The Case of the Jewel Covered Cat Statues

by Cindy Vincent

  Our Dad looked at Officer Phoebe. “Here’s a couple more for you. They were trying to harm Buckley and Lexie.”

  Officer Phoebe raised her cell phone. “I know all about it. I just got an email with the whole story and enough evidence to put this whole bunch behind bars. And this looks like Delilah Wunderfully. She’s wanted in fourteen countries and fifteen states here. Looks like there’s a lot of reward money attached to her.”

  “Good,” our Mom said before she pushed Delilah into a chair. “That means she’ll be going away for a long time. So who sent you the email? I’d like to thank them.”

  Officer Phoebe shook her head. “That’s the strange thing. It was only signed with ‘BBCDA.'”

  Just then Bogey and Luke ran up to join me. Henry brought Annie in, too. We had paw bumps all around.

  “BB . . .” our Dad started to say.

  Then he and our Mom and Officer Phoebe looked at Bogey and me.

  “Nooooo . . .” Officer Phoebe said.

  “It couldn’t be . . .” our Mom kind of murmured.

  Our Dad smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. This week I’ve seen fish fly off the counter, ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Day,’ and Buckley uncover a priceless missing statue. So, right about now, I think just about anything is possible.”

  Seconds later, Officer Phoebe and the other police officers had carted the crooks away. The rest of the people were all laughing and talking loudly.

  Then Gracie’s piano teacher, Ms. Knotes, clapped her hands. “Excuse me, everyone! But we have one student who didn’t get to finish playing her song. If everyone would please take your seats, Gracie can now play “Rondo Espressivo.” Are you ready, Gracie?”

  Gracie tried to smile, but I could tell she was nervous all over again. While she passed the Princess to our Mom, Bogey and I made a beeline for the piano. I jumped on the seat and Bogey jumped on the ledge above the keys. Then he reached his paw over and hit a few keys.

  The whole audience laughed and Gracie giggled, too. She walked back up to the stage and sat down.

  That’s when I gave her a big kiss on the nose.

  Now she really giggled. Then she started to play.

  Perfectly. Right there in that hall, her song sounded the prettiest I had ever heard it. I just closed my eyes and purred and floated away.

  When she hit the last note, I reached up and gave her another kiss on the nose.

  She hugged me tight. “I love you, Buckley and Bogey. I am so glad you were here. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Boy, I sure knew that feeling. I couldn’t have done anything without all my friends either.

  I gave her another kiss to let her know that I loved her, too.

  That’s when Bogey reached down and added one more note to the song.

  First the whole audience laughed. And then they started to clap so loud it almost made my ears hurt. Everyone stood up and clapped and cheered and clapped some more.

  Gracie giggled and went to stand at the front of the stage. She bowed a couple of times and people clapped even harder.

  Bogey and I went to stand beside her, and I’m not sure, but I think they clapped for us, too.

  Holy Mackerel!

  CHAPTER 26

  _____________________________

  Holy Catnip!

  Right after the recital, lots of people wanted to chat with our Mom and Dad. And everyone wanted to congratulate Gracie. Finally, we were just about ready to go when Pastor Tom showed up with a piece of paper in his hands.

  He spoke directly to our Mom and Dad. “Well, good news. Luke, our church cat, just brought this paper to me. It looks like Henry and Annie have been adopted. Though I don’t remember getting a phone call or anything on this. Anyway, it says you’ll be dropping them off at their new homes. Do you mind? I’m not sure where this paper came from. And I wasn’t sure if you even knew about this.”

  Our Dad rolled his eyes and dropped his head into his hands.

  And our Mom just laughed. “We seem to get a lot of these mysterious notes around our house. But yes, we’d be happy to take them with us. Just give us the addresses where they are supposed to go.”

  Pastor Tom handed them the paper he was holding.

  A few minutes later, we were all loaded up in our Dad’s truck. Us cats were all in the back with Gracie. Bogey and Henry were on the floor, and the Princess and Annie sat on the seat. I sat on the backseat, too, right next to Gracie. I stayed next to her until she fell asleep. That was a few seconds after our Dad drove out of the parking lot. Then I jumped down with the boys.

