Mystery at the Hedge Fund

by Eleanor Kittering

  “Oh yes, on that front I am happy to say I contacted my friend who works at social services and they have reached out to Lucy. Apparently there is a special program for single mothers allowing them to get prepped for the high school equivalency diploma exam for free. My friend told me Lucy was very proactive and has signed up. So, some good may come out of this investigation as well as solving a murder, if it is a murder.”

  “That's what Fred is still trying to figure out. He's conservative, so he's still treating this as an accidental suicide, or accidental death. Also, before I forget, I reached to the other financial advisors at the investment firm for future investment. Even though my initial approach to them was investigating this death, it may turn out to be something good for us.”

  “Oh yeah, how so.” Jill asked.

  “Well, Cathy seemed very eager to work with me. So, I'm going to keep an open mind and see if that leads to anything good. I'll keep you posted.

  “Ok. It's just strange that whenever we try to move forward, a murder or death gets in the way. Hopefully, after this it will just be normal activities with nobody else dying or missing in action.” Jill said.

  “You and me both. I would just love that for once, whenever I try to reach out of my comfort zone, something crazy doesn't happen that involves a death of some kind.”

  “Listen, keep me posted on what else goes on with this case. I'll let you know if I hear anything else regarding Lucy.”

  “Will do.”

  After this, Mandy went to look for the cats. Where were those kitties anyway? Is Lana awake now, she wondered. She had been so wrapped up in this investigation, she had forgotten the cats a little bit. She went to check if they had enough food and water.

  *****

  Roger had been planning going back to the investment office to further cement a theory of his. Luckily, Mandy went to bed earlier that night, so he could take off. Colin knew he wanted to get back in the office and was there already.

  “So, are your sleuthing skills are active again?” Colin asked.

  “Well, I've had a unique position of being able to observe all the suspects without them knowing I was observing them. And a couple don't add up and there's something I found the last time I visited the office at night. Now that I've seen the layout of the office during the day and who sits where, I want to test out a theory of mine.”

  “Well, we better get going.”

  “Let's do it the old fashioned way and just walk there. I could use a walk and get some air. Lana you sure you don't want to come tonight?”

  “No, it's ok, I had enough excitement at the office the last time, I'll just stay home.”

  “I understand. C'mon Colin, let's see what awaits us.”

  Colin let Roger out the door and it was so quiet, nobody knew they left the house. As they walked down the road, Colin apprised Roger of his progress.

  “Roger, just wanted to give you a progress report, I still haven't figured out how to either turn you into a man, or go back to being a regular cat.”

  “I figured as much, that's why I didn't ask. Listen, so far, I'm making the best of this situation. I get to practice being a detective and I still have cat tendencies. It's very strange, but for a bad situation, I'm able to survive on a daily basis. The thing to do is not to think too much, or to speculate how this is all going to change or what's going to happen. Otherwise, I start going crazy.”

  “Glad to hear you are surviving this episode in your life. Like so many other things, it's a problem until it gets solved and eventually I will solve this problem. I'm glad things left you in this in-between state, it buys us time.”

  “Another thing is Lana has helped a lot, unbeknownst to her. When I talk to her or play at the park, I feel like I'm interacting with another human being, not a cat. I'm communicating with a sentient being. So, I'm not left there to my thoughts. I get to interact with someone else who understands what I'm saying and can reply. Unlike Mandy, who I can understand, but who doesn't understand what I'm saying, all she hears are meows.”

  “That's very reassuring to hear. I thought I was going to have to keep you company all the time.”

  “Well, Lana saved you from that. She told me she was very happy living with Mandy and me, apparently her previous living situation left her alone all the time. Here she feels she has a home.”

  “Yes, Lana was living a pretty lonely existence working for the FBI. At least they saved her from the shelter.”

  “And nothing bad happened to her. I'm glad they didn't use her as a canary in a coal mine.”

