The Case of Too Many Clues

by Cindy Vincent

  I glanced at the ceiling for a moment as I ate my treat. “Wait a minute . . . didn’t we get those diamonds before Garnet’s store was robbed?”

  “Yup, kid. So either those diamonds don’t belong to Garnet, or Garnet was actually robbed twice. And didn’t even know it. Could be someone stole those loose stones before they did the big robbery. Maybe they were doing a trial run before the real thing.”

  I gasped. “Wow, we’re dealing with a really smart crook.”

  “You got that right, kid,” Bogey said with a nod. “And now they might be trying to set up our family. To take the fall.”

  My mouth dropped open wide, because I sure didn’t like the sound of that. “Take the fall?”

  Bogey passed us each some more treats. “Go to jail, kid.”

  Right about then, I think my heart skipped a beat. Maybe even two. “That would be horrible! I don’t want our Mom and Gracie to go to jail! What do we do now?”

  Bogey shook his head. “I don’t think we have much choice, kid. Like it or not, we’ve gotta go to that cat treat factory.”

  “We do?” I swallowed another treat.

  “Yup, kid. We need to follow the clues. Because there’s something pretty suspicious about that Mr. Pennypacker. And I’d like to know what he’s got to do with all this.”

  I thought of the swarm of bees that almost got us today and my paws started to shake. “We might be walking into another bad setup. An even bigger trap,” I sort of murmured.

  “Don’t I know it, kid. Don’t I know it,” Bogey said before he passed us each another round of treats. Then he stashed the bag of treats back into their hiding place. “It’s a chance we’ll have to take. To keep our family safe.”

  Deep down inside, I knew Bogey was right. We had to stop the person who was doing all this. Before they tried to hurt our family even more. Or tried to hurt some innocent cats like they’d done today. Still, I didn’t exactly like the idea of going smack dab into another scary situation. A possible setup.

  But when it came to protecting my family, there was nothing I wouldn’t do. Even if it was scary.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 17

  Holy Mackerel!

  That night, I was so nervous I could barely even sleep after Bogey and I ran our last surveillance round. I just kept on wondering what was going to happen when we went to the cat treat factory the next day. Thanks to our encounter with the bees, I wondered if we might be walking into a very big trap. Plus, I also wondered why we’d never heard of the St. Gertrude Cat Treat Factory before. And with all that wondering, it sure made it hard for a guy like me to get some shut-eye.

  But I must have fallen asleep at some point. Because I woke up when the sun started to peek in through the windows. Much to my surprise, Bogey was already out of his bed and nowhere in sight.

  A few minutes later, Gracie was up, too. She made a beeline for the kitchen and got right to work making her cupcakes. I watched her from my bed as she gathered all the ingredients and mixed everything in a bowl with some beaters. Then she poured the batter into cupcake pans that were lined with cupcake papers. After that, she popped the pans into the oven.

  Then Gracie set the timer and smiled. I knew she had hosted lots of parties before. And there was something about getting ready for a party that always made her extra happy.

  Though I didn’t think she would have been so happy if she’d heard the commotion Garnet had caused the night before. Right in our very own dining room. Thankfully, Gracie must have been so worn-out yesterday that she slept through the whole thing.

  She glanced my way and her eyes went wide. “Buckley, you look pretty tired! Maybe you should just stay in bed for a while and get some sleep.”

  If only I could.

  Our Mom and Dad didn’t exactly look rested, either, when they finally made it down to the kitchen.

  Gracie shook her head at them. “Am I the only one who got a good night’s sleep last night?”

  Our Mom wrapped her arms around Gracie and gave her a nice hug. “I smell cupcakes baking. You’re getting really good at this.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Gracie said. “It’s so much fun to make cupcakes. I love baking.”

  Our Mom yawned. “Do you need any help getting ready for your party?”

  “Nope, Mom, I’ve got it covered,” she said with excitement in her voice. “After I make my cupcakes, I’m going to decorate the living room a little bit. And I’ve got my game all ready to go. Plus, I’ve got a basket where everyone is supposed to leave their cell phones when they come in.”

