Well, we have had a good time of relaxation since our last case, but everyone is ready for a new case now. We need some excitement, I guess. During this time Cynthia had her birthday, so technically she is no longer the youngest member of our team. In actual fact, she still is the youngest. Cynthia turned 17 and Cheryl is also 17, however, Cheryl will soon be turning 18. But Cynthia is happy, so that is all that really matters I guess.

Matt is still recovering from his wounds, though he is out of the clinic now and back home with the guys. But he is not allowed on any cases for now. I have had 3 attacks now that our doctors cannot explain, but the last 2 weeks have been attack free, so I am not worried about it. Sky, on the other hand, is worried about it. Dr. Jorgenson did not think there was a serious problem, however, so he did not force me into recovery since I was healthy in every other respect.

Carolyn and Melissa were intrigued about these attacks and are checking to see if they might be related to my “nowhere” drug problem. We ended up keeping some more of Mandar’s security team members. He figured that since they are here so much anyway, they may as well be officially part of our team so they can learn to work together with us better. That was an idea that made sense to me. So, now we have 4 teams, 2 Investigators teams, I lead one and Kristina leads the other.

Then there is the Wildcats, with Kat as the leader, and the Knight Riders, with Matt as the leader. Though Aari has taken his place for now until Matt is well enough to rejoin the team. Today I got a phone call from Rossana. Her mother’s best friend asked her for help, since the police were unable to do anything. Apparently the woman’s daughter vanished 3 weeks ago, 5 months after her and her husband bought a castle in Romania, a smaller one. The police did not find any reason to suspect foul play, so they figured she just decided to go her own way.

Her mother said she would never do that, she loves her husband and 3 children. The children are aged 11, 9 and 7. According to the children, their parents seldom argued and never got into any shouting type of fights. They have no financial problems and paid cash for the castle which they planned to open as a bed and breakfast type place, plus use parts of the castle for other things. I was beginning to wonder about the size of this ‘small’ castle. There is also an old legend about this castle. With every other owner of the castle, the wife will disappear within the first year of living there, due to her going insane.

The castle was built in the 1300s. Quite a few women have disappeared during the last few hundred years, and along with them, all their jewelry. Now, why would a woman who supposedly has gone insane, take all her jewelry with her? “Something for you to figure out Steve,” said Rossana. The owners are Bjorn and Gabriella Hendrickson, from Norway. Their 3 children are Ericka (11), Enar (9), and Dordi (7). Actually, the wife is from Italy.

She met her husband in Norway while on vacation with friends 13 years ago, they were married a year later. Rossana made the arrangements and she told us we could have up to 20 of us since they had lots of bedrooms available. We talked it over and decided to drive this time. Since we might be fighting “ghosts” at that castle, I decided to bring Kat, Jennifer and Angel (our newest “ghost”). Sky insisted on coming along this time, but not as my wife, that might be too tempting for whoever is waiting for us.

Jennifer will pretend to be my wife, as usual. That way she can also protect me from any dangers in that place. I had asked Rossana about the woman’s jewelry and that did disappear with the woman too, just like the legend says. “A little too convenient,” said Sky, “someone is using that legend to mask her disappearance.” “Yes, I agree totally Sky,” I said, “now, the question is, who is doing this? The woman herself? Her husband trying to cover up murdering her? Or someone else murdering her and using the legend to cover it up?”

“Well, I can’t see the woman walking away from her 3 kids,” said Sky. “It has been known to happen,” I reminded her. She just looked at me. “Yes, you are right,” she sighed. We arrived at our destination by late afternoon the next day. “That is a small castle?” asked Sky. “Apparently it is,” I said, “but some of the castles we passed were much larger. I can see why he said they had lots of bedrooms available. Remember everyone, always use scramblers in your rooms, and check for listening devices and cameras.”

We brought 8 of the cats with us this time too and seeing the size of this castle, I am glad we did. Meow,meow.=We going to meet Skinnies in here, me just know it. Soon we be Skinnies too. “Now Muffin,” I said, “skeletons cannot hurt you, they are dead.” Meow,meow.=Maybe we join them, be dead too. “Muffin, you stop talking like that,” said Sky, “or I will send you home!” Meow,meow?=You promise to send me home? Sky frowned at Muffin. Muffin just sighed.

Meowr.=Me here to protect you Muffin. Meow,meow?=How you protect from ghosts? Meowr?=There is ghosts here too, not just Skinnies? Meow,meow.=Skinnies used to be people, then die, now just bones, so must be ghosts too. Meowr!=Eeek! Not like ghosts! Jennifer looks at Storm and frowns. Meowr.=Oops, not mean like you, good ghosts, but mean bad ghosts.

Jennifer just shook her head. “You two are impossible sometimes,” she said, smiling, “we likely won’t see any Skinnies or ghosts, except Kat, Angel and I.” Meow,meow.=Me sure hope so too. Meowr.=Me hope so too too. We were soon settled into our rooms and then came down for dinner where we met everyone…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.