The Case of Disappearing Cats

Date finished: January 2021

Amanda & Miranda Adventure Series No. 1

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“Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hermes!” Amanda called out as she and her twin sister, Miranda stood inside the little hut in the neighborhood where they lived. It was a small one, probably built by some teenagers years ago, but enough for their use. Ever since 4 years ago, when they were only 9, they had started to come here every day after school to feed the stray cats who lived in the neighborhood. It was Miranda who named the cats, from the first cat they started feeding --- Zeus. He was named because of his sky blue eyes and white fur. From then on, more and more cats started to join Zeus when it is feeding time, and the sisters had taken them in without a word. Miranda named then after the Greek gods, mostly because she was a fan of Greek mythology, and by doing so, all their names will match with Zeus’.

The bushes around the hut rustled. It was a tiny movement that people might not notice at all, but with 4 years of feeding the cats, the sisters knew that only a cat could make such a small movement without people actually seeing them. However, they were there. It was confirmed when a meow sounded by Amanda’s foot.

“Oh hi, Apollo!” Miranda joked, as if the cat can understand English. Apollo meowed back. Bright yellow fur coated him, all down to his fluffy tail. Vaguely, the yellow strips that covered Apollo could be seen, making him look like the sun. that was where he got his name – Apollo – the god of the Sun (and many other things).

“You know, I always got the uncanny felling that these cats knew exactly what we are saying,” Amanda informed.

“Yeah,” Miranda agreed, “Now,” She continued, “Apollo, let’s wait for the others and then we can begin feeding time…. Oh look! There comes Ares!” Just appearing from the corner, peering his face into the hut, was one of the biggest cats in the neighborhood.

Cats now started streaming in from every possible door, creak and window.

“Feeding time!” Amanda announced as all the cats gathered around them, looking up with their big, glassy eyes as they waited for their food. The sisters used almost all of their pocket money to buy cat food for them. They just can’t bear the thought of letting the cats starve.

∞∞******∞∞

As the sisters stood and watched the cats gulf down their share of food, sometimes petting some of them, they examine every cat, for any signs of illness or injuries. They had done this day in, day out, for 4 years now, and have gotten used to the routine.

“Amanda, Miranda, come on in now,” Their mother shouted down from an apartment up a building nearby.

Amanda glanced at her watch, finding out with surprise that it was almost five now. Without knowing it, they had spent almost an hour with the cats. No wonder their mother was coming.

“Let’s go,” Miranda decided, pulling at Amanda’s arm. With one last look at the cats, still searching the ground for any left-overs, they ran back home.

∞∞******∞∞

“Where in the world are the cat today?” Amanda wondered as she as her sister took up their usual positions, in the hut, waiting to feed the cat. Today, their best friend, Annabel, or Ann, as they call her, was with them, coming for a sleep-over.

“Um…maybe they forget the feeding time…?” Annabel suggested, looking around hopefully for any trace of the cats.

“No, that just not possible. In the first year of the feeding, they might not appear sometimes, but now, after 4 years!” Miranda exclaimed, not wanting to believe what was happening, “It is just not possible, I mean there 9 cats and not one of them had appeared? There is something wrong, definitely.”

“I know, Miranda, but there are some chance that it was just a coincidence. After all, we don’t own the cats. It won’t be our business if the cats are gone,” Amanda informed, trying not to care too much about it. However, deep inside, she knew something was wrong.

“Maybe they are just all adopted at the same time?” Ann guessed, trying to think of the positive. As the sister’s best friends, she was worried about the cats too.

“Sure. That might be a reason, but I just don’t believe in coincidences,” Miranda insisted.

“How about let’s just come back tomorrow. And if the cats still aren’t here, we will dig further into this, okay?” Amanda advised.

“Fine!” Miranda grunted, “But I don’t like it. The sooner we figure and end, the better.”

∞∞******∞∞

“Told you so!” Miranda exclaimed as the two girls stood, as usual, in the hut, waiting for the cats. “Now what do we do?”

She had her face screwed up with worry and was breathing heavily. She cared about the cats more than anything, like they were part of the family.

