The Case of the Crafty Christmas Crooks

by Cindy Vincent

  From where we were scrunched, we had a clean shot to the front door. All we had to do was wait for the exact right moment to leap and run through when she opened that door.

  My heart pounded a million miles an hour. I knew we would be out and on our way to Nunzio's in a matter of minutes.

  "Get ready, kid," Bogey whispered to me.

  The lady customer had her hand on the door, and we were just about ready to spring.

  Then all of a sudden, a pair of high-heeled feet stepped right in front of us. Those feet were attached to a pair of legs. And when I looked up, I saw they were attached to none other than Merryweather.

  "Going somewhere, boys?" she asked.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER_12

  __________________________

  Holy Mackerel!

  Bogey and I were caught in the act! How in the world did Merryweather see us? And more importantly, what would she do with us now that we'd been caught? Would she just lock us up in the back so we couldn't get out? Then we'd never have a chance to get to Nunzio's shop!

  I suddenly started to shake in my paws. I didn't like getting caught. And I especially didn't like getting in trouble.

  I was just about to ask Bogey what to do, when he made his move.

  A big, flying leap!

  The only thing was, he didn't fly out the door.

  Instead, he pounced on a . . . bug?

  I blinked to be sure I'd seen it all correctly. And sure enough, he'd leaped right on top of a very, very large bug with wings. Of course, that bug hadn't exactly been moving. Instead, it had mostly just been lying there with its feet sticking up in the air.

  Bogey grabbed it in his mouth and ran to Merryweather. Then he promptly dropped that bug at her feet.

  Both Merryweather and the lady customer screamed and jumped. They bounced back a few steps, before the customer ran out the door. Merryweather gasped and thunked her hand to her chest. She seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

  When she could talk she said, "That's a good, good boy, Bogey. Thank God you killed that awful bug. You're a very good boy. It's cat treats for you guys."

  Then she picked us both up and kissed us each on the head. She took us to the cash register counter and lavished us with cat treats.

  Bogey grinned the whole way.

  I glanced at my brother. I tried to think of something to say, but I wasn't even sure where to start.

  "You caught a bug?" I managed to sputter. "A big bug? One that those ladies were scared of?"

  Bogey nodded. "Sort of, kid. Sort of. I'm guessing that bug's been dead for a while, kid. It probably just blew in here from the street when someone opened the door."

  Now it was my turn to grin. "Oh. But Merryweather and the other lady didn't know that."

  Bogey glanced back at the door. "Nope, kid. You might say I was in the right place at the right time. Now let's just keep our eyes open for the right time to make our getaway."

  I gave him a "paws up."

  That "right time" showed up only a few minutes later. That's when a small bus parked directly in front of our Mom's store. Then a whole bunch of ladies trooped out and lined up by the front door. They were wearing nametags and red hats.

  When all the women had gotten off the bus, the first one opened the door. "Merry Christmas!" she yelled. "We're taking a tour of antique stores in three different cities. We're here to shop for Christmas presents."

  When the last of the ladies wandered through the door, Bogey and I zoomed out. As near as we could tell, no one had seen us at all. Including Merryweather.

  Getting into Nunzio's store turned out to be every bit as easy, too. A customer came out the very second we wanted to run in.

  And so we did.

  I followed Bogey inside and then we scrunched down low, right next to the front row of shelves. I glanced up for a moment at an entire row of stuffed animals. Just like the ones Gracie had on her bed.

  And just like I did at home, I really wanted to snuggle up with those stuffed animals. Because my heart was pounding so hard, I thought it might bounce right out of my chest.

  I couldn't stop wondering if we might be in the store with the criminal mastermind we had been trying to catch. The very criminal mastermind who'd been breaking into houses in our neighborhood.

  Holy Mackerel!

  Bogey pointed to a spot near the end of the shelf unit, so I scooted over with him. From there we had a perfect view of Brutus as he waited on a young woman.

