Return of the Great Cat and Mouse Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The Vilhelm Case Part 4


"It's probably best to explain things to make sure everyone here is on the same page." Archibald said eyeing everyone.

Hound stepped up.

"For those of you who may not know. . ." Hound said looking at Basil, Dawson, and Crisp standing close by, then quickly glancing at Haru, who now sat on Baron's shoulder.

"The King and Queen are dead and their son the Prince is missing."

"Yes, we've caught onto that. . ." Basil said slowly tearing his gaze away from Haru and Baron.

"We've also discovered that it was no accident that they died and someone purposely murdered them." Hound continued, looking towards Watson and Kunz.

They're eyes widen, including the smaller group.

"What?!" Haru said looking at Baron, who gave her a calm smile, while nodding sadly to her.

"M-M-Murdered?!" Kunz exclaimed.

"Is that true?" Watson asked looking at everyone for an answer.

"Yes, unfortunately." Archibald said.

Dawson gave Basil a nervous glance, Basil only ignored it in order to listen intently.

"What's the problem then?" he said frowning.

"T-The prob-blem is we hav-ve a m-missing prince." Kunz said barely recovering from the news.

"We know that, but why is that a big problem?" Crisp said rudely.

"The prince could possibly be lost in the outskirts of the Dog Kingdom, where the King and Queen were found nearby or could be held captive by the murderer or murderers. We have the information about the King, Queen, and Prince classified from the rest of the Kingdom. Only a few others in the palace know what's going on besides us." Hound said.

"Which brings us to another problem." Muta said looking away from Toto's unconscious state, to turn to Crisp, Basil, and Dawson.

"Toto was poisoned, and this guy and Haru happened to see what happened to Toto before he blacked out. What happened? Why are you even here?" Muta said crossing his arms, his usual glare on his face.

Crisp glared back.

"We are here for our own reasons! What we do is-" Crisp was then quickly cut short by Dawson.

"W-What my friend is trying to say is we-"

"My associates and I were also seeking to find the Prince. We were here strictly on business to see the King and Queen, the reasons however we would prefer not tell at the moment, because that is another matter entirely and like you all said earlier, it can wait." Basil interrupted.

"If it has no connection to what's going on then, yes,  keep it to yourself. . . for now, but you two," Archibald said looking towards Crisp and Haru.

"You witnessed what happened with Toto. Tells us again what happened."

Haru bit her lip, with all eyes on her.

"W-When we first saw Toto, Crisp and I saw him about to keel over before he collapsed. We went and asked him what was wrong, and he told us not to drink that water, and then he fainted." Haru said looking at the cart of water in question.

Watson shook his head in disbelief.

"But that's the water Delmira gave to us all."

Basil looked towards the blue dog.

"Delmira?"

"She's a palace maid."

"Does she know of what's going on?" Basil questioned.

"Y-Yes." Watson said.

"She meant to give the water to us all?" Baron said, his eyes narrowing.

"Did you, Toto, and Kunz speak to Delmira before she gave you the water?" Hound asked Watson.

"Kunz was coming to us around that time, so only Toto and I spoke with her." Watson said.

Archibald raised an eyebrow.

"What did Delmira say to you two then?"

Watson paused, to gather his thoughts as quickly as possible.

"She asked where everyone was and then gave us the water. . . Ah. . . I believe she said 'Please help yourselves to some water. It's from the royal artesian wells. We normally don't serve it to anyone but the royals, but being out in the heat all day trying to find the prince must make you all so thirsty, I hope the water will come in handy to all of you, consider it a gift.'" Watson finished reciting verbatim what Delmira had said.

Baron flinched, causing Haru on his shoulder to stare at him with concern.

"Baron are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine Ms. Haru. Just had a sudden thought. . . nothing to worry about." he said frowning.

"Wait. . . the water came from some well? What's so special about this water?" Muta asked.

"I-It's the p-purest water in the Dog K-Kingdom. Nothing r-really special a-about i-it, besides i-it being p-pretty pure w-water." Kunz said.

"So nothing is unusual about the water?" Dawson decided to question.

"No. In fact it should be the safest water in all the Kingdom if anything." Archibald said.

"So that means that definitely the water was poisoned." Crisp said.

"It seems like it." Hound said frowning.

"But since the water was originally for all of you, we can deduce that the person who poisoned the water, in which case could be the murderer of the King and Queen, was trying to kill all of you as well. . . " Basil stated.

Everyone went deathly silent.

"That seems so. . ." Baron answered Basil, making the mouse frown a bit.

"S-So we a-all are b-being t-targeted t-too?" Kunz asked nervously.

"It makes sense. The culprit wants to cover their tracks, kill off people who could potentially get in their way." Hound said.

"But Delmira. . ." Watson said.

Muta growled.

"That stupid little bi-. . . er. . . female dog! Poisoning Toto! When I get my paws on her I'll-"

"You'll do nothing of the sort Muta." Baron said firmly.

"I know you want to get the person who did this to Toto, I do too, but we don't know for sure it was truly her, someone could even be trying to implicate her. . ."

"But she will definitely be a key suspect." Archibald said.

"We're going to have to interrogate her and the others in the palace who know about the dead King and Queen too. . ."

"I-Is this all the i-information we h-have?" Kunz asked.

Haru looked down suddenly at Basil and Dawson.

"You guys! What about the Prince's diary?" she called down to them.

Archibald frowned.

"Diary? The Prince wrote a diary?" he said spinning his head to look at Kunz, who also wore a confused expression.

"Oh yes Haru, the diary is worth mentioning." Dawson said.

"You see, while Basil and I were looking for clues to help us find the Prince, we came upon his diary."

"He wrote a lot in it. Dawson and I couldn't read it all, but the first few pages of the journal were filled with the some dark thoughts that the Prince had, involving his parents. I think it's important to take notice of his journal for any clues." Basil added.

"Dark thoughts you say. . ." Archibald asked, giving a nervous glance to Kunz, who gave a nervous glance back.

Crisp eyed the two strangely.

"Wait-wait wait. . . you two aren't possibly thinking the Prince could be involved with his own parents murder right?"

