The Case of the Clever Secret Code

by Cindy Vincent

  Bogey made a beeline for the group gathered around Steele Bronson. I followed along behind him. But it sort of seemed to me that we should be staying away from the crowd. Not running toward it. Especially since that crowd just kept on getting bigger and bigger. More women were coming in the door and joining the rest of the ladies who were already there. And I didn’t exactly want to be underfoot when all those women had their eyes glued to Steele Bronson. That meant they wouldn’t be watching where they were going. And they wouldn’t be watching for any cats running along the floor. An extra big guy like me with an extra long tail was just asking for it in a mob like that.

  To top it off, most of the women in the store had practically flocked straight to Steele Bronson. Including Millicent and Merryweather and Gracie. But before they could get close enough to actually reach him, two big security guards held out their arms so no one could touch him. Funny, but I hadn’t even noticed those security guards before.

  Bogey and I jumped up on another dresser and then to a taller cabinet to get a better view. The security guards started telling the women to move back and gather together. Then they commanded everyone to stand behind a line of dining room chairs. But they weren’t exactly speaking in nice, normal voices. Oh no, instead they were sort of yelling at everyone like drill sergeants yelling to soldiers. In a very mean way.

  I glanced back at the cash register counter and noticed our Mom was still standing there. She had her arms folded across her chest and a big frown on her face. She shook her head and then picked up the phone.

  Eventually, the screaming crowd quieted down and got pushed back even farther into our Mom’s store. That’s when Bogey and I got a better view of Steele Bronson. The blonde lady with the hairspray and the brush hovered around him. She’d brush his hair a little and then spray it. I could see a little “puff” of hairspray up every time she did. All the while, the tall lady leaned in and talked into his ear.

  Bogey nodded toward the movie star and his bunch. “Time for us to give Mr. Bronson a proper welcome, kid.”

  I blinked a couple of times. “A proper welcome? What do you mean?”

  Bogey grinned. “Looks like the guy just waltzed in and took over. Let’s go remind him that he doesn’t own the place.”

  “Um . . . okay,” I told him. “But how do we do that?”

  Bogey pointed at the floor. “Follow me, kid. I see an opening between him and those gorillas he’s got for security. Let’s go show him who’s really in charge of security around here.”

  Right about then, I’m sure my eyes went even wider than my food dish. “He brought gorillas with him? Where?”

  Bogey shook his head. “Don’t sweat it, kid. It’s just an expression. It’s a name they use for really big guys.”

  “Oh . . . okay,” I told him. But I looked around anyway, just in case there might be some other gorillas running around. Ones that I didn’t know about.

  Then I glanced down to the spot on the floor that Bogey had pointed to. Sure enough, there was an opening. Right between the camera guy and the security guys who were holding back ladies who were all trying to get to Steele Bronson.

  “I don’t like these people pushing our Mom’s customers around like this,” Bogey went on. “This Bronson guy is bad for business.”

  Those were his last words before he leaped onto the floor and took off running in a black streak. Did I mention that Bogey can run so fast that some even say he can fly? Well, I think this must have been one of those times. Because I jumped down right after him and I raced for all I was worth. But no matter how fast I ran, I couldn’t keep up with him. In fact, I lost sight of him for a moment or two. But I just kept on running until I spotted him again.

  And when I did see him, I could hardly believe it. That’s because he was sitting right smack dab in the middle of that red carpet! To tell you the truth, he acted like that carpet had been rolled out just for him. He sat about ten feet from Steele Bronson and he stared him right in the eyes.

  A hush fell over the room. Especially when I came skidding in. Sometimes it’s not easy for a big guy like me to stop really fast. Sometimes my big body just keeps on going long after I’ve put on the brakes. But thankfully, I was able to stop a few inches before I bowled my brother over.

  Steele Bronson had been talking to the lady reporter. He was smiling into the camera while the lady held the microphone close to his mouth.

  Or, at least, he had been talking and smiling. Right until Bogey and I showed up. That’s when he made a slashing motion with his hand across his throat and yelled, “Cut!”

