Mystery at the Pet Food Corp.

by Eleanor Kittering

  Mandy got home and parked her car, but as she got out, she noticed with alarm her front door open. She remembered closing her door before she left, so that seemed strange. She didn't like the what she saw and felt as though something bad had happened. She walked in and saw her home had been trashed - not crazy trashed but things were overturned, with Roger nowhere in sight.

  “Roger, where are you baby? Are you here? Roger?”

  She kept calling out to Roger but she got no reply. She looked under tables and sofas. Perhaps he had gotten spooked and hidden somewhere. But Roger wouldn't hide. He would fight. Something just didn't add up here. He might have been kidnapped! She remembered what Thomas Parks had said.

  “I'll do whatever it takes to stop the commercial with the cat.” Could he have taken Roger so they wouldn't make the commercial? Mandy called Fred.

  “Oh, Fred, my place has been broken into and Roger is missing! I've looked all over the house, nothing seems to be missing except Roger. I think this could be Thomas Parks' doing.”

  “Mandy, how does Thomas Park fit into this??”

  “Well, at the funeral I overheard him arguing with Carol Stamis he didn't want to make the commercial with the cat. When I went to visit Hedon in person, again Thomas Parks and Carol were having a big argument about doing the commercial with Roger. He finished his tantrum by saying he would do whatever it took to stop the commercial. I think this is part of it, steal the cat so there wouldn't be a cat to make a commercial with.”

  “Again, Mandy, we have no proof, only a conversation between two people. Maybe he just meant cutting off the funding for the commercial. I mean, he's still an owner of the business, it's possible business isn't doing so hot and he feels spending money on a commercial is money ill spent.”

  “Yes, but here's the thing, I think Carol and Thomas are having an affair. He said once he got the payout for the insurance they wouldn't have to work as hard. It makes me suspect he killed his wife.”

  “Mandy, Mandy, you're jumping to conclusions. First of all, they could have been having an affair from way before. There's also the possibility that Thomas and Stacy had married for convenience and Stacy didn't care about his indiscretions as long as he kept them discreet.” Fred tried to be the voice of reason.

  “All this is very probable, but there's something creepy about him. He puts on a good act, but behind the scenes he's having an affair and didn't even wait until they buried his wife to suggest to Carol they could run away together. I heard him at the funeral. That's more than a little tacky, don't you think? I wouldn't put it past him to kidnap Roger.” As she spoke, Mandy, got more and more upset.

  “Again, we have no proof. I know you're upset Mandy, and rightly so, because somebody stole Roger, but you can't go off accusing people. Anyway, stay put I'm coming over to see what happened and bringing one of the lab guys with me. You never know, we may find something. Meanwhile, don't touch anything. You may contaminate or remove evidence by mistake.”

  “All right, but hurry, I'm beginning to freak out at what they might do to Roger.”

  Fred arrived in no time and he started to look around.

  “Somebody definitely broke in. And I see what you mean, it's trashed a little, not a lot, like when somebody is looking for things of value. Is anything missing at all, other than Roger?”

  “No, I've checked all around, my jewelry, knickknacks, anything resembling something that had value and nothing is missing. Only Roger.”

  “I truly have no idea why anyone would want to kidnap a cat. Although, he recently became a celebrity. It could be something as simple as somebody wanting a celebrity cat for themselves and they decided to take him.”

  “That's not a likely scenario, Fred. First of all, you've seen Roger when he gets agitated; he's not going to take a kidnap attempt lying down. He's going to fight for his life. I saw this window broken. It's like somebody pushed a gun through. I think they drugged him because it's the only way they could have taken him. They shot him with a tranquilizer dart, waited till he became unconscious, came in grabbed him and took him.” Mandy laid out her possible scenario.

  “It sounds like it would have to be a sophisticated operation, Mandy. Not everybody has access to tranquilizer guns for animals and knows the right tranquilizer for what animal. Somebody had experience doing this.”