  “No, the good news is nobody suspects a cat working for the law. It's like you. None of these people are aware that there is a trained and experienced detective listening to their stories. I really believe you're going to solve this situation.”

  “Well, I'm pretty sure it's a murder, I'm still looking for a motive, but I think I have some evidence. Perhaps I'll learn more tonight.”

  “We're almost there.”

  In the distance, they could see the building housing the investment firm.

  “Ok, we'll do the same as before. I'll get you into the air ducts and you can sneak into the firm. I'm sure if they ever check their video footage, they're going to ask how a cat got into the office.”

  “I'm sure it will become one of those unsolved mysteries, like the abominable snowman.”

  “Or bigfoot.”

  “What's bigfoot?”

  “It's an urban myth.”

  “Not from my time. Well, you'll bring me to speed on bigfoot later. Wish me luck.”

  Colin teleported Roger and in a moment, Roger found himself back at the air duct he started before. He thought it was much better Lana hadn't come, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings. As he approached, he heard voices coming from the area of the air duct. He stood at the edge, hidden, but able to look into the room. As he peered into the room, he saw Tim and Cathy having a discussion. Roger figured it was 11:30PM. What are these two still doing here, he asked himself? This put a damper of his plans of investigating. It's possible they're leaving soon, he thought. He listened to what they were saying.

  “Look, I don't want this place turning into a boy's club. It was bad enough when Michael was here, but I could tolerate it because he was a nice guy. What's to say this new guy Jake wants to hire isn't an aggressive, take no prisoners type?”

  “Cathy, Cathy you're going off the deep end here. So far, nobody has committed to hiring anybody. We haven't even met the guy. He might be a nice guy.”

  “Well, I want my friend Valerie to come and interview too. She's had years of experience as a financial advisor and I'm sure she could do well here.”

  “I'm sure if you talk to Jake, he'll interview her. We all will, just like we're going to interview the guy Jake has in mind. They gotta fit in and they gotta be someone you can work with every day.”

  “I'm worried too because I'm not sure if Jake thinks I can pull my own weight here.”

  “Nonsense, you're a hard worker. Listen, I have an idea. Why don't you go visit that woman Mandy tomorrow and try to get her business? I'll go with you for moral support. Just drop by her house, just say, oh hi, I was driving by and I thought I'd check in, in case you still had any questions about investing.”

  “Do you think that's going to work?

  “I think it will. All you're doing is getting a new customer in a different way. I'm sure Jake would be more inclined to listen to you if you got her business. The more I think about it the more I think this will work.”

  “What if she's not receptive? What if we show up and she just closes the door on us?”

  “Look, I'm pretty certain she'll listen This is a woman who has two cats and they go with her everywhere. That shows understanding and empathy. I'm sure she'll listen to you if you go by her house.”

  “Ok Tim, if you say so, I'm willing to give it a try.” Cathy said.

  “Don't worry I'll say it was your idea and Jake will be pretty impressed.”
r />   “Thanks Tim, I appreciate it. Listen we better get out of here, it's going on twelve, midnight.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense. I'm going to get a bite, you want to join me?”

  “That sounds good. I'll get a little nightcap, don't think I can have a full meal at this time.”

  “Ok, let's go.”

  They left the office. Lucky for Roger, they left the lights on. Roger found the air duct close to the bookshelf. He could climb down from there. That conversation sounded strange, Roger thought. It's possible Tim is trying to give a pep talk to Cathy, but go by someone's house? That sounded pretty desperate. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe they thought their jobs were in jeopardy. Roger walked around the office and went to the spot where he thought he might find the culprit, even though he still didn't have a motive.

  He climbed on top of the desk and looked around. Finally, sticking out of one of the filing drawers on the desk he found what he was looking for. He pulled the drawer a little more and saw the whole thing there. He hoped that what he thought would happen was not going to happen, but he had a feeling in his gut that he was right.

