The Case of Too Many Clues Read online

  I’m sure my eyes went pretty wide right about then. A cat who was bigger than me? This I had to see.

  Bogey glanced at the kitchen table, where candles now flickered with light as our Mom set their dinner on the table. “Well, no matter what size she is, we’d better get this show on the road. So let’s hash out the particulars. As near as I can tell, we’ve got three main obstacles. The first is getting out of our house.”

  I was already nodding, picking up on his train of thought. “And the second is getting Trixie out of her house.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Lil added. “Since no one has been watching her, she’s managed to get the window unlatched. But she’s pretty weak, and she can’t open the window by herself. So she’ll need our help. It’s the kind of window that slides from side to side.”

  I raised one of my big paws. “That’ll be my department.”

  “You’re perfect for the job, kid,” Bogey said with a grin. “Now, for our last obstacle. After we rescue her, we’ll need to get back inside our house. And I’ve already got a plan in mind.”

  Right then, Lil motioned for us to all scoot in closer. So we did. Ready to hear every detail of Bogey’s plan.

  “We’ll start with you, Princess,” Bogey said with a nod to her. “I want you to stay here and sneak Gracie’s phone away from her.”

  “Got it,” she answered and raised her little chin in determination.

  Next Bogey turned to the kitten. “Mitzi, I want you to stay with the Princess and . . .”

  “But . . . but . . . but . . . I don’t want to stay here!” she protested. “I want to go with you and Buckley.” And then she started to make that awful mewing-crying noise again.

  Bogey shook his head. “Turn off the waterworks, Short-stuff. Cat detectives don’t start crying when they draw the short straw. So change that tune and show me your fiercest cat detective face.”

  And just like that, she quit making that awful mewing sound. Her tiny face took on the glare of a tiger. “How’s this?”

  “Very good,” the Princess said as she sat low on the floor beside Mitzi. “You and I will stay here and carry out our part of the plan. Every part is important, you know.”

  “That’s right, Short-stuff,” Bogey told her. “Now here’s your part — when the Princess is in place, I want you to create a distraction. Get the attention of our Mom and Dad and Gracie. So the Princess can sneak Gracie’s phone away.”

  Mitzi crinkled up her little face. “How do I do that?”

  “Um . . . maybe you could make that crying sound again,” I suggested. “Or start dancing around the room, like you did earlier.”

  Mitzi nodded her tiny head really fast. “Okay, I can do that!”

  Then Bogey turned back to the Princess. “I’m going to send a message to Gracie’s phone before we head out. But make sure you keep the phone away from her until you see us running back to the house. I don’t want her to get the message before then.”

  The Princess took a deep breath. “Got it. I’ll be a nervous wreck just waiting for everyone to come back. But I’ll make sure Gracie doesn’t get her phone, or the message, until I see you headed for home.”

  Lil pointed a paw to the floor above us and glanced at Bogey. “You’ll have to send that message from Gracie’s laptop up in her room. Because it runs on battery power.”

  I nodded. “And the computer in the office is plugged in to the electricity. So it won’t work right now.”

  “Good thinking,” Bogey said. “That should cover the plan to get us back inside the house. Now we need to cook up a plan to sneak out.”

  Let me tell you, just the thought of sneaking out of the house and into this storm made my heart start to pound. But it also gave me an idea. “If we’re getting Trixie out of her house through a window, maybe we could do the same thing here. Maybe we could go through one of our windows.”

  “Nice idea, kid,” Bogey said with a quick glance at the table where our human family was now sitting down to eat. “But thanks to our surveillance rounds every night, our windows are all locked up tight. Plus they’re the type that move up and down. Not side to side.”

  “And windows that open up and down are extra heavy,” Lil added.

  “Hmmm . . .” I murmured and tried to put my paw to my chin.

  But this was one of those moments when my paw wouldn’t go where I wanted it to go. In fact, it wasn’t even close. And I only ended up poking myself in the eye instead.

  Not the kind of thing a guy wants to do when he’s in a huddle with a cluster of cats.

