The Petpet Detectives: Case of the Runaway Raindorf - Part Three

      "Hey," I exclaimed. Damien stood over me, dressed and washed up.

      "I'm going to see if Luna's awake. And Charlie's coming with me."

      "Fine," I mumbled, my voice thick with sleep, "just get that light out of my eyes."

      Damien rolled his eyes and turned his back on me. I chucked a pillow at him lightly. If I had thrown my hardest, it would've knocked him clear across the room. He switched off the light and exited.

      It was then I realized how warm it was in the room. I pulled off the covers and rolled out of bed, yawning again. A blast of heat was coming from the vent above me, and that could only mean one thing: the heater was fixed! I wanted to fall to my knees or lie under the vent all day, but instead, I sat at the table, going over the Raindorf case in my head.

      I didn't have much time to do so, because Damien and Charlie returned. The Aisha was holding a piece of paper. He handed it to me, and I read it:

      Marlo, Damien and Charlie,

      I've gone to search for Teagen's house this morning so we will have an easier time finding it when we go there this afternoon. Breakfast is free to the Inn residents. I'll meet you here in an hour or so.

      --Luna

      ***

      A few minutes later, the three of us headed downstairs to get some breakfast. There was a little counter at which we sat and ordered some doughnuts.

      Little did I know that the food here was immensely different from the food back home. A Grarrl behind the counter took my order. I asked for a doughnut and received one that was made of ice with just a little bit of sugar coating on the top. I glanced sideways at Damien when the chef turned his back.

      "If I wanted a frozen hunk of snow I would have just gone outside and picked up some off the ground."

      "It's a Frosty Doughnut," Charlie explained from Damien's other side, "They don't have what we call "normal" food here."

      "How do you know that?"

      Damien waved a paper brochure that Charlie was reading. It said, "Your Guide to Terror Mountain".

     "It has attractions, restaurant locations, food descriptions and Scratch card tips."

      "Scratch card tips?" I echoed, "That's just a luck and chance game. There are no tips… except for not to buy them. They're such a waste of Neopoints."

      Damien shrugged as Luna appeared behind us. "How's breakfast?" she asked.

      "Freezing and tasteless," I mumbled, abandoning the Frosty Doughnut, "did you find Teagen's house?"

      "I sure did, and you'll be glad because it's not far. It's just a little ways from here, one street over and to the right." The shadow Yurble paused. "Whenever you're ready to go, I am."

      "I think it's best we split up," Damien suggested. "It doesn't take four of us to talk to one Neopet. How about Charlie and I go back to Sabra's house since we didn't get to talk much last night, and you guys can talk to Teagen. We'll meet at the food shop on the mountaintop. Don't worry, it's not far from here."

      "Sounds good." I left my Frosty Doughnut. "I'm not too hungry anyway."

      "Good, then I'll just help myself, I haven't eaten anything all morning." Luna snatched the Frosty Doughnut off my plate and it was gone before we were out the door.

      ***

           Because the small storm from last night passed and everything was calm, it was safe to fly. Luna said we would get there much faster, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure that it would be as warm as walking.

      "You know, you should stop being so pessimistic about Terror Mountain," Luna scolded when I complained about the wind. "If you'd just get over being so cold, you'd see what an amazing place it is."

      I rolled my eyes as she climbed onto my back. Well, at least I wouldn't be walking in the snow, so that was a pro to the endless lists of cons about Terror Mountain. With only a few bounds to get going, we rocketed into the air and over the Snowy Inn. Contrary to my complaints about the wind, the sun was quite warm.

      We ascended a bit higher, traversing over the tall pine treetops to avoid getting smacked. My keen eyes caught the sign for Snowball Close and Luna pointed out a small wooden house, similar to Sabra and Kara's. In fact, all of the houses here were small and wooden, but they were pretty far apart.

      I landed swiftly in front of the house that Luna acknowledged and she jumped off. The front had a door and a window facing out. Luna knocked. The door was opened a moment later by a very small green Neopet. I couldn't tell what type of species he was, because he was mostly hidden behind the door.

      "Teagen?"

      The little pet nodded.

      "I'm Luna, and this is Marlo. We're detectives, here to investigate the disappearance of Sabra's Raindorf, Comet." Luna said, in her professional tone, "May we come in?"

      The poor thing couldn't seem to say anything. He just nodded, with wide eyes. We stepped inside and stood there. Teagen, who was a Kacheek, gestured towards the sofa with a green paw.

      "Thank you."

