The Investigators, Inc. The Stray Cat Mystery. Chapter 8. Fergus and Ghosts.

Jennifer and Kat are still at the Wemyss estate and it is now night, the perfect time for ghosts to come out and have some fun. And an old stone house like that, it is apparently some 600 years old, surely must have a ghost or two. Wemyss and his friends just haven’t met them yet, but they will. Although Jennifer didn’t like the idea, I did convince her that they needed Courage to help out tonight, and I still had Sky with me, so I’m well protected. Meanwhile, in the restaurant downstairs some of our girls were sitting having some tea.

They are the early warning team, in case some “interesting” characters showed up tonight. There was a few other people in the restaurant as well, including one of the hotel workers named James, who also works for Wemyss, though we didn’t know it at the time. Melanie, Melissa, Alizea and Crystal were the early warning team and they were casually watching James and another man who was rather large. Anya came in just then and this large man waved her over to his table and so she went to see what he wanted, something she should not have done by herself.

Crystal noticed this and came over quickly too. “My name is Fergus Macpherson,” he said, “that man over there, he works for a man named Wemyss, you best be careful of him. He’s a sly one, likes to listen at doors, carries a knife always and often a small gun as well. Plus he is one good fighter. I know you’re part of that team of private investigators and he’s been watchin’ you a lot. He’s likely talkin’ to Wemyss right now.” “Thank you Mr. Macpherson,” said Crystal and the girls went back to their table.

“Bring him here,” I said to Crystal. The girls waited and suddenly the man’s phone began to melt in his hand and he dropped it. That’s when the girls got up and went over to him. “Come with us James,” said Melanie. “I’m at work right now,” he said dryly, “so go away.” However, the girls surrounded him which caused him to jump up quickly and pull out his knife. “Oh my, little boys should never play with such dangerous toys,” said Melissa, “you might hurt yourself.”

But he tried to slice her arm with his knife and Melanie kicked him in the stomach, then Anya kicked him which caused him to turn and Crystal kicked him in the back. That caused him to fall onto his knife, killing him. “Guess we can’t bring him to you Steve,” said Melanie, “he attacked us and ended up falling on his own knife. He’s dead.” “Okay, wait for the police to arrive,” I said, “I will come down there instead.” “Stay there Steve,” said Melanie, “only come if we need you.”

The police arrived quickly, seems one of the other people in the restaurant had called them. Fergus came and talked with the police and told them exactly what happened so they were satisfied with his and the girl’s account of things. That was good. After the police left Fergus showed the girls his ID, he is a police detective. I invited him to come up and visit with me for a while, so he did. He filled me in that the police have been watching Wemyss for a long time, but he is very careful about his illicit dealings and they have not been able to get anything positively against the man.

They didn’t know he had kidnapped Callison and killed her parents. Fergus knew about the family due to Callison’s parents having worked for Wemyss years ago. “Why would he go after the family like that after all these years?” asked Fergus. “Because it appears Featherstonehaugh may have stolen something very valuable from Wemyss at the time,” I said, “or perhaps he just somehow came into possession of these items and Wemyss wanted them. The items in question are known as the Hearts of India, four rare gems that are worth a fortune to collectors with the money. And Wemyss knows someone who will pay him a lot of money, a company worth about $20 billion, plus some cash of another $10 billion.”

“Whoa, them be some chunks of rock!” he exclaimed, “Can you prove Wemyss is behind those murders?” “Well, once Callison recovers we will have her testimony,” I said, “though that might not be enough. There are three men who work for Wemyss that tried to kidnap some other women connected to this case, but the police had to let them go. I have my team looking for those gems in an area we think they might be hidden, but so far they have found nothing. I’m sure that Wemyss has men watching them though, so if they do find something those men will try to take the gems from them.”

“Do you think it wise to put your team in such danger?” asked Fergus, “Those men that Wemyss hires play rough as you have already seen.” “We are watching things carefully,” I said, “and when my team finds what they want, then we will have more people arrive to help them get out safely.” “I just wish we could find something to put Wemyss out of business permanently,” said Fergus, “do you know about Lola, Reagan and Sawyer?” “We know about Lola, but not the other two,” I said. “Look up Reagan O’Connor and Sawyer Jackson and I will send you what we have on them too. Now, I must be going, but I shall keep in touch.”

I thanked him for stopping in and for his help. “I notice you didn’t offer to share information with him, why?” asked Sky. “I want to know whose side he’s on first,” I said, “before saying too much. I’m curious to know why he didn’t identify himself to Crystal and Anya right away.” “Sometimes you’re too suspicious,” said Sky, scolding me a bit. “What do you think?” I asked. “I say he’s okay, right cats?” The four of them meowed positively. “And you Celestine?” I asked. “I’m with them,” she said, “he’s definitely okay.” Okay, I’m in agreement with all of you,” I said, “still, we do need to be careful, Wemyss is a tough opponent and we want to trap him if we can.”

Our early warning team is now in the lobby since the restaurant is now closed and it should soon be time for Wemyss to start seeing ghosts. Right at the stroke of midnight, while Wemyss was sleeping, the lamps by his bed turned on and he was slapped, waking him up quickly and pulling out a gun from under his pillow. But, no one was around! He thought he was dreaming, turned out his lamps and turned over. But the lamps turned on again. He sat up quickly, then laid down again, but leaving his lamps on this time.

But, the lamps turned off and on several times, finally staying on. That’s when he called to the guard at the door who came in right away. He was told to stand there and watch for someone turning on his lamps, which he then turned off again. On they came, followed by a haunting laugh! Then a ghost stood at the end of the bed. “Get her!” yelled Wemyss and the man started towards Kat. However, she kicked him in the stomach, then to his head and he fell to the floor, dead.

That’s when Wemyss shot at Kat several times which brought Lola and several men to his bedroom. “Get her, get her!” he yelled to them. But only Wemyss could now see Kat. “Get who, William?” asked Lola as she sat on the bed beside him. “That woman standing right there,” he said, pointing to the end of his bed. “But there is no one there William,” she said, “you must have been having a nightmare.” “But I can still see her,” he said again, “she’s laughing at me…”

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.