I called the police and explained why I was there. Apparently the secretary had been given the afternoon off, which was not unusual she had said. His business wasn’t doing so well, maybe that’s why he was so anxious to sell the chateau, he would make a fair bit of money on that. There is only one other place in town now, so they will have to handle the sale of the chateau, unless I just do it myself, which I don’t really care to do. I go out to the front room and notice the car is empty. That made me run fast outside, where did they all go? The cats are wearing their backpacks so that is good, I grab mine as well since I will have to go looking for them. Then I see Muffin waving in a window across the street. A restaurant, guess Calanthe was hungry. Anyway I went over to join them and I must admit, it was a good meal.

We were just getting ready to leave when there was a huge explosion! Our car! Certainly wasn’t much left of it. Obviously the bomb was times to go off so that we would be on the road somewhere. Stopping for a meal saved us that time. The police drove us back to the chateau. At least there was a couple more cars there we could use, but we’ll have to inspect them ahead of time. That bomb could have been put in the car while we were here at the chateau, or in town, but I’m sure it would have been here. We are getting too many uninvited guests out here. Calanthe was a bit scared to stay here any longer, but it’s a 3 hour drive to the other chateau, it’s better to stay here. However, I made some changes to locking the gates so that should help a bit. Plus I’m making sure the guest cottage is properly locked up as well.

We all went to bed early except the cats who were taking the first shift at watching. I’m thinking too much to sleep. There is some strange things happening here. At least the food we ate should have been safe, no drugs put into it. Although, to be honest, I’m not sure I trust anyone in that town right now, no one seems to act normal there. It’s very odd. But I soon fell asleep even with all my thinking. Mr. Cat came in and jumped on me to wake me up, it was my turn to watch. The time went by too fast. We went back into the living room, the cats were going to stay with me and sleep. About an hour later I woke up the cats and pointed to the fireplace. There was Linnea again, standing looking at us. “Steve, please be careful,” she said, “3 groups of people involved here. Come to my funeral, in my pocket is a note. Remember, I’m going down in the ground. Going down is going up to go down again.”

Then she turned and ran into the fireplace, with me and the cats right behind her, but again she disappeared. There has to be a door in the fireplace, which was already open for Linnea to go through quickly and then closed before we got there. But how to open it? The cats and I looked over that fireplace and could find no way to open that door. Meow,meow.=Linnea is ghost, not need door. “There are no ghosts Muffin,” I said. Meow?=Then how you explain she disappear? “Sigh, I don’t know how she did it, except she walked through a door that was already open. Maybe it only opens from the inside,” I said to them. Meow,meow.=Me think you too tired still. Meow.=Yep, need help in thinking department. Meow,meow.=I agree. “Chomp!” “Chomp!” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!,” I screamed, and Calanthe came running in pointing her gun at us.

“It’s okay,” I said, “the cats and I were discussing the case.” “You certainly like to discuss things loudly,” she said, “anything I need to know about?” “I was just wondering if there was a hidden door in this fireplace, like the ones in the chateau,” I said. “Yes,” she answered, “just pull that knob over there.” Pull, why didn’t I think of that? So I pulled it and the door opened, but it didn’t lead anywhere. “Apparently it led to some kind of dungeon so Linnea’s uncle had it blocked off, he didn’t like the looks of it,” said Calanthe, “anyone for an early pancake breakfast?” There was no disagreement about that. But, how did Linnea disappear in there when there is nowhere to go? And why is Calanthe so calm and happy?

To Be Continued.

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.