Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Mountain Cabin Murder Mystery. Chapter 4. More Puzzles.
Samantha told me that Nicole would have died if not for Kat being able to heal her as there was nothing she could do. I’m certainly glad Kat was able to step in and help, it would have been terrible losing Nicole too, after losing Bomber. Whoever the murderer, or murderers, are out there, they made a big mistake attacking us and killing Bomber. The “adventure girls” are now with Jennifer and I, pleading with us to let them go back to the old mansion to help look for the murderer. “We are not cowards,” said Darlene, “we want to help and we promise to obey your teams and not get in the way. But please, let us help.”
“Yes,” said Kerry, “Julie wouldn’t give up on us.” “Right,” said Megan, “sitting here in safety makes us feel like we don’t care.” Jennifer then communicated something with me so I told the girls to wait in the library while we talked things over. I then called Kat to join us. “We already have 3 ghosts out there,” said Jennifer, “we could send two more. That way we could protect those “adventure girls” better, especially at night. And, we could send more cats along too. I could be one and Kristina the other ghost.” “Oh no, I want you here with me,” I said, “that way I won’t be so stressed.”
“Good point,” said Kat, “but I could go along with Kristina, so there would be 5 of us out there. And, as long as the “adventure girls” obey the rules, they can stay, but if they disobey, then they come back here to stay.” “Okay, sounds good to me,” I told them. We put the “adventure girls” to sleep once again and took them back to the old mansion. Last of all Sky returned to the mansion wearing her fur coat, a live fur coat of cats! The other cats were all excited, telling the new arrivals about all the country mice out there. That really excited Rascal, Macy’s ocelot.
Storm is the Leader of the cat team and he is very good at keeping them concentrating on their job. However, he does allow them some mousing time too. There were a couple of large bedrooms that could easily sleep 8 by moving some extra beds into the room, so that is what the girls did. That way the “adventure girls” can all sleep in the same room and two of our ghosts will join them at night. Then we know that nothing can happen to the girls at night anyway.
During the day they will have to stay with their ghost guards. There will be 3 girls and two ghosts on each team as they look around during the day. They need to look for hidden doors, halls and rooms. There must be some out there. Oddly, whoever tried to kill Nicole in that outhouse, didn’t leave any footprints in the grass. That grass should have been flattened out a bit, but it wasn’t. That is a real puzzle. The grass is long behind those outhouses, though there is a nice rocky path from the mansion to the group of outhouses. Steffie came into my office while I was thinking about that little problem.
Yes, Samantha had let me out of the clinic early this time, with a promise not to overdo things. Jennifer told her I would keep my promise this time. Not quite sure what she meant by that. Amazing how quickly she answered Samantha too, almost like she didn’t want me to say anything. Very strange. Anyway, back to Steffie visiting with me. Jennifer had gone and Steffie peeked in the door to see if I was alone, then she came running in and jumped on my lap! Naturally she had her little bag of donuts with her. “I only could get 6 today Daddy,” she said, “and that was hard even, I nearly get caught this time!”
“You’re the best Sneaker around,” I said, “but you do have to be careful still, that’s important.” “Yep, sure is,” she said, “specially when Mommy close by.” We both laughed. Erika then joined us with some hot coffee for me. They both looked at me with those pleading eyes. Soon we were all drinking some coffee. “What are you thinking about Daddy?” asked Erika. “What makes you think I’m thinking about something?” I asked in return. “You’re always thinking about something,” she said, “especially when there is a case.” “Yep, that right,” added Steffie, “oooo, hot, hot, hot!”
“True, I was just trying to figure out how someone could walk through that long grass and not flatten it,” I said, “the grass behind that outhouse.” “That easy,” said Steffie, “he not walk on grass, maybe come out of ground.” I looked at her. Then I communicated that with Sky and she took some girls and cats with her. Sure enough, they found a wood trap door buried under 6 inches of soil and grass. However, it must have been locked from the inside and they were not able to open it. That proves there are hidden tunnels in that old mansion, they just have to find them.
