The Investigators, Inc. The Castle Mystery. Chapter 19.

As they were nearing their destination Ken noticed blood on his leg. “Mike, take over here,” he said. “Sure thing Ken,” he answered. Ken got up and went back to Muffin, gently picking her up and cuddling her close so he could feel around that leg. There was blood, but not a lot, however it felt like broken ribs so he did not feel around anymore. He sat with Muffin, she looked at him and purred a bit. “I wish you could have told me you were hurt so bad little lady,” he said quietly to her.

Then he called Baldwin and told him about Muffin. “What!?”, he yelled, “don’t you dare let her die, or you’re fired!” “I am sure trying boss,” said Ken, “I will keep holding her until we get there.” “Tell her that there is a big surprise waiting for her,” said Baldwin, “and tell her to keep fighting!” “Um, yeah, I will do that,” replied Ken. So he told Muffin what Baldwin said and she purred weakly again. Fortunately there was a place for helicopters to land at the hospital.

Ken brought Muffin out and gave her to a man standing there waiting. “Hey my little kitten,” I said gently to her, “I’m here with you now.” Meow,meow=My human here with me, she said very weak. “And someone else too,” I said. Meow!=It me Muffin, MC, I here too! Meow,meow=My MC here too. She was unable to open her eyes so we rushed her inside to the local vet that was waiting impatiently in a room. Two of Baldwin’s men followed and guarded the door.

“About time you got that cat in here,” he grumbled, “I have not got all day.” He felt around and must have hurt Muffin when he did so. She yowled and managed to scratch him. The vet had raised his hand to hit her, but I stopped him and broke his arm when I did. He started yelling something about suing me for that. The guards then came in. “This guy wants to leave,” I said, pointing to the vet. They quickly escorted the vet out.

Chung was just coming then to see how Muffin was doing and he took over looking after her. We had all flown over after hearing that Baldwin had not heard from them for 2 hours, we figured there must be a serious problem, though we never expected this. Apparently a bullet had ricocheted off a stone and hit Muffin and it was still in her. Chung removed it and fixed her broken ribs. He said she would be fine, but would need lots of rest. “What about the others?”, I asked him out in the hall. He shook his head, “it is not so good, maybe some live, not all though.” Baldwin had a large jet waiting to bring us all back once the others could travel.

Moving ahead… Well, it has been a month since all that castle case finished and everyone is doing good. Muffin is playing with MC on their play structure again but MC is still making sure Muffin does not overdo it. He has been waiting on her day and night for the past month. Kat is doing fine now, so is Carine. Kara was really the first one back to normal and was able to look after the rest of us. She is an excellent nurse. Annelie is doing great after her hip surgery.

Rock is back to his exercising, complaining about all the weight he gained lying in bed for so long. Jennifer is fine now, though she had been shot 3 times. We almost lost Angel, she had a bullet close to her heart, but she has recovered very well. Kristina bounced back very quickly as well. Candace seemed to get it worst, 3 bullets like Jenny.

She lost part of her stomach and her left arm was hit bad so she still has trouble moving it. Harris lived as well, but he will have a permanent limp. He went back to Scotland, seems he has a girlfriend there. Baldwin and Shirley are now engaged and are getting married in a few days. Work is progressing fast on the addition to our clinic, Baldwin knows how to get things done.

And we have a new addition to our team possibly, a friend of Kara’s joined us a couple weeks ago, her name is Kira. I think she will make a great addition to our team. Ken will also be available to help us any time we need him, but he will keep his regular job with Baldwin too. There was no treasure found at the castle, likely it had been found a long time ago. What we all need now is a vacation. Rock and Annelie need to finish their honeymoon as well. So that is next for us, some nice relaxation far from people.

The End.

Another story of The investigators, Inc. will be coming soon!

©2022 Steve McLeod.

Tuesday’s Chatter. #12

Good morning everyone! It is very nice to see all of you here with us this morning. Time to grab a cup of coffee and relax for a few minutes. Muffin is already into the relaxing part, she has begun her morning nap. She does not like coffee anyway. Well, I was fully expecting to wake up to a lot of snow this morning, but there was only 2 inches (5cm). There was a fine rain coming down when I went out to feed the birds this morning. But it is warm enough at 32F (0C) to keep it from freezing and causing icy problems.

Female common redpoll with sunflower seed.

And the temp is supposed to rise to about 37F (3C) later on. At least that is warm enough to melt some of the snow we got anyway. The birds are very busy again this morning and are here in higher numbers too. A fresh bit of snow will do that. Last evening when I went out to put the bird feeders away a small flock of Canada geese flew past. The first of the season! That was so nice to see.

It makes a person think more of spring. The birds are starting to return, though I don’t know if the geese will actually stay, there is no real bare ground for them yet, except small patches in some sunny locations. Like across the street. There is a south facing hillside there and the snow is gone on much of that hillside now. Well, it was until this latest bit of snow. But it will melt fast over there. Back here where I live it takes much longer, the snow is still about 18 inches (45cm) deep.

Male common redpoll with sunflower seed.

But that is a lot better than the 3 feet (90cm) that was out there. Unless the forecast is wrong, melting will slow down considerably for the next couple of weeks. That is bad. It means all of this ice will be here for a long time. It is treacherous walking around outside right now. Just going to get my mail is a dangerously slow walk since nearly the whole distance of 100 feet is ice now. And it is very rough ice too, with footprints and tire tracks frozen in the ice. I am back again. Oh, did not miss me?

Male evening grosbeak with a redpoll landing in behind him.

Sorry, I went out to feed the birds and decided to take my camera along. Wow, there were so many birds out there so I stopped to get some pictures and stayed out longer than I anticipated. There are actually close to 200 redpolls, more than 50 evening grosbeaks, plus one female pine grosbeak, 3 starlings (unfortunately I was unable to get pictures of them), 2 crows, 4 blue jays, about 20 chickadees, 4 nuthatches and one pine siskin (at least), likely come in recently from the south as well.

And all that chirping and singing out there was just amazing! Well, thank you so much for stopping by today. Have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)

©2022 Steve McLeod.