The Investigators, Inc. Mystery of the Disappearing Family. Chapter 6. Nico.

Jennifer called Sky right away and she had me in the clinic immediately. Then Jennifer called Kat and said to meet her in the clinic too, which she did. “Unfortunately, I can’t help Steve,” said Kat, “unless I know what the problem is exactly.” That is not what Jennifer wanted to hear since my health was going downhill very quickly. However, she was able to make sure that my heart kept working and a good flow of oxygen kept me breathing. Bridgette and Cindy, our nurses, were getting things set up in case I needed some “blood” from Sky again.

“I found something in Steve’s blood,” said Samantha, “though I’m not quite sure what it is at this point. My guess would be some kind of poison from Brazil, although that puzzles me a bit.” “But why?” asked Jennifer, “Steve was there and Zara might have been able to get some poison into him somehow.” “But how?” asked Kat, “He had ghosts holding him all the time when he left the hotel room. She had no chance.” “Except for one thing,” said Samantha, “I gave Steve a complete checkup when he got home, which is standard practice now, remember?

There was nothing in his blood then, so, he must have received it after getting home. I would say in the last 24 hours. I need Carolyn and Alizea in here to help me too.” Sky called them to come right away. “That’s it!” exclaimed Jennifer, and she called Aari. “Aari, restrain Nico immediately!” It just so happened that Nico was talking with Aari and Rock at that moment, so Rock grabbed him, slammed him against the wall and punched him in the stomach!

Sky then arrived and took him back to our detention center and locked him up. Then she returned to pick up Doc and brought him to the clinic also. By that time everything was set up for Sky to give me some of her “blood” again. “I hate needles,” said Sky, whimpering a little. Misty was there now, trying to help in whatever way she could. “Hey, you’re a ghostie,” said Misty, “you don’t feel pain so quit whining.” She was standing beside Sky when she said that, so Sky touched her hand and shocked her. “YAAAAA!!” yelled Misty.

“Okay, out with you,” said Samantha, “I said to be quiet, not yell.” “But I, but she,” said Misty as Samantha pushed her out the door. Misty watched through the glass window on the door and saw Cindy bringing a glass of water to put beside Sky. She looked over at the door when she heard tapping and Misty pointed to her watch. Cindy looked at the time and in so doing poured the water on Sky. “I’m soaked,” said Sky, “just wait until this is over.”

Samantha just shook her head. “I’m surprised at you Cindy,” she said, “at a time like this you should be more professional, that will mean demerits for you.” “But I, but she,” said Cindy and then sighed when Samantha frowned at her. Aari then called Jennifer and told her they found a case in Nico’s belongings that held 6 needles, but two were missing. Either two were used on Steve, which is not likely since it would mean getting to me, alone, twice. That would be rather hard to do. More likely someone else was given the second needle.

Jennifer then called Angel to check on Pacca and bring her to the clinic right away. Pacca had also been keeping to herself, mourning the loss of her good friend Anita. At least, that’s what everyone thought, but perhaps she had been given the other needle and was sick. Angel arrived quickly with Pacca, but… “She’s already dead, I think,” said Angel. Samantha confirmed it. “Can you bring her back Kat?” asked Jennifer. “I can’t do that and keep Steve alive at the same time,” she said sadly. Jennifer then went out of the room and called Kristina and Friskie, so they came right away.

“We need to go give this needle to Nico,” said Jennifer, “so we can get some information out of him. This is how we need to do it though. Carolyn told us he might have something in him to help him forget, provided he can say his secret password before our serum works.” Off they went and Kristina called out that dinner was being served. That was meant to throw him off guard. They opened the door and found Nico sitting on the chair. “Where’s the food?” he asked. “Friskie is bringing it,” said Jennifer, “we are just making sure there is no trouble.”

That’s when Kristina hit him, knocking him unconscious and Friskie came in quickly with the needle. Nico awoke fairly quickly and by then our “info serum”, as we like to call it, was working. Jennifer asked him several questions to see if things were working correctly, then she began with the serious questions. Meanwhile, Tracy was doing some digging too and she discovered that one week before the kidnapping, there was $4 million US deposited in Nico’s bank account. And, although his parents were from a different gang than Anita’s parents, Nico was apparently working for her parent’s gang.

That’s the one where Danilo, or Danny, was now the acting leader since Bruno and Paola had been kidnapped. It would seem that Danny isn’t too concerned about getting Bruno and Paola back. Leaving them with Zara means that he can take over the gang once she kills them. Jennifer, Kristina and Friskie were finding out some of this too from Nico, at least the part where he was now working for Danny and that Danny wanted to take over the gang. Also, Nico wasn’t concerned about Anita at all, he was just putting on a good show looking for her.

He has another girlfriend that he is also engaged to right now and had planned to marry next month. He already knew that Anita would be kidnapped and killed. And Nico was alone with me for a short time and could have injected that poison into me, however, why did I not feel the needle? Aari had an answer for that one too, they found a tiny spray bottle with a label that just said “sleep”. Trixie then checked our security footage for the hall and our bedroom which showed Nico walking in the hall, but there was a short blip and it showed him continuing past our bedroom, then turning around and coming back to the stairs.

That missing blip was right in front of our bedroom door. Inside our bedroom there was a bigger blip on that camera, but still less than 15 seconds. Nico was obviously trained to work very fast. He admitted to injecting the poison into me and working for Danny, but ultimately for a person named Mr. Flynn. That man gets around. We have finally decided that several people play the part of Mr. Flynn, but which one is the real one?

Most likely the real Flynn doesn’t leave home, or at least, doesn’t get directly involved in things. He stays a safe distance away from the action so he doesn’t get killed or blamed for anything. This is something that Jennifer has been trying to convince me of doing. She now has another strong reason in her favor. But for now, what is going to happen to me? Can we have Nico arrested for murdering Pacca? Do we have enough evidence to support that? Or will they just ship him back home to Brazil?

That might actually be best, he failed his assignment and won’t likely live long if he goes back home. Aari felt that would be the best thing to do, let his own people deal with him. Kat and Jennifer agreed, so he was sent home on the next available flight and Cristy took his money from his account to put in our orphan account. Just seemed like the fair thing to do. Now, what is next?

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.