". . . It is possible. . ." Kunz said gravely, his voice for once not stuttering, startling a few.

Archibald looked at everyone.

"You see. . . the prince. . . kind of has a reputation around the Kingdom of being. . . well. . .  sort of evil." he said.

"Wait what?!" Crisp and Dawson said in unison.

". . . Oh yes, Sherlock and I keep hearing that rumor from time to time back at home." Watson said slowly.

Hound frowned.

"But we never really believed it. . ."

Basil listening intently to everything, frowned.

"Evil?" Basil repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Evil, how so?"

Archibald sighed.

"The Prince is known for his angry outbursts, attitude, and his selfness. For he seems to not care or think about anything or anyone but himself. The Kingdom likes to call him 'evil' in comparison to his parents who were the most generous souls in the kingdom that they happen to reign over, but that word is too strong to describe Prince Vilhelm. I however just call him simply a child who seeks attention, not evil. . ."

"A child? But how old is Vilhelm anyway?" Haru asked curiously.

"H-He's eleven, soon t-to be twelve. O-only a c-child. . ." Kunz answered.

"But if that's the case, then why do you seem not to be adverse to the idea of him possibly being involved with his parent's death, if he is only a child?" Dawson asked.

"Pfft! Kids these days are capable of anything. Just because he is a kid, doesn't mean he can not be just as creepy as a sleazy psychopath adult." Muta said.

"Nevertheless, we can't point fingers just yet, we need to dig deeper." Hound said.

"We all need to find the Prince, find the murderer, and look around for more evidence."

"Okay. . . then what should we do?" Watson asked.

"We all need to split the tasks among us." Archibald said.

"We need to gather suspects, inspect the water, search for clues of the Prince, and keep an eye on Toto." Hound said looking at the raven who remained unconscious breathing slowly.

"While on the subject, I'll inspect the water." Hound said walking towards the cart of water.

"I'll need to run home though and inspect it there using my lab equipment and hurry back."

"Yes, I would also like to come with you. . . I have my own suspicions about the water, that I want to confirm." Archibald said.

"I'll look after birdbrain. I'll make sure he's okay." Muta said firmly, looking towards Baron and Haru who smiled in affirmation to him.

"I'll g-go gather suspects i-in the p-palace to i-interrogate." Kunz said.
Baron looked at everyone, then sighed.

"I'll look around for more evidence and look at the Prince's journal." he said.

"Good." Archibald then looked at everyone remaining left without a job.

"Kunz will need help, who will go with him?"

"I'll come along to help Kunz." Watson said.

Crisp looked at Dawson, Basil, and Haru who all seemed to being trying to figure out what to do and groaned.

"I guess I'll come go with the chihuahua and blue dog. . ."

Haru looked back and forth from Baron and Basil, wishing she knew Basil's exact plans, but she decided what she wanted to do anyway.

"I'll go with Baron to help him look." she firmly.

"We'll go as well." Basil said immediately after Haru.

"But Basil, you probably should go with Hound and Archibald to look at that water. You're scientific approach and skill as a chemist could help them." Dawson said.

Basil froze, knowing that going with Hound and Archibald was more logical, than to go along with Haru. Basil then glanced at Haru and Baron.

Dawson, watching Basil curiously, said, "Don't worry. Haru knows where the Prince's journal is and Haru will be perfectly safe with Baron, I'm sure she'll be just fine with him, he'll take care of her."

'That's what I'm worried about. . .' Basil thought to himself, before reluctantly looking away from Baron and Haru to walk towards Hound.

"I'll assist you. I've been a detective and a chemist for many years and I would be very useful to you I'm sure."

Hound eyes widen, impressed.

"For years? Me too." he said leaning down to extend his hand for Basil, who hesitantly got on.

Dawson smiled and looked at Kunz, Watson, and Crisp.

"I'll come with you three to be any assistance."

Archibald sighed in relief.

"Great now that that's settled, let's all get moving quickly, we are working against the clock!"

Everyone nodded and got ready to leave.

Baron walked to Muta, who sat next to Toto.

"Come find me if anything happens." he said to Muta.

"Got it." he said, looking between Baron and Haru.

"You and Chicky have fun looking." Muta said with a halfhearted grin.

Dawson, who climbed onto Crisp's back, called out to Haru.

"We'll see you soon Ms. Haru!"

"Okay!" Haru shouted out to him and Crisp. She then looked towards Basil, who was now placed on Hound's shoulder.

"See you soon, Basil!"

Basil turned to look at Haru for a few moments, before turning away from her.

Haru frowned.

"What’s up with him?" Haru said frowning at Basil's rudeness, crossing her arms.

Baron eyed Haru on his shoulder before walking away with her, from the others.

OoOoO

Basil stared out at all the houses they passed, his arms firmly crossed as he sat on Hound's shoulder, as Hound and Archibald walked alongside each other talking amongst themselves, their conversation muffled from his round ears.

A pang of guilt rushed through him as he recalled the way he behaved with Haru half an hour ago, giving her the cold shoulder just before he left. He instantly regretted it.

Basil groaned to himself.

‘I'm going to have a peachy time explaining myself to her. . . Why on earth did I have to do that in the first place?’ Basil thought rolling his eyes.

Basil instantly pictured the image of Haru on the tawny cat's gloved hand. The way she looked directly at him, while the well dressed cat stared back at her with a look of fondness on his face.

'Oh yes. . . that's why." he thought sourly.

Basil honestly didn't know why he was so bothered by the way the two interacted to the point where he couldn't hide his feelings and actually made himself behave coldly towards Haru in the process. Basil wasn't stupid. He knew he felt jealousy towards the tawny cat. He just couldn't imagine why. But whatever the reason, it was frustrating Basil to the extent where he wasn't as focused right now as he should be.

In fact, even before Baron came into the picture and it was just Haru, he was still a bit distracted from his duties. He wasn't so observant to the point that he could notice the smallest details that even the most trained detectives would overlook. If he wasn't like this, he had no doubt in his mind, he might have solved the problem with Oona back on that island a lot sooner, and saved her uncle from his half mouse, half donkey fate, if only it weren't for the presence of the ex-human. Will it be the same seeking the Dog Prince and the perpetrator?