“Look, Miranda, it could well be a coincidence,” Amanda explained, “If you wanted to go into this, why not phone the police?”

“You know very well that the police would never go into a case about cats, especially when a couple of kids asked them to do so.”

“Yes, so that mean it is not really important!” Amanda expressed, trying to talk reason into her sister.

“Amanda, you know well enough that the cats mean everything to me. If you are not with me on this, I am going to dig into the bottom of this,” Miranda stated, and then added, “With or without you.” With a sigh, she turned away and began walking back home.

∞∞******∞∞

Amanda stood there, watching her sister go off and into the building. She could understand why she had been so angry. She knew herself that there were no such coincidences. All 6 cats just couldn’t disappear all at once. Something had happened to all of them, and that is a fact. However, she just couldn’t let Miranda go off on an endless mission especially when it could turn out to be dangerous.

She made up her mind – nothing could stop her sister from not going to search for the cats, so she is going with her.

Oh, what had she gotten herself – and Miranda – into? She knew that if she told her parents about it, they certainly wouldn’t allow them to do it, maybe even ground them for a couple of weeks.

There was no regretting the decision now. with a sigh, she trotted off and followed her sister.

∞∞******∞∞

“Finally you got sense!” Miranda exclaimed as Amanda explained her decision in the bedroom that they shared. Ignoring that, Amanda started to focus on the real problem.

“So, now, what should we do? My plan is that we first search the neighborhood for any sighs of the cats, then we decide what to do.”

“Fine by me,” Miranda replied with a shrug.

“How about let’s get Ann into this too? I mean the more people we have on our side, the better, right?” Amanda questioned, trying to form a plan.

“Sure, and how about let’s create a form on the cats?”

“A form?”

“Well it is like a data base for each cat, so that we can better understand them and maybe figure out why they disappeared,” Miranda explained.

“You are really into this, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh, come one, let’s do this. Isn’t it good see what it feels like to be a miniature James Bond?”

“Without doubt, now, let’s start,” Amanda announced as she walked to her table picked up some paper, pens, and a document pouch.

∞∞******∞∞

Recording all the data costed them most of the evening. Annabel was invited over to help them with some of it. By the time they finished a document for every cat, which include characteristics, gender, size, breed and health issues, it was already dark outside.

It was Annabel’s idea to brainstorm possible reasons for their disappearance. They had googled everything they could think of and wreak their brains for ideas, but only came up with a couple of logical ideas.

· Adopted?

· Taken to adoption centers

· Taken by pet store

· Illness/accident

· Run off into some cat mission?

· Other people started feeding them

“They might be taken somewhere, an adoption center or a pet store. After all, these are the most logical choices,” Annabel concluded as they looked at their notes after dinner.

“Yeah,” Amanda agreed, “Maybe we can visit all the pet stores and adoption centers at the weekend.”

“Seems like a good idea,” Miranda expressed.

∞∞******∞∞

“That is just impossible!” Miranda fumed as the three girls stood in the sisters’ room on a Saturday night, after they had returned from their journey to all the adoption centers and pet stores in the area. “I mean, 6 cats just couldn’t disappear without anyone knowing their whereabouts,” She continued, trying hard to calm her emotions.

“Calm down Miranda,” Annabel interfered, “We needed to first analyze the data and information we got. I mean, that is what they do in the movies, right?”

“Already working on in,” Amanda informed from her desk. During Miranda’s outburst, while she and Ann were not looking, she had slipped away, un-noticed and had already started to write on a piece of paper from the document pouch she got, now titled ‘THE CASE OF DISSAPPEARING CATS’

“So, from what we got, the adoption centers and pet stores didn’t know any of the cats. And not one of them had even have a cat come in during the past few days. However,” Amanda paused, looking around her to see if the others are hanging on to her words, “One of the workers said he saw a medium sized van with the name ‘Cashel’s Animal Rescue’, but he said there were no such organization in the area. What does this mean?” Amanda analyzed.

