, Wemyss is an early riser, so we will be knocking at his door, or rather, his gate, at 9am.

“Mr. Wemyss, those private investigators are at the gate,” said Robert, “shall I send them on their way?” “Of course not,” said Mr. Wemyss, “they have made a long trip to visit me, so let them in. Besides, I have nothing to hide, they can search the entire house if they like, they won’t find Callison. But if we send them away now, they will just cause us a great deal of trouble. Also, call Cramer and ask him how these PI’s got out without his knowledge, then bring him and his men back here after replacing them.” “Shall do Mr. Wemyss,” said Robert, and soon we were at the door of this huge stone house.

It was like coming up to a castle with this high stone wall around the house. “Good morning,” said Wemyss, “how may I be of service to you Mr. McCann?” “Oh, I think you probably know why we are here Mr. Wemyss,” I said, “a little matter of kidnapping a Miss Callison Featherstonehaugh. And please don’t take me for a fool, I have an eyewitness who saw your men taking Callison against her will and using a car registered to your personal security company.” “Oh, that’s right,” he replied, “someone did steal one of our cars a week ago. Terrible that they used it for such a violent crime as that.”

“I told you not to take me for a fool Wemyss,” I said, “you know it was now 12 days ago that your men kidnapped her. Now, I don’t care why you took her, but I want her back. If you cooperate and give her to me, then we shall leave and not bother you again. But if you decide to be stubborn, then so will we.” “I don’t even know this woman you are speaking about,” said Wemyss, “so please don’t accuse me of any wrongdoing.”

“Let me refresh your memory,” I said, “her father worked for you as your head butler for 5 years, then he left suddenly, for whatever reason, and moved to Berlin, then Lisbon, then Milan and finally ending up close to us in France to a house he purchased through a lawyer. So you wouldn’t be able to track him down easily is my guess.” “And you don’t know why this, um, person, left my employ?” he asked sarcastically. “Unfortunately that part is a bit foggy at the moment,” I told him, “but sooner or later the fog will be lifted. Now, will you return Callison to me or not?”

“I would gladly do so, if I had her,” he said, “but I do not. I will even let you look through my entire house and estate if you wish to do so. I have nothing whatever to hide.” “No, that won’t be necessary,” I said, “you obviously would not keep her here. But if she turns up dead, I will be back, that is a promise. Meanwhile, we will watch you, that is another promise.” “Well, now I must ask you to leave my estate,” he said, “and you would do well to go back home and forget this wild idea of yours. You cannot fight me and win, that is my promise to you.”

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.