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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, the first night at the castle for our team was quiet, except for an owl that kept hooting away for about 2 hours. They didn’t look around much that first day except to find a good place to sleep. They decided to all sleep in one of the big rooms so they would not be separated, which was a good decision. Nice to see that some of our team members are thinking, unlike some others that will be reprimanded soon, even though I can’t really do that.
I’m going to do it anyway though, because this is serious, it’s a security matter. Continuing our little account from yesterday, we had found, or I should say, Cynthia found a book on old castles which happens to mention the castle we are investigating, complete with drawings of the castle and naming each of the different buildings. Plus it mentions something else that is very interesting, the number of people that lived in that small castle.
I figured that must have been a typo, there was no way that many people could live in such a small castle. Anyway, Jennifer had come in, Cynthia had just left and Beryan was about to leave. “Guess I am finished, so I will leave,” she said, “I still have a little of my relaxation period to enjoy.” She began to walk out but Jennifer stopped her.
“Your bag seems rather heavy today,” said Jennifer. “Oh, um, really?” she asked, “Oh, I have some reading material in here too, you know, uh, for my relaxation period.” “I know you love to read,” said Jennifer, “what is the history book about?” “Oh, uh, well, um,” she fumbled with her words, “how did you know it was a history book.” “I have very good eyesight Beryan,” said Jennifer, “it’s a book about castles, correct?”
“Wow, now that’s a good guess,” said Beryan. “No guess,” said Jennifer, “I have good eyes. Let me see the book please?” Beryan handed her the book. “Hmm, lying to me, trying to hide things from me,” she said, “your relaxation period is cancelled and you have 5 demerit points.” “Five?? Steve??” she asked plaintively. “Steve can’t help you,” she said, “in fact, he might be in trouble too. Cynthia, please come back in here.”
Cynthia came into the room sheepishly. “You also get 5 demerits, plus your older brother day is cancelled,” said Jennifer. “Cancelled? Completely? Steeeve?” she said. Jennifer sighed. Just then Kat came in, Jennifer had secretly called her. So I told them both what I had done. “Being on recovery I have had time to notice some things,” I said, “such as our security has gotten rather lax. We have had traitors in our midst before and we need to be continually on guard for anything odd happening around us. How many people in the library when you took this book out, Cynthia?” I asked.
“12, plus Kat and Mr. B,” she answered, “I used Midnight to hide the book so no one would notice.” “Now, what if someone had done that with a bomb,” I said, “only they put the bomb in the library, left it and went somewhere else, then set off the bomb, killing everyone in there? No one would have noticed. Also, when on a historical case like this, first thing is to check our library to see if there is something that might help us.” “That would take a lot of searching,” said Kat, “so guess I just never thought about it.”
“How long did it take you Cynthia?” I asked. “About 3 minutes,” she said, “all the books are listed on our computer and even tells exactly where it is on the shelf.” “I’m actually surprised that Annelie didn’t think of it, she usually takes care of that anyway,” I said. I notice that Cynthia frowned when I said that. “Okay, out with it,” I said.
“Um, well, I’m not sure,” she said, “but it seems like Annelie is thinking about other things lately. I think she is fighting a lot of pain.” “I will check on that,” said Kat, “she should be saying something anyway.” After all of this Kat, Jennifer and I looked at the book to see if anything might be of help to our team. Well, Jennifer let Cynthia and Beryan stay as well. “Oh, demerits are cancelled for you two,” said Jennifer, “and I apologize for acting hastily.”
Apparently there are tunnels and rooms under that castle, quite a large network, so in case of attack they could all go underground. The rooms could hold about 2,000 people, though only 240 lived in the castle area itself. Like many of the castles this one had it’s own story of missing jewels. Apparently the royal jewels have never been found and are reportedly guarded by a complex system of traps. Some of those traps have been found over the years, killing the people who found them.