  He checked a couple more desks, now that he knew where the people sat and checked for more of the stuff. But no, it was only on the one desk. This did not look good. Now he understood why certain things were happening. It was time to get out of here. He climbed up the desk and went back in the air duct. Once up there, he said “Ok Colin, get me out of here.” And he found himself outside again, next to Colin.

  “How'd it go?” Colin asked.

  “Well, some strange things were happening. For one, Cathy and Tim were still there. Apparently, Jake is thinking of hiring someone to fill in Michael's position, which makes sense. However, Cathy is thinking they should hire a woman, and Tim tried to reassure her things were going to be alright. But I did find something that is worrying me, however, I don't want to say anything until I can figure out why this is happening.”

  “Ok, I won't ask you. I'm glad you're back to the full time detective.” Colin said.

  “I have to tell you Colin, it doesn't matter how many years have passed since I died, people don't change. They're still as screwed up as ever, and sometimes they do things that apparently make no sense. But eventually you find out why they didn't make sense. And that's what I'm trying to figure out now. Perhaps when I sleep on it, I'll have a better answer in the morning.”

  “That's a good way of going about it.” Colin said.

  Roger and Colin walked back to the house. The night breeze blew through Roger's fur. It reminded him of the old days when he walked the streets of New York City, working on a case late at night. He thought of all those nights he would arrive home late, only to find his wife Lana, asleep. Another Lana, a different Lana. No wonder she left him. His last romantic escapade after his divorce was Rosalie at the diner. She was the girl he tried to go out with before the mob rubbed him out. He wondered what happened to Rosalie, but that world no longer existed. He wondered what kind of a world would exist for him in the future.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning Roger woke up from a nightmare. He dreamt of a case he worked on when he was a detective back in the late 1930s. In the process of following a lead, he had figured out who the killer was but he couldn't figure out the motive. When he finally figured it out, it was too late, the killer struck again. Although he brought the killer to justice, he couldn't save a second life because he stalled. He didn't act because he didn't have evidence.

  It took him a couple of seconds to realize he wasn't a man and this wasn't the 1930s. The dream had been so real. However, his weasel radar told him something was up and to be prepared.

  Meanwhile, Mandy sat on the sofa when she received a phone call.

  “Hi Mandy, it's Jennifer. Listen, is it ok if I come over to see Lana?”

  “Oh sure”, Mandy said, “come by in the next hour it will be fine.

  Colin, Roger and Lana were in the living room and Roger venting.

  “Listen, I got a bad feeling regarding today. Maybe I'm completely off my rocker but I really don't like the fact there's a couple of strange people who want to come over and visit Mandy. Meanwhile, she's sitting there reading her tablet, not a care in the world. We have to make Mandy more aware of things. How can I save this woman?”

  Colin suggested, “Well, why don't you write her a note?”

  “Colin, it's possible you may have forgotten about this, but I'm still a cat, I have paws and holding a pencil is not my easiest activity.”

  “I didn't mean it that way. I meant, try tapping it on her tablet.”

  “How am I going to do that, it's not like I can ask her, 'hi can I write something on your tablet?'”

  “Sit next to her and tell her, 'I have to write you a note'. She'll hear a bunch of meows and keep using your paw on the tablet. She may get the message.”

  “Hey, that's not such a bad idea. It's definitely worth a try, even though she may think I'm hungry.”

  Roger sat right up on Mandy and start telling her “Mandy, I have to give you a message, let me tap on your tablet.” While doing this he would continually touch the tablet with his paw.

  Mandy asked, “What is it baby, are you hungry?”

  This is what Roger feared “No, I'm not hungry, I need to write on your tablet.”

  He continued to touch the tablet with his paw.

  Mandy asked, “You want to play with the tablet baby?”

  Roger said to himself “Well, I'm getting warmer” and then told Mandy “Mandy, open the tablet so I can write.”

  Mandy not knowing what Roger wanted set the tablet on the sofa. Roger sat next to the tablet and started to put one paw after another after another as though he was typing on the tablet. Mandy saw the movement and wondered what Roger was up to.

