It is a nice warm day and everyone is busy here at the chateau. The girls are busy with decorating for Christmas, all of them are busy. It’s a good thing this place is so big, that way they don’t run into each other. They are doing a great job though, and after they are finished here, they will be going to the guy’s chateau and decorate it as well. I had asked Aari about decorating when I visited the guys yesterday. “We put a wreath on the front door,” said Rock, with a big smile.

“I saw that wreath,” I said, “looks like something you found in someone’s garbage in town.” Aari and Rock looked at each other. “I told you he would notice,” said Aari. That’s when I told them the girls would come around and decorate their chateau too. The girls were excited about doing it. Very excited actually. They do seem to enjoy decorating. Getting them to take all those decorations down in January is the hard part. It’s not the work, they just enjoy all the decorations and they keep trying to convince me we should leave them up year round. I keep saying no.

So far we haven’t had any people call us about a case and that is kind of nice, a three week break would be just right. But I keep feeling that there is something wrong. I don’t sense trouble or danger, just that something is wrong, out of place, or whatever. Jennifer told me that I should stop worrying when there is nothing wrong. Celestine said the same thing, and so did Galyna. Maybe they are right. That night I woke up, sweating and scared. Jennifer asked me what was wrong, but I didn’t know, I was just scared.

Jennifer called Kat to come to our bedroom and check me. She arrived quickly but couldn’t find anything wrong with me. She thought maybe I just had a nightmare, though I couldn’t remember anything like that. The next morning I got a phone call from someone about a case, Cristy told me, so I said to put it through. I said hello and a very pleasant woman’s voice came on and said, “Stay away from Christmas trees.” Then she hung up. I asked Cristy to call back, but the number was no longer in service.

“That was fast,” I said, “and a rather strange warning too.” “Perhaps someone is just fooling around,” said Misty, munching on a donut. A short time later another phone call came, from another woman claiming she had a case for us. I told Cristy to put it through. Apparently someone stole this woman’s Christmas tree, not a real one though, it was glass with colored “lights” made from different gemstones. It was quite old, she told us, and belonged to her grandmother so it held great sentimental value to her.

I told Misty to come with me, but she pouted and said this was the last decorating day. So I asked Jennifer to come, but she said it was necessary for her to stay and make sure the decorating is done right. “Besides, it’s just about a glass Christmas tree,” she said, “it doesn’t sound too exciting.” I sighed, then told Muffin to get 7 other cats and come with me. I also cornered Sherry to drive me over to this lady’s chateau. It’s just a small chateau not too far from us.

We pass it all the time going to the city. It has been empty for 2 years, but someone moved in a week ago, obviously this woman. The glass tree was likely just misplaced somewhere in that chateau. “This place looks creepy up close,” said Sherry. “Try not to say that to the new owner, please,” I said. Sherry looked at me. “I have to come in with you?” she asked, “Shouldn’t I stay with the car?” I just looked at her. “Right, I’m coming in,” she said and she went around to open my door for me, like a good driver should.

I knocked on the door and a young woman answered. I introduced us and she invited us in. It was rather dark and gloomy inside that place, it didn’t feel welcoming at all, but I didn’t sense trouble of any kind, though the young woman seemed a bit, well, odd. She showed us no less than 30 photos of this tree from every possible angle, plus photos of her grandmother, parents and sisters, all ten sisters. Interestingly, in every photo she showed us, the family was always dressed in black. She brought us coffee, in black mugs, the coffee was also black and tasted like it was a week old.

I told her we would check around, but also said not to get her hopes up about getting it back. Likely whoever took it recognized the gems as real and they will break the tree to get them. She had thought about that already but still wanted us to look, just in case, so will. I told her there would be no charge since it was Christmas. She thanked me and gave us both a hug before we left. I would say she needed a shower, Sherry said it might take 5. We were alone, outside, when she said that. When we arrived home Jennifer asked how things went.

“What things?” I asked. “The woman with the glass Christmas tree,” she said, rather annoyed by my question. “What lady?” I asked. “What glass tree?” asked Sherry. That’s when everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at us. “Didn’t you go to that chateau down the highway?” asked Jennifer. “Yes, but no one was home,” I answered. “That’s true,” said Sherry, “we went inside, it was very creepy, I didn’t like it at all. But I don’t remember seeing a glass Christmas tree.” “That’s because it was missing,” said Jennifer.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” I asked. Kat came over and looked at both of us. “Something has happened to them,” said Kat. Then she asked Muffin what happened. Meow, meow.= “Nothing happen, we stay in car.” Kat looked at each of the cats. “Something has happened to them as well,” she said. Scramblers were immediately turned on while Kat took Sherry and Jennifer took me to search us for listening devices or trackers. There was nothing on us or the cats, which was good. Sherry and I felt fine, we just couldn’t remember our visit with the woman, which was kind of odd.

The next day we got ready for our trip to London. Mandar invited Misty, her team, Cristy, Macy, Jackie, Kristina, Jennifer and I to visit with him that day, so we drove to the city and then flew from there to London. That was the plan. But, Misty came to me and said it was taking too long, we should have landed 15 minutes ago. She likes to keep track of such things. I contacted our pilot who said to relax and we would soon know what was going on.

He also said not to try anything or he would be forced to blow up the plane. I immediately communicated with Sky to get Angel and tell me when they were ready. Plus tell Kat we are being kidnapped and I don’t know where we are going. “Sky,” I said calmly and the three of them were with us, smiling. The third one was Crystal, so we have all the triplets on this one. Sky told Kat what I said and Kat issued a Code Red. But, where are we going, and why…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.