We had finished our drive to the city and were now in the basement of what appeared to be a nightclub. We came in the back way and there were no signs or anything to let us know what the building was, but I am assuming it is the nightclub owned by Swann and his partner Herbert Williams. Unless those 4 men are working for someone else, perhaps a competitor of the owner of this nightclub. I’m thinking too much again.

I’m glad that Friskie is here with me though, it would have been much harder if they had taken Celestine and I. At least Friskie can fight back and take care of the two of us, although I told her not to fight at the beginning because I wanted to see who these men are working for and why he wants me. After an hour a pleasant young woman came in with a tray of food for us. This should be interesting since we are handcuffed at the moment.

“If you two promise to be nice,” she said, “then I am allowed to take those uncomfortable bracelets off you.” “I promise to be good,” I said. “And you?” she asked Friskie. Friskie looked at me. “Yes, I promise too,” she said nicely. “Good, it’s so much easier to eat when you can use your hands,” said the woman, smiling, “sorry, but no knives are allowed, so I cut up your meat for you, I hope the pieces are the right size.” “They look fine,” I said, “thank you.” “Yes, thank you,” said Friskie.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she began, “but I have to stay until you’re finished eating. The door is locked and Big Ed won’t unlock it until I call him after you’re finished eating.” “Do you enjoy working at a nightclub?” asked Friskie. “The pay is great,” she said, smiling, “this is the only place I’ve ever worked and Mr. Fiske is a nice guy to work for too. You will get to meet him soon, be nice to him and he will be nice to you.” “What’s your name?” asked Friskie, “Or am I not allowed to ask?”

“It’s Venus,” she said, “no big secret, my mom said she used to daydream about going to Venus, it just seemed to her that it was a real secretive world of beauty. That’s all when she was a kid and when she would one day grow up and have a baby girl, then she would name her Venus. So, here I am.” Venus and Friskie kept talking and I just ate quietly for the most part, though I did make a few comments. At least we learned one thing, there is a new man involved in this case, a Mr. Fiske.

I wonder how he fits in this picture? I tried to communicate with Sky, then Angel, then Kitty, but I knew it wasn’t getting through for some reason. Is there something in here that is jamming my ability to send out communications? Or is it something else? I haven’t really been feeling completely back to normal since I was hit by that weapon designed by Toledo. Guess I really should have told Jennifer and Kat, they likely know by now that I can’t be reached. Sigh.

Friskie had checked our food, more precisely, my food, to make sure it wasn’t poisoned or had any kind of drug in it. She can tell just by sniffing the food, just like our cats do it. Once we were finished she called Big Ed who unlocked the door and Venus left with the tray of dishes. Then he told us to come with him and he took us to see Mr. Fiske. The four men that kidnapped us were in the office too. “My name is Albert Fiske,” said the man behind the desk, “play fair with me and I will do the same with you. But, give me a hard time and you won’t like it.”

“Well Mr. Fiske,” I said, “we are already off to a bad start, I don’t like to be threatened when I haven’t done anything.” That’s when one of those men came over to me and was about to slap me, but suddenly he couldn’t move his arm. “My arm, it won’t move!” he exclaimed. “Lucky for you,” said Friskie calmly, “don’t ever try to hurt my husband!” “Look who’s threatening now,” said the man. “Your boss started it,” she said. “Maybe you would like to fight Wong here,” he said, “he would break you in two.”

“He wouldn’t be able to touch me,” she said firmly. That’s when Wong started coming close to us. “Don’t be a fool Mr. Wong,” she said. But he kept walking and suddenly he kicked, very fast, but Friskie grabbed his foot, twisting it and tossing him to the floor. He got up right away though and really went into action, but so did Friskie, and Wong was soon lying on the floor, out cold! Two of the men pulled guns but immediately dropped them screaming that they were hot as fire! “Did you call us here to fight, or talk?” I asked Fiske.

“To talk,” he said with a smile, “I have never seen anyone able to take on Wong and win. Congratulations my dear. Now, let’s get down to some serious talking. You have been hired by a woman named Elenore to stop Swann from taking her house from her, correct?” “Well, sort of,” I said, “she hired us to find out who was behind all the strange things happening around her house and yard. She didn’t know that Swann was behind it all.

We know he is, but haven’t gotten proof yet, and even if we did, he likely wouldn’t get any jail time for what he has done, not if he has a good lawyer anyway. However, I’m quite sure he is involved in some other ‘activities’ that could put him in prison for a longer period of time.” “You are absolutely right about that last part,” said Fiske, “and that’s where I might be able to help you.” “If you want to help us,” I said, “all you had to do was talk, you didn’t need to kidnap my wife and I.”

“Yes, I am sorry about that,” he said, “but I didn’t want Swann or Williams to know that I was helping you, so this way worked better.” “What about that character beating up my good friend?” asked Friskie angrily, “He didn’t need to do that!” “I didn’t know about that until now,” he said, “what about it Stanley?” “Well, yeah, Wong did get a bit carried away,” he said, “but I don’t know how they knew about it, unless that Venus gal told them.”

“She didn’t say anything,” said Friskie, “your boss was listening and watching us the whole time.” “And how do you know that?” he asked loudly. “We are private investigators,” I reminded him, “we are trained to notice such things.” The other two men were still trying, unsuccessfully, to pick up their hot guns…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.