The Case of the Clever Secret Code

by Cindy Vincent

  I sat up straight and nodded. “You can count on me.”

  Bogey gave me a paw bump. “Don’t I know it, kid. Don’t I know it.”

  And that’s when I suddenly realized something. This dinner party sounded like it might be fun for Steele Bronson. But it sure didn’t sound like it was going to be fun for our family at all.

  Plus I knew Bogey was probably right about Steele Bronson having something up his sleeve. Now I wondered what that “something” was. Somehow I wasn’t exactly looking forward to finding out.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 13

  Holy Mackerel!

  That night, everything seemed to happen at once. Our Dad walked in the door at six o’clock and went upstairs to change clothes. But not before he and a couple of the caterers put the exercise wheel back on its base.

  Then while he was up getting dressed, Gracie put our best collars on us. She even put the Princess’ diamond collar on her, the one she was wearing when she came to us. But Gracie didn’t know that the Princess wouldn’t be making an appearance tonight. Because we planned to keep her safely upstairs and out of sight during the party. We’d already popped into the family room and filled Lil and the Princess in on our security plan for the night. They were busy doing something with some magazines when we found them. Lil agreed to stand guard upstairs and the Princess promised to stay in the sunroom. But first the Princess wanted to finish what she was doing before the guests arrived.

  So we took off again to check on our Mom. She was rushing around as she finished getting things set up and ready. At one point we heard her say that Steele Bronson was supposed to arrive at seven o’clock. But with the way she kept zooming around, I wasn’t sure she thought everything would be ready by then.

  Maybe that was why she let out kind of an “Eeeeep!” when the doorbell rang at ten after six.

  Our Mom raced to answer it. “Oh please, don’t let him be early!”

  Bogey and I trotted along about ten feet behind her. After all, with our extra strict security tonight, we wanted to know exactly who came in that door. And when.

  But when our Mom opened the door, thankfully it wasn’t Steele Bronson standing there. Instead it was an older lady with short, curly blonde hair and little, black glasses on the end of her nose. She held a whole bunch of papers in one hand and a briefcase in the other.

  “Hello, you must be Abigail,” she said with a smile.

  “I am,” our Mom answered. “I hate to be rude, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. What can I help you with?”

  From where Bogey and I sat, we could feel the outside heat pouring into the house.

  The lady smiled again. “I won’t take but a minute of your time. I’m Polly Peychek. I am Bogart’s agent.”

  Our Mom raised an eyebrow. “Bogart? As in . . . our Bogart? Bogey? Our cat?”

  Polly just kept on smiling. “One and the same. He’s listed you as having power of attorney. And I just need your signature on a few forms.”

  Our Dad came down the stairs and joined our Mom at the door. “What is it, Abby?”

  Our Mom kind of sputtered. “It’s Bogey. Apparently he has an agent.”

  Polly stuck out her hand and turned her smile to our Dad. “I’m Polly Peychek. I negotiated the contract for Bogart’s cat food commercials. Long, long ago.”

  Now it was our Dad’s turn to sputter. “Bogey was in cat food commercials?”

  Beside me, Bogey grabbed the bag of cat treats he had stashed behind the table in the hallway. He passed one to me and took one for himself.

  Right about then, Polly spotted Bogey. “Bogart! How are you? So nice to be working with you again!”

  Bogey grinned back at her. Then he lifted his right front paw in a wave.

  Polly gave him a little wave in return. “And my goodness! I see you’ve landed a movie role this time. With Steele Bronson, no less. Not that I should be surprised. You always cut a dashing figure on camera.”

  Our Mom and Dad just stood there looking at each other. They kept on saying, “Bogey has an agent?”

  Polly put the papers in front of them. “I guess Bogey wants all his earnings to go to the Buckley and Bogey Cat Shelter at your local church.”

  I raised my brows and glanced at my brother. The Buckley and Bogey Cat Shelter had been named in our honor after we solved our last case. It was run by our feline friend, Luke. Of course, he had a whole staff of humans helping, too. Not that they fully understood that he was in charge. Either way, they’d taken in lots of homeless cats and found forever homes for most of them.

