Fortunately there isn’t many houses along that road and it didn’t take us too long to walk back.  We can only hope that no one saw us.  Meow.=Time to eat.  Eat?  We ate before we left.  Meow.=Hungry again.  Okay, we’ll eat and then check out that passageway again.  After eating I go out to the garage to get some boards to put across that hole.  That should make things a little safer for us.  While I was in the garage I heard a car drive up, so I went out to check.  My heart started thumping rather loud and fast, it was the police.  That was certainly fast.  They asked about the lawyer and my relationship to him.  I told them he had hired me to find someone named JR.  So far, I said, I have no leads at all, after 3 days of looking.  I had phoned the lawyer yesterday to try and get more information but didn’t get anything to help.

He never mentioned anything about coming out to see me though.  They called the lawyers secretary and she confirmed that I had talked with him yesterday.  She also said the lawyer was supposed to be seeing a client in another town, nowhere near this one.  That seemed a little odd.  Next I gave the police permission to search the house, figured they would  do it anyway.  I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they found the guns and all our other stuff we had.  However, they didn’t find any of it, not even our backpacks, which kind of surprised me, though obviously Muffin must have done something with them.  But what?  Anyway, the police were satisfied with everything, but did tell me not to get involved with an active police investigation.  And I wasn’t allowed to leave the area just yet.  Great, stuck here with nothing to do.

After they left Muffin came over to me, meow, meow.=Should have put lawyer in hole with “skinny”.  Hmm, yes, you’re right, but too late now.  By the way, what did you do with all our stuff?  Meow, meow.=When saw police come, I work fast while you talk with them.  Meow, meow.=Managed to reach spot on wall by standing on shelf and able to open door to passage.  Meow, meow.=Then drag everything into passage and door close.  Good for you Muffin, that was quick thinking!  Well, we can’t do much, but we can still search that passage and see if JR is hiding in there.  I went back out and brought those boards inside to put across the hole.  But first, I want to see what’s in that leather case.  I took it out of the wall safe and opened it.  Wow, this is something big!  No wonder they want to kill JR.  Meow, meow?=Does that mean they kill lawyer?  More than likely, to get us out of the way Muffin.

Just then I got a phone call from the police giving me permission to continue looking for this JR.  However, if I don’t find her within 7 days, then I must go back home.  Okay, I said, I will keep you informed.  After hanging up it hit me, they said “find her”!  Do they know that JR is a woman?  Or was it something the police officer said without actually meaning anything?  Whatever the case, we have permission to continue our search, just stay out of the other investigation.  Fine with us, right Muffin?  Meow!=Yep!  Meow, meow.=But something not seem right.  I agree with you Muffin, but first things first, let’s check that passage.  So in we went and picked up our stuff.  I made sure Muffin was ready for anything and I had my gun ready just in case. 

I laid the boards across the hole and we walked safely over them.  Meow, meow.=”Skinny” still in hole.  That’s probably the first man that went missing some 200 years ago.  That’s why no one found him, they never found the extra passage.  We go a bit further and turn to the right and end up in a sort of room, though it was small and empty, and a dead end. 

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin. (previous chapters and stories can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.)

© 2020 Steve McLeod.