Mystery #02 — The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat

"Golly!" said Larry. "This is frightfully exciting. Somebody made a very clever plan. Let me see! I suppose Dark Queen was stolen away in the morning, and the other cat's tail painted to make her seem as if she was Dark Queen — everyone knew Dark Queen had a ring of paler hairs in her tail where she had been bitten."

"Yes; and then people came and had a look at the cats — like your mother did, Pip, with Lady Candling — and they thought the painted cat was Dark Queen; and then later on Tupping managed to get into the cage and wipe off the paint before anyone noticed it, and said Dark Queen was gone!"

"Tupping!" said Bets, her eyes getting large and round. "Tupping, did you say? But if Tupping took off the paint — then Tupping must have put it on — and he must have been the one who stole Dark Queen, and —"

"Yes. It was Tupping. It simply must have been," said Fatty, almost beside himself with excitement. "Would you believe it? And he put the blame on Luke all the time."

"And made old Luke work besides the cages the whole time the painted cat was there till the time when he wiped off the paint and said Dark Queen was gone!" said Pip. "So that it seemed as if no one but Luke could possibly have stolen her! What a clever plan."

"Then, when he heard Bets tell Clear-Orf we had got clues of a smell and a smear of paint, he got the wind up and hid them both," said Fatty. "Afraid of finger-prints on them or something, perhaps. And old Buster found them."

"Let's get it all quite clear," said Daisy. "Tupping wants to steal Dark Queen and put the blame on Luke. He waits till Miss Harmer is out for the day — because, I suppose, he guesses she knows each cat so well that she wouldn't be deceived by painted hairs in a tail — she'd know it wasn't Dark Queen."

"Yes; so he waits till she's out, and then he steals Dark Queen, hands her over to someone, goes back to the cage, paints the other cat's tail to make it seem like Dark Queen's, sees that somebody has a look at the cats and says that Dark Queen is there — like Lady Candling did at four o'clock the first time, with your mother, Pip; and Lady Candling again, with Tupping, the second time, at three o'clock." Fatty paused and Larry went on.

"Yes; and the first time he's very, very clever. He brings back the village policeman himself to see the cats, manages to rub off the paint with a turpy rag, and then announces to Clear-Orf that Dark Queen is stolen! I must say Tupping is very cunning," said Larry. "What a nerve he must have, taking the bobby himself into the cage after he'd stolen the cat that morning."

"He managed to trick Miss Harmer herself nicely, too, the second time," said Pip. "You remember he slipped into the cage when she came back that second time, and he must have again rubbed off the paint, and then said Dark Queen was gone. That's how it was he managed to deceive everyone. They all thought, including Luke, that Dark Queen was there all the time Luke was beside the cage — but she wasn't. She had gone in the morning. So no wonder it was difficult to clear Luke of blame."

"I suppose Dark Queen must have escaped from whoever had her, and wandered back, that first time," said Daisy. "I wonder where she is now."

"Let's telephone to Inspector Jenks again," said Pip. "Now that we have solved the mystery we ought to let him know."

"What about the key of the cat-house?" said Larry. "Oughtn't we to put that back in Miss Harmer's pocket?"

"Yes. We'll go and do that now," said Fatty.

The five children and Buster went over the wall. They hunted about for Miss Harmer but could not see her. "Perhaps she's in one of the sheds," said Fatty. They went towards a shed near the greenhouses, one they had not been into before. Fatty put his head inside.

"Hallo!" he said, "this is where Tupping keeps his things. Look! there are his rubber boots and his mack."

"What a smell of turps again," said Bets, sniffing.

"You're right," said Fatty, and he sniffed too.

The boy suddenly pulled a dirty handkerchief out of the old mack hanging up. It was marked with Tupping's name, and smelt strongly of turps.

"He soaked this hanky with turps and used it to rub off the paint he had put on that cat's tail!" said Fatty. "Another clue! Let me see! It had been raining, hadn't it, the night before, and that morning too — so Tupping would have been wearing a mack — and rubber boots too. I say, look there!"

The children looked, and there, splashed on the toes of the rubber boots, were drops of the creamy-brown paint! Tupping must have worn the boots when he painted the cat's tail! And it was he, of course, who must have dropped a blob of paint on to the stone that Fatty had in his pocket. Probably off the paint-brush.

"We'll take these boots, and the hanky too," said Fatty importantly. "Come on, Buster. We've got some mighty good clues and bits of evidence, I must say. What a shock dear Mr. Tupping is going to get when he hears all we have to say."