Kat then communicated with me that she found another body, but this one was old. “Oh, you found a skinny?” I asked. “Yes, I did,” she said, “and it was lying on my bed, which I did not appreciate at all. And stop laughing Steve!” “How did you know I was laughing?” I asked. “You always laugh when something odd happens to me,” she said, “but it was not funny.” “Hmm, I wonder if they know you’re a ghost?” I asked. “How could they know that?” she asked in return, “Even our “adventure girls” don’t know that one.” “Hmm, yes, that’s very true,” I said, “guess it was just a coincidence, after all, someone had to get it.”
I then told Steffie and she was rolling all over the bed laughing. “Did you tell Steffie about skinny?” asked Kat. “Um, yes, and she’s rolling on the bed laughing,” I said. “I will tickle her when I get back,” said Kat. That night while Kat and Kristina were watching the “adventure girls”, Kristina heard a noise and she woke Kat. “You look out the window,” whispered Kat, “while I check the hallway.” However, neither of them saw or heard anything more, but Kat stayed awake the rest of the night with Kristina.
In the morning Megan woke each of the girls, but Rhianna didn’t wake up. Cindy, our nurse on Misty’s team, confirmed that Rhianna was dead, and there was only a very tiny pin prick on her neck. Sky brought her home and Samantha confirmed she had been poisoned by some rare tropical poison from the Amazon jungle. Our murderer gets around. Obviously a noise was made to get the attention of our ghosts so the murderer could do this. But even with extensive searching they were unable to find a hidden door in the bedroom.
I said to send photos back from that bedroom and I showed them to Steffie. I told her where Rhianna was sleeping. “Slide little table up, then down, listen to click,” she began, “then slide little picture on wall to left, listen to click. Turn little picture upside down, listen to click. See little wood piece on floor? Slide into wall.” Kat was following the directions and suddenly the door opened! I looked at Steffie and she smiled. Whoever came in that door moved very fast, and silent…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Mountain Cabin Murder Mystery. Chapter 3. Puzzles.
Well, it would appear that someone must be out at that mansion in the mountains, aside from the original girls and our girls. However, there is the possibility that one of the original girls is indeed the murderer. But why? They have all been best friends since childhood and have gone on many trips together the last few years since they all turned 18, which was 4 years ago. This is actually their sixth such vacation trip, though each time they do something different.
They all write their favorite vacation idea on a piece of paper, then they crumple the paper into a ball, put them all in a hat and one of them is chosen to pick the winning idea. I have now called Cristy and asked her to get the other computer girls busy checking out the backgrounds of the parents for each of these girls. Maybe there is a connection there somehow. I also want to know who owns that old mansion. That should keep all of them busy today. As the girls were walking back down the hall to the chateau, they met Jennifer.
“And what were you three up to?” she asked. “Just visiting with Dad for a little while,” said Mandy. “Oh, that’s what I thought,” she said. The girls kept walking and Jennifer arrived at my door and stopped. She stood there looking at the combination lock she had put on the door. “No, it can’t be,” she said to herself and she came into the room. She sat on the bed beside me and started to laugh. “I met the girls,” she said, “they had pretended they were visiting with you.” “They did visit me,” I told her as I munched on the donut she brought me.
She stopped laughing and stared at me. “Did Samantha let them in?” she asked. “No, they came in by themselves,” I said. “Steve, that’s impossible with that lock on the door,” she said, looking at me rather sternly, “how did they get in?” “Steffie,” I said. Jennifer sighed very loudly. “How does she do that?” she asked. “Same way she figures out all the other puzzles around this chateau,” I said, “for her a combination lock is just another puzzle. I think we should start allowing her to help us with some of the harder puzzles we encounter on our cases. I don’t mean taking her on a case though, just giving her the information and see what she comes up with. It might prove interesting.”