“Maybe is the so-called ‘Cashel’s Animal Rescue’ who took the cats?” Miranda suggested.

“Yeah,” Ann agreed, “I know what you are think, maybe the organization didn’t exist, and they are planning to harm the cats? Well, they could just be a simple animal rescue organization, and even if the man hadn’t heard of it, it didn’t mean it is fake.”

“Point made, Ann. I sort of agree, but I think it is just better to make sure. Miranda, what do you think?”

“You know that I would do anything to find the cats. But we still need information,” Miranda pointed out.

“Next stop – The Library,” Amanda announced with a smirk.

∞∞******∞∞

“Oh, Come on! I would just go search the neighborhood again maybe the cats would just show up or something,” Miranda complained. They arrived at the local library early in the morning, waiting for it to open.

“Miranda! You just can’t keep hating work. This is just going to be a little research to find what we can about the Cashel’s Animal Rescue,” Amanda criticized.

“Fine, but I still think we should be doing physical work like chasing after the bad guys instead of waiting outside a library.”

Nearby, a bell sounded, signaling ten o’clock. The lock on the door of the library fumbled and clicked open a second later, reveling row after row of shelves with neatly-staked books.

“Let’s go. The sooner we finish with this, the better,” Annabel spoke.

“All right. Now, we should be going over books about the Cashel’s Animal Rescue, and about disappeared animals in the past. How about let’s split up. I will search for books on the Animal rescue, while you two can look for books about past cases. Agreed?” Amanda questioned, and was answered by nods around her. They went over to the shelves that were sorted into different categories and went for the shelf that might contain the information they needed.

“I think I got one!” Ann hooted from a distance. The girls watched as she trotted to a table in the far side and set the book down. After a while, curiosity got the better of them. Amanda and Miranda dopped what they were doing and ran across the room to where Ann now sat, having her face buried in the book. As she noticed their arrival, a wide grin spread across her face, “Look what I got!” She showed the others the cover. ‘Animal cases – Non-Fiction’.

“Great,” Amanda replied and took something out of her pocket. It was a notepad, with a pencil attached. “Write anything you find interesting down here. Oh and especially anything that relates with ‘Cashel’.”

∞∞******∞∞

“Nothing,” Amanda huffed as she took a seat next to Annabel. Miranda was already there, but not a single bit of her attention were focused on what they should be doing, instead, she had the pencil from the notepad and was starting to doodle stuff on a piece of scrap paper she found.

“No luck?” Ann asked.

“None. I found tons of books about animal rescues, but not a single one of them have the name of Cashel.”

“Wait, look at what it said here,” Annabel started as she pointed toward the chapter she was reading.

“The cheating of animals,” Amanda read, “The story of a man who deceived the world and only using words. Philip Cashel, aged 41, illegally sold some mutt dogs for millions to billionaires around the world, telling them they were the most pure-bred dogs in the world in 2020. Blah, blah, blah. He convinced them only using worlds……. Whoa, here is something interesting. He was thought to be the most devoted animal rescuers ever for like 20 years. He got tons of donations and charity money that he became a millionaire. The fact is, his whole animal rescue career is fake and built on lies.”

“Do you think it was Philip who took the cats? After all, it all makes perfect sense. The name on the van and stuff.”

“Wait, there are more. Listen to this: when he was thought to have rescued a stray dog, he actually kidnapped it from other animal centers and claimed that it was rescued by him. When other organizations got a good amount of donations, he robbed them as he knew exactly where the money was kept because the experience from working with them. The police have suspected that something was wrong with Cashel, but they never got evidence to set up a case. His big secret was broken out when one of his workers betrayed him just last year. That is 2020. The police were on him ever since but never caught him. He seemed to disappeared. Even if there is a lead or clue like that van, he was never found. And yes, I do believe that he kidnapped the cats to sell them or something.”

“Well, if he did this, he would be the worst jerk ever.”

“And cheater,” Amanda added.

“That makes him the worst jerater,” Ann commented.

“Whatever. So, now, we needed to get info on this man, Philp Cashel,” Amanda decided.

