Conversations with Critters

Walk with the animals. Talk to the animals. And the highly anticipated release of Chapter 15 of The Case of the Bowled Over Bowler Hat!

Today, Critters, we are pleased to present the highly anticipated release of Chapter 15 of The Case of the Bowled Over Bowler Hat! Brought to you by the ever steady and at the ready J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency! Because! It’s time, right here, right now for our Detective Tuesday Post!

Previously, a heritable trait, a white tipped tail, tipped off the Detectives to the intergenerational link between the past and the present. With a bog body and a serious set of miscues at billiards, we find ourselves behind the eight ball in a race against time to crack this case wide open open open.

Please, join our Core Community Critters Jasper Kitten, Chris and Jojo in excellent cued critter commentary and conversation.

Jasper: Welcome welcome, Friends! We are ready to cut to the chase!

Chris: Cuz you never know what goes on behind closed Manor House doors!

Jojo: That’s right, Chris and Jasper! But we’re about to find out!

Chris: I’m on the edge of my seat on the Couch!

THE CASE OF THE BOWLED OVER BOWLER HAT

BOOK 2 FROM THE J KITTEN, SLEUTH & PURVEYOR OF BRIGHT SHINY OBJECTS DETECTIVE AGENCY

BY JASPER KITTEN, CHRIS, JOJO AND STAR IN HEAVEN FUREVER AND EVER

DEDICATED IN LUVLUVLUVING MEMORY OF STAR

CHAPTER 15

BEHIND CLOSED MANOR HOUSE DOORS

The spoon of Jasper Kitten, held suspended over his steaming bowl of fish stew, garnered the ever watchful gaze of Chris, Star and Jojo as they chowed down faster and faster in the Tea Room. Poised with the utensil in his white gloved paw, Jasper Kitten proceeded to drop it with a clatter and a splash that stayed within the confines of the bowl. He hopped off his chair. 

“Gosh, Jasper Kitten, aren’t you going to finish your dinner?” called Star after him as the Orange striped sleuth sped out of the Tea Room without looking back.

“Did  you see that?” he cried.

Chris, Star and Jojo, in a seamless transition, looked at their bowls and polished off their respective and remaining servings of stew, then made a mad dash out of the Tea Room in pursuit of Jasper Kitten.

“See what?” cried Chris after gulping the last of his stew on the run.

“Furthermore, Critters, I heard a clang and a bang coming from the kitchen!”

They raced after Jasper Kitchen, banked hard into the kitchen and glimpsed the flash of a white tipped tail going up up up in the dumbwaiter.

The Critters caught their breath and gave each other a knowing nod.

“In our experience,” mewed Jasper Kitten, “the dumbwaiter will lead the white tipped tail fully and bodily to the attic with the locked door and broken knob.”

“Why, it’s a trap,” growled Chris, loud and proud.

“Correct. Chris. There. Is. No. Way. Out,” confirmed Jasper Kitten.

Star pressed a cinnamon brown paw against the button recessed in the wall, calling the dumbwaiter back. 

Jasper Kitten, Chris and the Canine Unit, Star and Jojo, conferred and concurred about their next move on the up and up. They stood by and steeled themselves while the dumbwaiter descended with another clang and a bang.

Out of an abundance of caution, Jasper Kitten fastened his headlamp, keeping it switched off but ready in any given moment should they find themselves plunged into darkness.

“Chris,” barked Jojo, “please, text an alert to Cadets Clementine and Petal that we have a new development in the dumbwaiter, involving a white tipped tail, and are in hot pursuit of the suspect.”

“On it,” growled Chris, low and slow, tap tapping a text to the Cadets.

A ping went off in response.

“Roger that! Situation Room secure. Dame Cleopatra burrowed in bed. Snoozing.”

“Await further report,” Chris tapped a toebean on the screen.

“Copy.”

“End Report.” 

“Thank you for texting the Cadets, Chris,” barked Jojo.

“You’re welcome,” said Chris, pocketing his phone.

The dumbwaiter lurched to a stop in the kitchen and the Critter Detectives hopped in. They felt it rock side to side from the weight activation sensor and then the lift took them up up up. At the attic landing, they paused before hopping into the room, careful and calculating of their risks.

The overhead light, the single bare bulb, flickered off and on upon their arrival, then went off and stayed off. Jasper Kitten touched his headlamp, but made the executive decision to stay in the dark. 

“The stakes are quite high. We need to formulate a plan before we proceed,” he advised.

“Gosh, we’re all ears, Jasper Kitten,” said Star with a hushed bark in the dark. “Furthermore, the way I see it, the white tipped tail adversary is no match for the strength and skill of your white gloved paws.”

