The Celebrity Cat Caper Read online

  “Whoa. That’s enough, Natalie.” Matt broke up the battle by dragging his sister away. “First, you can’t make accusations while the police are investigating missing jewelry. And second, if you choke Olivia to death, you’ll go to jail.”

  “And then you’ll miss the awards show,” Benny added.

  Natalie turned to glare at him.

  Matt pointed a finger straight at his sister. “You need to lighten up, Natalie. I also lost everything when that will was read. But Auntie Beulah’s wishes are set. Nothing more to do about it. Go on, borrow another of Auntie’s jewels from Walter. I’m sure he won’t mind if you wear a necklace tonight. We will wait.”

  “I wanted that necklace…” she said, growling at Olivia and muttering, “thief!”

  “It all belongs to Walter now,” Olivia retorted, “And borrowing a necklace for the evening from my favorite cat does not make me a thief.” She turned to Matt. “Thanks for helping. Everyone around here acts like I am the bad guy. All I have done is to take care of the cat. In the will, I was rewarded for my good work. I’m not evil.”

  “I’m not so sure.” He shook his head. “I’m still on Natalie’s side, but I just didn’t want her to strangle you.”

  Olivia huffed. “Well, I am on Walter’s side.” She gave a small smile. “Auntie Beulah gave me a job, and no matter what you and your sister think, I will do it. I am not a thief. I love this cat and I deserve everything I have been given.” With that she sneezed again.

  She walked over to the staircase and called for Walter again. “Come,” she said, in the same tone of voice Robbie used.

  At the sound of the command, Walter slipped quietly down the steps, stopping at Olivia’s feet and sitting at attention.

  “Just like I taught him,” Robbie told Henry.

  Olivia bent and placed a diamond-studded collar on the cat. The stones glittered, creating little rainbows along the walls and floor.

  “Now we’re all dressed up,” murmured Jessie. She and Violet were wearing their favorite party dresses, and Henry and Benny were wearing their best shirts. Benny was even wearing a tie. Watch, who was waiting in the limousine, had been given a bath and was wearing a fresh collar.

  “Well, then,” Olivia said. The fabric of her dress crinkled as she headed to the door. “Time to go.”

  When the limousine reached the Regal Theater, the children could see a red carpet had been laid out front, all the way to the curb. A small crowd of fans had gathered on the sidewalk, and there were even reporters with cameras. Usually Violet didn’t like crowds, but she was relieved to get to the theater, since the whole ride had been awkwardly silent. Nobody from Beresford Mansion—Natalie, Matt, Olivia, and Robbie—had said a word to one another.

  Geoffrey steered the limousine over to the curb and pulled up to the edge of the red carpet. “Walter will get out first,” he told the others. “With Olivia.”

  At that, Natalie sighed loudly. It was the first sound she’d made since the ride had started.

  “Members of Walter’s fan club will be here,” Geoffrey explained. He handed Benny an envelope. “Pass these out to anyone who wants one,” he instructed. “We do this at every event. I make it my responsibility to make sure that no fan goes home without a paw-printed picture.”

  As he turned, Jessie noticed that there was a bit of purple coloring on Geoffrey’s fingers. It could have come from anywhere, she figured, but then again, it was a good idea to pay attention to everything. She made a mental note to write it down in the notebook in her purse. After all, the night couldn’t be all fun, not when there was a mystery to solve.

  When the door to the limousine opened, Watch pushed Walter aside and leapt out of the car.

  “Watch!” Jessie scolded. She wished she’d thought to hold on to him.

  Then Walter darted out, with Olivia struggling to catch him. But by then Walter and Watch were rolling playfully around on the red carpet together, having fun while the reporters’ cameras clicked away.

  The children got out of the limousine next, followed by the other adults. Olivia shooed Walter away from Watch and called for him to follow her down the red carpet. Meanwhile Jessie made sure Watch didn’t stray from the red carpet.

  “Is that your dog?” a reporter asked Henry. “He’s so funny! What’s his name?”

  “Watch,” Benny answered. “But tonight is Walter’s special night,” he said to the reporter. “Watch is just here as his friend.”

