Soon morning was here, the sun was just rising over the distant trees. Kat was still sleeping so I didn’t wake her up. The cats wanted to look around a bit so I let them go. I made some coffee and oatmeal and managed to find some blueberries close by to add in with the oatmeal. Kat and our prisoner woke up at the same time. I noticed the prisoner kept looking at Kat in a way that seemed like she knew her. She asked for some food too. “You can have some food,” I said, “but first you do some talking.” She looked over at Kat again when I said that. “Can I at least have some coffee first?”, she asked. So Kat gave her a cup of coffee.

“Now, let’s get with some answers,” I said, “who is behind all this? And don’t forget, I just might decide to tie you up in the sun over there when we leave, unless we get the answers we want.” She again looked at Kat, which kind of annoyed me. “Look at me and talk!”, I said firmly. Just then there was crashing through the trees, Kat and the other woman yelled. I turned and a bear was chasing the cats! I grabbed my gun and shot several times hoping to scare the bear away, and it worked. The bear stopped and looked, the cats ran behind a boulder next to us. I ran at the bear, yelling and shot the ground next to the bear and it ran off the way it came. The cats jumped on the boulder and sat there with eyes blinking.

Meanwhile I turned and spotted our prisoner had gotten free and was fighting with Kat. Somehow that woman had gotten hold of Kat’s knife and Kat had her gun out and…one shot and the woman fell to the ground. I ran over, the woman was still alive. “Who is behind this?”, I asked again. She looked at Kat and said, “her”. She died shortly after. Kat looked shocked. “You, you don’t believe that nonsense, do you?”, asked Kat. “Of course not”, I said, “she was just trying to cause trouble between us, and it won’t work.” The cats just sat on the boulder, eyes blinking.

“How did she get free?”, I asked Kat. “That was my fault,” she said with her head down, “she said she would talk if she wasn’t tied up, so I cut the rope off her hands and feet. Then she grabbed my knife and came after me, so I took out my gun and shot her. Sorry I messed things up so badly.” “Don’t worry about it,” I said, “we have all made mistakes as PI’s. Which brings us back to the cats. Why was that bear chasing you?” Meow,meow.=We find baby bear, so we go over to make friends. Meow.=Yep, but mommy bear not seem to like that, so she chase us back here.

Meow,meow.=Yep, that sure scary, thought she going to catch us for sure. Meow.=Yep, very scary, we stay away from bears now, guess they not like being friends to cats. “Well, your timing couldn’t have been worse,” I said, shaking my head, “but it’s a lesson learned for all of us. Did you find anything interesting while you were out?” Meow,meow.=Yep, they have little car thing parked in trees. Meow.=Yep, maybe there is road. The woman had no keys, so I checked the man that came up last and he had keys on him. We went back to the quad and drove to the road, which wasn’t far away, and it kept going in the direction we wanted to go, so off we went. It didn’t take long on that quad to arrive at the lake we wanted.

It was also a welcome rest from all that walking. I parked off the road where the quad couldn’t be seen easily and everyone got off…except me. I just looked around. That feeling was coming back again. “Are you getting off?”, asked Kat, with a worried look on her face. I got off the quad and picked up my backpack, but that sudden sharp pain in my lower back made me drop it again. It also brought me back to reality. I told Kat what had happened. “Take some of your medicine, quickly,” she said. “I don’t have any, they took all our medications,” I said. Now Kat was really worried. “When are you supposed to take the next dose?”, she asked. “Yesterday,” I said. We all sat looking at the lake and the distance to the first island. It was definitely farther than it looked on the map. “I’ll never make it,” I said, “not with my shoulder, and now my back.” “So now what?”, asked Kat.

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.