Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Treasure Hunt. Chapter 16.
Meow,meow?=You okay? I stood up slowly and said, “Yes, I’ll be okay, but I’ll have to walk slowly.” Meow.=We walk slow too, make sure you okay. Mr. Cat was right, there was someone following us, and they seemed to stop every time we did. For some reason they didn’t want to catch us just yet. Perhaps they were waiting until we found Calanthe and Lena, then kill us all together. That old wound was really paining which slowed us down too much, but I couldn’t do anything about it. We kept checking rooms but so far we hadn’t found the girls. Then we came to that dead end, but this time there was an open passageway to our left so we took that and at the end was another room which was locked. I gave the tool to Mr. Cat and held him up to the lock and he had it open quickly. He’s really getting good at this.
Sure enough, Calanthe and Lena were there. We went in, closed and locked the door. There was another locked door in the room which Mr. Cat opened quickly as well and off we went through an unfamiliar passage. I didn’t like that, seems more like we were being guided a certain way which could very likely mean a trap ahead. We finally came to a dead end with a ladder going up. I went up first and there was a lever that opened a door. It was under one of the statues by the pool, the statue slid out of the way revealing the opening. I looked around, all was clear, so we all came out and started for the pool house where Baldwin’s men should be waiting.
Just as we got to the pool house there was several shots coming from the chateau. Baldwin’s men came out and returned fire and so did I while Calanthe, Lena and the cats ran for the car. Baldwin’s men and I followed, but one man was shot and fell. Then I felt that familiar sting. I don’t remember much after that except for Baldwin’s man helping me back to the car. Baldwin himself was there too and he yelled to the driver to take us to the hospital. My “treasure” was also in the car still which almost made Calanthe and Lena faint, that’s when I passed out. Next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital. “That was a mean trick to play Steve!”, said Calanthe shaking her head. Lena agreed with her. But hey, it wasn’t me, the police came up with this idea and we didn’t know who to trust and who not to trust.
The police knew that one of these people was responsible for the arms dealing, but they didn’t know who, and this was a good time to possibly find out. And it worked. The police had moved in after we were out of there and caught Antoine. They have enough to put him in prison for a long time. It may not stop him entirely, but it should slow him down. Plus some of his men broke down and gave the police a lot of information about times and locations of arms deals already in the works. So they were able to move in and put an end to them. This was planned right from the beginning when someone tried to poison Linnea and Calanthe. That put things in my hands so the killer would come after me which would bring him, or her, out in the open. But, of course, Linnea didn’t die, that was part of the trap. That final moment before burial when I spent some time alone with Linnea while she was in the casket, is the time I gave her something to wake her up from the drug given to simulate death.
Then she got up and left into hiding, until I showed her to Baldwin. Even he never suspected this. Linnea is the “treasure” I referred to earlier, and she truly is that. So Calanthe ended up with the chateau for her resort, Baldwin bought it for her and Linnea gave him a good deal on it, only 1 million euros, instead of the two. Plenty for us to fix up the other chateau which I am keeping and will live in until Linnea and I get married. It will be a double wedding with Muffin and Mr. Cat. But, there is a real treasure. We went back to that library and book number 1,876 which talks about a secret safe under a bookcase, though in a different house. There was a special book that opened the bookcase and there was the safe! Just a metal box in the floor containing jewels, jewelry and some gold. Calanthe gave the jewels to Linnea and I, plus half the books in the library. To me that was better than the jewels! Meow,meow.=Now we get to relax before next case. But what happen next? Meow!=We find out Friday!
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story and other stories can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
It’s Coffee Time #90! Winter Cold, Indoor Fun!
Good morning everyone! And welcome back to winter here at Steve’s Country. It’s only 7F (-14C) this morning, what a way to end the month of March, and quite odd considering we had such a nice early spring this year. However, it is going to warm up to 28F (-2C) today and tomorrow we return to spring like temperatures again. So it’s not really so bad, just a couple days of freezing solid, then I can thaw out once more. Muffin doesn’t quite understand the temperature change. She could have the door open before, now she can’t. She keeps trying to get my attention and runs over to the door, turns and looks at me.
I try to explain that it’s too cold right now. Even when I open the door to prove what I’m saying, she still doesn’t get it a few minutes later. Sigh. But we do have fun playing inside on days like this. Speaking of fun, I saw Skamper out there this morning picking up peanuts and heading home with them. These critters must have big homes. I mean, they start as soon as they come out in spring to collect food for the winter. That’s what they do. All summer. Apparently, from what I have read, chipmunks don’t start gathering for winter until late summer. Obviously that doesn’t apply to northern chipmunks, these start right away.
And now, more indoor fun with old games:
Checkers, of different kinds:
Regular: This is a checker board from about 1920, and it’s a slide in type. They used these in different places like old stores, taverns, etc. There would be a groove in the side of the table and this checker board would slide into that groove so that more people could participate in playing the game. At the bottom of the pic is the part that slides into that groove. The checkers themselves are from the 1950s and are wood.
Canadian: This is a large checkerboard which is said to be of Canadian origin, mainly it’s from the French part of Canada it seems. I had never seen one so big until I started collecting. It is played the same way as regular checkers, it’s just bigger. Mine is from the early 1900s.
Chinese checkers: This game has nothing to do with China nor is it Chinese. It was actually invented in Germany back in the late 1800s, but it was a square design. An American game manufacturer brought it to the U. S. and changed it to it’s present design and it became known as Hop Ching checkers. Somewhere along the way it became known as Chinese checkers. My Hop Ching board is from 1940 and the metal board is from about 1960. I do have the marbles for them as well. The idea is to get your marbles to the space directly across before the other players do the same. You can jump any marble but they are not removed from the game as in regular checkers. Well, I was going to do another checkers game but this is already a bit long, so I will save it for next time. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 