Stace wasted no time starting on the case. The Chief gave him the address
of the vet Belle was staying at, and Stace went there. He sneaked in the
door when someone opened it, then went to the back where the cages were.
Belle was the only ferret there and was easy to spot. The cage bars were "
x " inches and he had no trouble getting through to talk to her. Belle, a
sable sprite, gasped when he arrived. He had wakened her from a deep sleep.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Shh...someone might hear us," he warned. "I'm Stace Stenchura, vet detective.
I was sent her to help you with your problem. I'm going to ask you some
questions, and if you answer them the best you can, this should be an open
and shut case."
"Okay," she agreed.
"First off, how long have you been here?"
"There is a calendar on the wall over there where they make appointments,"
she answered. "They cross off the days as they go by. Right now it appears
that an entire month has passed, because when I came here they were on a
different page."
"Yes, but it could have been that you came on the last day of the month, and
then they turned it," he said. "You need to be more specific."
"Okay. Well, it was October " when they left me here, and now it is
November 1.
I'm not stupid," she sounded rather offended.
"On to question two then," he said, keeping notes in his notebook. "Did you
do anything that would have made them upset with you, like bite them or not
use the litter box?"
"No," she sounded defensive. "Of course not. I was very happy where I lived."
"Were your owners happy with you?"
"Yes, I think so. I had a mom and dad, and they had two teenagers at home,
thirteen and fourteen. We all loved each other dearly. Oh! I am so afraid
that something bad has happened to them all!"
"I understand," Stace replied. "But did you know that ferrets are illegal in
some places like California? Maybe they went on vacation and couldn't take
you along."
"That could be," Belle replied. "But they've been gone so long."
"I don't know -- I think those humans really like long vacations," Stace
said.
"Are you scared of the dogs and cats here? Is that the problem? It seems
like a nice place here, really."
"You're not here all the time, you know. Cats and dogs cry and whine a lot
when they have to stay here. It's really rather annoying. Are you sure
you're up to this? You don't seem so qualified to me."
Stace rolled his eyes. "Listen, you haven't given me much to go on. There
have to be more clues than this. If you ever listened to what they said,
they should have left clues. For example, they could have been packing or
something, looking like they were going on a trip."
"I...yes...they were. A lot of packing. They even moved the furniture!"
"Aha!" Stace said. "Now we're getting somewhere!"
------
You can get the whole story (so far) at
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/mjt/ferretzSS.html
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Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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[Posted in FML issue 1752]
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