  As the reporter began to write down Watch’s name, Benny remembered the photos Geoffrey had given him to hand out. He held out the package of photos. “Want a signed picture?”

  “I’d love one,” the reporter said.

  Benny opened the envelope and started to hand a picture to the reporter, when he suddenly stopped. The paw print signature was in purple ink, but so was a hand-written message scrawled across the top of every picture:

  WALTER IS A FAKE

  —WalterTruthTeller

  Henry reached over and grabbed the picture from Benny. “Sorry about that,” he said to the reporter. “We’ll get some new photos and be right back.”

  Henry and Benny hurried over to Geoffrey as he was climbing back into the driver’s seat of the limousine. “I just need to park the car, and I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.

  “We need to talk to you now,” Henry said, showing the chauffeur the marked-up photos. “What happened to these?”

  Geoffrey looked surprised. “I…I don’t know,” he said. His face fell as he flipped through the stack of photos. “But they are all ruined!” He sighed.

  “Whoever did it used the same color ink as the paw prints,” Henry noted.

  “And the same color ink you have on your hands,” Benny said, pointing at Geoffrey’s fingers.

  Geoffrey shook his head. “You don’t think I’m WalterTruthTeller, do you?”

  Benny and Henry looked at each other. They didn’t know what to say. They wanted to believe Geoffrey.

  “I made the cat paw prints with a special rubber stamp and purple ink,” Geoffrey went on. “You don’t think that Walter sat around and stamped hundreds of photos with his paw, do you? Someone must have written on the pictures after I finished.”

  “Maybe we should look for a purple marker?” Benny whispered to Henry.

  “I guess so,” Henry agreed.

  Geoffrey put the envelope of photos back in the glove compartment of the car. “I hate to disappoint Walter’s fans, but we can’t give these out tonight.” He sighed again. “I knew something was going to happen! I’ll tell you this…these photos are just the beginning!”

  CHAPTER 7

  The Funniest Cat

  Inside the Regal Theater, Jessie and Henry were led by an usher to their reserved seats in the front row. Benny and Violet had gone backstage with Walter, Watch, the cousins, and Robbie.

  “I just wanted to be away from the Beresford cousins,” Jessie told Henry. “There’s so much fighting, I can’t make sense of anything.”

  “It is crazy, isn’t it?” Henry replied. “We seem to have two mysteries going at the same time.”

  “Three, I think,” Jessie said, sitting back in the plush red velvet chair and taking out her notebook. “One, Geoffrey thinks someone is out to hurt Walter. Two, WalterTruthTeller is trying to ruin Walter’s reputation. And three…”

  Henry filled that one in. “Expensive jewelry is missing from Mrs. Beresford’s home.”

  Jessie tapped her pen on a blank page. “I think it’s all connected, but I don’t know how yet.”

  “Do you think if we find the thief, it’ll be the same person as WalterTruthTeller and whoever Geoffrey wants us to look out for?”

  Jessie shrugged and rubbed her forehead. This mystery seemed so complicated. All the pieces were giving her a headache. “I hope so,” she said at last. “I mean, everyone is a suspect for every crime. Natalie and Matt hate the cat. They want money, so why not just take jewels and sell them? It wouldn’t be as much as the house
, but I bet there are several millions of dollars worth of stones already missing. With a few other pieces, they’d have so much money.”

  “Then there’s Olivia. Olivia loves the cat and gets the benefit of the inheritance—the house isn’t hers but she lives like a queen,” Henry said. “Why would she want to ruin Walter’s reputation? Or steal jewels?”

  “I don’t know,” Jessie said. “But no one seems to trust her. Not Matt, Natalie, or Robbie, so we need to find out more.” She jotted Olivia’s name down under Matt and Natalie.

  “What about Robbie?” Henry asked.

  “He does seem to need money,” Jessie said. “The only reason he’s still at the house is that he trains Walter. No one wants to buy his art, so maybe he is stealing jewels to buy art supplies and food?”

  “There was that silver chain in the yard,” Henry added. “Which he pocketed.”

