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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Kenwood, Ivy and two bodyguards had arrived at the same restaurant where we were eating once again. They are showing up a little too often now, so I think it’s time to have a talk with them. Samantha gave me some good advice, that is, to keep things calm. After all, they haven’t done anything wrong that we know of, so it’s not a good idea to start trouble in such a public place. I agreed, but I still think it’s time for a veiled warning.
I think he might have had something to do with the kidnapping of Celestine and Misty. I’m sure he at least knows where the girls are right now. I got up and asked Crystal to come with me and we went over to Kenwood’s table. “Greetings Mr. Kenwood,” I said nicely, “my name is Steve and this is one of my associates, Crystal. We are part of a group of Private Investigators and I have noticed that you have been following us the last couple of days.
I hope the two men that crashed were not seriously hurt, but that is what happens in a high speed chase on these busy streets. Now, I think that such a thing should stop, not only for our safety, but for the safety of innocent people around us at times.” “I do not get involved in high speed chases, as you call them,” he replied, “and there is no crime in driving along the streets of Calgary, providing we are obeying the speed limits and other traffic laws.” “Yes, and interrupting our meal with your petty complaints,” said Ivy, “ruins a person’s appetite, so please leave before I call for the manager.”
She didn’t even look up from her phone when she talked, so I ignored her and went on to the next step. I showed Kenwood the photos of Misty and Celestine. “These are the women that were kidnapped from our hotel room,” I said, “and I would like them back, preferably before dinner.” “I don’t know why you are looking at me,” he said, “I don’t know these women and I certainly didn’t kidnap them. Now, as Miss Hendrick said, please leave us alone or I will call the manager.”
“I want these two women back, before dinner,” I said again, “or I will start to step on people, very hard, and I do have the ability to do so with the people I have in this city. Have a good afternoon.” “One moment,” said Ivy, “may I take pictures of those?” I said yes, so she did quickly, then she said that her people would look around for the women. I thanked her and we went back to our own table. “Why did you do that Ivy?” asked Kenwood, “I want them out of here.”
“The best way to get rid of them is by helping them right now,” she said, “they certainly won’t leave without those two women. Perhaps they will if we find them and make a deal with them.” She then made a phone call which we couldn’t hear very well, but it sounded like she was telling her people to look for Misty and Celestine. I did hear her say to check a man named Rick and also a man named Harold. I know Harold couldn’t do it, he didn’t have the time after we talked with him.
Unless he has friends working with him. And apparently he is a loner, without any friends outside of his co-workers, and they were not exactly friends. But, there was something about Harold that we didn’t know and we were going to find out soon. Meanwhile, “Well, well, the two sleeping beauties are awake finally,” said one man. “Yeah, maybe we should have some fun with them now,” said the second man, rubbing his hands together. The first man told him to watch it or they would end up in the river too.
“We are just babysitters for these two,” he said, “nothing more than that.” Then he went over to the girls. “I will take this tape off your mouths if you promise to be quiet,” he said and the girls nodded yes. So he then ripped it off fast. “I thing you ribbed my libs off,” said Misty as she made weird faces. That got Celestine laughing. And laughing. The second man told her to stop laughing, it wasn’t that funny. “I thought it was funny,” said Celestine, trying hard not to continue laughing.
“Well, if you laugh like that again,” he said, “that tape will go back over your mouth.” “Hey guys, do we get lunch too?” asked Misty when she saw them eating. “No, you don’t get lunch,” answered man 2, “but maybe if you’re really nice, we will give you breakfast.” Misty just sighed. Then one of the men got a phone call, though he didn’t say much. “Who was it?” asked man 2. “Who do you think?” he asked, “Only one person calls us.” “No, two of them do,” replied man 2, “there’s Rick and Mr. B.”