  “Which brings me back to Thomas Parks. I'm not saying he did it himself, but he could have hired somebody to take Roger; so the commercial couldn't be made. Carol Stamis definitely wanted to do the commercial, she had no problem with it. But apparently he had some problem with doing this commercial now. And he's the kind of guy who'll get his way one way or another.”

  “Well, I'll keep this in mind, Mandy, and see if there's a way I could follow up on him without attracting attention. Meanwhile, Rob, please check the place for prints and anything else. We're going to try to get lead on who did this.”

  “Sure Fred, I'll look at everything.”

  “In the meantime, Mandy, why don't you come down with me to the station and make a statement. I'm sorry about Roger, but there are a lot of reasons why he may be missing. Even something as simple as running away. He could have gotten spooked by the burglars and taken off. Perhaps he's only heroic if he has to protect you, but for everything else, he runs away. Running away is a survival tactic too Mandy, animals don't always confront their enemies. Sometimes the safest bet is to run away. He may come back later. But somebody definitely did break into your house. That's no accident.”

  Once at the station, Mandy filled out a report. She felt so bad at losing Roger. Now what would she do? She had all these plans for getting Roger into all these projects. Roger has gone missing, and it appeared somebody stole him, stolen so he wouldn't be in a commercial.

  “You know, Fred, we were going to hang out with me doing a reading for you. All I did is bring you more police work.”

  “It's okay, Mandy. I'm truly sorry someone broke in and Roger is missing. Let's hope he just ran away and he turns up later. I'll also see if Rob turned anything up when he gets back. You never know, it's possible they left evidence behind.”

  “Thanks Fred, I'll head home. Call me if you hear anything and likewise, I'll let you know if Roger turns up.”

  By the time Mandy got home, Rob was finishing up his tests.

  “Hi, Mandy, I'm about finished up here. I'll let you know if we find anything. Sorry about Roger, let's hope he turns up sooner than later.”

  “Thanks Rob. In this preliminary investigation, did anything look suspicious?”

  “We won't know for sure till I run this through the lab. You definitely had a break in. I noticed some tracks on your carpet. Look like they were made with a large foot. So, definitely someone came walking by here. Let's hope it tells us something.”

  “Ok, thanks again Rob.”

  Mandy was devastated at the thought of Roger being taken and the possibility of him being harmed. All because somebody didn't want him to be in a commercial. She wanted to start crying, but she pulled herself together and decided to call Jill. She might have some ideas regarding this, she thought.

  “Hi, Jill.”

  “Hi, Mandy, you don't sound so good.”

  “You're not going to believe this, but somebody kidnapped Roger.”

  “What!? What happened, how do you know??”

  Mandy proceeded to tell Jill the whole story.

  “But wait, didn't you get a tracker implant in Roger after the last time he disappeared? Remember?”

  “You're right, I totally forgot about that! If he was taken or if he's lost, we could track him down.”

  Mandy pulled out her cell phone and started the app to see if it would track where Roger was.

  “Jill, I'm not getting a signal.”

  “Try hitting the reset button, sometimes it takes a couple of seconds before it kicks in.”

  Mandy hit the reset button and waited to see if she received a signal from Roger. But still nothing.

&n
bsp; “Nope, no signal. What could have happened? I thought these things are supposed to work?”

  “Well, it's possible they're using a jammer. Whoever did this knew what they were doing and he would have used a jammer if he suspected a tracker implant. Installing tracker chips in animals is pretty commonplace nowadays, so using the jammer made sure nobody could track Roger.”

  “Jill, I'm pretty sure this is the work of Thomas Parks. I'm sure he didn't do it personally, but he hired somebody to make sure Roger couldn't be found. He was very adamant about making sure that they didn't make a commercial.”

  “Well, since we don't have any other suspects, let's do this, let's put a tracker on Thomas Parks' car. We can keep tabs on where he is going and or if he tries to go somewhere far.”

  “Good idea,, but where are we going to get such a thing??”

  “I know a place. I'll get the tracker and meet you at your house.”