  “Good point.” Jessie nodded and wrote in her notebook. Then she looked up, chewing her pen. “Now the only one left to think about is Geoffrey.” She wrote his name down and underlined it. “How does he know something bad might happen to Walter?”

  “He’s guessing, because the will left everything to Walter,” Henry said. “And he said he has that feeling in his bones. But he really seems to want to help Walter.”

  Jessie shook her head. “But maybe that’s only because if something happened to Walter, Geoffrey is out of a place to live and a job.”

  “That’s true,” Henry said.

  “Or maybe he’s going to get rid of Walter himself, then go live somewhere fancy with money from selling the necklaces. He’d be so rich, he’d never have to work again,” Jessie said, then paused. “I just realized something odd. Geoffrey said that two rings and a sapphire bracelet were stolen too…how did he know exactly what items of jewelry were taken?”

  “That is strange,” Henry said. “Plus the ink on his fingers makes me wonder if he is WalterTruthTeller.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie asked.

  “If Walter isn’t famous anymore, then nobody will notice if he ends up back at the cat shelter. Then Geoffrey could sneak away in the night, sell the necklaces and rings, and go buy that island he mentioned!”

  Jessie wasn’t so fast to agree. “I am not sure Geoffrey is the one we are looking for,” she said as the music began and the lights dimmed.

  Suddenly, Violet and Benny rushed down the aisle and plopped into their seats. The cousins and Robbie had stayed with Walter backstage.

  “I met so many famous cats backstage!” Benny said, bouncing with excitement. “There was one that plays piano, and one that paints, and one that surfs…”

  “And a whole cat band!” Violet added. “We left Watch backstage with Robbie,” she added. “He growled a little when I tried to bring him out here.”

  “Watch and Walter are BPFF,” Benny said. “Best Pet Friends Forever!” He laughed.

  After a short welcome by the president of the Funniest Video Association, a video began on the screen. “It’s a new Walter video!” Benny was so excited. “I’ve seen them all, but I can tell from the beginning—I’ve never seen this one!”

  Violet leaned over to Jessie. “I have a bad feeling. There can’t be any new ones! Who made it?”

  “Maybe Mrs. Beresford made it before she died?” Jessie said, but a second later it was clear this was no ordinary video.

  The opening scene was from the day the Aldens had their lesson with Robbie. Watch had been cut out, but there was footage of Walter sniffing the scent of the toy and then fetching it from the yard.

  Then a voice boomed…“Impossible!” The voice had been disguised by a computer so it didn’t sound like a man’s voice or a woman’s. It was rough and harsh and deep. “It is impossible that a cat can fetch something so far away from a scent. Dogs fetch. Cats don’t! Not even Walter can do that!”

  The video changed to show a green screen, the kind used to film special effects, and a cutout photo of Walter with a toy in his mouth dancing across it like a cartoon. The audience gasped.

  “That’s not fair,” Jessie said under her breath. “We saw him fetch that toy for real.” The video was trying to make it seem like Walter’s trick was only a fake special effect.

  “There was no fetch,” the video said. “You’ve all been tricked. WalterTruthTeller tells the truth.”

  Benny jumped up in his seat. “It happened! We can prove it!”

  Before Henry could stop him, Benny had rushed backstage. Someone had turned the video off, and the lights went up.

  A few moments later, Benny was standing in front of the screen holding Walter in his arms.

  “I don’t know why anyone would say those terrible things about Walter,” Benny told the crowd. “He does all his own tricks! I saw him with my own eyes.”

  Robbie came out onto the stage and joined Benny. He looked over at Violet, Jessie, and Henry in the front row. “How are we going to do this? I’m not prepared.” The trainer looked panicked. “I’m in the dog pound here.”

  “I know what to do,” Violet said softly. “Jessie, do you have perfume in your purse?”

  “No,” Jessie said. “But Natalie is standing near the bottom of the stage. I bet she might.”

  “She and Matt seemed to be as shocked as the rest of us,” Henry said.

  Jessie noted their expressions. It certainly didn’t look like either of them knew about the video. In fact, Natalie looked so angry that Jessie thought that maybe sending Violet over there was a bad idea.

  “It’s okay,” Violet said. “I’ll tell her I’m going to help.”

