The Case of the Crafty Christmas Crooks Page 4

  That's when Bogey waved good-bye and took off running. Funny, he didn't run from the sound of our Dad's power saw, but Gracie's sewing project sent him racing from the room.

  I wondered why.

  But I wasn't about to join Bogey. Because I was just dying to know what Gracie was up to. So I watched while she plugged in her machine and organized a whole bunch of fabric strips. I could see strips in red, white, green, and gold shiny fabrics.

  Then I watched while she sewed some of the strips together. But I still couldn't tell what she was making.

  So I jumped up on the chair next to her.

  Gracie immediately smiled and leaned over to show me what she'd been working on. "See, Buckley? Here's one of the cat Christmas collars that I already made."

  She held it closer so I could get a better look. And sure enough, it looked like a collar, all right. Only it was made from a bright red fabric and had little round bells attached. The ends of the collar were held together with Velcro.

  "These are jingle bells, Buckley," she told me. "They're the same kind of bells that Santa's reindeer wear on their harnesses."

  Let me tell you, that made my ears perk up! Did she say Santa had reindeer?

  Gracie petted me on the top of my head. "But Santa's reindeer aren't regular reindeer. No, Santa's reindeer can fly. And they pull his sleigh through the sky on Christmas Eve. So he can bring presents to all the good kids and . . . well . . . cats, too."

  Holy Catnip! Reindeer that could fly? And Santa's sleigh going through the sky? Suddenly my head started to spin, and I flopped over onto my side. I could hardly believe it. I'd learned so much about Christmas in one day that it was making me dizzy. Pretty soon my brain would be completely overloaded. Then I wouldn't be able to take in even one more thing.

  Though I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised about the flying reindeer. After all, I had been told that Bogey could fly. So if he could fly, I suppose reindeer could probably fly, too.

  Gracie moved from petting the top of my head and to scratching behind my ears. And boy, oh, boy, do I ever like to have the back of my ears scratched! It was exactly what a dizzy, overloaded cat like me needed. I closed my eyes and raised my head so she could get both sides. I was just starting to purr when she slid something around my neck. The next thing I knew, I heard the scratchy scritch sound of Velcro being fastened. And sure enough, she'd put one of the cat Christmas collars on me when I wasn't looking.

  Gracie smiled at me. "See Buckley, now you've got jingle bells on, too. Just like Santa's reindeer."

  Wow! Who would've ever guessed that I'd be just like Santa's reindeer? This was almost as good as when Bogey officially made me a cat detective.

  My chest was bursting with pride, and I sat up straight and tall. Then I looked across the room and saw something that made my heart skip a beat.

  It was the Princess. And she was staring at me with her big, green eyes.

  Holy Mackerel! Talk about overloading my brain! Whenever she looked at me like that, it seemed like I couldn't remember anything.

  "Oh, Buckley," she said. "You look so handsome in your red Christmas collar."

  I sat up even straighter. Then I shook my head just to show off my collar even more.

  "Jingle, jingle, jingle!" the bells on my collar rang out. The sound was so loud it made me jump. And when I say loud, well, I mean those bells were really, really loud!

  Apparently they must have sounded pretty loud to the Princess, too. Because her eyes went wide and then she scampered off.

  I turned to watch her go, and I heard "jingle, jingle, jingle" again. I turned the other way and I heard more jingling.

  I jumped down off my chair and the jingling noise just kept on going and going. I ran across the room and the jingling didn't stop.

  No matter where I went, or what I did, that jingling went on and on. And even when I sat perfectly still, I could hear that jingling in my mind.

  How in the world did Santa's reindeer ever put up with this?

  I ran into the dining room and saw Bogey waving at me from the entryway. I made a beeline for him.

  He handed me a cat treat. "Take it easy, kid. Everything will be fine."

  By then I could barely even see straight. I leaned downed to eat the cat treat and those jingle bells just kept on ringing.

  I closed my eyes tight. "Oh, Bogey. How do I make this stop?"

  I opened my eyes in time to see Bogey swipe down with a long, sharp claw. I heard the rrrrrrippp of Velcro being pulled apart. The collar fell to the floor with one last "jingle, jingle."