“I am going,” Miranda spoke up, to the surprise of everyone as she stood up.

“Great. Ann and I will stay here and try to come up with explanations.”

∞∞******∞∞

“Okay, how about let’s start by thinking of the whole background?” Amanda suggested and was answered by a nod from Ann.

“I think Philip is now in hiding, trying to shake off the police.”

“Well, he isn’t in hiding when he kidnapped the cats,” Amanda pointed out.

“Yes. Maybe he is still working in secret? Capturing animals and selling them?”

“Good one. If he is working in secret, which I think he is, he must have a secret lair or something, a base for all the animals. If that is true, the cats would be there, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Ann agreed, “But the problem will be to actually find that base.”

“That would be great, but the police haven’t found anything and what makes you think we can? Plus, when that guy saw the van, why hadn’t he reported to the police? I mean, that is a clue to a criminal, right?”

“I dunno. I don’t think the police made a big deal out of that. I mean, it wasn’t on the news or the TV or anything.”

“Never mind. Now the problem will be to find that base. Any ideas?” Amanda questioned, a worried look spreading across her face.

“Em… We knew that Philip has a van with Cashel’s Animal Rescue on it. Shouldn’t that be easy to spot?” Ann suggested.

“Maybe. Although if he was a criminal, he would know better than to drive the van around the city all day yelling ‘Here comes Cashel’s Animal Rescue’!” Amanda exaggerated as she made her point.

“Point taken. We needed something that might lure him out……,” Ann wondered out loud as her voice trailed off, thinking hard, “Wait, he wanted animals. He would only come out if there is a catch, and in this case – animals. What if we give what he wanted and set a trap?” A second later, this sank in, resulting both the girls grinning at each other.

“What’s so funny?” Miranda demanded as she returned from her search for a book related to Philip Cashel.

“Oh you are back, any luck?” Amanda questioned, “And we were just talking about a plan Ann came up with.”

As she talked Miranda through the plan, her eyes clearly brightened with the prospect of hope of finding the cats.

“Let’s do it then!” She exclaimed, practically screaming out the words and jumping out of her seat at the same time, earning an evil glare from the librarian.

“No shouting in the library,” The librarian ordered, looking up from the pile of books she had been checking out, “Seriously, what do they teach kids in school these days,” She muttered, shaking her head as she went back to her pile of books.

“Ops…,” Miranda blurted, glancing around with her face burning red.

“Ha! You are lucky that she didn’t kick you out!” Amanda informed, “Now, back to the topic. There are some unknown factors in the plan, so there is only a, let’s say…60% chance that it could work.”

“Still, it is better than nothing,” Miranda interrupted.

“Yes. First, we would need the animal, the “bait”. Then, we needed to make sure Philp actually takes the bait. Last, we needed to make sure we can follow him and rescue the animals. Let’s focus on the first problem first. Any ideas?”

“How about let’s all go home and think through this, than meet here, same time, tomorrow?” Ann suggested, “Plus, it is almost lunch time.”

“Sure,” Amanda agreed with a shrug.

“Well… the more time we wait, the more chance the cats are in danger……. But fine.”

∞∞******∞∞

It was past midnight, as a black shadow flew through the half open window in Miranda and Amanda’s room. They shared a double bed, and both of them were in deep sleep, with occasional snores coming from them. The creature was no bigger than a dog, its outline just visible in the dark. A pair of blue eyes, with small pupils, stared into the dark, as if deciding where it should go. Finally, its eyes landed on the sleeping figure of Miranda. As it trotted over and jumped onto her bed, its paws landed softy on the wooden floor with each step, making no noise at all.

Miranda patted her face in her sleep as she felt the creature’s whiskers tickled her face. As if not wanting to make any more noise than necessary, it jabbed Miranda’s face repeatedly instead.

“What Amanda? It isn’t one of your pranks, is it?” Miranda murmured without opening her eyes, her voice filled with drossiness. At this, the creature risked a meow. “What the…,” Miranda gaped, thinking that she hadn’t heard correctly. As her eyes opened, then took a second to adjust to the dim light of her room, she saw……the face of a cat staring at her. Only its eyes were visible, seeming to shine in the dark room, with the silhouette of its head in from of Miranda’s face. “Ah!” She screamed, jumping back on her bed. Her head hit one of the columns of the double bed so hard that the whole bed shook.