  “Honey, do you want to tap on the typewriter on the tablet?” Mandy said this mostly as a joke, because it looked as though Roger was typing.

  Roger sat up and start saying “Yes, yes” while nodding his head up and down. Mandy caught the up and down movement. She thought of this as strange behavior for a cat. Mandy pulled out the messaging app on the tablet and laid out the tablet landscape so the keys would be big.

  Roger said “Finally. Now let's see if this is going to work.” He tried tapping on the letters and he would hit more than one letter. This would make him frustrated and he would swear, which would sound to Mandy like a frustrated cat.

  “Here, let me make the keys bigger.” Mandy said. Now if Roger pressed the keys carefully, he could actually type something on the screen. He thought to himself “I gotta get her to bring Fred over here right now, how can I do this with the least amount of words, cause this is a pain in the neck.” Finally, Roger thought very primitive language and he typed the following:

  CALL FRED COME NOW.

  Mandy asked “Honey, you want me to call Fred?” Mandy found this very strange, meanwhile Roger nodded his head and there were these strange meows to Mandy which was Roger's way of saying “Yes, tell him to come over right now, don't waste time!”

  Mandy was getting a little scared. Roger thought of something else he wanted to write and told Mandy “I have to type something else.” While saying this he tapped the keyboard and the strange sounding meows to Mandy, which meant Roger trying to talk.

  “You want to write something else honey?” Mandy asked, more than a little afraid.

  Roger nodded and said, “Yes, now, it's important.” Which sounded to Mandy like strange meows and Roger nodding. She cleared the tablet of what he previously wrote and Roger typed this time:

  BRING GUN

  Mandy was really concerned now. What was happening with her cat? He's typing on the keyboard and he's meowing strangely. She figured she'd call Fred anyway because she would feel more at ease telling someone of what's happening. She called Fred.

  “Fred, you're going to think I'm completely crazy, but something very strange is happening.” />
  “What is it Mandy?”

  “Roger is typing words on the tablet.”

  “Roger is typing?” Fred said sounding incredulous

  “That's not the worst of it, it's what he's typing that has me scared.”

  “What would a cat write? I mean seriously.”

  “Well Fred he said for you to come over now and to bring your gun.”

  “He typed all that? I don't believe it.”

  “Well, what he really typed was CALL FRED, COME NOW, BRING GUN.”

  “Wow, that sounds really strange. Very odd. I'm going to come over out of curiosity to make sure this is really happening. I have my gun, so that's not a problem.”

  “You think I'm going crazy?”

  “Well, one of us is, I'm going over your house to see a cat type, and I'm going armed.”

  “Well, hurry, I feel very uncomfortable.”

  Mandy turned to Roger “Roger honey, I don't know if you can understand me, but Fred's coming over.”

  Roger said “Great!” and nodded in approval. All Mandy heard was a jubilant meow and Roger nodding. She shook her head in disbelief. What happened to her cat?

  Roger said to Colin and Lana “Finally, I got through to her. The next thing we gotta figure out is when are the bad guys coming. If Fred doesn't get here soon, he's going to walk into a hostage situation, because someone is going to take Mandy hostage when they see Fred.

  Colin said, “Well, to use an expression which is indigenous to your vernacular… “

  “Colin, this is not time to speak in a foreign language. We gotta figure out when these people are coming over.” Roger said.

  Colin rolled his eyes “Well Roger, I was just going to say 'What do I look like, chopped liver?'”

  “Colin, this is no time to think of food, we have a cri-.. Oh, I get it, I get it. You got a trick up your sleeve?”

  “Correct. We have exactly 17 minutes and 39 seconds before your suspect arrives.”

  “Ok, great, that gives us some time to plan, provided Fred gets here in the next 10 minutes. I hope he's not stuck in traffic or decided to get his nails done before he comes over.” Roger said excitedly.