Bringing Sky along this morning was a good idea, but it didn’t quite work the way I thought it would. However, we will try that again, but make it more obvious next time. She did plant some listening devices for us though, so that was certainly helpful. Kind of, anyway. So, what did we hear? “I think maybe you should take a few days off Dan,” said Barry, “you are really taking this hard and I don’t want you having some kind of nervous breakdown or something. I can handle the business for a few days.”

“Thanks Barry, you have been a great friend in all of this,” said Dan, “I was thinking, maybe I should have told them about that guy who was stalking Jacie the last couple of months.” “Yeah, I was wondering why you didn’t mention it,” he said, “guess I should have mentioned it myself. The police certainly didn’t think it was important, they didn’t check up on that guy at all.” “That’s because for them they wanted this to be an accidental death,” said Dan, “a lot less work that way.

I also think that someone important is pulling some strings on this case. Maybe we are getting too big for someone and they don’t like it.” “Well, too bad for them,” said Barry, “we are not backing down for nobody. But maybe we should hire some security for ourselves for a while until things settle down a bit.” “Yeah, you might be right,” he said, “call one of the security firms in town. Man, this is really eating me up. I loved Jacie, I really did. We should never have gotten her involved in the business.”

“Maybe, but she did bring in a lot of money for us,” said Barry, “I will miss her too, but for different reasons.” “All you ever think about is money,” said Dan shaking his head, “there are things more important you know.” “Not for me,” said Barry, “it’s all about money for me. And Jacie did bring in a lot, $10,000 a night when she worked. And Li paid us $500,000 for one week. You know, Jacie’s friend Crystal could do that too, I bet. She is one beautiful woman. Maybe I should see if she would like to join us, after all, a PI wouldn’t make much money.”

“Yeah, right, you’re going to convince a PI to change and work for a sex company,” said Dan, “you’re crazy.” “Well, it was just a thought,” he said. Then Dan called me to tell me about Jacie’s stalker, a man named Harold who worked at the same office as Jacie. Hmm, we just might be getting somewhere now. A stalker would indeed be a prime suspect. And Dan is right, someone is pulling some strings, someone important. Could it be that Kenwood fellow? Dan also told us something else, he and Jacie were already married.

They had gone to Reno for a convention, something her parents didn’t like, but Dan assured them they would have separate rooms and everything would be kept proper. So then they gave their consent. Not that Jacie really needed their consent, but she and her mother were very close Crystal told me, which is why this is affecting her mother so much. Anyway, while there they decided to get married, but since her parents wanted a nice wedding in one of the parks, they decided not to tell Jacie’s parents and just go through with the original wedding plans.

Kind of interesting that Jacie didn’t tell that bit of news to Crystal, considering they would always talk about everything in their lives together. Peter then called and said his wife was in the hospital. Apparently the news of their daughter being cremated was just too much for her to bear and she just started going crazy. Later we met Sienna’s lawyer friend at the funeral home and went inside. The secretary said we need to have an appointment. I said we were going to talk with them now or this funeral home would be closed down and I introduced our lawyer.

She went inside the office and came out after a few minutes and said we could go in now. There were two men in the office, co-owners of the funeral home and they showed us the papers that Peter had signed for the cremation. I took them and went to the window and matched the signature with the check given to the funeral home that Peter had signed. “Hmm, a perfect match,” I said, “do you two know the penalty for forgery?” They both looked shocked when I said that.

“You copied Peter Boardman’s name from his check,” I said, “no signatures are ever exactly alike, there are always tiny differences in them. So, this proves a forgery, and you are guilty. Plus there is the matter of cremating the body of Jacie Boardman, something you had no permission to do.” “We will say nothing more without our lawyer present,” they said. “Fine,” I said, “make sure your lawyer is here the next time we stop in.” We then left, and with the papers with the forged signature too, just so they don’t get lost somewhere.

The lawyer took them back to his office where he put them in his safe. Meanwhile, back with Mac. He had met up with Rick and some of his gang. Rick actually had one of the largest street gangs in the city. Mac, however, was getting surrounded by Rick and 5 of his friends, but Mac was next to a building, so he quickly grabbed Rick and slammed him against the wall and with his knife at Rick’s throat, told him to get rid of his friends, or die. Rick could see that Mac meant business, so he told his friends to back away to their van, which they did.

There was another man at the van who had been trying to shoot Mac, but for some reason his gun wasn’t working. Then Mac and Rick went for a walk and Mac asked about a good hit man. Rick gave him two names and addresses and Mac handed him an envelope, with $5,000 inside. Rick was overjoyed by this, he usually didn’t make so much money that easily. He watched as Mac got into a nice, bright blue Ferrari with dark windows all around and drove off.

“Thanks for the company,” said Mac. “You’re welcome,” said Kristina. “I was wondering who Steve would send,” he said, chuckling. He went to the first address, an older apartment building, but no one was home, so he waited a while. About half an hour later a man came in carrying a briefcase which he tossed on the couch. He then got himself some water and sat down. That’s when Mac came out of the bedroom.

The man went for his gun, but Mac was much faster and he told the man to put his gun on the floor and kick it under the couch, which he did. Mac told him why he was there, but the man said it wasn’t him, he never kills women or children. Mac said to open his briefcase, which he did. It was full of money. “That’s a lot of cash,” said Mac. “I was paid to keep my mouth shut,” he said, “can you top that?” He was standing in front of the window when he said that.

The window broke as two shots were fired at the man from the building across the street. The man fell to the floor, dead. Mac left in a hurry and he walked down the street about one block to his car. “Not going after the shooter?” asked Kristina. “He would be gone by the time we arrived,” said Mac. At the next place, which was a nice house, the man was already dead, so they left and came back to the hotel.

“Rick obviously told someone I was looking for those guys,” said Mac. “Yes, I agree with you,” I said, “but we will leave him alone for now.” Meanwhile… “Don’t worry,” said person one, “I have taken extra precautions.” “Good,” said person two, “we don’t want to make mistakes while those amateur detectives are in the city.” “It’s easy to fool them, that’s for sure,” said person one. “Yes, but even a fool can figure things out at times,” said person two, “that’s why we can’t afford mistakes.”

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.