I was lying in bed at our clinic waiting for the results of my scans. Jennifer insisted that Samantha check me thoroughly, so she did. “Why did you stay in the house by yourself?” asked Jennifer, “That is against the rules!” “Did I do that?” I asked, “I thought Friskie was in the house with me, and she’s a ghost.” “Yes, she was there,” said Jennifer, “but she’s new and doesn’t know how to control her abilities yet, you should have had Sky with you, or Angel. And why phone the police from inside the house when it would be safer out in the limousine?” “Did I do that?” I asked, “I don’t remember calling the police. Where is my phone?”

Jennifer got it and looked at it. “Hmm, no calls on here since you left home,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t have a chance to call the police,” I suggested. “Perhaps, but still, you were going to call them,” she said. “I don’t remember that,” I said, “probably this knock on the head made me forget.” Just then Samantha came into the room. “Well, there is nothing wrong with Steve’s head at all,” she said smiling. “That’s what you think,” said Jennifer, “maybe you should do more scans, or other tests, or something.”

“There’s nothing more to do,” she said, “Steve is fine, except for a headache.” “How can Steve get hit on the head with a hard object and not get hurt?” asked Jennifer. “Oh, that’s an easy one!” said Misty walking into the room at that point. “Don’t you knock?” asked Jennifer. “The door was open,” said Misty quietly. “Oops, that was me,” said Samantha, “I forgot to close the door. That door closer thing doesn’t work.” “I’m sorry Misty,” said Jennifer hugging her, “I’m just a little upset with Mr. Leader over there. Now, what was your idea?”

“What if someone had a hand held version of that weapon that hit Steve before,” suggested Misty, “Steve said it felt like being hit with a hard object.” “And someone could have opened the back door and shot it at Friskie and me,” I said, “then run back to a waiting car in the lane, or hid somewhere close by, then left when it was clear.” “That’s just what I was going to say!” said Misty excitedly, “Smart minds think alike you know!” “What has that got to do with Steve?” asked Jennifer.

For some reason all three of them began to laugh uncontrollably when she said that. Sigh. Once they settled down, which took a while, I then tried to say something again. “This means that Carmeline’s brother is in control of this whole deal,” I said, “or rather, his wife is in control. Medina and Colin were working for her. Philly is the main character in all of this, Harold is just a puppet but doesn’t know it yet.” “Hmm, that reminds me,” said Jennifer, “we need to let her know about Helene too.”

“True, but that can come later,” I said, “once we have Sugar safe too. Um, by the way, where is she?” “On the plane heading back here,” said Misty. Then Jennifer told me they moved Carmeline to house 2 because they noticed someone seemed to be watching the house. Hmm, Philly is working overtime to get at Carmeline, but I guess now that she is out of prison she could perhaps challenge the will and at least get a share of it. Philly wouldn’t like that too much. Jennifer left and so did Samantha, but Misty stayed to visit. “Misty, go get some clothes for me please,” I said, “Jennifer took mine.”

“Um, that could get me in trouble,” she said. “Remember all those chores you used to do?” I asked, “I could reinstate them if you would prefer.” “What clothes would you like?” she asked smiling, so I told her. “Um, what if I get caught?” she asked. “You are the sneakiest sneak in the world Misty,” I said, “no way you can get caught.” Off she went and returned in 10 minutes with my clothes. “Now, go to the pool for a while before I leave here,” I said. “But I was at the pool this morning and Jennifer knows it,” she said. “Did you swim?” I asked. “Um, no,” she said.

“Then go swimming, it’s good exercise,” I said smiling. She was gone amazingly fast. Samantha then poked her head in and said I could go. I got back into bed just in time. Off I went. I communicated with Kat to see how things were going now and she said there is no sign of anyone watching the place yet, but it hasn’t even been one day so far. Hopefully Philly won’t be able to find that house, however, I’m curious to know how she found out about the first house.

I asked Kat if she checked Carmeline for trackers and she said they did find one in her shoe, but they got rid of all her clothes. So I asked her to check for embedded trackers in her skin. Sure enough, she had two of them, both in the bottom of her feet. It was a nice, professional job too. The cats were then used to sniff around and they found another tracker in the back of her neck. All three were removed and Kat healed her very nicely so that no scars will remain.

Unfortunately Philly now knows where Carmeline is again so I called Sky back and told her to take Carmeline to house 3, along with Kat, then take Kristina and Kitty. Then she can take some of the others, then Vlora and her teams can head back home for now. Afterward Sky can come here to take some from here to house 3. Kind of a rotation of the team.

Meanwhile, “What’s up Philly?” asked Harold. “It seems that a bunch of those guards Steve has around Carmeline have gone,” she replied, “which means he thinks she is now safe and doesn’t need so many people guarding her now.” “So what’s next?” he asked. “What would you do without me?” she asked, “We get some more men over there and go into the house, take Carmeline and bring her back to us. Then we kill her.” “Why not just let your men kill her?” he asked.

“Because I want to do it myself!” she said emphatically, “She has caused us enough trouble, now it’s my turn. And since Colin finally got that brat Sugar to tell him where Carmeline’s gems were hidden, we can now kill her too and Colin as well, once he hands those gems over to me.” “I still don’t understand how my parent’s estate was only worth $50 million,” said Harold, “I’m sure dad said it was worth $500 million.”

“It was, my dear Harold, it was,” she replied, “I gave you 50 million to play around with, the rest I invested. That money will make us billionaires, not just millionaires! We will create our own empire! If I left it in your hands, it would only last a couple of years, this way it will last me a lifetime.” I wonder if Harold caught that last part, she went from ‘we’ to ‘me’ real quick. Meanwhile, Sky just returned to the chateau. “Whew! I should get some frequent flyer points or something,” said Sky as she relaxed in a big chair. “Go spend some time in the pool,” I said. “YES!” she said and she was gone…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.