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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
This case is not moving along fast enough, we are just not getting enough information to help us out. We need to exhume that body since it obviously wasn’t Lily’s father that was buried, so we need to find out who it was. Is the whole family mixed up in this somehow, whatever it is? Was the father also mixed up in this too, or was he against all this and that is what got him killed?
Or did he die from the illness he had? What illness was that? Even Lily didn’t actually know, something that I thought was kind of odd. But then, she didn’t have any real communication with her family for the last 2 years, except for one sister who called twice a year, just brief phone calls, to let Lily know how her dad was doing. And it was just after this lack of communication began that her father became ill.
He used to phone her once a month apparently. He would always call her his little treasure. I’m a little concerned about the reading of his will, maybe Lily will get a larger share than her siblings. That won’t go over well. Edwin Stone was a millionaire so there will be a lot of money to share. Both Kat and Jennifer are back here right now.
Our girls were shot with a strange type of bullet, one that disappeared after it penetrated below the skin. It must have melted, or something, anyway, it left behind a type of poison in the girls. I had Sky bring Kat first, but when we found out this bit of exciting news, I sent her back for Jennifer too so she could help after Kat did the major part.
I then sent Sky and Angel back to help in Canada. Meanwhile, Tracy was playing that recording of the woman to the girls at different times to see if any could recognize the voice, but none did. Then, one time while playing that recording, Chloe and Caleigh came into the library and both gasped together! Chloe even dropped her cup of tea.
Everyone looked at the two of them who were now talking very fast in French. The only word Tracy understood was “Danielle”. She called me right away and said to come back to the library. I arrived, somewhat out of breath after running so fast. Everyone got real quiet when I arrived. “Why do you go huff and huff,” said Chloe, “when all you need do is wiggle your ears and you go here and here?”
I stared at them. “No, no,” said Caleigh, “not wiggle his ears, he blinks his eyes to go here and here.” “Oh, yes, that is it,” responded Chloe, “I know he did something with his head which is unusual.” I stared again, but frowned a bit at that last part. Everyone else laughed. I sighed. “Tracy, why did you call for me?” I asked, “Providing you can stop laughing long enough to answer.”
“Caleigh and Chloe must have recognized the voice!” she said excitedly. “Oh, yes, it is true,” said Chloe, “it is that horrible woman, Danielle!” “Now we’re getting somewhere,” I said, “Medina got away from us last time, though we basically destroyed her organization, but not her wealth obviously. Tracy, see if you can find out some information about where Medina, or Danielle Boyer, might be at this time. She must be in our area is my guess.”
I then communicated with Sky about this little bit of news. This could also mean that there are two cases here, not one, unless Lily’s family are working for Medina. But there is something that bothers me. If Medina is behind the attacks on us here, then she knows a lot about us. Our cats have been attacked outside before, so we changed things a bit.
They are now only allowed in an area out back that can’t be seen from any other angle, and it’s not easy to get to the back of our chateau. And, we change the time of their outdoor exercise period every day, making it hard for anyone to plan an attack. But someone got out back and let all those poisonous bugs loose, at the right time, more or less.
And they knew at what time we were going to the cemetery to bury our cats. We did discover that the woman who shot Misty was not our regular letter carrier, she was wearing a mask made to look like her. The real woman was found in the ditch about 5km from our chateau. Meanwhile, back in Canada. Aspen woke up and was shocked to see that it was now dark.
“Oh my, I need to get going,” she said, “how long did I sleep?” “About 3 hours,” said Sky smiling. “Who are you?” asked Aspen. “My name is Sky and this is my twin sister, Angel,” said Sky, “we are also friends of Lily.” “They are going to be looking for me now,” said Aspen, as she started to cry, “I will never get away from them now. They have likely seen my car parked out front and will be waiting for me to come out.”
Sky sat beside her and put her arm around her. “You know, I don’t think you are telling us the whole truth, are you?” asked Sky, “We would like to help you, but you must be honest with us.” Just then Jennifer sensed danger for our Canadian team and communicated that with Sky. Sky yelled to take cover just as an explosion hit their window, tossing shattered glass over the entire room!
Then a strange noise and another explosion in the room! Then Angel stood in front of the window and stopped two more drones from coming inside. The drones used were not big and the explosions were also not that big, which was a good thing. These were not big sophisticated drones, just ordinary ones that anyone can buy. Something just right for a family affair type of gang.
The explosions caused some panic at the hotel, however, and unfortunately the police had to be called. There were only minor cuts and bruises, no one needed hospital care, though ambulances did arrive and help out with our girls. Sky had sheltered Aspen and Angel sheltered Lily. Dawn, Sherry and Katresa were in the room, they had the cuts and a couple bruises from diving under furniture for protection.
The manager quickly moved them to a different room down the hall. Fortunately none of the girls were wearing their Wildcats T-shirts at the time, that might have caused problems. Kat was angry when she found out and was planning to visit Ralph when she got back.
I reminded her we didn’t know who did it, but she just looked at me with that “look”. I agreed, it probably was Ralph. “Now he will feel the wrath of the Kat!” she said firmly, “And he won’t like it!”
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
It was after the funeral and the family was having a large gathering afterward. Myrtle had invited Kat and her Wildcats when she saw they were obviously friends with Lily. Ralph didn’t like having them around, however, and he made sure the girls knew it. Then Ralph came up behind Jennifer, which she knew about but she let him have his fun.
Suddenly he grabbed her arms and slapped handcuffs on her and then walked away laughing, joining some friends. Myrtle was in another room at the time this took place. But once Ralph was back with his friends, Jennifer was also there, holding the handcuffs. “I think these belong to you,” she said nicely, then she grabbed his arms and put the handcuffs of him.
