“I don’t know,” the guard answered. “I’m not supposed to leave my post.”
“Oh, but they need you,” the woman practically sobbed. “My, oh my, if you don’t go and help, all manner of madness may rain down on them!”
“I’m supposed to protect the exhibit,” he protested.
“Oh my. That is a shame.” Now she sounded like she was having a hard time catching her breath. “But surely there is more to the security for this room than a mere guard. Surely you must have cameras and weight sensors and alarms . . .”
Suddenly the guard sounded kind of eager. “Oh yes, ma’am. We most certainly do. We’ve got all those things.”
“And more guards are probably watching it all on cameras in a control room,” she said.
“Oh no, ma’am, we don’t have that. Mr. Bygones fired them all,” the guard answered her.
“Well, he probably knew they weren’t necessary. Not with all the high-tech equipment you have around here. My, but a lady like me could hardly understand such things . . . That’s why a big, handsome man like you needs to run off and save the day. You need to go to the hall and help. And don’t worry about little, old me. I’ll just take a peek around here until you return. Then I’ll be here to welcome back a hero such as yourself. My, oh my, what broad shoulders you have!”
The next thing we knew, heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway. Going away from the exhibit. Then we heard the tap-tap-tapping sound of a woman’s high heels coming right into the room.
We peeked out and saw a lady in a blue dress stroll in. She had hair the color of the brass doorknobs at our house. And she was wearing a big black hat and long black gloves.
And let me tell you, if I thought her perfume smelled strong before, well, it was nothing compared to how strong it smelled now. This lady must have used the whole bottle.
She started humming as she looked at all the statues in the display cases. But then, to my surprise, she quit looking at the statues. Instead, she glanced up at the ceiling above her, and then at the corners of the room.
That’s when she quit humming. She pulled a little flashlight from her purse and shined it into one of the glass cases. Then she got down on her knees and looked at the base of the display.
All of a sudden, my heart started to pound really loud. I sure hoped she wasn’t going to look at the base of the corner display case. The one we were hiding behind!
Holy Catnip!
I’m sure my eyes were pretty wide when I glanced at my brother. But he just held up his paw and shook his head. I guessed that meant I wasn’t supposed to sweat it, like he always said.
Now we heard loud footsteps pounding up the hallway and coming toward the entrance to the exhibit. They sounded like they probably belonged to a man.
The woman stood up and put her flashlight back into her purse.
Just as Byron Bygones flew into the room.
He stared at the woman and she stared back. He had kind of a funny expression on his face. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or surprised or just trying to look really, really bossy. Or maybe he was kind of happy. But he didn’t even blink. He just kept staring with his dark eyes while his dark brown hair shined in the lights.
I wondered how long they would stand there staring at each other like that.
Finally, a sly smile slid across the woman’s face and she flipped her hair behind her shoulders.
“It’s been a long time, Delilah,” Byron said in a deep voice.
“Why, yes, it has,” she answered smoothly. “When did we run into each other last? Was it in London? Paris? Or Istanbul?”
“I don’t remember the place,” came his booming answer. “I only remember you. And your perfume.”
Well, I had to say, I knew exactly what he meant by that. Because it was going to be a long time before I got the smell of that perfume out of my nose! I would be remembering her perfume for a long time. Whether I wanted to or not!
Now Delilah sort of sashayed over to another display case. “Lovely exhibit you’ve got here. You must have done a lot of sweet-talking to arrange for all this to go on display. Especially since the security doesn’t look very tight for such a valuable collection.”
Byron smiled. “Don’t be fooled, Delilah. Someone tried to break in last night and didn’t succeed. The security only looks loose. But you, of all people, should know that looks can be deceiving.”
“My, my,” she said with a smile. “But I fear your manners have suffered since I’ve seen you last.”
He took a step closer to her. “You’ve come a long way to see this exhibit. Is that all you came to see?”
