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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
We were presently at the little grocery store in this tiny village and the owner was not being very friendly at all, so, I had to get a little tough with him. I was hoping this might wake him up a bit, but he remained quite firm in his pretense of ignorance. I had just finished slamming him against one of the store shelves, knocking canned goods onto the floor. I then told him we would be hanging around until we found the four women we were looking for, and letting him know we better find the women alive. I then let him go and told the girls to look around the store.
That’s when one of the men playing checkers got up and came toward me, but Misty stood between us. This man was rather large and he used one arm to knock Misty aside and she fell against those same shelves, knocking more canned goods onto the floor. “Pick up your mess Mister,” he said to me. I went over to him. “I don’t like the way you treated my friend,” I said. “What ya gonna do about it,” he said smiling.
So, I punched him, with a little electrical addition, and that knocked him flying right out the screen door and down the four steps where he laid on the ground groaning. “Whoa, did ya see that?!” exclaimed the other checker player. “You owe me $200 for a new screen door Mister!” yelled the owner. “I didn’t break it, your friend did, get the money from him,” I said calmly. “And what about the mess?” he asked. “Are you ready to answer my questions?” I asked in return.
“I know nothin’,” he said and he again folded his arms. “Hey girls,” said Kat, “the man said to make a mess.” So, that is what they did, quite thoroughly too. While they were doing that, Kat went over to the checker player. “I bet you could answer our questions,” she said. “N, n, no, n, n, not me,” he said nervously, “I don’t know nothin’ too.” Then Kat’s head and hands disappeared making the man scream. Then her head and hands came back, but her body disappeared. That man was quite literally terrified now. The store owner couldn’t see what was happening from where he stood.
“Shut up Stan,” he said, “we don’t talk to strangers.” Then Kat’s body reappeared. “Think about it Stan,” she said, “or maybe I will have to come and haunt you. I’m a ghost.” “Let’s go everyone,” I said, “but we will be back tomorrow, Mister.” I said that last part to the store owner since he liked to call me Mister. Back in the van Kat told me the phones in town won’t work for about an hour. Hmm, that gave me an idea. Once out of the village, every so often I shot some electricity at the phone cable, breaking it, causing it to fall to the ground.
I even snapped off a few poles along the way as well. “That will keep them without their phones for a while. “Yeah, I noticed our phones didn’t work out there,” said Tracy, “too far from any tower, I guess.” “Or something else is causing interference,” said Ivy as she continued playing her game. I looked over at her phone. It’s Muffin’s favorite mouse catching game. “It’s not easy,” said Ivy. “That’s why I don’t play it,” I said. For some reason that got her giggling, then laughing, loud and long. Sigh.
We arrived safely back at the lodge and got cleaned up before dinner, which we were told would be served at 6pm, sharp. The owner doesn’t seem to be too happy, but his wife said to ignore him, he gets that way sometimes. Celestine and I are in the honeymoon suite and it is quite spacious. There is a large sitting room, a large bedroom with a round bed. There are red satin sheets and a white comforter with red roses on it. Basically everything is red and white in here. The bathroom is also large and everything is red and white in there too, except the walls and ceiling are cedar as they are in the bedroom.
We even have our own private deck. “This room is big enough for my whole team,” said Misty. “Yes, it certainly is nice,” said Celestine, “by the way, there are 6 young men in those two other rooms, not 2. All they did all day was just sit around drinking and watching us girls, though they never tried talking to us.” “They probably know who you are,” I said, “and who wants to get friendly with a PI?” “Someone who wants information,” said Sky, “and that owner sure asked a lot of questions, like, who are we really, where are we from, why are we here, how long are we staying, who is paying us, you know, typical stuff.
I never gave him a clear answer though, except to say we would stay until we find the missing women. And if we find them dead, then we would stay until we found their killers.” “Good,” I said, “that guy is in on this, whatever is going on around here. He is the early warning man for that village.” “Did you notice something about the people we saw out there Steve?” asked Ivy. “Aside from being annoying?” I asked. “I’m serious,” she said, “everyone is about the same age, including the owner here and his wife.”
“I noticed that too,” said Brandy, “I doubt anyone is over 30. But there was no sign of children, not even children’s toys or bikes sitting around outside.” “And their speech is not real,” said Acadia, “they just wanted us to think they were simple, country folk without much education.” “Well, all this proves that they are up to no good in that little village,” I said, “and perhaps the girls stumbled onto something and that’s why they disappeared.” “That is not a comforting thought Steve,” said Kat.
Hmm, time to check with my favorite computer girl. “Hey Cristy, my beautiful, intelligent and the very best computer girl on our team,” I began. “Forget the compliments Steve,” she said, “it’s much too early. But, I haven’t found anything useful except the village has been there since about 1920 and once had a population of 300 but now is populated by a few older folks that just don’t want to leave.”
