The Case of the Missing Cat

The Detective Club had now been established.  It consisted of Jack Barnes, Kurt Morris, and Robbie Ransom.  One source claimed it also consisted of Emma Barnes, Jack’s little sister, but that was in dispute.  Anyway, the first three had definitely been sworn in, and they were all ready to solve a mystery.

There was just one problem.

“What mystery should we work on first?” asked Kurt.  “Do either of you have any?”

“No, I don’t,” said Jack.  “Robbie?”  Robbie shook his head.

“Well, don’t worry about it too much right now,” said Jack.  “Our club just got founded, after all.  Let’s go home and look for one to solve, and I’m sure by tomorrow, we’ll find one.  We’ll all meet back here at three and discuss what we found out.”

Kurt and Robbie thought this was a good idea, and with that, they left.  Jack would’ve left too, only Kurt and Robbie had been visiting his house, so there was no point in his—you get the idea.

Three o’clock the next day should have provided plenty of time to find a mystery, but—well, let the meeting speak for itself.

“I found nothing,” said Kurt.  “I casually asked my parents if they knew of any for us to solve—without letting on that we formed this club—and they casually informed me that they had none.  I checked the news this morning, but the police had already caught the suspects in all the crimes they mentioned.”

“Is this a secret club?” asked Robbie.

“No,” said Jack, “although let’s not tell too many people about it.  Once we solve some mysteries, word should get around.  We’ll let our work speak for itself.  Robbie, did you come up with any?”

Robbie shook his head.  “What about you, Jack?”

“None,” said Jack.  “You’d think the hard part about being a detective would be solving a mystery, not finding one to solve.”

“There’s probably someone right in town who’s good at finding mysteries and not good at solving them,” pointed out Robbie.

“You’re right,” said Jack.  “I guess we’ll have to keep looking.  Sooner or later, something’s bound to turn up.”

“Why don’t you work on this?” came a voice.  Jack, Kurt, and Robbie didn’t even need to turn to see who it was, but they did, anyway.  It was Emma, and she was holding a poster.

LOST CAT spelled out large letters on the top.  A picture underneath showed a white cat with a black head and four black socks on its feet.  (That is, the hair on said cat’s feet was black, making it look like that cat had socks on, even though it didn’t).  A description of the cat followed, informing the reader that it loved catnip.  The cat’s name was Charlie.  The address of the owner, Wilma Hodges, ended the flyer.

“Emma, this is a detective club,” said Jack.  “We’re here to solve serious mysteries, not look for people’s lost pets.  I’m sorry, but that’s not the type of case we’re looking for.”

“Wait a minute, Jack,” said Robbie.  “Do we have any mystery to work on right now?  Maybe this only concerns a missing cat, but it’s better than working on nothing.”

“But it’s just a missing cat!” protested Jack.  “The poor animal probably wandered off and got lost.  What kind of a mystery is that?”  He looked to Kurt for help.

None came.  “It might be worth our while,” said Kurt.  “Keep in mind, Jack, we’re just starting out.  One day, this cat.  Tomorrow, the most wanted criminal in Washington!”

“This is crazy,” said Jack, but he saw the wisdom in what Kurt and Robbie had to say.  “Alright, we’ll do it.  Where’s that poster?”

“What poster?” Emma asked, pretending she had no idea.

“That poster.  The one you’re hiding behind your back.”

“Oh, this one!” said Emma.  “Do you want to buy it?  It’s only five dollars!”

Jack most certainly did not want to buy it, and let’s just say he got it for free.  Ahem.  The address wasn’t that far away, so off the boys headed, ready for action.

Wilma Hodges lived in a one-story white house, well-maintained though it was not that new.  There was nothing that spectacular about the structure.  It was in a rather cozy neighborhood; there was a large backyard with a couple trees growing in it.

“There’s a lot of trees in this neighborhood,” pointed out Kurt.  “The cat’s probably stuck in one of them.”

“Funny,” said Jack.  “Mrs. Hodges forgot to put where the cat was last seen.”

“She must not have seen it in a while,” said Robbie.

“Maybe not,” said Jack.  To his chagrin, he noticed a rip at the top of the poster stretching down to a small hole.  Emma had ripped it from somewhere it had been nailed.  “That Emma!” he thought.

There was no time to worry about Emma now, though.  Jack strode to the front door and rang the doorbell.

Mrs. Hodges answered rather quickly.  She was a little tall and thin, with graying hair.  Jack would have guessed she was in her mid-fifties.  She did not appear too happy to see company at her door.

“Yes?  What do you want?” she said.

“Are you Mrs. Hodges?” Jack asked, just to confirm.

“MISS Hodges!” corrected the lady.

“Right.  Sorry.  Um, Miss Hodges, I believe you lost a cat.”

“Yes; have you found it?”

“No, but—”

“Then what are you doing bothering me for?” barked Miss Hodges.

“We’re trying to find your cat,” said Jack, “and we have some questions for you.  Where did you last see it?”

“Have you seen one of my posters?” asked Miss Hodges.

“Yes, that’s how we knew about it,” said Jack.

“Then you know everything you need to know.  Good day!” said Mrs. Hodges, shutting the door.

Jack glanced at his friends.  “She wasn’t very friendly.”

“No, but she was helpful,” said Kurt.  “Now we know why the cat ran away.”

“Kurt, we’re right outside her door!  Shhhh!”

“What do we do now?” asked Robbie.

Jack glanced around.  “Let’s go next door and see if Miss Hodges’s neighbor is any chattier.  If whoever lives there is observant, they might know the cat’s habits.”

