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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The big day has arrived! Now, most people would think that since this is my fourth marriage, it would be a simple matter for me. Not so. I am just as nervous as I was the very first time. Well, actually, the very first time I was married was to Jennifer, except she had a different name and it wasn’t a marriage of love. She hated me, in fact. Although she did get to like me more as the days progressed.
The marriage was to confuse the enemy. Except we discovered the enemy knew all about it since it was the man who hired me. It was a strange case. Jennifer’s name at the time was Honey, although she was using a different name for the case. It was confusing. The whole case was confusing. Back to now. Rock was my best man, since he is also my best friend. Kat was Jennifer’s maid of honor, just made sense.
The male cats were on my side, wearing blue bow ties. The female cats were on Jennifer’s side, wearing pink bows. Jennifer was wearing a beautiful white dress with a bit of pink. Kat had a beautiful pink dress with a bit of white. Rock and I were wearing blue suits. Jennifer wanted tuxedos but there was just not enough time to find a blue tuxedo that would fit Rock. He’s kind of big. So she settled on suits for us.
We stood under an arbor shaped like a heart, covered with pink roses. Jennifer loves pink. Erika was also wearing a pink dress with white trim, identical to Kat, and she held the rings for us. Between Baldwin and Mandar, they had this place surrounded with guards, and two helicopters flew overhead to make sure no other helicopter could surprise us. Mandar paid for the wedding since Jennifer and Kat were very special to him.
If it wasn’t for him, neither of the girls would be here today. And that includes Angel as well. Baldwin paid for the feast afterwards, and it really was a feast. But, we do have some big eaters in our group, and that would include Baldwin and Mandar. It would have been nice to have our two youngest daughters here today, but they are still recovering, and will be for some time yet.
But, they were able to watch on their tablets, not as good as being there in person, but sometimes it’s the next best thing. Right after our kiss, Erika began jumping and yelling. She was just a bit excited. Anyway, when she did that, one of the helicopters flew right over us and showered us with confetti. I never saw so much confetti. The girls promised to go out later and vacuum the whole area.
Fortunately there was absolutely no wind today, so everything was just perfect. And nothing interfered with the wedding. Considering the size of our team now, we had to have the reception outside too, but everything went smoothly. It was just perfect. Erika kept moving back and forth from Jennifer’s lap to mine, many times. She was just so excited to have her mom and dad married. That was a rather confusing arrangement too, except for those who knew us.
I don’t think Erika stopped talking for more than 5 minutes out of each hour. Erika and the younger team members, those under 20, decorated the bedroom in tower 2 especially for us tonight. The next day it was back to business again, after all, we had that new case that just came in and it could not be put off any longer. Annelie showed the photos on our large screen in the library while Matt explained things. It was a smaller castle located along the back wall.
That back wall was right at the edge, and top, of a very high cliff that went straight down about 400 feet to the valley below. Not much chance of an enemy attack from that side. The other 3 sides were normal and would be where enemies would attack. The walled area was also not big, in peace there may have been up to 200 inhabitants. There were several stone buildings inside that walled area. There were also 5 towers, one being part of the castle itself.
There was only one entrance/exit. Now, how did those 2 sons manage to get poisoned? It was a fast acting poison, so it had to happen at the castle. They had no food on them, just water in bottles. The water was tested and it was okay. During the autopsy the doctor specifically looked for any kind of needle marks, but found nothing.
“They could have breathed it in,” said Melissa, “either as a gas or a vapor of some kind, even water vapor if the water had been contaminated with the poison first.” Melissa is one of our drug experts, the others being Carolyn and Patrick. They both agreed with Melissa. “If that is the case,” said Paul, “it would be smart to wear gas masks when searching that place.” Matt agreed and fortunately we have some.
Paul Hendricks is a new man here, he came with 10 of his friends to join us. They are presently going through our training and testing period so they are not full members yet. Monika, the woman that Matt rescued from one of the nightclubs in our last case, would also like to join us, so she has started the training and testing period as well. Though only 20, she has some unique and important talents that could really help us.
Her father was an electrician and started teaching her when she was 12. By the age of 15 she was an expert electrician, though not officially. She also knows more than any of our team members about alarm systems of all kinds. “So, Steve,” said Kat, “what do you think? Do we take the case or not?” “Did you forget, you and Jennifer are the leaders now,” I reminded her, “I’m still in recovery.” She walked over to me. “Would you like me to slap you?” she asked, “I asked a simple question and I want an answer.”
“I would prefer not getting slapped,” I said, “you slap much too hard.” She stared at me, then she sat on my lap. “I’m staying here until you answer me,” she said. “Okay, yes, we should take the case,” I said, “I am interested to see how those two were killed and why. I am actually thinking it could be an old trap put in place by the original occupants to guard something important.”
