Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The English Hotel Case. Chapter 6. Payoff.
Several men arrive with guns and unlock us from our prison. Then they take us upstairs to a large bedroom with a pile of clothes on the bed. “There is a bathroom over there,” said one man, “the clothes are from your chateau. Clean up, dinner in one hour, we do not tolerate being late.” Then they all left, but they locked the door as they did. Likely they left guards outside the door too. We all showered and got dressed in clean clothes. Surprisingly there was clothes to fit everyone.
And we were ready with 15 minutes to spare. Not bad. It will be interesting to meet this mysterious M and find out what he wants. Obviously he does not intend to kill us, at least not right away. That means he wants us to do something for him, something that he cannot do, and that intrigues me. It would seem he can do a lot considering he got into our chateau and captured all of us without a fight. I have a quick, but very quiet talk with the girls.
We need to be very friendly, and they need to be very polite, whether they want to or not. No matter what M does or says. That might not be an easy task, but they all said they would follow my lead. The same man arrived with the others and their guns and took us into a large dining room with a huge table, and an equally huge chair at the head of the table. The man seated us and left. The guards remained however.
Then the man returned with a very large man, obviously this must be M. He must weigh about 500 pounds. I have never seen such a large man. When he got to the table we all stood up and said good evening to him. He was all smiles and told us to sit down. We then had quite a feast, and M could certainly eat! He did say that he enjoyed eating more than anything. That was quite obvious. We just talked about normal things during dinner, he said we would talk business afterward.
So he does want us to work for him. I wonder what? Meanwhile, Baldwin called for some help since it was impossible to get hold of Mandar, and Baldwin was quite angry with him right now. He even stopped 3 contracts he had with Mandar which quickly caused problems for some of Baldwin’s projects. “I am glad you could get here so quickly John,” said Baldwin, “we have a huge problem right now.” He then went on to explain things to John and how both Bridgette and Annelie had been beaten so badly.
“That is messages from this M,” said John, “they are warnings not to follow or get involved. Otherwise Steve and the girls would meet a similar fate, only they would be beaten far worse, possibly being killed.” “But we cannot just sit back and do nothing,” said Baldwin, “Steve and the girls might be dead already.” “What about their transmitters?” asked John. “The new ones are not quite ready,” said Baldwin, “and the old ones have been removed already since they were not working properly anyway.”
“Hmm, that is bad,” said John, “I am going to ask around and see what I can find out. I just do not understand why Mandar turned against you like that, however, it just makes no sense at all.” “Do not even mention his name around here anymore,” said Baldwin. Back at the hotel. The team looked up that hotel and restaurant but M had left already and they were all very happy that he did.
Unfortunately they did not learn anything that would help them. Back they went to the hotel rather discouraged. Then Rock took some of the girls and went back to the old jail to see if they could find something more. But again, they found nothing. This was not going good. Meanwhile Mandar had told his men to find Craig and bring him back. So he soon had men spread out all through London.
It was Bob and Stewart that finally found him, right at 4pm. He was walking casually through a small park and he suddenly stopped by a bench and reached underneath, bringing out a large envelope. “Well, well,” said Bob, “that looks like payoff money.” Poor Craig was not sure what to do. Stewart pulled a gun while Bob took the envelope from Craig. It had £10,000 in it.
“Very nice,” said Bob, “now we go back to see Mandar.” “Wait,” said Craig, “if you let me go I will split the money with you.” “I have it all and you want me to split it with you?” asked Bob, “we go see Mandar.” “Sky, please let me call daddy,” said Macey, “he might be able to help, and we sure need it.” “Okay,” she said, “we do need some help…”
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Saturday Sharing With Coffee. #4
Happy Saturday everyone! It was a teeny bit cold this morning with a temperature of -38F (-39C) and there is a light wind blowing out there as well. But, the sun is shining in its total brilliance today. That part is very nice. The cold is, well, it is cold. This is definitely coffee weather, so, grab a cup and relax with us. There were loud and very loud bangs, booms and thumps all night long from that cold frost biting away at anything wood. It did wake me up a few times during the night.
When I went out to feed the birds this morning, my first step out the door produced this huge boom which startled me a little. Never had that happen before. Then I went to step onto the bench I use to reach the bird feeder and what a loud bang that was! I nearly jumped right off the bench for that one! I will admit, I did not stay outside very long this morning. But I did hear one flock of ducks flying down to the river for their day of fishing.
First week of January at the river, 2021.
I was a little later than normal so I only heard the one flock today. Usually I hear at least 4 or 5 flocks heading to the river. I know the ducks head down on the lake to sleep at night, but I wonder how far they go. And do they find open water down there or do they sleep on shore? If they sleep on shore, they could do that at the river. But it is a daily schedule for them so I guess they prefer sleeping out on the lake, for whatever reason.
Another beautiful view.
Due to the strong water current between islands there are places that do not freeze in the winter. Just like the river does not freeze for the same reason. Today my pictures are from the river, the first week of January, 2021. There was not much snow that winter, as you can see in the pictures. We did get more snow after these pictures were taken, but that winter the snow depth was only about 12 to 14 inches (30 to 35cm), which is not much at all.
Last year it was closer to 3 to 4 feet (90 to 122cm) average snow depth, quite a difference. Last year we had 10 feet, 4 inches (about 3 meters) of snow for the winter total. So far this winter it is 49 inches (125cm). Our two snowiest months are coming up though. I hope we do not get that much snow this winter, it makes for very high water levels. The river looks so much nicer, calmer and relaxing, when it is at a more normal level.
Hardly looks like winter.
That creates a nice atmosphere of solitude to enjoy. Sitting beside the river in winter on a sunny day, even if it is cold, is just beautiful. Wonderful solitude. It is even nicer when there is not so much snow to walk through to get there. There is a lot of wildlife back there. It would be interesting to walk down to the river at night when the moon is full, just to see what kind of wildlife might be spotted. I keep telling myself that I should try that one night.
Was not quite so cold as this year either.
Getting the right night, however, is the hard part. I would not want it this cold. Plus it needs to be a full moon, or nearly so, kind of night. Easier to see things that way. With all that snow around, a full moon really lights up the forest quite nicely. Taking pictures at night might be tricky. I should do some practicing at home first. Solitude. So much beauty. It must be time to enjoy another cup of coffee. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 