Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Mystery of Balding House. Chapter 6. Murder.
Misty and her Sneakers went back to the hotel for the night after parking the trucks behind the house, but Kat and Rock were planning on staying at the house tonight. They had already checked out of the hotel, telling the manager they were continuing their road trip. I had a bad feeling about things, however, so I asked Sky to bring Rock back home, he’s a little too hard to hide. I then changed my mind about that and told Sky where to take Rock to hide him. Then I told Misty to send some of her girls over to the house that night and the rest of them would leave the hotel very early.
They would pick up the other members of her team and stay close by until needed. The night passed quietly but right after breakfast the police were at the door along with Chuck Henderson. Sky let them come in and asked what they wanted. “There has been a murder over at Chuck’s, I mean, Mr. Henderson’s place of business,” said the police captain, “and one of you is guilty. Now, you can make it easy on yourselves by just admitting you did it, or we will have to arrest all of you.” “Captain,” said Sky, “you can’t arrest any of us because we have not been anywhere and killed no one.”
“Well, Mr. Henderson, which of these women was there yesterday?” asked the Captain. “Um, actually, I don’t recognize any of these women,” he said. “And why did you think it was one of us anyway?” asked Sky. “Because some people, women, and one big man, picked up all of Jenna’s belonging’s,” said the Captain, “the one woman claimed to be Jenna’s cousin from Canada.” “Captain, I don’t have any cousin’s in Canada,” said Jenna, “I only have two cousins and they both live in Miami. I think you have been had Mr. Henderson. You will have to pay me for everything that you gave away to those people.”
“What?!” he exclaimed, “It’s not my fault, she said she was your cousin.” “Don’t you think it would have been wise to check with Jenna first?” asked Sky. “Well, I suppose, but it’s still not my fault,” he said, “and what about my man that was stabbed?” “Well, none of us were there,” said Sky, “you admitted that yourself.” Henderson mumbled something to himself. “Well, well, I’m going to check around the house for those 3 trucks,” said Henderson. “They’re not in the living room, as you can see,” said Sky, “would you like to check the dining room next?”
“Very funny!” shouted Henderson, “You better behave or we will arrest all of you!” “What do you mean, “we”?” asked Sky frowning at him, “You are not a police officer MR. Henderson, you are a low life debt collector! What would you arrest us for, making jokes? If you tried to arrest us we would just get our lawyers involved and call in the State police to do a real investigation. And maybe they could investigate the deaths of Jenna’s parents and husband at the same time!”
“Please calm down everyone,” said the Captain nervously, “I am not planning to arrest anyone, it is obvious you were not involved in this murder, so we will just be on our way, I think that would be best, right Mr. Henderson?” “Think?” he asked, “You are not being paid to think, you are being paid to do our, I mean, your, job!” But the Captain said nothing, he just pushed Henderson out the door quickly. Two officers outside said they looked around back of the house, but the trucks were not there. “You could have arrested the woman who took Jenna from Dancer’s Club,” grumbled Henderson.
“And which one was she?” asked the Captain. “How should I know?” asked Henderson. “Precisely,” said the Captain, “we don’t know who it was because for some reason her picture didn’t show up on the security video. Besides, what could I arrest her for? Jenna wasn’t being held prisoner, as such, so legally she could leave whenever she wanted to do so. If I tried to arrest anyone, these women would call their lawyer and the State police. Then we would be in a lot of trouble. The big man wouldn’t like that and do you want to be on his bad list?” “Okay, okay, forget it,” grumbled Henderson again, “let’s get out of here.”
Later that day, “Forget about the woman who helped Jenna,” said Dancer, “we just need to wait for those women to leave, obviously they can’t stay around forever. Then we pick up Jenna and the kid and use that kid to force Jenna to tell us where that map is located. Jenna just needs some not so gentle persuasion to remember where her father hid it.” “But those women might stay a month,” said the Captain. “I don’t care if they stay 2 months,” said Dancer, “we have already waited a few years, another month or two won’t hurt. The money we will get for this is worth the wait.”
Meanwhile, back at the chateau. “We need to impress upon Jenna that it’s important for her and Roxie to come here,” I said, “for their own safety.” “I agree,” said Jennifer, “even if she doesn’t mind taking chances, she must think about Roxie.” “And, Roxie needs her mother,” I added. “I will go and convince her to come back with me,” said Jennifer. She then communicated with Sky that she should come home, so go hide somewhere so she doesn’t suddenly disappear in front of Jenna and Roxie.