  But at least Gracie had fallen asleep with a smile on her face. I was so proud of her for playing her song so well. It was a lot of hard work for her. But our Mom was right. All that practice had paid off!

  I glanced at my friends. I could tell Annie and Henry were a little nervous. The Princess put her paw over Annie’s.

  “Are you sure they’re going to want me?” Annie sighed. “I guess I’m not like other cats.”

  The Princess patted her paw. “I know they want you. Very, very much. And no cat is like another cat. We’re all different and special and wonderful in our own ways.”

  That made me smile. If there was anyone who knew something about being wonderful, it was the Princess. She was as wonderful as they got. And I thought she was especially wonderful for saying what she did to Annie. After all, that little Princess had been facing death right in the face just a little while ago. She’d been scared out of her wits.

  Now here she was, thinking of someone else who might be scared instead.

  A few minutes later, we pulled up to Amelia’s house.

  “Annie, are you ready to go?” our Mom said gently. “This is your new home.”

  She reached back and picked up that fuzzy little tan kitten.

  “Good luck,” we all said to Annie. “We’ll bump into you again!”

  “Goodbye,” Annie said with a shaky voice.

  I could tell she was pretty nervous. But our Mom cuddled her close and Annie started to purr.

  Bogey and I jumped up to the window to get a good view. We watched closely as our Mom took Annie up the front steps.

  Amelia and her Mom both answered the door. Our Mom and Amelia’s Mom chatted for a moment. And I heard Amelia’s Mom say, “I figured we’d be getting Annie. Amelia loved her so much when she met her. And Amelia’s tired of being an only cat.”

  The next thing I knew, Amelia was standing in the doorway, and cuddling right up to Annie. Annie looked happier than I’ve ever seen her. Amelia gave her new sister a hug and took her inside the house.

  Beside me, I noticed Bogey had gone all goo-goo eyed.

  “Dames,” I murmured to him.

  “Dames, kid,” he said. “And that dame is one in a million.”

  I glanced down at Henry and he crinkled his brow. I could tell he was wondering what was wrong with Bogey. So I just put my paw to my chest and bounced it a few times.

  Henry grinned.

  Our Dad drove us away from Amelia’s house, and I went in search of the bag of cat treats Bogey had stashed under the seat. I passed treats to Henry and the Princess. After that, I gave one to Bogey.

  “Here you go,” I told him. “This’ll get you going.”

  And it did. Bogey seemed to recover and he joined us again.

  “Thanks, kid,” he said. “I needed that.”

  Now he passed me a treat. Just as we pulled up in Hector’s driveway.

  Bogey and I used our paws to talk to Henry. We explained the situation to him. And we showed him that we lived practically right across the street. He nodded and grinned really big.

  That’s when I noticed something. Something was different when I used my paws to talk to Henry. For once my huge paws went exactly where I wanted them to go!

  Now I smiled, too. It was pretty nice to have my paws working the way I wanted them to. Could it be I was growing into them a little?

  I passed us all another round of treats befor
e Henry had to go.

  Our Mom leaned back and petted Henry on the head. He smiled up at her. Then she picked him up, all ready for delivery.

  We waved goodbye to Henry and let him know we’d see him later. Then we stood at the window and watched when Hector’s Mom came to the door. Hector walked out to the front porch. As usual, he talked and talked and talked and talked. And talked some more. I wasn’t even close to him and I was about to go crazy from all his talking.

  Our Mom put Henry down with Hector. Henry just smiled up at him.

  Hector’s Mom sounded a little confused at first. But then our Mom seemed to explain things to her.

  All the while, Hector kept on gabbing away to Henry. Then he made a few motions with his paws. That’s when Henry nodded and made some motions back. Now Hector smiled and gave his new brother a paw bump.

  I crinkled my brow at my own brother. “Do you think that’s going to work? Henry can’t hear a word Hector is saying.”

