Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 10. Exposed.
There are only 4 members left alive of this family, which is very sad indeed. We have somehow failed to keep this family alive, most have been murdered while we were here protecting them. Though some of them were not exactly very helpful at the beginning, not wanting us to be inside their house or flat. It would have been so much easier to protect them from the inside, rather than only from the outside. Oh well, we can’t change what is done. Astrid seems to really have had a change of heart.
At first she didn’t really want us around at all, and definitely not in the house even though her husband, Leif, wanted us inside. He ended up being murdered and that is really affecting Astrid right now. Kat, Kristina, Engla, Roxette, Macy and Jackie are staying with her right now, plus 4 cats. I changed the girls around a bit now. Jennifer, Kitty, Sigrid, Astrid, Milena and Kelsey are with Ronja and Dagmar at night. Angel is with Dagmar during the day while she is at work, though remaining invisible since the store owner didn’t want to scare customers. I guess she had a point, so it’s handy having our ghosts along.
Aari, Carine and Oskar are staying with Jon at his flat, along with 2 cats. Anyway, just now, Ronja’s best friend, Sanna, has just shown up and she looked rather worried. “I need to talk with you,” Sanna whispered to Ronja. “It’s okay Sanna,” said Ronja, “you can talk in front of my new friends. I trust them completely.” Sanna seemed a bit embarrassed now. “I’m sorry everyone,” she said, “but right now I’m scared and I think Ronja’s life is in immediate danger, maybe mine too.”
“Why do you think that?” asked Jennifer. “Well, this might sound crazy,” she said, “but, well, oh, I guess it is just crazy.” “Don’t think of it as crazy,” said Sigrid, “it might be something important that might help us catch the murderer, or murderers, and keep the rest of the family safe.” “Well, when I arrived just now,” she began, “Johan, Dagmar’s boyfriend…” She suddenly stopped when she saw everyone look at Ronja when she mentioned Dagmar’s boyfriend. “Umm, sorry Ronja, I thought they knew,” apologized Sanna.
“It’s okay,” she replied, “I should have told them before. Dagmar never wanted the family to know that Johan was her boyfriend. He and Leif had been good friends since they were about 10 years old. Then he did something to Leif, I don’t know what, but it destroyed their friendship. Dagmar was afraid that the family would try to convince her to give up Johan, so she asked me not to say anything to anyone. I guess I really messed up by not telling you about them, I’m really very sorry.”
“Well, you definitely should have told us,” said Jennifer, “but it would not have changed anything since we were not thinking of him as a suspect in these murders, until just recently.” “You think he might be the murderer?” asked a shocked Ronja. “Well, it is only a possibility at this point,” said Jennifer, “we don’t have any hard proof, but certain things really fit him as the possible murderer.” “Now I’m really scared,” said Sanna, “as I mentioned, I met him when I arrived here and he wanted me to convince Ronja to come with him so she could be put under police protection now since you people were not doing a good job of protecting the family.
He said that he had convinced Dagmar to seek police protection but he couldn’t convince Ronja. He even offered me 7,000 Krona if I convinced her to come along with him. He held up the money in his hand so I quickly snapped it away from him and said I would bring her down with me. I wasn’t going to do that Ronja, honest, I really wasn’t! I just took his money because I need it right now. My parents didn’t have any money, just their flat which is where I live. But now I’m scared to go home alone. Maybe I’ll get killed too. Guess I shouldn’t have taken his money, but I’m hungry, I have run out of food and I don’t have a job. I have been trying to get one though, but so far, nothing. Can you help me too, please!”
“Sanna’s parents died in a car accident 3 weeks ago,” said Ronja, “so she is left alone now.” “Don’t worry Sanna,” said Jennifer, “we will protect you too.” Galyna had been there at the time too and she felt that Sanna was telling the truth. Jewel and the other cats agreed as they came out from under the sofa. “Cats!” exclaimed Sanna, “I just love cats!” She then got down on the floor and the cats came to her right away, though they acted just like normal cats for now.
Meanwhile, back home. “Cristy, please check out the car crash that killed Sanna Larsson’s parents,” I said. “On it Steve,” she replied cheerfully. Hmm, she’s cheerful again today, something must be going on. Just then Erika arrived with a plate of fresh donuts and Mandy brought fresh coffee along. Now I know that something must be going on. After we finished the donuts Erika wanted to show me something and she immediately went to a certain online store that sells clothes. Sigh. Then Mandy showed me some things that she said Mom would love.
Hmm, she might be right about that. She also gave me the correct size to buy, I kind of messed that up the last time. Sigh. Cristy just got back to me and apparently our faithful police officer, Johan Berg, was the first one at the scene of the crash that killed Sanna’s parents. The official report said the brakes failed. However, photos of the crash clearly show bullet holes in the driver’s door. The report says the holes were made by stones as the car rolled into the ditch. Amazing that he would actually write that and even more amazing that it would be accepted.
Now, is Dagmar involved in these murders? Or doesn’t she know what Johan is doing? He might kill everyone in the family except her, then marry her so he can get his hands on the family business. Then all he would need to do is kill Dagmar and everything would be his. But can we convince her of his plans? Either she doesn’t suspect him of any wrong doing, or she is involved with him in the whole plot to get their hands on the family business. That would really hurt Ronja, apparently her and Dagmar have been very close all their lives. One thing I do know, this police officer is laying a trap for Ronja and Sanna and we can’t let him win this time.
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 9. Good News.
