It’s been another 3 weeks since I got home from the hospital. Although I left the hospital in a wheelchair, I could walk, but I couldn’t stay on my feet very long. But with the help of everyone I am now walking once again, though I still have to be careful. I think it would be okay to take on a case now, but nothing has come along since our last case, and that’s almost 3 months ago. That’s not good. While I was in the library someone came to the door and Kat went to answer. Then she came into the library with a parcel which was obviously a picture of some kind, so we opened it.

Sure enough, it was a nice, large oil painting that looked to be quite old. There was also an envelope with a note, which read, “Hi Steve, I hope you like this painting, it’s genuine, 200 years old and I thought it would make a nice wedding present for you and Kat. Sorry I’m a bit late with it. I also thought it would look great on that big blank wall in your entry. Steve, I need your help, I’m in trouble. I’m always being watched, so I don’t want to say anything. Please follow the clues, I know you can do it. Please hurry.” Kat looks at the note, “it’s written by a woman.” “Who delivered the painting?”, I ask Kat.

“It was a man, but not any of the regular delivery companies,” she said, “he just had a plain blue van. His accent made me think he was from England.” “Very good Kat,” I said, “anything else?” “Well, he said it was such a nice day with a beautiful blue sky,” she said, “and he was wearing a dark blue suit.” “And the note came in a blue envelope,” I added, “blue seems to be one of the clues.” “It could just be coincidence,” said Kat. “Too many blues,” I said, “it must be important. Now, the painting looks like an English countryside, a little village here, and a…” Meow!=It castle! Maybe we explore castle!

“I thought perhaps you would get excited about that,” I told him. He starts bouncing around on the table where we have the painting for the moment. Boing, boing…he goes. Meow,meow.=Stop going boing, boing or I bite tail. He stops immediately and sits on his tail. Meow,meow?=Why everyone get excited about castle? Castle mean ghosts, we go after ghost we end up being ghost. “Would you rather we fight people like Cinnamon again?”, I ask her. Her ears go straight up. Meow,meow?=What you wait for M.C.? We might go to castle, go boing, boing. Meow!=Yay! Boing, boing, boing, he goes!

“Well, just because the castle is in the picture, doesn’t mean we will be exploring the castle,” said Kat. “Yes, that’s true,” I said, “now, let’s look for more clues. Where’s my magnifier?” Kat gets my phone. “Okay, this is an inn,” I said, “and it’s called the Golden Wing.” Meow?=What is ‘inn’? “It’s like a hotel,” said Kat. Meow?=Then why they not call it hotel? “The word ‘inn’ is very old,” I explained, “it was used long before the word hotel was invented. I think that’s another clue. Check and see if it’s still in existence.” Kat checks and sure enough it is, so she phones the Inn and makes a reservation for us.

“The lady said she would put us in the “Blue Room”,” said Kat, “guess you’re right, blue is a clue.” “Probably just so we would know that we should be going to this Inn,” I said, “so we’ll use that as our base for now, and check around from there.” Meow,meow=Look here, over by castle. I check it out with my magnifier. “Look at this Kat,” I said, “a golden wing on the side of this house by the castle. That’s small, good going Muffin!” I give her a big hug. Soon we are on one of Baldwin’s jets flying to England.

This looks like it might be an interesting case. “I just thought of something,” said Kat, “how did this mystery person know we had a large blank wall in our entry?” “It took a while for that to come up,” I said, “perhaps the person has been in our place, or knows someone who has been in there.” “Still, that part is kind of creepy,” she said, “maybe someone has been in there uninvited.” “That’s also possible,” I said, “but we will soon find out once we locate our mystery person.” Here we are, landing at the airport. I had rented a car ahead of time, turns out it’s blue. I’m a little nervous about this case…

To Be Continued.

Pictures of M.C. (Mr. Cat) are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.

©2021 Steve McLeod.