She let out a little, tinkling laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself, Byron. I was merely in the neighborhood.”
Byron laughed, a lot like the way people laugh in scary movies. “Oh, sure you were. There are some things you simply can’t resist, aren’t there?”
Delilah turned her back to Byron. “And you’re not one of them!”
I turned to Bogey. “Dames?” I whispered.
He nodded. “Yup, kid. Dames.”
Byron circled around until he was back in her line of sight. “If you’re here, then you must be looking for them. Unless you’re looking for something else.”
Them? I wondered who “them” might be.
The woman looked down at a display case. “We’re all looking for something, aren’t we? And judging by that empty case you’ve got there, I’d say you are looking for something, too.”
“I heard they were found. I intend to get my hands on them.” For once, Byron actually sounded kind of excited.
She wiggled her fingers. “Things can change hands very quickly, you know. There can only be one winner.”
Byron kept his eyes on her. “That’s not true, Delilah. There can be two winners. I’d be willing to share.”
Well, I had to say, the more these two talked in circles, the more my head started to spin. For the life of me, I couldn’t make heads nor tails of what they were really saying.
“What are they talking about?” I whispered to Bogey.
“They’re fishing, kid. Fishing for information. But they don’t want the other to know it,” he whispered back.
I was about to say that “something was fishy here” when Bogey held his paw against his lips. Letting me know to be quiet and just listen.
“Why don’t we talk about this in my office,” he told her. “I’ve got a fresh brewed pot of coffee.”
“Vienna coffee?” she smiled.
“Of course,” he answered back. “Just like I always make.”
With those words, she glanced at the entrance to the exhibit. “I didn’t come here for coffee, Byron. But you may escort me out. Since you don’t have what I’m really after.”
Then Bryon scowled and bent his left arm at the elbow. She put her hand on his arm and he walked her out of the room.
I looked at my brother cross-eyed.
“Later, kid,” he said. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now we’d better make a run for it.”
And so we did.
We went flying out of the Daunton Exhibit and passed by the empty chair where the security guard had been sitting before. Then we ran straight down the hallway and turned the corner. This time we didn’t stop. Instead we made a beeline for the Grand Hall.
The closer we got, the louder it got.
Outside the Grand Hall, there were people looking in and looking up. So we ducked around their ankles. They were so busy staring up that they didn’t even see us.
We kept on going until we got inside the Grand Hall. Then we dodged around the feet of a whole crowd of people. But again, they didn’t even notice us since they were all looking up in the air. Finally, we stopped for a second. Just in time to see a scissor lift slowly stretching up toward the skull of the gigantic dinosaur skeleton.
And our friend Ranger was still sitting on top. He yawned and flexed a front paw. All the while, he completely ignored the man operating the scissor lift.
Even though it kept moving up and up and up toward him.
Below the man on the scissor lift, we saw another man on a big ladder. He had climbed up to reach Hector. But for some reason, this seemed to really annoy Hector. He yowled and hissed at the man. Then Hector turned his back to the man and latched his claws deep into a dinosaur bone.
Of course, Hector kept on talking the whole time. Even when the man grabbed him and tugged. Finally, Hector let go and let the man carry him down the ladder. Hector’s Mom stood at the bottom and reached her arms up, ready to take Hector the second he was down.
Beside me, Bogey stood on his back legs and let out a high-pitched yowl. Then he waved at Ranger.
“We’re back!” Bogey yelled to our friend.
Ranger’s ears immediately perked up. He turned in our direction and grinned. Then he gave us a “paws up.”
Just as the man on the scissor lift was almost high enough to reach Ranger, our friend started to make his way down that gigantic skeleton. He went headfirst, and bounced from one vertebra to the next. He kept going until he reached the part of the dinosaur’s back just above the rib cage. Then he leaped down to the floor and ran right over to his Mom.
She grabbed him and hugged him tight while the man in the scissor lift slowly returned back to the ground.
