Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency Year Five:

Case File No. 52-260

cat logo grey

AMBER LOVE 09-MAY-2022 Find out how all this began. Catch up on Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four and previous Year Five cases at the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency.

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 PayPal.me.


Where We Left Off:

In our previous case file, Gus and Amber discovered an artifact in the loft. Oliver reached out to some friends in New York for assistance doing research.

The Candidate:

ANOTHER YEAR IN THE BOOKS! This is our 52nd case of our 5th year exploring, adventuring, and investigating! I hope you are looking forward to Year Six as much as the cats and I are.

We had a wild storm one night that had the rain blowing sideways and plenty of branches breaking. When we got out to check the landscape, Fort Winchester was surrounded by a moat. Gus and I stayed on the other side of the yard for a while. He likes to walk up the driveway first. It’s interesting to see how he has a routine and when something like snow makes him detour, he takes his time making decisions about which way to go.

Fort Winchester

After Gus and I spent a long time at the hangar and loft (both of us getting covered in dust) we went back out towards the northern corner by the woods beyond the bird feeding tree. We kept squishing around because it was terribly soggy. I stepped a few feet higher to a trail just to get out of the water and found one of the wolpertinger bunnies in Bunny Hollow!

As noted during the week on Instagram, this critter has the same kind of ear notch as Bun Solo; knowing their coats probably change during the seasons like other animals and their weight may go up and down because of winter, I’m not sure if this is Bun Solo. It’s so hard to tell, but he was comfortable being about 10-15 feet from me so I keep thinking it’s him. I don’t know if wolpertingers eat peanuts, but I left a few on the trail before I detoured to find Gus.

There’s also Silver Blaze to consider. She has a white blaze on her forehead. This bunny creature that I encountered didn’t turn around to face me so I never got a look at its forehead. However, Silver Blaze never had the ear notch like Bun Solo.

We should be hearing about the Bunny Hollow mayoral elections soon. Right now, I think they’re focused on eating and mating. We’ll have to check with the critters who seem to know all the happenings of the area – the birds. Bun Solo seems like the most logical choice for mayor of that area. I don’t know if he’s interested though. Politics is an ugly business.

Perhaps you’re wondering, what would rabbit creatures need to do in public office. That’s a legitimate question. If you’ve been following along with Gus and Oliver’s explorations, you might recall that there are so many fascinating creatures in the Bunny Hollow neighborhood and bordering regions. There are lots of small creatures: birds, chipmunks (some are into organized crime), garter snakes, milk snakes, and Gorgons, squirrels and squirrelpyres, voles and volepyres, rabbits and wolpertingers; and large creatures: Jersey devil-deer and whitetailed-deer, pumapards, pancelots, mountain lions, foxes, coyotes, werewolves, bears and volkolaks. And of course, the cats and humans who visit the area also need some guidelines and regulations about being there. Humans are the worst!

blue jay on cut tree

In exchange for six peanuts, Louie “Eggs” Consalvo paused to talk with us about Bunny Hollow. Louie Eggs is the big boss of the resident Blue Jay Gang. If something is happening around here, he’ll know about it. He had the goods.

Gus started to walk over to Fort Winchester. When he noticed the moat, he wanted to get to the ladder but the “rocking climbing” wall had less water. I watched him and whispered encouraging words. I know he can make up that side of the fort, but he usually doesn’t try. Even though he slips on the metal rods making up the ladder rungs, he normally opts for that.

“Well? What did he say?” I asked.

“He said you should be more generous with the treats and I gotta agree. I want some chicken.” Gus turned his head away as if to ignore me until he heard the crinkling sound of his favorite Pure Bites treatos.

“You get chicken after you tell me what’s going on.”

He tried to act like wasn’t going to give in, but I knew better. After a few seconds, my companion told me what Louie Eggs said.

“Louie said that he heard from a titmouse who heard from a sparrow that there’s a new rabbit in town. Goes by Bunnie Foy.

I gave Gus a treat and asked if there was any more known about this Bunnie Foy.

He said, “Her real name is Shirley, but no one calls her that. She’s made a name for herself around the all the critters for her singing. Gorgeous voice, according to Eggs. She started off by mingling with important officials in the cryptid and wildlife communities. Someone encouraged her to run for mayor and it sounds like she’s going to make an announcement.”

rabbit graphic

Gus earned himself a couple more treats. It was interesting information. When the Butler returned with Oliver from one of their trips to the countryside, I relayed the news. To my surprise, Ollie already knew of this Bunnie Foy critter, but he didn’t know anything about her running for office. Sometimes I forget how much he likes to talk to any creature who will listen.

Case Findings:

We’ll keep ourselves informed on the status of the Bunny Hollow mayoral race. Hopefully there will be news in the next month.

Case Status: Open

Gus climbing a tree as he ran through Bunny Hollow.

Subscribe to my newsletter

Avoid those algorithms! Get news delivered to your inbox. You'll also receive a free short story when you subscribe!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.