Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #31.
Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday! It is another beautiful morning here, so grab a coffee and join us for a few minutes to relax here today. It is cloudy but mild, with a temp of -6C (21F) and we have some fresh snow again this morning. Yesterday we got about 2 inches (5cm) of new snow and this morning it was just over an inch (3cm) of snow. Slowly it begins to add up and there has now been about 8 or 9 inches (20 to 22cm) of new snow since my last walk to the river. And no one has been walking down there lately, of course it was kind of cold there for a while. It will be a bit harder walking now, especially those hills, but hopefully I can give it a try either Monday or Tuesday, before that cold weather returns on Thursday.
We have some wildflowers to share today, the one above is the “pale corydalis”, it’s a very common wildflower and loves to grow on rocky areas with little soil. And even when that soil dried out, these flowers continue to bloom.
And this wildflower above is the “spreading dogbane”, a terrible name for a beautiful flower. They are not large, about a third of an inch (8mm) across and they have a nice mild scent as well. They prefer a bit more soil, but it doesn’t seem to matter what kind of soil.
The first bird at the feeder this morning was a blue jay, which is very odd, they are never first. But that one was here nearly 10 minutes before the chickadees showed up. The birds are active at the feeders this morning, but the evening grosbeaks are absent, which is certainly odd. Yesterday Jasper brought his new mate over to the feeder, her name is Sylvie. They certainly are having a good time together, always playing around in the branches of the trees. I wonder if Jasper will leave his territory to her in the spring or if Sylvie will go somewhere else to have her babies? Have to wait and see. I hope you enjoy today’s wildflowers, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The missing Cat. Chapter 15.
Here we are, on our way out of here as fast as possible. Back in the safety of France we relax a bit and stop at a restaurant for something to eat. “Well,” said Lena, “what’s next for us?” “Next,” I replied, “is to get you back home quickly.” “What do you mean?,” she asked, “we’re not stopping now are we?” Meow,meow?=We going to give up and not go get Karin? Meow.=Right, we can’t let her get away. “Sorry you three,” I said, “but we were asked by the police to do a certain job, to track down the leader of this gang, and we did that. Now our job is done, they know who the leader is and now it’s up to them to somehow catch her in the act of a crime so they can stop her.” All three of them sit there looking at me.
“If we get involved now,” I explained, “we would be interfering in an ongoing police investigation. We can’t do that, I would lose my PI license. And we could end up in jail besides.” “It just doesn’t seem right to stop now,” said Lena. Meow,meow.=Me agree, it like giving up, we never give up. Meow.=Yep, that right, you always say we not give up. “We’re not giving up,” I tried to explain again, “we did our part and now we have to leave. It’s not like having our own investigation, we were helping the police with their investigation. And they can tell us to stop anytime they want.” Meow,meow.=Oh, now I understand, so now police catch Karin with Jade Cat and she go to jail.
“Well, hopefully that’s what happens,” I said, “but somehow I’m not too sure. I really think we will meet Karin again some day.” Lena looks at me. Finally we got to Lena’s place and dropped her off and then we continued to the airport. We had a room booked for us at the hotel there and our plane would leave in the morning. Once in our room we could actually relax completely. The cats curled up beside me on the bed and were asleep in no time. The room phone rang, I no longer had my phone after smashing it at that old building. It was a long call. The next morning we had breakfast in our room and I told the cats we would be staying an extra couple days.
Just then a knock at the door and a parcel was delivered to us. Meow,meow?=What in parcel? Meow.=This exciting, getting gift! “Well, it’s not a gift,” I said as I opened it. There before our eyes were all those jewels from the Jade Cat. “Remember the jewels we took out of the Jade Cat? Well, here they are once again,” I said. Unknown to anyone else, Mr. Cat had managed to get the combination right to open the Cat and we took the real gems out of it and replaced them with the ones the police gave us. Those were real too, but were marked gems that the police could trace easily, so if Karin tried to sell them, they would have her. Except that Joseph recognized a couple of those replacement gems because he had handled them before. For someone in his profession it’s easy to recognize certain gems.
So, the police gave me the real ones to give Karin since she will undoubtedly be looking for me now. We all thought of that possibility, that’s why I wanted to leave Lena out of this. Karin could find her easily enough, but she tried me first. And she didn’t sound happy at all. She’s supposed to be here at noon. Well, we have a couple hours to live anyway. We waited patiently for Karin and Gaston to arrive, and she did, right on time. But she had 3 other men with her too. Gaston just smashed his way through the door, gun ready, but I shot first. Then “Thwock, Thwock!” This time Karin had no reservations in pulling the trigger of her gun. The police came running down the hall, but before getting to the room there was one more “Thwock!” One man was left to arrest. Muffin had shot Karin and she died on the way to the hospital, Gaston and the other two men were already dead. They rushed me to the hospital as well, with Muffin and Mr. Cat beside me. It all happened so fast with no time to think. Such a sudden end.
The End.
Previous chapters of this story can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” Other stories in this series can also be found on my home page under “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 