Basil inwardly groaned.

He hoped not.

Despite being reluctant about leaving Haru, he supposed it was good he did, he could probably focus more on the case at hand now that he was away from her.

But that twinge of jealousy remained, thinking of Haru and the Baron being with each other alone, right now. But Basil still could not pinpoint what was causing his jealousy, what was making him feel such foreign emotions.

Thinking back now, he recapped the story Haru had told Dawson and himself, back on Baker's Street about her previous issue involving the Cat Kingdom, her strange adventure. The thing that had put Basil off about it all was how Haru described her whole ordeal happily, as if she were grateful she was put through it all.

She was grateful for adventure, the lessons, the fear, the laughs, the whole experience she was thankful for. She told us she had become more confidence in herself after the adventure, that it changed her. She's become the confident, valiant, and passionate girl she is now and she had the Cat King, Queen, and Cat Bureau to thank for it. She had the Baron to thank for it.

Basil could tell that the Baron and Haru were close friends. It was no denying it especially after witnessing earlier events. But could their relationship be even deeper than friendship? Could they even have a more intimate connection between each other, that Basil could even dare to think as love? It was quite obvious to Basil, that Baron's behavior towards Haru showed that he favored Haru. But was the feeling mutual? All the time Basil had spent with Haru, he's come to know that she is kind and an affectionate person, towards others around her. Looking at Haru's interactions with Baron, the way Haru treated Baron, seemed to be not an unusual trait of hers towards others.

So, the feelings of affections between the two could not be mutual?

Basil's present frown deepened.

Why is he even concerning himself with this matter? Here he is helping to solve a mystery of a lost Prince and he is too busy concerning himself with relationships. This was a waste of energy!

'Ms. Haru and the Baron are close. And that's that, nothing less and nothing more.' Basil thought firmly, calming himself.

But that bit of uneasiness still lingered in him. He knew that his hypothesis could not be absolutely accurate, but he couldn't help telling himself it was so, despite his uneasiness.

Then another thought occurred to him.

If Haru's friends from the 'Cat Bureau' are now here, does that mean she no longer requires his and Dawson's help?

Basil let the thought sink in.

'The Cat Bureau has helped her before, they could probably help her again and she knows that. She probably won't need my assistance anymore. Will she even go as far to tell us that she's fine now that Baron is here?'

"Mr. Basil?"

Basil finally breaking out of his thoughts, looked up at Hound, who stared down at him on his shoulder.

"Erm, yes?" Basil asked.

"I said, we've made it. This is my place." Hound said.

Basil faced ahead and saw that they were in front of an opened door, at the doorstep of a home.

"We've made it already?" Basil said aloud to himself.

"Yes we have." Archibald said, stepping into the threshold behind Hound.

"Oh, you're back already Hound?" said an unfamiliar voice to Basil, as said person, walked into the room.

"Yes Ms. Hudson, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave in a bit again. Some friends and I are just running some tests." Hound said going up the stairs with Basil still on his shoulder, being followed by Archibald.

"Oh dear, well then, good luck." the golden dog named Ms. Hudson called down from the stairs.

Once the three made it inside Hound's room, Hound immediately went to his chemistry lab.

Basil stared at it in awe, surprised to find this dog had such equipment.

"Impressive." he said.

Hound grinned.

"Thank you."

Archibald came forward and gave Hound the glass of water.

"Here you two go." he said.

"Ah, thank you." Hound said placing the water on the table, while Basil gracefully moved from Hound's shoulder and onto the table beside the water.

"Now, where to begin. . . the poison in this water is unrecognizable in appearance, touch, and odor, so the poison is obviously not something simple to detect like, arsenic, mercury, ricin, or chocolate.”

Hound and Archibald visibly shuddered at the last one.

“. . . So we'll have to dig a little deep to find the source of the poison." Hound said, looking down at Basil.

"You know how to work with this, right?"

Basil scoffed haughtily.

"I've been working with chemicals and poisons for years for most of my cases. I could do this quite easily." Basil smirked, glad he was doing something he was more than qualified to do.

"But wait you two. . ."  Archibald said making Basil and Hound halt.

". . . Would it be okay, if you could somehow find out if the poison originated from some sort of plant?"

Archibald reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of bark to show the detectives.

Basil studied it for a second.

"The bark of a Dogwood tree?" he said.

Hound tilted his head, taking the bark away from Archibald.

"Sure, we could find out. . . but why the Dog Kingdom's National plant? Our Dogwood is completely harmless. It cannot be a poison as far I'm concerned." Hound said.

Archibald chuckled nervously.

"I just want to confirm some suspicions I have. So, will you please see if the poison is connected with the bark?" Archibald asked.

Basil raised his eyebrow at the dog in question and looked at Hound, who wore a puzzled look as well, but offered a smile at Archibald.

"Yes, we will see." Hound said placing the bark next to Basil on the table.

Basil nodded slowly as well, then kneeled down to look at the Dogwood.

'Dogwood, huh?' Basil thought, then glanced at Archibald.

'Suspicion. . . ?' Basil thought.

OoOoO

"And that's how Hound, nearly blew up our house with his chemistry set." Watson said sitting at a table while Dawson stood next to him on the table smirking.

"Oh dear. I'm glad it all worked out though, now, Basil however once made his violin spontaneously combust and almost blew up his-" Dawson tried to talk, but was interrupted by Crisp.

"Gentleman, I know you'd like to exchange more stories about 'My life with an insane mad scientist detective' but Kunz is going to come any minute now with our first suspect and I want to get this over with." Crisp frowned turning away from the two.

Watson and Dawson sighed and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose you're right Crisp." Dawson said a bit reluctantly, smiling.

Watson then leaned towards Dawson playfully.

"We will finish our discussion later." he whispered as the two chuckled.

"So what are we going to be asking the suspects again. . . ?" Crisp asked.

