Sly the Sleuth and the Pet Mysteries (5 page)

“I'd like to be a redhead,” said Melody. She picked up a package. “I wonder if my mother would let me.”

“Don't ask her,” said Kate. She picked up a package of purple hair dye. “What about you, Sly?”

“I have to keep my mind on business,” I said. “Let's go.”

We bought hair dye and ran to Jack's house. I rang the bell.

Jack opened the door. “What are you all doing here?”

“We're going to have a hair-dyeing party,”said Kate.

“Not at my house,” said Jack.

“But you need to dye your hair brown,” I said. “And you need to change your clothes.”

“Why?”

“When did you dye your hair blue?” I asked.

“Last night, before I went to bed.”

“And when did you put on all your blue clothes?” I asked.

“This morning.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Wish Fish is a Siamese Fighting Fish. They come in all colors, including blue. Last night, when you had blue hair, he suspected you were a betta too. So he got mad. Then, when you put on all blue clothes, he was sure. So he got madder. He wanted to fight you.”

“I'm not a fish,” said Jack.

“Wish Fish is stupid,” I said. “So you have to change back to your normal colors.”

“Oh.” Jack smiled. “I can do that. After Halloween. In the meantime, I'll ask my mom to feed Wish Fish.”

“Case solved,” I said.

“Pay her,” said Melody.

“What do you want?” asked Jack.

I didn't know yet. “I'll send you a bill.”

Kate's house was only two doors down from Jack's. So we went there.

We also went there because Kate's mother lets her do almost anything she wants. And Kate's mother is always reasonable, so other people tend to agree with her. She called Melody's mother and got her to agree.

Kate and Melody dyed their hair.

I sat on the back steps and waited. I felt kind of left out.

Clarissa, the semi-fat cat, rubbed against my legs. She was a pretty good cat. Not extraordinary, like Taxi. But okay.

Clarissa purred.

I petted her.

I thought about Jack's question: What did I want for payment? I couldn't ask for money because Jack never had any.

I remembered the clutter in Jack's room. I couldn't ask for anything Jack had because I didn't like the things Jack had.

So what could I ask for?

Maybe I could make him my slave for a day. That wasn't a bad idea. If Jack knew how to do anything useful. But maybe he didn't.

“Boo.” It was Jack, of course.

“How did you find me?”

“I watched when you left my house.” Jack reached into his pocket. “Here.”

It was a half-used package of blue hair dye. “What for?”

“My hair's short, so I only used half. I was saving the rest for next Halloween. But I've decided to be a pirate next Halloween.”

“So how come I get it?”

“It's your payment.” Jack twisted his mouth.“It's enough, isn't it?”

I looked at Jack's blue hair. Melody was right; it was a great color. “Sure. Thanks.”

It's the day after Halloween. Jack came to school with brown hair. He told me Wish Fish was happy.

I went to school with blue hair. That was not easy. Kate's mother had to talk to my mother for a long time before she agreed.

Now I'm sitting in the hammock with Taxi. We went trick-or-treating together. I was Marge Simpson. Bart's mother. She has beautiful blue hair.

Taxi was my cat.

Melody and her new puppy went with us. Melody went as a mother dog and her puppy was her baby.

This was a good second case. Daddy says I'm honing my skills as a sleuth. But I might take a vacation from sleuthing till this dye wears off. Blue hair makes me stand out. And a sleuth needs to be able to go unnoticed.

I sat on the back stoop. It was one of those warm days that comes like a surprise in the middle of November. A good day to do homework outside.

I took out my spelling list.

“Catch Taxi,” screamed Brian. He ran over from next door.

“Why?” I said.

Brian screamed again. “Catch her, fast.”

“Taxi,” I called.

Taxi came running.

“Hold her,” screamed Brian.

I pulled Taxi onto my lap.

“Lock her up,” screamed Brian.

“What's this all about?” I said. “And stop screaming.”

Brian sat down beside me. “Wilson got loose.”

“Wilson?” Then I remembered. Brian's mother told me she was going to get him a mouse.“Is that what you named your new pet?”

“A ball knocked over the bucket,” said Brian. “Lock Taxi up.”

“Let me get this straight. You put Wilson in a bucket?”

Brian shook his head.“My mother did. She was cleaning Wilson's home.”

What mother would put a mouse in a bucket? But, then, what mother besides Brian's would think flaxseed sprinkled on prunes was a treat? “Okay. Then a ball knocked over the bucket?”

“Taxi will kill Wilson. Lock her up.”

“When did this happen?”

“After dinner.”

“After dinner yesterday? Brian, if Taxi was going to kill Wilson, she's already done it.”

Brian's eyes teared up.“Oh no,” he sobbed. “Oh no, oh no.”