  Brutus was tall and had really huge muscles. He had ice-cold, blue eyes and long, golden hair that he kept in a ponytail. Funny, but that ponytail kind of reminded me of the Princess' beautiful tail.

  Now Brutus rang up the customer's purchase at the cash register. When he wrote out the receipt for her, he took down her name, address, and phone number, too. Then he gave her the top copy, while the bottom copy stayed in his receipt book. Next he took the lady's money and put the stuff she'd bought into a bag. He handed the bag to her and gave her a smile. She said good-bye and left the store.

  But then something very strange happened.

  Instead of putting the money into the cash register, Brutus put the money into his pocket. I could hardly believe my eyes.

  "Bog . . . " I started to meow. That was, until I felt a skinny black paw cover my mouth.

  "Ssshhh, kid," Bogey whispered into my ear. "I saw it, too. Brutus is stealing money from Nunzio's store. The guy's a crook, all right. But let's see what else happens."

  Without looking around, Brutus shut the cash register drawer and headed for the back room.

  "Here's our chance, kid," Bogey said quietly. "Let's take a look around the store."

  So we did. We looked at shelves filled with Christmas ornaments and toys. We saw kitchen appliances and gadgets and pretty drinking glasses. There were T-shirts and tea towels and tablecloths. There were puzzles and games and greeting cards. Row after row, and shelf after shelf, held just about anything anyone could think of to buy.

  But nothing looked out of place or out of the ordinary.

  When we passed the aisle with the kitchen things, I paused in front of the cookie cutter display. There I saw Christmas Cookie Cutter set #1 and Christmas Cookie Cutter set #2. Just like I'd seen on the receipt I'd found at Mrs. Mitchell's house. The first set had cookie cutters in the shape of Christmas trees and ornaments. It also had holly leaves and snowflakes. The second set had Santa Clauses, angels, bells, and candy canes.

  I pointed them out to Bogey.

  He nodded to me. "Yup, kid. Mrs. Mitchell shopped here, all right. That was the stuff on her receipt."

  Now I felt my eyes go wide. "I wonder if she talked to Brutus or Nunzio?"

  Bogey glanced from side to side. "Could be, kid. Could be she mentioned she'd already bought all her Christmas presents. And since Brutus writes down the addresses of the customers, he and Nunzio would know exactly where to go."

  I suddenly got the shivers. If Brutus and Nunzio were the crooks, they could have broken into their customers' homes and stolen their presents. Then they could have unwrapped those presents and put the stuff back on the shelves at the store. Since Nunzio already had so much stuff on his shelves, no one would have known the difference!

  And that's when it suddenly hit me. Our Mom's store was right next to Nunzio's. What if our Mom came in and told Nunzio and Brutus when she had finished her Christmas shopping? Would they be breaking into our house next?

  Holy Catnip!

  If I said I was nervous before, well, it didn't even compare to how nervous I felt now! More than anything, I wanted to get out of that store and back to our Mom's store! Right away.

  But Bogey motioned me on. "Let's take a listen to what they're saying in the back, kid."

  Bogey tiptoed to the edge of the door to the back room. I followed behind him, and together we flattened ourselves against the wall. From where we stood, we had a perfect view of both men as they worked.

  Nunzio wasn't as tall as
Brutus, but he was every bit as muscular. The two men almost looked like they could be professional wrestlers.

  Inside the back room, they were opening and unpacking boxes. The stuff they unpacked looked just like the kind of stuff that Nunzio had on his shelves.

  I gasped. "Do you think they're unpacking things they stole from someone's house? Maybe someone's Christmas presents?"

  Bogey shook his head. "I don't think so, kid. Look closer. You can see a packing list. That only comes in a box that's been shipped from some company."

  Before I could say another word, Brutus suddenly dropped a little wooden jewelry box. It shattered and sent splinters all over the floor.

  "Hey," Nunzio said in his deep voice. "Watch what you're doing."

  Brutus shrugged. "It's not my fault this stuff is so cheap. It's practically held together with bubblegum."

