The Case of the Clever Secret Code Page 19

  She pointed to a couple of library chairs right next to Frank. But our Mom and Gracie didn’t go sit there. Instead, they stayed with us.

  Now Taffy came over and unzipped our pet carriers. “Hold on a minute . . . This isn’t right! These aren’t the hairdos I gave these cats! What happened to the hairstyles I gave them yesterday? I spent hours working on them!”

  She put her hands on her hips and glared at our Mom.

  Gracie stood up nice and tall and looked right into Taffy’s eyes. “The boys’ fur is just perfect like it is. They don’t need a new hairstyle.”

  Taffy raised her hands up. “Now I’ll have to fix them all over again! It’ll take me hours. We’ll be behind schedule.”

  Gracie crossed her arms. “Oh no you don’t! You will not be ruining their coats like you did yesterday. Buckley and Bogey stay like they are, or they won’t be in your movie. In fact, we’ll all just go on home.”

  Taffy put her hands to her cheeks. “I can’t work with this! I will not put up with this kind of treatment!”

  Gracie smiled. “And neither will we, thank you.”

  With that, Taffy stomped off.

  I had to say, I was pretty proud of Gracie. She had stood up for us and said no. And she even did it nicely. Right about then, I sure wished I could give her a kiss on the nose.

  Steele Bronson turned our way and squinted his eyes. Then he leaned over to Frank, and the two men started whispering.

  Gracie reached down and took Bogey and me out of our pet carriers. She had just pulled me out when the Princess popped her head out. Gracie gasped. Then she giggled.

  Our Mom smiled. “I guess that explains the extra weight. It looks like Buckley brought a friend. I wonder if Lexie wants to be in the movie.”

  Gracie kneeled down to pet us all. “Okay, kitties, they’re going to be filming you this morning. Then we’ve got to leave because I’m going to be having a party. And you’re all invited.”

  Now I reached up and gave Gracie a kiss on the nose. Of course we knew about the party. In fact, it had been the Princess’ idea. I glanced over at the Princess, who sat purring with a smile on her face.

  Then the next thing I knew, Steele Bronson stood up and clapped his hands. “All right, are we ready for the first scene? I need Buckley and Bogey at the bottom of the staircase. We’re going to film them running up the stairs.”

  Okay, to be honest, that part sounded pretty fun to me.

  Our Mom and Gracie carried us to the bottom of the stairs. And the Princess slipped back into my pet carrier. Out of sight.

  Once we were in position, Steele Bronson strolled over to us. “Listen boys, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to ascend those stairs . . . the stairs of time . . . the stairs that have been tread on by a million footsteps. The stairs that have seen seasons come and go, and lives start and end . . .”

  I glanced at my brother. “Do you understand what he’s talking about?”

  Bogey grinned. “He wants us to run up the stairs, kid.”

  “Oh . . . okay,” I meowed back.

  Funny, but it seemed like he could have just said that.

  But apparently Steele Bronson wasn’t finished talking yet. “As you’re going, I want you to think of all the people who have trod those stairs. Then show me the emotion that you’re feeling when you think about all that. Give me lots and lots of emotion. I want to see it written all over your faces. Make me feel what you’re feeling.”

  I turned to my brother. “Emotion? We’re supposed to show emotion? How are we supposed to do that?”

  Bogey kept on grinning. “Don’t sweat it, kid. Just run the stairs.”

  Then Steele Bronson clapped his hands and yelled, “Buckley and Bogey Stairs Scene! Take one! Ready!”

  Bogey and I crouched down, ready to go racing up that big, round staircase.”

  Finally somebody yelled, “Action!” Just as they did, I heard a loud thwack! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone holding a small blackboard that had an even smaller strip of wood on the top. They hit the top of the board with the wood and that’s what made the noise. It was so loud that I jumped straight into the air while Bogey went racing up the stairs!

  Holy Mackerel! Nobody told me there were going to be scary noises like that!

  “No, no, no!” Steele Bronson yelled. “That’s just the clapperboard! You can’t jump whenever someone claps the clapperboard!”

