I had forgotten to plug in our little gadget to block any listening devices. Meow, meow.=I know what you think, Mr. Cat and I plug in gadget. “What gadget is that?,” asked Lena. “See, you understood Muffin perfectly,” I said to her. Muffin goes over, rubs against her and purrs. Mr. Cat has stayed by the door in case that person came back to listen some more. “It blocks any listening devices that might have been planted in the room, it scrambles our conversation so no one can understand us,” I explained, “that’s likely why that person came to the door.” “Now I’m actually getting scared,” said Lena, “I don’t like the idea of being alone in my room now.” “You won’t be, the cats will stay with you, and believe me, you are safe with them looking after you,” I said confidently. Meow.=Yep, we know what to do.

“Now it’s probably a good idea to get some sleep so we will be fresh tomorrow and get started on this case,” I said while putting the backpacks on the cats. “What’s that?”, asked Lena. “Special backpacks the cats are trained to use, with a hidden weapon, a slingshot, which they can use with deadly accuracy,” I told her. “And the cats will take turns watching all night, so you will be perfectly safe.” “Okay,” she said, “I’m sure I can trust all of you.” Then the 3 of them left. I kept my door open just a bit so I could hear what was going on in the hall, even if someone was quiet, and I could also see Lena’s door this way too. I kept watching until midnight then decided to get some sleep. The night passed quickly with no further problems and I felt quite refreshed when morning arrived.

It wasn’t long and the others came over, ready to go. As we left the hotel Lena suggested we stop at a nice little restaurant just outside of town for some breakfast, which sounded good to me and the cats. The restaurant was nice enough to allow the cats inside since no one else was there that early anyway. We talked more about the case while eating our breakfast. Lena said strange things had been happening so I asked what kind of things. She said that they often heard noises at night, like someone was walking around, lights would turn on and off and doors would open and close. One day in the barn her grandfather had been knocked over by a bale of hay that fell from the loft but he wasn’t seriously hurt.

Once there was a sort of white mist that floated down the hallway in the evening and they all saw it. Her grandmother nearly had a heart attack! She apparently has a serious heart problem. Poor cats, their eyes were getting bigger all the time while Lena was telling us these things. Meow, meow.=This mean ghosts, time for us to leave and go home. “No Muffin, we are here for a week at least, we don’t break our agreements,” I reminded her. “Yes,” said Lena, “you have to stay and help us.” Muffin sighed. “This sounds much like another case we had where people wanted to scare someone away and they used similar tactics,” I told Lena.

“We’ll get things figured out, though I can’t guarantee finding the treasure,” I told her. I also mentioned I had read through that letter several times and it certainly didn’t seem like there was any secret code or message in there. But perhaps that will change once I see the farm, then things in the letter might fit better. “Have you told anyone else about this treasure?,” I asked. Only our handyman,” said Lena, “and he has been working for us for about 12 years now. He seems trustworthy, I don’t think he would tell anyone else, especially after grandpa told him not to say anything. He only comes out 3 days a week.” “And yet someone else knows about it,” I said, “unless they are after something else.” We finished our breakfast and headed back out to the car. That same man was standing by a tree across the road, watching us.

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.