  "You got that right," Nunzio said. "How do you think I make so much money? I sell things that are made with really shoddy craftsmanship. Nothing handmade. This stuff is all put together by some machine. It costs next to nothing to make them and it costs me very little to buy them. Then I sell them for a whole lot more. So I make tons of money."

  Brutus laughed. "Don't your customers ever complain?"

  Nunzio smiled. "Not really. This time of year, most people are buying them for gifts. And the person who gets the gift isn't going to complain."

  Brutus shook his head. "Even if their gift falls apart in a week?"

  Now Nunzio laughed. "Nope. Then they'd be insulting the person who gave it to them."

  "Sounds like the perfect scheme," Brutus told him.

  Nunzio opened another shipping box. "You got that right."

  Brutus knelt down to pick up the pieces of the broken jewelry box. Just as he did, he looked out into the main part of the store.

  And straight into my eyes.

  "There's something in here!" he yelled. "An animal or something. Maybe a really huge rat!"

  A rat? Okay, sure I was fuzzy and smaller than Brutus. But I hardly looked like a rat.

  "Get it!" Nunzio hollered.

  And that's when Bogey and I took off. We raced two rows up and hid behind some shelves. We peeked around the side and spotted Brutus coming after us with a very big board.

  "There's two of them," he yelled out to Nunzio.

  "I'll get a board and go after them, too," Nunzio yelled back.

  "Quick, kid," Bogey meowed to me. "We've got to find a way out of this store."

  "But how?" I meowed back.

  As far as I could see, there was no way out. We couldn't open that front door by ourselves and no customers had come in for at least a half-hour. We were trapped!

  "Head to the front, kid," he meowed. "Around the side of the aisles. Follow me."

  Then together we zoomed to the end of the row. We made a sharp turn and then ran straight for the front of the store. Along the way, we zoomed past row after row after row of shelves. My claws dug deep into the hardwood floor as we tore through that huge store. My heart was pumping a million miles an hour, and a cold chill passed over my body as we ran. Even though we were racing at top speed, it seem like the front door was a million miles away. Until now, I hadn't realized how big that store really was.

  I could hear Brutus and Nunzio moving up from the back and yelling along the way. They were stomping from aisle to aisle, and hitting their boards along the floor as they went.

  "They're trying to smoke us out," Bogey said when we'd reached the final row. The one closest to the door. Ahead was the window that looked out onto the sidewalk.

  "Keep moving toward the door," Bogey panted.

  I was panting myself as I followed him down that last row. The row filled with stuffed animals.

  By now the door was only fifteen feet away. But still no customers had come in so we could run out.

  "Jump up into the shelves, kid," Bogey commanded me. "Make like you're one of the stuffed animals. And don't move a muscle."

  I did exactly what Bogey told me to do. I jumped up on a shelf and squeezed in behind a stuffed monkey and a stuffed bear. Then I held perfectly still. You might even say I froze into place.

  I took a sideways glance at my brother, who had jumped in between a large, green stuffed alligator and a white stuffed kitten.

  Then we just stayed really, really quiet. And still. Like statues. Let me tell you, of all the things I've ever had to do as a cat detective, this was by far the hardest. To just sit right out there in the open and stare into space, took every bit of control I had. Especially when my heart was pounding so loud I was sure Nunzio and Brutus would hear me.

  Though one thing was for sure — I could hear them. Nunzio was coming around the corner on our left and Brutus was on our right.

  Little by little, they inched forward. Right toward us. They were still hitting their sticks on the floor and yelling. By now I could even smell Brutus' breath. And as near as I could tell, he'd had onions for breakfast.

  "There's no place to hide, you little rats," Nunzio yelled. "Say your prayers, because you're goners!"

  Goners? Did he say "goners"?

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER_13

  __________________________

  Holy Mackerel! By now, Nunzio was just a foot or two away from me. And Brutus was only a few feet from Bogey.

  I was so terrified that I started to tremble. But I quickly tensed up my muscles and tried to hold myself perfectly still. Not an easy thing to do when your body wants to shake like a whole tree full of leaves in a windstorm.

