The Investigators, Inc. The Mystery of Balding House. Chapter 1. Roxie.

I am finally out of the clinic again and enjoying life on the outside once more. I feel a lot better too and everything is running smoothly for us at the moment. Little did I know how short lived that would be. But, I guess everyone is ready for another case by now anyway. Our last case ended on a rather odd note without a real ending to the end. In other words, we didn’t really get the results we were hoping for with Mr. Flynn, or Donna, that is. Oh well, can’t always win a case even though we would like to do so.

It’s a rather lazy morning around here so I decided to give everyone the day off, meaning no exercises, practices and even household duties are kept to a minimum on days like this. Even meals are kept to something simple on such days as this one. As I was sitting in the library reading a mystery novel Cristy broke the silence by calling out my name, very loudly. “Cristy,” I said. “Yes Steve?” she replied. “We are in the same room,” I said, “it isn’t necessary to yell so loudly.” “Sorry, but the silence in here was deafening,” she said, “I couldn’t think. So, I decided to liven things up a bit.”

“Next time you have such an urge,” I said, “conquer it.” “Oh, um, right,” she said, “anyway, there is a phone call for you.” “Why didn’t you say so?” I asked. “I just did,” she reminded me. Sigh. “Put the call through so we can hear it please,” I said. “Hello, this is Steve McCann,” I said, “how may I help you?” “Um, I want to hire the Investigrators,” said a little voice. “Well, I’m the leader of the Investigators,” I told her, “what would you like us to do?” “I want you to find my Mommy,” she said. She was sobbing now and that got everyone’s attention.

She then told us that her mother disappeared 3 days ago and there was no food left for her and Blackie, which is her black cat. “I have money to pay you,” she said, “I have $20.35 in my kitty bank. Is that enough?” I think a number of our girls were crying at this time, including Sienna. “Yes, that is more than enough Roxie,” I said. She had already told me her name and address which Cristy was looking up for me. I had signaled for Sky and Misty to get their teams ready to go. Then I asked Roxie how old she was. “I 5 years old,” she said.

Her mother’s name is Jenna Cooper, her father died a year ago. She also mentioned two other people but we all had trouble understanding what their part was in the disappearance of her mother. There is a man named Arnold Clark and a woman named Malvina which Roxie said were bad people. “Can you come soon?” she asked through sobs, “me and Blackie are real scared to be alone in this big house. There is strange noises and weird stuff every night, please hurry, please!”

I hated to tell her that our teams couldn’t be there until late tonight since she lived in the US, but then Sky got my attention and said that Cristy got perfect coordinates for the house, so she can go there right away. “Good, take Angel with you and two cats,” I said. “Okay, Azura comes for sure,” she said, “and Tracker. I also have food for kids and cats.” They then left while I continued to talk with Roxie. Sky called back and said they were at the front door of this huge old house that looked rather empty. I hope this isn’t some wild chase we are on. I told Roxie that Sky and Angel were at the front door. I also told her these two ladies were very nice and kind and have their own cats with them too, plus food for everyone.

“Yay, I let them in right away!” she said and she ran to the door. The girls brought hamburgers and fries for all of them. Even though the girls don’t need to eat, they thought it would be better to act normal so they don’t scare Roxie anymore than she is already. The rest of the girls will have to fly over and will get there later today. Sky told me that the house is empty, some collection agency had taken all the furniture to pay off some debts. The police had also been there looking for Roxie to put her in a place for orphans, she told the girls, since her mother was now gone too.

That part didn’t sound very good so I had Cristy looking to see if Jenna Cooper had been found dead, but she couldn’t find anything. That made me feel a little better, however, I’m not so sure we can trust the police so for now we will leave them out of it. Apparently the morning that Jenna disappeared she had told Roxie to stay in her secret hiding spot until she told her to come out. She put as much of Roxie’s stuff as she could into that hiding spot and that is where she and Blackie have been sleeping at night.

The house is located on Balding Road and is known as Balding House. A General Balding had it built back in the 1920’s. Roxie said their are other hidden rooms and hallways in the house. Roxie told us that Arnold Clark and Malvina Morgan have been in the house twice looking for Roxie. Sky tried to calm her fears a little by telling her that she is safe now that her and Angel are here with her and the rest of the team would arrive tonight. There seems to be a lot of interest in that little girl with both the “bad” people and the police looking for her.

Something is going on, but what is it? Who took Jenna? The “bad” people or the police? Why was the furniture taken to pay off debts, Cristy said that she had no debts. The house is hers, no mortgage, no loans, taxes are paid. She had a car, which is missing. Cristy is trying to trace it. I asked Sienna to get some lawyers on this right away before someone tries to take the house. Sky discovered that Jenna left the deed for the house with Roxie, so that will be a big help. Perhaps that’s why people want that little girl…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.