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

      The four of us were seated at a table in a food shop called 'The Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop', located on the mountaintop just a little ways from where we were. Damien and Charlie met Luna and I a few minutes after we arrived, and they were eager to show us what they had found.

      "What is it, then?" Luna asked, after a moment of silence.

      I looked up at her and explained, "It's a Magic Item, called a Slumberberry Potion. I know it's from the Battledome because one of my opponents used it on me. I remember falling over, exhausted and waking up to find that he had defeated me."

      "That's exactly how Kara said she felt after she finished dinner," Damien pointed out. Our food arrived the second after the royal Aisha finished his sentence.

      I took my Snow Pepper and thanked the Blumaroo waitress. Using one of my white paws, I scraped the snow from the top of the pepper onto my plate and took a bite. It wasn't half-bad and I was starving. Luna ordered a plate of Snowghetti and Meatballs and was twirling some noodles on her fork.

      "We need to get this to the Virtupets Space Station," said Damien, who waited to eat his Snow Pizza. "I'm sure some of the experts there would be glad to help run a fingerprint test…"

      "…Because whoever touched it last was the one that used it in Kara's Achyfi," Charlie finished for him. The pea Chia hadn't said a word all through the conversation.

      I noticed that: "What's on your mind, Charlie?"

      Charlie frowned and nibbled at a piece of Damien's crust, "What if Sabra was the one who put the Slumberberry Potion in Kara's Achyfi that night? It would be so perfect. She made Kara's dinner and she just happens to be leaving that night? I bet right after Kara fell asleep, Sabra put the jacket on her sister and pretended to come home just as Kara was stirring."

      "I don't mean to poke a hole in your theory," I began, "but do you have any proof that Sabra did this?"

      Charlie looked up at me and said, "Damien and I found a green stain on the collar of the jacket Kara was wearing. Sabra's favorite type of Slushie is Lime."

      "What if Kara likes Lime Slushies too?" Luna asked.

      "No, no, unless Sabra was lying, she said Kara hates Slushies. At the moment, we don't have any other suspects to blame this on…"

      "Luna and I found Teagen's house and spoke to him this morning," I interrupted. "When asked where he was the night Comet disappeared, Teagen replied that he was out to dinner. I asked to see a receipt, but he said he couldn't find it."

      "But there is no evidence that the family friend Teagen is guilty, and we have no motive." Damien took a bite of his Snow Pizza and swallowed.

      "Actually, since the front door was found open, he could have come inside, framed Kara with the jacket and left. However," Luna paused, "that doesn't explain how he got inside, put a few drops of Slumberberry Potion in the freshly made Achyfi and exited without anyone knowing."

      "What if he was there that same morning and he made the Achyfi for Kara to have with dinner?" I suggested. "Kara said she always drinks Achyfi with dinner. Actually, she said 'I drink it every night' but that could definitely mean with dinner, right?"

      "Right," Luna answered. "I know we don't have a motive for Teagen, but we've only spoken to him once. We still need to find Terrak at the Snowy Inn and speak with him. Let's do that this evening."

      "Great," said Damien, "Charlie and will get this in the mail for the Virtupets Space Station." He gestured towards the wrapped up potion. "When it comes back, we'll know which species touched it last."

     We finished lunch and headed back to the Snowy Inn.

      ***

     The Inn wasn't as crowded as it was that morning. Many Neopets were outside skiing, enjoying the frosty weather and playing a game of Snow Wars… but not us. The front desk was easy enough to locate, so Luna and I started up to it.

     A red Lupe was sitting behind the counter, shuffling through some papers in a file cabinet. He looked up at us, his bored expression not changing and asked if we needed help with something.

     "My name's Luna, and this is Marlo," Luna began, in her professional tone, "We've detectives and have been hired to locate a Raindorf in the area. We're looking for someone named Terrak." I was pretty sure that the red Lupe was who we were looking for.

     "Well, you've found him," Terrak's voice was a kind of scratchy--gruff. His yellow eyes narrowed. "If you're going to interrogate me, can I at least see a badge or something before you do so?"