  “That sounds like a great place to send the money,” I told Bogey.

  Bogey passed me another treat. “That’s what I thought, kid. The money will feed lots of cats who stay at the shelter. That is, if there is any money.”

  I felt my eyes go wide. “Since we’re not sure if Steele Bronson has any money to pay his actors?”

  Bogey nodded. “Yup, kid. Plus I’m not sure this so-called movie is the real deal.”

  “The real deal?” I repeated.

  Bogey munched on another treat. “Think about it, kid. Let’s say he really is here to crack a code and find what it leads to. And he wants to do that without anyone getting suspicious. This whole movie business would be the perfect cover.”

  Holy Catnip! If that was true, that would mean he was lying to everyone. That would be pretty lousy, as far as I was concerned.

  I turned to see Polly hand some papers to our Dad, just as another blonde lady showed up at the door. This one I recognized. She was Steele Bronson’s hairdresser.

  She waved at our Mom. “Hello, Abigail. I’m here to do your hair for tonight. And Gracie’s hair, too. We need to have everyone looking their best for the publicity photos.”

  Our poor Mom just kept on sputtering. “What publicity photos? I didn’t even get your name.”

  “I’m Taffy,” the hairdresser said. “And of course, Steele Bronson will be having publicity photos taken. You don’t think he would pass up an opportunity for more publicity, do you? I’m surprised he didn’t have photos taken at your store. Aside from the reporter who was there, he didn’t get another picture taken. Very odd for him.”

  Our Mom touched the side of her head. “I don’t have time to get my hair done. And it’s just fine already.”

  Taffy clucked her tongue. “I don’t think so. Not for pictures, it’s not.”

  I had to say, I thought our Mom’s hair looked beautiful. Just like our Mom looked beautiful. I didn’t know what anyone would want to do to her hair.

  But the next thing I knew, Taffy was leading our Mom to the kitchen. Taffy also called out for Gracie as well. In the meantime, our Dad kept on talking to Bogey’s agent.

  Pretty soon he just threw his hands in the air. “Okay, I still don’t know how any of this is possible. But since the money all goes to the cat shelter at the church, I’ll sign. Sounds fine by me. I still don’t know how our cat even has an agent.”

  Polly kept on smiling. “I’ll fight for a good pay grade for Bogart. Don’t you worry.”

  Our Dad signed his name in a few places on the papers. “Good. Fine. Whatever.”

  With that, Polly blew Bogey a kiss good-bye and shook our Dad’s hand. She turned to go and I could hear her high heels clicking down the wooden steps of our big front porch.

  Our Dad shut the door and stared at Bogey for a few seconds. “Bogey has an agent . . . I still can’t believe Bogey has an agent . . . He doesn’t even have opposable thumbs. But he has an agent . . .”

  Bogey just kept on grinning and purring. He meowed up to our Dad and our Dad’s eyes went wide. He looked like he was trying to say something. But then he just threw his hands up in the air again and raced into the kitchen.

  Now I wondered if I needed an agent, too. Just in case this movie was the “real deal,” to put it in Bogey’s words.

  I turned to my brother. “Bogey, do you think . . .”

  Bogey handed me another treat and practica
lly read my mind. “Don’t sweat it, kid. If there is any money, it’ll automatically go to our Mom and Dad. That wouldn’t be a bad deal. Not after all they’ve been through. Compliments of this Steele Bronson character.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Hmmm . . . that would be nice. If our Mom and Dad got some money from this.”

  And the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Our Mom and Dad sure spent a lot of money on us cats. Now I would be able to give them some money back. That made me feel pretty good.

  So I decided to do an extra good job of acting.

  And that’s when it hit me. I’d never done any acting before in my life! I wasn’t even sure I knew how to act!

  Holy Mackerel!

  All of a sudden my heart started to pound really loud inside my chest. “Bogey . . . um . . . is it hard to act in a movie. Or a commercial?”

  Bogey shook his head. “Nope, kid. All you have to do is look cute. And you’re a natural at that.”

