14 September 2026, Freewriters Community Daily Writing Prompt Day 3226: she is a suspect
Henry Fitzhugh Lee, in his manifestation of police captain and leader of Special Investigations for the Big Loft Police Department, never brought the details of work home or anywhere around the environment his eight little Ludlow cousins and their friends the little Trents and Stepforths also inhabited. But, he was not above getting an idea to solve a case from their way of investigating the world around them.
One day, Capt. Lee was exceptionally tired … even with pandemic-era furlough days, the days he had worked in the summer of 2020 had been intense. He had not known how exceptionally tired he was until he sat down on his porch and swiftly fell into a doze... and then heard this from the children passing in front of his porch, because the Lee house was third space for their Ludlow cousins on one side, and the Trents on the other...
“Well, yes, she is a suspect, because Goldie has thumbs.”
Gracie Trent's immense house cat, Goldie, was polydactyl, meaning she had more claws and thus more paw than most other cats. Gracie had looked at those paws and reached the logical conclusion for an eight-year-old!
“Right, so, getting into a can of tuna or cat food without help just might be doable,” Gracie's eleven-year-old sister Velma said. “Those claws also would give a good grip.”
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “Even with my clipping them, those things are fast growers.”
“And cats can't read, so tuna and cat food looks about the same,” Velma said. “I do hope it was Goldie, though.”
“Why?” Gracie said.
“Because cats can't read but humans can, but don't always,” Velma said. “See, the way the cans were picked in the grocery bag, there shoulda been two stacks but the stacks got mixed up … so if Goldie didn't take exactly one can of tuna and one can of cat food, someone did and may not have noticed.”
There was a moment of complete silence.
“Cousin Tom said last night he was going to make croquettes for his lunch today,” Gracie said, “but it just doesn't pay for some people to be frying up anything in anybody's kitchen.”
“Oh no,” Velma said. “And it's already 2:30 … so if he figured it out … or he didn't figure it out, it's already too late.”
“Well,” Gracie said, “in about one bite in or couple of trips to the bathroom, he will figure it all out by the end.”
And that was where the dozing mind of Capt. Lee picked up the clue: output equals input. He woke up clear of mind and gave clear orders to his lieutenants … and Gordon Swann, the man who had masterminded where all the kickbacks went to not build everything from Bayard Heights to the Fortier Apartments correctly, was picked up the next morning. How he had been caught: Capt. Lee knew his official salary, and how even in 30 years you cannot buy a $26 million home on a $150K salary.
“There had to be some cat food in there somewhere,” Capt. Lee mused as, late the next day, Gracie's cat Goldie chose to share her dozing time with his and he petted her until they both fell asleep.