After Aari sent the photo to Annelie of Andre Talbot I then told her he might be our Mr. Fenn. “I must disagree with that idea,” said Annelie, “Tracy did a lot of work on that voice recording, and I verified it for her. So I can tell you that Talbot is not Mr. Fenn, but I will check him out for you. This is your Mr. Fenn’s real voice.”

Then she played back the recording we sent her before, but with the real voice in place of the voice we had heard. “Recognize the voice Steve?” she asked. “It does sound familiar, but I am not quite sure,” I said. “What about you Muffin?” she asked, “think way back to one of your old cases, before you moved to Europe.”

Meow,meow.=Me think voice family liar too, but not remember who. “That is familiar, Muffin,” I said. Meow,meow.=Me say that already, you deaf again? Meowr.=Yep, me hear Muffin say that too. Meowi.=Me agree too. “Sigh, sometimes I cannot win,” I said. “Think back to a time I hated you and wanted to kill you so much for putting my parents in prison,” said Kate.

I looked at her, now I remembered who it was. “That is so hard to believe,” I said. “Perhaps so,” said Annelie, “but that is Mr. Fenn, no doubt about it.” Now it was time for us to visit the other “Mr. Fenn” in the restaurant before he leaves. “We better be careful Steve,” said Aari, “since he is not Mr. Fenn, it could be a setup to get you in the open so you can be eliminated.”

“Yes, a good thought,” I said, “Aari, John, Kate, Crystal and I will come in the front door and talk with Talbot. Mac, Clarence, Aasta, Catalina, Rock and Storm will check areas around us for anyone else wanting to join the party. The rest of you stay here, and be careful, they may be trying to draw us away from the room to get at Aubrey. Muffin and Tiia, be ready.”

Meow,meow.=Yep, we be ready, big mistake someone come in here. Meowi.=Me say so too. Kate made sure their backpacks were securely on and off we went. My team went out the back way and around to the front. Talbot was still eating his rather large breakfast. Rock and his team checked other areas. There were two men by the elevators. Rock came out of one and quickly knocked those two out cold.

There were three in the kitchen, one looking out the door window. Mac and Clarence had them dropping their guns rather quickly. Catalina took up position by the front doors to make sure no one could sneak in behind us. “Good morning Mr. Talbot,” I said. “Who are you?” he asked, “And why do you disturb my meal?” He was about to drink his coffee and I reached over, knocking it out of his hand. He seemed ready to explode.

“When I talk to you, then you listen, Talbot,” I said, “why are you pretending to be Mr. Fenn? Who paid you to do this? And do not rely on your friends, they are in no position to help you now.” He quickly looked around and saw that no one was coming to his rescue. He then jumped up very fast, which was surprising considering his size.

He then flipped the table over at me. John went over and hit him hard, but he barely flinched. He then hit John, sending him to the floor groaning. Aari and I jumped at him but he hit Aari knocking him against the wall. Then he picked me up and tossed me against another wall, hard. Kate entered the fight, kicking him twice in the stomach, then on his head which made him sit down again, but he was up fast and tried to hit Kate, but she dodged his fist easily.

“You cannot hit a ghost,” she said smiling at him. He backed away when she said that. By that time Rock had arrived and he flattened Talbot quite handily. We left quickly when the waitress said she called the police. I told her what to tell them and gave her $100. We then headed over to visit Joshua again.

Kate stayed with the receptionist this time so she could not warn Joshua we were coming up. We walked in and Mac, Aari and John had their guns out and took the guns from the bodyguards. Crystal and I went over to Joshua. “Get out of here!” he demanded, “Or I will call the police!”

“I do not care about your police buddies,” I said, and Mac quickly cut the cord on the phone. “You really should upgrade your phones here Joshua,” I said, “how are you and Mr. Fenn getting along these days. I imagine he must be getting nervous by now…”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.