As we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, Soleil said something that caught my attention right away. She asked me if Mrs. Hickman was still at the house when we went there. I told everyone to stay in the car, we were now using the limousine. “Who is Mrs. Hickman?” I asked. “She’s a lady that has been living with us for the last 6 months,” she replied, “I think she just wants grandma’s money. She always says how she needs money for this and that, so grandma gives it to her.

Grandma keeps saying she has lots of money and wants to help people. But I don’t believe Mrs. Hickman’s stories. She also told grandma that I could make a lot of money as an escort at that nightclub. She said because I’m pretty that I would gets lots of big tips from people. Grandma and me didn’t know what an escort was, so she told us it was just a new name for a waitress. But that isn’t true! Finally one night Beau came to my bedroom, put tape over my mouth and tied me up.

Then he took me to that terrible man, Francois, who gave Beau 1,000 euros for bringing me to him. He also gave Beau a job as a security man, since Beau is big and strong. Poor grandma, if she doesn’t take her medicine properly she will get all confused and could hurt herself!” “How old is this Mrs. Hickman?” I asked. “I’m not sure,” she said, “probably in her early 40s, though her hair is quite gray. She is quite athletic and can run very fast, unlike grandma who is chubby and can’t move fast doing anything.” She giggled at that point.

“Sky, who is in the room with you?” I asked. “Kristina, Beryan, Engla and Mary,” she said. “Search the older woman for listening devices, trackers and weapons, please,” I said. “Uh, right, shall do,” she replied, sounding a bit surprised. “What are you doing my dear?” asked Mary. “We need to search you for listening devices or trackers,” said Sky nicely. “Oh, don’t be silly,” she replied, “I don’t even know what those things are.” “It’s just standard procedure,” said Sky, “otherwise people can find us and maybe kill someone.” “Well, I’m not going to let you search me, like, like, some criminal!” she retorted.

Suddenly Sky appeared in the car with us. “Steve, this isn’t nice of you to do this to me,” she said. “Sorry, it needs to be done,” I said, “she isn’t who she seems to be.” Sky disappeared again. “Um, how did that woman do that?” asked Soleil. “I’m sorry, but that needs to remain a secret for now,” I said, “but I will explain later.” “Okay, I know Ms. Kat told me you are private investigators,” she said, “so you have secrets.” “Just call her Kat,” said Jennifer. Now Soleil looked more confused and Jennifer smiled.

“I’m Kat’s twin sister,” she said, “my name is Jennifer.” “Oh wow, you two are identical twins!” she exclaimed. “Yes, even my husband has trouble telling us apart at times,” she said smiling. Back in the hotel some fun was happening as Sky and Kristina searched Mary and found a listening device, a small knife and a small gun. She wouldn’t talk after all that. She also had quite an athletic build, definitely not chubby, Sky relayed to me. Obviously we had Mrs. Hickman, not Mary. So, where is Mary?

That answer is also obvious, Francois has her. And this could mean she will be killed. Soleil confirmed it was Mrs. Hickman we had, once we arrived at our room. Soleil also told us some things she had to endure at the nightclub. She was indeed a waitress at the start, in the back room, where the waitresses were topless and for certain groups they were not allowed to wear anything. If she complained, then Francois would slap her hard, or sometimes Beau would do it and he slapped even harder, leaving her cheeks red and sore. Beau would just laugh and tell her to grow up.

That’s when we learned that she was 17 and Beau was 19, opposite to what we were told. She also said the youngest girl working at the club was 15, she was always scared, just like Soleil. The girls were locked in their rooms when not working. The man Kat caught with Soleil paid a lot of money to be her first man. I wondered if that 15 year old girl was given to that man instead of Soleil. I asked if Soleil thought the girl might want to get out of that club. “She sure would!” exclaimed Soleil, “Could you get her free too?” I asked for her description, so Sky and Kat went back for the girl.

“Her name is Vivienne,” said Soleil before the girls left. They immediately went to Room 4, invisibly, but it was empty. Then they tried the next room and the door was unlocked. The same man was in there with a young woman. “Is your name Vivienne?” asked Kat. The man jumped off the bed when he saw Kat. “Y, yes, it is,” she said sobbing. “Soleil told us about you,” said Sky, “we want to take you away from here.” Vivienne jumped out of bed and ran to Sky, hugging her. “Please take me away with you!” she exclaimed. Just then two large men showed up. “Beau!” exclaimed Vivienne.

“Yeah kid,” he said, “and you are not going anywhere.” He then came toward the girls but Kat stood in his way, so he swung his fist at her, but missed. “Too slow, big Beau,” she said laughing. Then she kicked him 3 times and he fell against the wall, slumping to the floor, dead. The other man pulled his gun but Sky shot him with some electricity, killing him instantly. Then Kat went after the “client”, for the second time, and she explained to him it would be safer to stay away from this place. She then kicked him four times in the stomach, very fast, and the man fell to the floor with a loud thump!

Then they disappeared and were soon back in our hotel room. “How did we do that?” asked a very scared Vivienne. I then explained to her that we are private investigators and we have to keep some things a secret until later. That helped her to settle down. It should be said that we had already restrained Mrs. Hickman with our rubber handcuffs, including putting them around her ankles. Kat said she had to kill Beau and Soleil understood that. “He made his choice,” she said, “but where is my grandma?”

“In her grave two weeks ago, my dear,” said Mrs. Hickman as she laughed merrily. Jennifer went over and gave her a hard backhanded slap and that stopped her laughing. I had sent Kristina and some of the girls with Yves to get his family and bring them back to the hotel for safety. When they arrived, Yves recognized a car parked on the street. “That’s Pascal’s car,” he said, “we are too late.” “Not necessarily,” said Kristina, “let’s go check.” Yves was the first one out of the van. A shot was fired and Yves fell to the ground…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.