“I am a friend who wants to help,” he said, “I am pretending to be her uncle, can I count on you to back my story? I need that cover to find your daughters killer.” “Okay,” she said, “if it will help get that murderer, then I will help you. Are you real police?” “No, I am a PI,” he answered, “and why did you say ‘real’ police?” “The two officers we had were killed and the two that came to replace them are certainly not real police,” she said, “it would not surprise me if one of them killed Patty.”

“That is interesting,” said uncle Matt, “I will have to watch them carefully. What do you know about the gang around here called ‘The Creepers’?” “Not much, a small gang that acts tough and tries to scare everyone,” she said, “I implored Patty not to get involved with them, but her and Pinky thought it would be fun.” “Where does Pinky live?” he asked, so she told him.

“Be careful about that haunted house too,” she said, “I am sure those ‘Creepers’ are behind all that.” She also told Matt the police told her not to get an autopsy done, that she had to think of her other two children. That is a definite threat. They talked a bit more then headed out to the abandoned house.

Meanwhile, Jennifer told the others about the secret passage at the bottom of the stairs and that they came up through another passage into the closet. They had given me a drug of some kind. Jennifer could do nothing since the men that took them had a gun at my head, so she just went along with things. She also said they had walked right through the basement wall to enter the passageway.

“I know it seems unbelievable, but that is what we did,” she said, “and they kept a gun on Steve the whole time, so I had no chance to fight. But I did hear some things down there. The leader, Buck, and his two lieutenants, Woodchuck and Weasel, were talking with another fat man named Bear. He also had two men with him, Grizzly and Vulture, they were talking about bringing more men from out west.

Apparently it was Weasel that shot Patty, Buck and Bear were not happy about that, he was supposed to shoot Hope so they could get this property. But they did not say why they wanted the place and then we were brought up here. I am glad Kat was quick thinking, I may not have been able to hold out too much longer.”

“Um, how come your sister is kissing Steve so long?” asked Hope. “Her kisses do more to wake up Steve than mine,” replied Jennifer. Sure enough, I was suddenly okay again and Jennifer repeated what she heard. Just then Matt and his team arrived so they came in to meet us.

Jennifer had said that Weasel had only seen two men in the house, me and Aari, so I suggested that Matt should take John and Mac with him, he would need the extra muscle for now. Matt also mentioned that 4 of our girls (Tracy, Amber, Cassie and Candace) would show up today and would pretend to be Hope’s friends from Alberta.

Hope said she would gladly play along, she wanted to be more involved to help find Patty’s killer. Then she started to cry, blaming herself for Patty’s death because she bought this property. And she mentioned being so lonely since her family died in a house fire a little more than a year ago. She wanted an autopsy, but the coroner said it would do no good, they obviously died from smoke inhalation.

But Hope said she definitely saw blood on a spot on her youngest sister’s forehead. “Shot,” said Mac, “that is why no autopsy.” “Those new cops came just a short while before the house fire,” added Hope, “I am sure they had something to do with it.” She also told us that Patty and Pinky’s dads disappeared at the same time without a trace, about 2 years ago. Hmm, that is interesting.

I told Matt to go back to town and check on Pinky right away, so they took Mac and John and out they went to their van, but on the way a truck drove up with a young man in it. Matt and team just drove away. “Musk is coming to your door Steve,” said Matt, “be careful.” “Thanks Matt,” I said and went to the door, and opened it.

“Greetings Musk,” I said, “interesting that you should show up here. How can I help you?” Musk seemed a bit surprised when I opened the door, even more surprised when he saw Jennifer. “Just wondering how things are going,” he said, “you know, about finding Patty’s killer.” “How come you and your friends are not out looking for her killer?” I asked, “Seems like you should be since she was one of you now.”

“Buck said no to that,” said Musk quietly, “and what Buck says, we do, no questions.” “Who is Bear, Vulture and Grizzly?” I asked him. “No idea, never heard of them,” he replied, “how did you hear about them?” “That is my job, finding information,” I said, “does Buck have a brother?” “Yeah, 2 of them, they live out west in B.C.”, he said, “his oldest brother is bigger than Buck, fat, but strong as a bull…”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.