Two more helicopters took off from the airport after my phone call. They flew low and around coming up quickly over the hill to the south of the estate. They were equipped with machine guns and they blasted away all around the perimeter of the estate. Then they each shot two small rockets into the mansion and it quickly burst into flames. The helicopters were already heading back home as that happened.

Later Mandar had called the police who in turn called the military and they all went in together to the estate. There was no identification on any of the dead soldiers that they found, which makes sense. There was not much left of the mansion, it had burned quite well. But Mandar and his men did find one unopened safe which they took back with them. In that safe Mandar found a lot of jewels, antique coins and a lot of money from different countries.

True to his word, Mandar tried diligently to find the owners of the jewels and was quite successful for most of them. But some seemed to be legitimate purchases by M, including receipts for them. Those were kept by Mandar. Well, sort of. He gave one jewel to each of our girls and he still had some left over. Well, it seems the doctor managed to get away, for now, but we will meet again. He won this round, but he will lose next time. Still, Toledo is the main person to catch.

He is behind all of this and is now responsible for the deaths of Kat, Jennifer and Chung. I will soon be chasing him, he is a very dangerous man and needs to be stopped. Baldwin is still in the hospital, but he will live. It was close for him, but I am certainly glad I did not lose him too. Calling Li Jing, who is Chung’s niece, was very hard, but I needed to do it. Chung asked me to. He also asked me to look after her for him. He was her only family.

They were both looking forward to her joining our team. She is a doctor and Saranna is really looking forward to having another doctor around. Li means, logic, reason. Jing means, quiet, still and gentle. Among other meanings too. But these certainly fit Li Jing. Today is the funeral for Chung and Li Jing is having a hard time, but all the girls are doing their best to help her. We are at the cemetery now and Chung has been buried next to Kat and Jennifer. I

had a strange feeling come over me just now, like trouble was near, but there are security people all around us here. No reason to worry about trouble right now. Mandar turned and walked away. He then saw a young woman standing between two of Baldwin’s security men, so he went over to see what was going on. “Hello my dear,” he said, “my name is Mandar, may I help you with something?”

“I, um, I, am a friend of Steve, sorta,” she said slowly and softly, “but I guess I came at a bad time. I, I, did not think I would be arrested.” “Oh my dear, you have not been arrested,” he said, “but there have been some problems lately and these men are just protecting Steve. We just buried a very good friend of his today.” “Yes, I see, um, maybe I should just leave and forget about talking to Steve,” she said, then she put her head down, then looked at Mandar, “I have nowhere else to turn, no one to help me. I have nothing left now. Oh, my name is Kathee, I should go, Steve probably does not remember me anyway.”

“Nonsense, my dear,” said Mandar, “you will wait here with me. I am sure Steve will want to speak with you.” Right then Muffin turned to watch Mandar and suddenly her ears went straight up! Then she ran as fast as she could right over to Kathee. MC and Storm saw Muffin run away and they ran after her. Kathee saw Muffin coming and she got down on her knees and Muffin jumped into her arms. “Muffin, my precious little one, you remember me!” she said excitedly.

Meow,meow!=Yep, me remember my human Kathee! “And who are your friends?” she asked. Meow,meow!=Oh, oh, this MC, he my hubby cat, we married! And this best friend, his name is Storm, he wildcat, called Margay! “Wow, such handsome male cats they are,” she said, “can I hug you two boys?” They jump into her arms together and she hugged them.

Meow.=You nice human Kathee person, me tell. Meowr.=Yep, me say same thing too. “Wow, you two can talk also,” said Kathee, “how fabulous.” Sky turned to see what happened to Muffin and saw the cats with Kathee. “I think there is someone to see you,” she said to me.

To Be Continued as “The Case of the Dead Lawyer”.

©2023 Steve McLeod.