Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Spider House Mystery. Chapter 6. Conversations.
After noticing the yacht arriving with Sky’s Bad Girls on it, another large yacht arrived. I wonder if this is the one that brings the well dressed man to Miss Hanson? Right then I got a call from Cristy so I went over to sit on one of the chairs so I could put a bubble around me. That way we can talk privately so the girls can’t hear us.
Sky had gone out to meet her girls and Jennifer continued talking with Tina (Harley) and Summer. “I found out some interesting information Steve,” she said, “guess who is related to someone you used to know quite well?” “Oh no, don’t tell me,” I said and that’s as far as I got. “Oh, okay, bye Steve,” she said cheerfully and hung up on me.
I couldn’t believe she did that. “Cristy?” I asked. “Yes Steve,” she said, “did you have something to tell me? Sorry I cut you off so quickly, but when you didn’t want to hear my news I completely forgot that maybe you had something more for me to look up or something so I apologize for that and I hope that doesn’t mean demerit points for me, does it? I mean, I didn’t deliberately hang up.”
“Cristy?” I asked again. “Yes Steve,” she said. “I wanted that information you had for me,” I told her. “No, you said ‘don’t tell me’, so I didn’t, just like you said,” she replied, “I just did what you told me.” “No Cristy,” I said, “I wanted you to tell me.” “Then why did you say ‘don’t tell me’?” she asked.
“It’s just a phrase of disbelief, but knowing that the information is important,” I explained. There was silence. “Cristy, you still there?” I asked. “Yep,” she said, “um, does that mean you want me to give you the information I found out?” “Yes, I really want to hear it,” I said, “you spend so much time finding out fantastic and important information for me and I always want to hear it.” Silence again.
“Right,” she said, “anyway, guess who is related to Toledo?” “Irene,” I said. “Nope, don’t think so anyway,” she said, “it’s Miss Hanson, she’s a cousin of his. But someone else too. I better tell you this one, you’re not a good guesser. It’s Tina. Her mom was also a cousin. Tina’s parents and Summer’s parents worked for Miss Hanson and so did Summer’s aunt and uncle and those two were seen recently on the mainland, staying at a big hotel.
Greg, Buddy, Bulldog and Butch all work for Miss Hanson. By the way, Greg and Buddy are both 32 and apparently one of their jobs is finding girls, teens, for Miss Hanson.” “Hmm, this is getting more interesting all the time,” I said, “and a bit more complicated. It would seem that Miss Hanson knows she’s related to Tina, but Tina doesn’t know about this.
I don’t think that Summer knows anything about what is going on, she is just too afraid of Miss Hanson, or Greg, or Bulldog. I don’t think she has told us everything yet either, she is too afraid.” “Well, you have Cynthia and Sigrid over there,” said Cristy, “they are nearly the same age and have been through similar things in their lives.
Maybe Summer would speak to them more freely, but Tina would have to be away at the time, she might be scared of Tina too.” “Yes, you might have a point there,” I said, “but separating the two of them won’t be easy. It will take some cunning ability to do that.” “You’re right,” she said, “better get Jennifer to do it.” I’m not quite sure what she meant by that.
Jennifer asked if Tina was feeling well enough to go outside and she said yes, so she got dressed and out they went. Summer wanted to go as well, but I said no, she had been beaten worse and I wanted her to stay inside today. “Okay Summer,” I said, “I would like to talk with you while Tina is gone, but first, do you trust me yet?”
I was talking very nicely to her to try and keep her calm. I also had Sigrid, Cynthia and Angel with me, plus some cats, including Muffin, Storm and Jewel who were on the bed with Summer purring nicely for her. “Yes, I think so,” she said, “but you do some strange things which are a bit scary, like disappearing. But you and your wife seem to be very nice and these women are too and they seem to be so happy working for you.
(she then sighed and a few tears trickled down her cheeks) I’m scared. I was forced to come here by Greg and Buddy because I was friends with Tina.” She then looked at me with even more tears. “I heard them talk once and they said that Tina is related to Miss Hanson and she has something that Miss Hanson wants,” she continued, “I don’t know what it is though, honest I don’t.
Then my aunt and uncle showed up 2 weeks ago and they were working with Miss Hanson too and they were glad to get rid of me. They actually told me that! They said I was a brat and they hated looking after me. I thought they loved me, but now no one loves me. I’m all alone I guess. You women are so lucky, you have each other and an older brother that loves you too. I can tell he does.”
“Why do you keep calling us women?” asked Cynthia, “I’m the same age as you.” “Yes,” said Sigrid, “and I’m just slightly older than Cynthia.” They both smiled at Summer. “And both have been through similar things as you,” I said, “they don’t have any family either and both have been mixed up in porn.” “But you’re right,” said Cynthia, “we are lucky to have each other and Steve.”
“And we want to help you Summer,” I said, “but we need you to trust us and help us put these people in prison where they belong. Are you brave enough for that?” She produced a big smile. “Yep, I’m brave enough for that,” she said. “And if you want,” I said, “we will take you home with us too.”
“For real?” she asked. “Yes, for real,” I said, “but no talking about this to Tina, she is mixed up in this somehow.” “Oh, that house doesn’t really belong to Tina,” said Summer, “Miss Hanson hired that lawyer to make up a fake will so Irene couldn’t keep her out of the house since she owns the land the house is on.”
“Why is everyone so afraid of Irene?” I asked, “It doesn’t seem like she has anyone working for her, so why be afraid of her?” “She has a small, but very professional gang Steve,” said Summer, “if anyone tried to hurt her, they would be dead real quick, like before they could touch her.