  Then it was silent.

  "Whew," I told Bogey. "Thanks for saving me. I would have gone crazy if I heard any more of that jingling."

  Bogey grinned and handed me another cat treat. "Don't sweat it, kid. Rookie mistake. Stay away from Gracie when she's making her cat collars."

  I nodded and munched on the treat. Now I wondered what we were going to do with that collar.

  Before I could ask, Bogey glanced around the room and then looked at me. "What do you say we stash this collar back here for a while, kid? You never know when it might come in handy."

  And before I could say a word, he had that collar out of sight. He slid it right behind the potted palm, in the same place where he hid an extra bag of cat treats.

  I'm sure my eyes went pretty wide right about then.

  Bogey moved away from the potted palm and rolled onto the floor. "Let's sneak any extra jingle bells out of Gracie's room, tonight, kid. So she can't put them on any more collars. She means well, and she sure loves us cats. But let's face it. No cat wants to live through all that ringing all Christmas long."

  I had to say, that sounded like a pretty good idea to me. After all, I'd seen all the stuff she had on the kitchen table. And believe me, it looked like she had lots of other decorations she could put on those collars instead. Plus, I had to agree with Bogey — Gracie did mean well. She only wanted to make nice collars for cats. But she probably didn't know what it was like to have a whole bunch of bells ringing right next to her ears.

  I was about to roll onto the floor and relax, myself, when I glanced into the darkness outside. That's when I saw the bright flashing lights in the distance.

  Bogey saw them, too, because he suddenly stood at attention. "Hurry, kid! Follow me."

  I didn't have time to ask him a single question. I just ran behind him, and we raced up the stairs to the spare bedroom on the second floor. We jumped up to a window where we had a perfect view of the entire street.

  By now, sirens rang out in our neighborhood, and the lights came closer.

  I gulped. "What is it?"

  Bogey kept his keen eyes trained on the street. "Police cars, kid. Two of 'em. And they're headed right this way."

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 6

  __________________________

  Holy Mackerel!

  The sirens wailed even louder and those two police cars went rushing by!

  Then they came to a screeching halt at the house just a few doors down from us. Bogey and I could barely see them from our spot in front of the window.

  Downstairs, Gracie yelled, "Mom! Mom!"

  And our Mom yelled back, "I'm here, honey!"

  We heard the door to the garage open and slam shut.

  "What's going on?" our Dad hollered.

  After that came a bunch of garbled talking.

  Finally we heard our Dad say, "It's the Nelsons' house. I'm going over to see if anyone is hurt. Or if they need help."

  "Good idea," our Mom answered. "Gracie and I will come with you."

  Bogey touched me on the tail. "C'mon, kid," he ordered. "We'd better get down there. And fast!"

  I gulped. I wanted to ask more questions, but I didn't get a chance. Because Bogey turned and practically flew out of the room in a black streak. I wasn't sure if I could even catch him.

  But one thing was for sure — I had to try! So I leaped from the windowsill and landed in the middl
e of the floor. I raced after him and ran for all I was worth. It's a good thing I'm such a big cat, since I can cover a lot of ground in a short time.

  I caught a glimpse of Bogey as he turned at the top of the stairs. Seconds later I was on his tail as he zigzagged onto the staircase. Then he took those stairs five at a time. That's when I finally realized, Bogey really can fly!

  I took the stairs a little bit slower and kept my eyes on my brother.

  Finally, he leaped toward the potted palm in the front entry, just as our Dad and Mom and Gracie were walking out the front door. As Gracie started to pull the door shut behind her, Bogey slid my jingle bell collar out from behind the potted palm. He stuck the collar between the door and the doorjamb, only seconds before Gracie finished pulling the door shut.

  But the door didn't close all the way. The collar had stopped it from shutting completely. And our human family had gone outside without noticing a thing.

  I saw it all as I loped up to join Bogey at the door.

  Holy Catnip! I could hardly believe how smoothly he'd slid that collar into place. Those bells didn't jingle one bit! Clearly Bogey had some experience when it came to dealing with jingle bells.