“Why didn’t you mention that idea before?” asked Kat. “You never asked for my opinion until now,” I said, “and since I’m on recovery, I’m not really supposed to participate in case discussions. It’s in the rule book.” Since all the team leaders were present, it was voted to change that rule, effective immediately. Matt is going to lead the team going to the castle. Some of the Knight Riders will go and some from Kristina’s team will go. This is not really a place where Kat and her Wildcats are needed. Matt and his team left after lunch…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Well, here we are relaxing nicely in the library, with coffee and donuts. Preparations for the wedding are complete. It is going to be outside. But there is just not enough room anywhere in this chateau for our big team, so it must be outside. Matt is in charge of security and I rather doubt anyone could possibly get through to us the way he has things arranged. And with Jennifer by my side, we are both safe.
Kat will be with Erika and Mandy, the other two children, Madison and Eina, are still in the clinic and will be for some time yet. Amazing how fast Erika managed to get this arranged, I mean the part about Jennifer and I getting married. If Sky were to come back, I am not sure what we would do. Well, we would do the same thing we did for Kat and Jennifer when they came back, welcome Sky with open arms.
It’s a good thing we have Baldwin and Mandar around, and all their lawyers. After all, the government likes people to be alive when they get married, not dead, as is the case with Jennifer. So, to simplify things, we had Jennifer’s last name changed, by Annelie, so that we could get a marriage license. That worked quite well. In the middle of all this a case came along. It appears that some people had bought some land, a rather large property, mostly forest.
When they were flying over the property by helicopter, they spotted something that was barely noticeable among the trees. It was a castle! Not a very large castle, but it was there and in remarkably good condition as well. Of course, no one has likely been in that castle for hundreds of years, so that does help to keep it in good condition.
The new owners, a couple in their mid fifties, two of their sons and three friends, decided to check out this castle. That is what they did about 2 weeks later. Interestingly there was only one place to land their helicopter and that was right almost in the middle of the walled area of the castle grounds. Not a tree was growing in that location, just long grass.
There was no evidence of any kind of road or trail, not even a walking trail, into that castle. If there had been one, all evidence of it was now gone. That was rather interesting too. They landed their helicopter and split up into 3 groups of 2 so they could explore the castle more quickly. They landed in the morning and were to meet back at the helicopter for lunch, but the two sons never arrived.
The remaining four went looking and found them in one of the small stone buildings along the edge of the wall. They were both dead, but there was no sign of struggle or of wounds on them. They quickly returned to the town near to where they now lived. The autopsy revealed that the two sons died of some strange poison that had to be ingested or injected.
There was no evidence of the sons either eating or drinking anything while out there and there was no evidence of being injected with a needle either. Rather interesting. Matt and some others will fly over the site after the wedding and take some photos of the area. But they will not land, that will come later, if the case is accepted. But that will all happen after our wedding. “No cases before you and mom get married,” said Erika, “this is more important!”
“Don’t look at me Erika, I’m not in charge right now, remember?” I reminded her, “It’s up to the leaders to decide what and when to do something.” “OHHH, if they try to spoil your wedding, I, I, I will throw eggs at them!” she exclaimed, “And I will get the cats to help me!” “I believe they would help you too,” I said, “and I am on your side, but, we have to obey the leaders at all times, that is the rule we have.” “You’re not trying to get out of marrying mom, are you daddy?” she asked with hands on her hips.
“Not a chance, I would never do that!” I said emphatically, “I’m hurt that you would even think such a thing.” She ran over and hugged me. “I’m sorry daddy,” she said, “I’m just scared that something will come up and stop you and mom from getting married.” “Nothing will stop us,” I said, “the wedding is tomorrow, no matter what happens, my little kitten.” She was on my lap now.
“I like when you call me that daddy,” she said, “and I’m so happy that you want to marry mom.” “Well, I love your mom very much,” I said, “and I really do want to marry her, more than anything else right now.” Jennifer came into the library right then and sat beside me. “Good thing you said that Steve,” she said smiling. Erika jumped from me onto Jennifer and gave her a big hug. Then Dawn came and sat on my lap. “Hey, who said you could sit on my daddy’s lap?” asked Erika.
“I said so,” said Dawn, “I can even cuddle with him today if I want.” “Can she do that mom?” asked Erika. “Yes, she can,” said Jennifer, “this is Dawn’s day with her older brother, so she is allowed to do that. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that, sorry Dawn,” she said smiling. “That’s okay Erika,” said Dawn, returning the smile. Dawn and I decided on having a picnic by the pool for our lunch, no one else being invited, since we did not want to leave the safety of the chateau grounds before wedding day.
Jennifer suggested something else to occupy our time before lunch. Older brother day lasts from 10am to 6pm, the time we have dinner. Mostly we do a lot of talking on older brother day, especially if the girls are having any problems that they want some advice about, or whatever.
Sometimes it’s just talking about general things, just to spend time together. Today, Dawn needed some encouragement and help with a certain problem and I think that was taken care of completely. It is good to deal with things quickly before they cause serious problems. Well, tomorrow is the big day…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 