We come out into the hallway, if only there was a way to call for help, I said quietly. Meow.=Maybe little room in attic help. I look at Mr. Cat. Lead the way, I said. We go upstairs and he points to the ceiling in one of the rooms. Hmm, I can’t reach the latch so I hold up Mr. Cat and he opens the door and out drops a ladder, slowly fortunately or it would have landed on my head. Up we go and…well, look at this. But does it work, hmm, seems to be missing something. Meow.=Jessica come here sometimes at night and talk to people with this. I’m sure she could but not with this missing part. I start looking around. Meow.=I go down and watch, make sure no one find us here. Okay, that sounds good Mr. Cat, Muffin, you stay here with me and help me look for this missing part. After about 20 minutes we heard a voice yelling at us to come down.

Why didn’t Mr. Cat warn us? But down we came and there was Jessica holding Mr. Cat with a gun at his head. And with her was the biggest man I ever saw in my life! No wonder they could move those bodies around so easily. She told me to hand my gun to Brent, which I did without hesitation. I figured he would take it anyway. Then Jessica dropped Mr. Cat and told us all to go downstairs. I guess you know what is going on now, she said. Partly anyway, I said, but tell me, are you Jessica or Candy? She laughed. I’m Candy, Jessica died when we gave her that drug so I took her place from that point. Anna and Dave made a great discovery, but they needed help to deal with it all, and that was their mistake. There was a large theft at a museum back in the 1930s and it was all stored here at the house. Four people were involved, but 2 were caught and sent to jail where one died.

The other one didn’t know where all their loot was hidden. The two masterminds behind the operation bought this place and hid everything here. But they mysteriously disappeared shortly after, so everything from that robbery stayed hidden here. Like all these paintings, I said, which are likely worth millions. Yes, she said, and other things up here like these vases, but a lot of it was hidden in the cellar which know one since that time even knew about. When Jessica told Anna about me after they moved out here, then Anna called me for help in getting rid of all this, which of course is not easy to sell to just anyone. So I got some of my friends together and now we are going to be very wealthy indeed. Providing you get away with it, I reminded her. There is nothing that can stop us now, she said quite confidently. Then we suddenly heard a loud noise outside coming closer.

Go check on that noise Brent, Candy growled. That distracted her just enough and…Thunk! Candy fell to the floor. Brent turned around, took out a huge knife and started to run toward me. Fortunately I still had my second gun and fired two shots which made him stop. Then another…Thunk! This time from Muffin. And Brent crumpled to the floor. Just then the police burst through the door. I showed them the way to the cellar where there was 2 more people who gave up without a fight. I told the police all that I knew about the antique theft of years ago and what had been going on the few days we had been there. You should have called for help sooner, they said. I would have done so if I had known about that old phone in the attic, and since I couldn’t get it to work I figured maybe the good old fashioned Morse code might get through, and it did.

Feels good to be back home, right Muffin? Meow, meow!=Yep, sure does, back to using my play structure and relax again! What about you Mr. Cat? Meow!=I like it here, I like it here! Can I stay with you? You sure can! Both cats jump up on me. Meow?=Being PI is good paying job? Well, sometimes. Meow, meow.=What he mean is sometimes we get paid and sometimes we don’t. Meow, meow?=We have enough to buy car now? Only if I don’t get you the next part of your play structure. Meow, meow.=Sigh, okay, get car, better than walking all the time. But make sure car work this time, and have tires, and have roof, and have floor. I know what to look for Muffin, no need to remind me. Meow, meow?=Then why you come back with cars that don’t work all the time? The last one worked, sort of. Meow, meow.=Yep, got us all the way home, never work after that though. Meow!=Maybe not get rich, but sound like it be funny time anyway! Thanks you two. Meow!=Welcome!, they both said together.

Steve and Muffin, with guest, Mr. Cat. (Previous chapters and stories can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.)

Come and join us on a whole new adventure starting on Monday!

©2020 Steve McLeod.