The Petpet Detectives: Case of the Kidnapped Kadoatie - Part Two

     What lay in front of us was one of the most beautiful streets in Neopia I had ever seen. All of the vast houses were white, with their lawns trimmed, flowers blooming on trees and the sound of Beekadoodles chirping softly. Each house was immaculate, fit for a king.

     Luna was amazed, "Wow. Have you ever seen such a street?"

     "Feels as luxurious as Faerieland," Damien commented. He had traveled to many worlds in Neopia, and said that Faerieland was by far the most stunning.

     "I bet we can reel in some dough on this case," I commented, only to receive a sharp jab in the ribs from Luna.

     Turning our backs on the magnificent sight, we found the correct house number and knocked on the door. It swung open moments later by a green Quiggle, wearing a tuxedo and bemused smile.

     "Here to see Mister Lance?" he asked.

     "Yes, sir," I answered. Oh boy. If this house had a butler, then we were going to make some serious Neopoints for cracking this case!

     We were invited inside, so we stepped into the main room. A golden chandelier hung above us. The ceiling was so tall that it would take ten of me to touch the top, and that was saying something.

     "Excuse me," came a voice from the top of the stairs. "Are you--?"

     "The Petpet Detectives," I announced, "at your service!"

     The Neopet, who we now saw was a blue Draik, fled down the stairs to shake hands with us.

     "Very pleased to meet you, I'm Lance. Thank you so much for taking on this case, I-wait a second, you are going to help me, right?" He pushed his silver glasses back up his nose nervously.

     "Yes, of course," Luna answered. "We'll do everything we can."

     "Thank you, thank you," Lance exclaimed, wringing Luna's shadow-colored paw. "My Kadoatie was taken just a few days ago. She has her own petpet bed next to mine, and when I woke up, she wasn't there."

     "But, um, Lance," Damien interrupted, "Kadoaties get up in the middle of the night all of the time. Are you sure she just isn't hiding? Don't get me wrong… but you do have quite a sizeable house, what if you just can't find her?"

     "No, she always wakes up with me and I feed her breakfast," Lance shook his head. "That's her routine."

     "Do you have a recent picture of her?" Luna asked hopefully.

     "Oh yes, I'll show you." The Draik turned to the Quiggle, "Excuse me, Simeon, would you fetch that picture, on my dresser?"

     The Quiggle, Simeon, nodded and started upstairs.

     Lance, Luna, Damien, Charlie and I took seats in the living room. Charlie remained atop my head. He liked to sit up there and think things over. Of our group, he was the quietest.

     I looked across the room. Lance was sitting in a Gold Velvet Chair, wringing his tail nervously. The Quiggle returned with a framed photo; he handed it to Lance.

     Lance held it up for us to see. It was a picture of a beautiful white Kadoatie; with the most mystifying pink eyes I had ever seen. She was sitting on a Regal Purple Petpet Cushion. Around her neck was a blue collar, with gemstones embedded in it, along with a gold tag.

     "My gosh," Luna breathed, "she's beautiful."

     I agreed, but didn't want to say anything.

     "What's her name?" Damien asked.

     "Jasmine," said Lance quietly.

     "She is very pretty," Damien agreed, "I love the collar around her neck. It looks expensive, if I might add."

     "It was," Lance replied, "she was well worth it."

     "Quite a shame."

     The group spun around.

     The Quiggle butler was standing in the doorway. His voice was monotonous and his face remained expressionless. It was strange the way he looked at you. As if he were just waiting for another instruction.

     "Quite a shame indeed," he said again, and disappeared.

     "Lance," Damien carried on as if nothing happened, "did anything strange happen? I mean, the night before she was taken?"

     "Strange?" Lance echoed. "No. Not that I recall. I was in my study, finishing an article for the Neopian Times. That's my occupation."

     "And you went to bed, finding that Jasmine was gone the next morning?" Charlie piped up from my feathery head.

     Lance looked up, "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't see you there! And yes to your question."

     Charlie nodded, pushing the typical "I didn't see you" statement away. Being a pea Chia, he was used to being overlooked.

     The room grew silent for a moment. I started to run the scene over in my head. Draik finishes article, he and Kadoatie go to bed. The Kadoatie is missing the next morning. It was as if something were missing.

