“That is happening more often now,” said Carine, “maybe we should move right away.” “That is fine with me,” I said smiling. “But first I must tell you more about myself,” she said, “maybe you will not want to move with me.” “You already have told me enough,” I said, “you have changed now, your past is past, what is important is your present and future.” “You are remarkable man Bernard,” said Carine, and she laughed, “if you have a wife, she will claw me to pieces maybe.” When she said that I saw that blond woman again and the word “cat” came to mind. She was so plain, so real, but yet I could not see her face.

And there was that gray cat again too with her. I told Carine. “Hmm, I think maybe you do have a wife for sure, or maybe a girlfriend, and this gray cat is hers or yours,” said Carine, “but it is odd she has not come looking for you, nothing on the news, no posters anywhere, though in this neighborhood posters are not welcome.” “I do not know what it means,” I said, “but I think it is time for me to stop worrying about my past and just start my life over again. But is that even possible? Without ID I cannot even get a job anywhere.”

“No need to worry about a job right now Bernard,” said Carine, “I will make enough money for the two of us and pay for our room too. Then we talk about these things later once we are settled.” “Yes, maybe you are right,” I said, “I know one thing, I want to get away from this city as soon as possible. How will we ship all of your furniture?” “None of this is mine Bernard,” she said, “only clothes, towels and my duvet. But the room we rent has everything we need, so we just need to bring our clothes. You will take my brother’s clothes, they are good quality and they fit you well.” So we started to make our plans and Carine bought train tickets to our new town. We leave tomorrow, 13 days after we first met.

Meanwhile…But for my PI team it is now 15 days that they have been looking for me, without results of any kind. “Okay team,” said Baldwin, “time for another meeting. So far it has been 15 days with no evidence of Steve whatever, but I am not going to suggest we give up, we can keep on going as long as you like. But I must leave for a couple of days for some meetings. Chung has decided to go back to the clinic where he has more equipment to use in finding out what drug might have been used on Steve.”

“I understand Baldwin,” said Kat, “you have done so much for us and you do have important companies that need your attention at times.” “I wish I could stay,” he added, “but spend whatever you need to in order to find Steve.” Meow,meow.=Me want to keep looking, but getting so tired and feet get so sore now. Meow.=Yep, me too, feet bleed every day now. “It is hard,” said Kat, “maybe we need to rest for a couple of days.” “That is a good idea,” added Annelie, “if we get too tired we just might miss something important.”

“I wanted to mention that too,” said Rock, “if you push yourself too much, you will end up getting sick.” “I think that might be my problem now,” said Kat. She tried to get up and fell to the floor unconscious. Rock carried her to one of the beds and Chung looked at her. Jennifer tried to follow, but she too fell to the floor and Rock put her on the bed next to Kat. Chung came back out, “they have not been eating or sleeping well, they are very sick, need to be in hospital for a while,” he said. “I do not think any of you girls have been eating or sleeping right,” said Baldwin, “so it is time for a break, before everyone is sick.”

“You have lost some weight too Baldwin,” said Annelie with a grin. “That’s different,” he answered, “I needed to lose some weight anyway.” “But not so fast maybe,” said Chung smiling. “There is no way to take a break here,” said Kristina, “if we are here then we will keep looking.” “Yes, that is right,” said Chung, “maybe go home for a while, take rest, come back refreshed, maybe find more clues then.” So they all went back to the chateau, except Kat and Jennifer, they ended up in the clinic for a few days first. But how will they find me when they get back? Carine and I will be long gone by then, on a whole new journey.

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our story.

©2022 Steve McLeod.