After we had finished looking all over the house and not finding anything, Crystal came to me and asked if she could show me something in the cellar. So, I followed her to the cellar, Sky and Kitty coming with us. “Do you see anything interesting?” she asked me as we stood looking at those old chests. I looked, as did Sky and Kitty, but could not see anything interesting. “Do I get a hint?” I asked Crystal. “Look at the dust,” she said smiling. “Dust?” I asked.

Now, I looked at the dust thinking there must be something in that dust, like some obscure fingerprints perhaps. But I could see nothing, and I think Crystal noticed that too. “Here,” she said, and she wiped her fingers on the floor, then on one of the chests. “The dust is a different color,” I said. “Correct!” she said excitedly, “In reality, the dust should be the same color, or very close to it, but this dust is very different in color to this dust. That’s because the dust on the trunks isn’t real, it’s fake dust. You can get little machines that blow fake dust around on objects to cover up something or make something appear older than it is, or whatever.

The dust on the floor is real, except where some fake dust has been used to cover up footprints, or more precisely, an area that has been lightly swept before walking on it so footprints won’t be noticeable. If the lighting was brighter, like upstairs, this would all be much more noticeable.” “That means someone has been in these old trunks,” I said, “I would say that means they were hiding something.” Crystal had brought her cat, Bandit, down with her as well, plus I had Snow with me, so we let them sniff the trunks.

Both cats screeched and said that human people were in four of the trunks. Bandit also said that skinnies were in 3 other trunks. Skinny is the name that Muffin originally gave to a skeleton that she had found, and the name stuck. Then it was passed on to the other cats. “Mac, come here please,” I said, right away”. He and Jazzy plus some of the girls came running downstairs. Strangely, the cats didn’t notice that there were humans in these trunks when we were down here before, but, they also didn’t go over to sniff at the trunks either so maybe that’s why.

After all, no one had been in those trunks for years and years, so why pay much attention to them? Good thing I have a team that likes to think. I should have thought about this myself. I guess my brain isn’t working too good right now. Jennifer is right, I should just coordinate, not get involved. Mac had the trunks open easily enough and sure enough, there were bodies in those 4 trunks. It was the caretaker and his family. Jazzy has seen a lot of dead bodies in her life, but never children and it bothered her so much she had to run back upstairs.

Mac said these people hadn’t been dead long and likely were put in those trunks the day before. But Jazzy was here then, so were we by early afternoon. However, Jazzy and her bodyguard Howard, plus two others she has here with her, had to leave for a while and come to meet us to guide us to the house. She didn’t want to give the address to me over the phone. So, it is likely those bodies were put in there while they were away, which was about an hour. That is likely when the new lock was put on the cellar door too.

However, the listening devices and cameras must have been put in before Jazzy came here, they would have taken longer. The next 3 trunks had skeletons in them, 2 adults and a child. The last 2 trunks had dishes and blankets in them, nothing unusual about that. Well, looks like we will have to call in the police now although that will really interfere with this case. But I don’t know what else to do, we can’t leave those bodies lying around for days, they will smell.

I had Jazzy call the police and they arrived quickly enough, along with ambulances to take the bodies away. There were the usual questions which we are all used to answering. Then Jazzy asked if we could stay on the job since she had hired us to help find the caretaker and his family and also to find out why someone is so interested in her house. The officer in charge said he would have to ask his superior to see if it was okay, and he would let us know. Off they went and we met in the living room again to talk things over. “It must be that man who wants to buy my house,” said Jazzy.

“I agree, he is the prime suspect at the moment,” I said, “but there could be two things going on at the same time here.” It was late afternoon and Jazzy decided to take us out to a nearby restaurant. While there, a gang showed up on motorcycles and came inside. There were 10 of these men and they were obviously quite interested in our girls. Two waitresses were just finishing bringing our meals to us and one of them spoke to me. “Those men are trouble,” she said, “I never like when they come in, they don’t leave us alone.”

“If they start to give you trouble,” I told her, “my girls will settle them down.” “You need tough men to handle them, not women,” she said, “best to leave them alone.” Then she did something odd, she put her arm around me and kissed my cheek. “Thank you for coming Steve,” she said smiling, “I knew you would.” Then she and the other waitress went back to the kitchen briefly, then over to the long table where the gang had sat down. I was watching to see what would happen. Sky, on the other hand, was watching me and trying to get my attention.

“Is that another old girlfriend?” she asked, “Do I need to tell Jennifer about her?” I wasn’t paying attention to her, however, just watching. The man sitting at the head of the table, likely the leader of the gang, couldn’t keep his hands off the waitress and it was obvious she didn’t like it. He then pulled her onto his lap, so I got up and headed over there. I first nodded to Sky and Mac to follow me. Sky told Melanie, Melissa, Alizea, Crystal and Cassie to come along as well.

“Hey, look, he brings more women for us!” said the leader, “But we need two more.” “Let her go,” I said very bluntly. “Oh, but she likes me,” he said laughing, “see, she likes to sit on my lap.” “She told you to stop and let go of her,” I said, “and I will say it just once more, let her go.” He then let her go and stood up slowly. Then he suddenly tried to punch me, but he missed as I ducked quickly.

Then, with a little electrical help, I punched him in the stomach and he sat down again. The man beside me was about to get up too, but Mac had a knife at his throat quickly. The girls took out knives as well. “Now, treat these waitresses properly,” I said. “Thank you Steve,” said that one waitress and she kissed my cheek again. We then went back to our tables…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.