  Then he turned his attention to us. In fact everyone looked at us. But that didn’t bother Bogey one bit. While he stared at Steele Bronson, I could feel everyone staring at us. To be honest, it sort of made me squirm a little.

  Steele Bronson laughed. “Well, well, well. What have we here? My, what a magnificent steely-eyed stare you have, Mr. Cat. I have practiced that very look a million times in front of the mirror. But I’ve never perfected it quite like you have. Wherever did you come from?”

  Gracie ducked under the arm of one of the security guards. “Those are my cats,” she yelled with panic in her voice.

  She ran right over and picked me up. All the while, Bogey just kept on staring at Steele Bronson without even blinking.

  Steele Bronson raised a dark eyebrow and looked at Gracie. “And who would you be?”

  “I’m Gracie. My Mom owns this store. My big cat here is Buckley. The one sitting on the floor is Bogey.”

  Steele smiled and his teeth were so bright I even had to squint a little bit.

  “Bogey,” he repeated. “That wouldn’t be short for Bogart, would it? As in Humphrey Bogart?”

  Gracie nodded. “Uh-huh. That’s what my Mom says.”

  “Well,” Steele Bronson said. “Humphrey Bogart was one of the greatest actors of all time. And I can see that your cat here has a knack for the trade himself. He could be a great actor, too.”

  Gracie crinkled her eyebrows together. “Bogey?”

  Bogey? I repeated inside my mind. Sure I knew he’d done some cat food commercials in the past. But I never really thought of him as a great actor.

  A great cat detective, definitely. One of the best, in fact. But a great actor?

  I glanced down at my brother to see what he thought. But he just kept on staring at Steele Bronson.

  Now the two security guards noticed us.

  “Would you like me to remove that cat?” asked the bigger of the two men.

  “Yeah,” said the other guard. “Maybe you’d like us to toss the chump out of here.”

  Suddenly my heart began to pound really loud. Were these two guys really going to throw Bogey out of our Mom’s very own store? We belonged here, unlike all these other people.

  But Bogey didn’t even flinch. And he didn’t quit staring. Finally, he held up one front paw and slowly flexed his claws. His very, very sharp claws. He examined them closely, raised his brows, and went back to staring at Steele Bronson.

  Steele Bronson passed his big trophy to the tall lady. Then he put his arms out before him, and made kind of a “U” shape with his hands. His thumbs were touching together and his fingers went straight up. He closed one eye and sort of looked through that U-shape, right at Bogey.

  “Ah, excellent!” he proclaimed. “The bone structure, the play of light and shadow, the set of the jaw! There is no question about it.”

  Gracie put me back down beside Bogey. “No question about what?”

  “Why, little girl,” Steele Bronson announced. “Your cats must be in my new movie!”

  For a moment, I thought Gracie was going to faint.

  “Wh-a-a-a-t . . .?” she sort of stammered.

  He clapped his hands together a couple of times. “That’s right, people! That is why I have come to this lovely little town of . . .”

  He turned to the tall lady and spoke barely above a whisper. “What’s the name of this place again?”

&
nbsp; “St. Gertrude,” she whispered back.

  “Oh right,” he said.

  Then he stood up tall and looked at the reporter. “You might want to get this on film,” he informed her.

  Once the camera was on, he held his arms open wide and addressed the crowd. “Yes, ladies and gentlemen! I, Steele Bronson, have come here, into the very heart of America. Now I intend to make a movie about the very foundation of this great nation of ours. Yes, I plan to thrill audiences with a story about the very beginnings of these United States. It will be about the Revolutionary War and those brave persons who fought to make us independent. And I intend to film what will obviously become a blockbuster, right here in St. Gertrude.”

  Cheers and applause arose from all the people who were gathered around.

  Steele Bronson pointed to the tall lady beside him. “And Nadia, my assistant here, will be making the arrangements. She might even interview people for small parts in this movie. But we’ll know more as things progress.”

  More squeals and cheers rose up from the group.

