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

      Sabra looked overjoyed. She was playing with Comet on the Furry Sofa while Kara was reading next to her. Both sisters did look much happier and so did Comet. Unfortunately, our job wasn't finished because the person who framed Kara on Comet's disappearance had not been identified yet.

      The Slumberberry Potion, along with the fingerprint test, should be back any day now, I thought. In the meantime, we'll just have to keep investigating. I remembered what Charlie and Luna were talking about last night: the door. Could it have been left open by accident?

      I started towards it and opened it. I had to tug a minute because it appeared to be stuck. Turning to Sabra, I asked, "Does your door always stick like this?"

      "Yes," the striped Cybunny replied. "Sometimes more than others, and it gets annoying."

      "What were the weather conditions like on the night of the 14th?"

      "Well," Sabra began, trying to remember. "It was a bit chilly, of course. The sky was kind of dark, like a storm was coming, but everything was still."

      "There was no wind?" asked Damien, picking up on what I was trying to figure out.

      "Not that I recall. Why?"

      "Two things," Damien began. "If the door sticks and there was no wind, that means that whoever came in to frame Kara deliberately left the door open because he… or she knew that it wouldn't blow closed."

      "Oh," Sabra sighed sadly. "Then someone wanted Comet to escape."

      Even Kara looked up from her book to frown. She asked timidly, "But how do you know that someone didn't break in and take Comet with them?"

      "When I returned home, there weren't any footprints. A Neopet's would be easy to see, but little Raindorf hooves would be almost invisible in the thick snow… right?" Sabra turned to us.

      I nodded, "Right."

      Turning to me, Damien told the girls, "I think that's all we need to know for now, this case should be wrapped up pretty soon."

      "Good." That was all that Kara had to say for the rest of the time we were here.

      ***

      "It just doesn't make sense," Luna was saying, back in our room as we discussed the case. "The door was purposefully left open for Comet to run away? Wouldn't Terrak just take the petpet himself? And why would Sabra just let her petpet run away then pretend to be worried about him?"

      "I don't know," I mumbled, feeling slightly annoyed. "Maybe we're missing something."

      "Nothing makes sense," Luna repeated. "Why would Terrak frame Kara? Why would Sabra frame Kara for the loss of her petpet if she wanted it to run away?"

      I thought about the yellow Wocky for a minute. Kara was the target of all this--stuck in the middle after being framed with the jacket and being put to sleep by the Slumberberry Potion. It was starting to make my head spin.

      "Why don't we just get some dinner and forget about the case for the rest of the night?" I asked, sensing that everyone was getting frustrated at all of the things that didn't fit in the mystery.

     They agreed and the four of us headed to the lobby of the Snowy Inn to grab an early dinner at the Snowball Café.

     However, before we could make it past the bottom of the stairs Terrak stopped us.

     "Package came for you today," he said. The Lupe handed over the box and watched me take it. I read the bold letters on the label:

      Petpet Detectives

     The Snowy Inn, Room 2F

     3739 Alpine Avenue

     Terror Mountain

      The return address above that was from the Space Station. This is it! I thought, the fingerprinting test came back… we thanked Terrak, completely forgetting about our dinner plans. Why he didn't take it up to our room was a mystery to me but that didn't matter now that it was actually here.

      Damien reached our room first and unlocked the door. He took the brown package and started to peel off the tape. "Here we go," the Aisha said. Luna, Charlie and I stood with baited breath as the last piece of tape was ripped off. Damien reached into the box and pulled out the Slumberberry Potion wrapped in a towel. Under that was a small sheet of paper.

      "Perfect!" Luna exclaimed, "It should say the species, right? So look for 'Lupe' or 'Cybunny'."

      "Read it aloud," said Charlie, and we all listened to Damien:

Petpet Detectives,

      Thanks for sending us the bottle; we were happy to do a fingerprint test for you. We'll get this back ASAP and good luck on solving the case-this should help. If you need anything else, just ask or drop by.

      Sincerely,

      The Team at the Space Station

      Damien flipped over the other side of the paper, where a word was scribbled in large letters:

      WOCKY

      And suddenly, it all started to make sense.

     ***

     Back on Blizzard Lane, Sabra opened the cabinet door to look for something to make for dinner. Kara was sitting at the table continuing her book and Comet pranced joyously around their legs. A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace and the warmth spread throughout the small house. It seemed as though everything was almost back to normal. Until--

      Knock, knock, knock.

      Sabra raised her head towards the door and hopped over to answer it.

      We stood in the doorway, wearing serious expressions. This was the grand finale: time to make our accusation.

      "Where's Kara?" I demanded.

      "I'm here," called the Wocky standing up with a mock-confused expression on her face.

      "It was you," I said, brushing past Sabra and looking her in the eyes.

      "Excuse me?" Kara asked, her innocent and naïve tone turning to sass. "First of all, what are you accusing me of?"

      "Comet's disappearance," said Luna, "after all, you practically shoved him out the front door."

      There was a short pause and then Kara shouted, "How could you say something like that? I was the one who was framed and now you're telling me I'm responsible for Comet's previous whereabouts?"

      "That's exactly what I'm trying to say, Kara," I snapped. "You are the one responsible."

