Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Castle Mystery. Chapter 15.
While the others talking, Jennifer went to a corner of the large bedroom so she could talk privately with Baldwin and plead with him to let them stay and hunt down this “ghost”. Finally she came back and put the phone down on the table next to her gun, and just leaned on the table for a bit. “This case has been hard, tiring and grueling,” she said slowly, “but I can handle that. What I hate are liars and traitors.” Then she quickly grabbed her gun and swung around aiming it at Carl.
He was holding his own gun, but Rock who was standing close by, grabbed his arm and took the gun away. “Hey, what goes on here?”, he asked looking very surprised. “Quit that,” said Jennifer, “you were caught on camera giving Kat some poison. Now, who are you working for?” He just smiled and said, “figure it out for yourself girl.” “Ask him to sit down Rock,” said Jennifer. Rock picks him up and tosses him onto a wood chair and yells, “SIT!” Jennifer puts her gun down and goes over to Carl and gives him two hard backhand slaps.
“Who is your boss?”, she asked again calmly. Nothing but silence. She hit him again and asked the same question. He suddenly lunges at Jennifer but Muffin jumps quickly onto his back scratching wildly with all 18 claws! He screamed and Rock picked him up again while Muffin jumped off. Rock then threw him back on the chair. “Thanks Muffin,” said Jennifer. Meow,meow!=Welcome! “You must be getting paid very well,” said Jennifer, “but is it worth dying for?”
“I know you cannot kill me,” he said snarling. “Does that mean you will not talk?”, she asked. He just sneered at her. “Thwock!”, and he fell to the floor. Meow,meow.=Oops, let go too soon. Jennifer just looks at her. “Baldwin says you know Ken,” said Jennifer to Rock, “have him and the other men check the helicopters, Baldwin thinks they may be sabotaged to kill us on the way back.” Rock went out to get that done.
“Annelie and Kara need to go back, since you are both hurt,” said Jennifer, “the rest of us have a choice to stay or go.” Muffin looked with big eyes at Angel and Candace. They both smiled and said they would be staying. Then Muffin looked at Jenny. “After what you just did, I should send you back home too,” said Jennifer. Muffin hung her head. “But I guess you did save my life there,” she continued, “so you can stay with us.” Muffin jumped up and down and Angel came and cuddled her.
They did find bombs in 2 of the 3 helicopters, the one Carl would have been flying was okay, naturally. Soon the helicopters were on their way with Annelie and Kara on their way back home. They made it safely and Chung treated them at home since there was no more rooms available at the clinic. “Need to make expansion at the clinic,” Chung told Baldwin. “Yes, that will begin tomorrow Chung,” he answered, “I just never thought we would all need care at the same time!” “Must always be prepared for the unexpected,” added Chung smiling, as he usually does.
Chung has definitely been a wonderful addition to our team, not only in his knowledge, but with his cheerfulness which he spreads freely. It is now 5pm and the remaining team of Jennifer, Candace, Angel, Rock and Muffin are in the kitchen eating and making plans, and of course they still had Harris with them as well. Fortunately the kitchen can be closed off so they can use a scrambler enabling them to talk. “We are going to start by going back to that cave in and check a door I found,” said Jennifer, “I am curious why there should be a door in an area where there is no corridor.
“Maybe there used to be one and it was filled in for some reason,” said Candace. “True, but what does that have to do with looking for this “ghost?”, asked Angel. “Perhaps nothing,” said Jennifer, “or perhaps everything.” Meow,meow.=Maybe it treasure room. “That is exactly what I was thinking,” said Rock. “Same here,” added Harris, “after all, that is what this “ghost” is doing here, as was everyone else, looking for treasure.” “It could be dangerous down there though,” said Rock, “so let’s bring a few added tools with us just in case there are problems.”
After eating they went down to that corridor once again, walking carefully across that loose rubble and over to the large wood door. Rock smashed his way through the door quite easily with a large axe he brought along. He then entered the room slowly, not expecting…
To Be Continued.
2022 Steve McLeod.
Wandering Through Wednesday. #11
Good morning everyone! What a beautiful morning it is, with the temperature beginning the day at 35.5F (2C). And the scent of fresh rain in the air. It had just recently rained, light shower really, as I went out to feed the birds this morning. The snow was still soft and melting, we have lost about 4 inches (10cm) of snow since yesterday morning. Not a lot, but it is a nice start anyway. This is not official, but my own measurements outside. And today the high is expected to be 43F (6C). There is not as much bird activity this morning, still the blue jays, chickadees and nuthatches. But numbers of redpolls and evening grosbeaks are way down from what they have been.
I went for a walk to the river yesterday and I am feeling it today. The snow is already very soft on the path so my feet would sink a bit into the snow, making walking much harder. I didn’t sink a lot, but it was enough. No one else had been on the path yesterday, there were no recent footprints, probably not since the weekend. And no dog tracks at all, which was odd and I looked carefully for them all the way to the river.
There were a lot of chickadees and nuthatches all along the path right to the river which gave me a good indication just how many of these birds were visiting my feeders this winter. I heard a couple of squirrels along the way, but not Scramble. There were no fresh squirrel tracks in the snow around where he lives, but perhaps he has moved to a different part of his territory for now. I left him some peanuts on the way in and they were still there when I came back. I saw two deer, undoubtedly ones that come here.
I sat by the river for a while on that tree stump. It was very quiet for a while, broken only by the sound of ravens and several eagles. I did see two ducks, a male and female hooded merganser, but they were too far for a good picture. I got that feeling of being watched again. It was very noticeable. But there was nothing around. On the way back, once I got to Scramble’s territory, I saw dog tracks, very fresh, but no human foot prints. It was a very large dog by the tracks. I hope people are not letting their dogs run loose along there.
Or was it something else? Coyote? Wolf? The tracks continued on the path for quite awhile before disappearing into the trees. Then I noticed something else, more large tracks, but this time cat tracks, large enough to be from a lynx. These tracks, along with the “dog” tracks were fresh. In both cases they were on top of my foot prints in places, so they were definitely fresh. Perhaps that is why I got that “feeling” of being watched again. Oh well. It would have been nice to see them. Today I am very stiff and sore, but it was a nice walk. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
