I called for a meeting of team leaders to discuss this situation we find ourselves in at the moment. We obviously can’t just go out and kill Helene, though that would be the easy way to do things. However, that would also be considered murder, even if she is a criminal. Although when Cristy checked, there were no crimes listed against this woman at all, past or present.

That seemed to be very strange. She is also not connected to The Mountain Investments and Insurance Co. Aari was here right now for the team leaders meeting which we haven’t started yet, so he went over to Cristy and said something to her. He then came to join us for the meeting. “I was just giving Cristy a little old fashioned advice,” he said, “something that helped me more than once over the years when looking for people who didn’t want to be found.”

“Nothing wrong with that Aari,” I said, “maybe you can help us with some advice for this problem too. Basically Helene has us trapped in our own chateau until we give her Kitty, which we will not be doing.” “But I don’t want to be responsible for any of our team members getting killed Steve,” said Kitty, “I also don’t want to work for Helene.

One reason she wanted me was for thefts, of expensive jewelry for example, and that would mean a good chance of killing innocent people. I don’t want that either. I want to work here, with all of you, to stop people like Helene.” I could tell she was fighting back tears so I called her over to me and told her to sit down. I put my arm around her and held her tight.

“You are an important member of our team,” I said, “we need you and we will fight for you. That is how we do things here. Please promise me you will never give yourself to Helene or anyone like her, please stay with us.” “I promise Steve,” she said through tears, “I always wanted an older brother who would look out for me and give me good counsel. Now I have one. Thank you Steve.”

“We can’t just sit and wait for Helene to pick us off one by one,” said Aari, “she could go into hiding somewhere and just leave her men to attack us. And finding them might not be easy either. She likely has pros working for her, not just cheap hired guns. We need a good plan.

We also need to find this Chambers guy, I believe he is real, he’s just hiding very well. Perhaps Helene and Chambers are married.” We kept talking and suddenly Cristy yelled “YES! I found him Steve! You didn’t read her driver’s license correctly, you were in a hurry I guess, it is Helene Chalmers, and it’s Wendel Chalmers too. He is the CEO of Mountain Investments and Insurance Co.

He and Helene are cousins, but they are also a “couple”. They have homes in San Francisco, New York, Brussels, London and their main home is in Edinburgh where both were born and raised. Wendel is under suspicion in many high profile crimes but the police have never found enough evidence to prosecute.”

“Dig up one of those cases for me Cristy,” I said, “but it will have to be a closed case so we can legally work on it. And it doesn’t matter where it is.” But after searching all of the known cases she could find, all were still open, so we were closed out. Or maybe not. I then asked her to get me Rossana, perhaps she can get us working on one of those cases.

After all, we will gladly work for free. Aari also had another idea that just might work to trap Helene and her partner Wendel. “So, why do they use Chambers if they are really Chalmers?” asked Kat. “In order to hide right in the open,” said Aari, “sometimes the best place to hide is right out where people can see you. People won’t be suspicious if you don’t give them a reason to be.

Now, Chambers, or Chalmers, knows about me because I enquired about him, which is unfortunate. Especially since I enquired specifically about that car, and there is only one reason for me to do that. So, it doesn’t take much to realize that I work for you Steve, even if only occasionally.”

“Maybe not,” I said, “I think perhaps Tammy hired you to get rid of me and that’s how you got involved with tracking down the car. To find out who would bomb her after she hired you.” Aari chuckled a bit. “You know, that just might work,” he said, “but how do we get that information to Helene so that she knows too?”

“Details, details,” I said, “I come up with the ideas, someone else can come up with the details.” Everyone laughed. The next day I got a phone call, from Helene, she wants to talk again. This time at a restaurant of my choice in the city. She will come alone if I come only with Jennifer, since I had told her last time that Jennifer always comes with me.

But no bodyguards for either of us. I accepted, so Jennifer and I went to meet her at one of our favorite places for lunch. Helene was already waiting for us, though she said that she only arrived a couple minutes ahead of us. We were just keeping to small talk while looking at the menus. Just then Jensen’s Jaguars came in and sat down, though there were just 6 of them.

“Steve,” said Helene, “I’m disappointed with you. I am here alone and you come with 6 bodyguards after we had agreed on none.” “They don’t work for me Helene,” I said, “they are a criminal organization which I have tried to stop on 2 occasions, but failed both times.” “They worked for you on your last case,” she reminded me.

“No again,” I said, “Tammy had told us to leave, as we were no longer welcome. I told her we had been hired by someone else, and we were going to stay. So, she hired those guys to deal with me. Unfortunately Ezra called the police, so they told us to leave, which we did.” “You expect me to believe all this?” she asked.

“Yes, I do,” I said, “if I wanted to sneak extra protection in here, I would do it with someone who is less visible than these guys.” “Okay, I will accept that,” she said, “but why are they here then so you suppose?” “What usually brings a criminal organization to a given area?” I asked in return. “Money,” she said.

“True,” I agreed, “they are involved in kidnapping, jewel thefts and drugs, among other things. I would think drugs are the most likely reason.” The waitress took our order and Helene had told us to order what we wanted since she invited us and would be paying…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.