I went back out to the other room, the girls were nowhere in sight, but…the cats were there, locked in a wire cage. I looked around but didn’t see anyone, however, I switched to using my real gun now. “Okay you two,” I said, “tell me what happened.” Meow,meow=Oh, we real embarrassed, getting trapped in cage not good. Meow.=Yep, not feel good about this, very embarrassing. Meow,meow.=Huge, giant human come and ghost man Thomas Bentley. They take girls and put us in cage. Then giant go in attic after you. “And how did they manage to catch you?”, I inquired, “when danger comes you are not supposed to just sit there.” Meow.=Yep, we make big mistake for sure, they catch by surprise. Meow,meow.=Yep, we not expect giant and ghost to come.

“There are no ghosts, I keep telling you that,” I said again, “but you are still not supposed to just sit there, fight back!” Sigh. Meow,meow?=Um, you let us out of cage? “Yes, just a minute, I need my wire cutter,” I said, “it was smart using this so you couldn’t get out on your own. Now, use only your steel Muffin, and your steel ball, got it?” They both said yes together. “Now, we need to find the girls, these people are obviously dangerous. Oh, first I need to get handcuffs on that big guy.” Meow,meow=Oh, you catch him, we go see. “He’s over by the trunk,” I said as I followed after them. Meow.=There no one here. Sure enough, he was gone.

“I shot him 3 times with a sleep dart, so he didn’t walk out of here, it would take 2 people to carry him out,” I said, “that means there are at least 4 people here.” Then a voice…”You must leave now, this is my house, you are trespassing here.” “I don’t know who you are,” I said, “but it’s you that is trespassing, I am working for the owners of this house and I am telling you to leave right now and return the 2 ladies you have kidnapped. Kidnapping is a serious charge so release them unharmed and leave now.” There was silence, perhaps it was just a recording. “I am Thomas Bentley, I own this house, you must leave now.” “You are not Thomas Bentley, he’s dead, he died 61 years ago, this house has been sold by his family and is now owned by someone else.

I will tell you again, leave this place and release the women, ” I said, “if you don’t, then I will have to arrest all of you and you will end up in prison.” “Ha, ha!! You can’t arrest a ghost! Now, here is my answer!” I turned just in time to see a figure in the doorway with a gun and he opened fire with at least 20 shots! Muffin and Mr. Cat had already moved toward the door and “Thwock”, “Thwock”. That big man staggered, I shot 3 times and he was down. I ran over to check. He was definitely dead this time. But what will Bentley’s next move be? Will he hurt the girls? Perhaps he’s a son or grandson and looks a lot like the original owner, so he dresses up like him to scare people into thinking they have seen a ghost.

There must be something here that he wants, but he doesn’t know where it is, yet. I think the person who hired me knows more than he told me. I don’t like when people do that, makes the job more dangerous. The cats and I go into the bedroom where we have the scrambler working so we can talk. I explain my thoughts to them. Meow,meow=Oh, that not nice, owner need to tell us everything. Meow.=Yep, me agree, he tell us or we quit. “Don’t forget though, we have to find the girls first,” I said. Meow,meow.=Yes, that right, but how we do that?

“Hmm, first I phone Rick, the man who hired us,” I said. I told him what was going on and said I wanted the whole story or we walk away. Silence on his end, then he said if we come back he will tell us. Okay, now to get the girls. We went back out to the other room. I called out to Thomas. “What do you want?” “We will leave, but I want the ladies back, unharmed, first, then we will be gone immediately,” I said. “How do I know you are telling the truth?” “You’ll just have to trust me,” I said, “I will pack the car and wait there until the ladies come out, then we will leave.” “Okay.” So I packed everything into the car and waited.

Soon the girls came out the front door and over to the car. “Get in quickly,” I said to them quietly, which they did and off we went. “I don’t believe you gave up,” said Kat. “Yes,” said Calanthe, “that’s very disappointing.” “It was the easiest way to get you back in a hurry,” I said, “and we are not giving up! But we are going back to see Rick.” We got back to the main road, stopped, and I suddenly heard a strange noise. I told the cats to jump out the window and run! “Let’s go fast girls!” I yelled. We just got our doors open and the car exploded into a huge ball of flames…

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.