Janet and Jane: The Case of the Rattled Witnesses - Part Two

      "I know we did, Janet, but if we didn't, we'd be in major trouble with them," Jane replied.

      "Tell me something I don't know, Jane." I hopped off my bed and looked out the window. The sun was shining over Neovia, and even through the thick morning haze, I could see the residents beginning to make their way around the streets.

      "Come on. Don't be negative like those Neopets from last night."

      "One of them was negative," I corrected.

      "Alright, then you could be the negative one while I be the practical one."

      I really wanted to hit her, but I didn't. I hated it when she was like this. Jane had a tendency to act like a know-it-all. And she said I had a personality problem.

      "Now come on. We're checking the antique store today," Jane went on when she was halfway out the door.

      "I'm coming. I'm coming," I sighed.

      The antique store was the same as the last time we checked -- everything valuable taken and everything else destroyed. The shopkeeper took the day off today. He said he didn't feel that well, but Jane and I knew better. We knew the only thing he was recovering from was the crime he witnessed.

      Alize began to whinny and neigh. I think he found something. Jane, Supra, and I made our way to him. He was hooving the floor. There was something on it. Footprints. Two sets -- one large, one small. They were recent, most likely a few days old -- when this place was robbed.

      They looked like the ones we saw on those Neopets last night.

      "Do you think..." Jane said, trailing off because she knew I'd say something.

      "I think the first set of thieves ransacked the place and later, most likely a few hours, came in to see this," I hypothesize.

      "I still don't get how you're able to figure that much from a single clue."

      "Eh, it's just what I do."

      "So what do you suppose we do with this information? We still don't have any leads and there's no way anyone was here after the robbery."

      "Jane, there is one possibility to that."

      I didn't need to say anything else. She knew what I was implying. "Are you saying..."

      "I am saying."

      "So let's say there is more than one set of thieves," Jane began. She walked around the room as she explained. "Why would they come here after a robbery? They wouldn't want to get caught. You could obviously tell the place was at least went through from the debris."

      "I don't know, maybe they were after something they weren't after," I argue.

      "Janet, I honestly think your theory is very out there."

      "And your theories are likely?" I was right, Jane's theories were usually so crazy they just might work. I knew there was a method for her madness, but I'd rather not find out what goes on in her head when she was thinking up this stuff.

      "Janet, let's try not to get at each others' throats. The cases are getting to us."

      "Like those two Neopets we heard last night?"

      Jane glared at me. I could tell she'd rather not talk about last night. "Yes, like them."

      When we left the store after we finished examining the crime scene (again), the sun had set and night was in Neovia. The only light that was available to us was the lights in the street lights lining the streets and my glowing Miamouse.

      I thought we were going back into our hotel. Turned out that we were heading into Neovian Park. We didn't notice until we were surrounded by tall, eerie trees. Jane tried leading us out, but we sorta kinda maybe got lost.

      "Just what we need. An adventure through the creepy park at night," I muttered sarcastically.

      "Janet, don't be negative. You seriously need to look on the bright side of things," Jane responded. "Look at it this way -- we could find some clues that we've been trying our best to find."

      I didn't think of it like that. We could find something out here. "I guess."

      I held out Supra to help us see. Tonight was a surprisingly clear night. There was no fog lining the ground. Good thing, too -- Supra's glow lessens when she's tired and it was a long day.

      We heard a rustle. What was that? I looked at Jane and give her a "What do we do," look. She looked up at the top of a tree and pointed up. I knew what she meant -- and I was not happy with it.

      Jane grabbed Supra and flew up the tree. Alize followed his owner. I was left climbing up the trunk. Now I wasn't bad at climbing, but I really didn't like it. Being on the top was alright, but it was the falling that concerned me. Jane and Alize had wings, and if Supra fell, Jane caught her before harm came to her. If I fell... Well, I really didn't want to think about what could happen.

      Once I was safely on a branch, I looked down. I didn't see them immediately, but I did see two Neopets run under our tree. What were they running from, and why were they running from it?

      Little did I know I would soon find out.

      Something ran into our tree. I don't know what it was, but one thing was for sure -- it was huge. No wonder the two were running like their lived depended on it (because it very well may be). Our tree nearly fell down when it hit, and it certainly wasn't going to stay up. Jane flew Alize and Supra to a nearby tree. It was then I realized what I had to do.

