Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Saturday Stories. #15 Hiking, Part 1.
Greetings everyone on this cool, cloudy and somewhat rainy Saturday! Hard to believe this is the last Saturday of April already. Spring is certainly with us in all of its ups and downs with weather. That is very typical. On another spring, years ago, the last Saturday of April was sunny and very warm. Tiny green leaves were beginning to show on some bushes and trees already.
It seemed like a perfect time for a hike. So, I got ready and went out for breakfast. I knew Krissy had a cold so she would not be able to come along, but I wanted to stop and see how she was doing anyway. It was fairly busy when I got there but once I had my breakfast everyone had gone so Krissy sat down to talk. “No fair going for a hike when I have a cold,” she said, “although it is a lot better now.”
Female Goldeneye ducks on the river.
Her mom came along just then. “If you take Krissy with you,” she said, “then you have to promise not to let her get wet.” “Oh, I can promise that,” I said. “Good, I will get ready to go,” said Krissy. “If she gets worse, then you can stay here and look after her until she is better,” said her mom, “and stay away from streams.”
“I was thinking of walking to a certain lake,” I said, “but no water to cross on the way.” That part was easy this time. We began the hike on a nice easy walking area through tall pines and very little undergrowth. But we soon found ourselves with a large swampy area in front of us. That was a big problem. Going around this would take a long time and we would be back quite late.
White-Throated Sparrow.
So, I looked at the map and we chose a different lake for our destination. It meant going through a small valley area, but fortunately no water to cross. Then we had to climb this rather steep hill which really slowed us down. But once to the top we got a wonderful view of the area and we could see the lake which was our destination.
We kept going and had to climb down this hill on the other side, which was easier than the first side and the walk from there to the lake was easy going too. The lake was larger than it looked on the map and had a nice sandy beach and a nice area for our picnic, right in the sun where it was very warm. While we were eating, however, there was a loud snap from a breaking branch right on the other side of a thick bunch of bushes next to us.
Tree Sparrow.
Krissy quickly moved over behind me. The smell told me it was likely a bear. With absolutely no wind, the smell of our food would likely be picked up by the bear very soon. We took our thermoses of coffee and moved away from the area to some higher ground where we could watch things and hopefully stay safe. Soon the bear came out sniffing.
“We should have taken our food,” said Krissy. “And the bear would have followed us,” I said. He found what was left of our lunch and quickly finished it. Then he stood up and began sniffing in our direction… Well, time to end this for now, but I will finish it next time. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Case of Strange Murder. Chapter 14. Brad Jenkins.
After the police searched the house and found it empty they called Wickers to let him know. Wickers and Booker came over right away to see if their “merchandise” was still safe. They discovered it was gone, the whole amount, with a note remaining thanking Wickers for his donation. He was furious, stomping around the house and yelling.
“Get that PI, Chief!” he yelled. “And how shall I do that?” he asked. “You’re a cop,” he fumed, “do whatever cops do, put up roadblocks so he doesn’t get out of town for one thing!” “He might be out of town already,” said the Chief, “but I will do it. Some extra men would be handy though.” So Wickers called Ray to get some men over to help the cops with roadblocks and to search around the city for any sign of those PI’s.
Meanwhile, I got a phone call that was bad news for us. “Hi Rossana,” I said, “what can I help you with?” “You are after a man named Wickers,” she said, “I have bad news, you need to pull back and go home. This is an active police investigation. We have been after Wickers for 2 years thinking he was the big boss. Seems he is not, someone else is at the top, and we need to find him.
So, I have to ask you to stop what you are doing and leave Wickers alone. By the way, his name is Brad Jenkins. Also, Ray, the bartender and right hand man to Jenkins, is one of us. We had him planted in the organization nearly 2 years ago to get us inside information. Please do not hurt him, or anyone else.” “I recovered a lot of drugs, huge amount really, which I will turn over to you,” I said, “I would like to relieve him of any kids and women he has at his office.
Also, I want Booker, he is Wickers’ personal hit man, hired killer and whatever else.” “Sorry Steve, not Booker,” said Rossana, “we have reason to believe he is at the top. You can save the other people though if you want, but please do it fast and get out of there.” This was not good news at all, but, at least we get to finish off something.
Meanwhile, Wickers and Booker have just returned to his nightclub and found that Matt was sitting there waiting for them to return. He had Rock with him too. “I told you to come back in the morning,” said Wickers. “I could not wait,” said Matt, “I need to leave town and I would like the rest of my pay before I leave.” “You think I run a regular bank here?” asked Wickers, rather irritated.
“I know guys like you keep a lot of cash on hand at all times,” said Matt, “and that PI is going to start leaning hard on you I hear, so, just in case something happens to you, you know, it might be hard to collect.” “Get his money Ray,” growled Wickers, “then I want you gone.” “Oh, I will be gone alright,” said Matt, “just need some travel money.” Ray brought the money out.
But before Matt could leave, I came walking in with several of the girls. “You really should keep your door locked Wickers,” I said, “oh, I am sorry, I mean Jenkins. That is your real name, is it not? Brad Jenkins?” Wickers was red with anger now. “It is no special secret Jenkins,” I said, “I am a PI after all, it is my business to find out little details.
Well, look at this, hello Matt, kind of interesting to meet you here mixed up with this guy.” “I was just going to say the same thing, Mr. PI,” he replied. As we talked another 20 of my girls came in and went throughout the building with Mandy, looking for anyone who wanted to leave. “I hear you live on the top floor Jenkins,” I said, “I wonder what is up there?”
“You will never find out,” he said smugly, “it takes a special key to get off the elevator on that floor.” “Did you hear that Jennifer?” I asked. “Oh my, someone should have told us sooner,” she replied, “we are already in his suite, he certainly spared no money decorating this place.” Suddenly there was a roar as Catalina blew the lock off the safe door.
The girls found no less than 21 women and kids which they brought out. Catalina and her crew brought out a large amount of cash and jewelry from the safe. Jennifer and her team brought out some nice items as well from Wickers’ suite. “I will remember this PI,” he growled. “Look at the bright side Wickers, I mean Jenkins,” I said, “I am through here.
My job was to find out who killed Chuck Hardin, except he did not die in that accident, no one died there, it was a set up for insurance purposes. So, the case is closed and I am going home. But I would suggest that you do not get in my way, best to leave things as is and accept our losses, for both of us. As for you Matt, I have no quarrel with you right now, but the same warning applies to you. Good night gentlemen.”
Then my team and I left. Interestingly, Jenkins called the police chief and told him to let us go, which he did. It was not easy to let Jenkins go, but that is how things work sometimes. For us, it is time to head home and rest for a while. We still have some loose threads to take care of on our end…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 