The Case of the Clever Secret Code Read online

  And not a moment too soon. Because our Mom and Gracie showed up to take us home. Gracie still carried her trophy and kept her eyes to the floor. Neither one of them were smiling.

  Our Mom crinkled her eyebrows when she noticed our pet carriers were unzipped. But she quickly zipped them up again without saying a word.

  She had just started to carry us out of the library when I remembered the stone on the second floor. If only we’d had time to go back and memorize the letters carved into that big rock. Letters that we thought were a secret code. But I guess the night hadn’t turned out the way any of us had hoped.

  The sun was still bright in the sky and slowly starting to sink toward the horizon. And even though the sun was setting, it still felt like it was a thousand degrees outside. It wasn’t fun having long, fuzzy, black fur on a hot summer day like this.

  But once we were in the car, our Mom turned the air conditioning on full blast. Gracie plopped down and stared out the window. I could tell she was still feeling bad. Really bad.

  But I knew exactly how to make her feel better. I only had to get out of my pet carrier first. So I started making a gigantic fuss. So she’d have no choice but to turn around and look at me in my pet carrier in the backseat.

  Bogey grinned and gave me a “paws up.” “I gotta hand it to you, kid. You’re working it like a pro. You’ve got this covered.”

  I kept on meowing and hollering and scratching at my pet carrier. I made so much noise that Gracie finally turned around while our Mom glanced into the rearview mirror.

  “What is it, Buckley?” Gracie asked in a shaky voice.

  And that’s when I meowed at the top of my lungs.

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into Buckley,” our Mom said. “Maybe you should hold him.”

  Gracie had barely unzipped my pet carrier when I practically leaped into the front seat. Right into her lap. Then I climbed up and put my arms around her neck. I tucked my head under her chin and started to purr just as loud as I could.

  She wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. “Oh Buckley, I love you so much. I needed one of your hugs. I feel so awful and I don’t know why. I won the contest.”

  “I know you’re feeling bad,” our Mom said softly. “But let’s talk about it later. We’re both hot and tired, and we’ll be thinking straighter in the morning.”

  “Okay,” Gracie sort of whimpered. “I never thought I’d feel bad about winning something.”

  “I know,” our Mom said. “It’s sort of complicated, isn’t it?”

  Boy, she had that right. Sometimes things really were complicated. It was hard to imagine that you could get something you really, really wanted and not be happy about it.

  Gracie leaned her head on top of mine and I could feel a tear or two touch my forehead. I knew she was trying hard not to cry, but it didn’t seem to be working.

  A few minutes later, we arrived home and pulled into the garage.

  Our house is over a hundred years old and has a big porch that wraps around the front. It has an upstairs and a downstairs, and well, I know every single inch of the place. That’s because my brother and I run surveillance on it each and every night. It’s part of our job as cat detectives. And if you don’t know what the word “surveillance” means — as my brother would say — don’t sweat it. I didn’t know what it meant either, until I got adopted into our home. Bogey told me that running surveillance just means we check the place out and make sure everything is okay. We make sure the doors and windows are all shut and locked. And that everything is just the way it’s supposed to be. To keep our family safe and sound.

  Our Mom opened the car door just as our Dad walked into the garage to greet us. That’s when I realized that, even though our Dad has shiny blonde hair, it didn’t look a thing like Steele Bronson’s hair.

  He kissed our Mom hello and then came over to Gracie’s side of the car. He took me from Gracie and held me in his big arms. I reached up and gave him a kiss on the nose.

  He laughed. “Buckley seems pretty happy. What’s going on, boy?”

  Then he must have spotted Gracie’s trophy. “Oh wow, kiddo! Good job! You won!”

  Gracie sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I guess.”

  She got out of the car and headed straight into the house. I noticed she’d left her trophy in the car.

  Our Dad’s eyebrows shot up, and he and our Mom looked at each other.

  She shook her head and said, “It’s a long story. A very long story.”

  “I’ve got some iced tea made,” he told her. “We can sit and relax, and you can tell me all about it.”