“Thank you very much, Star,” mewed Jasper Kitten and swatted the air.

“Why, there sure does seem to be a lot of electrical activity with the lights going out in the Manor House,” noted Chris.

“Correct, Chris,” mewed Jasper Kitten. “Critters, our white tipped tail adversary is close, very close, within the enclosed confines of this room. Given the clutter and the staleness of the air, I suggest we stay together and proceed with an abundance of incognito investigative caution.”

“Copy that, Jasper Kitten,” replied Jojo. 

“Our senses can adjust to the demands of the dark without the headlamp,” confirmed Star with her can do Chihuahua attitude. “And I do mean, visual, auditory and olfactory.” 

“Thank you for the sensory clarification, Star,” said Jasper Kitten.

“Gosh and of course, Jasper Kitten, my eyes are already adjusting to the dark,” she squinted.

Their whispers faded into silence as they hopped one by one out of the dumbwaiter. They watched and waited with their toebeans steady and ready on the floorboards that had yet to creak beneath them.

Star raised the alert first, detecting a scent in the otherwise stuffy attic air. She lifted a cinnamon brown paw and the Critters inhaled all together and then exhaled all the way out.

“Yes, I see, Star,” mewed Jasper Kitten. “Please. Proceed.”

She padded forward, followed in single file by Jasper Kitten, then Chris and Jojo. They pressed deeper and deeper into the cluttered space, soundless, wordless, keen and intent.

Fully focused on the target scent, they made their way to the back corner where they had first discovered the floral paintings, palettes, brushes and supplies. Star detected a surge of the scent which lingered and grew stronger and overpowered the stale atmosphere. 

“If my olfactory instincts serve me correctly,” agreed Jasper Kitten with the twitch of a whisker to the right and the twitch of a whisker to the left, “the scent is coming from the locked door on the other side of the room from where we now stand.”

The Detectives conferred and concurred and continued forward toward the door, still shut tight, the broken knob on the floor where they had left it during their first and previous investigation of the attic. This time, a dim light filtered through the keyhole and Jasper Kitten peered into it. He gave a sharp mew of an exhale and motioned for the others to take a look.

“Gosh!” whispered Star under the bark of her breath.

“Why, get a load of that!” Chris growled, low and slow.

Jojo brought up the rear and made his full visual inspection.

“Roger. That. Jasper. Kitten!” he too whispered under the bark of his breath.

Chris pressed a toebean against the bottom of the door to steady himself as he peered through the keyhole again. He felt something shift and give way. Looking down, he tapped his toebean more firmly against the section of the door and it flapped open open open, emitting more light around them.

“Why, a catdoor has been installed here!” he gave a muffled cry.

Jasper Kitten and the Canine Unit crouched down and the Critters inspected the base of the door.

“Correct, Chris,” confirmed Jasper Kitten. “A smooth move has been performed here to gain access into the deep deep recesses of the Manor House attic.”

“The craftsmanship is not half bad on closer inspection,” apprised Chris. “In all honesty, I can’t say that even with the utilization of my multi-tool that I woulda or coulda done a better job installing a catdoor in a Manor House attic.”

“Your point is well taken, Chris. Listen, this DIY project could very well be the work of the Smooth Operator. But. A fundamental mistake has been built into bypassing the locked door,” surmised Jasper Kitten. 

“We’re all ears, Jasper Kitten,” said Jojo as they all huddled together.

“In gaining access to the deep deep recesses of the Manor House attic,” continued Jasper Kitten, “we too are no longer trapped in here with the only way out to exit in the dumbwaiter. And. That. Is. Their. Mistake.”

He pressed his lithe Orange striped body through the flap of the catdoor, followed by Chris and then the Canine Unit, Star with her can do Chihuahua attitude and Jojo with his tried and true Terrier temperament as they each made their dogged and secure passage to the other side of the door.

The dimly lit hallway felt as stuffy as the cluttered attic room and the same scent of the suspect wafted to the high alert olfactory senses of the Critter Detectives. They pressed on.

Jasper Kitten scanned the length of the hallway, bare of any carpet, empty of all ornaments. He honed in on a small group of portraits which he had first spied through the keyhole and strode over to them.

“Gosh, these portraits do not have frames,” noted Star as she sidled up to Jasper Kitten.

“Yes, I see,” mewed Jasper Kitten. He felt the band of the headlamp against his furrowed brow and switched the beam on. “If my instincts serve me correctly, these are the remaining missing Victorian Era portraits.”