"We are going to ask, who they are, what they do, where were they, what were they doing recently, and their thoughts on Prince Vilhelm."

Dawson then looked directly at Watson.

"But according to you, you said their was some sort of important festival going on about a week ago that we may need to ask about too?"

"Yes, it was a major event and the fact that the King and Queen died just days after such a major event within the Kingdom is something we need to address." Watson said.

The room's door then suddenly opened to reveal the pink cloaked chihuahua and he then closed the door behind himself.

Watson then looked up at Kunz.

"Kunz, did you manage to find Delmira?" Watson asked.

Kunz shook his head.

"U-Unfortunately-no. But i-in the m-meantime, I b-brought someone you c-could talk t-to." he said.

"Who exactly?" Dawson asked.

"His n-name is S-Stuart. H-He is the Dog K-Kingdom's emissary. He is o-one of the f-few who know about w-what’s going on around h-here."

Crisp sighed.

"Yeah, I guess he seems reasonable to interrogate. . ."

"T-Then I will send h-him in. I w-will search f-for the others i-including D-Delmira who are p-possible suspects." Kunz said smiling at the group before heading towards the door again and leaving the room, soon after someone else replacing him at the threshold.

An old, brown and white spotted boxer, with floppy ears, and brown eyes, wearing a simple tan suite entered the room.

"Um, hello? Kunz told me to come here. . ." he said in a raspy, old voice, closing the door slowly behind him.

"You have some questions for me?" he asked Watson, who then looked curiously at the mouse and parrot.

"Indeed we do." Watson said. "Please have a seat."

The boxer, nodded and took a seat at the table across from Watson and Dawson, while Crisp sat on the ledge of the room's window.

"Now then. . . let's introduce ourselves, I'm Watson." Watson said smiling politely at the boxer sitting across from him.

"I'm Dawson, pleasure to meet you." Dawson also said politely smiling.

Then after a moment of silence the two dogs and mouse, turned to Crisp who was scowling at them.
Dawson coughed in his fist, making sure Crisp heard him, staring him directly in the eye, pleading with him to introduce himself.

Crisp then huffed.

"Why should I say my name to him? It doesn't matter in the first place, he's here to be interrogated not to have mineral water apple juice and rouladen. We aren't doing this to make friends, so why should I introduce myself!" Crisp said bluntly.

Dawson winced.

"Crisp. . ." Dawson softly moaned to himself.

The boxer blinked at Crisp, before softly chuckling.

"Oh my, so I guess my suspicions were true." he said smiling a bit.

"I'm sorry about that. . ." Dawson said tipping his hat in apology.

"It's fine, I don't blame you with the issue at hand here." the boxer said, the smile disappearing from his face, but he shook it off and smiled again at the others.

"Hello, I'm Stuart. Wish the situation was different, then I could truly say nice to meet you." the boxer raspy laughed.

Watson sighed and stood up from his seat and walked over to a desk, pulling out a drawer and grabbing paper and a pen, before settling back down, and focused his attention to Dawson, who nodded and faced Stuart.

"Tell me Stuart, what is your occupation?" Dawson asked.

Stuart gave a soft sigh and leaned back comfortably in his seat.

"I guess the word for what I do is an emissary. . . but mostly a go between for the King and Queen for different kingdoms. I also collected important files, as I perform my duties making sure that we have peace in our kingdom by reaching out to other kingdoms and making alliances."

After Stuart finished speaking, Watson began to write on a paper, taking note of everything being said.

Dawson looked from Watson's page to Watson, before looking at Stuart.

". . . You are aware of the death of the King and Queen, correct?"

"All too aware of it." Stuart said sadly.

"How did you find out?"

"Archibald and Kunz gathered a group of people and told them what happened, I was one of them."

Dawson peered at Watson to make sure he finished writing down the notes, before trying to speak.

"Erm, so, umm-" Dawson coughed awkwardly before finishing, glancing nervously at Watson and Crisp.

"We recently found out more info about. . . you see. . . we discovered. . ." Dawson rambled not quite sure how to break news that something fishy was going on, without giving away any information about the murders that taken place.

Crisp rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, we discovered that your King and Queen were murdered." Crisp bluntly said.

Stuart's eyes widened.

"Murdered?" he said in his raspy voice.

Dawson and Watson immediately stared in horror at the green parrot.

"Cr-risp!" Dawson weakly squeaked.

"I thought we discussed this earlier. . ." Watson growled, placing his hand on his head in annoyance.

Crisp growled back.

"Either way, any excuse we were going to throw at him would have ended up with him being suspicious anyway, causing more problems." Crisp said swooping down to the table and landing right in front of Stuart.

"Now, since you know, we'd like you to answer some questions." Crisp said looking sternly up at the elderly dog.

"Where were you this past week?!" Crisp then demanded loudly, causing Watson and Dawson to anxiously look between Crisp and Stuart.

Stuart blinked down at Crisp, before softly chuckling.

"Oh my. . . seems I got switched from the Good Cop to the Bad Cop already. . ." he said.

"There wasn't supposed to be a Bad Cop in the first place." Watson said between gritted teeth glaring at Crisp who just ignored the blue dog.

"Well? You better speak up. Before you become more suspicious than you already are!" Crisp snapped harshly.

Stuart nodded politely.

"Yes, sir. I will tell."

He then gave a tired sigh.

"Well. . . you see. . . I not too long ago was celebrating the Offering Festival like everyone else in the Kingdom. I was helping others from outside kingdoms be welcomed in."

Dawson opened his mouth to ask something, but was interrupted by Crisp.

"Why you? Why did you have to do all of this?"

"Being an emissary has me visit other kingdoms a lot, to make sure we all are on good terms with them and we are all friends of one another. The King and Queen, gave me instructions to invite the other royals of other kingdoms to join our festival. I've traveled the most I could in order to be back in time for the festival, in the end, only three groups of royalty could make it, the Reptile Kingdom, with their King and Queen, the Ape Kingdom with their King Louie, and my greatest success, the Cat Kingdom with their new King and Queen."

The older boxer gave a coughy chuckle.