  I looked down at the collar that was wedged tightly in place. A few of the jingle bells had been smooshed when Gracie closed the door on them. Though to tell you the truth, I didn't think I would miss those broken jingle bells one bit.

  Bogey grinned at me. "Whew, kid. That was a close one."

  I'm sure my eyes were gigantic. "It was?"

  He nodded. "Yup, kid. I made it just in the nick of time. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have a prayer of getting this door open."

  I stared at my brother. "Open the door? Why would we want to open that door?"

  Bogey hooked a claw into the collar. "Because we need to go out and investigate, kid."

  Suddenly I found it kind of hard to breathe. "But we're housecats. We're not supposed to go outside by ourselves. Gracie wouldn't like it if we went out. Our Mom wouldn't either."

  Bogey looked to the top of the door and then back down again. "Well, kid, you know what they say. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

  I scooted in closer. "They do?"

  Now Bogey pulled gently on the collar. "Yup, kid. It's our job to protect our family. And we've gotta do whatever it takes to keep them safe. And solve this case."

  I nodded at my brother. "Um, okay. But do we have to go outside to do that? Couldn't we just investigate from inside our house?"

  Bogey shook his head. "No can do, kid. We need to find out what's going on out there. I've got a hunch there's been another break-in."

  I leaned down to get a better look at what he was doing. "You do?"

  He tugged a little harder on the collar. "You got it, kid. Now, can you give me a paw here and help me pull this open?"

  "Uh, okay," I told him.

  I reached out my right paw and hooked my claws under the door. While Bogey pulled on the collar, I used all my strength to pull the door open from the bottom.

  Little by little, we got that door open wide enough for us to slip through. But first Bogey slid the collar back behind the potted palm. Then he darted out while I held back.

  He stopped and turned to me. "What is it, kid?"

  I blinked as the chilly air hit me in the face. "What if we get locked outside?"

  Bogey grinned. "Don't sweat it, kid. We won't go far. We'll be back inside the house before you know it. Besides, we've gotta keep an eye on the door. To make sure no burglars run in while we're outside."

  My heart suddenly felt like it was in my throat. "Burglars, out there?" I squeaked.

  Bogey tiptoed over to the porch steps. "You never know, kid. So we've got to be extra careful. And we'd better get a move on before our humans get back."

  Now my heart started to pound really loud and really fast. I knew Bogey was right. We had to hurry up and investigate, or it would be too late.

  I poked my head out and glanced around. The neighbors from all over were gathering in the street. It was high time for me to go outside, too.

  I put one paw on the front porch. The wood on the porch felt cold. But the wood on the floor inside our house felt nice and warm. Right at that moment, it seemed to me that nice and warm was a whole lot better than cold and breezy. I looked back at the hallway, where pretty lights blinked on our Christmas tree. I wanted to go sit under that tree, where I knew I'd be safe. I especially didn't want to go running around outside where burglars might get us!

  Holy Mackerel!

  I swallowed hard. A good cat detective was supposed to be brave. Really brave. But sometimes it's hard to be brave when you're really just a big scaredy-cat deep down inside. The only problem was, I wanted to protect my family and solve this case. And I didn't want to let Bogey down. That meant I had to act like I was brave, even though I wasn't.

  So I shut my eyes and counted to three. When I hit number three, I jumped outside.

  "Good going, kid!" Bogey meowed. "Now follow me. And keep low so nobody spots us."

  The cold wind ruffled my fur as I scurried along behind my brother. It was dark out, which makes it a lot easier for black cats like us to stay hidden. Still, our porch light and the streetlights were on, so someone could have spotted us. That meant we had to be stealthy.

  Bogey glanced around, and then we made a beeline for the big maple tree in our front yard near the street. Surrounding the tree were some big rocks and smaller shrubs, and we hid in the middle of it all. From there we had a perfect view of the hubbub going on a few doors down from us.

  And what a bunch of hubbub it was! Holy Catnip! Neighbors were gathered in groups and chatting away. The red, blue, and white police car lights flashed in the darkness. They were so bright that I thought they would blind me whenever I looked at them.

