“I am on my way home,” said Alonzo, “I come out this way each week for business in town and stop to check on Mandi. It is good to know you are here watching her. Tell her I was here, and I will try to catch her next week.” Then off he went in a hurry. He was driving a very small car, and Sigurbjorn got the license number. “That just seems too coincidental to me,” said Sky. “I agree,” said Kristina, “he shows up right after Steve disappears.”

Sigurbjorn called Annelie to check the license and let her know that Muffin and I had disappeared. She did not like the sound of that, and she also did not like the coincidence. Meanwhile… Meow,meow.=Nice you to drop in for visit. “Very funny Muffin,” I said, “remember, you dropped down here first.” Meow,meow.=Me know, it very amber racing. “Um, you mean, embarrassing,” I said. Meow,meow?=That what I just say, you hit head maybe?

“Ha, ha,” I said, “I need to get my flashlight out of my backpack. Rats, it is broken, wait, I have my mini flashlight in here too.” Meow,meow.=Oh look, there 3 skinny’s in here. We have party now. “Maybe you hit your head,” I said, chuckling. Meow,meow.=They not find way out, we not find way out, soon we be skinny too. Then we be ghost, always knew we be ghost one day.

“This is a deep hole,” I said, “no wonder I hurt so much. My back is killing me. This looks like an old well perhaps, round and deep.” Meow,meow.=Skinny’s not look well, maybe laugh themselves to pieces. “You sure you are okay?” I ask her, “all this humor being stuck in this hole, is not like you.” Meow,meow.=Not get out of hole in ground, we die laughing maybe. “We will get out,” I said, “did you turn on your tracker?” I asked her. Meow,meow.=Me try, but it not work, maybe broke when fall.

“Hmm, I turned mine on, but I do not know if it works or not,” I said, “I must talk to Mr. B about that later.” Meow,meow?=How you talk to him, rattle bones? “Very funny,” I said again, “but at least we know where the secret passage is located, so there must be a way out of here.” Muffin looks at the skeletons again. Meow,meow?=Hear that skinny bones? There way out so why you get skinny?

I just had to laugh over that one. Meow,meow.=I knew it, you hit head, now you go crazy on me, maybe this help. Chomp! AAAAAAAAA!!!! “Um, why did you do that?” I asked rubbing my leg. Meow,meow.=Help get you think straight again, not want to get skinny. “Hey, look, an X on that rock,” I said excitedly. Meow,meow?=Why someone put X on rock at bottom of well? I pushed it, but nothing happened. A big sigh from Muffin.

I tried pushing the rock under it and a rock on the other side of the well opened. Out we went. I had to crawl since it was just a round, kind of pipe, only made from rocks. It closed up again once we were inside. At the end another rock opened by itself, opening into a small room. “Well, look at this,” I said, “someone is obviously staying in here, at least sometimes. It had electricity too, so I turned on a lamp. There was a bed, stove, table and 3 chairs, meaning that more than one person was in here at times.

There were nice fingerprints on a couple of glasses by the sink. I lifted the prints to take with me. There was nothing else in the room that was helpful. Meanwhile… “Hey, I thought I had a signal from Steve,” said Kristina, “but it only beeped twice.” Sky and Sigurbjorn checked, but nothing had shown up on their phones. “Perhaps something is blocking the signal,” said Sky, sounding very worried. “You sound rather worried about your husband,” said Kristina. Sky blushed a bit. “Well, that is kind of natural,” she said quietly. “That is very true,” said Sigurbjorn, “we will find him, so no more worrying.” Sky smiled.

Back to us… “Well, there must be a door in here,” I said, “I am sure they do not come in the way we did, but I am sure that someone did that deliberately, hoping to get rid of us. Hmm, this chair is stuck on something.” I try to turn it straight and a door opens. “Hmm, that was too easy,” I said. Meow,meow.=Who cares, we go before it close again. Off we went up some stairs which turned and kept going up, and up.

Then they stopped at a narrow passage which we followed to the end. There was a big, iron handle at the end which I turned, and the door opened to…our bedroom! This is interesting. I called down the hall and the girls came running up. Sky threw herself at me, nearly knocking me over. They told me about Alonzo arriving after we had disappeared. Then I checked the fingerprints. Alonzo and Mandi!

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.