     Right on cue, Lance said, "Oh wait, wait. Something obscure did occur on the 2nd, before Jasmine disappeared. When I finished my article, I carried Jasmine out of the room when I was sure I heard a noise."

     "A noise?" I repeated, "Can you describe it?"

     "Well, it wasn't exactly a noise. I just… had a feeling that someone was watching me."

     "Interesting," Damien took off his hat and rubbed the back of his head. He did that when he was thinking about something. "Did you see anything or anyone?"

     "No, I didn't. But it was odd. I've never felt insecure at home."

     "It may have been that Quiggle who was outside the door," Luna suggested, her Yurble eyes lighting up. She was holding her notepad and scribbling down things in it-she took it with her when they were solving mysteries.

     "I doubt that. Simeon goes home at seven o'clock pm NST every evening."

     "Hmm…" I rolled the new thoughts around in my mind. My head was spinning so fast, that it seemed like Charlie was going to fly off. But he remained on my head, and it was as if I could feel him thinking.

     "Is there anyone else who works here?"

     "Um…" Lance thought, "my cleaning lady comes once a week. She's a red Zafara. Other than that, no."

     "How did they escape?" Damien asked, "Through the front door? Do you have a back door?"

     "There are many doors in this house," Lance said, "I highly doubt the Neopet and Jasmine jumped out a window on the second floor."

     "But what if they could fly, like me?" I asked, "They could have just flown out an open window and remained as discreet as possible."

     "Oh, this is so confusing," Lance moaned, and desperately he mumbled, "Jasmine, where are you?"

     "Why don't we take a look at the study," Luna suggested. "Where you first thought you heard someone?"

     "Sure," Lance rose and led them to the other side of the house.

     The furniture was all Zen, and the room made of Transparishield. I could see a white Eyrie wearing a determined look to solve this mystery staring up at me in the reflection of the blue floor-myself.

     There was a quill and ink bottle on the Zen table, along with some scraps of paper. On the wall behind the desk was a huge portrait of Jasmine-sitting on her Regal Purple Petpet Cushion with her paws tucked underneath her.

     Just from looking at the picture, it was obvious that Lance really cared about his petpet.

     After visiting the study, we started up the spiral stairs to Lance's room to see where Jasmine slept. Lance's bedroom was even nicer than the study. The room was made of cloud; the floor below them was so soft and silky. His bed was Regal Oak Wood, with a matching dresser and nightstand. Jasmine's bed was in the corner.

     "Lance," I began, "do you know of anyone that would want to steal Jasmine?"

     Lance frowned, "No. I can't imagine anyone I know wanting to harm her."

     "Who do you associate with on a regular basis that would know you well enough to know Jasmine?" Damien asked.

     "Let's see… Simeon has seen her plenty of times, though she usually hides from him…"

     The Quiggle butler would be the perfect Neopet to kidnap Jasmine, I thought. But I wasn't about to jump to conclusions.

     "Maybe some Neopets I work with at the Neopian Times office."

     "We should check there," I suggested, "ask them some questions." I looked over at Lance. He held his hands out in front of him as if to let it be our decision,

     "It's entirely up to you, do whatever you please to get the job done. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this…"

     "All right then," I said to the group, "let's drop in at the Neopian Times office." With Charlie on my head and Damien and Lance up ahead, we started to move out. Luna was behind, examining the scene.

     "One moment-I'm afraid it's near closing time. Would it be better to come early and stay longer?" Lance suggested.

     "Yeah," I thought, "that would be nicer." Everyone started to make their way to the front room again, "Come on, Luna."

     "Sure, Marlo," the Yurble said. "Coming." She stood up and followed the group downstairs.

     "Would you like me to accompany you?" Lance asked on our way out. "I can show you around."

     "Excellent!" I exclaimed. "Can we shoot for tomorrow, eleven o'clock am NST?"

     "Perfect!" Lance said, clasping his hands together. "Eleven it is. I'll meet you there."

     Luna and Damien scrambled onto my back again. I nodded and made sure Charlie was secure on the top of my head before ascending into the evening sky.

To be continued...