The Case of the Clever Secret Code Page 5

  That’s when I realized the security guards weren’t even sticking with Steele Bronson anymore. To tell you the truth, that kind of surprised me. But it sure was nice of them to help out.

  Our Mom turned to Gracie. “We’d better get going, honey.”

  Gracie pointed to us. “What about Buckley and Bogey?”

  Our Mom sort of sighed. “I guess they’re coming to the library with us. We won’t have time to stop at home. And we can’t leave them here.”

  “And we can’t leave them in the car,” Gracie added.

  Our Mom smiled at her. “That’s right. People are never supposed to leave pets in the car. Especially when it’s as hot out as it is today. It’s very dangerous.”

  “But it will be so much fun to take them to the library, Mom!” Gracie giggled. “I won’t be so nervous when I read my essay if the boys are there.”

  Our Mom let out a little laugh. “Let’s hope the people at the library think it’s fun, too.”

  Gracie picked me up and put her arm around my brother. “Did you hear that, Buckley and Bogey? You’re going to the library! You’re gonna love it! There are books everywhere. It’s one of the best places ever. And now you’re going to see it, too!”

  Well, that sounded pretty good to me. I reached up and gave her a kiss on the nose. Bogey leaned in to her and purred.

  Then before I knew it, we were in our pet carriers and being carted out to the car. The sun was still bright in the sky and the day was hot. Really hot. It made me wonder about all those ladies who had waited in line to get Steele Bronson’s autograph. They must have wanted it really, really bad to wait outside for so long in that heat.

  Our Mom started the car and turned the air conditioning on nice and high for us. Then she drove toward the library. Along the way, she turned into a fast food drive-through. She ordered hamburgers and french fries for Gracie and herself. And she got hamburgers for Bogey and me.

  “It’s not the best dinner,” she said to Gracie. “But it’ll have to do for tonight. Since we didn’t have time for anything else.”

  “Don’t worry,” Gracie smiled. “I’m just so happy I got to meet Steele Bronson. And he was in our store! I still can’t believe it! I never thought something like this would happen to me. Every time I close my eyes, I can see him!”

  I had a feeling that, if we weren’t inside our car, Gracie would be spinning around by now. And she would probably have me in her arms while she twirled. She had a huge smile on her face as she put our hamburger patties in our pet carriers. Then she turned and started to eat her own food.

  Bogey and I gobbled up our burgers right away. As hamburgers go, they weren’t bad.

  But they certainly weren’t tuna fish.

  I peeked out at my brother from my pet carrier. “Do you think Gracie is ready for this contest tonight?”

  He shook his head. “I dunno, kid. There was a lot of commotion this afternoon. So she didn’t get to practice much. Especially after that guy made mincemeat out of her essay.”

  “Mincemeat?” I asked my brother. “He turned her essay into meat?”

  Bogey shook his head. “Just another expression, kid. It means he destroyed it. Or made a huge mess of it.”

  I nodded at my brother. “Well, he sure did that. And I didn’t like that Frank writing on her essay. I thought her essay was really good the way it was.”

  Bogey sighed. “Don’t I know it, kid. Don’t I know it. Some things just don’t need changing.”

  All of a sudden, my heart started to pound really hard. What if Gracie couldn’t read his writing? Or didn’t know how to pronounce some of the words? That guy really did make a lot of changes. Was Gracie ready to read them all?

  I glanced at Gracie in the front seat. The funny thing was, she didn’t seem nervous at all. In fact, she sort of looked like she was in a daze. She just kept on smiling and staring off into the distance.

  Our Mom took a left turn and then a right turn, and pulled into the library parking lot. The library wasn’t far from our house.

  And it was also very close the old church where we have the Buckley and Bogey Cat Shelter. The cat in charge is our friend, Luke, the church cat. He is a black cat who wears a white collar. Of course, there are some humans who help out, too.

  The first time I’d seen that church, I thought it was one of the prettiest buildings in St. Gertrude. But now that I could peek out and see the library, well, I thought it was even prettier.

