It has been a nice peaceful 6 weeks and we are all getting well rested. I think, too, that everyone would like to get going on another case as well. Carine seems to be making progress with Benson, he actually talks to her now. Sky is fitting in very nicely with everyone and has become good friends with Tracy. We had a week of training exercises, something we will be doing regularly from now on. Sky is amazing with a gun.

She is the only one to take top points in that. Everyone else did well too, however. Hmm, Sky is over playing with the cats, and talking to them. I wonder what they are up to? Right then my phone rang. It was Rossana, apparently some friends of hers inherited an old castle, well, kind of a castle anyway. They found something among old documents in the castle that lead them to believe there is a treasure buried on the premises.

However, that is not what the call is about. Apparently, the woman’s husband died in what the police called an accident. But the woman, whose name is Mandi, does not believe it is an accident, she believes her husband was murdered and she needs someone to prove it. That is where we come in. Rossana wanted to help her, but she is on an important case right now and cannot get the time off work. Her friend is not much for crowds of people though, so she asked if I would come with just a few of the team.

That sounds fine to me. Also, Rossana told her I had just gotten married. Thanks so much Rossana. Now I have to figure out which of the girls to ask to pretend being my wife on this case. It was so easy before. It needs to be easy now. Muffin comes over. Meow,meow?=What wrong, you look worried. “We have a new case, helping one of Rossana’s friends find out who killed her husband,” I said, “and Rossana told her friend I had just gotten married, to make her friend feel better about having me around. Now I need a wife. Who should I pick? This is not easy anymore. It was so easy before.”

Meow,meow.=Still easy, you marry Sky, she make good wife, she already like kissing. I look at her. Actually, she might be right, Sky would probably be able to act the part more easily than any of the others. “Okay, go tell Sky to come here so I can ask her if she will,” I told her. Muffin ran as fast as she could. I hope Muffin does not get this mixed up, that would be terrible. Sky comes running over. “Muffin says you want to ask me something important,” she said with a smile.

“Um, yes, well, we have a new case,” I began somewhat nervously, “I am supposed to be newly married for this and, well, um, I was wondering, um, if you would consider being my wife.” I am not sure why I was so nervous about this, it felt like I was actually proposing. Sky looked at me with a huge smile. “YES!” she screamed, “yes, yes, yes!” The other girls came running over. “What is going on here?” asked Sigurbjorn. Meow,meow!=My human just ask human Sky to be wife!

Suddenly there was a lot of shrieking. Somehow I do not think this went quite the way I planned. “You certainly took your time,” said Sky, still smiling. “Um, we have only known each other for 2 months,” I reminded her, “and, um, well, Muffin, I need your help here.” Muffin giggled, so did Sky. “It is okay Steve,” said Sky, “Muffin told me it was just pretending for the case.” Everyone groaned. That was a relief.

“But I am still happy that you wanted me to play the part of your wife,” she said, still smiling. She needs to stop smiling like that, it does something to me and I cannot think straight. Besides, it is only 2 months, people cannot fall in love that fast. Then again, well…sigh. Now, Muffin will join us, plus 3 other girls. Hmm, I would say Sigurbjorn, Kristina and Tuva. I think Tuva needs more opportunities for a main role.

I will leave Rock in charge of things while we are gone. But that same day Baldwin asked Rock, Benson and John to check one of his factories for some “irregularities”. So, I left Carine in charge instead. However, she was not to take any cases unless it was first approved by Baldwin. He would be over each day to check on things too. I really did not think he would skip his afternoon coffee and donuts.

The next morning we were on our way to Italy. It really was not that far from where we lived, so we drove instead of flying this time. And we took 2 cars, that way we could take something smaller and less noticeable. We got to the castle and introduced ourselves. I thought Sky looked young, but Mandi looks about 14. Turns out she is 17 and her husband was 30.

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.