Perhaps that is why those two sons were killed, they just happened to find one of the traps. Although, if people have been looking for those jewels for some time, that particular trap must have been found already. Unless it can be activated multiple times. The legend states that all those who look for the jewels will die, either at the castle or even after they leave the castle. Kat relayed this information to Matt so they would be extra careful.
They have not found any other traps and if that was a poison trap, it is no longer functional. He mentioned the owl hooting and I asked how many hoots each time it called. He told me and I played a recording of an owl. “That’s the one,” he said, “easy to remember after listening to it for 2 hours.” I told him to be extra watchful if they here it again, since that owl should not be there. “That means someone is here and watching us,” he said, “but the cats didn’t notice anything during the night.”
“That’s good,” said Kat, “but take extra precautions anyway.” That night while Oskar was on watch duty with two of the cats, the owl began to hoot again, but this time it was closer, right inside the walled area. Oskar woke Matt and he woke the other men. They all went outside with the cats, though the cats stayed close to the castle where the girls were sleeping.
“Going someplace guys?” asked Angel. She had put her hand on Oskar’s shoulder and she said he jumped at least a foot off the ground! Matt told her they were just investigating the owl, so she decided it was better to stay with the girls. Matt sent the cats back with her too. Angel and the cats were soon asleep with the other girls and didn’t wake up until it was just starting to get daylight. “Where are the guys, I wonder?” asked Kristina.
That got Angel up quickly and all the girls went outside calling for the guys, but no answer from any of them. Then they noticed that their phones were missing, although that didn’t stop Angel from communicating with Kat right away. Kat came running into our bedroom to wake us up and told us what had happened. “What do we do now Steve?” asked Kat, “And I don’t want to hear anything about you not being the leader right now! I would like an answer, please…”
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Well, we have officially begun our new case, with Matt in charge of the expedition to the castle. Matt took 5 of his Knight Riders along and Kristina is going too with 5 of her team. Kat and Jennifer decided to keep it at just 12 team members since they had to go in to the castle by helicopter, with all their supplies. However, the remainder of each team is ready to go help if necessary.
Kat sent Aletia along with them, from my team, since she is a nurse, so Kristina dropped one from her team so she could go. While I am on recovery, my team will stay at home unless needed on the case. They will still have duties here, such as helping to guard the chateau. They used 2 helicopters to transport everyone and their supplies to the castle that afternoon. Only one chopper could land at a time, but that was okay.
Each helicopter was quickly unloaded and then they left and will be staying at a city away from this area even though they could have been kept closer. But Kat and Jennifer thought that might make them easy targets for sabotage. The girls are thinking well and handling things easily without help. I will give advice if asked, or if I see a major problem in their decisions. The team will be staying at the castle at night as well. That way they can find out if anything is going on out there.
They also have 5 cats with them, Storm, Tiia, Bandit, Tracker and Squirrel. They also have Angel with them since she is on Kristina’s team. It was decided that having a real ghost along just might be handy if there are some fake ghosts out there who just want to try and scare people away. Although there is no evidence of anyone going out there and it would be easy to tell. So I think this will be a simple case.
If that gas was actually an old device to guard something valuable, then the team needs to find out what that is and deliver it to the owner. But they do need to be careful of more traps. Other traps will likely be different, but can be just as lethal. There may be tunnels under that castle, though considering the rock beneath them is granite, making tunnels would be difficult way back when that castle was built. It could go back a thousand years.
And there could be a treasure of jewels and gold awaiting the team, hidden out there somewhere. I will admit, it would sure be nice if I could be along on this case since it is more likely to be something normal for a change. However, that is not to be this time. Unfortunately Jennifer and I can’t go on a honeymoon either. But, maybe if I’m real nice to Samantha. Hmm, might be worth trying. The next day I asked Samantha to come to my room while Beryan was giving me a massage.
“Would it be possible to okay my health just for a short honeymoon?” I asked very nicely. “Not a problem Steve,” she said. Wow, I couldn’t believe it was so easy. Then she added, “I will do that in 2 months.” “Now, you know that’s not what I meant,” I said, “can’t you please make an exception right now, just for a 5 day honeymoon?” “Steve, do you ever read your own rule book?” she asked, “It says that leader 1 is not allowed to go on any type of vacation while there is an active case in progress.