  I had to say, I really hoped Gracie’s party turned out to be terrific. And I sure hoped Officer Phoebe didn’t have the answers about those diamonds until after the party was over. But most of all, I hoped Bogey and I did have some answers before the day was through. Answers that would help us put a stop to the person who had been leaving all these clues for us. Not to mention, causing big problems for our family and putting innocent kittens in danger.

  I got up and stretched as our Mom filled our dishes with cat kibble. Then I grabbed a quick bite while she started to cook breakfast for the humans in the family. Once my belly was nice and full, I headed to the office. In search of my brother.

  Along the way, I ran across the Princess. “Oh, Buckley,” she moaned. “I heard what happened last night. And it’s all my fault. I never should have left those diamonds out there. I should have put them away before we ran upstairs. I was just sure I’d have time to come back down and get them. Before any people were around.” Her eyes were misty and she kept wringing her paws.

  I shook my head. “It’s not your fault, Princess. Someone set us up by putting those diamonds on our front porch in the first place. Now Bogey and I just need to figure out who’s behind all this. To keep our family safe.”

  “Thank you, Buckley. You’re so brave,” she murmured as she stared at me with her big, green eyes. And she kept on staring. Finally, she gave me a quick hug and raced for the stairs.

  Well, it was a good thing the Princess took off when she did, or I would have been in big trouble. Especially since the room had already started to spin, and I had to take a whole bunch of deep breaths so I didn’t flop over. When I finally recovered a little, I blinked a few times and made a beeline for our home office. Bogey was just hopping down from our Mom’s desk when I got there. For some reason, I had the idea that he might be upset after all that had happened the night before. Or I thought he might be tired. Or something.

  Instead, he just greeted me with a big grin. “You ready to roll, kid? I’ve got the whole thing set up.”

  I’m sure my chin practically hit the hardwood floor. “You do?”

  More than ever, I wished I could be like my big brother. Even when bad things happened, he was never too upset to do his job. He could always think about the case and stay focused, no matter what was going on around us.

  He gave me a nod and glanced up at the front door. “Yup, kid. The doorbell will be our cue. When it rings, get ready to zoom outside. We’ll hide on the porch until our ride gets here.”

  I blinked a few times. “Huh?”

  He grinned again. “I ordered flowers. For Gracie,” he explained.

  Well, to tell you the truth, Bogey’s explanation left a lot more unexplained than it left explained.

  I tilted my ears in his direction. “So the flower delivery person is going to give us a ride to the cat treat factory?”

  Bogey motioned to the front door. “Nope, kid. I’ve got something else arranged.”

  I crinkled my brow. “You do? How . . .? When . . .?”

  “Just finished, kid. Did it all online and paid for it from my bank account.”

  “The one our Mom and Dad don’t know about?” I asked him, though I already knew the answer.

  Bogey grinned. “That’s the one, kid. From the money I made doing cat food commercials. Long ago.”

  I glanced up the stairs. “Is Mitzi coming, too?”

  Bogey shook
his head. “She and her pal have cat karate lessons this morning. Then Lil, Trixie, and the kittens are going to run surveillance. Before Gracie’s party. They’ll hand the reins over to us when we get back. And then we’ll handle security during the party.”

  Holy Catnip! Bogey sure had done a lot already this morning. And to think, the only thing I’d done so far was to get up and eat breakfast. Maybe I needed to do a better job as a cat detective. After all, how could I teach CDITs if I didn’t step up to the plate myself? And take on a little more responsibility?

  But I didn’t have a single second to dwell on it. Because the doorbell rang, and that’s when Bogey and I stood at attention. Ready to jump into action. Especially when we saw our Mom head to the door with her coffee cup in hand.

  She peeked through the peephole and shook her head. “Well, once again, we have a surprise visitor at our front door. At least this one looks like a happy surprise.” She pulled the door open, and we saw a blonde lady standing there with a vase full of pretty pink flowers.