“Very good,” said Man 1, “anyway, we have to let the prisoners go free.” “What?” he questioned, “We just picked them up and now we have to let them go?” “That’s what Mr. B said to do,” said Man 1, “so that’s what we do. Unless you wish to end up in the river, or a dumpster. I, for one, prefer to stay alive.” “Well, yeah, so do I,” said his friend. So, they took the girls out and tossed them, quite literally, into a dumpster outside a restaurant. “Ewwww!” said Misty, “Gooey, yucky leftovers!” “Oooo, a piece of lemon meringue pie!” exclaimed Celestine, and she began eating it.
“You’re eating that gunk?” asked Misty. “Hey, I lived for months on food from dumpsters,” said Celestine, “sure you wouldn’t like some?” “None for me,” said Misty. But as she watched Celestine eat the pie, her stomach growled. “Um, maybe just a small piece,” said Misty finally, “hey, that is good.” So Celestine gave her a bigger piece. “Sky,” said Celestine. “You expect Sky to come and rescue us?” asked Misty. “Hey, what are you two doing down there?” asked Sky as she sat on the edge of the dumpster. “I must have missed something,” said Misty.
Sky jumped in but they all disappeared before Sky hit any garbage and they reappeared in our hotel room. “Um, maybe you two should shower,” I said, “that smell is permeating the whole room.” They told us about Rick and another man named Mr. B. That last name was interesting. We knew two men named Mr. B and both are dead, now we have a third man with that name. I called Jazzy and Hannah, but neither of them knew about another Mr. B, but they would check with their contacts.
Interesting that so soon after talking with Kenwood and Ivy, Misty and Celestine were released. That is not a coincidence. Meanwhile, “I told you I wanted Crystal, no one else,” said Mr. B. “Sorry, I wasn’t sure who Crystal was,” said the man, “but I won’t make that mistake again.” “True,” said Mr. B, “good bye.” There were two shots and all was quiet. We learned on the news broadcast later that afternoon that Harold had been found dead in his apartment.
He had been shot in the heart at close range, just a single shot. Harold knew something and someone else was getting nervous that perhaps he would talk. Perhaps I should have pushed him a little harder. Then Mac called and told me to stay away from the window, there was someone in the building across the street watching us…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Well, we were at the office where Jacie worked and her boss introduced us to Harold, the man that had been stalking Jacie. He also showed us to an empty office we could use to interview Harold, which was good. Doing such an interview in a more public setting is never a good idea, it can lead to some tension with other employees. “Okay Harold,” I began, “you know why we are here and thank you for cooperating with us for this interview. Now, it seems that you were stalking Jacie for 2 months before she was killed.”
“No,” he said, “I never stalked her, I wouldn’t do that, not ever, I loved Jacie.” “But she kept avoiding you and telling you to stay away from her,” I reminded him. “I just figured she was playing hard to get,” he said, “she never sounded serious or anything.” “Well, apparently some of your co-workers don’t agree with you about that,” I said, “and her fiance certainly didn’t agree with you either.
He says that you were constantly following her, trying to talk to her at home and her dad told you on numerous occasions to stay away from Jacie. You know, stalking is a serious crime and we have enough evidence to put you in jail for a long time. And if she killed herself, it could be because of your stalking that she did so. That makes things a lot more serious. Now, do you know anyone that might want to kill Jacie?
Do you know where her body was found?” “I, I don’t know anyone that would kill her,” he said, getting very nervous, “everyone liked Jacie, I loved her, I would never kill her, I wanted to marry her. I really did love her! That Dan Giraud was no good for her, he was bad business, he forced her to do things she didn’t want to do.” “Like what for instance?” I asked him. “Well, like spending a whole week with Andrew Li,” he said, “that scared her a lot, she told that to everyone here.”
“That’s interesting,” I said, “now, do you know where her body was found?” “Yes, d, down by the river,” he said, and he told us the spot which was where we were yesterday. Apparently he found the body while walking his dog. I asked if anyone was with him at the time. He said no one was around at all that evening. Usually he would meet other dog walkers along the river, but not that evening. We talked a while longer, then left. I did tell him to stay around in case we want to talk with him again. He gave me his phone number and address.
