Mystery at the Pet Food Corp.

by Eleanor Kittering

  “Well, with the whole Stacy Parks taint, I don't think it will be good for the brand.”

  “We'll see. Well, Mandy, since this has all blown over, do you think you can find time to do an astrological chart for me, and maybe a Tarot card reading? I'm still as stressed out as ever and I need something, anything, to give me some direction in life.” Fred asked hopefully.

  “Fred, I'm going to do it this week, and we'll see what the chart says for you. It's not going to hurt us to discuss these things at Joanie's, so you can get away from this neighborhood.” Mandy said happily.

  “Yes, anything to get away from crime busting and shop talk.” Fred said, heaving sigh of relief.

  “Well, it's a deal. I'll send you an email asking you for some information, time of birth, and anything else I might need while doing the chart.”

  “Anything you need, Mandy, just let me know.”

  “I'm hopeful we can get you on a new trajectory in life.”

  “I like it already.”

  “Well, I'm going to head over to the insurance company. Believe it or not, today is the big day.”

  “You get the payout. You deserve it, Mandy, you're good people.”

  “Jill, too. I'm going to split it with her. She helped me so much with this whole process of catching Thomas Parks.”

  “Yeah, Jill is a good egg.”

  After her conversation with Fred, Mandy left the police station and gave Jill a call.

  “Hi, I'm heading over to the insurance company now. You want to meet me there?”

  “Sounds great. I'll be right there.”

  Twenty minutes later, Mandy and Jill sat in the office of Ralph, the insurance agent she had struck up the deal with in the first place.

  “Hi Mandy, nice to see you again.”

  “This is my friend Jill.”

  “Hi, Jill, nice to meet you. Mandy, never in a million years did the company think seemingly honest people perpetrated this type of fraud. You had your suspicions, but somebody faking her own death, that's highly unusual these days. But you caught them, red-handed, and had all the proof she lived and breathed in spite of what she wanted us to believe. You saved the company a lot of money. Although we're of the opinion a stronger sentence should have been handed down by the judge, nevertheless, we did get a conviction. So, as agreed, here is your check.”

  Mandy couldn't believe she held in her hand a check for a million dollars with her name on it.

  “Well, it's going to go to the both of us; I couldn't have done any of this without Jill's help, the brains instrumental in catching the Parks.”

  “However you want to use it, Mandy, it's your money now.”

  They shook hands with Ralph and left his office and headed to the bank.

  “You know, I'll deposit this, and since we bank at the same place, we can talk to one of the managers about transferring funds or my writing a check to you for half right away.” Mandy said.

  “I know one of the managers there and she'll set us up.” Jill said.

  “Can you believe it? Two months ago I wondered what to do for a living to make money, and how could I get a real job. And now two months later, here we are, half a million dollars richer.” Mandy said, happy to have the check in her hand.

  “Yep. It's almost like one of those mystery stories where the bad guys are caught, and the good guys come out ahead.” Jill said jokingly.

  “Yeah, but that never happens in real life.”

  “Well, it happened to us. I wonder what we can do with the money, you know, like start a business, or invest. We need to keep some kind of income coming in.” Jill said.

  “Hey, maybe we can open up a pet grooming business.” Mandy said, thinking out loud.

  “Hey, that sounds like a good idea. We'll be dealing with animals all the time, and people pay a lot to have their pets pampered. We'll have to study and see what the business really entails.” Jill thought.

  “In the meantime, let's go put this money in the bank, get Roger and get something to eat at Joanie's later.” Mandy said.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Jill said as they both planned their afternoon.

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