Crystal and I got Sunshine alone later after the police had gone, we needed to talk with her a bit. “You found out about me, correct?” she asked. “Actually, we could not find out about you,” I said, “Sunshine McClane does not exist. So perhaps you can tell us why you are hiding and who you are hiding from.”

“Okay, my name is actually Kendra Poisson,” she said, “my father was French Canadian and my mother was Scottish. My dad was mixed up with something illegal, though I have no idea what it was. Mom told my sister and I when we were in our late teens. But she told us never to say anything to dad or anyone else, it would be too dangerous for us if we did.

That scared us at first, but after a while since everything was going along the same as usual, we kind of forgot all about it. Then dad changed a bit, he became very nervous and would get angry real easily, which was so unusual for him. He would always apologize though whenever he yelled at us. Then 4 years ago he died in a car accident. The brakes failed, we were told, and he crashed into a tree while driving very fast.

Dad never drove fast however, and mom became very worried after that, so we packed up and moved from Montreal to Toronto. Then 2 years ago mom and my sister died in a car accident. I was told the brakes failed while mom was driving very fast on the highway. I never could figure out what mom and my sister were doing on the highway in the first place.

They had just gone to do some grocery shopping and the store was not far from where we lived. I was working as a waitress at the time and Jim and Anne were on vacation to Canada for a couple weeks and were on their way home. They liked me and asked if I would come and work for them, they would take care of all the details. I jumped at the chance figuring this would be a good safe place to be.

I knew those people dad worked for must have been after him for some reason and they probably wanted to kill all of us. When I got here Anne made me real copies of everything I needed, all forgeries though, she said it was a hobby of hers and this way no one would ever find me. I had told them about my family. Then after hearing about the butler’s parents dying in a car accident, I knew that finding him in my closet was planned to scare me, to let me know they had found me.

Now I am terrified. I do not have much money, but is there any way that you can help me? Please?” She started crying. “Muffin, go over and purr for Kendra,” I said quietly. She did so right away, curling up on her lap and purring nicely. “Oh, that is so nice,” she said, “can you help me?” “We will be glad to help,” I told her, “but we need something from you, and that is complete honesty.

If you lie to us, then you are on your own. Tell us the truth always and we are your best friends and will do all we can to help and protect you. Did you get all of this Annelie?” “Yes Steve, I got it all, and I am checking on her past as we speak,” she said. “Good, and we will need a new identity for Kendra as well,” I said. “Shall do Steve,” she answered cheerfully, “not to worry Kendra, we do things right, I know all about our new identity program, I am a recipient of it myself.”

“Thank you Annelie,” said Kendra. “You will be staying with the girls for now,” I said, “just to make sure you are safe. And we have all added some safety measures to our rooms too, so that what happened to us here last night, will not be able to happen again.” “I am glad to hear that,” she said, “I really like all of you and if you ever need some extra help somewhere, I would be glad to work for you.

I am certainly not a PI, but I am a good secretary, or maid, and I am a good cook too.” “Hey, another cook around would be handy,” said Crystal. “Very true, we have a lot of people to feed,” I said, “and a lot of empty bedrooms.” Kendra smiled. Just then Sigurbjorn knocked on the door, it was time for my massage. While she was doing that, Annelie called back and told us that Kendra’s father was part of an underworld gang called “The Clan”.

He was fairly high up in the organization but had been stealing from them, a little at a time, for about 5 years and they found out. The butler also worked for them, but had also been working for someone else, something The Clan frowned on. Hmm, perhaps he was working for Andrew. Meanwhile, a man came to the door of the castle…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.