"We've been trying for years to invite the Cat Kingdom. But their previous King always refused our requests. . . due to his dog phobia. But the king's son Prince Lune, and his wife are ruling now, and I was surprised when they accepted the invite. But unfortunately we got a letter at short notice, that they couldn't attend due to some family emergency involving their kittens. Hopefully everything is okay now for them. . . but back to the main topic. During the festival, I showed the two kingdom's royals around, until the end of the week, till they departed."

Watson looked up from his writing for a moment to look at Dawson.

"If you don't mind, would you tell us what you did after the festival was over, before the King and Queen were killed?" Dawson asked.

"That is, if you don't have anything to hide. . ." Crisp said frowning at Stuart, earning more glares from Watson and Dawson.

Stuart smiled sadly.

"Oh, after the festival I was doing the same old same old, transporting documents and notices and putting out important news for everyone in the Kingdom. Nothing special."

Watson finished his notes, and looked up cautiously.

"What are your thoughts on Prince Vilhelm?"

Stuart, looked at Watson puzzled.

"What?"

"What do you think of our Prince? Do you like him? Do you think he is kind, selfish. . . just tell us what you think of him." Watson elaborated.

Stuart blinked at the three for a while before, speaking.

"Well. . . there isn't much to say about him from my standpoint except. . . that he's just a young confused boy . . . at least to me." Stuart said, his last words ringing with sorrow.

"I see." Watson mumbled as he wrote Stuart's last words down.

Dawson then smiled politely at the old dog.

"Thank you again for answering our questions. We're done for now. You may leave."

Stuart nodded and stood up.

"I hope I was some help to you. I'll be going now."

"Let’s hope you were telling us the truth." Crisp frowned.

"Thank you again, Stuart." Watson said.

Stuart gave a tired smile and walked to the room's door and opened and left, closing it behind him.

Watson then immediately turned to Crisp.

"Crisp, the attitude you were showing was not called for." Watson said glaring at the parrot.

"Yes, Crisp. You could have shown a bit of respect." Dawson agreed.

"Excuse me! But you two seemed to forget that we are looking for possible suspects who have a link with murder, poisoning, or a missing prince. And you two were being chummy chummy with one of the possible suspects." Crisp spat out.

"We know that Crisp, but our original intention was not for him to know that we were interrogating him in the first place and just calmly handle things." Dawson said.

"You know, calmly or nicely asking the guy questions, like good cops, could not make him tell us the truth. We need at least a bad cop, to intimidate and put pressure on the suspects to blab out the truth. I may as well do it since you two, aren't." Crisp smirked.
Watson rolled his eyes to himself.

"Him being a bad cop, by a small parrot like him, to intimidate, not likely." Watson mumbled to himself, hoping the two wouldn't hear him.

The door's room opened and Kunz peeked in.

"Um, I f-found another s-suspect to for you to t-t-talk to."

Crisp groaned.

"Greeeeaaat."

"H-Her name i-is Lenore. S-She is o-one of the m-maids here."

Kunz then looked to the floor.

"And u-unfortunatly I c-can't f-find Delmira anywhere s-still."

Watson signed in frustration.

"Do you think it's possible she isn't in the castle?" Dawson asked.

"She probably made a run for it." Crisp said.

Kunz frowned softly.

"I'll h-have some of our g-guards help m-me find her o-o-outside the castle." Kunz said before leaving.

Watson leaned in his chair and place his finger on the crook of his nose.

"Where is that girl?"

"Like I said, probably made a run for it." Crisp shrugged.

"You two please, our next suspect is coming." Dawson said.

Just as he said those words, the room’s door opened to reveal a silver furred, white spotted shepherd female dog, wearing a maid’s uniform. Her pointed ears flicked to the side, as her wide green eyes stared at the three in the room, curiously.

Dawson motioned for the girl to come in.

"Lenore, correct? Please, come in."

OoOoO

"Carefully. . ." Basil instructed slowly as Hound positioned a medicine dropper containing a white liquid, above a glass beaker with the same white liquid, but with the Dogwood bark floating on top of it's surface.

Gently tipping the dropper, Hound squinted his eyes slightly the moment a small drop from the dropper landed in the beaker.

Upon contact, the whiteness of the water began to dissipate and within seconds turned crystal clear, making Hound and Basil's eyebrows shoot up.

"Aha!" Basil exclaimed breaking out of him calm demeanor.

Hound smirked.

"There it is!" he smiled.

Archibald, looked between the two detectives wildly.

"And? What is it?!" Archibald said struggling to not sound hysterical.

"Yes, this poisoned water indeed has Dogwood in it." Hound confirmed

Archibald's wide eyes widened even more, as he stepped back, while the detectives watched him.

"Then that means. . . it's the Queen's chemical."

"What?" Basil asked.

"Our Queen’s?" Hound asked.

Archibald nodded slowly, stepping back onto a couch and sat, leaning his head on his hand.

"The Queen had extraordinary knowledge of science, in particular like you two, in chemistry. A while back, The Dog Kingdom's crops were dying in record numbers, and the Kingdom was at risk of facing a food shortage, which of course concerned the King and Queen greatly. The Queen managed to create a fertilizer of some sort and our crops were saved. However, we all feared about history repeating itself, so the Queen decided to make a even better fertilizer. After some time, she did create a fertilizer, using the ingredient Dog Wood."

Basil and Hound narrowed their eyes, already seeing where this was going.

"We tested it on different fruits and vegetables, but upon contact all of the crop began to turn into unusual colors, but looked fine otherwise, no signs of rotting or an other abnormality. But, one of our testers ate one to see, but within seconds of putting it in his mouth, he collapsed and died, horrifying the King and Queen and everyone else who witnessed. Afterwards, the King and Queen immediately had the tested crops and the newly created ‘poison’ destroyed and vowed they would never make the concoction again and made those who knew about its existence never speak of it again."

"Then you're saying that this poison is the same chemical the Queen made?" Hound asked, frowning.

Archibald nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure of it." Archibald said glaring at the beaker of water in question.
"But how on earth is it back? This stuff hasn't been made since then. . ." Archibald murmured to himself.

