Detective Flea Reveals What Happened

Raffi and I bustled into the boardroom. The Chief, who was sitting at the head of the table, nodded for me to proceed. I cleared my throat with a short bray.

“Thank you all. This has been a most curious case to solve,” I began, and Raffi translated.

Paisly interrupted with a bark, “Just say it was foreign interference so we can all go home.”

Without responding I continued, “It was the timing that gave me the most trouble.”

Webster stirred restlessly and Dale surveyed her fingernails.

To Kiki, I said, “In the park, it took nearly three hours for Paisly to convince you, but you were persuaded to cooperate with his plan.”

Everyone gasped but Kiki yawned. “Or was it the ten pounds of crab meat that convinced you?” I asked, and Kiki pretended to doze.

I moved behind Paisly. “The President has a severe allergy to cats. Yet you told Kiki to enter the building through the garden window and sent her to the Oval Office."

Webster spun around in his chair. “Why on earth would Paisly do such a thing?” he demanded.

“He wanted to find a way to keep the President from participating in the debate,” I said.

Paisly’s eyes bulged and he barked, “It was for his own good. When everyone thought he was sick with a cold, his ratings went up.”

Dale offered a sympathetic sigh. “Well Paisly’s heart was in the right place,” she said. “Better we had a case of feline interference than that foreign kind.”