Lupe Mysteries: The Be-Gone Blumaroo

Barik Von Lupe stood at the second story window of his study. It was exactly 8:00 PM on the 8th day of Hiding. Though it was the end of Blumaroo Day, Neopia Central was still a buzz with activity. Owners and Blumaroos arriving home after a fun day on Roo Island, many making reservations at a five star hotel, even some scurrying to the Food Shop for a wonderful supper. The white Lupe smiled as he pulled the curtain of the window. He loved Pet Days. They were always full of so much fun and laughter. Special toys, food, and of course, free training from Captain Threelegs. But, it seemed that with every Pet Day or Holiday, there was always someone trying to ruin it for someone else. That was when he entered the scene. Barik Von Lupe: Private Inspector.

    His white Flowper, Blanche, came through the study door. He was carrying two teacups and a teapot on a silver tray. Von Lupe smiled and settled into his armchair next to the coffee table. Blanche poured tea into the empty cups and handed one to his owner.

    “Thank you, Blanche,” Barik said, receiving the cup. He took a small sip. “Mmmm,” he mumbled. “Earl grey tea. Delectable, Blanche.” Blanche smiled and meeped. Blanche took his own cup and settled into his petpet bed. A fine day, it was, Barik decided. Home with his Flowper, alone in the study, a great cup of tea, and the peaceful Neopian night. He unfolded a letter from his friend, Efraim, just as the doorbell rang. Barik set aside his tea and walked down the spiral staircase and to the entrance room where the bell continued to be rung insistently. Barik Von Lupe swung open the door to find a red Blumaroo standing outside the door. His cheeks were tear stained with fresh tears and a bent party hat sat upon his head.

    “My dear boy!” exclaimed the Lupe. “Come in, come in!” He quietly led the Blumaroo into his living room. He sat him down on the couch and handed him a box of Neopkins. Barik pulled up a chair and patiently waited for the Blumaroo to stop crying. He wiped his final tears and set aside the Neopkin before he began.

    “My name is Kael,” he said softly. “I’m here because my twin sister, Kendyll, is missing. I can’t find her anywhere. It’s absolutely terrible, Inspector Von Lupe! Today was supposed to be an awesome day, but now Kendyll’s missing, no one can find her, she could be hurt—”

    “Now, now,” Barik said, cutting him off gently. “Let’s think here, okay? You say your sister is missing, then? How long, Kael?”

    The Blumaroo shrugged his heavy shoulders. “Maybe an hour,” he replied. “I’m not sure, really. You see, we were just getting back from the restaurant, Kelp, in Maraqua. It was a fun day, but rather long and Kendyll gets fatigued quite easily. She asked our owner if she could go straight home since we were to stop by the Toy Store to get something for each of us. My owner gave her permission, so she bounced off. We were about an hour in the Toy Store before we left for home. When we got there, Kendyll had already disappeared. We checked every nook and cranny and even outside the house, but we couldn’t find even a trace of her.” Barik pondered this for a while.

    “I suppose it would be unlike Kendyll to run away, then?” the Lupe volunteered.

    “Kendyll would never run away, especially at night. A lot of things frighten her, especially the dark. No, she would never run away alone.” The inspector nodded. He stood up and paced the room for nearly a minute. Then he stopped and stood before Kael.

    “We’ll begin searching here,” he said. Blanche got down from his shoulder and stood by the Lupe. Kael looked unconvinced.

    “I’m positive that Kendyll isn’t in the house,” the Blumaroo told him. “I’ve searched everywhere.” Barik nodded.

    “I understand,” he said. “But, we’re also looking for traces of Kendyll. Now look hard. Does anything seem different to you?” Kael concentrated on the room. It contained a coat tree with one coat, an cream colored rug, two windows and a poster of Sticks ‘N Stones on the far left corner. Kael shook his head.

    “Everything is the exactly the way I saw it when we first left the house. Nothing’s missing. Nothing’s been added.” Barik nodded. He, too, looked about the room. It seemed very normal. Nothing suspicious about it at all. Barik nodded again.

    “I agree, Kael,” he said, finally. “This room seems to have been left untouched. But tell me, to whom does that coat belong to on the coat tree?” Von Lupe watched as the Blumaroo stared at the single red coat on the hook.

    “That is Kendyll’s!” he cried. “Kendyll is very good about taking her coat with her whenever we leave for a day. Especially on cold days like today. Do you suppose something—” Barik put his arm around Kael.

    “We’ll find her, Kael,” the inspector said. “Now, let’s go on to the rest of the house.” The bathroom proved to be normal, as did the two bedrooms. It was not until the living room did things start looking suspicious. The Blumaroo started.

    ”Now I remember!” He ran past the inspector and clicked on the living room lamp. “Someone had broken my owner’s vase!” cried Kael as soon as the light was on. Barik went towards it for a closer examination. The vase was indeed broken, but the pieces were in almost a straight line from the edge of the table to nearly the wall. The Lupe stared at the leg of the table. The rug, which it sat on top of, had been bunched up slightly. He stood with his final diagnosis.

    “The breaking of your owner’s vase was entirely accidental,” Barik said. “Whoever broke bumped into the table,” he explained, placing his paw on the corner, “and went,” he paused and noted the ruffle in the carpet. “That way,” said he. Inspector Von Lupe pointed in front of him towards another dark room. Blanche and Kael clapped their hands.

    “The kitchen,” said Kael. “Whoever broke the vase ran into the kitchen. The kitchen leads to the garden in the back.” Barik rubbed his chin.

    “Okay then. To the kitchen.” Careful to avoid the broken glass, the three got to the entrance of the kitchen. Still, Kendyll’s whereabouts evaded them. Blanche crawled down and began to sniff at the glass.