We are not doing well on this case, a fact I’m sure I have mentioned before, but it’s worth mentioning again. Whoever is committing these murders is making us look like fools. Like we don’t have a clue what we are doing. I don’t like that at all. It makes us look like amateurs. We have to turn things around quickly. Not for us though, but for this family. They have been trusting us to keep them safe and catch the murderer, or murderers. We have done neither one. We have to change that, and fast too! Cristy said that she had some news for me, both good and bad.
I asked her to tell me the bad news first so we can get that out of the way. Then the good news will feel even better. I hope so anyway. The bad news was one of the secretaries was found dead in her flat by her neighbor. The neighbor told the police she heard yelling and crashing, then the door slammed and she heard footsteps running down the stairs. When it was quiet she went over to the secretaries flat, the door was partially open so she went in and found her body on the living room floor. Apparently there was only one person who left the flat.
The other secretary has disappeared without a trace. I think it can be assumed that she is dead also, though I certainly hope not. Someone is keeping a close watch on things in this case. That makes me think it must be someone in the family. But, the family keeps shrinking, so it looks more and more like it must be someone else doing the murders. Though it could be a combination of the two. I have sent Galyna and Victoria over as well, they are two of our counselors and can tell if someone is lying. Galyna was with Kat, Kristina, Nakedra and Engla as they talked with Astrid.
She has asked us to have team members in the house with her now because she is genuinely scared. She also realizes that if she had not opposed us being in the house before, then Leif would still be alive. She actually broke down crying when she said that. She also told the girls that she truly loved Leif and that she is responsible for his death because of her pride thinking they could handle things on their own, just like Stellan did. Now she is a widow with two young children.
I told Kat to bring Macy and Jackie in with them too and maybe they could help with the kids right now. Astrid thanked Kat for doing so. Macy and Jackie are great with kids and are looking forward to helping in this way. I want them in the children’s room too at night for added protection. Since the house is fairly big, they will also have four cats with them to patrol throughout the night. “Would you like to hear the good news now?” asked Cristy, “Or are you going to keep talking to the team?” She had this kind of impatient look on her face when she said that. Very strange.
“Yes, I definitely want to hear the good news,” I said, “we certainly need some right now.” “Okay,” she began, “you wanted me to find someone who had been away for the past 10 months or so, and I found someone. You’ll never guess who it is though.” “Astrid?” I asked. “No!” she exclaimed. “Daddy is terrible guesser,” said Steffie shaking her head, “that why he not be able to do puzzles. Have to guess sometimes doing puzzles. That why he not able to find hidden things like rooms and slides and tunnels and everynothing…”
“May I finish telling Daddy about my good news Steffie?” asked a now, very impatient, Cristy. “Ooops, me sorry, I go sliding now,” she said, “better step back so not go sliding too.” Now, Steffie meant her back, since she was facing the slide. Cristy was facing me, so she stepped back just as the stairs turned into a slide. “Yaaaaaaaaaa!” “Wheeeeeeeee!” Cristy sounds just like Misty at times like this. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” yelled Misty. Then there was a big WHUMP, followed by a crash and groaning.
“You supposed to get out of way when people sliding Auntie Misty,” said Steffie. “I’m supposed to stay in bed when you’re sliding,” Misty responded, groaning some more. “Hey, my donuts!” yelled Misty, “Come back here you mini donut thief!” “I think you broke my arm,” said Cristy. “I think you broke my leg,” said Misty. “I think you broke my head,” they said together. They finally hobbled their way up to my office. “Thanks for the donuts Misty,” I said cheerfully. “Stop being so cheerful and stuff a donut in my mouth,” she said groaning. So I did.
“Miffmuflemothmiff,” she said. “Auntie Misty sayed thank you,” said Steffie. Hmm, she’s also a good interpreter now. I handed a donut to Cristy, then Chantelle arrived with some nice, hot coffee, and juice for Steffie. “May I have the good news now Cristy?” I asked cheerfully. “Stop being so cheerful,” she replied. Hmm, sounds just like Misty. “Okay, here it is,” she said, “there is one person that was away for about that length of time, about 9 months really. It’s someone we were not thinking about at the beginning. That’s the police officer, Johan Berg. He’s part of the Civil Defense force here and goes in for training now and then. He was gone for a 9 month refresher up north. And guess what else?”
“There is more?” I asked, “Things are starting to fit together, including the fact that he is always first at the crime when the police are called. Could he have been seeing Lotta, Stellan’s wife? That would explain why he could get up close to her without scaring her.” “I don’t know that part,” she said, “but with this family, it’s entirely possible. Though I don’t understand why he would be killing the whole family. Oh, he is also an excellent swimmer, and an excellent sniper.” I then called our sniper’s to see what they have found out.
Charlotte said that they found an empty office that had a clear shot of where Stellan was inside his car. The window inside that office opened which would make things easy and then she began to tell me what kind of rifle the shooter used. “A typical rifle that a sniper would use,” she said, “and it would be an easy shot from here.” “And how do you know what kind of rifle it was?” I asked. “There must have been people in the hall when he wanted to leave,” she explained, “so he put it at the back of a high shelf in a closet so it wouldn’t be noticed. I found it by thinking like Steffie.”
Amazing, my team members are doing their job by thinking like a 5 year old. I guess if it works, why not? Well, things are coming together finally. Johan Berg, our friendly police officer appears to be our murderer, or one of them anyway. Could he be working alone? Somehow I doubt it, one of the family members must be involved, or at least, they were involved.
Perhaps that family member had second thoughts so he killed him, or her, too. There are only 4 family members left, and all of them want our protection and help, so obviously they don’t work with him. Though maybe Astrid was working with him and has now changed her mind, that is something we don’t know. Meanwhile, there was someone ringing the doorbell at Ronja’s flat. It turned out to be her best friend, Sanna Larsson…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
