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Today I’m starting a new mystery story for you all. Each week I shall post a chapter to keep you, my loyal fans, entertained. I hope you enjoy this exciting tale!

Chapter 1

Private Eye, Ms Tabitha, works for the Deeds Done Doggone Dirt Cheap detective agency. She’s a pretty tabby with a determination to get to the truth. Her branch office is open to all and she will take on all cases.

The day in question found her at the desk. Her secretary (& brofur, Rocky) knocked on the door to her office. “Yes?” Tabitha inquired.

Rocky stuck his head into the office and meowed, “There’s a Tom here to see you. Name of Tibbs.”

Ah, an active case. Tabitha had not had much to do these last couple of days. “Send him in.” She bid.

Rocky led an enormous black, domestic shorthair through the doorway. As a bit of a Twitter celebrity, everyone knew of Tibbs, so Rocky was a bit in awe of his idol.

Tabitha shoo-ed her brofur out the door and motioned towards the cat bed. “Have a seat, Mr. Tibbs.”

Tibbs had a sniff of the bed and finally plopped onto it.

“What can I do for you, this fine day?” Tabitha was anxious to get this case underway. She knew that Bella, the big Boss, would be impressed by the notoriety a case such as this would bring to the agency.

“I’d like to hire you to find my sisfur, Patches.” Tibbs began. He bit his lip nervously but continued, “She-😈 is a bit of a ‘fluff ball’, troublemaker, as you might know. I fear this time, she may have gotten in over her head.”

“Patches? Patches?” Tabitha ruminated. “The name sounds familiar but there are loads of cats who go by that name. How will I know her?” She needed further information and got out a pen and paper in order to make some notes.

“Oh, you can’t mistake my sisfur . . . She’ll be the one surrounded by Nip fumes.” Tibbs explained. “She went off on a bender and I haven’t seen her for days. Our human is away at the moment and left me in charge. Patches is Mom’s favourite. If I don’t get her back before the human comes home, I may not receive any more treats! I can’t have that!”

Tabitha’s eyes widened! This was serious. “She has a thing for a certain grey and white BSH, doesn’t she?” Tabitha asked and at the answering nod, she continued with, “When, exactly, was the last time you saw her?”

Tibbs’ fur bristled. “I heard she was at the Feline Furriend Inn. So, I went in search of her there but when I knocked on the door of the room she was supposed to be occupying, a cheeky, wild-hared, grey, rabbit named, Reginald, answered the door. He claimed to have never heard of Patches. But EVERYONE knows Patches! When I pushed him for more info, he finally admitted that she had been there but was not there now. He did mention that she was happy and well but didn’t want to see me or anyone!”

“Not even LG?” Tabitha remembered the details regarding this cat’s obsession.

“That’s what I asked.” Tibbs admitted. “Reginald didn’t seem to know who LG was!”

Before Tabitha could react to this shocking bit of news, in walked her #DDDDC partner, Skittles.

“Well, hello there, Tibbs.” She seemed to know the new client too.

“Skittles, Babe . . . I didn’t know you still worked for #DDDDC.” Tibbs winked at the multi-coloured American shorthair, with piercing green eyes.

“What’s going on?” Skittles was also a dedicated detective. In fact, she was dogged (🙀) in her pursuit of helping to ferret out the truth.

“Tibbs’ sisfur, Patches, is on a bender . . .” Tabitha began to explain.

“Again?” Skittles interrupted.

“I need to find her.” Tibbs blinked a few times in Skittles’ direction.

Skittles blushed and asked, “Do you want ME to tail her?”

“If you would. I overheard Reginald making a date with her for tonight. If you could follow them and tell me where they end up, I’ll be able to pounce on the She-😈 and drag her home.” Tibbs turned the charm on, full blast, and directed it towards Skittles while Tabitha sat back and watched the train wreck. She had heard about the power of Tibbs flirting. She was not going to be sucked in by it.

Tibbs paid 50 treats and left the detectives to sort out the details.

“Sorry, if I butted-in on your case, Tabs. But that Mr. Tibbs is hard to resist when he pours on the charm.” Skittles apologized.

