Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Missing Relative Case. Chapter 7. Traitor Revealed.
I called ahead to Galyna right away. ”Where is Kat?” I asked. ”She is at the clinic with Dawn, Amber and Penny,” she replied. ”Is Baldwin there yet?” I asked. ”No, but Mandar is here,” she said, “his Team 6 is guarding the clinic.” ”Let me talk to him please,” I said. She turned her phone to speaker. ”How trustworthy is your Team 6?” I asked. ”Completely,” he said, “why do you ask?”
“I have an important job for them,” I said, “I need them to arrest the person who shot Sky, and drugged her originally.” ”That person is long gone Steve,” he said, “Kat and the others searched the whole clinic.” ”Not everywhere,” I said, then I told him who I wanted arrested. ”Are you sure Steve?” he asked, quite shocked. ”Yes, I am sure,” I said, “I just wish I was not so sure.
Annelie, switch me over to Kat.” She did so. ”Sky is in surgery right now Steve,” she said. ”Who is doing the surgery?” I asked. ”Dr. Kerstina,” she said. ”Get in there and watch,” I told her, “and do not leave Sky’s side. Please try to help her if you can, please.” ”I will try,” she said, “but I have to wait until after the surgery.” ”Also, no one, and I mean no one, is allowed in or out of that room until I get there,” I said.
“Okay Steve,” she said, “what is wrong?” ”Give me Dawn, I will talk to you after,” I said, “I want you in that room.” She went in to the operating room while I talked to Dawn. ”Team 6 will be coming in soon,” I said, “you will have to let them in. No one else, and I mean that, is allowed to go in or out until I get there.” ”Okay, I understand,” she said.
“Team 6 will be arresting the person who tried to kill Sky,” I said, “you and the other girls help. If she tries to run, or fight, stop her, permanently.” ”You know who it is?” she asked, surprised. So I told her who did it. ”Are you still there?” I asked. ”Uh, yeah, just a little stunned by that one Steve,” she said, “are you sure?”
“Why does everyone ask me that?” I asked, “Yes, I am sure. She is to be kept in room 10. Do you remember what that means?” ”Yes Steve,” she said, “she is allowed to have nothing with her at all.” ”Correct,” I said, “sorry to do this to you, I know it will not be easy. She was obviously paid a lot to do this, to betray us, and I have no idea why she would do it.
You and Marlena from Team 6 will stay in the room with her until I get there, which should be about 25 minutes.” ”Perhaps I should go back and try to get Christopher,” said Jennifer, “I can get close to him.” ”Which would make it easy for him to kill you,” I said, “do you think he would trust you now?” ”He did this to your Sky because I went with you,” said Jennifer, “I am no good to you.” I got down on my knees by her chair and took her hand.
“I was not able to do it before, so now I will,” I said, “even though you did make me a promise, which you seem to have forgotten. I am begging you to stay with us, join us again, help us get rid of people like Christopher, help to protect me. You will be one of my bodyguards, just like Kat is, to help keep me safe. Sky will want you to stay.
Please Jennifer, I really am begging you, not just saying words, I will do what you want, just name it, but please stay.” ”You will do what I want?” she asked, “Or do you like saying nice words to get your own way?” ”Would you call me a liar Jennifer?” I asked. ”You are a very stubborn man Steve,” she said, “always have been, probably always will be. But you are no liar. I promise that I will never leave. How many wishes do I get?”
“You name the number,” I said. ”One year of wishes,” she said, smiling at me. ”You have it,” I said, smiling back through tears. ”Tears for me, or for Sky?” she asked. ”For Sky…and for you,” I said. ”Five minutes to landing Steve,” said our pilot. We landed at the clinic and Jennifer and I went inside. ”She is dead Steve,” said Dawn, “when we knocked on her door she said come in, so we opened the door and she immediately shot Granite, from Team 6, but he is okay, so I shot her like you said.
She did leave a note telling why she did this.” The note said, “Steve, I have been waiting a long time to hurt you, just like you hurt me by killing my uncle. Yes, you killed him, you did not give him enough protection. I have hated you ever since and when Christopher asked me to help and offered me $500,000 I told him I would do it gladly and planned to return to China with the money where I could do some real work. Li Jing”.
Hard to believe really, Chung was such a good man and he had high hopes for his niece that she would carry on with us and be a great help to us for a long time. We will soon learn some other interesting things…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Saturday Stories. #5 Snowshoe Hike Part 2.
It is a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning here. Yesterday was Groundhog Day, as you know, well, perhaps some of you do not know that. I think that is more of a North American thing, but it is very popular. February 2nd is the day that groundhogs everywhere pop out of their little dens and predict how much longer winter will last.
Actually, up this way smart groundhogs remain in their dens this time of year because it is usually way too cold and way too much snow around to venture outside to give a weather prediction. If the groundhog sees its shadow it means 6 more weeks of winter, if it does not see its shadow, then it will be an early spring. Either way it means an early spring for us here in the north, so we cannot lose. I like that.
So, Muffin decided to join in on the fun several years ago and she saw her shadow, which means 6 more weeks of winter, which takes us to mid March. For us that would be considered a very early spring, so I hope Muffin is right. We had a big celebration after her prediction.
Now, we should get back to our story from last week, which you have probably forgotten about already, but if you want to read part 1, just click on the word Snowshoe. So, we are in the house eating our lunch and although it is a fairly cold day and all the windows are broken in this place, it still feels much warmer in here than it does outside.
There are only 3 windows in the house and none are very big anyway so that is actually a bonus for keeping it warmer inside. The sun is presently shining through one of the kitchen windows and right on the table where we are eating. I could just imagine what it must have been like when this place was new and people were living here with the sun shining on the table while people were eating. Krissy was thinking the same thing.
Suddenly a Canada Jay landing on the window frame looking at us, so Krissy gave it a piece of her sandwich. He flew away chirping “thanks” as he went. Then a second one did the same and I shared my sandwich with this one. They each made 4 trips and then disappeared into the forest. Well, it was time to head back. We put our snowshoes back on and away we went.
It was much easier, and faster, going back since we had a trail already. We did stay much longer than we had planned though so it was already getting dark as we passed the half way point. I would like to come back in the spring and look around a bit better though. We heard a couple of wolves howling in the distance. ”I am glad they are not close,” said Krissy. ”It would be nice to see them,” I said.
“NO,” is all she said in return. ”No sense of adventure,” I said. ”What about in the cabin?” she asked, “That was adventure.” ”That was more like dangerous,” I said. She giggled. ”I want to go first for a while,” she said. So I said she could, but as she tried to pass me she tripped herself and fell into the deep snow. However, she grabbed my arm as she fell, pulling me down into the deep snow too.
I brushed the snow off her face. ”You are supposed to hold me so I do not fall,” she said. ”You pulled to hard,” I replied. ”You are lying on top of me,” she said, “are you going to move?” ”Actually I am quite comfortable,” I said. The snow was quite deep at that spot so it took a bit to get us both standing up once again.
It was completely dark by the time we got back to the car, but it was nearly a full moon so it was amazingly light with all that snow around. We were a bit late getting back home but her parents were not concerned at all. That is the end of that story, nothing much exciting happened really, but it was still a wonderful day.
Well, the sun is still shining here and it is supposed to get quite mild today once again, which is certainly nice. Just using some winter pics for you to enjoy today. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
