While the girls were with Margaret, Kat left her mic on so I could listen in as well. “Miles,” I said, “every hear of a guy named Butch the butcher?” “Yeah, he is a bad one Steve,” he said, “never met the guy, just what I heard, and I do not want to meet him either. Mac would know more, he actually met the Butcher.” So I called Mac and asked him.

“Yeah, definitely bad, totally like,” he said, “not a man to mess with unless you know you got the advantage. Surrounds himself with guys like himself, never a lot, he looks for guys he can trust, and that is not many. He is involved in drugs, murder, porn, nothing else. How is he involved?” “I am not sure yet,” I said, “but he is friends with Margaret’s other son and that seems odd.”

“Yeah, it does,” said Mac, “that son must be a bad one.” Now back to the girls and Margaret. “I notice your daughter in law is not in the picture with her husband,” said Kat, “is there a problem in their marriage? I am not trying to pry, it is just part of what we do to get a complete picture of things.” “Yes, I understand,” said Margaret, “you may ask whatever questions you want and I will answer the best way I can.

Bethany and Reggie are separated. But I still keep in touch with her, she is really so nice and I love to have her visit. But she could not stand having that evil man come around the house, that, that, butcher man.” She shook again when she mentioned him and closed her eyes. “I so wish my son would stay away from him,” she continued, “but he is very stubborn and has been in trouble with the law so many times.

He even spent a year in jail one time, something to do with drugs. That is where he met a man who worked with Butch…” She shook again and stopped. “Thanks for letting us know,” said Crystal, “this is very helpful for us.” Margaret sat down and began to cry. “I am terribly afraid that man maybe kidnapped my precious Karalyn,” she said, “Reggie kept after her to come with him and she could make a lot of money because she was so beautiful.

She said no every time. But the last 3 weeks he pressed her a lot and she became afraid and very nervous. That woman Brenda who says she is a friend of Karalyn pressured Karalyn to go ahead and do it, she would be famous and wealthy.” Now the girls were getting angry, they were quite sure they knew what happened now. I was quite sure too after hearing all of that information.

The girls thanked Margaret and left, they hoped to catch Brenda as she was getting off work. Unfortunately traffic slowed them down, but they arrived just a little late. There had been some men working at something underground, but they were gone now so John parked there. Kate and Catalina went across the street to the insurance company, but Crystal needed to stop at the portable toilet at the construction spot.

Astrid stayed and waited for her, but the cats went with Kate and Catalina. Mac was watching that toilet when he noticed Astrid suddenly start pounding on the door. “Trouble,” he said and he and John were out of the car fast. “I heard a groaning noise, now she will not answer,” said Astrid worriedly. Mac took his gun and smashed the little latch on the door and opened it. Empty.

Then he and John tipped it over, just as Kate and Catalina came outside. They and the cats came running across the street quickly, with cars honking at them. Tandi and Tiia started sniffing the ground. Meowi=Door in ground. Meow,mew.=Yep, me too say that. “Must be connected with what those guys were working on,” said John. They removed the cover and went down.

“Electrical system is what they were working on,” said Mac. Sure enough, that hole in the ground under the toilet connected with this. But it was a long tunnel going both directions. Which way did they go?

Meanwhile, Kat called in and Annelie answered. Kat told her what happened, so Annelie called Rock and told him to get there fast! He and his team were on their way. Then Annelie called me. Sky, myself and the cats went to sit on the lawn for a while before dinner.

“Steve does not answer,” she said. Nelson checked the monitor and was shocked by what he saw. Code Red A1, Code Red A2, which kept repeating. “Outside!” yelled Annelie, and everyone went out quickly. They found Sky, badly beaten, and the cats had been shot with sleeping darts, with a note tucked under Muffin’s collar. Miles read it and called Annelie right away. “Call Rock, tell him to stop now before he gets to the others,” he said…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.