I said to Stanley, “We’ll head over to Brimstone town and get this sword to Dr Morgan. I’d like her to look at the poison on the blade as soon as possible.”
“That’s a good idea. Do you think Xodia tried to kill Ereto?”
“I don’t know. I got the impression Ereto can look after herself in any situation. It’s obvious there was intense rivalry between her and Xodia. But I’m not dismissing anything at this point.”
When we arrived in Brimstone town, we went straight over to Dr Morgan’s office and gave her the glass case.
She looked at the sword inside the glass case and said, “If you’re going to bring me presents in the future, I’d prefer chocolate.”
I told her where we’d been, and what was on the sword.
Dr Morgan lowered her head towards the glass case and squinted. “Blue swamp toad? That’s one of the strongest poisons around. I don’t think it’s the same thing that killed Leonard, but I’ll make some investigations. I’m going to need extra thick gloves to extract this poison. It shouldn’t take me too long to do an initial examination. How far have you got with your investigation?”
“Not as far as I hoped. There are a few residents in Brimstone Mountains who I’m going to talk to.” I hesitated before asking, “Where’s Leonard?”
Dr Morgan said, “I’ve left him in another room. For some reason, I couldn’t bear to leave him in the morgue. It didn’t seem right. I haven’t even started my post-mortem properly yet. I took a sample of his blood and had a quick look at his body, but I haven’t opened him up.” She gave us a sad smile. “I can’t bring myself to damage him. I know that’s silly, but it’s just how I feel at the moment. I’ll get over it. Why don’t you call back here in an hour or so? I might have some news on this sword by then.”
We said goodbye and left.
We walked away from the doctor’s office and along the street. We came to a stop outside the Mooncrest Café and looked inside.
I said, “Shall we have a quick chat with Gilda? She might know something about the creatures who live in Brimstone Mountains. I could do with a coffee too.”
Stanley said, “Look, there’s Blythe and Esther sitting at that table over there. And Luca is with them too. Let’s go and have a chat with them.”
I shook my head. “They’ve made it clear they don’t want to see us.”
“Well, I want to see them.” Before I could say a word, Stanley ran towards the door of the café which had just been opened by a goblin. He dashed inside and over to the table where Gran was sitting.
I went after him and Luca broke into a smile the second that he saw me. My heart did a happy leap. I’d forgotten how handsome he was and what lovely blue eyes he had.
He stood up and said, “Cassia! What are you doing here? And where did you zoom off to yesterday? Don’t answer my questions until I get you a coffee. You look as if you need one. We’ll have a chat in a minute.” He picked Stanley up. “Now, my friend, I need to catch up on my cuddles with you. Come with me over to the counter and I’ll get you something delicious to eat and drink.” Luca gave me another grin before moving over to the counter.
I stayed standing and gave Blythe a wary look. “It wasn’t my idea to come in here. Stanley ran in before I could stop him.”
Blythe gave me a warm smile and said, “You don’t have to apologise for being here. It’s me who should apologise for speaking to you in that terrible manner yesterday. I shouldn’t have done that. We’ve heard about Leonard’s murder. What a terrible shame. I’d met him a few times and I know what a gentle creature he was.”
Gran said, “I met him many times too. How are you getting on with your enquiries?”
I replied, “I think I’m doing okay. I’ve got a few suspects in mind and I’m going to interrogate them soon.”
“Interrogate who?” Luca appeared at my side with Stanley snuggled in his arms. “Are you talking about the death of that yeti? I can help you with that. You don’t have to deal with this investigation on your own.”
Blythe said harshly, “Luca, I’ve already told you Cassia doesn’t need your help with this investigation. She’s capable of doing everything herself. She’s got Stanley to help her. I told you this.”
Luca’s smile dropped. “But I’m a guardian of this town, I can help her with her murder investigation, it’s part of my job. Isn’t it up to Cassia as to whether I help her or not?”
