The Case of the Missing Goldfish

The Case of the Missing Goldfish


BabyCat had just called to order the meeting of the Three Palms Detective Agency, when her friend Fleabag came rushing through the door. Without even a hello he said, "Oh, BabyCat, it is just too, too terrible! All of my goldfish have disappeared from my pond! Oh, please, you must help me!"

BabyCat could tell that Fleabag was quite stressed out. "Now, now, Fleabag. Calm down. Why don’t you sit down and tell us all about the problem."

Fleabag hung his head in shame. "Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to burst in on you like that. It is just that I am so upset." Fleabag sat down at the table and said hello to Fella, and Romulus, the other two members of the Three Palms Detective Agency. Then he helped himself to several Chocnip Cookies and a large glass of Catnip Iced Tea.

After a few deep breaths, he settled down and began again. "You see, I woke up on a Saturday morning, about two weeks ago, and all of the lovely goldfish in my pond were gone. They were not just invisible. They had disappeared completely. Well, as you can imagine, I was very shocked. So I went out and bought more goldfish, and filled up my pond again. Goldfish are so lovely and peaceful to watch. And really, I had gotten to be quite good friends with the first bunch. Unfortunately the second bunch didn’t last that long. A few days later, the same thing happened. I woke up and went outside, and the pond was empty again. I tried one more time. I filled up my pond with lovely goldfish. Beautiful, sweet little fishies that never hurt a fly. But they sure did eat a lot of mosquitoes. Any way, the last bunch only lasted a week. This morning when I went outside, the pond was empty again. Of course, I thought of you, and your detective agency. Will you take my case, BabyCat? Will you help me find out what happened to my lovely goldfish?"

BabyCat had started the Three Palms Detective Agency a number of years ago with her two best friends, Fella and Romulus. Fella was a handsome German Shepherd who lived next door. He was good at saving things, so he was in charge of the treasury. He always buried any fees the agency collected. Unfortunately, he could seldom remember exactly where he had buried the money, so there were small piles of money buried all around the neighborhood. Romulus was a lovely Mourning Dove who BabyCat and her family had rescued, and who now lived with them. As he had lots of feathers, he was the secretary of the group. Now he took a feather, sharpened it, and wrote some notes down in his notebook about the new case, for of course, the Three Palms Detective Agency would never turn a case down. Their motto was: No Job is Too Small. They had helped many clients, who were mostly their friends, to solve mysteries around town.

Now BabyCat said, "Of course, Fleabag. We will be happy to take your case. Now is there any thing else you can tell us about the disappearances? Did you notice any clues? Paw prints, or foot prints? Did the thief leave anything behind which might give us a clue to his identification?"

"To tell you the truth, I was too upset to really notice anything much, and by now I have probably destroyed any real evidence. About the only thing I can say is that it always happened at night, after I was in bed asleep. I never heard a thing. Oh, my poor little goldfish." Fleabag helped himself to another Chocnip Cookie. "I guess that is all really."

"That is just fine, Fleabag. Now don’t you worry", BabyCat said, as she escorted Fleabag out the door.

"Whew," she sighed as she firmly closed the door and leaned against it. "I thought for sure he was going to eat that whole plateful of Chocnip Cookies." BabyCat was extremely fond of Chocnip Cookies, and now she walked over to the table and took two cookies to eat. Then she wiped her paws. "Now, down to business. Agent Romulus, what do we know so far?"

Agent Romulus checked his notebook where he had written:

Three disappearances of goldfish in the last two weeks.
Always happened after dark.
Other clues destroyed by goldfish owner.
Owner of goldfish likes Chocnip Cookies.
BabyCat loves Chocnip Cookies.

"That’s it, BabyCat. Not much to go on," Romulus said.

"Thank you, Romulus. I am not sure those last two clues are really pertinent to the case, but we will leave them in just in case." BabyCat helped herself to another cookie and passed the plate around to her friends. Romulus took one, which he picked at while he worked. Fella took two, and then thought better of it as BabyCat gave him a piercing green-eyed stare. He quickly put one of the cookies back on the plate. "Agent Fella, do you have anything to add?"

