Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 4. Sniffing.
I’m glad that I decided to send Sky along at the last minute. Well, okay, Jennifer decided it might be a good idea to send Sky, just in case her speed is needed for travel purposes. “Sky,” I said. “Right here,” she said, “oops, sorry, still invisible.” “Thank you, that’s much better,” I said. “I keep forgetting you’re not a ghost and can’t see us when we’re invisible,” she replied with a smile, “and here they are!” She held up a little plastic bag with the cigarette butts in it. “Plus these!” she said cheerfully. In her other hand was a glass and a decanter.
“Someone had a drink,” she said, “hopefully it was the man so his finger prints will be on them.” “Well, the decanter could have finger prints from the house owner,” I said, “but the glass is a good find for sure. Take them to Samantha, she’s waiting for you.” Off she went, then she returned to me and I told her to stay in that house tonight with two of the girls and a cat. Carine will be staying in the empty house with two of the Black Wolves tonight, plus one cat.
I also sent Rascal back with Sky, he will make a trip around the house every half hour, along with the other two cats, except they only go one direction and he will completely circle the house. Being a wildcat he just might pick up scent that the other cats miss. We already have DNA samples from everyone in the family, something I requested at the beginning and they all gave a sample without question, except Stellan. He argued a bit but Oskar was finally able to convince him it would help us find the murderer of his parents.
He has been the only one to object to us, something I find rather strange, especially since he seemed eager to have us help at the beginning. He also didn’t want anyone in the house guarding him and his wife, he felt he could do that himself. He found out that was not a good decision, but he still doesn’t want anyone in the house with him. Why is he being so stubborn? Samantha soon got back to me, the one cigarette was definitely smoked by Astrid, Leif’s wife. She has the same name as our Astrid, which is kind of confusing.
However, this is interesting, why was she in that house with the other two? Were any of them involved in killing Stellan’s wife? The man stayed all night, but we don’t know about the women, they must have left early while it was still dark, or they would have been seen more easily. I sent the fingerprints Samantha found on the glass to Rossana and she got back to me an hour later. “They belong to a man named Frank Meyers,” she said, “he is a well-known hit man from Germany. He’s deadly accurate and very dangerous, don’t expect to sneak up on him except with one of your ghosts.
Anyone else won’t come back alive. It would seem that your murderer is hiring out the work and keeping a safe distance. That could mean a woman.” I told her we had some DNA from a woman that we can’t find, so maybe that’s her. Meanwhile, Steffie had gone to visit Samantha, something she does at times, but this time as she came into her lab she stopped. Samantha looked at her and noticed she was sniffing the air and suddenly her eyes opened wide and she ran to Samantha! “He here, he here!” she cried, “Please don’t let him hurt me, please!” Samantha hit the Code Red button for the clinic.
Our girls began running there and Jennifer led the way, but I called Sky back too. “Samantha, fast!” I yelled and she was gone! Unfortunately the Code Red Clinic sealed the clinic so our girls couldn’t get in, though it didn’t stop Jennifer and Sky. Samantha should have hit the general Code Red so the clinic wouldn’t seal, it would still show up as the clinic. I unlocked the doors quickly for our girls to get through as well. Jennifer and Sky found Samantha and a totally hysterical Steffie who kept screaming “Don’t let him hurt me!”, so Sky brought her and Jennifer to me right away.
Poor Steffie clung to me so tightly it was hard to believe she was only 5 years old. I managed to calm her down slightly but she was crying so much she couldn’t talk. Samantha then called me. “I’ll bet it was that one cigarette she smelled,” said Samantha, “it wasn’t a normal brand, highly unusual mixture and smell. Perhaps the same type smoked by that man who held her captive before.” “Sky, take Kitty back with you and bring Friskie home,” said Jennifer quietly, and off she went. Soon she returned with Friskie.
“Hey honey,” she said softly, “remember that bad man is dead now so he can’t hurt you anymore, Daddy made sure of that. You know Daddy wouldn’t lie to you when he told us that, right?” Steffie looked up at me and gave me a little smile, then she went to Friskie. “I will stay here with you now,” she said, still softly. After a while Misty arrived with donuts for all of us, then she and Steffie went sliding again. Brave girl. “Yaaaaa!” yelled Misty. “You not suppose to go head first Auntie Misty!” squealed Steffie.
Then there was a loud “thwump!” “Ooooooh, my poor head,” groaned Misty. “I tolded you,” said Steffie. Then, “Wheeeee!” Yaaaaa!” “Those two have so much fun,” I said laughing. Now we have a lead on our mystery woman, since she is the one with this specialty cigarette. Apparently it is such a specialty that it is only sold in certain upscale tobacco stores, which are hard to find these days. There is one in Stockholm, one in Paris and one in Germany.
There were some others too, but those 3 intrigued me the most so I sent our girls to all three to check about our mystery woman. Unfortunately we didn’t have much to go on, no name and no photo or address. And maybe she didn’t pick them up herself, perhaps a servant did that, or a husband or boyfriend. But, we had to check so that hopefully we can stop more murders from taking place…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Nordic Family Mystery. Chapter 3. Something Strange.