“That is useful Cristy,” I said. “It is?” she asked. “Yes, the whole population seems to be in their 20s now,” I told her. “That’s odd,” she said, “oh, last fall there were 3 moose hunters killed at Old Lake by a black bear, so tell everyone to be careful.” At dinner Ivy was sitting on one side of me and she said casually that those young men across the room were carrying guns…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
We went to bed early that night so we could get lots of sleep before heading to Old Lake and the site of Amelia’s property. Amelia is Coral’s friend, they met in high school and immediately became best friends. I hope she isn’t involved in whatever has happened to the girls. Meanwhile, that night. “Why are you phoning so late Billy,” said the man. “Just to let you know some important information,” he said, “seems the mother of one of them girls hired some private detectives to look for them.
There’s quite a bunch of them too. Remember to keep your mouths shut and get the word around. They won’t likely stay long when they don’t find anything, but they might be more nosey than the cops, so be careful.” “We know how to do our part,” he said, “I hate it when strangers come into our domain. Keep us informed.” “I’ll do that,” he said and he hung up. The night passed quickly and quietly for us, which was nice, it meant we all slept well.
Breakfast was ready for us early like I had asked. The owner’s wife again told us not to go out to Old Lake. But I told her that this kind of thing is our job, but we won’t take chances. I’m beginning to think we should have brought the Black Wolves with us. However, it still might be better this way, whoever is causing trouble out there won’t think we are anything to worry about. But if they have harmed those four women, they will have to do a lot of worrying, not us. They will not only feel the wrath of the Kat, but also the wrath of Steve this time.
I feel a lot better now and a lot stronger. This morning I will bring Misty and her team plus Kat and her Wildcats. Sky will stay behind with her Bad Girls as backup and to protect Sienna and Celestine. We also took four of the cats, Muffin, Tracker, Sunny and Boots with us. They can help sniff around for clues. We only took vans with us on this trip since the limousine is really just for Sienna. We drove on the country road up to the little village and I’m sure everyone in that village watched us drive through on our way out to Old Lake.
I certainly sensed heavy trouble in that little village, I wonder what they are doing? It wasn’t much of a road by the time we arrived at Old Lake. We stopped briefly to look around and see if we could tell if anyone had driven out there recently. Unfortunately it had rained 2 days ago so any tire tracks were washed away completely. We listened but heard nothing at all, not even any birds or squirrels. Kitty listened most intently, her hearing is better than anyone in our group, but she didn’t hear anything either. So, we continued our journey until Misty said we had arrived.
“Hey, look over there!” exclaimed Brandy, our photographer, “That must be the old lodge we were told about.” Sure enough, there was indeed an old lodge, once built for tourists and hunters to stay, there was even an old, faded sign saying, Old Lake Lodge. It was made of logs, like the one we are staying at, but it’s not as big. And it is a bit rundown. We drove to the lodge along its gravel driveway, at least it used to be. Once we were close to this lodge, it didn’t look quite so bad. Only one window was broken, on the main floor, and only one small pane of glass.
The door was locked, with a rather new lock at that. Nicole is our best lock picker at the moment and she had the door open quickly. In we went and we quite literally stepped back in time. The lodge was completely furnished and I’m sure everything was original to this building. Oddly, Coral’s mother said there was a house on the property, but perhaps that was just what she had been told. Only some of the furniture was draped with sheets, but the girls may have taken them off the other furniture.
There was one massive stone fireplace on one end of the main room as we came in the front door, there was a smaller one in the large dining room. Out back was a three walled shed well stocked with firewood. “That wood is quite fresh,” said Fridr, “likely stacked in there last year.” Astrid agreed, it definitely wasn’t any older than that. Now, who was out here last year stocking up on so much firewood so it would be nice and dry for this winter?
And why is the inside of this hundred year old lodge in such immaculate condition inside if no one has been living here for decades? Misty’s team checked the upstairs bedrooms and all but one were well furnished and the beds were made and ready to use. That also makes no sense. Finally I asked the cats if they had found anything. Meow, meow.= We smell human people in here, not long ago too. Smell our humans plus maybe 6 or more other humans. Smell something else too, not sure what is, but not nice smell.
“Well, we know our girls were here,” I said, “but where did they go?” “They didn’t stop at the Lodge where we are staying,” said Misty, “no one there saw them.” “Well, that’s what they told us,” said Kat, “I’m not sure I trust the owner of that place. One thing is certain, people in that village saw the girls come and go, if indeed they left.” “Yes, considering how they watched us drive through their village,” I agreed, “they would definitely have seen the girls drive through also. But I somehow doubt they will tell us anything.”
“Then we’ll make them tell us!” said Misty firmly. “Yes, we may have to get a little tough with them,” I said. It was now close to mid afternoon so I said it was time to head back and we would stop in the village at the store. Off we went and soon we were parked outside the small general store. Some of us went inside to talk with whoever was there, while the others stayed outside to watch.
The store owner stood behind the counter with arms folded while two more men sat at a small table in one corner of the store playing checkers. This is definitely an old time general store. I went to the owner and asked if he saw a green SUV drive through the village a few days ago heading out to Old Lake. “Around here we mind our own business Mister,” he said gruffly. He was now leaning on the counter looking right at me.
I then moved amazingly fast, grabbing his arms and pulling them which knocked his head down on the counter. Then I pulled him across the counter and slammed him against some shelves knocking canned goods onto the floor. “Look,” I said, “we are private investigators and were hired to find these 4 women. We are going to stay until we find them, and we better find them, alive and unharmed…”
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 