“Yes, some kitties cannot handle the onslaught. You take the lead, if you like. But be very careful. Tibbs is a known philanderer.” Tabitha warned as she popped 5 of the treats into her mouth. They were good.

“I’ll put the rest of our payment away before you eat all the profits.” Skittles remarked as she placed the treats in the office safe.

Tabitha growled but the annoyance of the partnership festered. It might be time to put an end to this affiliation?

*********

Tabitha worked late that night. She sat chewing her claws and looking out the window of her office. Her mind replayed the events of the afternoon’s visit from Tibbs and everything leading up to this very moment in time.

The phone rang, startling her. As she was alone, having sent Rocky home for the night, Tabitha answered the phone “Deeds Done Doggone Dirt Cheap Detective Agency, Private Eye Tabitha meowing . . . How can I help you?” She listened for a moment and continued. “Yes, Skittles is my partner. Are you sure? I’ll be right there!”

Tabitha flew out of the office, nearly forgetting to lock up. Fifteen minutes later she found herself in an alley outside the Feline Furriend Inn. Scraps of food and treats were scattered everywhere but no signs of Skittles, Patches, Reginald or Tibbs.

The hotel detective sniffed around the alley as Tabitha approached. Sammy, the tan coloured, domestic Tom nodded in her direction.

“Are you sure they’ve all gone?” Tabitha needed to know the truth.

“They have disappeared.” Sammy answered.

“All of them?” Tabitha inquired.

“Yep.” Sammy began scooping up what was left of the treats. No need for them to go to waste.

Tabitha watched him closely as she surveyed the scene of the crime. “I better let the Boss know.” She finally meowed. Tabitha took out her iPhone and rang the programmed number. “Rocky, do me a favour . . . Call Bella and ask her to meet me at my place. There’s been a development. Give me a couple of hours before you call her, though.” She listened to Rocky complain about the hour and how his nap was interrupted, then she meowed, “ Just do it!” And hung up.

Tabitha turned to Sammy and meowed, “I’ll have a look around here. You go back to the hotel.”

Sammy nodded and replied, “I’ll be at work until the morning, if you have any further questions.”

“Righty-O. That’s purrfect.” Tabitha watched as he sauntered back to the Inn where he was the in-house detective. She began rummaging around the trash cans.

********

Hours later, Tabitha finally let herself into her flat. She went straight to her stash of nip and indulged in the calming aroma.

“What happened tonight?” The question made Tabitha jump.

“Who . . . ?” Tabitha narrowed her eyes towards the darkened corner of the room.

Bella, the Bassett hound and her Boss at #DDDDC, emerged into the dimly lit room. “Where’s Skittles? I can’t get in touch with her.”

“She’s disappeared.” Tabitha repeated the information she had been given.

“You better find her!” Bella growled.

“I have the Tibbs case to look into.” Tabitha reasoned.

“Skittles is your partner. You’d be advised to find her first.” Bella was keen to look after her employees.

Tabitha moved away from the nip and meowed, “I think Skittles’ disappearance is connected to the Tibbs case. If I solve his case, I’ll be able to find Skittles.” Tabitha explained in a rational manner.

“I don’t like this. Finding Skittles should be your priority.” Bella took out a pipe, stuffed some of the catnip in it and lit it up.

“I’ll find her. But this other case is very intriguing.” Tabitha admitted.

“If you meow so. By the way, where have you been? Rocky called me ages ago, to tell me to meet you here.” Bella began to feel lightheaded with each puff.

“Oh . . . I . . . I’ve been walking around trying to clear my head and think about what could have happened tonight.” Tabitha answered unconvincingly. She purposely omitted to tell the Boss that she had gone to Reginald’s room in order to gets some answers as to the whereabouts of Skittles. She had to sneak into the room via an open window and knew this was cat-like behaviour that Bella would never approve of.

Instead, she put on a false smile and walked Bella to the door as she told her Boss, “I’ll get to the bottom of this mystery.”

Make sure you come along next week to see what happens!

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