Ralph is not a very big man, not that it would have made a difference to Jennifer. All of his brothers are bigger than Ralph, but none are overly big like our guys. Jennifer now walked away chuckling and returned to the people she had been talking with previously. Ralph’s brothers were really having a good laugh over this too which made Ralph even more angry.
He then went over to Jennifer and demanded, rather loudly, that she take the handcuffs off him and saying there was no key for them. “Oh, it was funny when you did it to me, knowing there was no key,” she said, “and now it’s no longer funny. You should be more careful with your jokes.” Myrtle was now standing behind Ralph.
“Can’t you behave yourself, at least on the day of M…” then she caught herself, “of your father’s funeral?” Kat had joined the group now and decided on a bit of extra fun with Ralph. “I want her to take these handcuffs off,” he exclaimed, “they’re blazing hot and will burn my wrists! She must be some kind of witch!” “Apologize for calling my sister a witch!” demanded Kat, “We didn’t come here to cause trouble, we came to support our good friend Lily in her time of grief. Why can’t you just leave us alone.”
Another brother, named Bobby, had now joined the group and he felt the handcuffs. “These are not hot,” he said laughing. “They are so!” yelled Ralph. Then Myrtle touched them as well. “They are not even warm,” she said, shaking her head, “you are such a wimp Ralph. Please accept my apology for his awful behavior.” Jennifer then unlocked the handcuffs, pretending to use a hairpin, then she stuck it in his hair.
“In case you need it again,” she said smiling. That made Bobby laugh even more. “Lady, you better watch your back,” he growled. “Ralphie,” said Kat, “if you hurt my sister, or any of my Wildcats, you will feel the wrath of the Kat. My name is Kat and I have sharp claws and will scratch you to pieces. Before you start something make sure you can finish it.”
Ralph then stomped out the door and a couple of his friends followed him. “Maybe we should leave Kat,” said Lily. “Nonsense, my dear Lily,” said Myrtle, “it was Ralph causing the problems, you may all stay.” “Thank you Myrtle,” said Kat, “we’ll behave.” Everyone began talking once again after this bit of excitement was over.
Meanwhile, back to us. “Tracy, what was the name of Lily’s father?” I asked. “Edwin Stone, why?” asked Sienna. “There’s no M in his name?” I asked Tracy. “No, there isn’t, why?” asked Sienna again. “Do we know where he worked?” I asked Tracy. “Hillcrest Insurance Company,” said Sienna, “he was one of it’s top execs, why?” I looked at Tracy.
“How do you manage to talk without moving your lips?” I asked Tracy, “Anyway, get me more information about that family please.” Then Sienna stood right in front of me. “Oh, where did you come from?” I said, somewhat surprised. “I was right behind you answering your questions,” she said. “That would explain why Tracy wasn’t moving her lips,” I said. Sigh.
Anyway, Sienna filled me in on the family except none of it helped, so Tracy said she would do some more digging. “What about that voice?” I asked. She then played it for us. It was indeed a woman, but not a voice that I recognized, nor did Sienna. Well, it was time to head off to the cemetery to bury the 5 cats that died.
For us, these cats are members of our team and are therefore very important to us. The 5 are Tandi, Bandit, Patch, Moonbeam and Frisky. The last 2 belonged to Amerie and Suzette, two of the original Bad Girls and it really hit them hard to lose their cats. There was a lot of traffic going by on the road that day, but we had guards watching carefully.
Except at one point. Rascal and Storm wanted a minute of silence, so we all had our heads bowed. But I suddenly sensed trouble close at hand and looked up to see a white van driving past with it’s side door open and a man sitting there holding a gun. I yelled for everyone to drop, but the man began to shoot just at the same time.
Sky tossed a lightning ball causing the van to fall on it’s side. Her and Angel then went up to the van and two men were still alive, so they brought them back and we took them back to our “jail”. Three of our girls were wounded, Sapphire, Cynthia and Amerie, with Amerie being the most serious. “Bring Kat back to the clinic Sky,” I said, and off she went.
Fortunately the girls were back at the hotel by that time. Sky just grabbed Kat and off they went. Jennifer communicated with me right away to find out what was happening. She then told everyone else. “All of this is happening because of me,” said Lily, “but why?” “We don’t know if things are connected yet Lily,” said Jennifer, “it might be two different things happening at the same time.”
“Yes, I suppose that could be possible,” said Lily. That evening one of Lily’s sisters, Aspen, came to the hotel and she was obviously very nervous. “I’m sorry to stop by without calling first,” she said, “but Lily is in danger, you need to take her away from here quickly and go back home, wherever that is.” “You don’t know where Lily lives?” asked Jennifer.
“No, I’m sort of an outsider in the family,” she said. “Aspen and Luke are not really married, even though he says they are,” said Lily, “otherwise he would be cut out of father’s will.” “Yes, so he just kind of picked me up one day and said he would pay me to be his pretend wife,” said Aspen, “but that whole family is mixed up with illegal stuff.
Sorry I had to say that Lily, but even your mother is mixed up in what they are doing. They are part of some bigger gang and they are planning something, but I don’t know what and right now I don’t care. I’m just scared.” “Won’t it be dangerous for you to go back home Aspen?” asked Jennifer. “I’m not going back,” she said, “I’m just going to try and get as far away as I can and hope they don’t find me.”
She was shaking by this time so Jennifer told her to sit on the bed beside her and she began to rub her back. Soon Aspen was asleep and Jennifer communicated with me what Aspen had said. Hmm, a piece of the puzzle, but how exactly does it fit?
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 