Four men had entered a restaurant in town and sat at a table and ordered coffee. That is when Lynx and two friends went over to check on these men since they were new in town. They pulled up extra chairs and sat with the strangers. One man told them they were not invited. So, that brought a stupid remark from Lynx.

“Around here old man,” he said, “we do what we want, and we ask the questions.” Suddenly the ‘ old man’ grabbed Lynx’s ponytail and smashed his head against the edge of the table, then pulled his head back up. The other two friends did not move since they found knives with a sharp point pushing against their stomachs.

“Today you learn some respect punk,” said the old man, “now, what is your name?” “Who wants to know?” snarled Lynx. The man smashed his head against the table edge once more. “Wrong answer,” he said, “now we try again, what is your name?” “His name is Lynx,” said one of the other guys. “Good, we make progress,” said the man, “now, I am Patty’s uncle, which one of you punks killed Patty?”

“What?” said Lynx, “No way man, we did not kill her! She was one of us, she was Musk’s girl. Buck would kill us if we did something like that.” “And who is Buck?” asked the uncle. “He is our leader,” said Squirrel, “and he is a big man, he would break you in two, so be careful.” The uncle and his friends just laughed. “We are not here to waste time with The Creepers,” said the uncle, “I want Patty’s killer, who did it?”

“We do not know man,” said Lynx. “Well, if Patty was one of you then how come you are not trying to find out?”, said the uncle, “And what is it about that old house that scares everyone?” “That place is haunted,” said Woodchuck, “I have seen ghosts out there, they walk through walls, they glow in the dark and there is all kinds of weird noises at night.”

“Then who are all those people out there?” he asked. “They are PI’s,” said Lynx. “Names boy, names,” he said again. “No idea,” Lynx answered, “but Pinky would know, she was with them.” “Where can I find this Pinky?” asked the uncle, “And is Flo still living in the same place on Spruce St.?” “Yeah, she still lives there,” said Squirrel, “but I cannot say about Pinky, against our rules.”

“You know,” said uncle, “if someone had killed one of our girls, we would be out looking for the killer, and then he would not be doing anymore killing.” “Cops,” said Squirrel. So the guys put away their knives and uncle let go of Lynx. The cops came inside and over to the table. “What happened to your head Lynx?” asked officer 1. “Tripped and fell against the table,” he answered, “guess I am a bit clumsy today.”

“Well, go home and stay out of trouble,” so the guys left. “As for you 4, who are you and what do you want around here?” asked officer 2. “I am Patty’s uncle,” said the one man and he took out a photo of her from his wallet. On the back was written, “To my favorite Uncle Matt, Love Patty.” “Hmm, looks like her handwriting,” said officer 1. “Now, why are you two not out looking for Patty’s murderer?” asked uncle Matt.

“We think it was an accident,” said officer 2, “lots of old people around here go out hunting squirrels.” “Patty was shot, inside the kitchen and you think that was an accident?” he asked shaking his head, “Maybe I should call some real cops from the city to come and check on this. What about the coroner’s report?”

“There was no autopsy, the mother did not want any,” said officer 2, “but, yeah, we were just heading out to that house to check the area for some clues.” “I hear there is already some PI’s working out there,” said uncle Matt, “what is their name? I want to check them out, make sure they are okay.” “They are called “The Investigators”, said officer 1.

“I know every PI in this country, never heard of these,” said uncle Matt. “They are from Europe,” said officer 1, “Hope hired them to look over that haunted house.” “Haunted house,” said uncle Matt, “there are no such thing as ghosts, yet everyone is scared of the place. I want to know what is going on around here and I will not leave until I do!” “Well, we need to get going,” said officer 1, “keep out of trouble.”

“Seems like that might be a little hard to do here,” said uncle Matt. The cops left and the men went to see Patty’s mother. Uncle Matt went to the door and knocked. A woman answered, still crying. “Please do not be alarmed,” said uncle Matt, “I am here to help find Patty’s killer. May I come in and talk briefly?”

The woman allowed him inside. “Is this your daughter?” he asked, showing the picture he had. “Yes, yes, that is her,” she said quietly. Then she looked at the back and read what Patty had written. “That is Patty’s handwriting,” she said, “but she has no uncle Matt. Who are you?”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.