“Miranda! What in the world are you doing?” Amanda tutted from above as she was shook awake.

“Errr…, nothing. I just thought I saw a cat I front of me,” Miranda explained.

“Wait……did you say a cat? Look there!”

As it turned out, the creature, now decided as cat, jumped down from the bed, instead, sitting on one of Amanda’s slippers and watched the whole thing. It’s expression hadn’t changed, but maybe, just maybe, its whiskers twitched slightly, giving people the feeling that it was smiling.

“Mew……,” The cat purred, in a low growl, the sound seeming to come out of the back of its throat.

“What……,” Miranda muttered, confused, as she rolled to turn on the light.

There it was……the cat.

“Artemis!” Miranda gasped, being the first to recognize the little white kitten that sat before them. Artemis, a kitten no more than a year old, and not even fully grown yet, was one of the later arrivals to the sisters feeding program, being one of the daughters of Hera, a majestic cat with white fur all over. Amanda jumped down from her bed, followed by Miranda in a blink’s time latter, quickly proceeding to petting and fusing over the kitten.

“What are you doing here, Artemis. Plus, where were you the last few days? We were so worried,” Amanda fused.

“Meow, meowww….” Artemis seemed to be meowing with all her might, trying to signal something to the sisters.

“The other cats!” Miranda realized with a start.

“Is it possible? I mean she might just want food…”

“But at this time of night? And why wasn’t she present at the feeding? I think we should follow her,” Miranda decided.

“We would need our phones, cat food, torches, possibly some tools to free the cats if they were captured in cages, and…,” Amanda paused as walked around the room, stuffing thing they would possibly need into a backpack.

“Some cash, maybe? For transport and stuff…,” Miranda suggested.

“Good thinking,” Amanda praised as she stuffed the rest of the things into her bag, “Come on. Lead the way, little Artemis.”

∞∞******∞∞

“Isn’t that the garage of our school?” Miranda whispered as they crouched in one of the low-lying bushes that surrounded their school, with Artemis beside them. The garage wasn’t technically part of the school, since it was located just outside the bushes. However, considering that it had been abandoned years ago, the school staff used it to store things that the school don’t want for now. It was like a shed, with stairs leading underground. The sisters had never been to the underground layer before, as it was restricted by the teachers because the possible dangers that might be there. They now crouched there, surveying the grounds for any signs of people.

Amanda checked her watch. It was only 3am. Hopefully, they could go back home – with the cats -- before anyone noticed that they were gone. Thus, nobody would be out at this time of morning.

“Come on. Time to get going,” She hissed at her sister.

Artemis led the way, as they sprinted across the open ground and into the shed that will open into a stairway leading down somewhere inside. She charged into the shed, closely followed by the sisters. With her small size, she easily jumped or ran below some of the things stored there – mostly used sports equipment; however, Miranda and Amanda had more difficulty. Artemis was already waiting for them as they finally crossed to the end of the shed, where the stairs seemed to led into nowhere.

“Shouldn’t be wasting time,” Amanda reminded her sister as Artemis started to walk down. The kitten also seemed to be uncertain, with who knows what experience she had below those stairs. Checking that the sisters were following, she walked on.

There were no lights at all in the stairway, except the faint light shown from Amanda’s torch. The stairs creaked, like they hadn’t been used for a long time. The smell of dirt and dust made their nose itchy, but they held the urge to sneeze, fearing that it might attract attention.

Miranda nearly jumped out of her skin as a rat, or maybe a lizard, shot in front of her, nearly causing her to trip.

After what felt like hours of tense-walking down the stairs, Artemis meowed, signaling them to stop. As Amanda shown her torch in front of them, the light illuminated a giant hinged door, bolted only by a bolt from their side, with not even a padlock.