  Bogey came running back down to me.

  “Clapperboard?” I asked him.

  Bogey shook his head. “Just something they use when they make movies. Don’t worry, kid, it won’t hurt you. Just ignore it.”

  Let me tell you, that clapperboard was going to be tough to ignore.

  “All right,” Steele Bronson yelled. “Buckley and Bogey Stairs Scene! Take Two! Ready!”

  This time I knew just what to do when someone yelled “Action!” I took off running up those stairs, right behind my brother.

  “No, no, no!” Steele Bronson hollered again. “You’re not doing it right!”

  Bogey and I came running back down the stairs. To tell you the truth, it looked to me like we were running up those stairs just fine. I glanced over to see our Mom and Gracie sitting next to Frank. While Frank talked to our Mom, Gracie watched us. And she did not look happy.

  Steele Bronson waved his hands in the air. “This is not right, boys. You’re not giving me raw emotion. I want awe and wonderment. Amazement, even. But you’re giving me a Saturday stroll in the garden.”

  Before I knew it, we had “Take Three,” and “Take Four,” and then “Take Five.” None of them was right according to Steele Bronson.

  “What are we doing wrong?” I meowed to my brother.

  Bogey glanced to where our Mom was sitting. “Not a thing, kid. Except for feeding into Steele Bronson’s plan.”

  I crinkled my brows. “We are?”

  Bogey nodded. “Yup, kid. Take a look. Nobody’s even working the cameras. Steele Bronson is just using this so Frank can pump our Mom for info.”

  Well, up until that moment, I hadn’t picked up on that. But I sure did now. And I put two and two together really fast.

  I squinted my eyes and stared at Frank. “Let me guess. He thinks our Mom might know something that could help him find the key.”

  Bogey nodded. “You got it, kid. Because our Mom is writing a book on St. Gertrude history. And if anyone had any clues that could help him, it would be her.”

  I suddenly opened my eyes wide and glanced at our Mom. “But she would never go along with helping them find something that belongs to St. Gertrude.”

  Bogey shook his head. “Nope, kid. But now we know why they wanted us to be in this so-called movie. Because our Mom would have to come with us. Then they could quiz her up and down about St. Gertrude. And she would never even suspect a thing.”

  “Very sneaky,” I breathed. “They’re trying to fool our Mom into giving them information.”

  Bogey flexed his claws. “You got it, kid. She could lead them straight to the key. And not even know it.”

  That’s when I felt something bubbling up inside of me, something I don’t feel very often. If Steele Bronson wanted raw emotion, well, he was about to get it. Because I was feeling really, really mad. I’d had enough of Steele Bronson and his bunch hurting my family. And now here he was, trying to take advantage of our Mom like this. As Bogey would say, he had crossed a whole lotta lines.

  Now Steele Bronson clapped his hands again. “Let’s take a break, people! We’ll let Buckley and Bogey practice. And Frank and I will go with Abigail to scout out locations in the library.”

  Bogey nodded. “Okay, kid. We’ve gotta zoom. Time for us to really go to work. Let’s go follow your hunch.”

  I glanced up that staircase. “We’d better get that page from that book before Frank figures it out. And goes looking for it, too.”

  Bogey nodded. “You got it, kid. And before Bronson decides to shoot more of his phony scenes.”
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  We were just about to go racing up those stairs when I spotted a white streak. It was moving low and close to the baseboards.

  It was the Princess!

  She was breathing hard when she joined us. “Hi, guys. I’m so glad I caught you! I wanted to help you boys.”

  Bogey nodded to her. “Good call, Princess. We could use your smaller claws on this job. Thanks for pitching in.”

  And with that, we practically flew up those stairs. All the way to the fourth floor. We found those tall books right away. It sure helped that Bogey had left the initials BBCDA in the dust. In the exact spot where we needed to go.

  Bogey glanced around. “Okay, kid, we think it’s page twenty-four in the third book. So let’s grab that sheet and get out of here.”