  Both of the buildings had been made from old stones that had been carved so they fit together. And both of the buildings had big, oak double doors at the entryway. They also had some nice windows with stained glass pictures. And they were both built when the town of St. Gertrude was founded, about one hundred and fifty years ago.

  And even though the church was a big building, the St. Gertrude Library was even bigger! It was four stories tall! It had lots of windows and pointy peaks along the roof. Plus it had some little round tower sections that stood out on either side of the building. I thought it looked more like a castle than what I guessed a library would look like!

  Our Mom pulled Bogey’s pet carrier out of the car and Gracie took me in mine.

  Gracie leaned down to me. “Isn’t this exciting, Buckley. You’re going to see the library! It’s so wonderful inside!”

  I couldn’t even imagine how it could look more wonderful on the inside. Because the outside looked wonderful enough. Especially when I saw two stone lions sitting on either side of the wide, front steps.

  Plus there was a big stone sign standing in the grass by the walkway. The words on the sign read, “Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?” This was followed by the name, “Benjamin Franklin.” So I guess he was the guy who wrote that saying.

  Well, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by that. But I did remember seeing a sundial in a picture once. It had to be out in the sun or it didn’t work. Otherwise, you couldn’t tell time from it. And with all the bright sunshine outside, I figured a sundial would probably work really well today.

  After that, I saw an even bigger stone sign. This one read, “The Arthur J. and Emily R. Fartheringston Library.”

  Gracie leaned down to my pet carrier. “See, Buckley? That’s the name of our library. It was named after the people who used to live here. This mansion was their home. But when Mr. Fartheringston passed away, his wife turned the building into a library. So all the people of St. Gertrude could read lots of books and learn new things. Wasn’t that nice of her?”

  It sure was. Because I figured there must be lots of things that people and cats could learn at the library. I hadn’t even set paw inside the building yet and I’d already learned some things.

  Gracie and our Mom carried us through the front doors, and that’s when I first saw the inside of the library. I had to say, Gracie had been right! It really was pretty on the inside. There were wooden beams across the ceiling, and old, wood paneling everywhere. The floor was covered in red carpet, and lots of old paintings and pictures hung on the walls. I could see a gigantic fireplace with a carved mantle off on one wall. Right above that fireplace was a really old and really huge painting of a man. He had white hair and a long, white beard. And a big smile on his face. He sure looked like a nice man to me.

  On another wall was a really old painting of a lady. She had reddish-brown hair piled on top of her head. She was wearing a pretty, blue dress and had blue ribbons in her hair. She looked like she was probably pretty nice, too.

  Gracie pointed first to one painting and then to the next. “See, Buckley? There’s Mr. Fartheringston and Mrs. Fartheringston. When Mrs. Fartheringston turned this mansion into a library, she stayed in an apartment on the fourth floor until she passed away. She was actually our first librarian in St. Gertrude. And kind of a teacher, too. She used to have Science Club for kids in one room and Math Club in another. She wanted to teach kids all she could about Math and Science.”

  Hol
y Catnip. This lady really did sound nice to me.

  “And guess what, Buckley?” Gracie went on. “She had three cats and they lived here, too. They ran around the library any time they wanted. But after they passed away, there haven’t been any more library cats.”

  Okay, now I liked the lady even more. Though I thought it was kind of sad that there weren’t any cats who lived here now. This building looked like a perfect home for a family of cats.

  I leaned to the side of my pet carrier and meowed to my brother. “Did you hear that, Bogey?”

  “Every word, kid,” he meowed back. “Every word. Gracie knows her history. The girl has a real brain in her.”

  Bogey sure had that right! I was so proud of Gracie. And I really hoped she was going to win the essay contest. Especially since she talked about history in her essay, too.

  Now we moved toward a really big, antique desk that sat off to one side. Way behind that, I could see a huge, wide staircase. It had a cherry wood banister with fancy carvings on the posts. Plus I could see wood paneling that had wood rectangles set into the paneling for decoration. The staircase circled around and went above us.

