For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Darkness came for us at the Old Lake Lodge so Sky and Kitty took the first shift looking after the vans. They could do this while invisible, so that made it perfect since no one could possibly see them. If anyone was going to do something to our vans, they would still show up and we could catch them in the act to question them. Although I really doubt we would get anywhere with them, these villagers are not just ordinary people, they have been well trained to keep quiet and just do their jobs, whatever that is they are doing.
Ivy, who joined us during that case looking for Jacie’s murderer, knows a great deal about the criminal world and the way they do things. Especially larger organizations like she had. She just didn’t want to be in that life. She can pay attention to what is going on around her, even when she is playing a game on her phone. She is really quite a remarkable woman considering her young age. Anyway, Ivy told me privately that she didn’t think this was a typical gang at work, it was something more than that.
She was thinking maybe a conspiracy to assassinate someone, or more likely, several people, like the state government here in Maine, which could perhaps be a test run for something even bigger. That’s a terrible thought. Cristy had told me that Carmeline and her parents were okay, nothing in their lives or past that was negative. Carmeline has had 3 speeding tickets which means she is probably another wild driver like Sherry, but that part is not a problem.
Carmeline also told Kat that those 6 young men work for Ted Jameson, a millionaire from New York City. Jameson came and stayed at the lodge in town for 2 days and never smiled once. Carmeline smiles a lot and he told her that smiling and laughing are for juveniles, not adults. One of the young men staying at the lodge had been trying to get “friendly” with Carmeline. One day he was flirting way to much, she said, so she told him to stop and slapped him hard. It was the next day that her parents drowned. That is too much of a coincidence.
Anyway, after our ghosts switched teams to Angel and I, we spotted four men coming through the trees from the direction of the old house. That’s kind of interesting since we didn’t see any people in that house when we were there earlier. Is there another road that comes around to the back of that house? We never did check around out back due to finding Laura’s body. However, they may have been hiding in a secret room.
“Okay,” said one man, “just one package under each van, it’s enough to destroy those vans and they will be left walking all the way to town.” “Are you sure this will work?” I asked while staying invisible. “Of course it will you idiot,” said the man, “hey, which of you said that?” “None of us,” said another man, “the voice came from beside you.” He turned in my direction and I was now visible. “You boys shouldn’t be playing with explosives,” I said, “it’s dangerous.” The men then pulled out guns. “You’re a dead man,” said the man. “I know, I’m a ghost,” I said and disappeared.
“Hey, where did he go?” asked another man. “I’m right here,” I said and touched his chest causing him to fly backward 10 feet and lie on the ground groaning. Then the guns of the other men got too hot and they dropped them while yelling. Then Angel showed up as Courage. “Whoa, look at the size of that lion!” exclaimed one man. “Don’t try running or he’ll kill you,” I said. However, they ran anyway, dropping their packages behind them. I tossed one of the packages at two of the men and hit it with an electrical bolt.
There was a large explosion and the two men fell dead. Courage caught the third man and killed him. By now Sky and Kitty were outside with us and all the other girls were awake but stayed inside. Even the first man was dead, though I had tried not to kill him. “Well, they would not have talked anyway,” I said. Meanwhile, “Why haven’t those men reported yet?” asked man 1. “Vern said they never came back to the old house,” said man 2, “and there was only one explosion.”
“That means they failed their mission,” said man 1, “but how could they get caught with no one watching those vans?” “Watching from inside perhaps?” asked man 2. “No, they could easily stay out of sight,” said man 1, “but something went wrong. Well, if they don’t leave tomorrow we will give them another warning.” Now, back to us. The rest of the night was quiet, which was nice and the day began with a beautiful sunrise.
We had breakfast and Misty asked if Valeria could bring water in from the barrel on the back porch for washing dishes. I said no since I was sensing trouble, even though it wasn’t too close. Misty and Valeria were looking out the screen door when a shot was heard. Valeria fell to the floor moaning and Emily rushed outside having seen someone starting to run away.