We had two from the Black Wolves watching the front of Stellan’s house and two watching the back, plus there were two cats who made frequent trips on either side of the house. The houses are very close together and it takes a cat to walk between the houses. A small person could do it too, but a larger person would find it a tight squeeze. How did someone get into the house and drown Stellan’s wife? How did the person get into the bathroom without his wife knowing? If she saw or heard someone come in she could have called for Stellan, or screamed, or fought.
But there is no evidence that she did. Hannah pointed that out to me this morning. “There is something strange about these murders,” said Hannah. “I was thinking that too,” I said, “like why did the murderer break the pattern by killing Stellan’s wife first?” “Because if he, or she, killed Stellan first, then it would be more difficult to kill the wife,” said Helene, “she would likely look for more protection from us, someone living inside the house with her. Stellan likely won’t.” “Right now I imagine that Stellan is suspect number one for the police,” said Jazzy.
“Yes, he is the one person who could come into the bathroom and not scare his wife,” said Ivy. “Except it doesn’t make sense to set himself up to be the prime suspect so soon.” said Galyna, “Even his siblings will be thinking he could have done it, even if they don’t want to think that way.” “That’s very true,” said Valeria, “perhaps there is a tunnel from one of the other houses since they are so close together. Another family member could come in that way, and likewise not scare Stellan’s wife.”
Later I called Aari. “Okay Aari, what happened?” I asked. “We still can’t figure it out Steve,” he said, “those cats would have smelled any human scent as they walked around the house. No one went in or out of the house.” “I will send over the other cats to check for a tunnel in the basement,” I told him. “No point Steve,” he said, “this house and the houses on either side have no basement.” “You’re making this harder Aari,” I said, “I’ll send some of the girls over anyway, and a couple ghosts, to check around.” This is not going well. We have to convince the other siblings that we need to be inside their house to protect them properly.
Something tells me that won’t be easy. Right then Steffie comes in to my office. “I thought you and Auntie Misty were playing this morning,” I said. “We are,” she replied, “I just waiting for her to come so we can slide together.” That’s when Misty came crawling into my office. “Someone made these stairs longer,” she said. “Okay, here we go!” said Steffie as she pushed the small stone. “Wheeeeeeee! Yaaaaaaaaa!” Poor Misty. Hey, that’s it! “Cristy, check and see who lives in the houses on each side of Stellan, please,” I said. “On it Steve,” she said cheerfully.
It didn’t take her long and she had the information that I wanted. “The one on the left is temporarily empty because the people are away on vacation,” said Cristy, “the one on the right is empty and up for sale.” That’s the one we want, so I contacted Aari right away and told him to check it out. If they don’t find any evidence in that house, then they can check the other house. I told him those people are on vacation and won’t be home for another week. There was a brief silence. “Someone was there last night Steve,” said Aari, “the guys saw a man go into the house just before midnight, but didn’t think anything of it.
He turned lights on for a while downstairs, then went upstairs, likely to bed.” “That’s what he wanted anyone to see who might be watching,” I said, “the murderer knows we are watching the house. Sometime during the night he jumped across from one roof to the other and went in a window, then waited for whoever got up first. Or maybe deliberately chose the wife first. Killing Stellan while he was sleeping would have been too easy is my guess.” “You could be right about that,” said Aari, “the murderer might want more of a challenge.” Later Melody came to me with her findings.
“The family business is doing very well,” she began, “Stellan is the CEO and owns 50%, the next oldest brother, Leif, owns 20%, and is the manager which apparently is a position he enjoys. None of the other siblings works in the business, but the next two brothers own 10% shares each and the girls own 5% shares each. Stellan has tried to buy out the girls’ shares, but both apparently have said no. However, he has never pressured them to sell, just asked.” “He would profit by owning even 5% more in shares though,” I said, “any problems with the two brothers working together?”
“No, none on the surface anyway,” she said, “they both have their parts to do and they don’t interfere with each other since everything is going well.” Astrid, Sigrid, Engla, Angel, Friskie and Mac arrived and went in the back door, just in case neighbors were watching. They needed Mac to unlock the door and make sure there was no alarm system. Storm, Ginger, Tiger and Tiia were also along and they spread out sniffing around for clues. Tiger was quickly sniffing some old cigarettes left in an ashtray. Meow.= “These smoke recent, like last night maybe.” “Yeah, the guy was smoking when he arrived,” said Mac.
Meow.= “Not smoke by man, smoke by two human women.” Mac then took a closer look. “You’re right, they were smoked last night,” he said, “but how? Only that guy came in and only he left this morning. Friskie, are the girls in sight?” “Next bedroom,” she said. “Get there fast!” he exclaimed. She did so, very fast. “All okay here Mac,” she said, “what’s up?” “There might be two women hiding in here,” he said, “let the cats check closets for hidden panels and keep guns out.”
“Shall do Mac,” said Friskie. Angel and Astrid came into the living room just then. “Anything down there?” asked Mac. “The window in the bathroom was open,” said Angel, “so we closed it.” “That’s how they got in and out,” said Mac. “Who?” asked Astrid. “There were two women in here last night with that guy,” he said, “they must have used that bathroom window. I wonder if the sisters, or sisters-in-law, smoke?” “One sister-in-law smokes,” said Astrid, “the others don’t…”
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