  Then he pointed to Bogey and me. “And my fine feline friends here will be given starring roles in my movie. Clearly they have the qualities that all leading men should have.”

  We did? Holy Catnip! I wondered what qualities those were. And how did we get them?

  The cameraman turned off his camera, and he and the reporter started talking really fast. As near as I could tell, they wanted to audition for Steele Bronson’s movie.

  Gracie kneeled down and petted us both. “Did you hear that, boys? You’re going to be in a movie! Isn’t that exciting? You’re going to be famous!”

  We were? I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but Gracie seemed pretty happy about it all. So I figured it must be a good thing.

  Suddenly the door opened and everyone sort of sucked in their breath all at the same time. It made kind of a waauuuuh sound. Now what was going to happen? Were we going to have more movie stars come into our store?

  Instead we saw Officer Phoebe Smiley of the St. Gertrude Police Department step inside. She had another officer with her. I saw her raise her arm and wave to someone in the vicinity of the cash register counter. I guessed she was probably waving at our Mom.

  Nadia, Steele Bronson’s assistant, stepped forward and made a beeline for Officer Phoebe.

  “I’m so sorry, Officer,” she said with a British accent. “I fear we have created quite a lot of commotion in your town today.”

  Officer Phoebe nodded. “Yes, we just received a ‘Disturbing the Peace’ complaint.”

  Nadia smiled. “It happens everywhere we go.”

  Officer Phoebe put her hands on her gun-holster belt. “I’m sure it does. But this is a place of business, and I’m afraid you’re holding things up. We’d like you to set up this little dog and pony show somewhere else.”

  “Dog and pony show?” I meowed to my brother.

  First I’d heard mention of gorillas. Now I was hearing talk about dogs and ponies. Pretty soon we’d have an entire zoo inside our Mom’s store.

  “Just an expression, kid,” Bogey murmured out of the side of his mouth. “I’ll explain it later.”

  Much to my amazement, Bogey was still staring at Steele Bronson and his crew.

  Steele Bronson turned and practically waltzed over to Officer Phoebe. “My goodness, what a stunning young police woman! Such cheekbones, such glamour! And such a shiny badge. You must be part of my new movie, too. How do you feel about wearing clothing from 1776?”

  Officer Phoebe’s mouth fell open. “I-I-I . . .”

  He stepped closer and stared directly into her eyes. “I apologize for setting your town into such an uproar. Things will quiet down in a few days. Once we’ve started filming.”

  Now Officer Phoebe’s eyes kind of glazed over. “Um . . . Uh . . . Uh . . .”

  I’d never seen her act like that before. I really wondered what was wrong with her. Was she sick or something?

  Steele Bronson took her hand in both of his. “In the meantime, I would propose a compromise. I would like to shop in this lovely store in peace. Perhaps for an hour? Afterward, I will sign autographs for all who would like one. Right here, so all these lovely customers will return. I have an entire stack of glossy photos of myself out in my limo. After I sign autographs, I promise I won’t interfere with the course of business anymore.”

  I leaned toward Bogey. “He carries around pictures of himself? Why does he do that?”

  Bogey rolled his eyes. “Beats me, kid. I guess he likes them.”

  Our Mom didn’t carry around pictures of herself. Neither did our Dad. Or Gracie. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever met anyone who carried their own pictures around with them.

  Our Mom worked her way through the crowd and came to stand next to Officer Phoebe.

  “That will be fine,” our Mom agreed. “Let’s let Mr. Bronson shop for an hour. When he’s finished, everyone can come back and get autographed pictures.”

  Cheers and murmurs rose up from the crowd again.

  Then Steele Bronson fixed his gaze right on our Mom. “And you must be the famous Abigail Abernathy.”

  She held her hand out to shake his. “I’m Abby.”

  But instead of shaking her hand, he grabbed it and lifted it to his lips. “Ah, such a beautiful woman. Truly, truly beautiful. A face that an artist would want to capture.”

  Gracie and Millicent and Merryweather all sighed. Really loud.

