The fact that Jessica used M.C.’s new name was concerning, more so than knowing about the blank wall. She used his name so easily, like she had always been using it, and that means she has been practicing with it, but why? She could easily just use his original name, we still do sometimes too, except maybe Kat, but she never really knew him as Mr. Cat. We go down for our dinner and there is a new lady at the front desk. She stops us and says we can’t take the cats into the dining room. I said we would sit on the opposite side of the room as the two gentlemen sitting by themselves in a corner. She thought for a moment.

Then I told her the lady that was here in the morning allowed us to bring the cats in. She looked and said, “I’m the only woman that works at this desk, my husband and I own this place!” Then a rough looking man came out and talked with the woman but I couldn’t make out what they said. Anyway, she then said it would be okay as long as the 2 men didn’t complain. We went and sat down and ordered our meal. “Steve, something is wrong here,” said Kat, “the lady this morning said her and her husband owned this place. And the description Jessica gave us matched that lady, not this one.” “Yes, I noticed that too,” I said, “someone has moved in to watch us. Perhaps they want to use us to find Jessica.”

“They certainly don’t seem to be professionals,” said Kat, “and it seems to me they should be, if this guy really wants to get Jessica back. But why does he want her so badly? It’s easier to get new girls.” “Unless Jessica took something from him,” I said, “perhaps some information she could sell to the police, or more likely to a “competitor” in the business. Or maybe she stole a lot of money from him that he wants back.” “If it’s your first idea,” said Kat, “that can be dangerous business and get a person killed. Unless she’s hoping we might help her in that.”

“She will be disappointed if that’s the case,” I said. We finish our dinner and head back to our room for the night. I plugged in our scrambler right away so we could talk. Meow.=Not like the way woman talk about us, she not like us. Meow,meow=I agree, she mean lady. “I agree with you two,” said Kat, “she really wasn’t very nice about anything.” “Yes, we will have to be very careful what we say around her and her husband,” I reminded everyone, “but why would she say that no other woman worked here? I mean, we obviously know she’s lying, so why?

She could just as easily say the woman quit, or that they sold the Inn to them, something that would make more sense.” “True, it’s almost like she wanted us to know they were watching us,” said Kat, “but I wonder what happened to the original couple? Well, I guess I know the answer to that.” And she put her head down. Just then Calanthe phoned. Apparently this Gregory Hackett is a well know criminal that is involved in many different things and has managed to evade the police for 3 years now. Well, he’s the subject of a large police investigation, so that’s out of our jurisdiction now, we can’t get involved unless they ask for our help, which they haven’t done.

Benjamin Carberry’s wife died 20 years ago, which we knew already because he told us that. But here’s something interesting, Benjamin Carberry died 5 years ago and is buried in a cemetery not far from here. Now that’s information we can use. He also only had one child, a daughter, who died 6 years ago, and buried in the same cemetery. No information yet on the supposed son, Ben. Something else interesting, Jessica’s body was exhumed for identification purposes for a contested will. Turns out it wasn’t Jessica, but her twin that had been buried.

That means that before, Jessica was pretending to be her sister, after killing her, or at least helping to kill her. “Somehow I think it’s someone else that is after Jessica,” I said, “not Gregory Hackett.” “And it’s possibly because of that will,” said Kat, “perhaps someone didn’t get a big enough share.” “That’s quite possible,” I said, “that happens quite a bit, if the estate is big enough, but I didn’t think Jessica’s estate was worth that much. Unless she laid claim to Candy’s estate by pretending to be her.” “I take it that Candy’s estate was worth more?”, asked Kat.

“Yes, a lot more,” I said, “so now we are getting somewhere.” “And the two men at the Inn, ” continued Calanthe, “the one has an extensive police record, he started working with the criminal organizations when he was 14, he’s now 30. He has never had anything proven against him, there’s never any witnesses. He’s dangerous Steve, be careful. His friend has no record, but is also considered very dangerous, loves to fight, remember that Kat.” “Thanks for the warning,” said Kat, “it’s good to know something about one’s opponent.” We talked a bit more about a few things then hung up and just talked for a while among ourselves. Meow,meow=Doorknob turning…

To Be Continued.

Previous chapters of this story, plus more stories, can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.”

©2021 Steve McLeod.