  Even so, getting poked in the eye did make me blink a couple of times, and that’s when I spotted it — a broom in the corner. And another idea suddenly hit me.

  “I know what we could do,” I said as I pointed to the broom. “If we could move that broom to the front hall and stand it up, maybe I could push it back and forth and hit the door. To make it sound like somebody’s outside knocking. Then our Mom and Dad will open the door to see who’s there. Since they won’t be able to see very well in the dark, we can sneak out and they won’t even spot us.”

  Yet I’d barely spoken the words when I realized my paws weren’t the only things I had trouble controlling. Apparently I was having trouble controlling my mouth, too. Because I’d just blurted out my big idea without giving it any thought at all. And, well, the truth was, I had no idea whether I could actually make a broom swing back and forth. Five seconds ago, I couldn’t even make my paw go where I wanted it to go. So could I really pull off a trick like banging a broom against a door?

  And what if I couldn’t do it? Would we still be able to get outside and go save Trixie? Or would it mess up the whole rescue?

  Yet for some reason, Bogey seemed to believe that I could do it, because he gave me a big pat on the back. “Way to go, kid,” he said with a grin. “You’re really using your noggin. Let’s go with your idea. You and Lil move that broom to the front hallway while I run upstairs and send my message. Wait till I get back downstairs before you start swinging.”

  I gulped. “Sure thing.”

  The Princess smiled at me as she gracefully rose to all fours again. “Then I’d better go get Gracie’s phone right now.”

  “Sounds good, Princess,” Bogey said before he gave Mitzi a nudge. “Short-stuff, I want you to start your distraction the second the Princess is in place.”

  Mitzi’s eyes sparkled in the dim light. “Okay, Bogey! I’ll do a really good job! I’ll be the most distracting kitten you’ve ever seen in your whole life.”

  Bogey nodded at her. “I’m counting on you, Short-stuff.”

  To tell you the truth, I could hardly believe how much Mitzi seemed to be enjoying herself. Especially since I wasn’t enjoying myself at all. Mostly because I couldn’t stop wondering if I could really move that broom. And I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to run outside — smack dab into that huge thunderstorm.

  And I was still thinking about it when Bogey said, “Okay, everyone. Let’s get a move on!”

  Which was our signal to go into action!

  So we did just that.

  Bogey raced for the stairs, while Lil and I ran to the broom. The Princess made a beeline to the kitchen table and jumped up on the extra chair. Mitzi skipped to the other side of the table and started to make quite a racket. She cried and hollered and carried on like a kitten who was pretty scared. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard so much noise in all my life! With all that commotion for a cover, I scooted my body under the brush part of the broom. That made the handle part slide down from the wall and hit the floor. But I was pretty sure our Mom and Dad didn’t hear it. Not after thunder rumbled above us and Mitzi turned up the volume on her caterwauling. I have to say, she suddenly had a pretty big voice for such a little cat.

  It was enough to make our Dad drop his fork and our Mom raise her eyebrows as they both turned to stare at Mitzi. Gracie immediately jumped up from her chair and reached down to get the little kitten
. But Mitzi bounced away, just out of Gracie’s reach. And with all our humans watching Mitzi, the Princess stretched her arm up to the table. In one quick swipe, she had Gracie’s phone down on the chair. Then she dropped it to the floor when thunder boomed again, so I was pretty sure no one heard it hit the wooden floor.

  The last I saw, the Princess had batted the phone under a china hutch.

  In the meantime, Lil slipped in next to me, and scooted toward the handle of the broom. She kept going until it rested right on her back. Then together, she and I slowly and carefully moved that broom out of the room. I carried the brush part on my back and she carried the handle on hers. It took some doing, but we finally got it to the front door.

  Just in time to see Bogey come running down the stairs.

  “Did you get the message sent?” I asked my brother.

  “You know it, kid,” he said with a grin. “Now let’s get that broom upright and start knocking.”

