(All previous chapters and stories are available on my home page under “20/20 Investigations, Inc.  It’s nice to have you here today, grab a cup of coffee and relax)

That blast knocked us right down, covering us with dust.  That dust just floated in the air making it a bit hard to breathe at first.  Both Jessica and I were coughing and sneezing.  Muffin didn’t like getting all that dust in her fur.  She had been in the lead, so she came back to me.  Meow, meow!=I don’t like dust, gets in my fur!  She gives herself a good shake, right in my face, making me cough and sneeze even more.  Thanks Muffin.  Meow!=Welcome!  That blast was certainly no accident either, I said to Jessica.  That was a trap meant to bury us, not just block the entrance.  How will we get out of here?, asks Jessica.  Well, guess we will have to keep following this narrow tunnel and see where it goes.  But we will need to be more alert to any more possible traps along the way.

But..Jessica coughs again, but…if they are trying to kill us, then they might be waiting for us at the end of this tunnel.  That’s always possible, but we certainly can’t stay here, so we have to keep going.  This could be very dangerous, I think to myself, if they are waiting for us, but what else to do?  Muffin runs off ahead before I can stop her, but she stops herself suddenly and looks 2 different directions.  Then she comes back to me.  Meow, meow.=Tunnel goes 2 ways, one go left, long and dark.  Meow, meow.=Other tunnel go right and look like a little light that way.  Hmm, what kind of light?, I wonder.  Okay Jessie, time to get going.  Hey, you finally called me Jessie, I like that better, she said.  Never gave it a thought actually, but I won’t tell her that.

We get to the spot in the tunnel where we turn right and keep walking.  Neither of us could see any light, but Muffin insists that it’s there ahead of us.  She does have better eyesight, no doubt about that.  Finally I get to see a small ray of light coming in further down the tunnel, and it looks like actual daylight.  Plus there are a lot of tree roots showing up so we must be in the treed area on the other side of the road as we come into the hotel yard.  Hmm, that’s interesting.  Finally we come to the end of the tunnel and there is a ladder leading up to a trap door.  Must be some kind of building up there.  Now why didn’t Jessica mention that?  I whisper to Muffin and she jumps up onto my shoulder.  I tell Jessica to stand back until we check things over.  And since there could be a shotgun waiting for us, I came prepared.

I thought you never carried a gun?, asks Jessie.  I don’t, normally, I said, but I learned something during our last case.  Up we go, we are going to need to do this fast.  I grab hold of the handle on the trap door and toss it open!  Muffin jumps in quickly and I have my gun ready…but there is no one around.  I climb inside an old shack and look out the small window.  I don’t see anyone out there either so I go out the door and look around, with Muffin beside me.  Jessica had climbed up into the shack and waited for me to look around and make sure it was safe out there.  I come back in and close the trap door and tell Jessie it’s safe outside.  It really wasn’t too far to get back out onto the lawn of the hotel.  How come you never mentioned that shack Jessie?, I ask. 

I have never been over here before, she said, Bill used to come over here all the time to get wood for the fireplaces.  But he never mentioned the shack, in fact he said there wasn’t anything over here except a lot of dead trees, that’s why he came over here to get wood.  That tells me Bill was planning something all along.  We need to have a talk, you’re holding something back and I need to know what, or Muffin and I leave now.  No, wait!

To be continued.

Steve and Muffin.

© 2020 Steve McLeod.