     A badge? I thought to myself, Does he have something to hide? It was seldom that one of our suspects ever asked to see proof that we were detectives. Then again, a petpet disappearance didn't happen very often. Luna was prepared for his request: she withdrew a small white card that had all of our detective information on it from her Faerie Back Pack.

     Terrak took the card, skimmed through it, and let it fall onto the desk. "All right. What do you need to know?"

     "How about we start with where you were on the 14th night of this month?"

     Terrak looked at me as if I were dumb, "I was here, of course. I work from sun up to sun down."

     "Do you know Sabra the Cybunny and her sister Kara?"

     "Yeah, I know them."

     "How?" I asked.

     "I do some snow shoveling for them on the weekends. It's hard work, but the pay is decent."

     "Are you aware that they had a Raindorf named Comet?"

     "Sure," Terrak put his shaggy red paw to his chin, as if he was thinking, "I've seen him plenty of times when I was shoveling snow in the evenings. Except he always got in my way, prancing around my feet and trotting around in my newly shoveled snow. It made the job harder."

      "On the 14th, Sabra came home to find the Raindorf gone and her front door wide open," Luna informed him. "Did you see anything suspicious at the Snowy Inn? Seeing as it's the only place around for some ways, the person who broke into Sabra's house would probably have gone there."

     "No, I didn't see anything suspicious. But quite frankly," Terrak looked up real quick then leaned in, "I wouldn't give a care if that Raindorf ran away. He was nothing but a nuisance to begin with." The red Lupe straightened up and said in a louder voice, "Are we finished now? I have some more stuff to do."

     "For now, yes," I said, "Thanks for your time, and you'll have to stick around here for the next few days in case we need to ask you some more questions.

      "Fine," replied Terrak, "I have nothing to hide."

      Sure. As we started back up to our rooms, I thought sarcastically, Don't they all?

     ***

      While Luna and I were talking to Terrak, Damien and Charlie wrapped the Slumberberry Potion in a casual brown box to ship it to the Space Station. Damien and I flew to the post office in Happy Valley that afternoon, during the time when Luna repeated the conversation she and I had with Terrak to Charlie.

      In Happy Valley, after Damien and I headed over to the post office, we walked to the Slushie Shop. The building was shaped like an igloo and I had to duck down to get through the wooden door. Inside was actually a bit warmer than the coldness of the wind and snow outside.

      A striped Eyrie wearing a purple scarf was sitting behind the counter. She looked up at us as we checked the menu. Damien ordered a Raspberry Slushie. We sat down at one of the booths and Damien took a sip of his Slushie. Afterwards, he said, "Ask that Eyrie behind the counter if she knows Sabra."

      Normally it was Luna who gave the orders and when I looked up at Damien he jerked his paw in the direction of the other Eyrie. I slid out from the booth and started over. She looked up at me and I asked the question.

      "The striped Cybunny, right? Yes, I've seen her in here often, just a few days ago, in fact," was her reply. Then she asked, "Are you a friend of hers?"

      "Sort of," I replied truthfully as Damien stood next to me. He chimed in, "we're just doing her a favor."

      "A pretty big favor," I added, on our way out.

      ***

      That night, Luna came up to our room at the Snowy Inn and we discussed theories and our suspects there. The shadow Yurble made little profile cards that had a description of the suspect and all the details we knew about him or her.

      "What's the plan for tomorrow?" I asked Luna, who was the most organized of the group.

      "Tomorrow we should look for Comet," Luna suggested, "we talked to our suspects and now we should start looking for the petpet."

      "Up and down Terror Mountain?" I moaned.

      "Hey, we'll be flying," Damien nudged me. "It shouldn't be that hard." I knocked his hat off with one of my white wings.

      "Raindorf are very common in Terror Mountain," Charlie read an excerpt from Guide to Petpets. "However, to facilitate things, Comet's wearing a blue collar, so he should be easy to spot."

      "Good," Luna nodded her head in satisfaction. "Then tomorrow we begin the search."

To be continued...