  A half hour later, Jill arrived at Mandy's place.

  “Okay, I have the tracker, now we have to find Thomas Parks.”

  “He's probably still at work. if we hurry we could probably catch him there.

  They took Jill's car to Hedon and waited in the parking lot. After about 45 minutes, they saw Thomas Parks.

  “There he is. Another day at the office and now he's going home for the day. I'll follow him and let's see where he takes us.”

  Jill followed Parks' car so when he parked again, she could place the tracker on the car. After 40 minutes, he got off the turnpike and headed into one of the more suburban parts of the area. Lots of fancy one-family homes in this neighborhood.

  “Okay, so that's where Thomas Parks lives. Nice little place; I wouldn't mind coming home to that kind of home every day.”

  The house was big and luxurious, but not a mansion. Thomas parked on the driveway and went in the house.

  “Okay, we may not get another chance like this. I'm going to run and put this on his car. I'll be right back.”

  Jill ran as fast as she could without attracting attention and put the tracker on his back fender, then ran back to her car.

  “Okay, let's see if this contraption works.”

  Jill pulled out her cell phone and started the app for the tracker. Sure enough, she could see a flashing light indicating the car's location.

  “Ok, it works. Now let's sit here for a while and see if Thomas leaves the house again. He might lead us to Roger.”

  After about twenty minutes, Parks left the house again. Jill let him go for a while before starting to follow him. She saw the car as a blip on her phone as he drove away.

  “Okay, we're at a good distance so he can't tell we're following him. Let's see where he goes. After about ten minutes of driving, they noticed Thomas slowing down.

  “And it looks like he's going to. . . A diner. Well, it figures, it is dinner time. He would go to a diner. Well, we'll wait in the parking lot and see where he goes afterwards.”

  “I watched him the day he had the blowout with Carol Stamis and after she left, he stayed eating. He's definitely the kind of guy who values food above other things.”

  “Well, we're going to have to stake him out here and see what his next move might be.”

  *****

  On the other side of town, two hired hands were speaking together about their latest job. They were toting a specially equipped pet carrier with a radio frequency jammer and a sleeping cat inside.

  “Are we any closer to this place? Did you get the right address?”

  “Don't worry, this is easy. Went to the house and spotted the cat. We tranquilized him and took him. Nabbed him and bagged him. We deliver the cat, we get our money and we leave. I've done business with these people before and they always pay. And because it's a discreet job, they pay very well.”

  “Well, I get worried.”

  “Don't worry, we got the cat, we're going to deliver him, they pay us, we get lost, end of story. They're not going to talk either, because they don't want this cat hanging around, something about not making a commercial. I don't care why they want the cat. We provide a service, they pay, and everybody's happy in the end. See, all that vet training for wild animals paid off. Every once in a while we get to do one of these discreet jobs and we make some extra money. And don't worry about the cat, he's tough, he's just in dreamland right now.”

  They got to their destination and took out the cat carrier. They rang the bell and someone opened the door.

  “We got the cat.”

  The person at the door looked at the cat carrier and looked at them.

  “Is the cat okay?” the doorkeeper asked.

  “The cat's fine, the tranquilizer will wear off in a couple of hours and he'll be right as rain. Do you have the money??”

  “Yeah, here's the envelope.”

  The cat napper took the envelope and counted the money.

  “Perfect. It's a pleasure doing business with you. Feel free to call me if you have any other discreet jobs in the future.”

  “We'll see. Thanks.”

  *****

  Mandy and Jill had followed Thomas Parks from the diner back to his house. After a couple of hours they realized he retired for the rest of the night.

  “Mandy, in light of our situation, this is as good as we're going to do tonight. We got the tracker on him, and he's having a regular night. He probably hired somebody to do the job and they're the ones holding Roger. It clears him of all complicity and the deed can't be traced back to him, see?”

  “Why would anybody kidnap Roger?” Mandy asked.

