Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Major Case. Chapter 3. Followed.
Our team was outside trying to blend in with the other tourists. Crystal and Kristina are in swimming right now while Sky, Muffin, MC and I were on chairs along the beach, under nice big umbrellas to keep the sun off of us. We had met with Rock’s team at tea and they asked if we would look after Mr. Cat while they went boating. We agreed in the usual happy way and the cats were now running around having lots of fun. I called the Major while no one was near us.
“Hey Major,” I began, “do you have another man on this case?” “No, why would I do that?” he asked, “that would risk things too much.” “Well, someone from your organization was on our plane and is staying at this same hotel,” I said, “we got hold of his wallet which had your logo on it. He doesn’t know that however.” “Can you send me a photo?” he asked.
“Sure can, just as soon as we get it,” I said. “Good, I want to know who that is,” said Major, “and Victor will want to know as well.” “Oops, got to go, our friend is coming,” I said, and hung up right away. “You would think I could have a vacation without the company calling me about problems,” I said to Sky as our friend walked past. “Well, just do not answer your phone next time,” she said sighing. After he was gone past the cats came running up.
Meow.=Me get pictures of man while Muffin entertain him. “Good for you two,” said Sky smiling. I watched our friend head over to a small boat and leave, heading to our right. Meow,meow.=Man say he go for boat ride to island, go hiking on trails. “Hmm, the island for that is to our left,” I said. “Maybe there are trails on other islands too,” said Sky.
“Not according to the hotel guide,” I said, “he also said that some of the islands are dangerous to visit, like the one that guy was heading to.” I got the photos from MC and sent them to the Major. He called right back. “Watch him Steve,” he said, “he can be mean and dirty, do not let your girls go near him alone, or without guns. He should not be there either, he is supposed to be in Australia.
He could be mixed up in this kidnapping, but he does not know your team, so that part is good. I will be contacting Victor about this too, he will call him back here without saying anything about where he is.” “Sounds good,” I said, “he did give us a clue as to where Macey might be, so we will check on that tomorrow, it is too late today. However, if he is smart, he might be giving us a false lead.”
We hung up just as Kristina and Crystal showed up. “Why don’t you two join us out there, it is just beautiful,” said Crystal. “I will enjoy my vacation by staying dry,” I said. “We could always carry you out and drop you in the water,” said Kristina. “Not today please,” I said, “that rough ride this morning was hard on my back. I better go lie down, but Sky can join you if she wants. I will take the cats with me.”
“I better go with you,” said Sky. “Yeah, we are tired anyway,” said Crystal, “one of those women we met today is a masseuse, you should ask her to massage your back Steve.” “That would be a good idea,” said Sky, “I will ask her when they get back from their hike.” We checked our room thoroughly and found no listening devices, so we relaxed a bit, but we would still be careful what we said. Sigurbjorn showed up after dinner to massage my back.
They had discovered nothing on their hike. There was nowhere along that trail to hide, no buildings or caves. They had talked to some of the locals who said there were no caves on this island, but a couple other islands have them. One island has a large cave system but they said to stay away from it, too easy to get lost in those caves. They said a woman died in there recently. She and her young daughter had gone there to explore and the mother was hit in the head with a rock that fell on her. The young daughter took her home 2 days ago.
That is too much of a coincidence for me. But why would they say her daughter took her home? Did she try to leave and that is when she was kidnapped? Something is not adding up. But it all could have been done to make it look like an accident for the people here. And Macey was then kidnapped, perhaps after getting to the main island, then brought back to one of the islands here. She must be here somewhere, or that mystery man would not be here. Rock and his team finally returned, kind of late…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Friday Fun With Coffee. #1 Odd Days.
Good morning and Happy Friday to all of you! It is a beautiful, partially sunny morning here. The trees still look beautiful with their frosty white branches. This frostiness is lasting a long time, which is fine, it looks beautiful out there. Though I am happy to be inside looking out right how. Still, it is quite mild with a temperature of 9F (-13C). There has not been much bird activity yet this morning, and that is certainly odd. Several goldfinches were here yesterday.
But just in the trees, they did not come down to the feeders. There were a lot of evening grosbeaks here yesterday as well, for about 5 minutes, then they left and never returned. There were also a couple pine grosbeaks here yesterday, but they also stayed in the trees, and they left with the evening grosbeaks. Very odd winter indeed.
Kind of reminds me of an odd restaurant I stopped at one time years ago. I went to this small town bright and early just for something to do that day. It had several restaurants, but only one that was open early. That is fine, it looked nice, and it overlooked a nice lake. In I went. The sign said to seat yourself. So I did. A waiter came over. “You are supposed to wait to be seated,” he said. “The sign said to seat yourself,” I told him. He went to check and turned the sign around.
“You are supposed to wait to be seated,” he repeated. There must be an echo in here. “The sign said to seat yourself,” I said again. I figured it must be polite to repeat yourself at this place. He just looked at me. “Do you want something?” he asked. That is usually why someone comes into a restaurant. I did not say that however. The waiter should say something like, “what may I get for you”. Oh well.
“I would like some coffee and a menu,” I said. This should be interesting, I thought to myself. He brings the coffee and menu. Hey, not bad. Things are improving. It took a while for him to return however, and there was only one other person in there at the time. He comes back. I give him my order and ask for a refill of my coffee.
“Refills are only free with a meal,” he said. “I just ordered my meal,” I said. “But you ordered the coffee before,” he said. “I just ordered my meal and it said the coffee is included,” I reminded him. “But you ordered your coffee before,” he said again. This guy is going to lose his tip soon. “Then forget the refill, I will just take the free coffee that comes with the meal,” I said.
He thought for a moment, then left. He comes back with more coffee. “The boss said you can have free refills since you ordered a meal,” he said and left again. He has not smiled once yet. He brought my breakfast. I had ordered whole wheat toast. He brought me rye toast. “I ordered whole wheat toast,” I said. “We do not have any whole wheat,” he said. “I do not want rye toast, I will take white instead,” I said.
“I am sorry, you cannot change your order after we bring your food,” he said. “I did not change my order, you did,” I reminded him. He just looked. “Bring me some white toast,” I said politely. He came back with my white toast. “I will have to charge you extra for the toast,” he said. “May I have that?” I asked, and he handed me the small plate with the toast.
I took the toast off and put it on my plate, and put the rye toast on the small plate. “Would you mind holding this plate?” I asked politely. He took the plate. “I did not order that toast, it must be for someone else,” I said, “and I am not paying for someone else’s order.” He just looked at the toast, then walked away. He comes back. “Where is my juice?” I asked.
“Sorry, we have no juice today,” he said, “but I will have to charge you for it anyway since it comes with the meal.” He walked away. I stared. He brought me the bill and left. He did charge me for the juice. I paid and said, “since you charged me for juice I didn’t get, I subtracted your tip from the total,” I said and left. He was just staring. Odd things happen to me, is what I am trying to say. Sigh. Have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 