Kara looked at MC right away, but he had no broken bones either, but he had obviously been hit multiple times. Meow,meow!!=Oh, they in big trouble now, big, big trouble! They hurt my human and they hurt my MC. Wait until I get my paws on them!! Meow, said MC quietly. “Oh, that’s right,” said Jenny, and she plugged in the scrambler so they could talk freely. She also phoned Baldwin and the others to tell them what had happened. That way they did not need to leave the room. All the others come to the room and Baldwin reads the note.

“So, they want us to give up and leave do they?”, he asked, “we are staying until they free Steve and Kristina. Meanwhile we keep looking, starting right now!” Everyone agreed with that, including Kat. “I am sure they are under the castle,” she said, barely audible, “I did not see Steve or Kristina. There were several tunnels going in different directions. I never heard what they were up to and I did not recognize anyone.” “Okay,” said Baldwin, “get your things and bring them to this room, we keep everything together from now on.”

So they went quickly and brought everything in and went through it all to make sure no one had checked through their stuff. Everything looked good. Muffin checked everything too and found nothing. Baldwin said that he and Kara would stay with Kat and MC for now, the others would be in two groups of 3. Annelie, Rock and Angel would be together, Jenny, Carine and Candace would be together. But for now they would work at finding a way to the underneath portion of the castle, starting with that door at the end of the hall.

Rock would break it open if necessary. “Would that not put Steve and Kristina in danger?”, asked Angel. “It could,” said Baldwin, “but we all know the chances we have to take in this team.” Just then they heard a scream coming from downstairs and the 6 team members, and Muffin, went running down to investigate. At the bottom of the stairs they stopped, barely believing what they saw. Jane was hanging from a beam in the living room. Rock went over quickly and got her down, but it was too late.

She was already dead, and likely had been for a while. It was Elsa the maid that found her and screamed. She was on her way to the kitchen to make some tea because she could not sleep with all that was going on. Muffin came running back to tell Baldwin what was going on. Baldwin told Muffin to stay with Kara while he went downstairs. Kara watched until he was out of sight, then she locked the door. “I don’t mind saying, I’m a bit scared Muffin,” said Kara.

Meow,meow.=That okay, me scared too, all are, but that help us to stay alert and do job. She starts purring and Kara picked her up and hugged her for a bit then laid her down beside Kat and MC who were sleeping now. Baldwin called the butler and told him to wake up Darren, which he did. Darren just shook his head and said, “there go our plans of a nice quiet retirement.” Then he told Elsa to make tea for everyone. “You do not need to stay any longer,” said Darren, “unless you want to continue to find out what is going on around here.”

“Our friends are still missing,” said Baldwin, “so we will stay to find them, and find out what is going on.” Right then the police officer from before came and knocked on the door. “Got the call about the hanging,” he said. “No one from here called you,” said Baldwin, “so why are you here?” “Already told you,” he stated, “that is all I have to say.” “Who called you?”, asked Baldwin. “That is police business,” he said rather impatiently.

“It is my business too,” said Darren, “it is my wife and I want to know who called you.” “Never gave a name,” he said, “and I don’t have time to play games.” “Annelie,” said Baldwin, “check him out.” “Already on it,” she said, “and this is neither of the two officers in the town.” He started to pull his gun but Jennifer gave him a good kick, then Rock took his gun and tossed him on a chair. “Now,” said Baldwin, “I think it is time for a little talk…”

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.