“No,” Blythe’s tone hardened. “It’s up to me.” She turned her attention on me. “Cassia, go back to the mountains now. Don’t let us delay you.” She turned her face away from me and focused on the cup in front of her. Even though I knew what her intentions were, her harsh words still hurt me.
Gilda floated over to us, gave me a friendly smile and said, “Cassia, hello. I understand you’ve met my cousin, Giovanni.” She let out a small laugh. “He’s quite the charmer, isn’t he? He’ll have you falling in love with him before you know it.”
Luca said, “Fall in love? A charmer? Who is this person? What’s he been saying to you, Cassia?”
Stanley explained, “It’s Giovanni. He keeps giving Cassia lots of cuddles and kisses on her cheeks. He gives me cuddles too. He smells lovely.”
Luca stiffened. “I don’t like the sound of this Giovanni chap. He sounds too friendly for my liking. Cassia, I’ll come back with you right now and tell him to keep his hands to himself. I’m not having anyone cuddling and kissing you. What a cheek!”
Blythe suddenly pushed her chair back and got to her feet. “Luca, you’re not going anywhere.” She marched over to the door and pulled it open. “Cassia, off you go. You’ve got important work to do. Let Esther and me know how you get on.” Her tone was cold, but the look in her eyes showed concern.
I quickly took Stanley from Luca’s arms and said, “Of course, we’ll go back there straight away. We’ll see you later. Bye.” I kept my head down as I quickly scurried out of the door. I could feel Luca’s eyes on my back.
As I walked past Blythe, she whispered, “Thank you.”
Once we were out on the street, Stanley said, “Well! Talk about not being wanted. What are we supposed to do with ourselves now?”
“It’s not Blythe’s fault. She’s doing what she thinks is for the best. I don’t want to go back to the mountains until we’ve heard back from Dr Morgan. Why don’t we pop back to Gran’s house for a while and see how Oliver is?”
“Great idea. My brother will be wondering what we’ve been up to.”
We walked along the street and towards a cobbled road which led to a door. The door took us into Gran’s cellar and back into the human world.
Oliver was asleep in his cat basket on the kitchen floor. His rear leg was twitching in the air and he was muttering something about a giant mouse chasing him. He mumbled, “Get off my tail! I didn’t steal your cheese.”
I whispered to Stanley, “Let’s not wake him up. He’ll be in a bad mood if we wake him. You know what he’s like.”
“But I want to talk to him.” Stanley quickly padded over to Oliver and nuzzled his nose into his brother’s neck.
Oliver’s eyes opened and he leapt out of his basket. He raised his paw in the air and yelled, “Who did that? Come out wherever you are! You don’t scare me. I didn’t take your cheese!” He blinked and looked at Stanley in front of him. He lowered his paw. “Stanley! Hello! What are you doing here?”
Stanley chuckled. “We came to see you. Were you having a bad dream?”
Oliver nodded. “I keep having nightmares about a giant mouse who’s after me.” Oliver took a step back and slowly looked Stanley over. “Stanley, what happened to your fur? It looks all thick and healthy. Have you been using a new shampoo?”
Stanley lifted his chin proudly and said, “I do look rather magnificent, don’t I? Esther put a spell on me to keep me warm and it made my fur go like this. Cassia and I have got a new murder investigation at Brimstone Mountains. There’s loads of snow there. Would you like to hear all about i
t?”
“Of course.” Oliver went over to the sofa next to the kitchen table and climbed onto it. “Take a seat at my side, brother.” He looked my way and added, “If you’re expecting me to make you a cup of tea, you’ve got a long wait. Make it yourself.”
Oliver’s words didn’t have any effect on me as he always spoke to me in such a brusque manner. I quickly made myself a cup of tea and returned to the sofa to hear Stanley finishing up his conversation with Oliver. “So, you see, we’re waiting to hear from Dr Morgan about that poison on the sword.”
Oliver nodded slowly and said, “This is very interesting. But one thing is bothering me. What exactly is a yeti?”
“Don’t you know? Haven’t you ever seen one?” Stanley asked in surprise.