  So we did. We pulled the third book in the series out of the shelves and onto the ground. Then I used my big paws to pull the front cover open. After that, I hooked a few claws into a few pages and kept on turning them. Until I got to page twenty-four.

  I had to say, I was pretty happy with the way my paws were acting. They were going right where I wanted them to go. Now I only hoped my hunch was right.

  That’s when I realized it was a big responsibility to have a hunch. And let me tell you, it sure took a lot of courage to follow it. Because a hunch was kind of a gut feeling about something. But a guy didn’t really know if he was right until he found out for sure. I’d heard people call it a leap of faith.

  Leap was right. Because when you leaped, you also took the chance of falling to the ground. Suddenly I had even more respect for Bogey than ever before. His hunches were almost always right and he wasn’t afraid to take a chance. He really was one of the greatest cat detectives ever. And I was pretty lucky that he had taken me under his paw.

  Bogey nodded to the Princess. “Would you care to do the honors, Princess?”

  She smiled and extended one of her very tiny, but very sharp claws on her right front paw. Then she stood on the book and placed her claw about a third of the way down the page. Right next to the spine. She put a little pressure into it, and little by little, she started cutting that page out of the book.

  And that’s when we heard the voices.

  Voices that sent chills running up and down my spine. Frank and Steele Bronson talking to our Mom. And our Mom saying, “Well, yes, Arthur Fartheringston did write some diaries and other books. I believe you’ll find them up here on the fourth floor.”

  That meant they were headed our way! And if they got the page in our book before we had a chance to get it out, then we were sunk! We’d never find that copy of the Declaration of Independence before they did!

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 22

  Holy Mackerel!

  I could hear Frank, Steele Bronson, and our Mom moving closer and closer. I wanted to tell the Princess to hurry up, but I knew that would only make her nervous. Instead, I flexed one of my big claws and started cutting from the bottom of the page. But my claws did more tearing than fine cutting.

  That’s when Bogey jumped in. “Here, kid. Let me have a go at it.”

  Then he used his thin and very pointy claw on the bottom where I’d been working. And the Princess used her thin claw at the top. Together, they were slowly cutting that page out of the book.

  Finally, after what felt like hours, they were getting close to having it cut from top to bottom. That’s when I put my big paw right smack dab in the middle of the page.

  “I think I can rip this out now,” I told them.

  I put just enough pressure on the page and pulled very gently, so that the page began to tear away from the book. All in nice straight line that matched up to where Bogey and the Princess had been cutting. I could hardly believe it! My paws had never gone exactly where I’d wanted them to go like that before. Not like they did right at this moment!

  By now we could hear that our Mom and the men had made it up to the fourth floor.

  Our Mom’s voice came through loud and clear. “I think you should be able to find what you’re looking for from here. I’m going to head back downstairs and check on Gracie.”

  “But we might need more information from you,” Frank told her.

  “You do realize the library has a full computer system to help you look for books,” our Mom answered.

  “True,” Frank said. “But we can always learn more from someone who knows the history of this place.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be fine,” our Mom said, right before we heard her footsteps on the stairs.

  But we could still hear Steele Bronson and Frank as they walked through the aisles on our floor. They were laughing and making snide remarks. I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before they got to where we were. So I gave that old paper one more firm tug and it was out of there.

  “Way to go, kid!” Bogey whispered. “Now let’s get this thing folded!”

  So we did. And very, very quickly. Together we managed to fold it once and then fold it again. Then we gave it to the Princess. She took the edges in her mouth.

  “Now run, Princess! Run!” Bogey and I both whispered.

  Bogey pointed to the back of the shelves. “Go to the end. And then make your way out of here. Take this paper back to our pet carriers and hide it really, really well.”

  The Princess nodded.

  Bogey glanced toward the front of the aisle. “Buckley and I will get that book back in the shelf. So Frank and Bronson won’t know we had it open.”

