It has been a while since our last chapter, so if you would like to refresh your memory a bit to find out why we are at this point you can check out chapter 5 by clicking here.

The grave had been freshly dug since yesterday, the cats had been sniffing around and decided to dig a bit. What they uncovered was certainly a surprise to all of us. Meow.=Oh, oh, Karin lose breakfast. Meow, meow.=Now she going to talk about food again all day. Meow.=Yep, very strange human behavior. Meow, meow.=Yep, and it such good breakfast too, maybe she eat too much. Meow.=Oh, maybe that it. Hey you two, pay attention over here. It’s Betty, said Harvey with a quaking voice, why would she do that? Who are you talking about?, I asked. Harvey was going to say something but caught himself, he just stared at Betty. Then he took off a listening device from behind his belt buckle. Great, someone has been listening to everything we have been saying since we got here.

I motioned to Harvey to stay quiet and sit down, which he did. I whispered to Mr. Cat and he went over and checked out Harvey but didn’t find anymore bugs. You mean he can sniff out bugs?, asked Harvey. They both can, I said, now we can do some real talking and I would suggest being truthful, we can help to protect you. I don’t think anyone can protect me now, I’m in too deep and Ma would never let me get away from here. Hmm, someone different, I thought to myself, but should I believe Harvey. Ma is in charge around here, Harvey continued, Dave and Earl are her “muscle”, they do all the dirty work, like killing. Harold had this idea, and it worked great until now, but Harold didn’t have the brains to run the operation, but Ma did. Ma is Harold’s wife, Shirley, and Betty is their daughter.

Wait a minute, I said, we already met their daughter, she is the one that hired us to find her parents. She told us she’s the only daughter. They really had two daughters, said Harvey, Betty is the youngest and the only good one in the family. Well, she was anyway. It’s just so hard to believe that Ma would have her own daughter killed. But I guess the only thing Ma cares about these days is money. It’s amazing how that changed her from the nice quiet woman she was when they came here. Their 2 boys are here too and part of the operation, along with everyone in town. The oldest daughter was left out of the operation and now that she knows what’s going on she wants in. But Ma says no, she said that girl has no brains, just like Harold. So Harold’s wife never died, then why the fake funeral?, I asked. It was my wife that died, said Harvey, so the funeral was real. The doc said it was a heart attack, but I found a drug she had taken, enough to kill her and it makes it look like a heart attack. Now I’m sure that Ma had her killed.

But why kill poor Betty, she’s only 17. But she has been wanting to move away and I guess Ma didn’t want that, she was probably worried that Betty would tell someone what’s going on here. I thought Betty was Earl’s girlfriend?, I asked. She is, said Harvey, but not this Betty, a different woman. This is all amazing info, if real, and it hardly seemed like it could be real. I mean, Ma, who is Shirley, killed her own daughter, but why, just because she wanted to leave? Or did she do something else that got Ma upset enough to kill her? Yet Betty had come to our room and taken our phones, she must have done that on someone’s orders. Perhaps it was Harold that told her to do it and Ma didn’t like Betty obeying Harold. Seems to me that Ma is insane, yet she still has the brains to run this operation, and obviously a very profitable operation too. I decide not to tell Harvey what we found in that monument, I’m not sure if we can trust him yet.

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.