'I only - only wanted to cough spend more time with you Timothy.' the lady croaked, a pool of red growing behind her head.
'...Mom?!' I gently pried the paper cat mask away from her face. Tears rolled down from the elderly ladies bloodshot eyes. The giant knitting needle lay by her side.
'Oh god, what have I done?'
'It's just, we never got to see you anymore. splutter Your dad... he's going to do something very silly, you have to-'
'Shh mom, it's going to be OK.'
Her eyes gently closed. I lowered my head to her chest and wept.
24 hours ealirer
'Thank you for coming Captain Cleudo. We need a super sleuth now more than ever.' the commisioner said.
'Tell me about the crime wave commisioner.' I demanded.
'Take a look at these pictures. We call her the Crazy Cat Lady. For the past week she has robbed over 300 giant balls of wool from various knitting imporiums in the city. She comes in with a dozen cats by her side. The cats cause havoc whilst she takes what she wants. We got close one time, but officer Rupert suffered second degree scratches and she escaped. He's lucky to be alive.'
'This uh, isn't really my usual kind of case commisioner.' I said whilst fiddling awkwardly with my yellow fedora.
'The city needs you Cluedo.
I began by marking on big wall map all of the joints hat she had done over. A pattern quickly emerged. I grabbed a piece of string and played connect the dots. The string created an arrow pointing to Nellies Knitting Supplies. I couldn't decide if this was a bit too convenient or I was just that damn good. I headed over to Nellies.
The street was quiet but I could hear a distant meowing. She was here. I crept in.
As I pushed open the door something soft but deadly jumped down from a shelf and began scratching at my face. I threw the frenzied feline to the floor and retrieved 5 pounds of catnip from my bumbag. I rolled it onto the floor. Cats came from every direction and we're soon happy and pacified by the stinking flower.
Then I saw her. I hideous bag of wrinkled skin disguised in a cat mask. She held a giant knitting needle in her hands. When she spoke her voice sounded distorted.
'It's so nice to see you dear.' she said, clearly mocking me. She slowly, ominously, walked towards me. I knew I didn't have long to react.
I picked up a the fattest cat I could see and threw it in her direction. The projectile missed by millimetres, and inseam hit a shelf just above her. A hundred giant wool balls rained heavily on top of her.
It was too late for my mom, but I could still save my father. A buzz came from my walkie talkie. 'Captain Cleudo, over.'
It was the commisioner.
'We need you Captain - there's a emergency at the Bingo hall! Over.'