Basil frowned.

"The Queen is the one who made it correct? Is it possible she gave the recipe to someone else?"

Archibald shook his head.

"No. She didn't tell anyone. . . the only people who could possibly know how to make it, must have been with the Queen while she created it."

"Do you know then?" Hound asked.

"No I don't, I wasn't there when it was created. I only knew about the chemical because I was one of the people to witness the testing and the tester's death."

Archibald then jolted.

"It all makes sense now. . . Delmira. . ." Archibald whispered.

Hound's ear flinched.

"It makes sense? Delmira. . . she is the one who gave the poisoned water to Watson and Toto." Hound said.

Basil pulled out his pipe and lit it to smoke.

"Delmira supposedly poisoned the water. . . how could she get a hold of the recipe. Does she have any connection to this at all?" Basil asked Archibald.

"Yes. What I didn't tell you is, there were multiple testers who were about to eat the crops. The tester who died was the first to try. . . Delmira was one of the testers, she was the second and last to try, but luckily the King and Queen immediately gave her something after she collapsed and saved her, nobody else after that tried the crops."

"But how would she know about how to make the poison? If she was only one of the testers. Since she was only there that day, she should have as much information about this as you do, Archibald." Hound said.

"Yes, she should. Tsk, I really hope they've got Delmira when we get back to the castle." Archiblad growled.

Basil stared at the two, surprised they missed a key fact.

"Delmira took the poison, but she was saved. So there is an antidote then?" Basil asked.

Hound immediately turned to Basil.

"Oh yes! That's true. If there is an antidote, then we could give it to Toto and save him!" Hound said.

Archibald's face fell, causing Hound and Basil's to fall as well.

". . . What is it?" Hound asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

". . . No one knows what is the antidote or how to make it. It's as unknown as the poison itself. The only people who should know is the King and Queen. . . and maybe perhaps. . . Prince Vilhelm. .
."

If Hound didn't have any fur, it would have been easy to see he blanched.

"Oh dear." he said.

Basil frowned and put his pipe away.

"Then this only makes our situation more dire. That friend of yours, Toto, is dying. It's a miracle apparently that he's still holding on, since the poison has such a fast effect. We probably don't have much time. We need to find the Prince."

Hound nodded firmly.

"Yes, let's hurry back to the castle." Hound said immediately getting ready to leave.

Archibald stood still, shaking his head in disbelief.

". . . Let's just hope. . . we manage to find the Prince alive. . ." he whispered, making sure the other two wouldn't hear.

OoOoO

Haru looked up from her search down on the floor to stare at Baron's back which was facing her while he looked at a bookcase for the diary Basil and Dawson left behind, quietly.
Haru looked away, her eyes shrinking in sadness.

'Baron, hasn't said a word in a while. Why is he being so quiet and standoffish? He's been like this since we came up here to find the Prince's Journal that Basil and Dawson were talking about. It almost seems like he doesn't want to talk to me. . .'

Haru flinched at that thought.

'Is Baron mad at me or something, but. . . what did I do wrong to upset him?'

Haru looked up at the Prince's ceiling to see the same beautifully painted landscape she saw before.

'Maybe he's just upset because, he's worried about Toto and everything. . . I can't see a reason why he would be mad at me.'

Haru's gaze then moved back to Baron, who was still faced away silently looking for the journal.

Haru then walked along the floor to look around.

'But. . . he could be mad at me that I got myself into trouble again, and had myself get turned into a mouse. Maybe, he's upset about that. . . that I disappointed him, by getting into more trouble. . .'

Haru stopped wandering and stared down at the floor.

'Maybe I'm nothing but trouble to him. . .'

"Find anything Ms. Haru?"

Haru jumped upon hearing Baron suddenly speaking and turned to see him gazing down at her.

"Um, no not yet. I guess I should've asked Basil where they hid the journal in the room before we all separated."

"I see. . ." Baron said, then walked away from the bookshelf to a table with stacks of books.

Haru looked anxiously at Baron.

"Um, B-Baron, I'm um- sorry. . ." Haru said awkwardly.

Baron froze from his searching to slowly peer down at Haru with a strange look.

"Wha. . . what are you apologizing for, Ms. Haru?"

Haru fidgeted, her round ears pointing low.

"Well. . . it's just- you haven't said a word to me since we left the others, a-and I can't help feeling that y-you're upset with me."

Baron continued to stare down at her.

"Am I trouble to you Baron? I mean, I was always dependent on you during our adventure in The Cat Kingdom. Even when it was over, when I came to visit you, Toto, and Muta back in the Bureau all the time. Even after our adventure was over, I still depended on you to be there at the Bureau every time I came to visit. For your guidence, for your support, for your kindness, and for your friendship. . . But now, I've gotten myself into more trouble, even worse than my last issue and you're involved in it again. I can't help thinking that I'm much more trouble than I'm worth to you. Baron, am I a nuisance to you? Do you get tried that I'm so reliant on you, that I'm always around, that am I not even a real friend of yours. Have you just been nice to me because you pity me? A human, that socializes more with other creatures than her own kind, because she still does not feel she belongs with them, even after she's gained confidence. Am I unusual? Am I a freak to seek out yours, a cat, a mouse, or a dog's friendship than a human's. I'm just-"

"Haru."

Haru then noticed that Baron was kneeling in front of her wearing a sad smile.

"Haru, where did my confident friend go to all of a sudden? Why are you making it seem like I'm above you Haru? Is it because of our different sizes? You're now smaller than me, so you feel inferior to me. Need I remind you Haru, I was the smaller one once. . ." Baron softly chuckled, but then looked seriously at her.

"I thought I told you not long ago, that I did not mind your company. . . in fact. . . I cherish your friendship. . . and you know that Haru."

Haru paused, and then rubbed her face with a hand and sighed.

"I know. . . I'm sorry I said all of that. I just got a little carried away with myself, that I started not making sense. But the thought of you being mad at me confused me and made me to go on thinking all those things that possibly made you upset with me. . ."

"I'm sorry Ms. Haru."