Oliver said, “Not that I’m aware of. I’ve never been with Esther to the Brimstone Mountains. It’s far too cold for me there. I like being warm.”
I noticed Gran’s laptop on the kitchen table and went over to retrieve it. I took up my seat again next to Stanley and quickly made an internet search for an image of a yeti. Many images came up, some of them quite frightful. The images were all drawn and not actual photographs.
I turned the computer to Oliver and tapped the screen. “Leonard was similar to some of these drawings, but he didn’t look that fearsome. He had a friendly face.”
Oliver peered at the screen. “I see. I think. He looks like a very hairy man. A tall, hairy man. There’s a link to a video there. Can you click on it?”
I did so and we were taken to YouTube. I said in surprise, “Oh! This is recent footage. It was posted a few weeks ago.” I pressed the play button and enlarged the screen.
The footage showed a yeti running in and out of some bare trees. The images were clear and Stanley and I watched it in astonishment. I felt my mouth dropping open.
Oliver said, “This must be one of those fake videos. Whoever’s made it has done a wonderful job. That creature almost looks real.”
I managed to find my voice and said, “He is real. That’s Leonard.” I enlarged the image of the yeti, paused it and continued, “You can see his distinctive brown eyebrows and his brown beard. His fur is as grey as Stanley’s.”
Stanley pressed his face closer to the screen and said, “Yes, it’s definitely Leonard. Look how happy he is. Someone has filmed him. Who?”
I quickly scrolled down to the comments and saw many disparaging remarks about this being fake footage. There were one or two comments which said it was a marvellous discovery and they couldn’t wait to see more.
Oliver came closer to me and said, “Whoever posted this video has done it as an anonymous user. We need to find out exactly who posted it, and who is behind the filming of this.”
I gave him a surprised look. “You seem to know a lot about internet things.”
Oliver lifted his little chin. “And why wouldn’t I? Just because I’m a cat it doesn’t mean I’m technologically illiterate. I’ve told you about my abilities before. Sometimes, I have spare time on my paws and I like to keep myself busy. I’m quite proficient on the keyboard even though my paws occasionally hit the wrong keys. Without giving too much information away to you because it’s none of your business, I’m a member of many online groups. I’m sure I’ll be able to find out who posted this video.”
Stanley shook his head slowly. “Oliver, you are amazing. Can you show me some of the groups that you’re a member of? Will they let me in too? Can I have an exciting name like Super Stanley or something?”
Oliver gave me a suspicious look. “Stanley, if it were just me and you here, I’d do that for you right now. But I don’t want Cassia knowing my online identities and the passwords I use. I need to go undercover and into the dark web for this kind of investigation.”
I stared at Oliver in silence for a moment.
Oliver noticed me staring at him and said briskly, “I’m not going to get anything done with you sitting there like a stuffed lemon. To say you’re a detective of some sort, you haven’t made the obvious connection yet.” He nodded his head in the direction of the frozen image of Leonard. “Whoever took this footage must have sneaked into Brimstone somehow. Or Leonard must have found a secret passageway into our world. Shouldn’t you go back to Brimstone Mountains and start looking into that? It’s not the first time someone from Brimstone sneaked into our world. Didn’t someone do that on your last investigation or have you already forgotten about that?”
I bristled. “I haven’t forgotten any of my investigations. Oliver, you don’t need to be so rude to me.”
“I’m not being rude; I’m being helpful. Now, do you want me to find out who posted this video or not?” His stern look suddenly softened. “Let me help you, please. Esther and Blythe don’t seem to need my help anymore, and I feel useless sitting at home all day.”
“I would love your help, thank you. And you’re welcome to come back with us to Brimstone Mountains. We could do with your help.”
“No, I prefer to work in the warmth.” He raised his paw towards his basket. “Prop the laptop over there. I like to work from my bed sometimes. Hurry up and finish your tea, I can’t work with you hanging around.”
