Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Mystery of Balding House. Chapter 12. Maps.
The girls have been eagerly looking for the hidden “treasure”, whatever it might be, and they were finally rewarded with finding it. However, they were somewhat disappointed with what they found in one of the mattresses of the two beds in what was a hidden bedroom. “Well Kat, don’t keep me in the dark,” I said, “what did you find?” “A piece of cloth,” she responded. There was silence. “Are you still there Steve?” she asked. “Um, yeah,” I said, “all you found was a piece of cloth?” “Well, it is a bit more than that,” she said, “it has a map drawn on it. Actually, I guess there are two maps. One is a map of some kind of treasure that is hidden down in Mexico somewhere, the other is a map showing where to find “money for Jenna. At least that’s what it says.”
“Does it say where to look for that money?” I asked, “Like, is it in the house somewhere?” “Yep, it seems to lead up to the attic,” she said, “there is still lots of stuff up there, I guess Dancer didn’t know how to get up there.” “Oh, did Jenna show you how?” I asked. “No, she didn’t know how either,” said Kat, “it was Roxie that showed us. She just found out after Jenna had been kidnapped. She didn’t have anything else to do, so she just checked around until she found out. That was before Chuck Henderson came and took all the furniture, otherwise there was one thing she would not have been able to reach. Roxie is much like Steffie, she enjoys puzzles, but she’s probably not quite as good as Steffie.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said, “she found something in here that even Steffie didn’t know about.” “Wow, that’s amazing!” said Kat, “The rest of us have tried to look for something interesting but end up with nothing for our efforts. Anyway, we will check this out and let you know what we find.” So, off the girls went to see what could be found in the attic. But, after 3 hours they decided it was time to rest because the only thing they were really finding was a lot of dust.
Downstairs Misty decided to draw the map on a piece of paper so it would show up better. She used a black marker to draw the map and she was so happy with the results. “I did it everyone!” she exclaimed, “I drew the map so it would be easier to see!” She then held it up for everyone to see. Angel was the only one to look over at it. “That’s it!” she exclaimed, “Misty, you’re a genius!” She came over quickly and took it, laying it down on the table. “But that’s…” began Misty. “Just perfect Misty,” said Angel, “look everyone, we were wrong and looking in the wrong place.”
That brought everyone over to look at the map. The marker had gone right through the paper and it was the map on the opposite side of the paper that got Angel so excited. “Look, we were looking at the map backwards, or upside down, or whatever it is,” she explained, “but Misty drew it the right way for us.” “That means we should have been going down, not up, from the main floor,” said Kat. Misty was grinning from ear to ear right then. However, Sky was a bit skeptical about Misty’s skills and she flipped the paper over to see that Misty actually drew the map on that side.
Sky pointed this out right away and Misty frowned at her. “Naturally she drew it that way,” said Angel, “it’s the best way to expose the way it should look. You’re amazing Misty!” Now Sky was frowning at Misty. “Let’s check this out,” said Kat. Everyone had renewed energy now so they got to the starting point and paced off the distance shown on the map. But, right then several cars drove up. “We have company,” said Amerie, “and I don’t think they are coming for tea. Oh, it is that Dancer character again. Maybe we need to teach them how to dance.”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea girls,” said Kat, “everyone in position now.” I was tuned into everything going on now so I could join the conversation if I wanted. Soon there was pounding on the door from the man at Dancer’s called Big Boy. Amerie answered and Big Boy pushed her aside so Sky stood in front of him. He tried to push her aside too, but she didn’t move. “No one pushes my girls around you big ape!” exclaimed Sky, “And no one pushes me!” She then pushed him and he went flying backward and right out the door and down the steps landing on his back, moaning.
“You attacked my man!” shouted Dancer, “I will have you arrested for that!” “He attacked me first,” said Sky. Then she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back making him scream. The rest of his men then came running inside and the fight was on! The girls and ghosts were careful not to kill anyone this time though, but they did beat up the men quite conclusively, breaking some bones in the process. Finally some of Dancer’s men took out guns, but they found themselves surrounded by guns. The men quickly dropped theirs, even though they were not hot.
Kat then told them to leave and never come back. “Next time I will give my girls permission to use those guns,” said Kat, “and you won’t like that, these girls are experts with guns.” Dancer and his men then retreated to their cars and left. At the hospital the Captain asked Dancer if he should try to arrest the women. “Forget it,” said Dancer, “you and your cops are outnumbered and we don’t want to bring in the State police or we will be finished. I will deal with them.” “Oh, by the way, the big man called and wants you to call him back,” said the Captain.
“That’s just what I need,” said Dancer, “if he finds out what is going on, that will be worse than anything.” Later, as we listened in to the phone call. “Hello Mr. Flynn, good to talk with you again,” said Dancer. “I hear that things are not going so good over there,” said a strange male voice. Does Donna use a man to talk for her in order to hide her identity? “Well, we haven’t found the map yet,” said Dancer a little nervously, “but we are working on it. Jenna has some friends helping her right now and that has complicated things a bit, but not for long. I’m sure her friends will leave soon.”
