Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Stray Cat Mystery. Chapter 4. Four Hearts.
Well, this case is getting to be a little different than most other cases we have had. Why has Callison been kidnapped? Is it for sex trafficking purposes? Somehow I don’t think so, things just don’t fit for something like that. It would be easy enough to kidnap Callison without going to her home and killing her parents first, then taking her. This happened in the morning when there is traffic on the street, plus neighbors would be awake and could see what was going on and call the police.
Although no one did call the police, so maybe no one saw anything. Our girls went around to the neighbors but none of them wanted to talk, they just told our girls to leave them alone. Rather odd behavior for neighbors. Unless they had been warned ahead of time not to say anything to anyone. That is what I’m thinking anyway. The girls are busy making our guests feel at home right now and, of course, some are working on decoding that note. The envelope that Callison left in the train station locker was very enlightening.
But was it true information or was it another coded message? The note mentioned some gems called the Hearts of India, and apparently there are four of them. Each gem is in it’s own case made of solid 24K gold. I had never heard of these gems so I had Sky bring Alfred over here so I could talk with him. “If what she says is true,” he said, “then that is why Callison was kidnapped since she is now the only person who knows where these gems are hidden. Likely her parents were shot because they would not disclose the location of the gems, but they couldn’t kill Callison or those gems would be lost forever.
So, Wemyss wanted her so he could try different methods to get the information from her, then he would likely kill her after retrieving the gems.” “Do you have an idea of their value Alfred?” I asked, “Wemyss just might use Callison in sex trafficking after finding the gems.” “I checked with my contacts,” he replied, “sex trafficking is not something Wemyss is involved with, though he might sell her to someone else for that purpose. Those gems are priceless, basically, or something like ‘name your own price’ kind of item.
I know a couple of men who would give Wemyss $10 billion for them, perhaps even more. Others would gladly give him their entire collection of gems, plus cash, in order to get their hands on them. These are large gems, four of them, a ruby, a diamond, a sapphire and an emerald. They are large, beautiful, flawless gems which I was able to see displayed in a museum years ago. How they got into the hands of Callison’s parents would be interesting to know.” “Yes, it would seem that her parents, and maybe Callison too, were involved in the theft of these gems, and maybe others as well,” I admitted.
“That is quite possible,” said Alfred, “but it’s interesting that she mentioned the gems without saying where they were hidden, or where she might be. However, on that note, there are two places where we should be able to find Wemyss, according to my contacts. Wemyss is already a wealthy man, by the way, worth around 50 billion euros.” “Hmm, he doesn’t really need the money,” I said, “but it means he will not be easy to fight. He likely has a small army working for him, and they are likely watching us at all times. That means it will be hard for us to look for those gems.
If they see us find those gems then Wemyss won’t need to keep Callison any longer.” “Yes, and he knows all of those you had with you at Callison’s home,” said Alfred. “Yes, I thought of that ahead of time,” I said, “and we don’t keep photos of anyone available anymore, just so we don’t have such problems. And we will keep away from the Black Wolves for now so that you can operate independently.” Aari was here too, though he was just listening for now. “Do you want us to search for those gems Steve?” asked Aari.
“I might do that, once we have an idea of where to look for them,” I said, “then we can concentrate on looking for Callison. That way Wemyss won’t think we know about the gems yet and that we’re just treating this as a missing person’s case, or kidnapping case. That way he won’t be too worried about us.” The girls were still busy working on the coded message that Callison wrote on the back of that photo. Tracy has found a lot of information about Wemyss and his estate near Aberdeen, Scotland, the most likely place for us to find him.
However, that may not be where he is keeping Callison, just in case the police decide to check on him concerning this case, though I doubt they will. Wemyss is a respectable businessman in Aberdeen and won’t likely be a suspect any time soon, even though the Director here knows of Wemyss’ possible involvement in this case. But Wemyss owns several large businesses in Scotland, England, Spain, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He also has new business interests in Canada. He definitely gets around.
His estate is quite large with a huge, old stone house where he lives. He has 40 men that work and live at the estate, part of his small army I figured he had. He has another 20 men that travel with him when he goes further afield, like to another country. When he goes to Aberdeen he has 6 well trained bodyguards with him at all times. This is good information to know when we go to talk with him. “Okay ghost girls,” I began, “you will be very important on this case. Carine will stay with Aari as usual and Kitty will join her this time.”
“Uh, Steve,” said Kitty, “Wemyss knows about me and if I show up with the Black Wolves, then he will know we work together.” “Oh, that’s right,” I said, “okay, Kristina will go with Aari this time for extra protection. Kitty, you will stay at home this time since we only need one ghost at home.” “Hold it you,” said Jennifer, “there has to be 2 ghosts at home with you at all times, remember?” “Did you forget that I am going along on this case?” I asked her. “I think we better change that,” she said, frowning at me, “it’s going to be too dangerous for you out there.”
“But there will be 5 ghosts with me,” I said, “plus other girls around to guard me as well. If that isn’t enough to keep me safe, then I won’t be safe anywhere.” “Steve has a point,” said Misty, “after all, you ghosties are his best protection.” Then she started munching on her donut, then she took a sip of coffee. That’s when Sky came behind her and tickled her. And that caused Misty to spit her coffee soaked piece of donut from her mouth right into Jennifer’s face. “I warned you about calling us “ghosties”,” said Sky, then looking at Jennifer, “what happened to you?”
