The Investigators, Inc. Mystery of Helene’s Murder. Chapter 10. This and That.

As the limousine sped off down the lane, Frank’s men began shooting at it, but the bullets just bounced off! “That whole car is bulletproof!” yelled one of the men. “Well boys,” thought Aoife to herself, “you started this affair, so that means I can legally join in and finish it for you.” She aimed…and shot once…and Bobby Frank fell to the ground dead. While this was happening, Pete had begun to run down the lane the opposite way as the limousine. But one of the men spotted him running away and he shot at him and Pete fell. The man then ran after Pete, but Aoife shot him in the leg since she didn’t want to shoot him in the back.

At that point Frank’s men noticed the Black Wolves coming around the side of their building. One man was going to shoot, but Aoife took care of him too. Then there was a brief exchange of gunfire between the two groups, but Frank’s men quickly gave up and laid down their weapons. Some of the Wolves had come up the lane and stopped at Pete, who was still alive, and took the money from him. Then they dragged him back to the others. Aoife had also shot him in the leg to stop him from getting away. “Hey look!” exclaimed Trapper, “This guy had $30,000 on him!”

The rest of Frank’s men looked at Pete, realizing that he had sold out Bobby Frank to Ivy Younger, though they didn’t know her name at the time. The remainder of Frank’s men then led the Black Wolves into their “Cave” where they discovered Frank’s safe. Mac had that open quickly enough and they emptied it of all the cash and drugs, plus some gold and quite an extensive coin collection owned by Bobby. “Well, he won’t be needing these old coins any longer,” said Aari, “I always wanted to start collecting coins.” They also took all the guns, knives and a few other weapons that they found in the “Cave”.

One of Frank’s men who was sitting on a sofa with 2 others, reached over the side and took a gun out of a pocket on the side of the sofa and aimed it at Aari, not knowing he was protected by Carine. But just then a jaguar came jumping down the stairs and bounded across the room to that man with the gun! He quickly turned to shoot the jaguar but just as quickly dropped the burning hot gun. The big cat then jumped on him, scratching him badly. Then she jumped over at the other two men on the sofa who had tried to get out of the way, but not fast enough, and they also were scratched badly.

“Okay Miss Kitty,” said Carine, “you may stop now, I think these men have learned their lesson.” “I certainly hope so,” said Aari, “perhaps you will think twice before scratching an innocent woman again.” Even though those men were not directly involved in attacking Sandy, the waitress who had helped Aari before, they were still part of the gang involved. Trapper also found something interesting, it was a video that one of Frank’s men had recorded of Bobby killing Sandy’s father and others, including Tobias, Al and some others that were laughing when he did it.

They laughed even more when Sandy’s mother screamed and fainted when it all happened. They will hand that over to the police, though it likely won’t do any good as evidence. But at least the police will know who actually killed Sandy’s father, even though they already figured it was Bobby Frank, they just didn’t have any proof at the time. With Frank dead now it really doesn’t matter anyway. Aari also dropped off the drugs and weapons with the police and offered to give the money as well.

However, the police said we could keep the money for our orphan fund as a reward for what we did in solving a murder and greatly reducing the risk of Bobby Frank’s gang. Tobias will likely take over as the leader of that gang, but they now have less than 20 men and no money. I’m sure they will rebuild over time, however, but it is up to the police to watch them now. Soon our teams were on their way back home again. Meanwhile, back at home. Samantha had come in and told Sky and myself that we were now able to leave the recovery room. “Yes!” said Sky and Misty together.

“I’m so glad that my best ghost friend in the whole world is better now!” exclaimed Misty, “Now you don’t have to stay cooped up in here lying in bed all day. I’m so happy!” She was smiling and then gave Sky a big hug. Sky just stood there blinking at Misty, then looked down at the electrical charge going between her thumb and index finger. She had this mischievous smile, but then something happened. “What? Best friend? Me?” asked Sky, looking at Misty. “Of course,” said Misty, “I have never had a better friend my entire life, except Cristy, and she’s my sister.”

Misty was very serious when she said that and even had tears. Sky just stood there blinking at her, then she smiled and gave Misty a big hug. “Hey, let’s go see if there are any donuts left,” said Sky. She grabbed Misty’s hand and they disappeared. In the kitchen they reappeared, but invisible, just as Cassie put a new plate of donuts on the table. Sky tossed a spoon to the other side of the kitchen which clattered onto the floor getting everyone’s attention for a moment. While that happened Misty grabbed the plate of donuts and dumped them into her little bag she always carries with her in the morning, just in case.

Then they grabbed a pot of coffee and two cups and off they went again, reappearing in my office where they were alone. Jennifer and I joined them very soon after. “We saved you some too,” said Misty, “but we need more cups.” I opened a drawer of my desk and took out two more cups. Just as we began to munch on our donuts, two small heads showed up at the top of the stairs, with grinning faces. Steffie, Roxie, Snow and Jewel joined us and soon we were all munching donuts.

Sky was never needing to be in the recovery room apparently. Jennifer explained it was only so Sky could keep me company and help cheer me up since I never liked being in there alone. “It worked too,” I said to Sky, “you kept me laughing so much I recovered much faster.” “Well, I couldn’t have done it without Misty’s help,” said Sky giggling. Later, Catriona came to talk with us too. “Thanks Steve,” she said, “Bobby Frank is the one man I figured would find me some day, he was just too persistent.

Now I won’t have to worry about him. And I love my new name and identity you gave me. I just hope people don’t start calling me Cat, which would be kind of confusing.” “I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Jennifer, “everyone has been told to use your full name.” Well, that’s another case that is done, it was a bit different than most and we also helped another woman, Sandy, who came back with the team and will be joining our home staff as a cook’s helper, rather than as a team member. For now at least. Hopefully we can relax for a while before the next case.

The End of this Case, but a new one will be coming soon. ©2026 Steve McLeod.