The Investigators, Inc. The Mystery of Balding House. Chapter 13. Games.

Dancer had just been talking to the mysterious Mr. Flynn, someone we have been trying to stop for quite a while now. But something wasn’t quite right. This Mr. Flynn sounded like a man and we know that Mr. Flynn is a woman named Donna Filing. Does Donna use different men to speak for her on the phone to hide her identity? That would be smart, then she could easily hide right out in the open and no one would ever think she was Mr. Flynn. Or were we wrong about thinking that Donna was Mr. Flynn?

No, that can’t be. We listened in on her conversations, so we know she is Mr. Flynn. “Hey Steve, listen to this!” said Trixie, “Helene showed me something.” “Okay, let’s have it you two,” I said. She then started to play the conversation between Dancer and Mr. Flynn, but as Mr. Flynn was talking she made some adjustments and his voice changed to that of Donna Filing. “It’s very simple, really,” said Helene, “doing something like that has been around for a long time, and it’s a great way to fool people. People seldom think to challenge the obvious, therefore it makes it easy to fool others.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting to know,” I said, “and it’s something we need to remember for future encounters with criminals. Helene, you are fantastic! And so are you computer girls, I don’t forget the amazing help you are to this team.” I then called Helene up to my office for a private chat. “I know we have been trying to find a new name for you,” I said, “after all, we want you to walk around in the open too without being afraid of someone noticing who you are. I have some new names for you to choose from, hopefully there will be one you will like to keep. Then we can give you a whole new identity and kill off the old Helene so no one will look for you anymore.”

“I already said you can choose the name for me and I will be satisfied with it Steve,” she reminded me, “however, I would love to see what you have for me this time.” So, I gave her the new choices to look over. “Which one is your favorite Steve?” she asked. “Well, it’s not my name, so I can’t pick it for you,” I said. “But I wanted you to pick it, remember?” she replied, “I just want to know your favorite, that’s all, then I will tell you my choice.” “Okay, it’s that one,” I said, “it fits you perfectly and I like the uniqueness of it too.”

“Well, it hardly fits me, because of what I was,” she reminded me, “and it would be a bit confusing with Kat’s name.” “Only if we shortened it,” I told her, “I like the full name, and yes, it does fit you now. Your old life is over, you have a new life now, remember?” I hit her back on that ‘remember’ part. She chuckled. “Well, we agree on one part anyway,” she said, “that is my favorite name too, so that is the one I want.” “Done,” I said, “and that identity is nearly finished too. And thanks for your help in identifying Donna again for us. I like to know who we are fighting.”

I sent this information to our teams at the house so that they also know that Donna is the boss backing Dancer and his family. Jazzy then came up to my office. “You would have to pick the highest part of this chateau for your office,” she said as she entered, “you could have had a nice office on the main floor.” “But this gives you girls some exercise,” I said, smiling. “I am not as young as those other girls down there,” she reminded me, “anyway, I was thinking, the best way to deal with Dancer and his family might be by letting Donna deal with him.

Although Dancer is not a real threat to our girls, he could still injure, or even kill, some of them. Let the criminals fight among themselves and they just might destroy each other.” “True, but how do we get them to fight?” I asked. “We already know that Donna is not thrilled with Dancer,” she said, “and even threatened to replace him. We just need to make him look foolish enough that she will carry through on her threat.” “She must have someone watching Dancer already,” I said, “and Donna was not thrilled with him losing Jenna. Let’s see if we can give her some more information.”

Meanwhile, back at the old house the girls have found the hiding place of something interesting, namely, gold bars. A nice tidy amount equaling about 5 million dollars, nothing wrong with that. The other map is what everyone is likely looking for, the hidden location of gold and jewels in Mexico totaling more than 60 million dollars. If it is accurate and hasn’t been found yet. Now begins the fun. The girls openly began carrying the gold bars out of the house and putting them in the vans with each girl carrying two bars, since they were not large bars.

Then the ghosts carried them back inside the house, invisibly of course. Dancer had men watching the house and they couldn’t believe how many bars of gold the women were carrying out and putting in the vans. They called Dancer and told him and that put him in a rage! He called the Captain who had a road block in place as the vans drove off down the main road. They were stopped and the vans searched for stolen gold, but they found nothing! The girls returned to the house and everyone had a good laugh.

Kat and Angel had also gone to the house across the street where they knew Dancer’s men were watching them and put the men to sleep. Next they placed $10,000 in each of the two men’s pockets, with a thank you note. When Dancer sent a couple more men to the house they found the two sleeping men and told Dancer. The men were brought back to Dancer and disappeared. Then Kat came to Dancer’s with the map to sell him. He knew right away it was the original by a certain mark on it. “What makes you think I will let you out of here?” he asked, “I could just take the map, why buy it?”

“You buy it, or I leave with it,” she said confidently, “I walked in and I will walk out again. The price is 1 million dollars.” Just a few minutes later Dancer’s phone rang and it was Mr. Flynn. “You will buy that map,” he said, “then bring it to me immediately. If not, then you and your whole family are dead.” I communicated the conversation to Kat and she smiled. After the call Dancer said he would buy the map and Kat walked out with her money to a waiting van and the girls drove off.

Sky stayed behind though for further instructions. Dancer and some of his men were planning on going to Mexico to retrieve all that gold and jewels for themselves and then head for Brazil, without telling Mr. Flynn. I communicated this with Sky who then wrote a note and left it on the bar for Mr. Flynn’s man to find. He then called Flynn and told him, that is, Donna, what Dancer was planning, including pretending to not have the map because it supposedly was burned accidentally. Sky then set it on fire while Dancer was busy getting money from his safe, then she returned to the house.

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.