Kat told Sherry to stop the van about one block away from the address they wanted, otherwise the sight of the van showing up might give Phoenix enough time to get away, if she’s even there. There was the problem of letting Captain N go free and he may have warned Phoenix that she would likely be getting visitors later if any of the other men talked. So, Kat, Jennifer and Sky walked the remainder of the way while Sherry and Kitty remained behind in the van waiting to hear from Kat or the others to come and pick them up.

There was a 6 foot high wood fence around the property with security cameras, but they wouldn’t help since our ghosts can’t be picked up on cameras when they are invisible, such as now. Sky jumped up to look over the fence and no one was in the yard, so she reached down and flipped Kat and Jennifer over the fence. Then she too jumped down and they walked around the outside of the house first to get a good look at it. While at the back they heard the sound of a car starting, so they ran back to the front.

As they got there, Phoenix and 4 men came out the door and two other men stood over by a large, black limousine. “I think it’s best that you and I go away for a while Dr. Pointer,” said Phoenix to a man who looked to be about 40 and very tall and handsome. Kat, Jennifer and Sky made themselves visible at that point and Kat told Sky to kill the doctor. Sky then shot a lightning ball at him and he dropped dead instantly. “Noooo!” screamed Phoenix as she bent down to check on Dr. Pointer, “You killed him! You killed my doctor! For that you three will die! Kill them!”

Her men pulled out their guns, but they dropped them just as quickly yelling that they were on fire. Kat went for the two men at the car, while Jennifer and Sky handled the other men with Phoenix. But now Phoenix was hot with anger and kicked Sky who flipped over backward landing on her feet smiling at Phoenix. Then Jennifer kicked her 3 times knocking her down, but she got up quickly and attacked Jennifer, punching and kicking her. But it was to no avail as Jennifer just stood there smiling at Phoenix.

This just made Phoenix more angry. Then Sky came behind her and kicked her several times on her back and as she was falling Jennifer kicked her hard in the head, sending her rolling on the ground. She still got to her feet, but slowly this time, and Sky once again came behind her and pushed the button on her boot. She then grabbed her foot knocking Phoenix to the ground. Phoenix was sitting there not realizing what had happened, then she got to her feet and saw Kat standing in front of her.

“You neglected to heed my warning,” said Kat, “so now you will feel the wrath of the Kat!” Then Kat kicked her in the stomach, then one last kick to her head. Phoenix fell to the ground, but this time she would not get up, ever again. Kat took the boots off of Phoenix and found wires from the boots where they came from some kind of battery in the bottom of the boot and up into the skin of Phoenix. Those wires had been embedded into Phoenix’s skin all around her body, which is what produced her shield of defense, but also somehow gave her added strength.

She decided to keep the boots to study them. They also went into the house and found Dr. Pointer’s laptop and written notes with diagrams detailing this new shield concept and how he was planning to make it even better. There were no other men in the house so Sky went around the house tossing lightning balls at flammable targets and soon the entire house was on fire! Then Kat called for Sherry and their van showed up quickly. She also called Aari and told them to burn the country house, then they went to the other houses Phoenix owned and they searched them as well.

They did find some money, drugs and many different gems of different sizes which were likely used as payment for drugs and other things. They set fire to each house as they left and at the last house they found 12 children under the care of 5 men whom they quickly killed. They took the children with them and set fire to this house as well. Then they stopped at the police headquarters to drop off the children they had found, then they returned to the haunted house.

Kat was true to her word and let the one man go free, even though she didn’t want to do it. The man walked smugly out the front door, saying good bye to the girls as he walked away. The guys had retrieved the man’s clothes beforehand and had allowed him to get dressed. However, he had just made it to the street and a car drove up, a hand reached out the passenger window holding a gun and shot the man dead. Then the car sped away.

Also, while Kat and the others were away, the remaining girls had found a safe in the basement room, so they took Mac down there and he had it open quickly enough. Inside was more cash, drugs and gems. The drugs were left in the house, but the cash and gems we kept. The cash would go into our orphan fund and Alfred would check out the gems and any that were unidentifiable we would keep as payment for our services.

If we could, we would return any others to their rightful owners. The police were satisfied with this arrangement too. We left the haunted house for the police to check out, after which they ordered the house to be demolished. Kat also told the police where they could find the bodies of Phoenix and her men. Shawna, Layne and the other woman whose name was Tabitha, asked if they could come along with us, at least for a while until they figured out what to do. Kat said yes right away.

They are now flying back home. We found the missing girls and have their captors in jail, or dead, and Phoenix has been stopped forever along with Dr. Pointer. But it was a sad day for us at The Investigators. Fridr and Ginnifer died, along with my beloved Muffin. Alexine nearly died but was helped by Kat, so her, Katresa and Hope were wounded and have a long recovery ahead of them although Hope was not wounded as seriously as the other two.

Samantha and Carolyn were able to get me out of this drug induced coma, but I’m still having difficulty. My eyesight is blurry, my hearing is not good and I can’t speak. However, Samantha says that there is improvement each day so I should be back to normal soon. I certainly hope so. In a few days I was feeling okay, more or less so now it was time for our funerals. Storm insisted that Muffin should be buried right beside Mr. Cat, so that is what we did. It was a very hard day for me.

Muffin and I started The Investigators, Inc together and she would always say, “we start together, we stop together”. That’s what I feel like doing. Whenever Muffin said that it was when I was in the most dangerous spot and she stayed with me. I wasn’t with her in her time of danger. Perhaps it is time to stop The Investigators before any more of us get killed. How can I keep asking my team to put their lives on the line each time we take a case? I finally told everyone to leave, only the cats and I stayed behind.

Jennifer didn’t like the idea, but I insisted. After it got dark someone knelt beside me, putting their arm around me. “When Mr. Cat died, Muffin carried on,” she said, “I think that’s what she would be telling you now, carry on, there’s more work to do.” I turned but no one was there. Then I looked behind me and a woman was standing there with her hand out to me. I took her hand and stood up. We then walked back to the car with all the cats. Sherry was waiting in the car to drive us home and off we went. Yes, there is more work to do, but what is the best way to do it?

The End. A new case will begin soon. ©2026 Steve McLeod.