We have a new case and Aari, with his team, have left for Germany where Baldwin’s nephew and his family live. Baldwin’s brother-in-law also lived there until he died recently. The brother-in-law, Ralph, was just 53 when he died suddenly at home. His wife is still living, plus his 3 step children. He has a son of his own as well, but no one knows where he lives, he left home at 16 and has not been heard from since. 

He would be 26 now. The step-son we are looking for is 28 and worked for his step-father. Apparently they got along very well, but he did not get along with his 2 step-daughters at all. We do not know why. They also worked for their step-father and both are single, ages 23 and 25. The step-son, which we will just refer to as Baldwin’s nephew is very good looking and goes to the gym every day. 

His name is Christopher, his wife’s name is Berry. ”Berry?” I asked, “As in fruit?” ”She comes from a weird family,” was all that Baldwin said without looking up. ”It is not that bad,” I said. ”It is actually Blueberry,” he said, “but she hates the color blue, so she just uses Berry. She has two sisters named Strawberry and Raspberry.” ”I think Blueberry is the best one,” I replied. Then I got a call from Sky. 

“Are you relaxing nicely in bed?” she asked. I could tell by the way she spoke, that she already knew I was not in bed. ”Well, I am sitting for just a little while,” I said, “I needed a change of position.” I tried to sound cheerful as I talked. ”Call all the girls into the library Steve,” she said calmly. So much for hiding. I called them all to join us in the library, then I put my phone on speaker so Sky could talk with everyone. 

Or perhaps I should say, yell at everyone. She told them, very plainly, that I was to stay in the bedroom, and in bed, until Dr. Kerstina or Galyna said it was okay for me to leave the bedroom. I was supposed to tell the girls this before, but I seem to have neglected to do so. Kat and Dawn were closest to me and just stood there looking at me with a very disgusted type of look. Sigh. 

They took me back to my bedroom and left Beryan and Kera, two of my bodyguards, to stay with me and were told not to let me out of their sight. Like I could run away perhaps? Beryan started my massage a bit early since she was there anyway. ”I should pound your back for what you did,” she said, rather coldly. ”You are right,” I said, “but you are also much too kind and gentle to do that.” ’Forget the flattery Steve,” she said, “it won’t work.” Sigh. 

After my massage she went to lie down in the other room, there is another bed in there. We have 2 bedrooms and a living room in our suite, same as Rock and Annelie. Meanwhile we will look in at Aari and his team. Two of the girls from his team, Catalina and Aoife, stopped in to visit with Berry for a while. 

Baldwin had called her to let her know they would be coming to visit and mentioned they were from The Investigators, but did not mention they were with Aari and the rest of his team. They will pretend to be on their own for now. They found Berry to be very nice and tried to give them whatever information she could about Christopher. 

Apparently Ralph and Christopher liked to gamble and would go to several gambling places in the city, usually a different one each week. Ralph never did very well, he lost most of the time, sometimes quite large sums of money. Christopher always seemed to win, until recently. He also seemed to be very agitated and worried lately which was totally unlike him. 

A good sign that he was losing a lot lately and perhaps going much too far into debt. Berry assured the girls they did not have much debt, except the house they bought recently. The girls told her that the kind of debt Christopher likely had, would be money borrowed from the gambling establishments and would not be openly recorded. 

“Yes, I did think about that already,” she said, “I was just hoping it wasn’t so. Do you think they killed Christopher because of his debts?” ”We have no idea about that,” they said, “but not likely since they are a smaller gang. From information we have about them, murder is not something they do, still, nothing can be ruled out just yet. 

Most likely they will keep him until the 10 days have passed and then release him. That money is what they want.” ”As far as I am concerned,” she said, “they can have the money, I just want my Christopher back again. The kids need their dad too.” Next stop would be to talk with Ralph’s wife…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.