  Four police officers in uniforms were busy asking questions and looking around the house. Officer Smiley was talking to Mr. Nelson and taking notes in her notebook.

  I pointed one of my big paws toward the house and accidentally swiped some leaves off a shrub. "Look! Isn't that Mrs. Mitchell? With her arm around Mrs. Nelson?"

  Bogey squinted his eyes. "Sure is, kid. Sure is. The Mitchells live right next-door to the Nelsons. Looks like the Nelsons had a break-in, too."

  Another break-in? And this one even closer to home? First the Mitchells' house and now the Nelsons'. The Nelsons lived only four doors down. As far as I was concerned, these break-ins were getting way too close to our house.

  I shivered at the thought and snuggled down into the soft dirt.

  Meanwhile, we watched our Mom and Gracie join Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Nelson. Our Mom gave Mrs. Nelson a hug.

  Right about then, I sure wished someone would give me a hug. I wished I was safe and sound in Gracie's arms, where I could tuck my head in and close my eyes.

  Instead, the cold wind blew into my huge ears and bent my whiskers back.

  Beside me, Bogey didn't seem bothered by the breeze or the cold or the danger one bit. I only hoped I could be even half as brave as he was one day.

  He nodded toward the scene. "Look at the front door, kid. Tell me what you see."

  I did as he told me. But all I could see was a nice, red front door. It looked clean and bright, like a welcoming entry into the Nelsons' hundred-year-old house.

  Then suddenly it hit me. "Didn't we see a Christmas wreath on that door? When we came home from the Mitchells'?"

  Bogey gave me a paw bump. "Good job, kid! You've got it. I'm guessing the crook took the Christmas wreath, too."

  I shook my head. "Wow. Who in the world would take a Christmas wreath?"

  Bogey squinted his eyes. "A pretty rotten crook, that's for sure, kid. And a pretty smart one. Especially since I'm guessing they broke in from the back. I don't see any broken windows or doors from here."

  I took another look, and sure enough, Bogey was right.

  I tried to hunch down a little bit more. "Do you think it's the same cro
ok who broke into the Mitchells' house?"

  Bogey stood a little taller. "We can't tell for sure, kid. But I'd bet a bag of cat treats that it's the same criminal mastermind."

  I shuddered. "I wonder what else they took."

  Bogey frowned. "My money's on the Christmas presents, kid. Bet the burglars got them all. But we've got to find out for sure. We need to see the scene of this crime, too."

  Suddenly my heart started to pound really loud again. Did Bogey actually expect us to run all the way over to the Nelsons' house? Right now?

  I looked directly at my brother. "Um, uh, Bogey . . ."

  Bogey chuckled. "Don't sweat it, kid. We're not going over there tonight. We've got to get back inside. Our humans could come home any minute now."

  "Okay," I told him and turned to go.

  "Stay low, kid," he meowed from behind me. "And be stealthy."

  Well, I knew exactly how to be stealthy. And believe me, Bogey sure didn't have to tell me twice to get back inside the house. I zoomed back so fast I even beat Bogey there. I leaped up the porch stairs and slipped right through that narrowly open door.

  Holy Catnip!

  I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see my house again. I looked up at those twinkling Christmas tree lights and I felt warm all over.

  Behind me, Bogey called out. "Hey, kid, over here. I could use a little help."

  I turned to see him trying to push the front door closed. Unfortunately for Bogey, he was just too light to put much weight into it. But I, as a Maine Coon cat, had lots of weight to get that thing pushed shut.

  In fact, I simply got a running start and leaped up on the door with my front paws. And sure enough, that door closed with a solid thud. For once in my life, my big, giant paws really did come in handy!

  And not a moment too soon.

  Seconds later, Gracie opened the door and walked in, followed by our Mom and Dad. They were all talking at the same time, and frowning. Gracie even looked like she was about to cry. She came right over to me and picked me up. Then she buried her head into my shoulder. I could feel her hot tears on my fur, so I wrapped my arms around her neck and gave her a good hug.