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.