  Bogey grinned. “I know it, kid. That’s the beauty of it. He’s the only cat alive who could stand to be around Hector all the time.”

  I tilted my head and watched Henry as he smiled up again at his new big brother. “And they sure seem to like each other. Henry needs a home, and Hector . . . well, he’s probably kind of a lonely guy. So he needs a brother.”

  Bogey nodded. “Yup, kid. It’s perfect. I think it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

  A few minutes later, we finally got home. We had a special dinner that night, to celebrate everything that had happened. Us cats got tuna fish and our humans had fried chicken. While they ate, Bogey and the Princess and I told Lil the whole story. She laughed and shook her head and seemed to enjoy it all.

  Later that night, after Gracie had gone to bed, we led our Mom and Dad to the sunroom. The Wise One sat like a queen on her purple couch. Bogey and I helped her down, and we let her do the honors. She watched over everything as Lil and the Princess managed to open the false bottom in the closet. Then Bogey and I pulled the cloth away from what we had hidden there.

  As soon as we did, the Tobias statue sparkled up at us. It was so pretty it even made me feel dazzled for a few seconds.

  Holy Mackerel!

  Our Mom gasped and our Dad just shook his head.

  “How did that get there?” our Dad laughed.

  Our Mom picked up the statue and stared at it with wide eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know this closet had a false bottom. But this house is around a hundred years old. Someone must have hidden it there long before we bought the house.”

  “And it’s just been sitting there. All those years,” our Dad murmured.

  But us cats looked at each other and smiled. Little did he know, that Tobias statue had been traveling for a long, long time.

  Maybe even as much as the Wise One had traveled.

  But soon that Tobias statue would be going home. And joined up with his best friend, the Tessa statue.

  Our Mom was still staring at it. “I wonder if we have any false bottoms in any other closets. Or a secret passage like the church. And I still wonder who found that secret passage. Was it the crooks?”

  Our Dad put his arm around our Mom. “I don’t know. But maybe we could hold off on looking for any more secret places and hidden treasure and things. Just for a week or two. I wouldn’t mind if things got back to normal for a while.”

  Boy, he sure could say that again.

  And he did, when we were all back at the Museum a week later. That’s when Mr. Daunton’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Vera Glitter, held a special banquet in our honor. She wanted to thank all of us cats for finding the Best Friends statues again.

  And let me tell you, it was funny how it all worked out. It turned out the Tobias statue legally belonged to her. And so did the Tessa statue. But the treasure chest and all the treasure ended up belonging to the church. Don’t ask me how. All that legal mumbo jumbo was way too complicated for me.

  But our Mom got the reward money for capturing Delilah. And she and our Dad put it away for Gracie’s college fund.

  When Gracie found out, she picked me up and started spinning. Around and around and around we went! I just wrapped my arms around her neck and hung on for dear life. Somewhere in there she announced she was going to be a veterinarian. And while I wasn’t exactly crazy about ever going to the vet’s office, I knew Gracie would make a good one.

  If she ever outgrew her spinning phase.

  Anyway, Vera was really happy to see her great-great-great-grandfather’s favorite statues on display. And the church was sure happy, since they needed some money for repairs. Especially since the place was so old. Plus, they decided to build a shelter for homeless cats. To give them a place to live and help them find homes.

  They decided to call it the Buckley and Bogey Cat Care Center. Luke was going to be the cat in charge. Though, of course, there would be some humans running the place, too.

  Now I glanced over at my brother as we both sat at the cat table in the middle of the Museum banquet hall. We were wearing red satin bow ties that Gracie had made for us. Just for this special occasion. And I had to say, we looked pretty handsome. Gracie had on a matching red satin dress. And she was sitting at another table with our Mom and Dad and Hector’s Mom and Dad. Amelia’s Mom and Dad were there, too.

  The Princess sat beside me, wearing the diamond collar she had from her life before she’d joined us. Amelia sat beside Bogey, and then Lil sat beside her. I was so happy that the Wise One had even decided to come with us. Though our Mom and Dad had a nice cat bed all ready for her, just in case she got a little tired. All the rest of our friends made it, too. Luke, Annie, Hector, and Henry.

