I asked Annelie to check with Nelson and see what he can find out about this business here and if it is really an important one that we need to keep. Then I turned back to Aubrey who had stopped crying. “I hate to keep pressuring you,” I said, “but these things are important for the case.” “That is okay,” she said quietly, “I should be alright now.”

“Good girl,” I said, “and we are here to help you any way we can, but we also need all the truth. You mentioned ‘one of the clubs’ that Whitaker owned. Do you know how many he owns and which one you were to work in?” “He owns two,” she said, “one is out in the open, the other is kind of underground so the cops do not find it. That is where he wanted me to work.”

“Do you know where it is located?” I asked. “Yeah, he took me there once to show me around,” she answered, “that police chief was in there that night and I recognized one of our city councilors too.” “Well, that confirms what I was thinking about the police chief,” I said, “now we are going to start putting some pressure on Whitaker, and try to keep him from kidnapping me too please.”

“Well, Brander and his men are not the type you talk to,” said Aari, “they play for keeps, we will have to do the same.” “Okay, fair enough,” I said, “everyone remember that.” Then I told everyone we would go and pay a visit to Joshua and begin our pressuring. I left Aasta, Tiffany, Felina, John and Clarence behind to guard Aubrey. I also left Muffin behind so she could stay close to Snow. Poor Annelie cried when she heard about Snow, she really loves that kitten.

Then off we went to visit Joshua. I left Aari and Rock with the vans to make sure no one tampered with them. As we walked past the receptionist Mac cut the cable for her intercom. “They really should modernize this place,” said Mac shaking his head. We got upstairs to Joshua’s office and went inside. The look on his face was priceless, he was obviously not expecting us.

Strange that the receptionist did not phone him. “What are you doing here!?” he demanded, “And how did you get past my receptionist?” “Seems her machine was not working,” I said, “you have such old technology in this building. We are here to remind you of something. I told you before that if you tried to hinder us, I would not tolerate that.

So now I am repeating myself, I will not tolerate any hindering attempts by you or anyone else. I will hold you responsible no matter who crosses our path.” “What?” he said, “You cannot blame me for what others might do.” “I will blame you if I want,” I told him, “Because of you some people have died already, including two of my team.” “You cannot prove I had anything to do with their deaths,” he said smiling. I went over and gave him a good hard backhanded slap which knocked him back down onto his chair.

“You attacked me!” he yelled. He had 3 guards in his office and they pulled their guns out, but the girls quickly showed them that was not a good idea and all 3 were lying on the floor and had their guns taken away. “I will call the police!” yelled Joshua and he picked up his phone. “You mean your friend the police chief?” I asked, “I am going to see that he is in prison along with you, and that is a promise.”

Joshua put his phone back on the desk. “You lost your office last night, plus a good deal of money, jewelry and some beautiful diamonds,” I told him, “I wish we could have retrieved more than we did, like all those files upstairs. But I am satisfied that at least you cannot use any of that stuff anymore. It was you who ordered all the killings so far Joshua, and you will pay for that with the rest of your life in prison.

I just wanted you to know that. I will get the evidence that I need. Now, stay out of my way!” Next we went over to the house that Charly lives in, since she is at work right now. This house had a more complicated, or maybe I should say modern, lock on it, so Miles took a look at it and brought out his tools. He had us inside in no time. Must say, he is good at this.

That was one of his specialties before and Mac says there is not a lock he cannot open. Once inside we looked around quickly. We had put signs on the vans, “Safe Moving and Storage Co.”, that way the neighbors would not likely get concerned if any are home. It did not take long to find where the hidden office was located, but again, no door to get into the room.

Apparently people on both sides have been living there for more than 20 years. But, in the back yard we found something interesting, however, just then we got a call from Rock which meant that Charly was here. Fortunately we had locked the doors again, but…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.