Wickers smiled when Sky mentioned M. “I see you found out who the white limo man is too,” he said. “Yes, I may have a small team,” I said, “but we are a good team and can find information quickly. Helps keep us alive. Oh, almost forgot, thanks for showing us Hardin’s will Benny.” Wickers looked at Benny again. “Hey, I, I, did not show them anything,” he said nervously, “they did not even come to my office.”

“You certainly have a bad memory,” I said, “I was there yesterday and you even let me take photos of the will.” I then showed the photos to Wickers. “You are pushing it,” said Wickers to Benny. “Brothers can be that way,” I said, “they think that being a relative gives them special privileges.” Wickers looked angry now as he looked at Benny.

“I, I, I, never told them we were brothers,” said Benny, “honest, I, I have no idea.” “You are pushing it too,” Wickers said to me. “That is my job,” I said, “it is how I get answers when people do not want to give them. Did Hardin push too much as well? But then, he is just a half brother, right Benny?” “Get Benny back in the car Collins,” said Wickers.

Just then one of Wickers’ men on my right pulled his gun aiming it at me from about 12 feet away. “You die!” said Kat, pointing her finger at him. He fell to the ground immediately. “Check him Becker,” said Wickers. “Dead boss,” he said, “and not a mark on him.” “An interesting trick,” said Wickers. “No trick,” I said, “he threatened me, Kat is my bodyguard, so she killed him.”

“How?” said the cop, “by yelling at him?” “Should I tell him my dear husband?” asked Kat. “Hey, you said that other woman was your wife,” said the cop. “In a sense they both are,” I said, “Kat here was my wife until a man, named Toledo, killed her. Then I married Sky, who was also killed.” “They both look alive to me,” sneered the cop.

Then Kat disappeared and reappeared behind the cop making him jump. “I’m arresting you for murder!” he said to Kat and he put handcuffs on her. She moved her hands a bit and gave the handcuffs back to him. “It was not murder,” I said, “she was protecting me, it is her job. Mr. Wickers understands that.” “Get back in your car,” he told the cop and off he went.

“I would like to leave too,” said Wickers, “is it safe to move now?” “Yes, it is safe,” I said. “Oh, I will give you until 5pm to leave this city,” said Wickers, “after that it will become dangerous for you.” Then off he went with his men. “Here you go Storm,” said Kat, giving him his steel ball, “good shot.” Meowr.=Thank you. “Well Steve?” asked Sky, “What next?”

“Check the house for a while, then we leave before the deadline,” I said. So, that is what we did, looking over that house carefully with the cats. Meow,meow!=Me find door! We were in the upstairs office and I had thought it should be bigger than it was. Now we need to figure out how to open the door. Mew,meow!=Here maybe door open thingy.

I pulled on a book which slid part way out and the door opened. Kat, Dawn and the cats went in first, turning on the lights. It was a photo studio, which was not unexpected. Rusty then meowed over by the wall, another hidden door which must lead to another rather small room. Meow,meow.=Bad smell behind door, something dead. I found a button on the edge of the nearby counter and the door opened.

The smell was not too bad yet and there was a vent for fresh air in the small room. Two women were dead, a third was still alive, though barely. We took her out quickly and laid her on the couch in the living room. I contacted Dr. Kerstina to find out what to do. Wickers made a very big mistake this time and he will pay for it.

The other two women obviously died not long ago or the smell would have been worse. If we leave the bodies, Wickers will get rid of them, but we cannot take them with us either. We did take some DNA from them, so we can hopefully identify them. It should not be hard to guess the identity of one, unfortunately.

We took some files, financial books of some kind, two laptops and a couple of external hard drives. We also took a small safe, which normally would be securely fastened to something, but this one was not. By then it was time for us to leave…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.