The Missing Mint Kyrii Ice Cream: Part Five

     "What are you doing here?" I asked the good old question the good old way as I watched her reaction.

     "What am I doing here?" she replied, glaring at me. "I'm here to get my things back!"

     "So much for a great detective," Nidelbawr commented. "The detective is a thief herself." Mr. Chipper and Pratar looked stunned, but thankfully they didn't say anything.

     "Oh, forgive me, Princess Anatolia!" I said dramatically. Then I noticed the three surprised pets around me. No. I couldn't afford to waste time now. I still had a case to solve!

     "But I'm afraid that I can't return your bags yet," I told my upset sister. "You see, I have a case concerning a missing Mint Kyrii Ice Cream." My sister was just about to say something, but the last four words I had pronounced loudly made her close her gaping mouth. Now, that was something interesting...

     "You see, quite a while ago Mr. Chipper here," I pointed to my blue friend, "was away getting some ice cream when a mysterious pet came and stole his precious Mint Kyrii Ice Cream." For some reason Anatolia was wincing at the item 'Mint Kyrii Ice Cream'.

     Well, the more nervous, the better.

     Yes, I am very mean and easily hold grudges. I was certainly not glad over the fact that my sister had interrupted the most interesting and fascinating thing that had happened in my life until then. I had told her a little about the case, partially because I wanted to tease her and partially so she could understand the magnificent work of a detective (not that I was a good one anyway, but still...), if she wanted to.

     "Missy Needleball," I pointed to the Bruce, "was at the cart when Mr. Chipper was away. She claimed that she heard some odd noises. She could possibly have stolen the ice cream." Nidelbawr glared at me, I glared back before I resumed watching my sister.

     She was flabbergasted for a second or two. Then she snapped back to her old self and said, "Well, that's rather b-boring, isn't it?"

     I rolled my eyes. Of course. Anatolia wasn't that understanding. I let the bags that I had forgotten about so long slide down my arms and land into my paws.

     "Gimme those," my sister said eagerly, reaching her paws forward as if she had discovered a treasure.

     I swung the smaller bag aside and let her take the bigger one.

     "Sandra!" Ana whined, trying to grasp the other bag.

     I stopped swinging the bag around and my sister, who had been standing on her toes, fell down on her knees. I was getting sidetracked. I still had to solve this mystery.

     "Well," I told my desperate sister. "I'm trying to solve something here. I'll give you the bag back when I'm done."

     "I'll tell Summer," Anatolia threatened. I doubted that she really would call our owner, but she seemed to a little bit too serious about it to my liking.

     Anyhow, I still had a case to solve. I realized why I had gone off track and played with Ana at the critical moment. I was simply clueless about the criminal. The two Ice Cream Stand-ers had their alibi, and Missy Needleball didn't seem to be a good criminal.

     Then, who could've stolen the ice cream? Was it Nidelbawr after all, making up those lies? Or maybe it was a secret agreement between Pratar and Mr. Chipper? Or perhaps it was that somebody else I had feared?

     Or was it stolen at all? Maybe it just lied somewhere hidden from sight? Perhaps Mr. Chipper had just knocked it down from his cart and forgotten about that? There were too many possibilities.

     Mind-boggled, I swung the poor little bag around, and it smacked into the cart, making the broken umbrella sag down like a wilted flower.

     Like they say, third time's the charm. I heard the sound of something being squished when the bag had slammed into the cart, and quickly retrieved the poor bag. Then I threw a quick glance at the other living creatures around me.

     Mr. Chipper looked downright sad. I had unintentionally destroyed his cart for the third time. Pratar looked very nervous, as if he expected someone to scream. That was totally possible considering that there were two fine ladies here... I took a look at fine lady number one. Nidelbawr looked a little bit surprised, but mostly bored. Obviously she had decided that she was safe now, even though her innocence hadn't been completely proved. Finally I looked at my sister.

     Something was wrong. Anatolia didn't look like her usual, reassured self. Her eyes hung on my bag, as if her life depended on the weak ropes that hung from my arm. She looked scared, no, terrified. My sister looked like she thought the bag would explode or vanish any moment.

     Why was she so worried about the bag? I decided the easy way out, took the bag off my arm and opened it.

     "NO!" my Kyrii sister screamed, running towards me. Months of training my reflexes made me avoid her attack, and this time it was she who crashed into the cart.

     I looked inside.

     The bag contained nothing but a somewhat squished Mint Kyrii Ice Cream.