"Hmmm. Well, perhaps we should see if there are any other ponds full of goldfish in the area. Maybe the thief is stealing everyone’s goldfish."

"Good thinking, Fella! Yes, we must first find out if there are any other ponds full of missing goldfish," BabyCat said.

"Ummm, if the goldfish are missing, would the ponds really be full?" asked Fella.

"You know what I mean. I couldn’t say any other ponds empty of missing goldfish! That sounds silly. Okay, agents, lets get started." BabyCat packed the rest of the cookies into her backpack, and Romulus folded his tablet and tucked it into his small carrying pack. He would need it in case they uncovered any other clues. Then the three set off. Romulus flew high overhead, where he could look down into the yards all around the neighborhood. BabyCat jumped up and walked delicately along the backs of fences, where she could peer down, and Fella followed along sniffing the ground for any clues. They spent the afternoon looking at yards with birdbaths, yards with fountains and yards with ponds. Finally the sun set, and Fella pointed out that it was dinner time. The three weary investigators headed for home.

During the next few days, reports came in from near and far of more missing goldfish, but few new clues were uncovered. The three detectives were always just one step behind the thief. They always seemed to hear about the theft the morning after it happened. They decided they must change their strategy. And so it was that Fleabag came into the Detective Agency’s headquarters one late afternoon to find the three with their heads together.

"Hi, everyone, any luck?" he greeted them as he helped himself to a Chocnip Cookie.

BabyCat was too discouraged to even notice.

"No luck so far. Just more reports of missing goldfish," she said.

Fleabag looked at a large piece of paper that hung on the wall. On it was a map of the neighborhood. Marked in green O’s were all the houses with ponds, and marked in red X’s were all the houses that had reported missing goldfish. As they all sat studying the graph, suddenly Romulus had an idea.

"You know, it seems like the thefts have all started here in this corner and radiated out to cover more territory. And something else you may notice too. The old fish hatchery is right here, just a few miles from where the first thefts occurred," Romulus observed.

"You're right!" BabyCat exclaimed. "And up here in the opposite corner is a very large pond filled with goldfish and expensive koi. I bet that is where the thief will strike next! And that gives me an idea. We need to get there before the thief, not after him. We need to have a stake-out right at that large pond. Let’s do it tonight." The three gathered all their equipment together. They had a pair of binoculars, and an old magnifying glass, and a large flashlight covered in red cellophane. They took Romulus’ notebook, and the map they had made. And of course, they took a good supply of Chocnip Cookies. Soon they were ready to go.

"Mind if I tag along?" Fleabag asked, as he sucked his stomach in and tried to look small. "I can hide pretty well," he said as he ducked behind a chair and pretended to hide. Unfortunately his hips stuck out on both sides, making the chair look really silly.

"Okay, you can come too, but you have to be very quiet," BabyCat said. So the four set out. Soon they were at the site of the large pond. Romulus hid in a nearby tree. BabyCat and Fleabag both hid behind a large bush, and Fella sat under another tree in the dark. Then they settled down to wait. Around 10 o’clock, there was a great commotion. A large furry animal was standing by the pond, scooping goldfish out and popping them into a sack.

Fella turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the animal, and BabyCat and Fleabag peered out from behind the bush. They all saw what looked like a huge animal with a mask on. Oh, mew. This was really serious. A masked bandit was going to be very hard to deal with. Romulus flew down from the tree and landed on the fence to get a better look.

Suddenly BabyCat let out a loud whoop of laughter causing the other four animals to stop in their tracks. Well of course the thief had a mask! He was a raccoon! And not just any raccoon. It was her old friend Chocolate Chip.

"Chippy! What are you doing here?" she cried. "And why are you stealing goldfish out of the neighborhood ponds?"

"Well, ummm, well. Oh, BabyCat it is a long sad story."

"Let’s all sit down, and you can tell us," she said. So they sat in a circle, and BabyCat passed out Chocnip Cookies to all. A large goldfish fell out of the bag, and Chocolate Chip quickly scooped it up and ate it. BabyCat pretended not to notice, since she knew how upset her furriend was.

