Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency Year Three: Case File No. 46-150

AMBER LOVE 30-MAR-2020 Find out how all this began. Catch up on Year One and previous Year Two cases at the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency. We are in the final stretch of YEAR THREE still because we started cataloging our criminal investigations in the spring.

This work is supported by the generous backers who adore my cat stories at Patreon.com/amberunmasked and they also get first access to what’s happening with my books and podcast. For a one-time tip, you can go to the new PayPal.me.

Add a little suburban fantasy to your reading with a story about friendships, shapeshifters, small town politics, animal rights, and folklore. Ursula, a bisexual woman of color protagonist, trying to hold her life together and save her friends from being murdered.

Where We Left Off:

We found a second body. Piecing together the evidence, we determined both Theo and Synthia Sciurus had been murdered. Synthia’s fate seems to have another chapter even after her death.

The Hardy Boys:

We wouldn’t have cases to solve if it wasn’t for the partnership of Burton Guster Nabu and Oliver Winchester. We recently celebrated Gus’ 4-Year Adoptiversary. April marks our best guess about Oliver’s actual birthday from when a soldier rescued him. We’ve always declared April 1st his birthday since we were only supposed to be “babysitting him” for four weeks while the soldier went away and it’s six years later.

We figure Oliver is 6 and Gus must be 4.5 by now. The vet records show him as 5 already. But he’s our Good Luck Four Leaf Clover boy. Both are super weird in distinct ways.

Oliver loves men, even strangers. He’ll greet them when they enter and want to run on their ankles. Sometimes even allowing these strangers to give pets. But he’s still a “momma’s boy” when it comes to The Cook, his favorite human. He’s recently starting napping on the Grumpy Old Man’s lap and wants to be covered in an afghan completely as a lump.

Gus mostly hangs out with me, but he’ll give me up in a heartbeat for anyone with treats. He also loves going to work with the Grumpy Old Man, but only to make sure things are running smoothly. Gus likes to do his garage work alone. He does prefer hiking with me the best because I let him get away with whatever he wants — often leading me to be solo in the woods, tangled in thorn bushes, calling for him for an hour at a time. No one else puts up with that.

On May 30th, 2017, we officially launched the case files of the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency as a way to communicate with the public. Prior to that it had been informal posts to Instagram (which is still under my name like this website, not theirs, because dammit, I do hours of work a day on these posts @amberunmasked). Eventually I culminated all the Year One stories — had to remove the copyrighted content like gifs — and created a paperback version of that year. I don’t think anyone bought it except the Butler, Alfredo Pesosvalor and he’s family. The gifs do add a lot to the experience as does the color of the images. It was so much work putting that paperback together.

Help Support Rescue Organizations and Find Your Own Adventure Cat, Bunny, or Dog:

Shout out some animal organizations that could probably use a lot of help right now. Starting with @catsburypark @sarahdonner, Rahway Kitty Hall.

There’s also a good foster organization for dogs who need homes. OSCAR is based out in Sparta, NJ but they host adoption days in other towns.

Might I interest you in a labrador named O’Malley? Good boy looking for a home is on petfinder.com.

I continue to search for a bloodhound against the family’s wishes. I still look them up frequently anyway just to see what we’re missing. I think a bloodhound could be a great partner at the detective agency, but due to their hound qualities, most adoption agencies require a fenced in yard which we don’t have. Seriously, look at this foxy lady, Reba and tell me I don’t need her. She’s even listed as “good with cats” which is pretty rare! Things aren’t going well for Reba and she’s considered “unadoptable” by most since she will require special medical care.

And another darling from that same organization, Homeless Paws, has Jewel, a special needs bulldog who reminds me of Pops from the Secret Life of Pets! *PS – the Secret Life of Pets comics are wonderful!

Ok, but what about the homeless cats out there? The main problem is that people do not spay and neuter their cats and allow them to go outside. We used to have barn cats too but they got spayed. We allowed one of them to have a litter because we actually wanted to go through that experience. Long before the days of petfinder and applications. This was when you put up Free Kittens fliers in the supermarket. Anyway, all the cats since have either been adopted already altered or as in Oliver’s case, quickly neutered after arrival.

Places Need Help:

With the Coronavirus/COVID19 forcing closures, this means the shelters can’t open their doors to the public. It may not be so bad for all the animals in foster homes, but the shelters and cat cafes are suffering because they have major bills to pay like every other business. Rent, utilities, medical care, and supplies. Catsbury Park had already been closed due to a feline outbreak of ringworm. Just as they were about to re-open, COVID19 came to New Jersey and forced more closures.

There are SO MANY black cats in need of forever homes. It was fantastic that there was a booming interest right after the Marvel film, Black Panther, came out. But since then and because it’s kitten season already, there is an overwhelming amount of black kitties in shelters.

Where to find information about adventure cats and cat exploring:

There are two main places I go:

• First, follow the Instagram tags for each #adventurecats and #catexplorers
• Second, find the Cat Explorers Podcast
• There’s also the encouragement of the community #takeyourcatoutside which features cat photos of adventures submitted to them.

Here are some of our favorite Instagram adventure cats & companions to follow:

• Lola the beagle and Shadow the cat
• Champy and Morris – a horse rescue family that has cats too; Champy the horse and Morris have such a special bond they’ve gotten quite famous
• The Cat Rapper, I am Mo Show – a talented man who walks his cats and writes songs about them; as you can imagine with the internet, he gets a lot of crap for being himself. Show him so love.
• Hello Pistachio
• Salty Sea Cat is a captain of a ship that lives and travels in exotic places we could only dream of!
• Traveling Trio is a group of dogs and a cat that go to some exciting destinations with their humans

Case Findings:

We find that there are so many different kinds of animals and humans out there who love adventure. We’ve made friends online with other detective cats like Detective Mildren Mittens and Fletch. And we discovered another author who publishes books about his own detective cats, S.N. Bronstein and the Private Eye Cats.

As we keep getting support from wonderful friends at Patreon and online networks, this is one case that will never be closed. Finding crimes, crytids, and trouble are what keeps us busy.

Case Status: Always Open

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.