    “Be careful, there,” he scolded. “That’s sharp.” Suddenly, Blanche took off into the kitchen. “Blanche!” Von Lupe called after him. “Blanche, where are you off to?” Kael and Barik heard a loud meep. They made their way through the kitchen. As quickly as possible, they followed the Flowper out the back door and into the garden. Then, Blanche disappeared into a bush.

    “Where’d he go?” Kael asked. Von Lupe scanned the garden.

    “Blanche?” he called. “Blanche, where are you?” Seeing was difficult since the only light was coming from the faint medieval torches on each side of the doorway. Suddenly, he heard the familiar, excited meeping of the white Flowper. And, then a sound he didn’t expect.

     “Hello, there,” a young female voice said. “Who are you?” Barik and Kael ran past the rosebushes and gnomes towards a stone garden bench. They found a yellow Blumaroo crouched underneath the bench. She was petting Flowper.

     “Kendyll!” Kael cried. He ran over and hugged his sister. After a tiny reunion, they found themselves in the living room. Kendyll related her experience.

     “I was really tired,” she started. “So, my owner let me go home. It was already starting to get dark and by the time I got home, it was completely dark. It was really scary. I got into the house as fast as I could and turned on all the lights.” Barik stopped her.

     “Was the door locked when you got to the house?” Kendyll thought for a moment.

     “No,” she said. “That’s why my owner let me come home, because she had left the door unlocked.”

     “But the door was locked when we got here,” Kael said. “I had to use my key.” His sister shrugged.

     “Those guys in the house must’ve locked it,” she said. The inspector raised his brow.

     “Guys? Do tell.”

     “Well,” Kendyll said. “I was in the house, and I got thirsty. So I went towards the kitchen. But, I turned around and saw someone running out of my room. I was so scared. I ran out into the hall and I saw someone with an ugly Krawk mask running towards me. Then someone with one of those Ghoulish Masks you see during Halloween. I screamed and ran through the kitchen and into the garden. I accidentally broke my owner’s vase after I bumped the living room table. I under the garden bench and scooted back so they couldn’t see me. Those guys followed me into the garden. They stood right next to the bench but they never saw me. Let me think. There were furry paws and next to those were four blue legs. Then, one of them called to someone and told them to bag it. It was so scary in the garden because it was so dark even with the torches, but I didn’t want to go back out. It wasn’t until I heard Kael’s voice and saw the Flowper, did I even dare come out.” There was a moment of silence. Barik took out a yellow lined notebook and pencil.

     “Now you said you saw furry paws and four blue legs. What color were the paws?”

     “Green,” she said. “In fact, they look like yours. Only yours are white.” Von Lupe nodded. He scribbled in his notebook.

     “Okay,” he said. “You also said you heard them yelling to someone else. Did they say a name?”

     “Yeah,” Kendyll said. “It was ‘Rainy.’ Or maybe it was ‘Raimy.’ One of those.” Barik wrote it down.

     “I know a Raimy,” said Kael. “He lives across the street. In fact,” he said, his eyes widening, “his Ruki brother and he just moved here a few weeks ago.” Barik Von Lupe snapped his notebook shut and stood up.

     “Grab your coats, my friends. We are going to pay the neighbors a visit.” Barik straightened his hat and buttoned his overcoat.

     “What about our owner?” said Kael. “She is out still looking for Kendyll.” Barik quickly wrote something out on a piece of torn notebook paper and set it on the table.

     “We will leave this note, telling her where we are in case she comes back before we do. That way, she won’t be worried and she’ll know Kendyll is safe and sound. Now, some rules before we leave. Don’t say anything. I will do the talking. Now come.” The foursome headed outside. It was nearly nine that evening so they made haste. They hurried down the road about three Neohomes down. When they finally arrived, Barik straightened his overcoat and used the knocker to politely announce his presence. A green Lupe in a leather coat and studded collar opened the door.

     “Yeah?” he asked. He obnoxiously smacked the gum wad in his mouth. The white Lupe tipped his hat.

     “Hello, I’m Inspector Barik Von Lupe. I’m looking for Raimy. Is he here?” The green Lupe turned around and screamed for Raimy. A red Techo dressed similar to the green Lupe walked up.

     “He says he’s an inspector, Raim. He’s looking for you.” The green Lupe left.

     “Come on in,” said the Techo. They sat down in a living room. The Techo leaned back and put his feet on the coffee table. “So,” he said. “What can I do for you?” Barik leaned forward.

     “What did you do tonight?” Raimy went on to smoothly tell him that he and his friends had gone out. They had just gotten back from getting ice cream. They had gone out and come straight home. Barik stood at the end of the story. With a slightly raised voice he said, “Thank you, Raimy, that will do. I’m going to have to ask you and your friends to come with me.” Barik heard pattering feet coming down the hall. The green Lupe, along with the blue Ruki came rushing into the room.

     “I can’t believe you, Raimy!” the blue Ruki screamed at him. The he turned to Inspector Von Lupe. “We didn’t mean no harm, mister,” he started quickly. “It was just all fun and games. It was just a prank. It was supposed to be funny.”

     “Yeah,” said the green Lupe, butting in. “It was just fun and games. Nothing meant by it, honest!” The Techo growled at his friends.

     “Thank you, boys,” said Barik. “Let’s call your parents. Then, you can really come with me.” The two boys realized their mistake and slumped onto the couch. After the many apologies of the embarrassed boys and angry owners, Barik Von Lupe found himself back in his study. While Blanche slumbered and his tea sat, he took out a piece of paper and a fountain pen. Meticulously, in swirling letters at the top of the page, he wrote:

    Dear Efraim,

The End

Author's Note: All characters, save the Inspector and Efraim, are my own creation. Enjoy! Neomail me for comments/questions.