  Our Mom picked up Bogey in his pet carrier. “Sounds wonderful. This has been such a crazy day.”

  Our Dad leaned over and grabbed Gracie’s trophy, while he still hung onto me. He shut the car door and we all went into the family room. Gracie was nowhere to be seen. But two of the other cats who live at our house, Lil Bits and the Princess, were there waiting for us.

  Our Mom let Bogey out of his pet carrier and our Dad put me on the hardwood floor. Then they went into the kitchen next to the family room to get some iced tea.

  Lil Bits and the Princess had lots and lots of questions for Bogey and me. And believe me, we had lots and lots to tell them.

  Lil Bits is years older than us, and she’s a big, white cat with black spots. Bogey told me she’s a kind of cat called a British Shorthair. But to me, she looks more like a linebacker than she does a cat. I sure wouldn’t want to be tackled by her! Lil was once known as being one of the best cat detectives in the business. Then all of a sudden, she quit and went into retirement one day, though no one knows why. But she came out of retirement just recently to help Bogey and me with some of our cases.

  The Princess, or Princess Alexandra, is kind of the opposite of Lil. She’s a small, white cat with big, green eyes, and she’s a kind of cat called a Turkish Angora. The Princess is a former cat show cat who used to be prim and perfect. That was, until we rescued her from her abusive owners. While they went to jail, we brought her home to live with us. In fact, she’s still sort of hiding out at our house, and we kind of keep hush-hush about her living with us. So her old owners would never be able to find her if they ever got out of prison. And since she’s come to live with us, well, she acts a whole lot more free. She spends her time running around the house and climbing on the tallest things she can find. And though we always call her the Princess, the humans in the family call her Lexie.

  “What happened today, Buckley?” the Princess asked in her soft voice. “Gracie ran through here in tears!”

  She stared at me with her big, green eyes.

  And that’s when I pretty much couldn’t tell anyone anything. That’s because my heart started to pound really hard inside my chest. The room started to spin, and well, my mouth didn’t seem to work either. I had the same reaction every time the Princess looked at me like that.

  I could barely make out Bogey as he passed me a cat treat. “Here you go, kid. This’ll get you going again.”

  So I munched on the treat while Bogey passed out cat treats for everyone. It looked like he’d already pulled out the bag he kept stashed in the kitchen.

  He handed me a second treat and I started to feel better. In the meantime, Bogey began to tell the other cats everything that had happened today. He started with the limo and how Steele Bronson had shown up. In the background, I could hear our Mom telling our Dad some of the same stuff.

  At one point, I heard our Dad say, “Steele Bronson? The Steele Bronson? What in the world is he doing here?”

  Gracie still wasn’t around. I figured she must have gone up to her room.

  Bogey had barely finished telling the story of the essay contest when the doorbell rang.

  And when I say it rang, I mean it rang and rang again.

  Our Mom and Dad looked at each other, and us cats did, too.

  “Who could it be at this hour?” our Dad asked. “It’s time for us to go to bed.”


  Our Mom shook her head. “Who knows? But somehow this doesn’t surprise me. After all the weird things that have happened today, this is just one more link in the chain.”

  Together, they left the kitchen and headed for the front door.

  Bogey glanced at me. “We’d better check this out, kid. We don’t usually get visitors this time of night.”

  “I’m on it,” I told him.

  Lil looked from me to Bogey. “I’ll take the Princess and we’ll head upstairs. So nobody will spot her. Plus, it sounds like Gracie could use some extra TLC tonight.”

  Bogey nodded. “Good plan, Lil. As always.”

  Then we all ran off together. Bogey and I zoomed to the front entry while Lil and the Princess raced on up the stairs. My brother and I had just put on the brakes when our Dad glanced out the peephole in our front door.

  “What in the world . . .” he said before he turned to our Mom. “There’s two huge guys on our front porch. Maybe we’d better call the police.”

  He stepped aside to let our Mom glance out.

  She sighed. “They’re Steele Bronson’s bodyguards.”

  I turned to my brother. “Huh? Why would they be here tonight?”