  Violet went to Natalie and sure enough, she had perfume. She delivered it to Robbie and explained her idea.

  His eyes lit up as he said, “Benny, take Walter offstage and make sure he can’t see the audience.”

  Robbie then took the perfume into the crowd and asked a man for his wallet. He put a few drops of the perfume on the wallet, then put the wallet in his wife’s purse. “Leave it unzipped,” Robbie requested. He laughed, saying, “I haven’t trained him to open zippers yet, though I bet he could!”

  Robbie returned to the stage and Benny brought Walter back out. “Who is wearing perfume?” he asked the crowd. “Or cologne.” A lot of hands went up. “If you have some in your bag, please open the vial. Let’s make this as confusing as possible for Walter.” He chuckled as he looked at Violet and said, “I hope no one here has the same scent as Natalie.”

  Robbie let Walter sniff Natalie’s perfume, then Benny set him down. At first it seemed that WalterTruthTeller might be right. The cat stretched and lay down on the stage.

  “Cats sleep 70 percent of the day,” Jessie said. “Let’s hope that’s not Walter’s plan.”

  Robbie gave a loud-awkward laugh. “Walter’s so charming. He thinks he’s being funny! Mrs. Beresford would cut out his playful defiance when she posted the videos online.” He said to Walter, “What’s funny at home is not so funny right now. Get up.”

  Walter just rolled over.

  Robbie looked even more nervous. It was clear he was worried that Walter wasn’t going to play along.

  Just then a bark came from backstage.

  “It’s Watch!” Henry whispered to Jessie.

  Watch barked again, and Walter got up. Watch barked once more, and Benny ran offstage to get the dog.

  “I think Watch is encouraging Walter!” Jessie said. Sure enough, Watch came onstage and pushed Walter with his nose. They two of them were putting on their own show, and the audience cheered. Benny stood in the stage wings and cheered too.

  Suddenly Walter jumped off the stage. He crept into the audience, slipping under seats, crawling over arm rests…until he found the wallet and brought it back to Robbie, carrying it in his mouth.

  “He did it!” Violet squealed.

  The crowd went wild. Cameras snapped photos and some people had their videos recording.

  Watch went back over to where Benny waited in the wings. It seemed as if he knew it was
time to give Walter the spotlight. Or maybe he was just tired from the excitement. “Good dog,” Benny said, giving his head a scratch.

  Meanwhile Walter had brought the wallet up to the stage. He made a sound like a barking dog, lay down, and started chewing on the leather.

  Robbie snatched up the wallet and held it high. Walter leapt for it a few times on his back legs, then lay back down in snoozing position, curled in a ball on the stage.

  “Whoever WalterTruthTeller is, you now know the truth…Walter is the real deal!” Robbie shouted.

  The audience burst into applause. Robbie returned the wallet to the owner, then climbed back onstage amid a standing ovation for Walter. “I trained him,” Robbie announced proudly. “A lot of puppy love goes into every thing that cat does. You can call me and get an appointment for your own dog or cat. I’m in business!”

  The applause continued as Olivia took the stage to accept Walter’s Funniest Cat Trophy. As she accepted the award, the children went backstage to look for Watch and Benny. When they found the two of them, Watch was drinking from a water bowl with Walter’s name on it.

  “Good job, Watch,” Violet said.

  “Seems like the night is a success,” Henry said.

  “It sure is,” Jessie said. She couldn’t tell the others until they were alone, but now she was sure that Robbie was the jewel thief. He had just revealed his trick to stealing the jewels!

  CHAPTER 8

  The Cat Burglar

  The fighting started in the limousine on the way back to the Beresford mansion. Olivia was carrying the big “Funniest Cat” trophy and Natalie wanted it.

  “I’d like to have it for sentimental reasons,” she told Olivia. “Since you stay at the house with Walter, it’s only fair that I get to display the trophy at my apartment.”

  “You’re ridiculous.” Olivia pulled the trophy away and shoved it behind her back. She had to lean forward, but the trophy was hidden in the folds of her coat. “The trophy belongs to Walter and everything that belongs to Walter is in my care.”