Mandar called me and I called the police to let them know they could come and pick up the remaining guilty people. It did not take them long to get moving and they had quite a lot of them heading out to that little town. That town will never be the same with most of its business leaders off to jail, and likely for a very long time too.

The teen that told about the burials in the swamp took the police out there and showed them where to look. They did find Dawn’s parents and 6 women, plus a couple of men whom the teen identified for them as two business people who would not cooperate with the plan of the others. Dawn’s parents, Cheryl, the friend of Dawn were all killed by Chloe just because Dawn and Cheryl were more beautiful than her.

She would have killed Cheryl’s parents too, but they had already died a natural death. All of this, and more, was contained in Chloe’s diary. Ohio had agreed to kill Dawn along with me, but when he saw how pretty she was, he decided on other plans for her. He figured that keeping me alive would make her cooperate more easily.

But since he needed money for some of his debts, then he decided to accept the offer from Mandar. However, when it turned out that he did not get the money, he decided on coming after the businessmen in the town to cash in on their lucrative deal. Seeing Dawn standing at the edge of the trees, however, made him stop and try to get her back.

But running into us brought his ideas to a final end. It was probably good that Dawn’s parents were found while Dawn was still recovering. Seeing her parents dragged out of the swamp would not have been good for her. We brought their remains back with us to England and buried them in the little cemetery close to where we live. Dawn was very thankful to us for that.

Dawn survived and returned to perfect health again and she was voted in as a new member of The Investigators. Karen and Hawk passed the tests quite easily and were also voted in as new members. Looks like Muffin and I will be on the inactive list for some time. My legs are still not working so I’m in a wheelchair now which will definitely make it hard to participate in any new cases for a while.

And, according to 3 specialists, I might remain like this and they want me to prepare for that possibility. Kat has made a new cart for Muffin that is very easy for Storm to pull around. Rusty, Tiia and even Snow have been taking turns helping with that too. Snow says it is very easy to pull that new cart. But Muffin still needs to get her exercise each day too and the cats are making sure she does.

The cats also include Kat and Cat, who are helping the cats with a new exercise program for all of them. Dawn is home now with us and has her own exercise program in place to help her get a full recovery from her wounds. Hawk is a big man, very strong, 31 and was in the military for 8 years. He will be a great help to our team. His parents live in London, he has 3 brothers and 5 sisters, though none of them live in the UK.

Karen’s mother lives in Canada, her dad died a number of years ago. She also has 5 sisters, all living in Canada. She is 25 and the youngest in her family and was actually adopted. There is something about her past, before being adopted, that does not quite fit together, but Annelie is trying to find out what it is. The way she talks sometimes, and her laugh, reminds me of someone.

Oh well, I guess that will happen sometimes. For now, we all relax, at least until the next case comes along. This last case was certainly not what I expected at all. But that happens sometimes too. Sitting in the library one day I began thinking of Karen again, so I called Muffin and she came sliding into the room and jumped onto my lap.

“Nice to see you back to normal Muffin,” I said. Meow,meow.=Yep, me feel normal again. Then she looked at me. Meow,meow.=Me want you back to normal too. “That will come one of these days Muffin,” I said, “now, I have a question, does Karen remind you of someone?” Meow,meow.=Yep, me think that right from first time me hear her talk, but not know who.

“Hmm, maybe think back about 8 to 10 years ago,” I told her. Meow,meow.=Maybe I look in diary, might help. “Good idea,” I said, “but do not mention this to anyone else.” Meow,meow.=Okie, me keep secret. We stayed together for a while, then Storm came looking for her and they went outside. My legs still will not move, not a bit. No new cases are coming in right now, which is okay, we need more rest time.

The End. A new story will be starting soon.

©2023 Steve McLeod.