Someone is always watching her, day and night.” Hmm, now that is interesting news and something to remember. Jennifer and Tina came walking in at that point, so our conversation ended for now…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Spider House Mystery. Chapter 5. Strange Things.
Jennifer had just whispered to me that danger was near, but then she whispered again and said it was gone now. I sent the girls out in the hallway to check anyway, plus they checked their rooms, but didn’t find anyone or any problems in their rooms, so they came back. Jennifer said that her and Kat would stay with the girls tonight and I could stay with Angel, Dawn and Sigrid.
Jennifer gave some instructions to Angel and then we went to their room for the remainder of the night, which is going to be very short. The night passed quickly and quietly and we were all soon eating breakfast, some in the restaurant and some of us in our room with Harley and Summer. Jennifer, Sky, Dawn, Sigrid, Cynthia and I were in the room eating our breakfast with the girls.
They had pancakes, bacon with extra bacon and 3 eggs. Amazing how much those two girls can eat considering they are so thin. Then we discovered they hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. They only eat what Miss Hanson gives them and sometimes food that is leftover from guests at the restaurant. I asked them to please trust us and tell us the truth about themselves so we can help them.
“How did you get here?” I asked them, “And how old are you?” “When I inherited grandma’s house the lawyer informed me about it,” began Harley, “he gave me all the papers I needed to claim it, plus a letter from him to show any authorities over here. I needed that since I have no family now. I had two younger brothers, but after our parents died they were adopted by other families.
No one wanted me though, guess I was kind of a rebel. I had just turned 16 when grandma died and Greg was my boyfriend, kind of anyway and he promised to help me. He helped me and Summer get our passports and everything we needed to get over here, he even paid for everything. I figured he would likely want favors in return, guys always do, but I wanted my house.
Greg looked after all our paperwork, ID, passports, birth certificates, everything, so we wouldn’t lose anything. He seemed so nice. But once here, things changed and he kept everything so we couldn’t leave. We didn’t even dare ask anyone for help because he said bad things would happen to us if we did. He gave us to Miss Hanson and she regularly beat us just for fun she said.”
She started to cry at this point so Summer took over. “Miss Hanson stopped beating us when she realized she could make some money with us,” she began, “using us in porn videos and photos. If we refused anything, then Bulldog or his brother Butch would beat us. There is another man too, very well dressed always, comes by large yacht to pick up the videos and photos.
He said he really liked me and maybe one day he would take me with him. He liked to touch a lot which I hated, but I didn’t show it. He is the only man that Miss Hanson is scared of, plus she’s scared of Irene, everyone is. I was 16 when we came here, I’m 6 months older than Harley.
Um, that’s not her real name, it’s the name Miss Hanson gave her, she didn’t like her real name. I am 17 now, just had my birthday 2 weeks ago and…” Now she began to cry. “Steve,” said Sky, “take me to Miss Hanson and leave me with her for a few minutes, that’s all I need.”
“Not right now,” I said, “I want her alive for a while yet. I want to find out who this guy is she is afraid of so we can stop him too.” “I guess you think we are just a couple crying kids, right?” asked Harley nervously. “No, I sure do not,” I told her, “and none of our girls think that either.
You two have been through a lot and I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you. But please, trust us, okay? I certainly won’t hurt you, just ask any of our girls that work for me.” “What about that one, Cristy, she said you were really mean to her?” asked Summer. Oh, that one really hit hard. Sky felt bad now for slapping me in front of the girls, even if they couldn’t hear us talking.
I asked Sky to bring Cristy here, so she disappeared. “Uh, how did she do that?” asked Summer. Both girls had wide eyes right now. Sky then reappeared with Cristy, wearing a robe. “Had to get her out of bed,” smiled Sky. I went over to Cristy and apologized for being mean to her.
“Steve, you were not being mean,” she said, “I was just tired. I’m the one that should be apologizing to you for saying that. You are never mean to any of us.” “Just the same,” I said, “Sky mentioned you were not able to slap me, so she did it for you, but I am giving you the opportunity now to slap me as hard as you like.”
“What?” she exclaimed, “Me slap you? No way! Not me! Not now, not never! I couldn’t do it Steve. Nope, not me.” Then she smiled and hugged me. “That’s what I like doing to my older brother,” she said, still smiling. I then introduced her to the girls and Cristy explained that I was like an older brother to all the girls.
Then Sky took her back home. “Um, they disappeared again,” said Summer, “that’s kind of, um, scary, just a bit.” “I promise we will explain everything in time,” said Jennifer, “but for now it’s safer if you don’t know too much. Deal?” “Deal,” they both said. Harley then told us her real name is Tina Cotton Whitley, which I then relayed to Cristy.
I also asked her to get copies of the girls’ ID and new passports, birth certificates, everything. Then Tina told us something, the lawyer said her grandma died just two weeks before he contacted her, it took him awhile to find her, but when she went to see her grave in the cemetery on the mainland when they first arrived here, it said she had died 2 years previous, not 2 weeks.
That is interesting, that’s a big time difference. Someone didn’t want Harley, I mean Tina, to know her grandmother had died. Perhaps so they could search the house? Is there a treasure in that house? Did one of these gangs hide some loot in that house?
Something else the girls told us, both of the girls were 8 when their parents died and they died just one week apart. Tina ended up in foster homes, but Summer lived with her aunt and uncle until they went missing about a month before the girls came here.
Something strange about all of this. Time to revisit that old house. The girls call it the Spider House because of all the spiders in it, though we only saw maybe half a dozen the first time we were there. Hmm, a yacht is now arriving carrying Sky’s Bad Girls…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 