  Jill said, “Well, from what you tell me, Parks is the one with the most to lose from this commercial, whatever his motives are. Perhaps he's trying to lie low. But for some reason, he doesn't want to make this commercial and he's willing to hire people to take Roger out of the picture. And it's people who know what they're doing because they knew how to jam the tracker and knew how to use a tranquilizer gun. The only thing we can do for now is to keep an eye on Thomas Parks and see if he tries going anywhere not related to work, home or the diner.”

  “You're right. Let's go to Joanie's and get something to eat.” Mandy said.

  “I'm starving but I can understand if you're not hungry.” Jill continued.

  “I'll eat a little something.” Mandy said in a slightly defeated voice.

  “Look at it this way. We managed to get a tracker on this guy, and if they're jamming Roger, it means he's still alive. I don't think they want to harm him, just want him out of the way. So, we did a lot of good work tonight.” Jill tried to re-assure Mandy.

  Jill started the car and both headed for Joanie's coffee shop, having had some luck for the night, but not the luck they wanted - Thomas Parks leading them to Roger.

  Chapter Seven

  Roger woke up in a strange cage, large and comfortable, but he wondered where Mandy could be. As he walked around the very large cage with a comfortable floor, he noticed he had a bed, a feeding dish and even a kitty litter box. He also saw many other cages around. He still felt groggy, but he had a good feeling that made him mellow.

  He looked around and saw there were animals in the other cages like his. All the animals were quiet, either sleeping or playing with toys in their cages; none of them seemed unhappy. Roger still felt groggy, so he went back to sleep.

  Later somebody came by with food, cooked food, not from a can. The smell of chicken filled his nose, he looked forward to eating. Hey, this isn't bad, he thought. Roger figured sooner or later Mandy would pick him up and they would go home. In the meantime, he would eat and relax.

  Soon after, a man in a white coat came around and peered into his cage. “Ah, you've woken up, my feline friend. Good, good, I hope you are enjoying our hospitality.” He held a pad to write notes and he stopped at each cage to speak to the animal and make notes on the animal's condition.

  The man seemed friendly, Roger thought: I'm sure Mandy will come and pick me up at some point. So he sat around, listening to the relaxi
ng music. There's nothing threatening about this place, he thought. The other animals, too, seemed mellow.

  The man in the white coat talked to his associate “Well, the large tabby seems to have woken up finally. He appears to be in good spirits and well adjusted. Just make sure we feed him regularly and at some point, try to play with him and see what toy he likes best.”

  The associate went to another room where they kept animal toys. He selected a couple and tried each with Roger, who thought to himself, Hey, this is fun, they even want to play with me. I like this toy. Eventually Roger picked out his favorite toy, and the man left him playing with it, scratching it with his hind legs, like some prey he had caught in his imagination.

  *****

  Meanwhile, Mandy had worried herself sick about Roger. By mid-morning she thought she would call Carol Stamis and tell her what happened. Maybe she had a clue about what had happened to Roger.

  “Hi, Carol?”

  “Oh, hi, Mandy.”

  “Carol, I hate to call out of the blue like this, but somebody kidnapped Roger.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, I called just to make you aware of this situation, not knowing when you planned on shooting this commercial, but I truly don't know what's happened to Roger.”

  She proceeded to tell Carol Stamis the story of her break-in and the police investigation as a result.

  “I am so sorry, Mandy, I really looked forward to working with Roger. I can hardly believe somebody would kidnap an animal, but this is the crazy world we live in. Well, keep me posted on your progress, and I'm really sorry to hear about Roger.”

  “I will, Carol, I will.”

  Well, it seemed Carol Stamis sounded truly surprised and concerned about Roger's disappearance. It would be hard to consider her a suspect on the catnapping. Mandy could feel her disappointment and wondered how this had all happened. Meanwhile, Carol Stamis thought to herself, could Tom have really stooped so low as to kidnap an animal? She wouldn't put it past him. When he wanted his way, he behaved like a child and this would not be so farfetched. She would confront him about it this afternoon.