We had a good peaceful night’s sleep and Muffin made sure we were up nice and early. Meow, meow!=Quit sleeping all day, work to be done. It’s 4 am. Sigh. But I did say we should get an early start. Next time don’t say that, said Karin. Meow.=No one go near car, we watch all night. Good, I’m certainly glad to hear that, I said. Because we left early there was no opportunity to have breakfast, but at least we have some snacks with us and we did have coffee before we left which is the main thing. Karin didn’t quite agree, she was hungry. At least the cats had some food, she said. Meow, meow.=We said you could share. Meow.=That right, we don’t mind sharing. Thanks, she said, but I really don’t like cat food. The cats look at each other. Meow, meow=Humans very strange sometimes. Meow.=Yep.

I wanted to make sure we were at Harvey’s place early so hopefully we can catch him at home this time. As we came to that one spot in the road, we could see the house and a boat at the river. Good, we should get him, I said. I hope he invites us for breakfast, said Karin. Meow.=All she think about is food. Meow, meow.=Yep, very strange indeed. We could always leave you two in the car, said Karin. The cats ears went straight up. We pulled into the driveway, Karin and I hurried around back while the cats watched the front door. Oh, just smell that fresh coffee, I said. Who cares, said Karin, I want food. Hmm, the cats are right, all she thinks about is food. However, I was smart enough not to say that.

I knocked and Harvey opened the door. Come on in, he said with a big smile, you folks lost? No, not really, I said. We were out here yesterday looking for you and when you weren’t home we decided to come back early today before you went somewhere again. Yep, I was out fishing yesterday, said Harvey, I do that a lot. Say, would you folks like some breakfast? Sure, said Karin, can I help you with anything? I think she was getting anxious by now, smelling the bacon and eggs frying. I was just about to start frying some pancakes, he said, want to do that? Sounds great, said Karin joyfully. Oh, I said, we have 2 cats sitting outside, mind if we bring them in? They are very well behaved. Why sure, Harvey said, don’t leave them out there. I opened the door and they came running in and jumped up on a chair by the table.

Harvey laughed, looks like they want breakfast too! I’m sure they would eat something, I said. Yes, they love pancakes and bacon, added Karin. Good, I’ll get them a plate, said Harvey. Then I explained to Harvey why we were there. We’re PI’s, I began, and we were hired by your daughter and son in law to come looking for you since they hadn’t heard from you in more than 6 months. Wow, did Harvey get pale! He sat down and put his head in his hands. So they found me, he said quietly. This is not quite the response I expected. I’ll tell you about it when we get our breakfast cooked, he said and went back to frying the eggs and bacon. Soon we were all eating and Harvey began talking. Alice and I had 5 children, 4 boys and our daughter, who is the oldest.

A couple years ago my mother died and left me some money which after taxes left me with a little more than 10 million dollars. My daughter wants it all and now. Then last year 2 of our boys died, the two oldest. The police said suicide, but I say my daughter killed them. She wants to guarantee getting that money. She didn’t know exactly where we lived, so we figured we would be safe. That was, until our boys died. We just never thought she would go that far. But I know they never killed themselves. We warned our other 2 boys but they didn’t believe us either. Is this why your wife died?, asked Karin gently. No, nothing to do with that at all, but it’s something you two are now involved in and you’re in danger just like me. Earlier this year my wife was getting her hair cut in town. Dave’s wife is a hairdresser so all the ladies in town go to her. That day Alice overheard Dave’s wife, Silvia, and another lady talking about something bad, real bad. And the whole town is mixed up with it too, 29 adults, hard to imagine.

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.