-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
As we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, Soleil said something that caught my attention right away. She asked me if Mrs. Hickman was still at the house when we went there. I told everyone to stay in the car, we were now using the limousine. “Who is Mrs. Hickman?” I asked. “She’s a lady that has been living with us for the last 6 months,” she replied, “I think she just wants grandma’s money. She always says how she needs money for this and that, so grandma gives it to her.
Grandma keeps saying she has lots of money and wants to help people. But I don’t believe Mrs. Hickman’s stories. She also told grandma that I could make a lot of money as an escort at that nightclub. She said because I’m pretty that I would gets lots of big tips from people. Grandma and me didn’t know what an escort was, so she told us it was just a new name for a waitress. But that isn’t true! Finally one night Beau came to my bedroom, put tape over my mouth and tied me up.
Then he took me to that terrible man, Francois, who gave Beau 1,000 euros for bringing me to him. He also gave Beau a job as a security man, since Beau is big and strong. Poor grandma, if she doesn’t take her medicine properly she will get all confused and could hurt herself!” “How old is this Mrs. Hickman?” I asked. “I’m not sure,” she said, “probably in her early 40s, though her hair is quite gray. She is quite athletic and can run very fast, unlike grandma who is chubby and can’t move fast doing anything.” She giggled at that point.
“Sky, who is in the room with you?” I asked. “Kristina, Beryan, Engla and Mary,” she said. “Search the older woman for listening devices, trackers and weapons, please,” I said. “Uh, right, shall do,” she replied, sounding a bit surprised. “What are you doing my dear?” asked Mary. “We need to search you for listening devices or trackers,” said Sky nicely. “Oh, don’t be silly,” she replied, “I don’t even know what those things are.” “It’s just standard procedure,” said Sky, “otherwise people can find us and maybe kill someone.” “Well, I’m not going to let you search me, like, like, some criminal!” she retorted.
Suddenly Sky appeared in the car with us. “Steve, this isn’t nice of you to do this to me,” she said. “Sorry, it needs to be done,” I said, “she isn’t who she seems to be.” Sky disappeared again. “Um, how did that woman do that?” asked Soleil. “I’m sorry, but that needs to remain a secret for now,” I said, “but I will explain later.” “Okay, I know Ms. Kat told me you are private investigators,” she said, “so you have secrets.” “Just call her Kat,” said Jennifer. Now Soleil looked more confused and Jennifer smiled.
“I’m Kat’s twin sister,” she said, “my name is Jennifer.” “Oh wow, you two are identical twins!” she exclaimed. “Yes, even my husband has trouble telling us apart at times,” she said smiling. Back in the hotel some fun was happening as Sky and Kristina searched Mary and found a listening device, a small knife and a small gun. She wouldn’t talk after all that. She also had quite an athletic build, definitely not chubby, Sky relayed to me. Obviously we had Mrs. Hickman, not Mary. So, where is Mary?
That answer is also obvious, Francois has her. And this could mean she will be killed. Soleil confirmed it was Mrs. Hickman we had, once we arrived at our room. Soleil also told us some things she had to endure at the nightclub. She was indeed a waitress at the start, in the back room, where the waitresses were topless and for certain groups they were not allowed to wear anything. If she complained, then Francois would slap her hard, or sometimes Beau would do it and he slapped even harder, leaving her cheeks red and sore. Beau would just laugh and tell her to grow up.
That’s when we learned that she was 17 and Beau was 19, opposite to what we were told. She also said the youngest girl working at the club was 15, she was always scared, just like Soleil. The girls were locked in their rooms when not working. The man Kat caught with Soleil paid a lot of money to be her first man. I wondered if that 15 year old girl was given to that man instead of Soleil. I asked if Soleil thought the girl might want to get out of that club. “She sure would!” exclaimed Soleil, “Could you get her free too?” I asked for her description, so Sky and Kat went back for the girl.