Miss Hodges’s neighbor, a Mrs. Roush, did prove more talkative—and very observant.  She told her guests that Miss Hodges had moved to the neighborhood three years ago, that she was unfriendly with everyone in the neighborhood, that she was always having guests, that she went out at odd hours, that her cat had probably been spooked by some of the guests, that she never tended her garden, that she’d let the backyard shed just collapse, that her green car was an eyesore, etc. etc.

“Thank you for your information,” Jack snuck in, when Mrs. Roush paused to catch her breath.  “Do you know anything about her cat’s habits, where it went, etc.?”

“I know more than that,” smiled Mrs. Roush.  “I’m sure I know where he is.  One of Miss Hodges’s guests dropped off some large crates in the backyard four days ago.  It rained three days ago, so they moved them into her basement.  My guess is the cat crawled into one of those crates and got stuck.  Though I’m surprised that lady even cares about that cat.  She’s always leaving it outside to wander around, and…”

It was another twenty minutes before Jack, Kurt, and Robbie were able to break away; yet they felt their interview had been productive.  “If that cat is in one of those boxes,” said Robbie, as they walked away from the door, “this case is going to be easy.”

“Wouldn’t she have heard it by now?” said Jack.

“Not if she doesn’t spend much time in the basement,” said Kurt.  “I say that’s worth checking out.”

“There’s one problem,” said Robbie.  “Where are the boxes?”

“Let me check,” said Kurt.  Before Jack and Robbie could stop him, he’d darted to the side of Miss Hodges’s house.  He ducked, peeked through one of the narrow windows into the basement, and waved his friends over.

“They’re still here,” he said.

“Too bad,” said Jack.  “Now, there’s no way to check if the cat’s there or not.”

“What are you talking about?” said Kurt.

“I don’t think Miss Hodges will let us in her basement.”

“We don’t need her to,” said Kurt.  “Look at this window!”  The window was composed of a wooden frame which divided two panes of glass.  The wood was painted white, though it was chipped.  However, the frame was coming off the side of the house, and the window was leaning open.

Before Jack and Robbie could stop him, Kurt had jerked the window open and jumped through.

“Kurt!” hissed Jack.  “Come back!”

“Don’t worry,” said Kurt.  “If I find Miss Hodges’s cat, she won’t mind.”

“I wonder,” thought Jack.  “Kurt,” he voiced aloud, “it’s bad enough we’re in her yard.  Now, you’re in her house without permission.  If she finds you—”

“I think I can get this crate lid off.”

“Kurt, get out of there right now before—”

“This hammer will do the trick.”

“Kurt—”

Pop! Kurt pried the lid off with the rear end of the hammer.  The large lid slid to the floor, revealing no cat, but ten boxes.  Ten boxes each containing a brand new—

Kurt whistled.  “Look at all these HDTVs!”

Robbie gazed in awe at the box’s contents.  “That’s about a fourth of a store’s inventory,” he declared.

“There’s four boxes here,” said Kurt.  “I wonder if they all contain that.”

“I don’t know,” said Jack, “but there’s no cat on there, so you had better put that lid back on before—”

“Don’t worry; don’t worry; I’ve got it,” said Kurt.  “I’m not going to leave a mess while I’m solving this case.  I’ll just—oh, hello!”

Jack gulped.  That “Oh, hello,” had not been directed at him or Robbie.  That left just one possibility.  And it wasn’t Emma.

“What are you doing in my basement?” Jack and Robbie heard Miss Hodges bark.

“I’m sorry, Miss Hodges,” said Kurt.  “I was just looking for your cat.”

“A likely story!” yelled Miss Hodges.  “You found out about the TVs.”

“Miss Hodges, if you’ll put away that gun [gun?!], I can explain—”

This did not sound good.  Jack yanked Robbie away from the window.  “Robbie, we’ve got to do something!”

“—or going through my stuff!” said Miss Hodges.  “I knew you weren’t really interested in the cat when you walked up to the door.  You were after—”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.  Miss Hodges paused midsentence and glanced over at the staircase.  Kurt saw his chance and took it!  Placing one foot on the box, he jumped straight at Miss Hodges!

Miss Hodges turned back, and a look of surprise crossed her face, but she did not get a shot off before Kurt hit her with a flying tackle.  There was no ensuing fight.

“Oh, my arm, my arm, my arm!” wailed Miss Hodges.  “You’ve broken my arm!”

Kurt thought about asking Mrs. Hodges why she was still moving it if it was broken, but he refrained.  Instead, he kicked the gun away.

Jack peeked through the window.  “Kurt, what did you do that for?” he said.  “I was going to distract her with this garden hose!”

“You were?” said Kurt.  “Oh.  Well, it makes me look braver that you didn’t, doesn’t it?”  He laughed.  In spite of the situation, Jack laughed too.

Miss Hodges’s conduct with the gun was too unusual for the boys not to call the police, and they found out, to their shock, that they had found the receiving point for a large robbery from a local electronics store that had baffled the police the last several days.  “Whoever took these left us very little to go on,” explained Officer LeGrange.  “We’ve been hoping for a break like this.”

Not only did the police arrest Miss Hodges, but they caught the other members of the gang that evening when they returned to move the TVs.  Jack and his friends were warmly thanked by the police, as well as the manager of the store, who promised to give them one free TV.

“One!” said Kurt.  “How are we going to split one TV?”

Jack and Robbie didn’t have much trouble answering that question.  “You tackled Miss Hodges,” said Jack.  “You should keep it.”

“Only you’ll have to let us come over a lot to watch it,” ordered Robbie.

“It’s a deal,” laughed Kurt.

One final note: Charlie the cat was found the next day wandering around the parking lot at a small shopping center several blocks away.  He was not returned to Miss Hodges, as the jail did not permit pets.  Instead, he was sent to a local animal shelter, where he is currently waiting for a new home.  The animal shelter workers say he is quite happy.