  So we got right down to business. I slid out from under the brush end and let it drop to the floor. Then Bogey and I moved under the handle next to Lil. And together, we all scooted closer and closer to the brush end, pushing the handle up as we went.

  Then came the moment of truth. It was time for me to grab onto that handle and move it back and forth. Could I do it? Or would I just let everyone down?

  That’s when Lil touched my arm with her paw. “We all have things we’re afraid of, Detective Buckley. Sometimes we have to muster up courage we don’t even know we have. It helps if you remember why we do what we do.”

  “To save a big cat who’s starving to death,” I said with a nod.

  And Lil nodded back. “That’s right. A cat who probably won’t live unless we save her. Now take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand. You can do this, Detective.”

  So I did exactly what Lil told me to do. I took a nice, big breath and I kept my eyes on that broom handle. I didn’t look away and I barely even blinked. When the handle was up straight enough, I stood on my hind legs and grabbed it with my big paws. They didn’t go exactly where I wanted them to go, but it was close enough. Thankfully, that broom handle was pretty long so I had lots to aim for.

  “Okay, kid,” Bogey said to me. “Make that thing hit the door like someone is out there knocking.”

  “Aye, aye,” I told him. Though I sure didn’t risk giving him a salute. Not right now, anyway.

  Instead, I sat on my haunches and pushed that broom handle back and forth. With all the strength I had. The first few “knocks” were kind of quiet. But then I figured out how to swing that broom so it hit the door pretty hard. Hard enough to make it sound like someone was knocking.

  Bogey gave me a huge grin. “Way to go, kid! You’re doing it!”

  And sure enough, I was. I was so excited that I just kept on banging that broom against the door.

  It wasn’t long before we heard our Dad’s voice from the kitchen. “It sounds like someone’s at the door.”

  “Probably one of the neighbors checking to see if we’re all right,” our Mom added. “That, or maybe someone needs help.”

  And the next thing we knew, we heard footsteps headed our way.

  “Drop the broom,” Bogey commanded. “And scoot it away from the door.”

  Well, he sure didn’t have to tell me twice. I lowered the broom handle until it was pretty close to the floor. Then I let it fall. And together, we pushed it away from the door. Toward the office.

  “Get ready to zoom,” Bogey meowed quietly.

  Just as our Dad and Gracie walked in.

  Our Dad put his eye to the door’s peephole. “Hmmm . . . It’s so dark out that I can’t see a thing.” Then he swung the door open wide and took a good look outside. At the dark front porch.

  And that’s when we made our move. Bogey led the way as we zoomed past our Dad’s legs and took a sharp left, just to make sure we weren’t spotted. We hugged the wall of the house as we went single file down the whole length of the porch. Once we reached the end, we didn’t waste a single second before we jumped off to the grass below.

  And smack dab into the dark, wet night.

  Rain instantly pelted my fur and plastered it to my body. Just as another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. I jumped behind a shrub while thunder rumbled all around us. If I had thought it was loud inside, well, it was nothing compared to how loud it sounded outside.

  In fact, it was so loud that I could barely even hear the voice coming from right beside me.

  The voice that said, “I’m here, Buckley. All ready to go.”

  Funny, but that voice didn’t sound a thing like Bogey or Lil’s. And if I didn’t know better, well, I would have said that voice sounded a lot like . . .

  I swung my head around to see the tiny, little head of Mitzi. She looked even smaller than she did before, now that she was soaking wet.

  “Mitzi, what are you doing here?” I gasped. “You were supposed to stay inside with the Princess!”

  She wiped water from her whiskers. “But I didn’t want to stay there. I wanted to go with you and Bogey.”

  I closed my eyes and cringed. As if being out in a scary storm wasn’t bad enough, now we had Mitzi to worry about, too. What in the world would we do with such a little kitten tagging along on a rescue mission? How could she possibly keep up with us as we ran? Her legs were so short that I was pretty sure she couldn’t go very fast at all.