Jennifer looked at me, then she started to laugh. “She would be the youngest Investigator yet!” she exclaimed, “She is already a Junior Sneaker First Class on Misty’s team!” We both laughed again at the thought. “We also need to get better locks to use,” said Jennifer, shaking her head, “if a 5 year old can open it that fast, then it’s useless.” “I will let you say that to Sienna,” I said, “she was quite happy with these.” “Thank you, my dear, brave husband,” she said, rather sarcastically.
Then Cristy called with information about that old mansion. Apparently it is located in a government park and is listed this year for the first time as an attraction, but should be used at an individual’s own risk. They are allowed to stay overnight, for a maximum of 14 nights, if paid in advance. The girls did do that, but we did not. So, I told Cristy to get in touch with whoever is in charge and send payment for our girls. A little while later I got a phone call from the park management, they were curious about us being private investigators.
I told the man that we were actually on a case and looking for clues in and around the mansion. I didn’t tell him what the case was about, I just mentioned we were not allowed to talk about it, but if we could find the clues we were looking for, it would help a person in a court case. He actually seemed quite interested, or maybe intrigued would be a better word, but he did allow us to book the whole mansion for 2 weeks which was perfect. That way we would not be disturbed. He did say that no one, other than those other women, had shown any interest in staying at the old mansion anyway.
That is kind of interesting too. I then called Sky back to pick up Bear and Bomber so they could take a look at where that rockslide began. If it was a manmade rockslide they likely would have used dynamite and those two are the best to find out that kind of information for us. “You do realize how big those two are, right?” she asked as she stared at me. “Yes, but that is nothing for such an amazing, wonderful, strong and beautiful woman like you,” I said, hugging her. She looked at me. Then she took out a catalogue and pointed to something and smiled. “I will order it right away,” I said. Now she smiled and off she went with her two large companions and all their gear.
The guys would have to spend a night at the mansion too, then Sky would bring them back tomorrow. Meanwhile, back at the mansion. Angel, Misty and Galyna were interviewing the six remaining girls but they really didn’t learn much. The parents met at some kind of parent/teacher meeting when the girls were 6 years old. The parents have been friends ever since and all have excellent incomes. The girls like to pick vacations where they have to “rough it” a bit, because it’s so different than what they are used to living like at home. All of them live at home still, though all of them have jobs as secretaries.
Our computer girls discovered the same information, though a little more in depth, especially about the parents. All of them are successful entrepreneurs with no debt problems. Samantha then came and talked to Jennifer and I, telling us to look for a long, narrow, round instrument with a sharp point. “That is what was used to kill this woman,” she said, “it was pushed right through her heart.” I communicated this to Sky and Angel. It was now dark and the girls, plus our two men, have gone to bed. The next morning Bear woke up to the sound of Bomber’s watch alarm beeping.
“How can you sleep through that noise?” asked Bear as he shook Bomber. Then Bear noticed the blood. Bomber had been stabbed! Sky brought his body home right away, then she returned for Bear and his gear. “That rockslide was not natural,” Bear told me, “someone used dynamite to get things going. Because of all the rain, once that slide started it went fast and got big real fast. Steve, I don’t know how anyone could get in our room without us hearing them.” “You guys were tired being out in that fresh mountain air and all that walking around,” I told him, “so you just slept very soundly. It’s only natural, and you are not to blame for Bomber’s death.”
I knew it was bothering Bear a lot that someone could sneak in and kill his friend while he slept. I wanted to bring the remaining “adventure girls” back to our chateau, but they insisted on staying to help look for Julie’s murderer. They felt that leaving would be like abandoning one of their friends, something they would never do. However, I said they were coming back, it is too dangerous. Our girls would stay and look for the murderer.
After lunch Nicole needed to use the washroom facilities, just an outhouse, and there were 6 new ones that had been built by the park. Three other girls and 2 cats went along and Monika thought she heard a clunk. They opened the door and found Nicole, dead. There was a small flap at the back of the outhouse and someone had reached in with a rock and hit her on the head, nearly killing her. The “adventure girls” were put to sleep and brought back to us and Nicole was brought back at the same time. How could this killer get away? Another puzzle…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