  “Delivery for Gracie Abernathy,” the lady said.

  Gracie joined them at the door. “For me? Nobody’s ever sent me flowers before.”

  “Who are they from?” our Mom asked.

  Gracie pulled off the little card that was attached to the flowers and read it out loud. “It says, ‘From your friends. Looking forward to the party.’”

  And that’s when Bogey gave me the signal to run.

  So we did. We slid smoothly past everyone’s legs and took a sharp left turn. Then we hid on the front porch behind some chairs with big cushions.

  We heard Gracie gush from inside the house. “Awww . . . that was really sweet of my friends to send me flowers.”

  “It certainly was,” our Mom agreed.

  “Somebody sure likes you a lot,” the delivery lady said to Gracie. “Because this was a rush order. Whoever ordered these even paid extra to have them delivered right away. And I do mean, ‘right away!’”

  “That’s so nice,” Gracie said. “I’ll be sure to put them out for my party.”

  And with that, the delivery lady said a quick good-bye and ran down the steps. She got in her car and took off.

  I tilted my head at my brother. “Umm . . . so far so good. Now how do we get to the cat treat factory?”

  “Drive-N-Dash, kid,” Bogey said with a grin. “I ordered and paid for it over the Internet. They’ve got instructions on where to take us and when to pick us up.”

  “Huh?” I turned and watched the little blue car that was practically crawling up our street. “Drive-N-Dash?”

  “Yup, kid. It’s like a taxi. Only drivers use their own cars to take people around. That’s how they make their money.”

  I felt my eyes go wide. “And I guess they drive cats around, too?”

  Bogey shrugged. “Their website didn’t say otherwise.”

  “So we don’t know . . .” I started to say.

  But Bogey interrupted me with, “Let’s shake a leg, kid.”

  And I knew just what he meant. So we raced to the curb together. Then we sat up nice and tall as the car pulled up.

  A young man got out and came to the passenger side of the car. He had long, silky brown hair and lots of earrings in his ears. He was wearing a shirt that looked like a whole bunch of paint bottles had exploded on it.

  At first he glanced at our front door and then he looked down at us. “I have a pickup order for Buckley and Bogey.”

  Bogey grabbed the hem of the driver’s long shorts and tugged.

  The young man smiled. “What is it, little cat dude? Do you know who Buckley and Bogey are?”

  We both responded by meowing at him. A bunch. Then Bogey reached up to the door handle on the front passenger side. I did the same, only on the back door.

  The young man’s eyes went wide.

  Really, really wide.

  “Dudes . . .” he sort of choked. “Are you . . . are you . . .?”

  Bogey meowed again and reached up to give the young man a paw bump.

  The driver gasped in amazement. “Did you just fist bump me, little cat dude? Seriously? Okay, okay . . . I’m cool with that. So I’m guessing you’re Buckley and Bogey. And you ordered a Drive-N-Dash. Wow! I never had any cats order a Drive-N-Dash before. But hey, sure . . . I’ll take you. I don’t discriminate against Feline-Americans. Let me get the door for you. My name is Dave and I’ll be your driver.”

  He opened both the front and back doors on the passenger side of his car.

  “Which one of you cats is Bogey?” Dave asked.

  Bogey gave him a nod and jumped in the front seat.

  “Cool!” Dave said with a big smile. “So I guess the big dude is Buckley.”

  I purred up to him and then jumped into the backseat.

  “Nice to meet you both,” he told us.

  Well, I had to say, it was nice to meet him, too. He buckled us in with seat belts before he shut the doors and got back in the driver’s seat. Then he drove very carefully and talked to us the whole way to the cat treat factory. He even pointed out some historic landmarks and told us about how he was going to school to be an auto mechanic. All in all, I thought it was pretty interesting. Not to mention, it was a really nice service for us cats. Plus, it only took twenty minutes to get there. Then Dave opened our doors, unbuckled our seat belts, and let us out.

  “Have a good time tasting all those cat treats, little dudes,” he told us as we all stood in the parking lot. “I’ll pick you up in an hour. Nice doing business with you.”