  But let me tell you, our Mom did not look happy at all. Neither did Bogey.

  Our Mom pulled her hand away and took a step back from Steele Bronson.

  He took a step closer. “I understand you’re an expert on antique furniture. Especially furniture from when St. Gertrude was founded. My sources say that was one hundred and fifty years ago.”

  Our Mom eyed him carefully. “Yes, that’s correct, St. Gertrude was founded one hundred and fifty years ago.”

  He flashed her one of his blinding smiles. “I’m also told that you’re such an expert on St. Gertrude history, that you’re writing a book about it.”

  Our Mom’s mouth fell open wide. “How did you know that? I’ve only told a few people.”

  He turned his smile up a notch. “I have my sources. I’ve also been told that you have some furniture from some of the first families of St. Gertrude. Right here in your store.”

  Our Mom inched closer to Officer Phoebe. “Yes, I do. I have several pieces.”

  He tilted his head. “I’ll buy them. All of them. I don’t care what they are or what they look like. Or how much they cost.”

  Now our Mom’s eyes went even wider.

  “I’ll need it for . . . my movie sets,” Steele Bronson said. “Yes, that’s right, for my sets. To make the background of the movie look more real.”

  I turned to Bogey. “If this is the way this guy shops, it sure isn’t going to take him an hour.”

  Bogey shook his head. “You got that right, kid. But it doesn’t add up. Gracie just read in her essay that the American Revolution was almost two hundred and fifty years ago. So if Steele Bronson is making a movie about the American Revolution, why is he buying furniture that’s only one hundred and fifty years old?”

  I did the math in my head. “I don’t know. That would mean he’s off about a hundred years.”

  Bogey gave me a paw bump. “You got it, kid. Something’s not right here. And I have a very bad feeling about all this.”

  I gulped. “You do?”

  Bogey nodded. “Oh yeah, kid. I have a hunch we’re about to get a whole new case for the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Agency.”

  Another hunch from Bogey? And a new case on top of that?

  I’m sure my eyes went really wide right about then. “We are?”

  Bogey nodded. “Yup, kid. I’d bet my last cat treat on it.”

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 4

  Holy Mackerel!

  A whole new case for the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective
Agency! Just the thought of it made my heart pound really fast and my fur stand on end. I had to wonder why Bogey was so sure we’d have a new case before long.

  I wanted to ask more, but I figured now was probably not the time. Instead, I followed my brother as we ran from the red carpet and jumped up on old, oak desk. Bogey grabbed a bag of cat treats that he had stashed in a drawer. He gave us each a couple of treats while we watched Officer Phoebe organize the entire crowd. She even managed to get all the ladies to walk out of our store single file.

  But they sure weren’t very quiet about it. No, they talked and squealed and giggled the whole way out. Some of them even got on their cell phones. They called their friends and took pictures as they left. The cameraman, the reporter, and the man with the light at the end of the pole all walked out, too. Then they sort of situated themselves in front of our building and started filming.

  “Abby’s store will be open again in an hour,” Officer Phoebe told the crowd. “We’ll let you back in then. Please line up along the sidewalk.”

  I heard more squealing and giggling coming from the women. Honestly, I thought they’d all just walk off and come back later. So I was pretty amazed when I saw most of them start to line up already. That meant they would be waiting outside for an entire hour.

  Just to get an autograph from Steele Bronson!

  Holy Mackerel! I could hardly believe it!

  I turned to my brother. “Would you ever stand in line that long just to get some guy to sign his name for you?”

  Bogey grinned and passed us each another treat. “Nope, kid. Not unless he was signing it at the bottom of a big, fat check.”

  Somehow I figured he probably wasn’t going to do that.

  Officer Phoebe locked the front door as soon as everyone was outside. Then she stood next to the door to guard it.

  Gracie skipped over to Bogey and me. I think she’d pretty much forgotten about practicing her essay for the contest. She put her arms around us and kept her eyes glued to Steele Bronson as he walked around the store.