Well, our day had begun rather differently than normal with an attack on us and a warning to stay away from someone named Carmeline. That part was interesting since none of us knew anyone by that name, though it was a little hard to convince Jennifer that Carmeline wasn’t an old girlfriend of mine. Jazzy helped us identify the weapon that had been used on me when we received the warning, it was something that Toledo, an old foe of ours, had invented.

Hopefully there are no more duplicates of that weapon around, though I’m quite sure more have been produced, so we will have to be careful. Anyway, Celestine, who had been helping look after the kids while all this was happening, came along and has become to tell us about Carmeline. “We have been friends since we were 8 years old,” said Celestine, “she is a very nice girl, very nice. She and her parents were on a European vacation visiting many of the countries until they arrived in Hungary.

One day after the 3 of them had been out seeing the sights, they returned to their hotel to find the police searching their rooms. In Carmeline’s room they found a large quantity of drugs, two handguns and plans to kill the president. She was arrested right away and amazingly the trial began the following week. Her parents are very wealthy and hired the best lawyers to defend Carmeline but she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

The parents were going to appeal but two days later they were both killed when 2 armed intruders broke into their hotel room to steal what they could. Those intruders were never caught and Carmeline’s brother wouldn’t help her, he was actually glad that she ended up in prison. That way he could legally inherit everything, since that is how the will was written. No child in jail could inherit any of the family fortune. Her brother is part of a gang in Canada and I think he was behind this whole plot to get Carmeline in prison.”

“That makes sense,” said Jennifer who had been getting more angry by the minute, “it was obviously a setup and deliberate murder of his parents.” “I know Carmeline isn’t guilty,” said Celestine, who was now crying again. “Do you know what prison she’s in?” I asked. “No, I tried to find out,” she answered, “but no one at the Canadian embassy was willing to help me.” “Melody,” I said. “Yes Steve?” she replied. “Carmeline Johannsson is in a prison in Hungary,” I said, “please find out which one.”

“On it Steve,” she said. “How come you never mentioned anything about your friend before now?” asked Jennifer. “Well, I just didn’t think that anything could be done now that she’s in prison,” replied Celestine. “Hmm, if we try the legal route,” said Kat, “that will give her brother, or whoever else is involved, a heads up that we are on the case. That will make things harder to get at her. We are better off breaking her out of prison and giving her a new identity in order to hide her.”

“Yes, I agree with you Kat,” I said, “and we will need to work fast once we know where she is since we are obviously being watched, possibly by one of Toledo’s relatives. That makes this a bit more dangerous too, though I’m curious as to why a relative of Toledo would be interested in this case.” “Well, if the relative is a woman,” said Jennifer, “then she may be a girlfriend or wife of Carmeline’s brother.” “Hmm, good thought,” I said, “and very likely.”

Meanwhile… “Misty, you’re getting to be a wimp,” said Macy and Jackie, “letting a 5 year old wear you out like that. Shameful.” Misty looked at them both. “Okay, how about a challenge?” asked Misty. “Sure, you name it,” they said. “Since there are two of you,” said Misty, “if you can look after Steffie for 2 hours without getting worn out, then I will do your chores for a whole month. But, if she wears you out, then you have to do my chores for a whole month. Deal?”

Macy and Jackie looked at Misty, then at each other with a quirky smile and a single positive nod to each other. “We accept the challenge!” they both said together. Just then Steffie showed up. “Auntie Misty, time to play,” she said. “Auntie Jackie and I will play with you today,” said Macy, “and for 2 hours instead of one!” “Really?!” said an excited Steffie, “Let’s go!” She grabbed their hands and off she went, almost dragging the two girls with her. Misty had a big, satisfied smile on her face.

Two hours later Macy and Jackie literally came crawling into their bedroom where Misty was waiting for them. They fell onto their beds and both said together, “How can one little 5 year old girl have that much energy?” Misty dropped a piece of paper on top of each of them. “This is my list of chores for the next week,” said Misty, “have fun.” “It wasn’t fair,” they said, “you knew this would happen.” “You called me a wimp,” said Misty, “so it’s fair.” Then off she went. “We won’t make that mistake again,” they said to each other.

Back to us. Melody had been looking for the prison where Carmeline was being held and she found it. “She’s in their toughest prison Steve,” she said, “where they keep the worst criminals. I have sent you a layout of the prison and her cell which she shares with 2 other women. Both of those women are in for murdering 3 people plus their former cell mate. Carmeline has been in that cell for 6 weeks now.

Records show she was treated twice in the prison hospital during the last 6 weeks for being beaten, though the culprit has not been found. I wanted to scream when I read that Steve, I really did.” I asked her to put me on the speaker again and I told everyone what was going on and I asked for volunteers. Since this was not a real case I couldn’t tell anyone they had to go, so, it’s volunteers only.

I then went down to the library to see who would volunteer. “Hey, let’s volunteer,” said Macy. “Good idea,” said Jackie, “that way we can relax.” “Exactly,” said Macy, “investigatoring is much easier.” “That’s not a word,” said Jackie. Misty came standing before me, saluting. “Ready for duty Leader Steve,” she said…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.