Once back in the car I called Trixie. “Sorry Steve, Cristy is on computer,” she said. Sigh. So I called Cristy. “I need you to check on a man for me please,” I said, “his name is Andrew Li, a wealthy businessman from Victoria.” “On it Steve,” she said cheerily. “Also, maybe get one of the other girls checking on the 3 officers in charge of investigating Jacie’s death. Unless you have time to do it.” “Yes, I can do it Steve,” she said.
We then began driving back to Jacie’s parents to talk a bit more with Peter while his wife was still in the hospital. She will be going home this afternoon and I don’t want to upset her again right away. However, on the way I sensed trouble. “Get us back to the hotel fast Fluffy!” I yelled. “Me Fluffy, we go fast to hotel.” And we did. “Yeehaah!” yelled Sheree again, “Another stampede race!” We nearly missed the turn into the hotel parking lot, but we made it, without destroying anything, and I’m sure the manage was happy about that.
We got out and ran into the hotel. Well, the girls ran, I went my way and appeared back in our room. Samantha was there checking Astrid and Sapphire. “Where are Misty and Celestine?” I asked. “No idea Steve,” she said, “the other girls are checking around, but likely they are long gone.” Whoever kidnapped Misty and Celestine is going to regret doing so, that is a guarantee. I communicated with Sky and Kat, telling them what happened and told them we would be under a code red from now on.
But for now I don’t want others knowing we are together just yet. I took Crystal, Monika, Sigrid, Aurora, and Kitty with me, plus Sheree and Brandy as our car crew and photographer, and we went to visit Peter. I didn’t want to cancel that meeting. I had called Sky to come and watch over things at the hotel for me while we were away. I also brought Jewel, Storm and Sir Night so they could look around a bit while I talked with Peter. He didn’t mind the cats running around and playing.
All the doors were open to the bedrooms, so the cats sneaked in and looked around quickly while we were talking. “Okay cats,” I said casually, “time to go.” “Think they will hear that?” Peter asked grinning. But they came running in and jumping into the girl’s arms. “Amazing,” said Peter. He seemed quite worried about his wife right now, which is understandable. This has been hard on both of them, but especially on Laurie. Once back in the car Brandy said that Kenwood drove by slowly again.
How does he know every time we go to visit someone? Perhaps he has people watching everyone, but why would he do that? Perhaps because he is guilty of something? Perhaps the others are working with him and let him know when we will show up? I then received a phone call from Dan and he said that a man stopped by and gave him a large sealed envelope with my name on it, so we immediately went over to pick it up. Dan invited us in for coffee and we accepted.
He gave us the envelope while Barry went to get the coffee for us. I opened it and it contained two photos, one of Misty, and one of Celestine. They both had a bruise on their left cheek, obviously where they had been punched. I laid the photos on the coffee table. “These two women were kidnapped from our hotel room this morning,” I told Dan and Barry. They both looked genuinely shocked, even scared, when they looked at the photos.
Then Barry mentioned they had received a phone call on their business phone, it sounded like a machine talking he said, and it told them to stop investigating Jacie’s death or it could have dangerous consequences. I asked if they recorded the call. Barry said yes, they always record calls on their business line and he figured we might be interested, so he had made a copy of it for us which he gave me.
“This is a warning to you as well,” said Dan, “isn’t it?” “Yes, it is,” I said, “but whoever did that has gone too far. I think you two should hire some security right away.” “We did,” said Dan, “they should be here within about 30 minutes.” We then left and headed back to the hotel and arrived at about 1pm, in time for lunch. We were all there eating when Kenwood came in with his two bodyguards and Ivy.
“Perhaps it is time to have a talk with this Kenwood fellow,” I said, “I don’t like being followed.” “Be careful Steve,” said Samantha, “we don’t know if he is involved in anything, except showing up now and then, and that is not a crime.” She is right, of course, but still…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 