She shot and the person fell. “Got him Steve!” she exclaimed, “And he will be alive.” “He’s just beyond that big pine tree back there,” she told me. We heard another shot, from a smaller gun this time. I disappeared and ended up next to the person, who was a woman, but she had shot herself. Guess she didn’t want to be captured. This is an interesting group…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
After the Sheriff and deputy left I communicated with Kat again telling her to be careful with that deputy, he’s trouble and might be working with the villagers. Also, I told her to watch Sienna and Carmeline closely, those villagers might want to kill Carmeline now that she has come to our side. She might also know more than she realizes. Carine now went back inside to look around with the others and Sky, Angel, Brandy and Emily (our sniper), joined us outside to look around more.
As we walked around, going further back behind the lodge, Brandy shared some things with me. “That empty bedroom is now furnished,” she said, “and furniture in some of the other bedrooms has been moved around. Plus, some furniture in the main room and the small dining room have also been moved around. And, you might have noticed this one, the dishes on the table in the large dining room were changed with ones of a different pattern.”
I looked at her with kind of a blank stare. I did actually notice the dishes, but thought the girls had changed them for some reason. Guess I should have asked. “I took photos of everything yesterday,” she said, “coming out to a place like this, it can be hard to remember details because there is so much stuff, but photos don’t forget.” Like the shed, moving stuff around and putting furniture in that empty bedroom, made no sense. “I knew there was a good reason to bring you with us,” I said smiling.
“Aww, thanks Steve,” she said, “do I get a kiss?” So, I did. “Hmm, that was a peck, not a kiss,” she said, “but I’ll take it since it’s my first kiss.” She then giggled. Celestine gave me a tiny slap. “Kissing other women on our honeymoon,” she said, shaking her head. For some reason that got Brandy and Celestine laughing, then all of them joined in. Sigh. Right then Celestine pointed out something just beyond some spruce trees. It was an old house! I communicated this with Carine right away so she would know what we are doing.
All the windows were broken on the main floor, but none on the second floor. The door creaked loudly as I opened it. Well, no sneaking up on anyone in this house. Unlike the old lodge, there wasn’t much in this house on the main floor. Only a broken table, a few old dishes lying around the kitchen, an old, and very large, armchair that had definitely seen better days, and a small table in front of the living room window. The odd thing was the plant on the table, it was a live plant, nice and healthy.
“Someone is playing with us,” said Celestine, “trying to reinforce the idea of the Lodge being haunted.” “Yes, I believe you are right about that,” I said. Suddenly I had an uneasy feeling about this place, though I didn’t sense any trouble at hand, but I did sense trouble farther away. Sky had already gone upstairs with Brandy and Amerie. They had only been gone a few minutes when Amerie called the rest of us to come upstairs right away.
In one of the bedrooms, lying on the bed, was Laura! “She’s dead Steve,” said Sky and she handed me an envelope. It contained a very short note telling us to leave or more would die. I picked up Laura and disappeared, reappearing at our clinic back home. I told Samantha I wanted an autopsy done right away and to let me know how she died. I then talked with everyone about what was happening and let them know about Laura. Jennifer and the girls were outraged and wanted to come and help deal with those villagers.
“Not this time, sorry,” I said, “but we will use the Black Wolves to help out now.” Jennifer, however, wanted to come back with me and I thought that might be a good idea since her and Kat are identical twins, we might be able to use that. Celestine will continue to be my “wife” on this case though. Cristy gave me the information about the reporter who had committed suicide after writing the story of those hunters.
She said that $50,000 had been deposited in his wife’s bank account the next day. Another bribe to keep quiet. I will let Aari look into that and the wives of the hunters since they are in the city anyway. I brought Jennifer back and left her at the lodge with Kat. I also brought Storm and Jewel with us as well. I then returned to Old Lake Lodge with Storm and Jewel.
Nothing happened while I was away, which was good. I told everyone that no one goes outside without clearing it with me first, unless it’s one of the ghosts. The cats also must stay indoors tonight and not run off by themselves looking through the lodge. The ghosts will watch the vans all night, 2 teams for 4 hours each.
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.