  I sure had to say, Henry had been a really good influence on Hector. Because now Hector talked to his brother with his paws, instead of out loud all the time. It sure made things a lot quieter for the rest of us.

  But last to join the party was Ranger. He strolled into the room with his Mom and Dad. Ranger had his tail held high and a big grin on his face.

  “Hi, everyone! So great to be here,” he said with a wave as he found his place at our table.

  “Congratulations,” the Princess said to him. “We’re so happy to hear your Mom is going to be the new curator here at the Museum.”

  Ranger couldn’t stop grinning. “Thanks. Me, too. Now I’ll be working here every day. It’ll be one of the best adventures of my life. And you can count on more ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Days.’ Though I’ve been told the Dinosaur Hall will be off-limits to us cats.”

  Well, let me tell you, that was just fine by me. Even though I knew those dinosaurs were only skeletons, I still didn’t like to think about them. As far as I was concerned, dinosaurs were scary things, and I’d had enough scary things for a while.

  “Not a problem,” Bogey said to Ranger as he gave him a paw bump. “We’ll be happy to see the Daunton Exhibit whenever we want.”

  Then we all talked more about visiting the Museum. And I have to say, it turned into quite a party. The cats and the humans all talked and laughed a bunch.

  Finally, the dinner was served.

  Bogey took a sniff at his plate.

  “Something’s fishy here, kid,” he told me.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Holy Catnip! Not again. Now what was going on?

  Then I looked my own plate. “Is it the fish?”

  He grinned at me. “Yup, kid. You got it.”

  We both laughed and gave each other paw bumps.

  Later, after dinner, we strolled around and enjoyed all the beautiful Daunton statues. Our Mom carried Miss Mokie so she could see them, too. The Wise One nodded and smiled with each statue she saw.

  “Lovely,” she meowed to us. “Simply lovely. This is such a treat, young Detectives. I’ve seen many a wondrous sight in my day, but this is one of the most beautiful.”

  “Glad you’re enjoying it, Miss Mokie,” I meowed back.

  The Wise One had helped us o
ut so many times. Now it made me feel good to see her happy, too.

  Of course, we all paused at the Best Friends display. At long last, the Tessa and Tobias statues were together again. Right where they belonged. The curved tails made the statues fit together perfectly.

  That’s when I smiled like never before.

  Seeing those two statues united made me feel really happy inside. Sure, they were sparkly and shiny and beautiful. But they were about so much more. They were about friendship. And in the end, that was what really mattered. Friendship was the real treasure. Especially best friends. Without friends, we’d never really be happy.

  And speaking of best friends, mine jumped up onto the little counter beside me. “I gotta hand it to you, kid. You did a great job on this case. It’s nice to see those two statues back together again.”

  I nodded. “They sure are pretty.”

  He grinned back at me. “Yup, kid. Like the man said, ‘they’re the stuff that dreams are made of.'”

  I tilted my ears toward my brother. “They’re what? What man?”

  But Bogey didn’t answer. Instead he just kept on grinning and jumped down.

  I followed him and leaped down, too. That’s when the Princess spotted me and ran right over. She looked up at me with her big, green eyes. My heart started doing that funny, jumpy thing that it always did whenever she looked at me like that.

  She moved a little closer. “I wanted to thank you, Buckley, for saving me. You were so smart. And so brave.”

  Then she reached up and gave me a kiss on the nose.

  Right about then, the room started to spin and I flopped over onto the floor. I could barely see her scamper off. Bogey came to stand beside me.

  He waved a fish-flavored cat treat in front of my nose. “Here you go, kid. This’ll get you going.”

  I took the treat and munched away.

  He helped himself to one from a foil pouch. Then he stashed the bag behind the display case.

  “Dames,” he murmured.

  “Dames,” I repeated.

  He nodded toward a small group of people. “Better pull yourself together, kid. I just overheard some people talking. Looks like we might have another case for the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Agency.”