“Her name is Vivienne,” said Soleil before the girls left. They immediately went to Room 4, invisibly, but it was empty. Then they tried the next room and the door was unlocked. The same man was in there with a young woman. “Is your name Vivienne?” asked Kat. The man jumped off the bed when he saw Kat. “Y, yes, it is,” she said sobbing. “Soleil told us about you,” said Sky, “we want to take you away from here.” Vivienne jumped out of bed and ran to Sky, hugging her. “Please take me away with you!” she exclaimed. Just then two large men showed up. “Beau!” exclaimed Vivienne.
“Yeah kid,” he said, “and you are not going anywhere.” He then came toward the girls but Kat stood in his way, so he swung his fist at her, but missed. “Too slow, big Beau,” she said laughing. Then she kicked him 3 times and he fell against the wall, slumping to the floor, dead. The other man pulled his gun but Sky shot him with some electricity, killing him instantly. Then Kat went after the “client”, for the second time, and she explained to him it would be safer to stay away from this place. She then kicked him four times in the stomach, very fast, and the man fell to the floor with a loud thump!
Then they disappeared and were soon back in our hotel room. “How did we do that?” asked a very scared Vivienne. I then explained to her that we are private investigators and we have to keep some things a secret until later. That helped her to settle down. It should be said that we had already restrained Mrs. Hickman with our rubber handcuffs, including putting them around her ankles. Kat said she had to kill Beau and Soleil understood that. “He made his choice,” she said, “but where is my grandma?”
“In her grave two weeks ago, my dear,” said Mrs. Hickman as she laughed merrily. Jennifer went over and gave her a hard backhanded slap and that stopped her laughing. I had sent Kristina and some of the girls with Yves to get his family and bring them back to the hotel for safety. When they arrived, Yves recognized a car parked on the street. “That’s Pascal’s car,” he said, “we are too late.” “Not necessarily,” said Kristina, “let’s go check.” Yves was the first one out of the van. A shot was fired and Yves fell to the ground…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
We had gone to the nightclub where Mary’s son and daughter-in-law were working when they disappeared about 15 years ago. The manager of that club, Francois, has something to do with the disappearance of Mary’s grandchildren, I’m sure of it. Why he decided to kidnap them now is a mystery and what Mary’s involvement is in this drama is also a mystery. But she must be involved somehow. Perhaps she worked at that club too, years ago.
Maybe she knows things that would be helpful to the police, but by keeping her confused, the police wouldn’t likely believe anything she told them. They could just kill her instead, but that would bring a police investigation and perhaps Koffman doesn’t like that idea. Or maybe there is a reason for keeping Mary alive, for now at least, but why is another mystery. First things first, I want Beryan and Engla back again. Then we want to find Soleil and Beau, Mary’s grandchildren.
I’m sure that Francois has them also, but getting that information from him might be difficult. Men like Francois usually don’t like to cooperate, without a little pressure being applied. Right now I don’t mind applying a little pressure. Or a lot of pressure, if needed. Anyway, we were now in Francois’ office and his three guards just dropped their guns because they were too hot. That happens a lot with guns it seems. I had just asked Francois about Beryan and Engla and made it quite clear that we wanted them back. He made this foolish claim of not knowing what I was talking about.
So, I told him that was the wrong answer, and I now dragged him out from behind his desk and punched him in the stomach, then to his face. His men were going to intervene, but the four Wildcats that came in with us stood in their way, so they backed off. “You know,” said a groaning Francois, “sometimes when you lose something, it’s best to start where you lost that item and usually you will find it.” “Check it out Sky,” I said. She disappeared right in front of those men.
“Whoa, where did she go?” asked the biggest man, whose name was Yves. I then asked Francois about Soleil and Beau. “I don’t keep track of the old lady’s kids,” he said, half spitting his answer. “You kidnapped them!” I yelled, “And you know where they are!” I then punched him twice more, knocking him to the floor and against a wood chair. “Where’s the safe in here?” I asked the 3 men. “Find it yourself,” said one man, “since you seem to be so smart, knowing everything else.” Marlena went over and gave him 3 quick kicks and he was knocked out. “Behind that big picture,” said Yves, “Percival here can open it.” “You are a dead man,” said Percival angrily.