      "No! How could that be?" Sabra asked defensively, sounding scared for her sister. She hugged Comet to her chest.

      "Sabra, I know this is going to be a lot for you to handle all at once," I began, keeping my firm tone, "But listen. No one framed Kara, because--"

      "Of course someone framed me!" Kara shrieked. "Sabra was there, you heard the story…"

      "PLEASE let me finish. No one framed you because you framed yourself!" I roared, pointing an accusing finger in her direction.

      That statement sure received some silence. Sabra weakly sat down in the chair and looked over at her sister, hoping that it couldn't be true… I didn't want to believe it either; we had never seen anything like this before.

      "You can't prove anything," the Wocky replied curtly.

      "Oh, but we can," Damien stepped in. "Here, I'll explain it for you. On the night of the 14th you knew that Sabra was going to the Slushie Shop with her friends and wouldn't be back for a while. You made a jug of Achyfi in the afternoon, smuggling the Slumberberry Potion in the drink while Sabra was playing with Comet. You ate the dinner Sabra made after she left and you collapsed."

      "Then," Luna took over, "when you woke up a few minutes later, you opened the door so Comet could make his escape. Heck, you probably watched him run off, trotting happily in the snow. You took the jacket which was already covered with fresh Raindorf hair and put it on, complete with the green stain on the collar to throw the suspicion off you."

      Charlie continued the story, "After you finished framing yourself and making sure Comet was out of the way, you took a sip of the Slumberberry Potion, just enough to knock you out for a little while. Then you hid the bottle under the Furry Sofa where Damien and I found it."

     I finished, "When you knew that it was close to Sabra's return home, you stirred, and that's when Sabra came in and found you. Lastly, you pulled off an award-winning performance all this time when we sat here and did the interrogation."

     There was an extremely long silence. Finally, Sabra turned to Kara. "Oh my gosh…" she uttered softly. "Kara… is this true?"

     "The only thing we're confused about is why you wanted to get rid of Comet," I said. "Would you like to tell us, or do we have to figure that out too?"

     There was another long silence; Kara broke it by bursting into tears. She looked so pitiful sitting there that I felt a tug at my heartstrings. Sabra went to her sister's side and put her paw on her shoulder.

     "It's true," the yellow Wocky said, wiping her eyes. "I planned the whole thing days before it happened. I framed myself. I'm responsible for Comet running away."

     "Kara," said Sabra, softly. "Why?"

     Kara sniffed and dried her eyes. "Ever since you bought Comet, you've been so busy caring for him. I could no longer go places with you, because I had to stay home and watch Comet. Whenever you came home, you'd always go to Comet. We never do the things we normally do because of him and I wanted it to be you and me again.

     "To do the things we always did again I knew I had to get rid of him," Kara continued. "I didn't want to hurt Comet so I just set him free."

     Sabra sighed, "Oh Kara, I'm sorry."

     I sighed too. Case closed.

     ***

     It was obvious that Kara needed help. I must admit, she was an amazingly good actress pretending to be sad for Comet--she had us all fooled. The Defenders of Neopia came to collect her an hour ago and we explained that she wouldn't get to see Sabra for a little bit. Kara seemed okay with that; she knew what she did was wrong and now she'd have to pay the price… for a little while, at least.

     Sabra still seemed in shock by the whole thing. She stood outside, a single tear running down her cheek, holding Comet. Luna gave her a hug and told her that it would be all right.

     Before we left her house to return to the Snowy Inn, Sabra made us wait. She went inside and came back with a small bag of neopoints.

     "I know it's not much," she said, "but I'd like you to have it for helping us out."

     "It's very generous," I assured her with a small smile. "Thank you."

     "And I'm sure you'll see Kara soon," Luna added, who appeared to be reading Sabra's mind.

     Sabra nodded and said quietly, "Good."

     She waved bye as we prepared to take flight. The Cybunny and the Raindorf were the last things I saw before ascending into the evening sky. It felt good to have solved another mystery. I triumphantly soared over the treetops and houses.

     "You still want to go to the Snowball Café?" Damien asked, once we glided over the restaurant.

     "No thanks," I turned my head to face him. "Let's just go home."

     ***

Back on Blizzard Lane…

     Two days later, Sabra invited Teagen over for dinner and they sat on the rug, playing with Comet. Comet's liveliness and charm filled the house with laughter and made it seem like Kara was still there.

     There was a click and a letter appeared through the mail slot on the door. Teagen went to retrieve it. He handed it to Sabra. She opened it and read aloud,

      Dear Sabra,

     We are safe home in Neopia Central and glad that we could help you find Comet. It certainly is nice to be home, but we miss some of the cool things there was to see on Terror Mountain. Thank you for the neopoints and thank you for your cooperation with the case. If we are ever in the area, we'll drop by to say hello, and if you ever need us, feel free to send a letter. Please say hi to Comet for us, I bet he's happy to be back with you. Take care.

     Sincerely,

          ~T.PP.D

The End

Author's Note: As always, thank you for reading TPPD. I appreciate any feedback or comments you may have. Thanks to beewitched2 for editing and dan4884 for helping me with a rough spot. Be on the watch for more TPPD mysteries! -Playmobil_is_my_life