  Bogey didn’t take his eyes off the front door. “I think we’re about to find out, kid.”

  Our Dad opened the door and, sure enough, there stood Bravo and Tango. Together they were holding onto a big, giant open wheel. The wheel was probably was as tall as their shoulders. Nadia was standing behind them.

  Our Mom blinked a couple of times. “What are you guys doing here at this time of night?”

  Tango smiled. “Special Delivery. Where would you like this?”

  Our Dad sort of laughed. “What in the world is it?”

  “Exercise wheel for Buckley and Bogey,” Bravo told him.

  Now Nadia stepped forward and introduced herself to our Dad. “Steele sent it over. He wants Buckley and Bogey to be in prime shape for their scenes in the movie. Especially since they’ll have starring roles. A camera adds ten to twenty pounds, you know. And we want those boys to look svelte.”

  I turned to my brother. “Svelte?”

  I didn’t even know what that word meant. How could I be svelte when I didn’t even understand what svelte was!

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 9

  Holy Mackerel!

  Bravo and Tango just stood there on our front porch, hanging onto that gigantic wheel. I was pretty sure if they let go of it, it would go rolling right off the porch and straight down into the street.

  “Where would you like it?” Tango asked our Mom.

  She sputtered a few times and finally said, “I have no idea. I didn’t even know it was coming. How did you even get our address?”

  All the while our Dad just kept saying, over and over, “Buckley and Bogey are going to be in a movie?”

  Nadia stepped inside our house. “Our writer, Frank, is really good at research. He found your address without any problem.”

  Our Mom stared at Nadia. “We haven’t even agreed to let our cats be in this movie, yet. I want to know exactly what their roles will be. And what kind of conditions they’ll be working under.”

  “Oh don’t worry,” Nadia said. “Everything’s on the up and up. And Frank just finished writing the script tonight, so you can’t back out now.”

  I leaned into my brother. “He already wrote the script? How long does it usually take to write a movie script?”

  Bogey shook his head. “A lot longer than one evening, kid. Let’s add this to our ‘something’s fishy here’ pile.”

  Nadia pointed down the hallway to our living room. “How about if we put the exercise wheel in there? Right next to the baby grand piano?”

  “Well . . .” Our Mom looked at our Dad.

  But he seemed to be in a daze.

  “I guess that would be fine,” our Mom finally said.

  And without another word, Tango and Bravo slowly rolled that wheel right across the hardwood floor and toward the living room. The wheel was made from wood that had been painted black. It was about a foot wide, and the entire inside was lined with short, gray carpet. From the noise it made as it lumbered across the floor, it sounded like it weighed a ton.

  Bogey and I followed the security guards while our Mom and Dad talked to Nadia at the front door. But let me tell you, we stayed a nice safe distance from that wheel as the men rolled it in. And I do mean a safe! Because I sure wanted enough room to run out of there if that wheel suddenly switched directions and came our way. It was so heavy it probably would’ve flattened us if it ran us over.

  “Do you know what ‘svelte’ means?” I asked my brother.

  Bogey raised his brows. “It means this Steele Bronson guy wants us to be in shape, kid.”

  I glanced toward the back of the huge wheel. “In shape? Aren’t we already in a shape? I’m big and fuzzy. That’s a shape.”

  Bogey grinned. “I hear ya, kid. But he sent the wheel over so we’ll get plenty of exercise.”

  I could hardly believe my ears. “Exercise? We get tons of exercise just by running surveillance every night.”

  Bogey kept on grinning and nodded at the wheel. “I wouldn’t sweat it, kid . . . Especially not in that contraption.”

  We followed Bravo and Tango until they stopped right beside the piano. That’s when I noticed Bravo had been carrying some kind of a stand under his arm. He put it on the floor and I saw it had some little black wheels sticking up. Then together, both men lifted that huge wheel and put it on top of the stand.

  Bogey turned to me. “This thing doesn’t even look safe, kid. It wouldn’t take much to derail it.”

  Holy Catnip! I sure hoped not. I wouldn’t want to see that huge wheel go barreling right straight for the front door sometime. It would probably break the door! And run over anyone in the way.

