We all dropped to the floor as 3 shots came through the kitchen window. My team ran out back looking for the shooter, except Kat and Jennifer who stayed with me. Patty had been standing at the stove getting more coffee, she was now lying on the floor, dead. All 3 shots hit her, so she was a definite target, though the shooter may not have know who it was.

The guys followed the angle of the shots and found where the shooter had stood, quite a distance away. This was likely a warning to us that we should leave quickly. A good reason for us to stay. Hope and Pinky took Patty’s body to the police in town and decided to stay where it was safe. That is better for us, now we don’t need to protect them.

A couple of police officers came out and asked a few questions, but they did not stay long, they were obviously afraid of something. I think people around here know more about this house then they are willing to talk about. The police wondered why we were not scared to be out here after Patty was killed. I explained who we were and that being in dangerous situations was quite normal for us.

Shortly after the police left Hope returned from town. “I thought you were going to stay at home?” I asked her. “No way,” she said adamantly, “this is my property and you are here because of me, so I am staying!” “I thought all 3 of you owned this place,” I said.

“Well, we do, sorta,” she explained, “but they did not have any money, so I bought it and they would pay me their share when they could. I really did not care if they paid or not though. We all loved this wild property and were looking forward to camping out here this summer.” She started to cry a bit at that point and hugged me.

Jennifer just looked at me. What could I do? Hope did her best to monopolize my time the rest of the day, but Jennifer kept interrupting which I do not think Hope liked too much. Hope has not changed, that is for sure. Anyway, Hope also mentioned that Harvey broke down crying when he discovered Patty had been killed. That is interesting.

It could mean it was none of his gang that killed her, though not necessarily. It could also mean another group wants this house for some reason, and they want us to leave. They also wanted us to know that the warning they had given about Sky is real, and we should pay attention and leave. We are paying attention, but we are not leaving.

Now we need to look around this house thoroughly and see if we can find out why someone wants this place so much that they are willing to kill for it. The house has a total of 30 rooms and is a two story house, plus a basement. We decided on checking the basement first, but I left Kat, Dawn, Aari and Rusty upstairs to make sure no one could sneak up on us.

There were 3 rooms, one was empty, one was nearly full of empty wood crates and the main room was half filled with old furniture, plus more of those wood crates. But this time the crates were full…of rocks. I called Kristina over to take a look, she knows a lot about rocks and minerals and has a nice, large mineral collection back home.

She broke a few of the rocks with an old hammer that was on top of one crate. Three of the crates had been broken open, and quite recently too. “There is a lot of pyrite in these samples,” said Kristina, “often it is called ‘fool’s gold’. It shows someone was a prospector at one time, and perhaps there is a small mine close by.

Real gold is often found with, or close to, pyrite. But, they may have been fooled into thinking it was real gold.” After looking around for 2 hours we headed back upstairs. Jennifer and I were at the back of the line, Kristina was just ahead of us and talking about those rocks. As she arrived in the kitchen, still talking, she turned and Jennifer and I were not there.

Kristina looked down the stairs and called out for me, but no answer. Aari, John and Mac rushed down to the basement, but we were gone. They checked all around the stairs since that is where we were last seen, but there was no sign of a hidden door anywhere. Then Kat remembered the picture of Sky with a noose around her neck.

She called out to come back upstairs and she ran quickly to our bedroom. Sure enough, Jennifer was hanging from the ceiling with a noose around her neck. Kat jumped and cut the rope with one slice of her knife, and still managed to catch Jennifer before she hit the floor. “Thanks Kat,” said Jennifer, “I was wondering how long I could hold out without breathing.”

They found me cowering in a corner of our closet. I did not even want them to help me. “He must have been given a drug,” said Mac. This all happened very fast, which was alarming. Meanwhile in town… “Those guys are new around here,” said Lynx, “we need to check them.” They came to the table and sat down. “I never said you could join us,” said one man…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.