Haru moved her hand away from her face to glance up at Baron.

"I'm not upset with you at all, and I'm sorry I gave you the impression and made you over think about it, but put your mind to rest that you are never any trouble for me, Haru, and I always want to be there for you."

Baron then sighed.

"But it's true, I am upset, I'm. . . upset with myself."

"I'm upset that I wasn't there for you until now."

Haru's eyes widened at that statement.

"Haru. . . I . . . I'm sorry that I haven't been here for you. I don't know what happened to make you like this. . ." Baron said looking at Haru's form.

"I don't know why you got this way and how you came to this point but. . . I'm truly sorry I could not be there for you, this time when you needed me the most." Baron said, his sad smile still on his face.

"But Baron. It's not your fault. There was no way of you knowing that I was in trouble. I was back in England, while you were back in Japan."

Baron shook his head, a frown on his face.

"No, but I did come to England. I had an issue to resolve and I had to go to England. There were so many signs. . . mentions of you. . .  mentions of your name by others in situations where it would never be possible for you to be involved in if you were in your normal state and with your mother still attending that quilting convention. The whole thought was just hard to believe."

Haru watched, Baron, her eyes widening to notice he was slightly trembling in distress.

"But I ignored all the signs. I believed they all spoke of another 'Haru', I wanted to believe they all spoke of another Haru. So I ignored that nagging impossible feeling that you could be in some danger and hoped that you were by then back in Japan, safe. It was foolish in my part. . . I selfishly hoped you were all right, because I did not want to believe you were in any danger."

Baron then looked straight at Haru, gently lifting his gloved hand to softly touch Haru's small form.

"If anything had happened to you Haru . . . I . . ." Baron didn't finish his lingering words, but continued to stare down at Haru, many emotions flashing in his green eyes.

Haru smiled, feeling gratitude, barely believing she ever doubted Baron's friendship and moved to hold his hand in her smaller ones.

"It's okay Baron. Like I said, none of this was your fault, please don't worry about this."

Baron moved his hand back from Haru's and then stood sighing deeply, looking a bit calmer. He than gave a reassuring smile to her.

"Let's keep looking. I must admit, I was distracted by this all, I feel I didn't do an adequate job looking enough."

Haru chuckled nervously.

"Yeah. . . me too. Glad we got that off our chest, huh?" she smirked, putting her hand behind her head.

Baron rolled his eyes slightly.

"That's an understatement."

Haru giggled, glad that the tense atmosphere was finally gone between them and spun in an opposite direction, only for her eyes to widen.

"Baron, I think I found it!" Haru said, running in the direction towards the bed.

Baron followed Haru with his eyes, to see her slightly bend over to see under the bed.

"It's got to be the Prince's journal. It's between the headboard and wall." she said crouching to get under the bed and push the book out.

"Ms. Haru, be careful." Baron said in concern as he got on his knees to peek at Haru under the bed as she pushed the book to a reachable distance in order for him to grasp.

He reached and grabbed it, nodding in thanks to Haru, and sat up, while Haru carefully got out from under the bed.

Baron opened the book and examined the first few pages of it, and smiled.

"Yes, this is the journal."

Baron then reached his hand down for Haru to climb on, which she did, and placed her on his shoulder so she could get a good view of the journal while he looked.

"Gosh. Basil and Dawson were right. . . the Prince did have some pretty dark thoughts." Haru said with a small cringe.

"Indeed. . ." Baron said frowning.

Before Baron could flip another page, Baron and Haru's ears flicked to hear desperate running towards the room and the door open abruptly showing a very distressed Muta.

"Muta?" Haru said barely recognizing him.

'I've never seen Muta look so scared. . .' Haru thought, fear instantly striking her.

Baron closed the journal and immediately went up to Muta.

"Muta? What's wrong? Anything happen with Toto?" Baron asked, struggling to keep his composure, obviously noting Muta's demeanor.

"Toto, he's up! But-but- it's not looking good." Muta said.

Baron and Haru froze in terror. Baron quickly broke out of his daze and rushed past Muta with Haru clinging on tightly, followed by Muta.

OoOoO

"Toto!" Baron exclaimed, barging into a room, with Muta behind him.

Toto, who lay on his side on a bed, facing them, opened his dark eyes slowly.

"Y. . .you guys. . ." Toto said in a weak raspy voice.

Baron, Haru, and Muta were immediately kneeled at his bed side.

"Hang in there Toto! You have to!" Muta growled.

Toto gave a weak chuckle.

"Been. . . awhile since. . . you called me by. . . my real name furball. . ."

"I-I don't understand. This shouldn't even be happening! Creations are immune to poison! What could have caused you to be like this?! You could never be poisoned and actually get sick, Toto, much less die!"

". . . I guess. . . there is a first. . . for everything. . ."

Haru got off of Baron's shoulder and leaped onto the bed, landing near Toto's head.

"Don't talk like that Toto!"

Toto froze for a moment, and moved his eyes to see Haru's small form next to him.

"H. . . Haru. . .? . . . I guess. . . it was not an. . . illusion. . . you were really there. . . when I. . . blacked out. . . But why. . . ?"

"Don't worry about it Toto! I'll tell you, Muta, and Baron later, once you start feeling better." Haru said firmly gripping his black feathers desperately.

"Hmmm. . . I . . . I don't think . . . I am going . . . to get better. . ."

"Yes you are! Quit talking like this, you dumb birdbrain!" Muta yelled outraged.

Toto gave a sad smile to Muta, before struggling to turn to face Baron.

"Baron. . . I've never felt. . . so weak. . . before. . . It's even. . . unreal that I could. . . even feel this way. . . and it's only. . . getting worse. . . Creation or not. . . I don't think. . . I'm going to make. . . it. . ."

Baron stared at Toto and looked at Muta and Haru, who looked back at him both like they were close to tears. Baron's hands rolled up into fists, trembling at his side, as he struggled for words to come out, but what on earth could he say?

Suddenly, the room's door opened and Hound, Basil, and Archibald came in and glanced at the raven, cringing.

