CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

We brainstormed as we walked to the county shelter. Watts thought he and I should run in as fast as we could, go directly to Monica’s office, and scatter all of the bills on her desk on the floor. Susan would see us, and follow.

That sounded good to me and Bruiser, who volunteered to keep the bag with him. After Susan saw the bills, she would most likely call the police. When Officer Rooney arrived, Bruiser would deliver the bag, drop it near his feet, and bark. Our plan complete, we kept going hoping it would work.

Bruiser carried the bag under his neck since it was dry and he wore a thick leather collar. He hid in some bushes near the main parking lot and waited while Watts and I stayed out of view in a nearby jasmine bush. We knew we had to wait for someone to open the side door nearest Monica’s office. Finally, a new attendant came outside for a smoke. We scampered in before he could close the door. He yelled, “Heads up! Two cats just entered the building.”

He put his cigarette out just as we made it to Monica’s office and jumped on her desk.

“Scatter them everywhere,” I yelled to Watts as he threw bills every which way. “Remember, Robby said the unpaid bills were on the top of her desk. Somewhere in there should be the vet bills.”

It would have been more fun, if we didn’t have such a serious purpose. We had papers flying to the floor in all directions. “Keep going!” I cried.

Susan heard the ruckus and came running in.

“Shurl and Watts? Up to your old tricks I see. I’ll get you. You two are not as fast as you think you are.”

She had the dogcatcher’s net ready to fling over us, but we were too fast.

I thought, “Bet we are!” and signaled for Watts to follow when I heard Susan say, after picking up one of the vet bills, “What’s this? Samoa never even went to the vet.”

Susan put the net down to look closely at that one bill that remained on Monica’s desk. We hid behind the open door as we watched her pick up bills from the floor. She picked them up, one by one.

“Electric bill, water bill, but look at all of these vet bills. I’m going to separate them and while Monica’s out sick, I’m going to compare them with my computer records of which animals I ordered sent to the vet. Something strange is going on here, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

Susan raced out of the office with armloads of papers. She called Amy into her office.

Amy saw us but she was so happy to see us, she didn’t report us. Susan didn’t miss a trick. She caught Amy looking at us.

“Never mind finding those two trouble makers. I’ll deal with them later. Besides, if they didn’t have a party on Monica’s desk, I never would have seen these bills. Did Robby mention any concerns he had about the vet to you?”

Amy paused. “Not so much about the vet, but he did say he saw a bill for a cat he never took there. He confronted Monica, but she told him not to worry about it, she would take care of it. Didn’t she contact you about it?”

“No. she didn’t. There are thousand s of dollars here being paid out for nothing. Her actions constitute fraud. I’m going to call Deputy Rooney right now and report this. Those two smarty cats wanted me to see these.”

Susan picked up the phone. We heard her dial out as Amy came and picked us up.

“No worries my two little buddies. I won’t let anybody hurt you. You two are heroes in my book.”

We overheard Susan tell Rooney about the phony bills and how she believed the vet and Monica were in cahoots to cash in on thousands of dollars. “Don’t know how long this has been going on. I believe Robby went to the vet before he went missing. We may have more than fraud on our hands. You’re on your way? Great. I’ll be in my office.”

Susan then came over and petted us. We heard a car screech in the parking lot. Amy put us down. As we all walked outside, we saw Bruiser walk out of the bushes with the bag under his chin. He dropped it at Rooney’s feet, danced around it in a playful fashion, and barked. Rooney looked at it.

“What’s this boy?”

Bruiser gave a loud bark in response.

“You want something. Want me to look inside?”

Bruiser went ballistic. The deputy took some clear plastic gloves from his pocket and put them on. He carefully picked up the bag.

“Potato chips. Want some? Looks like you haven’t had a good meal in a while. Looking a little thin, there, boy.”

Bruiser danced back some more. He nudged Rooney’s hand until the officer looked inside the can.

“Well, lookee here. A needle. I’m taking this back to the crime lab. We’ll test the can for prints as well as the contents of the needle. Robby may not have had heart problems after all.”

Rooney took the bag back to his car and took out a large evidence bag. He put the can and bag inside and marked it “Robby.”

He then looked at Bruiser. “Got a home, lad? Doesn’t look like you do by how thin you are. Hop in. You were brave to come to the shelter and bring the evidence even though you risked getting caught.

“I always wanted a police dog of my own. I’m going to ask the captain if I can take you in for training. After I tell him what you did to help crack the case, I’m sure he’ll approve.” Bruiser put his chest out like he was about to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Rooney walked over to Susan to take the invoices and a photo copy of her records.

“Think it’s all right to take the dog or do you have to keep him first?”

She smiled. “Fine with me, as long as he gets a good home.”

“He’ll come home with me every night. My wife’ll love him.”

Good for Bruiser. He had a tough break in life, but that’s about to change.

Susan then turned to us. “Now for you two outlaws. Amy’s gonna clean you up and give you a good meal. Tomorrow, we’re having an open house for adoptions and celebrate the fact that the county commissioners voted unanimously to make us a no-kill shelter

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you two stay together. I’ll even invite Rooney and his new German Shepherd. Now, go get yourselves presentable for tomorrow.”

Amy took us and did just that. She unmatted my snarls and towel dried Watts. It felt so good. Then she fed us fresh cans of cat food like we used to get.

The next morning, from our cage, we could see balloons and party signs go up. There were donuts and coffee and pet items for new pet parents donated by local merchants. Humans poured in to see the pets. Susan put us up front as the pets of the day. We hoped somebody would take us home, but if not, we knew we were safe and loved here.

Then, we heard a familiar bark. We looked over to see Rooney and Bruiser enter the shelter. Bruiser looked clean and happy. He was wearing a blue police collar.

Rooney thanked Susan.

“He is one great dog. Molly loves him and the captain gave him his blue training collar today. We couldn’t have begun to solve Robby’s murder without him. He starts tomorrow, because I wanted to bring him to the shelter today to show people how great homeless pets can be.”

Susan asked, “Did you name him?”

“Yep. Caesar. He’s strong and regal-looking.”

We’d all helped the shelter and the police to start investigating Robby’s murder. And the three of us were happy to be safe again. We meowed for Caesar to come over, and the three of us celebrated together.

 

 

About the Author—Mariah Lynne

 

 

Ever dream of traveling through time? Mariah Lynne does. She takes her readers along on exciting journeys to distant times and beautiful places with strong-willed independent heroines whose memorable tales entertain with twisted plots dabbling in the paranormal and sometimes even murder— Shadows Across Time, The Love Gypsy, The Duchess’ Necklace, and short story, Love At First Flight. Mariah lives on a beautiful Florida Gulf Coast Island; Southwest Florida takes center stage in all her stories. When she is not writing, she enjoys swimming, traveling and spending time with her husband and dolphin hunting dog, Max.

Website: www.MariahLynne.com

Twitter:@mariahlynne1 https://www.facebook.com/pages/MariahLynne/295721153858612