(If you missed previous chapters or stories, they can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.  Now it’s time to grab some coffee and enjoy another chapter!)

That got me so scared, but also angry, so I determined to stay on and hire you to help me. Did you ever tell the police about the note you received?  No, I didn’t, she said, I could tell they just wanted to wrap up the case quickly.  They really didn’t seem much interested at all, she added.  How many officers are there in town?, I asked.  Only 1 normally, but 2 others came in to help with the investigation when I said I believed that Bill was murdered.  But after 2 days they declared it to be an accident and the other 2 left.  Well, I said, for what it’s worth, I don’t believe it was an accident.  But trying to prove it is the hard part, she said.  Perhaps not, with what I have discovered so far.  I checked that rock and it doesn’t fit the spot where it was supposed to have fallen from, it’s not even the same kind of rock.  It’s similar, but definitely not the same.

Is that enough proof?  Well, I would prefer a little more yet.  How did you lift that huge rock?  I didn’t, I just did some measuring, with Muffin’s help.  Meow, meow!=We are a great team!  Now, is that all Jessica, or is there something else you’re not telling us?  Jessica paused for a few minutes and looked away.  I need all of it Jessie, or Muffin and I will be packing tonight.  Then she sighed and said, Trish is actually my sister.  We don’t get along at all, and she hated the fact that Bill and I moved here.  Although Trish and Bill seemed to get along quite well.  Bill spent a lot of time helping her with fixing things at her hotel.  Hmm, now we’re starting to get somewhere.  Do you think Bill might have told her why you bought this place?

Yes, he did, we had a big argument about that one night.  Is Trish married?  No, but she does have a boyfriend, Roger, the police officer in town.  Odd thing is, Roger is actually Bill’s cousin, and no, they don’t look alike, at least not their faces.  But Roger is big, just like Bill.  Hmm, this is getting more interesting all the time.  But I wish you had given me this information right at the start.  I’m sorry about that, said Jessie, but even though Trish and I don’t get along, she is my sister and I didn’t want to involve her in this.  And yet it looks like she is trying to kill you, I said.  Yes, I can see that now, anyway, that’s all I know, honestly.  She looks at me, so I said, okay, that’s fine, maybe we should have something to eat.  Meow!=Great idea!  Muffin must be hungry, said Jessica, and I am too, so I’ll make some dinner.  What will you and Muffin be doing?

I think we’ll just look around the hotel for awhile.  In other words, you want to talk in private, said Jessica.  Just PI talk, I said.  Meow!=Yep!  Muffin and I walk up to the third floor.  Okay Muffin, now that we’re alone, what do you think about all this?  Meow, meow.=I think Jessica telling truth now.  Meow, meow.=She really scared too.  Meow, meow.=I not sure about ghost, I still think ghost is Bill.  Hmm, that would mean that Bill is alive, but I’m not so sure about that now, he might be dead.  We haven’t seen Roger, the police officer, it could be him that we have seen.  Meow, meow.=Jessica said he not look like Bill.  True, I said, but with a mask he could be made to look like Bill, they are the same size.  Do you remember what he was wearing the first time you saw him with Trish?  Meow, meow.=Yep, he wear jeans, blue shirt, jacket and heavy vest, like kind you wanted to buy to keep safe.

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.