     The three other pets slowly edged towards me and peered down at the content as Anatolia made some muffled sounds.

     "Anatolia! What is the meaning of this?" I cried out, confused. Perhaps I had sounded too angry, because my sister began to cry. I felt guilty. Ana and I played around and teased each other frequently in our own ways, but she rarely ever cried. Definitely... Something was definitely wrong here.

     "You know!" she cried accusingly as tears ran down her face. "You probably knew from the beginning!"

     "What?" I was even more confused.

     "Standing there and glaring at me like that, as if I was the guilty one..." she sobbed. "Well, you could've just told everyone!"

     "Ana?"

     "As if it would be kinder... Fine! Okay! Okay! It was me! I did it! You all knew anyway..." my sister cried out dramatically. She pointed to Missy Needleball, who looked at me with that smug expression on her face again.

     "Excuse me," Nidelbawr said, as if a crying little Kyrii wasn't here. At that moment, I really resented her for her coldness. Couldn't she see that my sister was crying? Why was she acting like this?

     "I forgot to tell you another thing. You see, I chatted with this pet right after leaving the Ice Cream Stand. Chatting with pets is something I do daily, so I'm afraid that I simply forgot mentioning that when you asked your questions."

     I gritted my teeth as the Bruce crossed her arms and looked at me, satisfied with having the last word.

     Then I thought about what had happened. Ana's mysterious disappearance... Perhaps she hadn't left Happy Valley like I thought she had? Maybe...

     That Sandra, that clever, intelligent pet which only surfaced when I was reading challenging books, was now coming to the surface in the deep pond of my mind. That me, which I only knew when I tried to figure things hard by reading and getting all the clues... She was coming.

     She, the real super detective Sandra, the one who could solve all the easy and medium-leveled mysteries... I didn't feel like myself anymore. My mind lifted onto a higher plane, and all the events that happened connected.

     Yes, I humbly admit that I am a stupid, belligerent pet, but this was a side of myself that had grown from the things that I had read, from the information that I had collected and the wish to be cool, intelligent and just... well... cool.

     It all made sense now. It was so simple, but still not.

     "Of course!" I thought out loud as the ex-suspects looked at me as if I had gone insane.

     "Sorry," I apologized, looking at my sister. Yes...

     "I have figured out who the criminal is," I declared as Ana's cries grew louder. I looked at her, and decided to spill the beans. After all, they deserved it for all the trouble I had put them through and I was filled with excitement of actually solving a case. I pointed to my sister. "It was her."

     "Isn't that too obvious..." Nidelbawr said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

     Then I handed the bag over to Mr. Chipper. "Here is your missing Mint Kyrii Ice Cream." He took it, unsure of what to do. "I'm sorry it got a little bit squished, but if I hadn't fooled around like that, perhaps we would never have thought that it was in there."

     "So the stolen item was with you the whole time..." Pratar murmured, wide-eyed.

     "I'm not the criminal," I said quickly but noticed that Missy Needleball didn't really believe me. "The truth is, I didn't figure it out until now."

     I took another look at my pathetic sister, down on her knees and sobbing her heart out. For a moment I felt compassion and understanding. She had done what she thought was good, but in the end it was less than good. And it wasn't right.

     Justice before good? I sighed. Even though Ana and I weren't on good terms with each other all the time, we were still family. If I told the whole story now... I would betray her, wouldn't I?

     But on the other hand, she had betrayed us already. From my little chat with Summer, I knew that my owner hadn't asked of this and Ana had probably done this on her own. Perhaps she had known it was wrong, for her conscience certainly troubled her now.

     Seeing Anatolia on the ground and looking so sad, I wanted to hug my broken-down sister. But I knew I couldn't. I had a sense of justice, and I had never stolen anything in my life with intention. (Okay, so I grabbed my sister's bags, but that was by accident.) A scary thought came to my mind. What if Ana was a big-time criminal? Perhaps she had stolen the things we had given to Taelia too?

     No. It was cruel to think about my sister that way. I sighed, confused and not knowing what to do. Finally I decided to tell the whole story, seeing as I had caused enough trouble for a day.

     "The beginning lies far in the past from now," I begun, immediately getting all three pets' attention. "Our owner, Summer, was really set on feeding those poor little Kads at the Kadoatery. She had tried and tried, but failed."

     "Incompetent owner, huh?" Nidelbawr commented. I wished that she would just keep quiet, ignored the comment and continued.