As ordered, I placed the laptop in the basket, finished my tea and left Oliver to his internet investigation. Stanley rubbed his cheek against his brother’s in farewell and told him we’d come back to see him soon.
I knelt next to Oliver and said, “Thank you for helping us. We appreciate it.”
Oliver moved his head away from me and snapped, “Don’t even think about stroking my head. I can see it in your eyes. Clear off and let me get to work. The internet waits for no cat.”
Chapter 17
We returned to Brimstone via the cellar door and headed to Dr Morgan’s office in the hope that she had some information for us.
She did have some news for us.
“I’ve tested the poison on the sword against the substance I found in Leonard’s blood,” Dr Morgan began, “and I don’t know if this is good news for you or not, but it doesn’t match. I’ve done the test several times and came up with the same result.”
We were in Dr Morgan’s office and Stanley and I were sitting in front of her desk and the doctor was behind it with some papers spread out in front of her.
I asked her, “Have you any idea what the substance is?”
Dr Morgan shook her head. “But I’m running more tests on it as we speak.” She pointed to a small, shiny machine resting on a table at the other side of the room. “I’ve borrowed that from a former colleague. It’s the latest model and I should be able to get a match with the poison very soon. It’s working right now on identifying the substance. It’s amazing, isn’t it? We can barely hear the noise it’s making.”
I gave her a quizzical look. “You’ve borrowed it from a former colleague? How? Did you go back into the human world to get it? Or are there more humans living in this world that I don’t know about?”
Dr Morgan flashed me a smile and I saw the twinkle in her eyes. She stood up and moved over to a door next to the machine. She pulled a key from her pocket and inserted it into the lock. “This is my way back into the doctor’s office that I had in the human world. I still rent it. I like to pop back now and again so that I can go on the Internet and get up-to-date information on the latest research work. It doesn’t hurt to keep learning. I never know when an invention or report that I come across online will help me with my work here.” She beckoned us over.
Stanley and I peeped through the door. I was a little disappointed at the scene in front of us and said, “It looks just like this office. You’ve even got the same pictures on the walls.”
Dr Morgan nodded. “What did you expect? Something from the future? I like things a certain way in this world and the human world. If ever you need to go on the Internet in a rush, feel free to use this door. I can get you a spare key.”
“How did this door appear? Has it always been here? Has anyone from the human world seen you come
through the door into this world?”
Dr Morgan closed the door, locked it and returned to her chair behind her desk. “That’s a lot of questions all at once, Cassia. The door was put there by Blythe many years ago when I asked for her permission to remain in this world on a full-time basis. She said it would be useful to have a way back into my world in case I needed it. And she was right; I do need to go back there now and again. As for someone coming through into this world, that’s not going to happen as Blythe has put an enchanted spell on the door. It means it’s invisible to everyone except me when I’m in the other office.” She gave me a quizzical look. “Why are you asking if any humans have come through?”
I told Dr Morgan about seeing Leonard on YouTube, and that a human must have captured him on film either in Brimstone or in the human world.
I said, “I suspect there’s a passageway located somewhere in Brimstone Mountains which leads into the human world.”
“It’s possible the black magic could have caused that to happen,” Dr Morgan said. “This is a worrying situation. Our residents wouldn’t fare well in the human world. And we don’t want nosy humans popping up all over the place in Brimstone. It would be disastrous.” There was a series of three beeps from the machine at the side of the room. “Ah, it’s finished. Let’s see what the results are.”
She walked over to the machine and looked at the printout at the side of it. She frowned as she read it. “That’s strange. Very strange.”
I went over and looked at the printout. I couldn’t make any sense of the numbers or graphs that were printed on it. I asked, “What’s strange?”
Dr Morgan pointed to the bottom row of numbers. “This is a synthetic poison. It’s man-made. Some of these components are new and are only available to certain medical establishments. Because it’s quite new, I should be able to find out who’s supplying it.” She gave me a serious look. “This means that whoever killed Leonard had access to this new poison. As it’s only available in the human world, your suspect is a human. This is a disturbing turn of events.”
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