  To make things even worse, the storm was getting scarier by the second. Raindrops fell like little pebbles from the sky, hitting us hard and drenching us completely. And reminding me how much I hated being in water. Most cats do. To us, the idea of getting a bath was one of the worst things in the world.

  And with so much water falling on me, I was getting the biggest bath of my life. More than anything, I wanted to be back inside our house, where I’d be warm and safe and dry.

  But I knew I couldn’t go back inside. Not now. Not when a cat was in danger and needed our help.

  That meant I just had to tough it out. And if there was one thing that I knew for sure, the going was about to get a whole lot tougher!

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 4

  Holy Mackerel!

  The rain started to fall in big, giant sheets, and I started to wonder if we might have to swim over to rescue Lil’s friend. Yet even with all that water, I could still see the frown on Bogey’s face. And I had a pretty good idea what was on his mind right at that moment. Especially since he was staring at the little kitten who had followed us outside. Even when we told her not to come with us. So as near as I could guess, Bogey was probably trying to figure out what to do with her.

  Of course, it would have been best if she simply stayed on the porch and waited for us to get back. But since Mitzi wasn’t very good at taking orders, it was a pretty good guess that she wouldn’t just stick around until we came back home. And who knew what kind of trouble she could get into? She might decide to wander off and get lost for good. Or, since she was so small, she could even get stuck somewhere. Like under the porch or in a big tree.

  That meant we really only had one choice — we had to take her with us. Like it or not. So we could keep an eye on her. And with the storm raging on and soaking us to the skin, we didn’t have time to sit around and chat about it.

  “All right, Short-stuff,” Bogey said to Mitzi. “You can come with us. But we’ll be flying along pretty fast. Think you can keep up?”

  She sat up tall and pointed her little nose straight into the rain. “Uh-huh, Bogey. I can keep up. I can run really fast.”

  I sure hoped she was right. But with her short legs, it was going to be a very tall order.

  “Then we’d better get this show on the road,” Bogey said before he shook his fur. “Lil, you lead the way.”

  And with that, we all took off. Lil ran in front, with Bogey right behind her. I came after him and Mitzi followed me. And though I wanted to catch up to Bogey and Lil, I held back, just to make sure Mitzi was
still behind us. Much to my surprise, she did a pretty good job of keeping up with us.

  For a while, anyway.

  We raced around the side of the house, past the garage, and through a hole in the back fence. Then we ran through the yard behind ours and around that house, until we reached the street. There wasn’t a car on the road and the houses and streetlights were all dark.

  By now Mitzi had fallen behind, so we stopped for a second to let her catch up. When she did, I could see that she was panting pretty hard. She’d come a long way on those little legs, and I wasn’t sure she could go much farther.

  Lil blinked and shook the water from her face. “It’s a straight shot from here,” she told us, pointing to the end of the block.

  “Got it,” Bogey said.

  Only seconds before another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. It lit up the world around us for a moment or two. Normally, I would have jumped as high as the nearest tree. But at that moment, I was just too weighed down with water to go airborne.

  Even when thunder boomed all around us.

  Mitzi, on the other paw, wasn’t too wet to jump. She went straight up in the air and landed right on my back. Which, as near as I could tell, was probably a good place for her. After all, it turned out she didn’t weigh very much. And if a big cat like me could carry her for a while, well, that also meant I didn’t have to worry about her.

  “Hang on tight,” I hollered back to Mitzi. “And keep your head low.”

  For once, she did take orders and hung on for dear life.

  So off we went, with Lil still leading the charge, Bogey next, and me and my passenger bringing up the rear. In fact, we made even better time now that I didn’t have to keep looking back and watching for Mitzi.

  Yet in all the days I’d been a cat detective, I never dreamed I’d be doubling as a horse. But I guess there are times when a guy just has to improvise. So I kept it up as we all ran clear to the end of the block. Then we crossed the street and stood in front of a gigantic, three-story house. It was built with stone blocks and it had round towers with pointy roofs on either end. To tell you the truth, the building almost looked like a small castle. Though our Mom probably would’ve called it a mansion.