Well, it has been quite some time since our last case and we have had a very nice, long rest. Carine is finally out of the hospital, quicker than the doctors had been saying, and is doing fine now. Benson and Carine have decided to resign from the team however, and I can understand that considering what they just went through. Carine always had a dream of owning a hotel in England one day, so that is what they are going to do.

Baldwin bought them a nice hotel in a small town, but popular with tourists. According to the hotel records it had been doing very well until the husband and wife team that owned it had died in a car accident a year ago. They were both 70 and none of their 4 children wanted to operate the hotel, so they put if up for sale just 3 weeks ago.

Mandar also thought it would be a great business venture for them and had gone with them to inspect the hotel. It is in very nice condition, but Benson and Carine still would like to do some renovations to the place, to make it truly their own hotel. I told Benson that the girls would like to help out, so I will send 4 of them at a time to help with painting and other things. Each group will spend a week helping out.

Sky and I went with the first four girls to look around the hotel, but we only stayed 2 days. My doctors had told me no strenuous activity yet and I cannot just sit around and watch everyone else working. The first 4 girls were Angel, Tracy, Bridgette and Marlene, plus Storm as well. Sky wanted to help in another way too and will be giving them some money to help with any renovations. She called it a hotel warming gift.

MC was excited that there was a big castle nearby too and he wanted to go exploring. I told him it would have to wait for another time since we had to get back home. Muffin was very relieved when I said that. She just does not like castles. Too many ghosts is what she says every time we mention castles. We were soon back home and supervising the renovations of our chateau. It is quite amazing that not one case has come our way since our last one, and it has been 6 weeks now.

It does give us time to do our own renovations and for our new hospital to get built. That is why I sent Bridgette and Marlene on the first group to help with the hotel work. They are our 2 nurses and will be needed soon to help get our hospital ready for use. I am hoping we do not use it quite so much this year, however. Two days later Angel called and said that some strange things were happening at the hotel.

They finished painting the ‘blue room’ and hung the four pictures back on the walls. Then the next morning the pictures were moved to different places in the room. I chuckled. “I do not see the comedy in that,” she said. “I do,” I said, “Benson is having some fun with you is what I think.” “But he said he did not do it,” said Angel.

“Naturally,” I said, “with a practical joke like that, he is not going to admit doing it. I will call Benson and tell him to stop.” “Okay, but I think it is something else,” she said. I did call Benson but he assured me that he was not doing it. And it happened in another room now. “Perhaps someone has been living in there and is trying to scare you away,” I said, “it was empty for a while.” “True,” he said, “but I have gone looking around, even in the basement and do not see evidence of anyone living here.”

“You should not be going anywhere by yourself,” I said, “take Carine and one of the girls with you always. Everyone should be doing that, just in case, always stay with 3 at a time.” “Okay,” he said, “we will do that from now on.” “And let me know if anything else happens,” I said, “just in case there is a problem.” “Maybe you and I should go and be guards,” suggested Sky. “We will go if something more happens,” I said, “but moving pictures around is not very serious.”

“True, but still, we should maybe go,” she said. “Okay, we will go and bring a couple more girls with us too,” I said, “but we cannot leave until the day after tomorrow.” “Good, that makes me feel better,” she said. It was late, so we went to bed. At the hotel, the electricity went off around 11pm, so Benson, Carine, Angel and Storm went to the basement to check.

The main breaker had shut off for some reason so Benson just turned it back on and the electricity came on right away. “That was a nice easy fix,” said Benson. “Come Storm,” said Angel. Meowr.=But me chase mouse behind big box. “Come Storm, leave the mouse alone,” she said and she started up the stairs. But Storm did not come. “Storm!” shouted Angel, “get over here now!” Silence…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.