  Let me tell you, Bogey and I loved to run the stairs at home. It was a lot of fun. But I was pretty sure it would be even more fun to run those big stairs right in front of us!

  A lady stood up from the old desk just as soon as we walked in. She had gray hair that was piled on top of her head and kind of curled over her ears. She was wearing a blue dress that was way too big for her and little half glasses that sat on the end of her nose. Her nametag read, “Mrs. Penelope Peebles.”

  “Good evening, Abigail! And Good evening, Gracie!” said Mrs. Peebles. Her voice sounded kind of like a bird chirping.

  “Hello, Penelope,” our Mom said with a smile. “So nice to see you. I’m afraid we’re running a little behind this evening. We had some unexpected excitement at the store today.”

  Mrs. Peebles sort of shivered. “I heard! I heard! Apparently that dreamboat, Steele Bronson, was in town! If only I could have gotten away from my desk to come down and see him.”

  “Do you know what a dreamboat is?” I meowed to my brother.

  He shook his head. “Dames, kid. I’ve heard them say it before. But I have no idea what it means.”

  I crinkled my brow. “Dames?”

  Bogey nodded. “Yup, kid. Dames. They have a language all their own.”

  Mrs. Peebles put her hand on Gracie’s head. “Gracie, you and your Mom can go into the auditorium. The other finalists are all there. The director of the program will be taking you around and showing you how the ceremony will go. Then you kids will each draw numbers to see what order you’ll be reading your essays.”

  Gracie and our Mom started to carry us toward the door on the left behind the desk. There was a sign above the door that read, “Auditorium.” And another sign on a stand that said, “Independence Day Essay Contest tonight!”

  We were almost to the door when Mrs. Peebles called out to us. “Wait a minute! Did you bring your cats with you?”

  Our Mom turned around. “I’m sorry, Penelope. But the boys were at the store with us today. And with all the excitement, we didn’t have time to drop them off at home.”

  “Well! That simply won’t do!” Mrs. Peebles said. “You’ll have to leave them in their pet carriers out here. Under the front desk.”

  “They won’t be any trouble,” our Mom told her. “We’d rather keep them with us.”

  Now Gracie piped up. “There used to be cats in this library. Mrs. Fartheringston had three cats who lived here.”

  Mrs. Peebles stood up straight with her chin in the air. “You don’t need to lecture me on the history of this place, young lady. Besides, the auditorium was added on later. There are no food or drinks in the auditorium! And certainly no cats!”

  Right about then, my jaw practically hit the bottom of my pet carrier. If we weren’t allowed in the auditorium, how could we watch Gracie read her essay?

  “What will we do?” I meowed to my brother.

  But he just grinned back. “Don’t sweat it, kid. Time to put on your ‘cute’ routine.”

  “My ‘cute’ routine?” I asked him.

  “Yup, kid. You know the drill. Remember what Lil Bits showed you about being cute. Then put it into high gear.”

  “Huh?” I asked, right before I remembered what Bogey was talking about.

  We had once gone undercover at a cat show. And part of solving our case depended on me being cute. So one of the older, formerly retired cat detectives at our house, Lil Bits, taught me how to act cute. And let me tell you, she sure knew what she was doing. Because it worked like a charm.

  But I didn’t exactly enjoy acting cute or even being called cute. Big, tough cat detectives weren’t supposed to be cute or adorable. And I sure didn’t see Bogey acting that way. Still, the job of being a cat detective wasn’t all tuna fish and cat treats. Sometimes a guy just had to do his part. Even if he wasn’t happy about it.

  So as our Mom and Gracie carried us to the desk just like they’d been told, I did just as I’d been told. I tilted my head to the right. Then to the left. And I looked right at Gracie when I did. I kept it up until she couldn’t stop staring at me.

  Our Mom scooted Bogey’s pet carrier under the desk and then Gracie started to scoot mine beside his.