I put my arm around him. “I said ‘if.' Maybe Wilson is fine.”

“Sly,” came Melody's voice. “Oh, Sly.”

I looked up.

Melody stood in the driveway. She was crying.

“What's wrong?”

“I think my puppy's dying.”

I hugged Melody.

Taxi ran into the bushes.

Brian screamed, “Catch Taxi. Catch Taxi. Catch Taxi.”

“Wait a minute, Melody,” I said.

I reached under the bushes. I pulled out Taxi and put her inside. “Stop screaming, Brian.”

“Okay,” said Brian.

I went back to Melody. “What happened?”

“He got sick.”

“How awful. Did you take him to the vet?”

“No. My parents said he's fine.”

This was odd. “Let's sit down.”

We sat on the stoop.

Brian went over to his yard. He crawled on all fours in the grass.

“Why's Brian crawling?” asked Melody.

“Maybe he's looking for Wilson,” I said. “Or maybe he's crazy.”

“Who's Wilson?”

I didn't want to talk about a mouse that was probably dead.“It doesn't matter. Brian is definitely crazy.”

“Maybe my puppy's crazy too,” said Melody.

“Tell me about it,” I said.

“Oh, good,” said Melody. “I knew you'd solve my case.You said you were taking a vacation from sleuthing. But I just knew you'd come back for me”.

I hadn't realized this was a case.

Did I want a new case?

My first case was about Fat Cat. My second case was about Wish Fish.

Fat Cat. Wish Fish. They rhymed.

So my third case should rhyme too. After all, things came in threes.

“Sick Puppy” didn't rhyme.“Crazy Puppy” didn't rhyme.

But this was a case about a pet. And so were the first two. So that was good.

And my hair was back to brown. As it turned out, the blue washed out in two weeks. That was the kind of dye Jack's mother had let him buy—short-term. So I could sleuth again unnoticed.

And even though Taxi didn't like dogs, she'd be interested in a sick one. Probably any cat would. So this was a case a cat would enjoy hearing me talk about.

And, most of all, this was Melody. My best friend.

“Start at the beginning,” I said.

“Last night I took Pong outside to play.”

Pong? “I thought his name was Brownie.When did you change it?”

“The other day,” said Melody. “I was playing Ping-Pong and he loved it.”

“I hate that game,” said Brian. He had come back into my yard. “It's hard.” He sprinkled grass over us.

Melody stood up. She shook off the grass.

“Pong loved it. He chased the balls. He even ate one. So I changed his name.”

“If he ate a Ping-Pong ball, that's why he's sick,” I said.

“No, he passed it.”

I thought about that. “Eww.”

“He crunched it up before he swallowed it,” said Melody. “And that was days ago, anyway.”

“All right,” I said. “What happened last night?”

“We were playing catch.”

“I like catch,” said Brian. He threw another handful of grass on us.

“And he got sick,” said Melody. She brushed off the grass.

“How do you mean?”

“He moved all jerky. All over the place.”

“He's a puppy,” I said.“That's what puppies do.”

“But this was different. I ran inside and told Daddy. He put Pong to bed. And he said not to worry.” Melody shrugged.“So I went to bed too.”

“Did he sleep okay?”

“I guess so. He was okay this morning. I went to school. But when I got home, he did that weird jerky stuff again. I picked him up. And he flipped out of my arms.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“They're not home. And Sharee said it was no big deal.”

Sharee was Melody's after-school sitter. She said everything was no big deal.

“So you came over here,” I said.

“Sharee let me. I didn't know what else to do.” Melody hugged herself. “Maybe he goes crazy as the day goes on. Maybe he'll get worse and worse”.

“At night he'll be really bad,” said Brian.

“Hush, Brian,” I said.

“He's a werewolf,” said Brian.

“Dogs don't become werewolves,” I said. “Only people do that.”

“Maybe Pong is people really,” said Brian.

“Go home, Brian,” I said. “Okay, Melody, let's go see Pong.”

We walked through Brian's backyard, cut through the hedge at the rear, and went into Melody's yard.

Melody opened her back door.

Pong jumped up on her.

She got on her knees. She scratched him.

“Shut the door,” called Sharee. She was probably in the living room reading.That's what she always did. “And hi, Sly, come on in.” I don't know how she knew I was there.

I came inside.

Pong jumped on me.

I got on my knees too.

“He seems normal,” I said. I petted his soft ears.

“Now. But he went nuts a little while ago.”

I looked Pong over. “What were you doing when he went nuts?”

“Playing catch.”

And she was playing catch last night, when Pong first went nuts. “Play catch now,” I said.

Melody went into her bedroom.

Pong followed her.

She came back with a stuffed cat.

Pong ripped it out of her hand. He ran around the room. He shook the cat in his teeth.