The next morning all 5 of the computer girls were busy once again trying to find this elusive Betty Wilcox. “I would suggest that is not likely her real name,” said Sienna, “but it’s the name our mystery man knows her by, which doesn’t help.” “But if he wants us to stay away from her,” said Kat, “then she obviously must want us to do something for her that he doesn’t want us to do.” “That would make sense,” I said, “so we might have to wait until she contacts us to find out who she is.”

“But what if she uses her real name when she calls us?” asked Jennifer. “Well, then we ask if she is Betty Wilcox,” I said. “And what if she doesn’t want us to know that she is Betty Wilcox?” asked Jazzy. I just looked at her. “You would have to say that,” I said, “that would really mess things up for us. Wisty, special line to Rossana please.” “You got it Steve,” she said. I then asked Rossana if she knew anything about this woman, and told her why, but she didn’t. However, she would look through their files and see if anyone uses that name and get back to me.

“I’m so sorry to hear about this Steve,” she said, “and I will help anyway I can.” “Thank you Rossana,” I said. We are sure striking out with this one and that is not good. How do we stay away from someone that we don’t even know? “Wisty, special line to Mandar please,” I said. “You got it Steve,” she said. Wisty was amazingly cheerful this morning. “Hi Steve,” said Richard, “what can I do for you?” “Is Mandar away right now?” I asked. “Yes, he is,” said Richard, “an important trip and not to be disturbed except in an emergency.” “Do you know a woman named Betty Wilcox,” I asked. “No, not at all,” he replied.

Then I explained our problem to him and he said he would call Mandar right away. A short time later Mandar called and wanted to know what was going on and why we were not looking for our girls. “Misty and Cristy were my girls until you stole them from me,” he said, rather loudly, “you better find them and get them back!” I then explained that if we try looking for them, then this guy would kill them. “I truly believe he was serious about that warning,” I said, “so for now I don’t want to take a chance, especially since I don’t even know who he is.”

“Yes, yes, he likely is serious,” said Mandar, more calmly now, “I’m just upset, that’s all. I will get my people looking for this woman, if she exists, they will find her and then we will find out what is going on. I’m coming home and will be there tomorrow morning. Make sure there are fresh donuts.” He then hung up. We have more people looking for this woman than we normally would, and we still can’t find out who she is. Quite amazing really. Aari is here right now, Sky brought him over so no one would see him driving here. I have a feeling that someone is watching our chateau, and I don’t like that.

Aari has been in touch with his contacts about this woman too, but so far nothing. Precisely at noon I got a phone call from our mystery man. He told me he would be listening to our conversation, so I should be careful what I say. I asked if Misty could talk with her cat as well. He laughed, but said it would be okay. “Are you being treated well?” I asked. “Yep, except the beds are hard as rock,” she said, “just mats on the floor actually.” “How about the food?” I asked. “Food is good,” she said, “we had pancakes for breakfast. Coffee is terrible though, too strong for me.”

“Storm wants to meow with you,” I said. Meowr.= “Name of man. Noise in daytime.” “Meowr, meow, meow,” she said in return. “That’s all for today Steve,” said the man. He then hung up before I could say anything more. “Well Storm, what did Misty tell you?” I asked. Meowr.= “She say name is Hagen Shh Niderialyla, or something, odd name for me, she hear loud ka-thunk all day.” “And what did she tell you dear husband of mine?” asked Jennifer.

“Well, they sleep on a cement, or perhaps solid rock, floor,” I said, “perhaps meaning an old building made of stone. They also traveled for a long time after being kidnapped. They are being treated well. Wisty, what does ‘coffee is terrible’ mean?” “Um, it probably means she doesn’t like the coffee,” she said, without taking her eyes off the computer. “Very funny,” I said, “she is supposed to be talking in code.” Steffie climbs up onto my lap at that point and whispers something to me, then she smiled. I then whispered to her and she left the library, running like the wind down the hall.

“Wow, what did you say to her that made her run away so fast?” asked Jennifer. “I just asked her to talk with Storm and come back,” I said, “she told me that ‘coffee is terrible’ means something bad will happen soon, which doesn’t really help us too much. Does that mean something bad will happen to them, to us, or is it about this Betty Wilcox woman?” “Well, that certainly narrows it down a bit,” said Sky and off she went to the kitchen. She came back smiling with a plate of donuts and a cup of coffee. Just then Steffie came zooming around the corner and slammed into Sky knocking her flying onto her stomach, splashing the coffee all over herself and sending her donuts directly at me.

“Oh, great catch dear husband of mine!” said Jennifer. I managed to catch all 6 donuts, 2 for Jennifer, two for Steffie and 2 for me. “I’m soaked,” said Sky, “and those are my donuts!” “You throw donuts away,” said Steffie. “Good point,” said Jennifer. Some of the other girls were now returning to the library, each with 2 donuts so Sky went invisible and grabbed 3 donuts for herself. “Hey, no fair,” the three girls yelled. “You should be more careful,” I told them. “Yep,” said Steffie, then she whispered something to me. I looked at her.

“Computer girls, Hagen Schneider, find him!” I said firm and loud. “You got it Steve,” said Wisty. I then whispered to Steffie again and she then whispered to Jennifer. “Find him fast,” added Jennifer, “and everything about him, his organization, his men, his wealth, everything!” “You got it Steve, oops, I mean Jennifer,” she said. Jennifer sighed long and loud. “Go tell Auntie Cassie to give you two more donuts,” I said to Steffie. She was gone like a flash into the kitchen, but soon returned, slouched over, hands in her pockets and shuffling just like Misty.

“Donuts all gone and Auntie Cassie not make more,” she said. “We’ll change her mind,” said Jennifer and she took Steffie back to the kitchen. Sugar and Morning were called to the kitchen to help Cassie. “Where’s your mom?” I asked Steffie and she put her head down. Sigh. I soon convinced her to show me and she took me to one of the other towers. Near the top of the stairs she stopped and pushed on one of the rocks, almost pushing herself off the step, but it moved a bit and I heard a click.

Then we went up the rest of the way to the room and she turned the top of a small round table and I heard another click. Then she pulled a book part way off a shelf on the bookcase and pushed it back in and there was another click. Then she pushed and pushed until the bookcase moved enough that I could get inside the wall. As I did so I could hear Steffie saying “wheeeeeeeee”. Obviously that staircase turns into a slide also. She’s one amazing girl…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.