“I thought you had Jenna in your possession already,” he said. “Well, yes, I did, but one of her friends took her away from here and back home,” said a much more nervous Dancer. “Just one friend took her away from you?” questioned Flynn, “And it was a woman too, correct?” “Um, yes, that is true,” said Dancer, “but I couldn’t really put up much of a fuss when the place was packed with people.” “That woman took down your big boy security man with one kick, I heard,” said Flynn, “you better get things done, quickly, and remember, you can be replaced.” “Yes sir, we will get it done very soon, I assure you,” said Dancer, trying to sound confident. That was the end of the conversation…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Mystery of Balding House. Chapter 11. Decoded.
The girls are still busy with trying to decode the letters on the back of that silver heart that Jenna’s Dad had given her some years ago. The answer will lead us to some hidden treasure of some kind to help Jenna and Roxie live comfortably. At least, that is the hope, though her Dad never really told her what was hidden or what it is for. However, it is important enough that Jenna’s parents and husband were killed over it, so it must have great value, or at least Dancer and his crew believe it is valuable.
I believe it is too, but exactly what this treasure is, kind of escapes me at the moment. It was getting late so I told the girls to stop and continue on the puzzle tomorrow. They complained, a little, but then they agreed that a rest might be the best thing right now, then they can continue right away after breakfast. That way they will be nice and fresh to start the day. As they walked past me I held out my hand. Cynthia sighed and handed me the silver heart and the paper they were using to figure out the letters.
“Thank you Cynthia,” I said, smiling. She sighed again and went off to bed. In the morning, after breakfast, I asked Pacca to join the other girls since she too is a great problem solver and will bring in some fresh ideas. Hopefully they will get things going on this decoding so we can start looking for this hidden treasure, whatever that might be. “Okay, this item, or items, is in a hidden room,” began Pacca, “so perhaps it’s hidden in a safe, which some people refer to as their personal Bank. The M could be telling us something that is in this ‘Bank’. We know that those people have talked about the Big man, or perhaps Big Boss, which they are afraid of, so he must be dangerous, so the first B could be something like Beware, giving us Beware of the Big Boss.”
“Hey, that does make sense,” said Cynthia, “and that X is smaller then the other letters, so I think it’s more like a plus symbol, not a true X, so we would have Beware of the Big Boss + Dancer, because they are Dangerous! Okay, that gives us Behind Winter painting, Tunnel, turn Left, then go Down, head Straight, turn Right, go Down again, do through Door to Hidden Room, find Bank (or safe), M, Valuables. Then Beware of Big Boss + Dancer because they are dangerous!” “Great, but what is that M?” asked Celestine.
That had all of them stumped and they thought about it for over an hour when Carmeline suggested calling Steffie and Roxie for more ‘expert’ advice. They all sighed at one time, but they called the two young girls. They came running and the sentence was read out to them and the girls asked them what they thought the M might be for. Roxie just shrugged, but Steffie jumped onto a big, comfortable chair and thought for a few minutes. “That it!” she exclaimed, “When looking for hidden treasure, follow map!”
Then her and Roxie went out quickly, sliding down the stairs, shouting with glee! The older girls just looked at each other and put the word Map into their sentence. “But that would mean there is a map inside that ‘Bank’, said Jenna, “which means we won’t be finding this hidden treasure anytime soon.” Once they had the whole sentence they came and presented it to me. “Well done girls!” I said, “And it only took 5 of you.” “Um, well, Steffie helped a bit too,” said Cynthia sheepishly. “Oh, I thought so,” I said.
I then called the two girls. “Steve, those two kids will never hear you call like that,” said Jenna, “you have to yell loud!” Just as she finished Steffie and Roxie came running into the library. “What up Daddy?” asked Steffie. “Thank you for helping solve this puzzle about Jenna’s heart,” I said, “and that goes for you too Roxie.” I then hugged them both and off they went to play with the cats. I wonder if the cats have found a new hiding place yet? Steffie keeps finding them no matter where they hide.
Meanwhile, back at the old house. I sent the clues back to Kat and they began right away to follow them. It didn’t take them long to find the door, or I should say, doors, at the end. There were three doors but the clues didn’t say anything about that little problem. Opening the wrong door could have deadly results, so I told Kat that only the ghosts could be there, everyone else had to go outside and across the street for safety. The first door had a stone wall behind it, the second door had a room, but it was completely empty, the third door opened into a fully furnished room, actually 3 rooms.
The ghosts called the girls to come look, except for some guards upstairs. Some of the cats came down too, and some helped with guarding upstairs. They looked all over but could not find a safe, or anything that might look like a bank, even boxes and tins. “This is amazing,” said Kat to me, “there is nothing here at all that could be used for a bank except for what I have already told you. We have checked everywhere and everything.”
“How about mattresses?” I asked. There was silence. “Why would anyone put money in a mattress Steve?” she asked. “People who don’t trust banks,” I replied, “it was quite common years ago, at least in Canada, I don’t know about other countries.” There was silence again. “Maybe it’s the cold weather,” said Kat, “it affects people’s brains, or something.” The girls then checked after the cats went over them sniffing and said that something was in one mattress, but it wasn’t money. They cut open the old mattress and there it was!
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