      We sat down and I began right away. "So Teagen, how do you know Sabra and Kara? What's your relationship with them?"

      "Uhh, they're f-friends of mine," Teagen stammered in a tiny voice.

      "Friends, good," Luna took the next question, "How often did you go over to their house to visit?"

      "Uhh, lots of times, I guess."

      "Can you give us an estimate?"

      "M-Maybe, uhh, twice a week." He said it more like a question. "I-I'd come over to, uhh, have dinner or play with Comet."

      "Funny you should mention Comet," Luna said, scribbling down more in her notebook. "When Sabra went to the Slushie Shop, leaving Comet and Kara alone, she returned to find that Kara had passed out and Comet had run out the front door. The question is, do you know how that happened?"

      "I don't know anything," the green Kacheek said quickly. "I swear, I don't."

      "Why don't you know anything?" I asked. "If you don't know anything then you must not have been at Sabra or Kara's house between the time that the incident occurred. Tell me, where were you the 14th night of the month of Awakening?"

      "Am I, uhh, being in-interrogated?"

      "Is that a problem?" I asked. "Do you have something to hide?"

      "No," said Teagen quickly, "and I wasn't here, I went to dinner at a restaurant nearby."

      "Look, Teagen, you seem like a nice guy, and as much as I would like to believe you we're going to need some evidence. Do you have a receipt or something?"

      "Uhh, sure, let me get it."

      While he rose from the couch and started searching in a kitchen drawer, Luna nudged me in the ribs, "Simmer down, you don't have to be so rough." I sighed and tried to calm down a bit, realizing how intimidating I had been to him. After all, I was about six times his size.

      Teagen returned a minute later empty-handed, "I-I couldn't find it."

      "That's all for now," I said, heading towards the door. "Do let us know if you find it. We're staying at the Snowy Inn."

      "I, uh, okay." At that, Luna and I left the little Kacheek trembling in the doorway.

     ***

      Shortly after finishing breakfast, Damien and Charlie started back towards Sabra and Kara's house. Walking in the snow wasn't as bad this morning, since the storm ceased over night, but the road was covered with at least two feet of snow.

      They arrived at 5536 minutes later and Sabra let them in. Since they hadn't eaten much of a breakfast at the Snowy Inn, she offered to make them breakfast, but they politely declined.

      After a minute or so, Damien asked, "Can we see the jacket that Kara was wearing when you found her?"

      "Sure," said the striped Cybunny, "I left it the exact way it was the night when Comet-" She broke off sadly and went to fetch the jacket.

      Sabra opened the hall closet door and handed Damien the jacket, which was on a hanger. It was a khaki color, covered in brown Raindorf fur. This definitely made it look like as if Kara had done something to Comet when she passed out. The collar was white and the cuffs were white, too, along with the liner in the pockets.

      "Look, on the collar," Charlie whispered from Damien's shoulder. "See that spot?"

      Damien looked up at Sabra, who was doing something in the kitchen, then back down to the jacket. There was a tiny green stain on the white collar, and it looked like it had been there a long time. Besides the green spot and the Raindorf fur, everything else about the jacket looked normal.

      "This definitely points to Kara," Damien remarked, loud enough for Sabra to hear. She just nodded from across the room. Quietly, Damien advised, "Why don't you go around and search for more Raindorf fur? Maybe we can see if there's some in the doorway."

      "Cool," Charlie said, crawling off Damien's shoulder, "You check high, I check low."

      Damien slowly walked around the house, checking for anything unusual, since it wasn't appropriate to do so last night. I mean, come on, you don't meet someone for the first time and then go snooping in his or her house.

      "Psst, Damien," Charlie whispered from across the room. He pointed to the back of the Furry Sofa. The Furry cover that reached the floor was sticking back a little ways, meaning that something was under it.

      Damien crawled onto all fours and looked under the couch. It was some kind of bottle, with a thick neck and flat base. He knew better not to touch it with his bare paws so he called for Sabra. "Hey, Sabra, would you bring me a clean towel, please?"

      "Towel?" Sabra echoed, perplexed. "Of course."

      Damien took the towel, thanked her, and slid it under the sofa. The object that was wrapped up was slowly pulled out. He unwrapped it, careful not to touch it, in fear of leaving new paw prints. It was a red glass bottle with a stout neck and a gold stopper. On the stopper was Kreludor, shaped as a crescent.

      "Wow," Damien remarked. "Charlie, we have to show this to Marlo and Luna…"

To be continued...