Only from Artemis’ expectant look that they realized that they were supposed to open the door – and fact whatever is on the other side.

With shaking hand, Amanda got one hand on the bolt and slid it open. Slowly and carefully, she opened the door, and wincing at the sound of it creaking.

“Come on,” She whispered. The sisters – with Artemis up from – tip-toed into through the door, to save the cats…….

∞∞******∞∞

“My, the smell,” Amanda gasped as she clutched her throat as soon as she stepped inside the door and began to gag. Miranda was better prepared as she heard her sister’s comment. With the tail of her jacket over her nose and mouth, she stepped in as well. The smell hit Miranda a second later like a physical thing, and a look around explained it. Hundreds of thousands of cages, with all kinds of animals, mice, dogs, cats, birds in them, line the walls reaching as high as the celling. The animals inside were nowhere near comfortable, being in such crammed that they couldn’t even turn around. The cages left the impression of ones that hadn’t been cleaned in months, maybe even years. The room was supposed to be big, but with cages filling every possible space except the corridors, it gave people the feeling of a crowded room. The room was filled with the yapping and barking of dogs, the purring and even screeching of cats, and even occasionally, the birds will join in.

“We would have to free them,” Miranda decided.

“But not now. Our main goal would be to find the cats. Maybe someday we could come back.”

“Yeah, come on.” Artemis was nowhere to be found, but they guessed that she might have already escaped, her job done. The sisters were about to venture into the paths between the cages, but an alarm went off in the back of their head …….

∞∞******∞∞

“Stop right there, young ladies,” A gruff but firm voice called out behind them, stopping them dead in their tracks.

One look back and the sister knew who the man was.

“Philip Cashel,” Amanda announced, her voice surprisingly full of authority. The hatred and steel found in her eyes at that moment was enough to let anyone wince, but Philip didn’t even flinch.

“You surly did your homework, girl. Now, I think it is a bit late to tell you that anyone who set foot in this room would not be allowed to leave alive,” Philip informed. He expected the girls to scream, or even beg for their lives, but he got no such reply.

“What you are doing is wrong, Cashel,” Amanda criticized, emphasizing on every word. Her fists clenched. She seemed to be strong, holding her ground against a man, but inside, she was freaking out. She tried hard to not let her fear show, but she knew that sooner or later, she would lose it. Now is Miranda’s turn.

“Those animals are innocent. Why are you doing this? Money? Have you ever thought about how the animals will feel, trapped in those cages where they can’t even turn around?” Miranda questioned, following her sister’s lead. The same kind of authority could be found in her voice.

“Who are you? Daring to question me?” Philip Cashel sneered. His face was red with anger, and with nostrils flaring, he seemed like an angry rhino, ready to charge. “Do you know how much money I could make from a single experiment? Do you know how business worked?”

“Experiment?!” Miranda gasped.

“Yeah, unless you wanted to die a painfully slow death in an experiment, I suggest you shut your mouth and cooperate.”

“Philip Cashel,” Amanda spoke, in a near scream as the idea of animal experimenting bore down on her, “You know, animal testing is illegal here.”

“Come on, what do you know?” Philip snorted, “It is my business, and that is none of your business.”

“It is when it considered the welfare of animals,” Miranda retorted.

“Never mind. Now, it is time for you to die.” Philip reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. Slowly, he advanced. The girls had nowhere to go, and they stood there……

∞∞******∞∞

“Drop that knife. Kneel. Hands in the air,” Someone commanded. Behind Philip, dozens of police started to pile into the room, guns at the ready, and pointing at Philip. Realizing that he was out-numbered, Philip obediently obeyed their command. One of the police broke away from the others and jogged towards the sisters.

“You did a great job back there. You should all go home. We would free the animals and you should be able to see your cats by tomorrow,” He announced.

Amanda turned to look at her sister in surprise.

“You called the police? How?”

“Remember that watch I begged mom to buy me? Well she got an alarm system fitted into it for me. One press on the button would call the police. In case I got into trouble,” Miranda explained. Amanda smiled.

“Well, that is useful back there. Let’s go home.”

The End