  Bogey and I each gave him paw bumps, and his eyes went even wider than before. “Dudes!” was the last thing he said before he got in his car and drove away.

  After that, we joined a group of people who were carrying their cats into the front room of the cat treat factory. Once everyone was inside, the whole group stood in a half-circle, like they were waiting for something. Bogey and I hid behind the legs of a large man who was holding a couple of gray kittens.

  “Bogey,” I whispered. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t sweat it, kid. I signed us up for a tour of the factory. So we could get inside the main areas. With no questions asked.”

  Well, I could always count on Bogey to come up with a good plan. Though I sure wished I could come up with some good plans myself a little more often. But the truth was, Bogey was still the pro and I was still the rookie. No matter how much I learned about being a cat detective.

  I glanced up as a lady came through some swinging metal doors and stood in front of our group. She had long, shiny silver hair and wore a shiny silver top. She welcomed our whole group and started to tell us all about the cat treat factory. She also pointed out big barrels full of cat treats. And bags and bags of cat treats on the shelves.

  After that, she held one of the swinging doors wide open. Then the whole group went in to the giant room where they mixed and baked the treats.

  And let me tell you, I could hardly believe my eyes. I glanced around and I was absolutely amazed by all the different kinds of treats that were being made. There were some on pans that had just come out of the oven and were ready to be put into bags. Then there were others that were still in the oven. But whether those treats were already cooked or just being cooked, their scent filled the air.

  I’ve never smelled anything so wonderful before in my life. Not even when our Mom and Dad cooked a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Because the whole big room was just filled with a huge cloud of delicious scents. It made my heart start to pound and my mouth start to water. Right before my stomach started to growl. It even kind of gave me the shivers. I smelled turkey and fish, and caviar and liver. All fresh. All being made that very day. The different smells were all mixed up together, making one big, heavenly scent. For a moment or two, I felt like I was floating on a sea of cat treats. Treats as far as the eye could see. I was surrounded by so many treats that I could never ever eat them all.

  It even made me forget that we were on a case.

>   And that I was supposed to be investigating.

  But I came right back down to earth when I spotted a little jar with a shiny black lid. Hidden right behind one of the huge mixing bowls. The beaters in that bowl were whirring around and around and around as they stirred cat treat batter. Almost like the beaters Gracie had used to mix her cupcakes. Only much, much bigger. Probably about forty times bigger. And faster.

  And scarier.

  Yet if we wanted to get to that clue, I knew we had to go right past that bowl with those big, gigantic spinning beaters. Just the thought of it made me start to shake in my paws.

  I gulped and turned to my brother. To see if he had spotted the clue, too.

  And that’s when I saw something so shocking that I could hardly believe it. If I thought I’d been scared before, well, it was nothing compared to how I felt right at that moment. Because Bogey’s eyes had taken on kind of a glazed look. And he seemed to have trouble breathing. In fact, he was kind of panting and gasping.

  He finally managed to sputter, “Sooooo many cat treats, kid. So many, many, many treats . . . everywhere . . . all around us. Can’t think straight, kid . . . eyes hazing over. Brain fogging up. Just soooo many treats . . .”

  Then I saw his eyes start to roll and he began to wobble.

  I’d never seen Bogey like this before.

  Was he going to be okay?

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 18

  Holy Mackerel!

  There we were, at the St. Gertrude Cat Treat Factory, and we were practically surrounded by cat treats! And let me tell you, I was having a tough time concentrating with all those treats around. But Bogey was having an even harder time than I was.

  He just kept babbling on and repeating things like, “Soooo many cat treats, kid.” He wobbled when he walked and he drooled when he talked. And when he did talk, he didn’t exactly make a lot of sense.

  All the while, I was busy staring at the clue that I figured we were supposed to find. I could see the little jar with the shiny black lid on the other side of the room. It was just behind a gigantic mixing bowl that was turning around and around. With big, scary beaters whirling inside that bowl.