  “Oh . . . okay. Thanks,” I told him.

  Bogey stared at the front door. “But right now we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  That’s when my jaw practically thunked onto the floor. “Fish? We have to fry fish now? I didn’t know we had to cook dinner.”

  Bogey gave us each one more treat before he stashed the bag back into its hiding place. “Take it easy, kid. Just another expression. It means we’ve got bigger things going on. Especially since we’ll be running a whole different kind of surveillance tonight. This time we’ll be tailing people.”

  Well, at least I was pretty relieved to hear we didn’t have to cook. But I was also pretty nervous about our new surveillance. I’d never tailed anyone before. I only hoped I could do a good job.

  So I tried to calm down and act like Bogey did. Especially since he didn’t even seem fazed one bit. His mind was on the job and he was already thinking about what we needed to do next as cat detectives. Just like I should be doing if I wanted to be as good a cat detective as Bogey was.

  Bogey nodded in the direction of the family room. “Time to check in with Lil and the Princess, kid. For a quick powwow. Then we’d better send the Princess upstairs. Because Bronson will be showing up soon.”

  So we turned and made a beeline for the family room. We found Lil and the Princess still going through the magazines that had been stacked on a coffee table. Now they were all over the floor. It looked like a few pages had even been pulled out and set aside.

  “This is interesting,” Bogey murmured. “You two have been busy.”

  Lil scooted yet another page over with the rest. “Princess Alexandra has a great idea here. And I think it will work.”

  The Princess flipped a magazine closed. “I guess I’d probably better get upstairs. I think I’ve found everything I need anyway.”

  “You have?” I asked her.

  Bogey raised his brows and glanced at the top picture. “Care to fill us in?”

  The Princess pushed a few of the loose pages together. “I would love to. Take a look at these pictures and tell me what they make you think of.”

  So Bogey and I did. There was a picture of cupcakes that were decorated with red and white stripes. They had toothpicks with little white stars poked into the top. Then there were more cupcakes with little American flags stuck into them. Plus there were pictures of party decorations for Fourth of July parties. Then we saw some pictures of different people giving something to someone else. In one picture it was a card. In another it was a present, and in the last picture it was a cupcake. Then we saw a picture of a little boy holding a trophy.

  Bogey looked at me and grinned. “Care to do the honors, kid? Tell us what comes to mind.”

  Well, at first I wasn’t sure exactly. But since I’m a cat detective, I figured I’d better come up with an answer. And quick. So I thought as hard as I could.

  “They make me think of the Fourth of July,” I finally blurted out. “Since everyone uses lots of red, white, and blue decorations for the Fourth of July. And they make me think of a party. With lots of pretty decorations and cupcakes. Plus, it makes me want to give someone a present or something. Maybe an award.”

  Bogey gave me a paw bump. “Good going, kid. I’d say you nailed it.”

  The Princess nodded her little head and smiled. “That’s right, Buckley. I plan to put these pictures around where Gracie can see them. So maybe we can plant the idea in her mind about hosting a party. And awarding Dylan the trophy as the winner of the essay contest.”

  I had to say, it sounded like a good plan to me. I sure hoped it worked like it was supposed to.

  The Princess glanced at Lil. “Let’s hide these in the sunroom for now. After Gracie goes to sleep, I’ll put them in her room. So she’ll find them first thing in the morning when her mind is clear.”

  Then together, we all helped the Princess roll up the pictures so they’d be easy for her to carry. Seconds later, the Princess and Lil headed for the staircase while Bogey and I stayed behind. I glanced inside the kitchen and watched all the people running around to get everything ready for the dinner. I could smell salmon and chicken and roast beef. Plus I saw mashed potatoes and corn and pies and cakes. It sure looked like a lot of food to me.

  Gracie was busy folding cloth napkins. Our Mom and Dad kept directing the caterers, and the caterers kept jumping around from spot to spot in the kitchen. I noticed Gracie and our Mom both had fancy new hairdos.

  I saw a young woman wiping glasses with a towel. She had short, red hair and a nametag that read, “Angie.”