     "We got here today and probably she saw the ice cream. As some of you may know, the Mint Kyrii Ice Cream is a very rare item that Kadoaties want. However, it is very hard to get nowadays for some reason and one or two Kads keep crying for it. It's the same situation with the famous Blue Draik Egg."

     "I see," Mr. Chipper said solemnly as he put the item back into his cart.

     "I suppose that my sister saw how desperate our owner was, spied that ice cream and thought that this would be a perfect way for Summer to feed a Kad. She probably stole it while Mr. Chipper and Pratar were away and Nidelbawr wasn't looking. Then she went off to Neopia Central and saw Nidelbawr on the way, chatted with her, perhaps trying to make it all look less suspicious." I looked at my sister, and from those red eyes I knew I had betrayed her. But she had betrayed us, I told myself. Still, the guilt of it all was worse than I had expected. Perhaps this was how Ana felt now, being exposed and kneeling there in shame?

     "That's it?" Nidelbawr said.

     "Well, we know the motive and the actions, but what happened after that?" Mr. Chipper asked. I could see that he was shaken, but the solid, well-thought-out way he did things was present even now. Analyze first, then act.

     "I guess I bumped into Summer before Anatolia had visited her. Since my sister had a lot of shopping bags when I met her, she had probably gone around shopping and trying to hide the item. Then I bumped into her, saw Pratar and accidentally grabbed the bag with the stolen item on my way to interview him. Anatolia probably tried to follow me, but I was too far ahead. Later on I returned to Neopia Central and she saw me with the bag, followed me here and we know the rest already."

     "Ana! Sandra!" I heard a familiar voice call as all of us turned around, even Anatolia. It was Summer. "What's going on?"

     The guilt, the ambiguous emotions and the headache of it all... It was too much. Thankfully the three ex-suspects delivered a fairly good version of what had happened.

     "Really?" Summer asked with wide eyes. She turned her attention to Anatolia and looked at her pet with a stern face. "Did you steal the Mint Kyrii Ice Cream?"

     Ana nodded and buried her face in her arms.

     The rest was a blur. All I knew was how that my one and only sister, Anatolia, was a criminal. I had also figured out how she did it with that hidden intelligence and wit I always wanted to possess... But now I was my old self, and all I wanted was that someone would tell me that this was a nightmare, that Ana wasn't a thief.

     But it was true.

     A small but firm hand laid on my shoulder, and I looked into Summer's creamy brown eyes.

     "You're a good girl," she said, pronouncing the words with quivering lips and trying to smile. "You must be tired. Go somewhere and rest now. I'll take care of this."

     "Thank you," I whispered as I dashed off, unable to bear to see this nightmare in the eye any longer. I closed my eyes and skipped away as fast as I could, though the usually happy skips were melancholy.

     Suddenly I stopped, and the cold wind that had been there blew through my fur. I opened my eyes, feeling my head get better. The sight of something green made me freeze.

     It was him. Oh, it was him all right... I opened my eyes wider. No, there was no mistake, it was definitely him. Throwing off all my burdens and responsibilities, I ran towards the Glowing Lupe. I stopped right in front of him, fumbled and finally found my special green notebook.

     The Lupe named Kojak looked down at me, and I shuddered with excitement as I looked into those deep eyes of his. They were so mysterious, and definitely eyes that a detective would have. I recalled the embarrassing things I had done today and shuddered.

     "C-can I have an a-autograph?" I stuttered, reprimanding myself for mumbling and being unclear in front of my idol. This was it. I looked at him intensely as I recalled the things that had happened... There was no way to fully describe them all.

     There were so many things I was worried about. What was going to happen to Anatolia? What was Summer going to do about this? What about Mr. Chipper?

     Kojak took my notebook and signed it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. I felt all the trouble melt as I watched him scribbling down his name in my precious notebook.

     It is the moment we live in, not the future or the past. The past is useful, and the future may be hopeful, but right at that split second I realized that there was nothing like the things that were happening right now.

     The Lupe handed the notebook to me, and I grasped it, feeling much better than before. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad? It wasn't as if Anatolia had committed a big-time crime... There was still hope for her.

     "Thank you," I said, truly feeling every syllable that I uttered. "Thank you, Mister Detective."

The End.

Author's Note: If you're reading this, that means my first ever detective story is in the NT! I hope you enjoyed reading this story and I'd love some feedback. Last but not least, I want to thank tambourine_chimp, for letting me Kojak_hommes as a character in this story and for inspiring me (along with all the other detective story writers) to write a detective story.