Jennifer then said something and Sky shuffled her way to the kitchen. “I can never have fun, everyone yells at me,” she said to herself. Jennifer sighed and I had to leave for the kitchen too since I was having a hard time not laughing. Cassie had just put a fresh plate of donuts on the table so I whispered to Sky and the donuts disappeared, along with Sky. I then went to my office where Sky was waiting, and smiling.
“I brought the coffee,” I said, “rats, no cups.” Sky disappeared and returned with 2 cups. “I smell donuts,” said Steffie. “Amazing,” said Sky and I together. Dawn’s team will look for the gems, or perhaps the Black Wolves, once we have that note decoded. Misty’s team will stay at home for added protection here. The Bad Girls and the Wildcats will come along to visit with Mr. Wemyss, but this trip will have to be secret…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Stray Cat Mystery. Chapter 3. Keys and Codes.
While going through boxes in the basement, looking specifically for clothes from Callison that the cats might be able to use to get her scent, she found something else that she thought might be helpful. That was a set of 6 journals that Callison had been keeping. Some people keep diaries, others keep journals, basically they are about the same thing and these could be helpful to us. More helpful than we realized at the beginning. Then there is the photo that Kitty found under the mattress in what looked like it would have been Callison’s bedroom.
It was the same photo that Jennifer had found in one of the boxes in the basement, with one slight difference. There was a short note written on the back of her photo. But the note didn’t really make any sense to us. We didn’t tell the Director about the photo with the note on it. I suppose we should have said something but he might have wanted to keep that photo and I wanted the original for our girls to study. I’m thinking there is a code in that note that will help us on this case, but we are going to have to break that code quickly if there is one.
I’m starting to think there is more to this case than a kidnapping for sex trafficking purposes. Wemyss could have handled this much differently for that. He wanted to make a statement, especially to Callison, that cooperation is the best way to go. That could be true, but hopefully she can stall for a while to give us time to find her. We finally wrapped up our searching of the house and went back home again to check on this note. I let Cynthia, Melanie, Alizea, Audrey, Jackie and Carmeline look at it first since they are the best code experts we have.
Marlene asked if she could look at the note too and I said yes. She is not yet a member of our team, but she wants to be and is now working through our tests and training, as is Lara. Kerry and Krissy are going through the junior tests and training since they are too young to join as full members. Ronja and Sanna have also asked to join and are in the testing period as well. Anyway, back to our case. Two of the girls are checking the note for now while the others are going through the journals to see if they can find any information about codes and how to use her code.
She must have some information available, otherwise the code is useless to anyone else. Kitty and four other girls have gone to the store where Callison worked to see what they could find out there. The owner and 2 other employees were saddened when they heard what had happened. The owner had been quite angry that Callison had left without any explanation and now she felt terrible about that. One of the employees had gone to the back room and returned with an envelope which she handed to Kitty.
“Callison told me that if anything ever happened to her then I was to give this envelope to The Investigators,” she said, “and you would know what to do with it. She knew a lot about you from things she read, about all the cases you solved over the years. She always wanted to join your organization but knew she would never qualify.” “Thank you for delivering this to me,” said Kitty smiling, “it just might help us to find Callison much more quickly.”
“I sure hope so,” said the woman, “that man, Wemyss, just seemed like trouble the time I met him when I was visiting Callison one evening.” “Can you describe him to me?” asked Kitty. “I can do better than that,” she said, “I took a picture of him while he was talking to Mr. Featherstonehaugh.” She then took out her phone to show Kitty. It was amazingly good so Kitty asked if she could have a copy and the woman, Sylvie, gladly gave it to Kitty. The girls then left the store, however, as they went out the door Kitty went invisible, going back inside before the door closed.
The other girls went into the van and drove away, but not too far. They turned right down the first street and parked, waiting to hear from Kitty. They had an idea that perhaps someone was watching them and the ladies in that store would then be in danger. Sure enough it was just about 5 minutes when a car drove up and parked in front of the store. Three men got out and came inside to talk with the women. “What did you tell those Investigators?” asked one man rather roughly, “If you don’t tell us then we will have to take you along for a little ride, and you won’t enjoy that at all.”
“Why don’t you just ask me, Mr. Nosey?” asked Kitty coming up behind them, “After all, I’m the one they talked with.” The men turned around quickly. “Grab her!” yelled the first man. One of them grabbed Kitty by the arm, but she slipped out of his grip easily. “How did you do that?” he asked. Just then the other girls arrived and Kitty kicked the man who had grabbed her, knocking him to the floor. The other girls yelled and joined in the fight easily overcoming the three men. Kitty then called me and I called the Director who sent three patrol cars to the store and they arrested the 3 men.
Unfortunately those three men will likely be back on the street again very quickly and that means the ladies at the store are in danger. I talked with the women through Kitty’s communicator that we all carry and told them we would be very happy to offer them protection at our chateau until the case is over. “It should only take 2 weeks at the most,” I said, “and likely much less. I know you probably don’t want to close your store, but your lives are more important right now.”
They talked it over briefly, then accepted our offer. Kitty and the girls then took them home to pick up some clothes and brought them back here. I’m very glad they made the right decision, it’s much easier for us to look after them here. But before they returned here Kitty wanted to make one other stop, at the train station. She went to one of the lockers and used the key to unlock it. Inside was another envelope which she brought home to me…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