Kat and Jennifer share the title of Leader 1 at this time, therefore neither of them can go anywhere until this case is over. It’s on page 7 of the rule book. You should read it sometime Steve, it is quite enlightening.” Beryan giggled. “So you see, I can’t give you a temporary health reprieve certificate because of that rule,” added Samantha. Now Beryan was giggling so much she had to stop massaging my back. Sigh.
Samantha left and a few minutes later Cynthia came bursting into the bedroom and jumped on the bed beside me, obviously very excited. “Guess what I have for you Steve?” she asked smiling. “Don’t you knock?” I asked. “I didn’t think we needed to during the day,” she said. She was right, of course. “Besides, this is important!” she insisted, “It has to do with…” “Wait,” I said, “if it has to do with the case, it is better not to tell me or I might get in trouble.”
“Well, it is about the case,” she pouted, “but you won’t get in trouble if no one knows about it, and only you and I know about it. Oh, and Beryan now, but she won’t tell, will you Beryan?” “I don’t know anything about what you are talking about,” she said, giggling again. “See?” said Cynthia, “So, you’re safe. Now, can I tell you what it is?” “I am sure this will get me in trouble somehow,” I said, “but I would like to know what it is you’re so excited about.”
“I have been searching our rather extensive library and I found a book about castles across Europe,” she began, “the book is a hundred and 40 years old! And, it talks about the castle we are investigating right now!” “Really? Did you bring the book with you?” I asked, trying not to sound too excited. “Aha! Now you’re just as excited as me!” she said, “And yes, I brought it with me. It wasn’t easy getting it out of the library without being caught. Kat was in there and I knew she wouldn’t allow me to bring it to you.
I used Midnight to help hide the book so it would look like I was carrying him. Here it is, good thing it isn’t any bigger, or I would never have gotten away with it.” “You are being a very naughty girl Cynthia,” I said, “doing something like this could get you 5 or more demerits. So I will have to report this to leader 1… just as soon as I am back in that position.” I then smiled at her, she giggled and handed me the book. It is quite a large book, complete with drawings of each castle mentioned, and sure enough, the castle of our case is mentioned in there.
All three of us began to look at the drawings which also listed what each building was used for, which is a great bit of information. Then I remembered the door was not locked. “Door, lock, open at my command,” I said and the door went into automatic lock. Then we all turned back to the book. “Cynthia, you will have to hide the book with you,” I said. “We can put it in my bag when we leave,” said Beryan. “Why do we have to be so secret about it anyway?” asked Cynthia.
“Why did you hide it from Kat?” I asked in return. “Oh, right, you’re not supposed to get involved,” she said, “and if I don’t hand it over to Kat, oh my, big trouble for me.” “Correct, so it is best to keep this a secret for now,” I said, “we are a bad trio for sure.” “Kind of exciting though,” said Beryan. “I agree,” said Cynthia. Meow!= Someone coming! I managed to unlock the door just in time and Jennifer came in. “Are you helping with Steve’s massage Cynthia?” asked Jennifer.
“Uh, no, um, I know this is supposed to be kinda your honeymoon time, but I was wondering if maybe my older brother day could be changed to this week,” she said. “Steve can’t make such decisions right now,” said Jennifer. “Um, yeah, I found out, and, well, forget it,” she said with her head down. Jennifer lifted her head up again. “Why the tears?” she asked.
“Well, my older brother day was moved 4 months because of Steve being on recovery,” she said, “and, well, it doesn’t matter…” She started to walk out. “Come back her Cynthia,” said Jennifer, “how does tomorrow sound?” “Honest? Like, for real?” she asked with a huge smile. “Yes, for real,” said Jennifer. Hmm, helps to have a double reason for coming to see me. Anyway, that book is an interesting one and just might give us some valuable information…
To be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
