The detectives searched through the office. “Our very first case file is definitely missing,” Rora said. “That fake reporter stole it! He got it all . . . the rope, the case file, everything!”
Rider faced the real reporter. “Miss Ferret, if you want a story, then follow us!”
The detectives ran outside, with Farrah Ferret following close behind.
Ziggy found their first clue right away. It was a kangaroo costume thrown into the bushes. “Our fake reporter was a fake kangaroo, too? That makes me hopping mad!”
Just then Westie spotted someone at the end of the block. The animal was holding a case file as he jumped into a getaway car. “Look, the Bandit is totally getting away . . . again!”
Quickly, the P.I. Pack, along with Farrah Ferret, climbed into their van. Rora revved the engine, hit the gas, and sped after the bad guy.
As they pulled closer, Rora noticed another clue. “P.I. Pack! Look at the getaway driver. It’s Rotten Ruffhouse!”
“Well, that’s just rotten luck,” said Rider.
Meanwhile, in the Bandit’s getaway car, Rotten Ruffhouse looked in his rearview mirror. “Those detectives will never catch us.”
“Well, make sure they don’t,” said the Bandit in the seat behind him. The bunny was busy reading through the case file.
“Did you get what you wanted?” asked Rotten.
“Oh yes,” the bunny said with a sneer. “Those P.I. fools thought I was a reporter, and they spilled the beans of their very first case: the unsolved mystery of the Pawston Elementary Lunchtime Bandit!”
The words “spilled the beans” echoed inside Rotten’s head as he drove. He thought back to the one horrible moment in elementary school that changed young Ronald Ruffhouse’s life forever. “Wait. YOU were the Lunchtime Bandit?”
“I was, and I was never caught! I had so many disguises and stole so many lunches from under their noses, and they never sniffed me out,” the bunny snarled.
“But . . . why?” Rotten asked.