  “Are these all the glasses you have?” she asked our Mom.

  Our Mom gave her a funny look. “There are twelve right there. That’s more than enough for a dinner party of eight.”

  Angie shook her head. “Um . . . I guess we’ll just have to use the plastic glasses we brought. Because we were told this was supposed to be dinner for . . .”

  But before Angie could finish, the doorbell rang. And rang and rang some more. Whoever was out there sure wanted to get inside. In a hurry!

  Our Mom glanced at our Dad.

  He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “It’ll be all right, honey. It’s just a little dinner. It’ll be over before we know it. It’s a story we’ll tell our grandkids some day.”

  Our Mom smiled and gave him a hug. “You’re right, Mike. It’ll be fine. Just a small group of people. No big deal.”

  Then together they walked out to the front entryway.

  “I guess Steele Bronson is here,” Gracie sort of murmured. “And he’s early.”

  Funny, but I noticed she didn’t go running out with our Mom and Dad. And she sure didn’t seem excited.

  But my brother and I went running out into the hallway. Then we made a beeline for the front door. We got there even before our Mom and Dad did. It was all part of our security detail.

  “Okay,” our Dad said when they got to the door. “Like they say in the movies, ‘It’s show time.’”

  Our Mom smiled and opened the door. But the smile quickly fell from her face. Instead her eyes went wide and her jaw practically hit the floor. Then she gasped.

  For there, standing outside our house, was Steele Bronson and Nadia and Frank.

  And about one hundred and fifty other people.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 14

  Holy Mackerel!

  I could hardly believe it! The crowd in front of our house was so gigantic that it filled our whole yard. Before we knew it, cameras were flashing. And the local TV news station had sent a reporter and a cameraman who were already filming everything. Our poor Mom and Dad practically got shoved out of the way as all these people nearly flooded our house. Pretty soon almost every square inch of the first floor was filled up. And let me tell you, there really wasn’t enough room for all those people. So they were packed in pretty tight.

  Plus it got so noisy so quickly that I just wanted to cover my ears with my paws. It seemed like everyone was talking all at t
he same time.

  Bogey and I had no choice but to jump up on the table in the hallway. Otherwise we might have been trampled underfoot. We got up there just in time to see our Dad shake his head no to the TV reporters.

  “We don’t care to have our home filmed and on TV,” our Dad shouted over the noise. “For security reasons.”

  The woman reporter with shiny, black hair put her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry, but this is the biggest thing to happen to St. Gertrude in a long time. And I’m not about to miss it! So we’re going to film this whether you like it or not.”

  Our Dad’s eyebrows shot to the top of his head. “No, you will not. This is private property and you need my permission to film inside. And if you don’t leave my house immediately, I’ll be happy to call the police to escort you out.”

  With those words, the reporter stomped her foot on the floor and squealed. Then she and the cameraman turned around and stomped down the porch. It didn’t seem to bother them that they were going against the crowd who was trying to come inside.

  And let me tell you, people just kept coming in and coming in. I saw Mrs. Peebles and the Mayor and some people from the businesses downtown. And I saw a whole bunch of people I’d never even seen before.

  Steele Bronson stood by our Mom and put his arm around her. “Lovely house you have here, Abigail. How old is it?”

  “Over a hundred years old,” our Mom answered. “And speaking of being over a hundred . . . who are all these people? I thought this was going to be a small dinner party.”

  Steele Bronson waved his hand in front of his face. “I just invited a few more. What’s a couple hundred people, anyway? I have that many people over to my house in Hollywood all the time.”

  Our Mom removed his arm from her shoulders. “Your house is probably a big mansion with room for that many people.”

  But Steele Bronson didn’t even seem to hear her. “I’m starving. Is the food in the kitchen?”

  And without waiting for an answer, he turned and made his way through the crowd to the kitchen. Of course, it was kind of hard for him to do just that. Because, just like always, everyone wanted to talk to him or get his autograph. Or shake his hand. And almost everyone had a camera, and they wanted their picture taken with him, too.