“Get over here and open that safe,” I said, “or you will be a dead man.” He just stood there smiling. Sky had communicated that she found Beryan and Engla sleeping on one of the beds at Mary’s house so I told her to stay there and watch. Then I told Kat to bring in her Wildcats and deal with the employees of this establishment. “Fun time!” she exclaimed and went to call her Wildcats inside. I told the 4 Wildcats with us to go out and help the others.
After all, there was Jennifer, Angel and I in the office and we should be able to handle these guys. “Okay Percival,” I said nicely, “come over here and open this safe.” He just stood there smiling. “Let me teach him some manners Steve,” said Jennifer. I nodded and she went over to Percival and grabbed his long ponytail and literally dragged him over to the safe with him screaming. She then stood him on his feet, but he just stood there, not moving. So, she then punched him, hard, in his lower back.
That made him moan as his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. “Um, he might have written it down,” said Yves, “he doesn’t remember numbers well, so he often writes them down in his black book on that desk.” By now Jennifer had stood Percival back on his feet and he turned to Yves. “I hope Francois lets me kill you,” he said angrily, “because I know how to do it, slow and painful.” Yves was looking a bit nervous now. “Don’t worry about him,” I said, “he won’t likely be alive to hurt anyone soon.”
“If I help,” he asked, “will you help me get away from here?” “Definitely,” I said, “if you help us, we will help you, and we can do it too.” “Forget it Yves,” said Percival, “he’s just saying that, but he’ll leave you behind for us.” He then gave a weird laugh. He still refused to open it so I told Yves to check the book, but carefully. He did so and found the combination so Jennifer had the safe open quickly. Quite a pile of money and a box of jewelry too. We took it all with us and Yves told us the larger safe was in the basement, but well guarded.
We will leave that one for now. I asked Yves about Soleil and Beau. He said that Soleil is likely with her first “client” in Room 4 upstairs, so I communicated this with Kat and she went to look for her. Yves said that Soleil was here against her will and was brought here by Beau who works for Francois. That’s interesting, selling his own sister to this, this, whatever he is! Like so many of these guys, he is a modern day slave trader.
Meanwhile, out in the main club, which at the moment is packed with people. When Kat called her Wildcats, they came bouncing in, doing flips, cartwheels and other acrobatic ways of moving. They landed on tables, the bar and anything else that would hold them. Some when they came bouncing in kicked any employees that were close by, sending them flying into food carts or landing on tables, messing up people’s dinners and causing much yelling and screaming!
Some of the employees tried to pull out guns, but they had to drop them quickly as Kat heated them up a bit. It was at this point I had told Kat to go look for Soleil in Room 4 upstairs. When Kat arrived at Room 4 the door was locked, so she kicked it open and fortunately it was perfect timing, just as things were getting started and Soleil was truly scared by her “client”. It was easy for Kat to see that Soleil didn’t want to be there. The man quickly pulled out a knife which Kat quickly kicked out of his hand.
Then she kicked the man three times, though she was careful not to kill him, even though that’s what she felt like doing. Kat told Soleil that we were working for her grandmother and had come to take her away from here. Soleil began to cry and told Kat if she left they would kill her grandmother and she didn’t want that to happen. Kat then told her we would protect them all, so she didn’t need to worry and Soleil hugged Kat tightly.
She then got dressed and went with Kat who had already communicated with me that she had Soleil but she didn’t know where Beau was being kept. I then told Kat that Beau was working for Francois and had sold his sister to him. I told Yves he could come with us, stay here or go his own way, it was his choice. He wanted to come with us. There was gambling in this nightclub so the Wildcats took whatever money they could, most of which was in locked boxes, so, they just took the boxes along. Sky had already taken Beryan and Engla to the hotel and that is where we are presently headed…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 