      I had to jump.

      I was really reluctant, but when I jumped off my branch to the safe tree, I was glad I did. A shot of adrenaline went through my veins -- something that I haven't felt in the longest time, and something I missed dearly. When I landed on the branch I was aiming for, the adrenaline was replaced by relief -- something else I missed.

      Jane and I decided to follow the Neopets. They surely needed some assistance. I hopped from tree to tree as the shadow Korbat flew. Slowly, very slowly, we began to catch up to them. What were we to do?

      Actually, we didn't need to do anything.

      The tree that was hit before finally fell. The crash echoed through the park in a second. The big thing, that I recognized as a really big, mutated Puppyblew, turned to the crash, howled an excruciating howl, and ran towards it.

      "What was that?" one Neopet asked.

      "I have no idea, but I'm glad it happened," the other answered.

      Those were the two Neopets we heard yesterday.

      We tried to get a good look at them, but that was tricky being up in a tree. When we got the basic idea (which was basically the colors (yellow and blue)), we looked back at each other.

      "Maybe we should go," I whisper. Jane nodded. She looked down and almost jumped. I grabbed her slender tail before she did something hasty. "Maybe we shouldn't go down that way with them down there."

      Though it was very subtle through her black skin, I could see her blush. Sometimes she makes little mistakes. I don't hold it against her. Jane flew away with our Petpets while I hopped from branch to branch. We were almost out of the park after a few minutes.

      That is, until it happened.

      I miscalculated and hopped to a tree branch that was a little too far for me. I managed to grab hold of it, but I was slipping. Fast. Jane tried to help me up, but that was in vain.

      I fell out of the tree.

      Good thing there was a pond under me.

      I landed in the dark water with a big splash. It was deeper than I thought, considering that I didn't hit the bottom and I could barely see the moonlight. I did hear something, though.

      "Janet? Janet! Oh my goodness. Are you okay? Come up!"

      Poor Jane. She was worried sick. I swam up as quick as I could. It took a while, and when I hit the surface, I almost ran out of air. The first chance I got, I took in a fresh breath of air. Jane stopped flying over the pond and helped me up.

      "Are you okay? That was a long fall. You were down there for almost two minutes! I didn't know you could hold your breath for that long!" she said. Spaces were not present in her sentences.

      "I didn't know I could, either," I replied. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

      "That's a relief to hear."

      That wasn't Jane. Both of us turned to see the two Neopets we were watching. One was an Ogrin (who was the blue one and was pretty tall) and the other was a Wocky (who was the yellow one and was about our height). They didn't seem like thieves -- they seemed nice -- but even the nicest soul could secretly be a thief.

      "What happened?" the Ogrin asked.

      "I just fell out of the tree" I began as I pointed up at the tree. "and fell into the pond."

      "What were you doing up there?" the Wocky asked.

      Oh boy, these two were the questionable type. Like Jane and me.

      "My friend and I were just looking for something," Jane lied. Before the Ogrin or Wocky could give a follow up question, she quickly said, "We didn't find what we were looking for, but we saw that... that... that thing! What was that?"

      The two Neopets tried to hide their true feelings, but Jane and I could see they were getting nervous. They didn't answer right away.

      "We're trying to find that out," the Ogrin answered. "We're monster hunters."

      I then realized who they were. Corbin and Kell, professional monster hunters. They work in secret to prevent uproar. Again, like Jane and I. It was for sure they weren't thieves. There goes our only suspects. Back to square one we go.

      "So you are?" Jane asked. "We're detectives." I buried my face in my paws. I did not want her to mention that. She was always a bit more open with information that should be a secret. "If you don't mind, I have a simple question to ask you. Did you have or do anything that would cause that thing to chase you?"

      "We didn't do anything," Kell answered. The Wocky showed us a gold necklace with a ruby pendant. It was very pretty and worth good sum of Neopoints. I think I remember seeing that at Prigpants and Swolthy the other day. "I was just showing this to Corbin and that monster came up and chased us.

      Jane continued to examine the necklace with great care. "You showed him this?"

      Kell nodded. "Yes, I did. Why do you ask?"

      What Jane said surprised Corbin and Kell. It even surprised me. I worked with her for years, but nothing like this ever came out of that mouth of her's.

      "I think our cases are the same."

To be continued...