That’s when Bogey and I started looking for our own Mom and Gracie. We spotted them right away. Bogey ran straight for our Mom and put his front paws on her leg. Without even looking at him, she picked him up and cradled him in her arms. All the while, she kept watching the scene in front of us.
I found Gracie and stretched my front legs up her side. She picked me up, too, and cuddled me in her arms. I gave her a kiss on the nose before I turned my head to look for Amelia.
I saw her still sitting on top of the same rubber dinosaur that she’d been on when we left. She waved, tilted her head, and smiled to the people below. A man on a ladder was just climbing up to her, and she let him gently pick her up. Then he carried her down and placed her in her Mom’s arms. Amelia wrapped her own arms around her Mom’s neck and her Mom kissed the top of her head.
Right about then, everyone in the whole room started to clap and cheer. Cameras flashed and people laughed and shouted. Our Mom kissed Bogey’s head, and Gracie started spinning around with me. Around and around and around we went. I threw my arms around her neck and held on for dear life.
A few minutes later, people began to file out of the Grand Hall.
The cat Moms and Gracie all huddled together with us cats. Our Moms began to talk right away.
“I don’t know what got into him,” Ranger’s Mom shouted excitedly. “He’s never done anything like this before. Ever, ever! Well . . . except for the time we camped in the Northern Rockies . . . and well, then there was this other time . . .”
Amelia’s Mom leaned her head on top of Amelia’s head. “I think Amelia did it as a cry for attention. I don’t think she likes being an only cat. Maybe it’s time I started looking for a little cat brother or sister for her.”
Meanwhile, Hector’s Mom crinkled her eyebrows. “I have no idea why Hector acted like this. Maybe he needs another cat in the house, too. Though to tell you the truth, Hector’s enough of a handful, that I never even thought about adopting a second one.”
Gracie smiled while she held me. “Maybe that’s why Buckley and Bogey were so good. They have each other.”
Us cats all looked at each other and grinned. If only the humans really knew what had happened!
Ranger nodded to us. “Did you find some good clues?”
“Yup, thanks to all of you,” Bogey said. “We sure appreciate your help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Happy to help,” Ranger said with a nod. “The view up there was fantastic. As an adventurer, now I can say I’ve even climbed a dinosaur skeleton. That should make for some great tales around a campfire.”
Bogey touched his head like he was tipping a hat. “I’ll bet it will. You did a great job up there!”
“Let me know if I can ever help out again,” Ranger told us. “What a great life you lead, being cat detectives. I always enjoy getting in on your cases.”
“Glad to hear it,” Bogey grinned.
Then he turned to Amelia and sort of got this goofy-eyed look on his face. I could tell he was trying to talk, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out. That’s when I figured I’d better jump in.
“You did a great job, too, Amelia,” I told her. “You jumped right up on that dinosaur and everybody wanted to take your picture.”
Amelia smiled. “It was fun! I’ve never done anything like that before. Maybe I can help with another case sometime, too.”
“We’d love it,” I said with a smile.
And I knew Bogey would especially love it, though he wasn’t able to say so right at the moment.
“I had fun, too,” Hector edged into the conversation. “Did I help out, too, Buckley and Bogey? But hey, what did you guys need help with anyway? Did you plan all this out? Were we supposed to jump on those dinosaurs? Why didn’t you tell me? I didn’t like being up there. I couldn’t hear what people were saying . . .” And he went on and on and on.
“Thanks, Hector,” Bogey tried to say. But it was clear that Hector wasn’t listening.
Us cats stopped talking when our Moms turned and started carrying us out of the Museum.
Along the way, we passed Evaline and Murwood gabbing in a corner.
“We are never, ever, ever having ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Day’ again!” Evaline shrieked.
Murwood rolled his eyes. “Boy, you can say that again.”
“But the good news is,” Evaline went on. “Byron will be blamed for this whole mess. Maybe he’ll even get fired!”