  Now Bravo and Tango checked to make sure the wheel was in place. Then they turned it around and around a couple of times, just to make sure it worked. They seemed to be satisfied, and they headed back to the front door. We followed them again, but we still kept our distance.

  Nadia gave them a quick glance before she turned back to our Mom. “What will you be serving tomorrow night for the dinner with Steele?”

  Our Mom folded her arms across her chest. “I have no idea. I wasn’t even consulted on this dinner. And I certainly hadn’t been planning on it. It would have been nice if you had asked me ahead of time.”

  Nadia let out a little laugh. “Yeah, right. This is Steele Bronson we’re talking about. Nobody asks if it’s okay for him to come over to dinner. Most people would jump at a chance like this.”

  “Most people would have the courtesy not to invite themselves to dinner at a moment’s notice.” Our Mom spoke very slowly and pronounced every word very firmly. “Even the president of the United States would make sure someone checked with the host and hostess first. Before setting up a dinner.”

  Nadia shrugged and held up her hands. “But lady, this is a done deal. We’ve already told the press.”

  Our Mom raised one eyebrow. “Then Mr. Bronson will eat what we’re serving. It’ll probably be macaroni and cheese.”

  Nadia’s eyes went wide. “Okay, okay, I get it. We can’t have Steele eating something like mac and cheese. I’m sure it’s not even organic or gluten-free or anything. I’ll have something catered then.”

  With those words, she turned and walked out the door. Tango and Bravo followed her. At least they smiled and said goodnight to our Mom and Dad before they pulled the door closed behind them.

  Our Dad’s eyes were really wide. “Steele Bronson is coming to our house for dinner tomorrow? Are you serious? I’m going to invite some of the guys from work. And my boss. They will love this.”

  But our Mom shook her head. “Maybe I’d better explain it all to you. You might not be so happy when you hear the rest of the story.”

  Our Dad tilted his head to the side. “Including why Gracie was s
o upset?”

  Our Mom nodded. “Uh-huh. And speaking of Gracie, we’d better go check on her.”

  Our Dad took her hand and they quietly went upstairs to Gracie’s room. Bogey and I tiptoed behind them.

  We found Gracie sound asleep in her bed. She had her favorite pajamas on, and Lil was sitting at the end of the bed. She was watching over Gracie, just like she does every night.

  I figured the Princess had probably gone on into the sunroom, to stay with the Wise One. Just like Lil watched over Gracie, the Princess liked to watch over Miss Mokie. And I think Miss Mokie really appreciated the company, since she didn’t wander far from the sunroom these days.

  Our Mom and Dad looked down at Gracie and then they looked up at each other. I could tell by the way our Mom’s mouth was set that she was worried. I’m sure she didn’t like the way the essay contest had upset Gracie so much. And I sure didn’t like it either. Especially since Gracie must have been so upset that she just went to bed without even saying goodnight to her family.

  That wasn’t like her at all.

  I let out a loud sigh. There was so much about that contest tonight that I just didn’t understand. And I sure wished I knew what to do to make Gracie feel better.

  “We’ll have to talk with her in the morning,” our Mom whispered to our Dad. “I’ve never seen Gracie so shook up. And I don’t blame her for being upset.”

  Our Dad just nodded and pointed to the hallway. I was pretty sure he wanted to talk to our Mom out there. So our Mom gave us each a quick kiss on the head before she and our Dad left the room.

  A few seconds later, Bogey and I left, too.

  “Our Mom and Dad will be headed for bed,” Bogey told me when we were in the upstairs hallway. “Soon as they’re asleep, I’ll get on the computer. I’ve got a few things I need to check out. Then we’d better start our surveillance rounds, kid.”

  “Aye, aye,” I told him. I tried to salute him, but I only ended up bonking myself in the mouth.

  Thankfully he’d already headed for the stairs and he didn’t even see me.

  But to tell you the truth, I was kind of glad to have some time to myself. That’s because I really needed some advice. And I needed it right away.