“Do you think that the Baker Street Cats will make police work a thing of the past, Max?” asked Dooley as we waited on the sidewalk like the good assistants that we were.
“I don’t think so, Dooley,” I said.
“But why, Max? If all the cats in all the cities in all the world are mobilized to hunt criminals, there will be no more crime, and the police will find themselves out of a job.”
“There’s a lot of stuff the police do that has nothing to do with crime, Dooley,” I said.
“Like what?”
“Directing traffic, for instance,” I said after a moment’s reflection. “Or crowd control.”
“I don’t think Chase will be happy to go from being a detective to directing traffic.”
“No, well, I don’t think it will ever come to that.”
Odelia and Chase had come walking out of the bar, both looking relieved.
“We got him,” said Odelia. “Turns out he was in here with Willie last night, huddling in a corner for a long time, before apparently getting into some kind of fight. They had to break them up, and they were hurling a string of expletives in each other’s direction.”
“But why?” I asked.
Odelia shrugged.“The bartender said that Edwardo accused Willie of betraying him, though what exactly the argument was about, he didn’t know. All he knows is that he kicked both men out, and that’s the last time he saw them.”
“Let’s go,” said Chase curtly, as he tucked his notebook back into his jacket pocket.
Moments later we were zooming along in the direction of Edwardo’s new place, and when we arrived there, discovered it was actually a deserted old factory.
“The people who claim that crime doesn’t pay would get a kick out of this,” Chase grunted when he took in the rundown old building, where, according to the markings on the facade, once wheelbarrows had been made.
“Looks like Willie’s friend has hit hard times,” Odelia remarked.
We all got out and approached the industrial structure. Entering the place, we found the entrance strewn with plenty of rubble, and as we proceeded deeper into the heart of the factory, it soon became clear that several people had selected it as their home. Mattresses had been placed on the concrete floor, and someone had even started a fire. The fire was out now, fortunately, but if this went on they might as well set fire to the whole building… which frankly speaking might not be such a bad idea, as an old eyesore like this could only have one purpose: to be torn down to make room for new housing.
As Odelia went in one direction and Chase in another, Dooley and I decided to simply wander around, and let our intuition be our guide. Our intuition has served us well in the past, you see, and I hoped it would serve us well this time. And soon I picked up the scent of food being broiled or boiled, and so naturally we proceeded in that direction.
“I think I’m hungry, Max,” said my friend.
“You think you’re hungry or you are hungry?” I asked as I studied our surroundings. The factory might have been deserted, but some of the old machinery had been left in place. I even saw several wheelbarrows piled up in a corner. Odd that a wheelbarrow factory would go bust, I thought. Who doesn’t like a nice shiny wheelbarrow?
And then we spotted him: a man cooking something on a portable gas stove. When he saw us, he frowned.“Shoo,” he said, and picked up a rock and threw it in our direction!
“Do you think this is Edwardo, Max?” I asked Dooley.
“I don’t know, Dooley,” I said, “but if it is, and he did steal four thousand five hundred dollars from his friend, he’s not spending it on a gourmet meal.”
Suddenly, Chase appeared on the other side of the cavernous space and called out,“Police. Have you seen Edwardo Yuhas, sir?”
The man cursed under his breath, and immediately got up and started running in our direction.
Now I know that when a large man runs in your direction the first instinct is to flee, and I must confess I experienced a momentary temptation to do just that, but then I steeled myself to the task, and instead of running away from the danger, actually ran toward it! Though I think the rock-throwing might have had something to do with this as well. And so as my path crossed with that of the man, he sort of tripped over me and fell to the concrete floor. Moments later, Chase was upon him, and held him down.
“Hey, you can’t do that!” the man cried. “This is police brutality!”
“Relax, buddy,” said Chase. “I just want to know where I can find Edwardo Yuhas, that’s all—hold on, you’re Edwardo Yuhas, aren’t you?” he said, checking the man’s credentials.
“And what if I am?” said the man, who had a large head, and an even larger body.
Odelia, attracted by the noise, now also come running up, and helped Chase to go through the man’s pockets. When she extracted a nice wad of cash from his coat pocket, all crisp new bills, she smiled.
“Now where does a man with no fixed abode come into such a nice sum of money, Mr. Yuhas?” asked Chase, still holding the man down.
“I’m not telling you a thing, cop,” said Mr. Yuhas.
“Did you hurt yourself, Max?” asked Dooley solicitously.
“No, I’m fine,” I said. I’d survived a run-in with Brutus last night, so running into Mr. Yuhas was starting to feel like my regular shtick.
“Here’s more,” said Odelia, who’d opened the man’s backpack and now showed us a plastic bag with more money inside.
“Hey, that’s Rosa’s plastic bag,” I said.
Odelia showed Edwardo the plastic bag with the money.“I think you have some explaining to do, buddy,” she said.
“I found that,” said Edwardo. “I found it on the street. So finders keepers, you know.”
“Of course you did,” said Chase, and hauled the man to his feet, then supplied him with a nice pair of handcuffs, and read him his rights.
Chapter 13
The ride to the precinct was an awkward one, for Dooley and I had to share the backseat with this cuffed criminal. Especially the fact that he kept throwing very nasty glances in my direction unnerved me a great deal. I guess he was still upset that I’d tripped him up, and presumably blamed me for his capture.
Once arrived, I felt relieved when Chase removed the man from the car, and escorted him into the police station, to interrogate him in the proper circumstances, and get his statement down on paper. Signed, sealed and delivered—another crime solved.
Unfortunately, and in spite of my natural curiosity, cats aren’t allowed into the interview rooms, and so we were dependent on Odelia to supply us with the information as to the conclusion of the interview. And since Odelia isn’t an actual cop, she wasn’t allowed to sit in on the interview either. She was, however, allowed to follow along from the next room, where a one-way mirror offers a very nice view of the interrogation.
Forced to wait in Chase’s office, Dooley and I made ourselves comfortable on Chase’s small but cozy sofa, and soon curled up into two respective balls and succumbed to a refreshing nap. When Chase and Odelia entered the office, immediately I was wide awake.
“He confessed,” Odelia announced. “But only for taking the money, not the murder.”
“I think if I keep leaning on him he’ll confess to the murder as well,” Chase said as he took a seat behind his desk and opened his laptop, presumably to start typing up a report.
It’s not enough that cops catch the criminals, you see, they also have to write all kinds of reports when they do, and sometimes the paperwork associated with an arrest takes them more time than to actually make the arrest in the first place.
“So he admitted that he was in on the blackmail?” I asked.
“Not the blackmail,” said Odelia as she took a seat in front of her husband’s desk and addressed us. “He didn’t know about the blackmail. He did confess that he and Willie had a nice business going for a while: Willie would be hired as a handyman, stake out the place, and Edwardo would break in and take the stuff Willie had selected. But lately they’d fallen out, over some money that Edwardo said Willie owed him. So when Willie didn’t answer his phone, he paid him a visit and found his former partner dead on the floor.”