  “Ooooh, Buckley,” she sighed. “You are soooooo cute. I sure wish you boys could be there when I read my essay.”

  I meowed and kept on acting as cute as I could be.

  “Okay,” Gracie finally whispered. “If I leave your pet carriers unzipped, do you promise to come watch me in the contest? And be back here before we’re ready to leave? And not let anyone see you?”

  I put my paw up against the front of my carrier.

  “All right,” she whispered even softer.

  I could see our Mom and Mrs. Peebles heading into the auditorium.

  Gracie quietly unzipped my pet carrier. “Now, you boys be good and don’t get into trouble. I’ll look for you while I’m reading my essay.”

  I reached up and gave her a kiss on the nose.

  She smiled before she unzipped Bogey’s pet carrier, too. Then she jumped up and skipped off to follow our Mom and Mrs. Peebles. She looked back at us once before she went into the auditorium.

  Bogey and I waited a few minutes before we stepped out of our carriers.

  Bogey gave me a paw bump. “See, kid. I told you. Cute gets ‘em every time.”

  “Um . . . I guess so,” was all I could say.

  He nodded toward the ceiling. “Now, let’s go investigate this library. And find out why Gracie likes it so much.”

  Without waiting for a response, he took off running. Straight for that curved staircase with the pretty banister.

  And all I could do was run after him and try to keep up.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 6

  Holy Mackerel!

  I could hardly believe it. There we were, running through that huge four-story library just as fast as we could go. Bogey had dashed across that red carpet in a black blur as he made a beeline for the big staircase. And I had raced right after him. Before I knew it, we were running right up those stairs. We took the steps two at a time, and let me tell you, we were zooming! At some point, I’m pretty sure Bogey was actually flying. I dug in my claws and pushed off with all my strength to keep up with him. It was a lot of fun, especially since the whole staircase went around in a gigantic circle.

  But it straightened out after we reached the second floor. That’s when the stairs went up and down, just like regular stairs. And the wooden banister wasn’t nearly as fancy, even though it was still really pretty.

  Thankfully, we didn’t run up the next set of stairs right away. Instead we paused for a moment on the second floor landing. I was breathing really hard and it took me a few seconds to catch my breath. But Bogey was breathing just like he normally did. He sat and licked the bottom of his right fr
ont paw while my heart slowed down a little.

  Then he nodded at the stairs. “Let’s start at the top and work our way down. Sound good, kid?”

  I glanced over at a big rock in a glass display case not far from us. “Um . . . sure. Okay.”

  With that, we were on our way again. We raced up the next staircase and just kept on going. Luckily, there weren’t any people around. That’s because the library was closed except to the people going to the essay contest on the first floor. It was the perfect time for Bogey and me to run around without anyone seeing us.

  We finally stopped when we reached the fourth floor. Right away, I could tell there was something very different about this floor. Somehow, everything looked a lot older up here. Gracie had told us this was where Emily Fartheringston had lived when she turned the rest of the mansion into a library. It had been her apartment back then.

  But it sure didn’t look like someone’s apartment now. Instead it was kind of dark, and some of the lights didn’t even work at all. Plus there was a light in the back corner that sort of blinked on and off. Not that it mattered so much to us cats, since we can see in the dark anyway. But I was pretty sure humans wouldn’t be able to see up here so well. Maybe that was why it looked like people didn’t come up to this floor very often.

  Bogey sniffed the musty air and started walking slowly. I could tell his senses were on full alert.

  So I figured I’d better have my senses on full alert, too. Especially since I wanted to be as good a cat detective as my brother was. And well, if he had his eyes peeled and his ears tilted forward, then I figured I should probably do the same.

  Together we walked softly up one row and then down another. And up and down, from row to row. The old wooden bookshelves were so tall that they nearly blocked out what little light there was in that huge room. Especially since each one of those big, giant bookcases was absolutely crammed full of books. Very, very old books, as near as I could tell. With lots of dust on them.