  The Princess gave us one more little nod and didn’t wait for any more instructions. Instead, she just tore out of there as fast as she could go with that paper in her mouth. She ran to the end of the aisle while I slapped that book shut. Then Bogey and I tugged at it until it was upright again. Together we managed to push it back up onto the shelf. Right in line with the others in the group.

  Only seconds before Frank and Steele Bronson came strolling down the aisle.

  “Oh look,” Steele Bronson smirked. “It’s those two cats. I wonder what they’re doing up here?”

  “Probably smelled a mouse,” Frank laughed.

  Then he looked down at the bottom of the shelf. “Wait a minute . . . Look how the dust has been disturbed here. Somebody else has been looking at these books.”

  He squinted and stared at us for a moment. “And those cats are right in front of the very books we came up here to find. I think I smell a rat.”

  “I thought you said those cats smelled a mouse,” Steele Bronson said.

  Frank put his leg and his foot right in front of me. “As long as that’s the only thing they’re after. As long as they haven’t found the key that we’re looking for.”

  He pointed to the letters BBCDA that Bogey had left in the dust. “What does that mean? Who left that there? Did these cats have anything to do with this?”

  Steele Bronson laughed. “Seriously? They’re just a couple of dumb cats. What do they know?”

  Suddenly the hair on my back stood straight up. Us cats knew a whole lot more than Steele Bronson would ever know, that was for sure! Not only that, but we even knew the location of the key to solve the code. Or, at least, I hoped we knew the location of that key. I hoped it was being carried down the stairs and to our pet carriers right at that moment. Without any problems. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t know for sure until Bogey and I got back downstairs to check.

  Now Frank started to move his foot like he was going to kick me out of the way. But luckily, I jumped before he could touch me.

  He stared down at me. “I think this is one of the cats who attacked me the other night. Seems maybe I owe him one.”

  “C’mon, kid,” Bogey said to me. “Let’s go to the front of the aisle and keep an eye on these two jokers.”

  Which is exactly what we did. And let me tell you, we got an eyeful, all right. The movie star and his writer were practically giddy when they found the books written by Mr. Fartheringston. They picked up all seven of them. But instead of taking them downstairs to check
them out, they stuffed them into a black duffel bag.

  “They’re stealing those books!” I meowed to my brother. “They’re breaking the law!”

  Bogey shook his head. “Don’t I know it, kid. But they won’t find what they’re looking for.”

  A few minutes later, a very happy Steele Bronson and Frank walked right on down that aisle and headed for the stairs. Bogey and I scooted out of the way. Then we followed the men down to the first floor. We watched them laugh and joke the whole way.

  Once we got back to the first floor, Steele Bronson clapped his hands. “We won’t be doing any more filming today. We’re going to take a break for . . . for a . . .”

  “Script change,” Frank finished for him.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Steele Bronson said with a smile. “For a script change. We’ll contact everyone when we’re ready to film again.”

  Taffy stared at Frank with stars in her eyes, and Nadia put on a big smile, too.

  Bogey nodded to me. “C’mon, kid. Let’s head to our pet carriers. And make sure the Princess made it back from behind enemy lines.”

  I sucked in my breath. “Enemy lines?”

  Bogey shook his head. “Just an expression, kid. Let’s go make sure she’s safe and sound in your pet carrier.”

  Well, he sure didn’t have to tell me twice! Because I’d been dying to know if the Princess made it back okay. I sure hoped she wasn’t stuck on the second floor or something. And I sure hoped we didn’t have to go searching for her. Because this was a really big building. She could be anywhere.

  So we ran all out and made a beeline to our pet carriers. But as we got closer, there was no Princess in sight. Suddenly my heart started to pound. Where in the world was she?

  Bogey glanced my way. “Don’t sweat it, kid. She’s probably just hiding.”

  Now I started to run so fast that I even passed Bogey. I put on the brakes when I got right next to my pet carrier.

  “Princess! Princess, are you in there!” Even I could hear the shakiness in my voice.

  But there was no answer.

  That’s when it dawned on me that it was probably a bad idea to let the Princess run downstairs alone. Especially with the Count and Countess out there, probably looking for her.