Murwood sat up straight. “And you’ll be the curator.”
Now Evaline smiled. “That’s right.”
Suddenly Murwood’s eyes went wide. “Be sure to give me a raise, okay?”
Evaline crossed her arms. “We’ll see . . .”
And that was the last we heard of them while our Moms and Gracie carried us outside and into the sunshine. They had just about taken us all the way to our cars when we heard it.
A foghorn. Coming from somewhere in the distance.
Bogey and I looked at each other. Then we both glanced around the parking lot and to the small hills around the Museum. Just before our Mom and Gracie put us into our car. Hector’s Mom sat inside with him, too. And with him talking nonstop, we couldn’t hear another thing that was going on outside.
So where in the world had that foghorn sound come from?
Holy Catnip!
CHAPTER 10
____________________________
Holy Mackerel! The whole way home, I kept thinking about those little statues, decorated with all those pretty gems. And I also remembered the way I kept staring and staring at them. Like I was in a trance or something. They were so bright and beautiful that I forgot about everything else.
Including the job I was supposed to be doing.
Which was probably why I didn’t notice those tiny symbols at the bottom of the statues. And for all I knew, those symbols might be the most important clues in our case!
But a good cat detective wasn’t supposed to get distracted like I did. Especially when I should already know lots about distractions anyway. After all, we’d been setting up plenty of distractions ourselves on this case. So I should have had my eyes open for things like that. It was pretty sloppy for me to be the one who got distracted.
No, a good cat detective would have spotted those symbols right away. Like Bogey did.
I closed my eyes and snuggled up to Gracie. Hector and his Mom sat in the backseat with us. As usual, Hector just kept on talking the whole time.
Talk about distractions! It was hard to even think with him gabbing like that!
Gracie hugged me a little tighter. “Didn’t you love the Museum, Buckley?” she whispered in my ear. “Wasn’t
it a great place to visit?”
Boy she sure had that right. It was a great place. I started to purr and pushed my head in under her hair. She giggled and rested her head on top of mine.
Minutes later, we dropped off Hector and his Mom. Then we drove to our house. For once, it was quiet inside the car. But the funny thing was, my ears were still kind of ringing.
Our Dad was waiting for us when we pulled into the garage. He helped us all get out of the car. He took me from Gracie and leaned me over his shoulder.
He kissed our Mom hello and put his arm around Gracie’s shoulders. Our Mom carried Bogey and we all went into the house.
“How was it?” our Dad asked as he set me down on the floor.
Our Mom flopped onto an antique kitchen chair and sort of laughed. “Let’s just say, dinosaur exhibits and cats don’t exactly go together.”
Our Dad’s mouth fell open. “Don’t tell me . . .”
“Oh yes,” our Mom said. “Some of the cats climbed those skeletons like they were cat towers.”
“But Buckley and Bogey were good!” Gracie informed him. “They were the only cats who didn’t climb the dinosaurs.”
Gracie smiled down at us. We rubbed around her legs and she petted us on our heads.
“Now, Buckley and Bogey, it’s time for me to go practice the piano,” she told us. “I sure wish all you cats could come to my recital.”
I sure wished we could, too. I loved when Gracie played the piano. The music was so wonderful. It would be fun to see her perform on the stage.
I purred with pride for her as I watched her walk out of the kitchen.
Then our Mom got up to leave, too. “I don’t think we’ll see another ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Day’ any time soon,” she said to our Dad.
He sort of chuckled as he followed her out. “I still wonder whose idea it was in the first place . . .”
I glanced at my brother and he grinned back at me. I was proud of him, too.
“It’s too bad no one will ever know that ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Day’ was your idea,” I told him.
He flexed his front paw. “Doesn’t matter, kid. It’s all in a day’s work.” He pulled out a bag of cat treats he had stashed beneath a cabinet.
The Case of the Jewel Covered Cat Statues Page 8