Then Jennifer called her and Sky appeared in the office with us. “But you need two ghosts here Steve,” said Sky frowning. “There are two ghosts,” said Jennifer, “Friskie and Kristina.” “Oh, right, forgot,” said Sky, “but Friskie sometimes gets distracted.” “FRISKIE!” yelled Jennifer. “AAAAAAA!!” yelled Sky, “Must you yell so loud?” “Did you call?” asked Friskie from behind Sky. “YAAAAAAA!!” yelled Sky again, “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“Jennifer called,” said Friskie, “so you should have been expecting me, so, I wasn’t sneaking.” “You came quietly and stood right behind me,” said Sky, “that’s sneaking.” Friskie sighed nice and loud. That’s when Sky zapped her. “YAAAAAAAA!!” screamed Friskie, “Zapping me wasn’t fair!” “You should have realized I would do that and stood further away from me,” said Sky, faking a whistle. Jennifer sighed very loudly. Twice. Jennifer then gave specific orders to Friskie, and me, then she left with Sky.
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Autumn and Insulators.
Hello everyone on this rather cool and wet October day. It seems I’m saying that a lot lately. Now, it’s not like this every year, this is just one of those odd years when it’s wet and cold nearly all the time. On the plus side, these cold and rainy autumns usually are long. That would be okay with me. Because that would mean a shorter winter. Hey, I like to dream. Today I thought we would have another adventure with my Dad and I out looking for insulators. I will add some pictures but they are not from our little adventure.
The first picture will be of some insulators so you can have an idea of what they look like, although there are a lot of different shapes, sizes and colors. The ones we looked for were used mainly for holding telegraph wires. This story happened on a sunny, but cool, autumn day a number of years ago. “Perfect for insulatoring,” said Dad. Not sure where he got that word from, but that’s what he called looking for insulators. So off we went. We could almost drive right to the spot this time which was nice.
Amazingly we remembered to bring everything with us this time too, which is quite amazing, we usually forget something. Things were going well until we came to a rather large hill. I suggested taking the easy way down the tracks and through the rock cut. “It’s flat that way,” I said. “Better to go up on the hill,” said Dad, “there will likely be some nice insulators up there.” Dad also volunteered me to go up the hill. “It’s easier to walk down the tracks,” I said again. “Where is your sense of adventure?” asked Dad.
“It took the easy way down the tracks,” I replied, “this hill is straight up with nothing to hold on to until that ledge up there.” “I’ll give you a boost,” said Dad somewhat cheerfully, “it’s not really that high.” Looked high to me, but we gave it a try anyway. “Not even close,” I told Dad, “maybe if I stand on your shoulders.” But that still wasn’t high enough to reach the ledge, so down I came. “Why not move these 2 flat rocks over here,” I suggested. Dad didn’t really like the idea but he agreed to try it anyway. Since the rocks were quite flat they fit solidly in their new position.
Dad stood on the rocks and I stood on Dad’s shoulders. Still couldn’t reach though, and Dad was wobbling a bit. “Quit moving so much,” I said. “It’s the rocks that are moving,” said Dad, “so hurry.” “Maybe if I stand on your head,” I suggested. “NO!” Dad yelled! Too late, I stood on his head, good thing he was wearing a hat, and gave myself a little boost. It was enough to grab the ledge perfectly just as my foot slipped off Dad’s head. Dad yelled and fell backward, landing in some wet mud. But I was safely on the ledge.
Dad always seemed to find a way to get wet when we were on one of our adventures. “Bonehead,” he called out. Well, at least he’s enjoying this. Hard to understand how he could sit in wet mud and enjoy himself though. Anyway, once on top of the hill I did manage to find some nice insulators, 3 in royal purple and one in a beautiful green color. Plus some others too. When I got to the other side of the hill, it was a nice easy slope down to the tracks.
Dad was sitting on a log waiting for me. “Would have been easier…” I didn’t get a chance to finish. “I can see that,” Dad said. “You’re all wet and muddy,” I said. Dad just looked at me. He did that a lot when we were out together. There was a marshy area ahead of us, so Dad thought we should stop here and have some coffee so he could dry out in the sun, before we continued. Hmm, guess I should stop here for now and continue the story next time. I hope you are having a nice week and I will see you all again tomorrow. God bless!
Steve. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