  Meanwhile, the men inched ever closer. They looked up and down the shelves trying to find us. They both held their boards out, ready to strike.

  Then, just when I didn't think I could stand it another minute . . .

  It happened. The front door flew wide open and someone walked inside.

  Without thinking, I broke out of my frozen statue pose and turned toward the door. Nunzio spotted me just as I recognized the person who had walked in.

  It was our Mom!

  For once, I didn't have to wait for Bogey to tell me what to do. No, we both pushed off from that shelf and soared through the air. Stuffed animals went flying all over the place, which must have really confused Brutus and Nunzio. Bogey touched the ground once before he jumped into our Mom's arms. And I brushed right past Nunzio and landed on the floor. I made two full-length runs before I was hiding safely behind our Mom's legs.

  Our Mom didn't even have a chance to say hello.

  Instead she just laughed. "Well, I guess I found you boys. I was pretty worried about you. How in the world did you get over here?"

  She reached down and picked me up, too. Bogey and I wrapped our arms around her neck and held on for dear life.

  I turned to look at Brutus and Nunzio. They had dropped their boards and were now walking up to our Mom.

  "It appears your cats have paid us a visit again," Nunzio said. His mouth was smiling but his eyes weren't.

  Our Mom gave him a real smile. "I'm so sorry, Nunzio. I have no idea how they got over here. But don't worry. It won't happen again."

  Brutus joined Nunzio. "Lucky for them that you showed up on time."

  Our Mom crinkled her brow. "Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

  Nunzio pushed Brutus behind him. "Nothing. He meant nothing at all. Just that a store's a big place. A lot could happen to a cat in a store like this."

  For a moment our Mom just stared at him. Then she spoke in a voice that I'd only ever heard her use when she was very, very angry. It was a quiet voice, but whenever she used it, people seemed to listen. And usually backed away.

  "If I were you, gentlemen," she said, "I would be much more concerned about me, the cats' Mom, than I would the cats. Because, neither you nor Brutus would want to experience my wrath should any harm come to these animals. I know my friend, Officer Phoebe Smiley, would feel the same way."

  She took a step toward the men. "I consider these cats to be part of my family. And I
would do almost anything to protect the members of my family."

  Nunzio held his hands up. "Sorry, Abigail. Just having a rough day here. You know, with the Christmas rush and all."

  Without saying another word, our Mom turned and opened the door. As she carried us out, Bogey and I glanced back at Nunzio and Brutus. Both men stared at us with cold, hard eyes. Stares that made the fur on the back of my neck stand on end.

  Our Mom had barely gotten us near her own store when Merryweather jumped out and held the door open for us.

  "Well, well, well," she said. "If it isn't Buckley and Bogey. The wayward boys return."

  Our Mom just shook her head. "I don't know how, but they managed to get over to Nunzio's."

  Merryweather sighed. "I don't know either. They must have gotten out when that busload of ladies showed up. Though I really don't know why they'd want to go over to Nunzio's. He's not exactly an animal lover."

  Boy, she could say that again. Not only was Nunzio not an animal lover, but he was a real animal hater! And a guy who could be really scary.

  But now I had to wonder, was he was the criminal mastermind who'd been breaking into people's houses? I shuddered at the idea of being home if he broke in.

  I cuddled up a little closer to my Mom. She laughed and gave me an extra tight hug.

  "I'm going to put you boys in the back," she told us. "I don't want you getting out again. Otherwise you two can't come to the store with me."

  Bogey responded to this by purring into her ear. And I gave her a kiss on the nose.

  "Okay, boys," she said. "You're forgiven. Why don't you take a nice nap until it's time to go pick up Gracie?"

  She didn't have to tell us twice.

  We both curled up in our beds.

  Bogey pulled out his bag of cat treats. He handed one to me before taking one himself.

  He gave me a little salute. "I have to say, kid. You were a real pro back there."

  My mouth fell open and my cat treat almost fell out. "I was?"