Once the police arrived, I identified our team to them. The police chief had already been notified about us working a case in the city. After briefly explaining what we had found, we were allowed to leave. We did find evidence that her and Viktor had been working together, likely from day one. We later found out from Vanessa (the other Enid), that her and Viktor wanted to get married, but Enid said no to a divorce and Viktor agreed to remain married to her.

That produced a lot of friction between Vanessa and Viktor, especially over the last 6 months. Vanessa had plotted with Lauren to kill Enid so that she could claim the inheritance for herself, though she would share it with Lauren. But the real Enid must have found out and went into hiding, probably she had been warned by Viktor, though he had denied it to Vanessa. She also told us about this Ethan Solberg, a man that was cold as ice and dangerous like a volcano.

Lauren and Jazzy were both afraid of him. He had a right hand man that was also cold, she said, and no one would ever want to be alone with him. He had no friends, trusted no one, not even Ethan, and he loved to be cruel to people. I asked if he had a name and she said no one really knew if he did or not. He always used the name Raven. He is 6ft 2 inches tall, weighs 240 lbs and is strong as a bull. I called Mac to join us and asked if he knew of someone named Raven.

Mac just stared at me for a few moments. “He is the most dangerous man I know,” he said finally. I like how Mac is willing to give out volumes of information whenever I ask him a question. “Pacca, I want all there is to know about Ethan Solberg, right from the time he was born,” I said, “also a man named Raven, a killer that works for Ethan.” “I suppose you want it right away?” she asked. “Yes, even sooner if possible,” I said. That was the biggest sigh I had ever heard from her.

We then came out of the office and into the kitchen where some of the girls were sitting having tea. “I still don’t know how you can still be alive,” Vanessa said to Carine, “Lauren was so sure she could kill you with that little device of hers.” “Well, I guess her little device didn’t work like she thought it would,” said Carine. “Do you girls not have anything to do?” I asked. “We were waiting for you to finish in the office so we could check that fireplace,” said Nakedra smiling.

“Hmm, okay, that makes sense,” I said, “Carine, have you ever seen this man named Raven?” “No, but Lauren said he was terrifying to be with,” she replied, “she only met him on two occasions. Ethan Solberg is scary enough. If Ethan and Raven are back again, then you need to be extra careful Steve.” “Do you think he is behind the killing of Viktor and Enid?” I asked her. “Possibly, Enid stole nearly all the sex trafficking from everyone else in the city,” she said, “both for adults and kids.”

“And they also had the whole drug trade as well,” grumbled Vanessa, “I wanted in on that, but they kept saying no. Well, they can’t say no any longer, now I can take over once I find that inheritance. Since I am Viktor’s girlfriend, I can lay claim to that inheritance, he said so in his will.” She was laughing at this point. “So, you hired someone to kill them so the inheritance would be yours alone?” I asked. “Well, it was rightfully mine!” she exclaimed, “I helped Viktor, Enid certainly didn’t! It took all the money I had to get Ethan to let Raven kill them for me.

So when you find it, you can just give it all to me! I will pay you what Viktor agreed to, but the rest is mine, and it’s going to be a lot!” I left the kitchen with Angel, Milena, Aasta and Nakedra and went into the living room. Soon the police arrived and arrested Vanessa and they nearly had to drag her out, fighting and screaming. They stopped briefly in front of me. “You will pay for this Steve!” she screamed, “You will pay, Marshal will get you!”

The police then took her away. Next, I took the police chief into the home office and over to the fireplace, so I could show him something. Oskar was with us too and he was definitely needed at this point. The girls had found something earlier but didn’t realize how important it was. But I remembered this trick from another fireplace in a case a couple of years ago. I told Oskar to turn the hook at the back of the fireplace.

Even for a strong man like Oskar he had trouble getting that old iron hook to start turning. The back of the fireplace turned around, revealing another wall of blackened bricks. I reached inside and scraped some of those bricks with my knife and the brightness of gold began to shine through. Just then another police officer came into the room. It was John, the officer we met at Jazzy’s nightclub. I could see this was not going quite the way I had expected it would.

“Look John,” said chief Johannesson, “Steve found the gold we have been looking for.” “Well, isn’t that nice of him,” said John as he took out his gun. Oskar was going to get involved, but the chief took out his gun and pointed it at me. He then told Oskar to stand against the wall. I nodded to Oskar to obey him, which he did. “Now Steve, you will order your team to go back home,” said the chief, “you will have to stay here however.” “Well, I don’t think I can do that,” I told him, “Sky.”

She then appeared beside me, though the others could not see her. “Look at that,” said John, “he’s talking to the sky now.” Both men laughed. Then Sky allowed the police officers to see her. “Hey, where did she come from?” asked John. “If you must know,” she said, “I came from my parents.” “Oh, like to be smart do you?” asked John. “They want to hold me prisoner,” I told her, “they work for Jazzy.” “Angel kitty,” said Sky, “come see what mommy has for your dinner.”

Angel and some of the girls had gone upstairs by then and although Sky didn’t call loudly, Angel heard her quite easily. “Trouble downstairs everyone,” said Angel, and they all came running down. Angel landed at the bottom of the stairs as a lion and immediately came to the office. Carine and the other girls noticed that the police had already handcuffed the girls who were downstairs. So, they stayed in the living room and a big fight began.

Meanwhile Angel wandered into the room as a gigantic lion. This was the first time I had really seen her clearly as a lion. John tried to shoot Angel but Sky held out her hand and a bolt of electricity left her and hit John’s heart, killing him instantly. The lion walked over to the police chief and cornered him by the fireplace where he was in total shock. Angel stood up, putting her big paws against his shoulders. I think he nearly died of fright!

She then kicked him, hard, then grabbed his left arm, picking him up and throwing him through the air and he landed on his back on the floor. He was dead now too. Angel was back to herself at this point. Jonathan, another police officer, but a true officer and second in command here in the city police force, came into the room. I explained that both men tried to kill me so my bodyguards had no choice but to kill them.

He understood, and he said that the other corrupt officers have now been arrested and will be spending a long time in prison. Well, police corruption has been dealt a serious blow and the “inheritance” has been found, though it wasn’t really inheritance, but that old treasure, with no one to claim it. So, this part of our case is wrapped up. Now, do we continue going after Jazzy, Lauren and Ethan? We held a vote and…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.