"You see, it's like this. The old warden at the fish hatchery has retired, and the new warden is just terrible. He is very mean, and has covered the entire place with nets, so that I can’t get in to get any fish. And my wife just had another litter of kitts. We are all going hungry. I didn’t know what else to do. I have to feed my little family."

"Oh, Chippy, that really is too terrible. But why would the new warden be so mean?" asked BabyCat.

"I don’t know. We don’t really think he is a true warden at all. We think he is a crook, and that he is stealing the fish for himself."

BabyCat was very sad to hear all of this. She had met Chocolate Chip several years ago, when she had helped him solve his problem of a place to live. He and his family now lived out at the old Fish Hatchery, where trout were raised and sent out to local lakes. It was a great place to live. He and his family could eat all the fish they wanted in exchange for keeping other raccoons and animals out of the area. This would need more investigation.

"Well, we will just have to find out what is going on then," she declared. "Come on, team, let’s go!" They all set off for the old Fish Hatchery. When they arrived there lights were on in the warden’s house, and they could see him talking on the phone. They snuck up to the window and listened.

"Yes. Yes. I will have two truckloads of fish for you tomorrow afternoon. Yes, I have had a hard time keeping those pesky ‘coons out. I’m going to get myself a shotgun. Now don’t you worry. By the time they have figured out where the real warden is, we will all be miles away." Suddenly the man hung up the phone and came over to look out the window. The animals blended into the night.

This was very bad news. And what could he have meant when he said, "where the real warden is?" The five animals decided to make a thorough search of the Hatchery. Stealthily they set out walking slowly and sniffing the air. At the far end of the compound was a small storage house, and when they came to it, Fella gave a little woof, for he smelled something inside. He jiggled the lock, and with Fleabag's help they managed to get the door open. Imagine their surprise when two eyes stared back at them. It was the real warden, sitting on a chair to which he was firmly tied.

The animals immediately set out to loose his bonds. Fella worked at the ropes on his feet and legs, and BabyCat and Fleabag gnawed on the ropes around his wrists. Romulus looked on and supervised. Finally the ropes around the warden’s wrists broke. He massaged his hands and then took the tape off his mouth, and untied the ropes around his feet.

"Oh, thank you all. I didn’t think anyone would ever find me. The other warden has been holding me prisoner here for weeks now. And he has been stealing truckloads of fish for his friends' private ponds and lakes. But that will all change now." The warden picked up the phone that hung on the wall of the storage shed and called the police. Next he called his boss. Before long the compound was alive with police cars and state trucks and flashing red lights. The bad warden was easily captured, and all the animals cheered as he was taken away in a police van.

It was almost morning. "Well, my little friends, how can I ever thank you?" the warden asked.

"Breakfast would be nice," the ever-hungry Fleabag said.

"The warden laughed. Well, we can certainly start with a good breakfast," he said. So, he made them all a lovely, huge meal of bacon, eggs, fried fish, potatoes, pancakes and syrup and gallons of fresh coffee and catnip tea. For dessert they had all the Chocnip cookies they could eat. And after they had all eaten as much as they could stuff in, they sat around the table and told the warden all that had happened.

"Well, I can’t help you with the goldfish. But I can and certainly will take down all the nets. And Chocolate Chip and his family can go back to being my helpers. And I hope the rest of you will come out and visit me from time to time."

Then they all went with Chocolate Chip to tell his wife the good news, and to see the new little raccoon kitts. Finally the warden said, "Well, I have a lot of work to do. Thank you all again for helping me capture those crooks," and he headed back to his house.

BabyCat, Fleabag, Fella and Romulus said goodbye to their old friend Chocolate Chip, and also set out for home. On the way they stopped at the pet store and bought a dozen new goldfish for Fleabag. Then they went to his house and watched as he placed his lovely new goldfish in his pond. They left him with a smile on his kitty face, and headed back to their headquarters.

"Ah. Another case solved," BabyCat said, as she set out a plate of fresh Chocnip cookies.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End. Well, not really the end. But the end until the next adventure of the Three Palms Detective Agency.