Since we had Kat back here, I suggested to Jennifer that perhaps she would probably send Sky off to Canada to take Kat’s place for now. “I knew I would come up with something to solve that problem,” said Jennifer smiling. Jennifer then called Sky and she was soon in Canada joining the Wildcats temporarily.

We have another problem, Misty was shot by our letter carrier, something that is hard to understand. We have had the same letter carrier for 2 years now, and it just makes no sense for her to do this. Dr. Jorgenson then called us and let us know that Misty would be fine. It was a small caliber bullet and didn’t hit anything.

“It is such an amazing coincidence,” he said, “that bullet missed every organ, it was about the best spot to shoot someone so they would not be seriously hurt, especially if they were close to a hospital.” “That is no coincidence Dr. Jorgenson,” I said, “someone was sending us a message that they could have killed Misty, or whoever answered the door, if they had wanted to do so. That person had been trained.”

Meanwhile, back in Canada. I had called, I mean, Jennifer had called, Sky and Aari, telling them to wear their shirts and jackets with their gang logos on them. We want these people to know that Lily has gang connections that they don’t know about. And these are tough gangs, which they will soon discover.

We will give them our own answer soon as well, that way they will know that the Black Wolves, Wildcats and The Investigators are not working together. Even though we are, but we don’t want them to think that we are connected in any way. Today is the funeral and Lily’s family will meet Kat’s Wildcats. Kat is back there now, she did all she could for the cats here, Jennifer was helping her too.

Jennifer can help heal as well, but she can’t really help in more serious cases like Kat can. But she was able to take over from Kat once the first part was done. We did lose some of the cats though. Unfortunately some were already dead by the time Kat got to them. That was very hard on her.

Before she went back I had a short talk with her. “I may not be Leader 1 right now,” I said, “and I have no right to give you advice or tell you what to do. However, make sure these people understand that Kat’s Wildcats are good friends of Lily, and you won’t back down from anyone. It’s important to have a tough image right from the start so her family knows that you won’t be easy to push around.”

“Are you sure it’s her family?” asked Kat. “They may not be in charge,” I said, “but they certainly are involved somehow. Maybe not all of them, but some of them are, so you might have to sort out who’s who. Be careful, these people are well organized and they don’t mind hitting fast and hard. I also want to suggest taking Jennifer with you, the two of you work together well and it’s best to keep Sky and Angel together here. And it’s okay to put Sky in charge here while you two are gone.”

I smiled at them both. Kat called Sky, Angel, Cristy and a few other girls into our room. “We hereby give you an emergency exemption from your inactive duty suspension,” they said together, “and you are now in charge of this case for the duration of it.” Everyone clapped. Sky then took Kat and Jennifer back to Toronto and returned.

“Um, Steve,” said Cristy, “um, would it be, um, possible to get one of those emergency exemptions so I can help look after Misty and the cats, please, please, please!” “Well, why are you just standing there,” I said, “get going!” “YES!” she said and she started to leave, but she came back and gave me a hug, then off she went. Then she came shuffling back in and looked at the other girls and they all left in a hurry.

“I, um, I don’t normally do something like this,” she said, “but, um, I just wanted to say thankyou very much for being our leader and, and, um, older brother for us, and especially for Misty and I, since our family abandoned us when we went bad for a while. And, and, Misty and I, um, we really do love you just like you really are our older brother, and, um, well…”

I knew what she wanted to do but was too nervous to say, so. “Ooooooo,” said a bunch of voices. I looked and the other girls were watching at the door. Poor Cristy was red like a tomato, but she also smiled. I told everyone to get back to work. Meanwhile, back to Canada and the funeral, which was short and normal. Kat, Jennifer and two other Wildcats attended the funeral, but all of the Wildcats showed up at the graveside.

Kat and Jennifer went over to Lily where she was standing next to her mother. Kat put her arm around Lily first, then Jennifer did so. Then they stood just behind Lily and her mother, put their arms around them and whispered something to them. Then Lily’s mother whispered something to Kat, then she communicated that to me. Hmm, things are coming together better now.

Lily’s mother, Myrtle, invited Kat, Jennifer and their “friends” to the lunch after the funeral. That really upset one of Lily’s brothers and he went to Kat and Jennifer and bluntly told them this was only for family and friends, not gangsters. “We are Lily’s friends,” said Kat. “And you should learn to keep your mouth shut,” added Jennifer. That made Lily’s brother, Ralph, so angry he turned a dark red, but he said nothing.

Myrtle then came walking over and told Ralph to behave, she had invited Lily’s friends and she told him to leave them alone. “Ralph was always the troublemaker of all the boys,” she said, shaking her head, “he’s the youngest, but always wants to be the boss. Please don’t pay any attention to him.” The girls just smiled. There was something about the way Myrtle put Ralph in his place that intrigued the girls.

It was more like Myrtle was the boss of this family, but what was this “family” up to? Could they have been involved with what happened to the cats and Misty? It seems like there must be a much larger organization behind this attack, it was too well coordinated for a small family operation. Then Ralph decided to sneak up behind Jennifer and…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.