“Yeah cuz we all know where Theo Purrington-Smith is back there at the Top Cat Pub,” growled Chris, low and slow.

Illuminated before them were three Victorian paintings of British Blue Shorthair Kittens, each one posed and sitting in a wicker basket. 

“Jasper Kitten,” commented Jojo, “my first impression and assessment of these Purrington Kitten Ancestors is that they are Theo’s legitimate litter.”

“Thank you, Jojo. You are most perceptive. We will come back to these ancestral furbabies for a further and full identification,” directed Jasper Kitten, but he lingered a moment longer with the beam of his headlamp focused on the trio.

“These portraits have clearly been tacked to the wall quite recently.” He felt a fine powdered grit on the floor with his toebeans and held his pocket magnifying glass up to the light. “On close examination, this trace amount of paint also contains plaster from the wall from fresh scratchings. Furthermore. During our first and previous security sweep of the attic, had we been able to breach the locked door, I do not believe that we would have found these paintings installed yet.”

“Gosh, where were they, Jasper Kitten? At the Top Cat Pub along with Theo Purrington-Smith?” asked Star.

“Perhaps, Star, perhaps,” mewed Jasper Kitten. 

“Why, check this out,” said Chris. “Each. Kitten. Has. A. White. Tipped. Tail.”

“Correct, Chris,” replied Jasper Kitten. 

Jasper Kitten swatted the stale air and made haste down the hallway, skidding to a stop at the sight of a fourth and final portrait. He centered the headlamp on it as the Detectives gathered round and focused their attention on the illuminated figure of a British Blue Shorthair, holding the paws of her kittens.

“Gosh, she has three wee kittens,” counted Star. “They sure do look like the portraits down the hall and with a high degree of relatedness among all of them.”

“You’re right about that, Star,” agreed Jasper Kitten. “She must be the Lady of the Manor and Theo’s legitimate mate.”

Jasper Kitten furrowed his Orange striped brow under the band of the headlamp. The beam bounced off a gold plated placard.

“Winifred Purrington-Smith,” he read aloud. “She is one and the same from my reading of the Victorian registry in the library. Married. To. Theo.”

“Gosh, she’s certainly not to be mistaken for Vanessa Southlands-West,” added Star. “What happened to her?”

“Why, that’s a good question about Vanessa,” growled Chris, low and slow.

“Yes, I see,” mewed Jasper Kitten. “As we have discovered, the luvluvluv triangle, a family secret rooted and buried in the Victorian Purrington past between Theo, Vanessa, and Reginald has extended forward through time and across the generations genetically, historically and socially. We. Are. On. Track.”

“Why, Theo’s got both a legit and an illegit lineage,” growled Chris. “One family line is socially acceptable and one family line is socially unacceptable.”

“Correct, Chris. If my instincts serve me correctly, we are close, very close to cracking this case wide open. The scent of our suspect is strong. This is our moment to catch up with the ancestral tip off of a white tipped tail. Critters. Please. Proceed.” Jasper Kitten forged ahead, focused and determined, fierce and resolute.

The Detectives came to the end of the hallway and saw an alcove off to the side. They noticed, individually and collectively, the white tipped tail of a British Blue Shorthair who slowly, slowly turned around and stepped forward. Their eyes locked.

“Gosh! You are not a very nice person!” barked Star as the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency stared down the double barrel of a shotgun.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Poetry with Pets

What goes on behind

Manor house closed and locked doors

Family secrets

By Jasper Kitten, Chris and Jojo

Thank you for reading luvluvluv Jasper Kitten, Chris, and Jojo

Critters! Catch up on all of the mystery and adventure with The Case of the Bowled Over Bowler Hat! Book Number 2! Brought to you by the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency!

Chap. 1🐾Chap. 2🐾Chap. 3🐾Chap. 4🐾Chap. 5🐾Chap. 6🐾Chap.7🐾Chap. 8🐾Chap. 9🐾Chap. 10🐾Chap. 11🐾Chap. 12🐾Chap. 13🐾Chap. 14

Furthermore!

The Case of the Misplaced Priority Envelope! The Complete Book Number 1!

Chap. 1🐾Chap. 2🐾Chap. 3🐾Chap. 4🐾Chap. 5🐾Chap. 6🐾Chap. 7🐾Chap. 8🐾Chap. 9🐾Chap. 10🐾Chap. 11🐾Chap. 12🐾Chap. 13🐾Chap.14🐾Chap. 15🐾Chap. 16🐾Chap. 17🐾Chap. 18🐾Chap. 19🐾Chap. 20

(Coming soon to IngramSpark, too!)

The Case of the Misplaced Priority Envelope