Time to go for a little drive Muffin.  Meow!=O boy, let’s go!  Hmm, let’s take the Jaguar, it has nice dark windows which is good for us.  First we check on that address, just to satisfy myself that it doesn’t exist.  Sure enough, nothing there except grassy lot.  And no other stone houses on that road either.  Next we go into town and check on JR Detective Agency but the door was locked and the place was dark.  A man was walking past so I asked him about the place.  He said no one knew anything about it.  Some local people were hired to fix up the building and they were paid by a lawyer.  The Agency was supposed to open 2 months ago but never did.  Then he left, said he was in a hurry.  Doesn’t seem like a very friendly little town, I approached a couple other people but they wouldn’t even stop to talk about that place.  But there is a nice little coffee shop across the street so I decide to go in there.

Meow, meow?=I come with you to coffee place?  No Muffin, I need you out here to keep an eye on the Agency building and also to make sure no one tampers with our car.  Do you remember how to use this?  Meow!=Yep!  Okay, don’t fall asleep now.  Meow.=I won’t.  Well, I didn’t learn anything from the waitress.  Seems she knows everything about everyone in town except JR.  My watch lights up right then and since I had already paid, I left in a hurry.  That man and woman were trying to get in the Detective Agency but when they saw me they ran off fast, jumped into their car just down the street and took off.  Interesting.  I get into the car.  Meow, meow!=Work good!  They try looking in car but I hide.  Good for you Muffin, yes, our emergency alarm worked perfectly.  This will work good for us.  Muffin has a little button on her new collar that lights up my watch, a great signal for us, though I’m not sure how far the range is for the signal.

We drive around for a bit to get familiar with the area and then back to “Graystone”, the official name of our house according to the sign out front.  Before we go in I tell Muffin we need to check our bedroom to make sure it isn’t bugged.  After a thorough search we find nothing, which is good.  Now back to that workshop in the garage to pick up some things.  This is a big house, if someone is going to break in here at night they won’t be doing so quietly.  We go around and make sure all the windows and doors to the rooms are locked, and make sure no one is inside.  Now for my added safety measure.  There is only one room upstairs and no door on it.  If JR lives here then he/she must be an artist too.  Hmm, is that a clue?  Lydia, from our first case, was an artist.  We finally end up in the library which we also go over thoroughly looking to see if it is bugged, but nothing.  Muffin decides to curl up in one of the chairs for a short nap.  I sit down on another chair to do some thinking.

There is a lot of books in here, shelves floor to ceiling with books all neatly arranged on the shelves…except.  There was one small book that was sticking out a bit so I pulled it out and looked at it.  It’s actually a handwritten diary of someone who lived here in the mid 1800s.  Muffin must have been thinking, not napping.  Meow, meow.=JR must be talking about client, not friend.  Why do you say that Muffin?  Meow, meow.=We don’t have any friends.  Yes we do, I replied.  Meow.=Name one.  Um…don’t change the subject.  We need to think about the case, not count our friends.  Meow.=No friends.  Hmm, hey, listen to this Muffin!

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.