"Oh thank goodness he is still alive." Hound said as the three joined them.

"It's amazing how he is." Archibald said staring down at Toto in awe.

Basil studied the raven, then viewed the raven's side seeing Haru, their eyes meeting.

Basil's eyes widen seeing how badly Haru's state was, as she trembled looking close to sobbing. He quickly leaped off of Hound's shoulder and next to her on the bed.

"H-Haru?" Basil said approaching her with caution.

"A-Are you alright?"

Without warning, Haru then burst into a loud sob, and buried her face in her hands, crying loudly.
Basil froze, staring at the sobbing Haru in front of him. Not quite sure how to deal with a very distressed Haru. His mind raced on what to do to comfort the brunette. Without thinking, he slowly got closer to her and awkwardly gather her in his arms, and stiffly patted her back.

Haru not noticing Basil's awkwardness in his embrace, hugged him back, almost painfully as she buried her face in his chest, and continued to sob.

Baron stared at the two, thankful for the small detective for comforting Haru, but in a small part of his mind, wished he was the one providing comfort for her instead.

Toto looked at everyone sadly.

"I'm. . . sorry. . . I'm upsetting you. . . all. . . "

Hound, one of the couple in the room, with a leveled head at the moment, placed a reassuring hand on his wing.

"Don't fret Toto. Save your energy and be still."

Hound then moved his hand away and looked to Baron.

"Baron, there is still a chance to save Toto. We discovered that the water was indeed poisoned, a very strong, dog made poison created by accident by the Queen herself. Somehow, someone got ahold of it and used it to try to poison us. . . "

Baron broke out of his distressed state as much as he could manage to look at Hound.

". . . Is there a possible antidote?"

"There is." Hound nodded.

Muta turned abruptly to Hound.

"Well?! Where is it then?!"

"That's the problem, actually." Archibald said.

"We don't even know what the antidote is or how to make it. The only ones who knew were the King and Queen. . . and possibly Prince Vilhelm." Archibald continued.

Hound looked at everyone.

"Making this case a lot more crucial to solve, Toto's life is hanging in the balance. Our only hope is the Prince."

Muta stood up.

"So we have to put all our faith in the idea of the Prince possibly knowing the antidote?! He could be dead for all we know, and where would that leave us?! Toto needs help now!" Muta yelled.

"We have no other choice." Hound said gravely.

"It is the only reasonable option. It would be impossible for us to come up with a new solution right now. And the only solution would be to make our own antidote to save Toto, but that's impossible for many reasons right now." Archibald said.

Baron then firmly got up.

"Than there is no other choice. We have to solve this case, and fast." Baron said determinedly.

Still, holding Haru, who's face was still buried in his chest, Basil looked up at Baron.

"What you all are saying is true, but that could be equally as difficult as making our own antidote. Reasonably a case like this could take a while to solve. Cases like this, could usually last months to solve, the least at days. But your friend doesn't even look like he'll make it in the next few hours, and we have just barely started this case."

Baron looked to Basil.

"Even so, if there is even the slightest chance we could save Toto. I have to take it rather than just wait for his inevitable death. Even if it seems hopeless, I have to."

Basil wanted to say more, but stopped, when Haru lifted her head from his chest, with a determined look to match Baron's.

"We're going to have to try. We'll need all the help and full cooperation of everyone. Hound and Archibald are right. We have to and we can solve this case in time, if we just try."

Basil frowned down at Haru.

This all seemed impossible and out of reach to Basil. Sure, he's solved many cases in less than a day's time, but they were all small cases in comparison. Finding a missing ring, child's play. Capturing a simple criminal, easy. Finding helpful clues and making necessary chemicals, elementary. But this, finding a lost Prince, finding a murderer, figuring out who's that person is, while looking for an antidote to save someone who’s dying, racing against the time, was too much, even for Basil. Even now, Basil had another case, to foil Ratigan's plans and put him behind bars. But that's a case he's been working on for over a century. Was this all even achievable in such a short time?

Haru shifted, so a few inches were between her and Basil as she still held him, staring up at him.

"We need your help Basil. We'll need your help 100 percent. I need your help." Haru then looked down between them.

"I. . . I don't want Toto to die. . ." her determined voice, turning into a small whimper.

Basil abruptly broke out of his thoughts to examine Haru's now blood red eyes, which was caused by all her tears.

Basil's earlier thoughts came flooding back to him.

'The Cat Bureau has helped her before, they could probably help her again and she knows that. She probably won't need my assistance anymore. Will she even go as far to tell us that she's fine now that Baron is here?'

Yet here she was. Instead of pushing him away now that her friends were here, she was actually pulling him even closer, still seeking his help.

A small discreet smile formed on Basil's face, which no one to noticed.

'I promised Haru I was going to help her, when she came to Dawson and I. I'll keep that promise, even if she no longer needs me. I have to help and protect her, from things like this, especially Ratigan. And I won't stop, till Ratigan has been caught and Haru is safe from him. Haru's friend is dying and I'll do everything in my power to help.'

Because it's much deeper than just helping a client. He wanted to help, because Haru was now a very good friend of his and any friend of hers, he would help.

Basil sighed and brought Haru back into an embrace again, except more comforting than his earlier one.

"He won't die. Everyone and I won't let that happen. . . we're going to save him, before it's too late."

Haru stood in his arms for a moment, then clutched him back.

". . . Thank you, Basil." she whispered in gratitude.

Muta huffed a sigh.

"I guess there is no other option. We'll just have to speed up everything and solve this case then." Muta said, calming down from his panic.

"Yes, we're going to." Hound nodded firmly.

Baron looked at everyone, satisfied everyone was in agreement, before looking down at Toto, who also stared at everyone, with a touched look.

"T-Thank. . . you. . . everyone. . . I . . . don't know. . . what to say. . . about. . . all of this. . ."

"Don't say anything. Just stay calm, and try to hold on as long as you can, Toto." Baron said softly.

Archibald sighed.

"Well then. . . now that we are against the clock even more now, we should probably find out what Kunz, Watson, Dawson, and Crisp have discovered by now."