The taxi pulled up to the front of the house and stopped. “You sure this is the right address?” asked the driver. “This is the address I was given,” I replied. “This place has not been lived in for years now,” said the driver, “and two people have been found murdered in this house. Both cases have not been solved.” That did not really make me feel any better, but we need to check it out anyway.

I put the backpacks on the cats. “Your cats wear backpacks?” asked the driver. “Yes, they are specially trained cats,” I said smiling, “I am a private investigator and these two are my helpers.” The driver looked and smiled. “They do look cute with those backpacks,” said the driver, “um, would you like me to wait?” “How brave are you?” I asked.

“I can look after myself in a fight,” was the reply, “and I carry a gun since some of my fares can get a little too friendly at times.” “Okay,” I said, “wait half an hour, if I am not back by then, leave quickly. If anyone comes out with a gun, leave quickly and notify the police.” I got out and put my backpack on. The driver got out too.

“You should not be going in there alone,” said the driver, “I have been in the place before. A couple of my girlfriends and I dared each other to go one night and look over the entire house. Not much in there really, but we never went into the attic, there was no ladder to get up there.” I looked at Muffin. Meow,meow.=Me trust human driver.

“Okay, but remember, I did not ask you to come,” I said, “and if there is any danger, please leave so you do not get hurt.” “I will leave if you leave too,” she said smiling, “like I said, I can handle myself in a fight.” Up to the door we went and I pressed the doorbell. “There has not been any electricity in this house for years sir,” she said.

“My name is Steve,” I told her. “Mine is Dawn,” she said smiling. She certainly had a beautiful smile, and I would say she is about 5 foot 7 inches tall with hair just past her shoulders in a rather odd color and she had vivid green eyes. I knocked on the door and it opened by itself. I whipped out my gun quickly and Dawn had hers out just as quickly.

In we all went and Dawn certainly had been telling the truth, the place obviously had been vacant for a long time. Why would Chloe want us to come here? I quickly sent a text to Sky, something I had promised to do once I got to the house.

Meanwhile, back home… “I just got a text from Steve,” said Sky. “I thought he was supposed to phone,” said Nelson. “Apparently the house is empty and he did not want to talk on the phone,” she said, “so he sent a text instead. I do not like the fact the house is empty, that looks too much like a trap to me.” “It does not look good,” said Annelie, “but the cats are with him and they will send a help signal if there are any problems.”

“Yes, I know, Muffin and Storm can be trusted,” she said, “but Steve said the ‘two’ of them and the cats will check the whole house before leaving. Steve is alone, where did this other person come from?” “Hmm, that is intriguing,” said John, “I hope that other person is a friend and not an enemy.” “John, you are not helping!” said Sky sternly. “Oh, sorry, uh, I think I will check around for a snack,” and off he went in a hurry.

Now back to us. There was nothing on the main floor so we went down to the basement. Aside from boxes, some shelves and a table, there was nothing of interest. Meowr.=There is door over here. I went over to look right away. “Hmm, a hidden door,” I said to Dawn. “Um, how do you know that?” she asked, “Did your cat tell you?” “Yes, he did actually,” I said casually, “these cats are trained to find hidden doors.”

“But all he did was meow,” she said, “how do you know what that means?” “It is the way he meows that means different things,” I said. She looked at the cats and picked up Muffin. “Okay Muffin, talk to me,” she said. Meow,meow?=What you want me to say? I thought for sure Dawn would drop Muffin at that point, but she did not. “It must be this haunted house that is playing tricks on me,” she said.

Meow,meow?=Why you think that? It me that talk, not haunted house. “Well, you did ask her to talk to you,” I said, while continuing to look for a way to open the door. “A PI and a comedian too,” she said as she kissed Muffin. The next day I texted Sky again.

“Hmm, seems Steve forgot to bring the scramblers along so he does not want to phone,” said Sky, “Muffin is supposed to check for things like that.” “Maybe you should start checking,” said Galyna. “I might have to do that,” she replied, “seems they have not found anything yet, not even Chloe. He should have listened to me…”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.