Donny, Mary Grace and the Dognappers

By Catherine Anna Pepe

Who let the dogs out...of people’s cars and backyards? Some dognappers have come to town, and everybody’s upset because their dogs have gone missing. Where are the dogs and how can they be brought back home? It’s a mystery that only Donny, Mary Grace, and the Grandma Gang can solve. America’s favorite brother and sister are back to solve a crime with the help of the Grandma Gang...and you’re invited to come for the ride as they find the clues and see if they can save the dogs! It’s an adventure you won’t want to miss!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Catherine Anna Pepe
• Release date: Dec 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986366975

Catherine Anna Pepe

CATHERINE ANNA PEPE worked for an international law firm where she was the first woman partner in the Labor and Employment Law practice group. Now she lives in Southern California with her husband Steve, and writes children’s books loosely based on her family life with her brother Donny, who had Down syndrome.

Book preview

Mary Grace rushed out of her fifth-grade classroom at North Elementary School to Classroom 5. Classroom 5 was Donny’s classroom—the classroom for kids with special needs. Grandma Cathy would be picking them up soon.

Donny was almost six years old and had Down syndrome. He loved his classroom. He loved his teacher, Mrs. Hagen. He loved the kids in his class. Truthfully, Donny loved just about everything in his life. He was almost always happy. Mary Grace, not so much.

Mary Grace and Donny were living with their grandparents, Grandma Cathy and Papa Steve, on their ranch in California. Their parents were being missionaries in Africa for two years to help people have fresh water and to teach them faith. Mary Grace and Donny had to stay behind. Donny loved living on the ranch, and especially loved living with Grandma and Papa’s two dogs, Krug and Kansas.

Krug had lived with Grandma Cathy and Papa Steve for seven years. He was small, black, fluffy, and serious. But he was also very loyal. Kansas was much bigger than Krug, but she was still a puppy. She jumped and licked and loved to chase balls in the park. She was ready to be friends with anyone she met. Grandma Cathy and Papa Steve adopted her after their previous dog, Toby had died. They had only owned Kansas for a few months.

Donny named her Kansas to remind Mary Grace that their family used to live in Wichita, Kansas. Mary Grace didn’t need a reminder—she had hated moving from Kansas to California. She tried not to talk about how much she missed Kansas around Donny.

Donny was waiting by the classroom door. He started jumping up and down.

My sister is here! he said to Mrs. Hagen. It’s time to go home.

He hugged Mary Grace and then hugged Mrs. Hagen. When he saw Grandma Cathy walking up the hallway towards classroom 5, his face lit up. My grandma is here too! shouted Donny. This is the best day of my life!

But on this day, Grandma Cathy did not look happy. She was walking slowly and kept wiping her eyes with a tissue.

What’s wrong, Grandma? asked Mary Grace.

Grandma Cathy looked up at her grandchildren, as if she was afraid to tell them her news. I’m so sorry to tell you this. But our dogs Krug and Kansas are missing. Deputy Sheriff Juan thinks they have been dognapped.

Donny looked puzzled. What is dognapped? Who is Deputy Juan?

Grandma Cathy said, Deputy Juan is a little like a policeman. He helps keep everyone in our county safe, including you and me and Mary Grace. He thinks our dogs have been dognapped. That means that someone took them.

Donny thought a minute. Why does he think that, Grandma?

Grandma Cathy sighed. Well, I’ll tell you the story. I was at the grocery store. When I came out to the car, I saw that the door had been unlocked and the dogs were gone. I called Deputy Juan right away and told him what happened.

He told me then that I wasn’t the only one reporting missing dogs. He said he and some of the other deputies think there are dognappers in our area. They’ve been taking dogs from people’s cars and yards. She wiped a tear out of her eye as she finished the story.

Wait a minute, said Mary Grace. Why were the dogs in your car at the grocery store parking lot? And where were you when the dognappers opened your car door and took the dogs?

Grandma Cathy and Donny were used to Mary Grace asking questions. When she and Donny arrived in California, there had been trouble in Mary Grace’s classroom. Mary Grace and the Grandma Gang solved the mystery. Grandma Cathy was one of the members of the Grandma Gang, along with her friends La Shana Jackson and Elizabeth Blythe. The three women knew each other from the courthouse in Lompoc, California, where they worked together for many years. After they retired, they had worked with the sheriff’s office in Santa Barbara County to help solve mysteries.

Donny said, Grandma Cathy! Tell Mary Grace and me everything about Krug and Kansas being missing. Mary Grace can solve the mystery. She is the best detective, especially when she works with the Grandma Gang!

Grandma Cathy looked down and wiped her eyes again. She said, I don’t usually leave the dogs in the car. But this time I thought I’d only be gone a few minutes while I got some milk for dinner. And Kansas was jumping all over the place! I was afraid to bring her into the store. Instead, I cracked all the windows so they would have fresh air to breathe while I was gone. I went in as fast as I could to buy the milk so I could get back to the car right away.

Donny said, The dognappers got through a crack in the window? How were they so skinny? Grandma, did you break the windows to make them cracked?

Mary Grace gently explained, Grandma means she opened each window an inch or two to let in fresh air.

Donny was still puzzled. The dognappers were skinny enough to get through a window only one or two inches open? I want to see someone do that!

Grandma Cathy said, No, Donny. You see, I found a wire coat hanger on the ground by the car. The dognappers must have put it through the small opening in the window and used it to push the button that unlocks the door. They didn’t climb through the open window.

Donny said, I want to try that sometime.

Grandma Cathy said, I wouldn’t. You could get in big trouble if you opened someone’s car door that way.

Mary Grace looked puzzled. How did the dognappers get a wire coat hanger?

Grandma Cathy, Well, Mary Grace, that might be one of our clues. There was a dry cleaner next door to the grocery store. I wonder whether the dognappers got the hanger there. I would have asked right away, but I had to come pick up you and Donny.

Mary Grace said, Let’s go find out.

The three of them, Grandma Cathy, Mary Grace, and Donny, headed to Grandma Cathy’s car. They were sad, because Kansas and Krug were missing. But they were also a little excited—because there was a mystery to solve.

Grandma, let’s go quickly so we make sure that the people in the dry cleaner haven’t forgotten what the men looked like by the time we get there! Mary Grace said. Grandma pushed down on the gas.

In a few minutes, they were pulling into the parking lot where the terrible dognapping had happened just a little earlier that day. Grandma Cathy parked in front of the dry cleaner’s, and the threesome hopped out of the car.

They entered the dry cleaner’s. A woman was pulling clothing off a rack to give to a customer.

When the customer left, Mary Grace walked up to the counter. Excuse me, she said. We were wondering whether anyone came in earlier and asked you for a wire hanger?

The woman seemed surprised. Um . . . why do you want to know? she said.

My grandma’s dogs were taken from her car while she was in the grocery store. There was a wire hanger on the ground, and we think the dognappers used it to get into the car, Mary Grace said.

Oh, I’m so sorry! the woman behind the desk said. Yes, well, let me see. There were two men who came in earlier. One of them asked me for a hanger for his coat. He said he didn’t want it to get wrinkled. But come to think of it, he wasn’t carrying a coat with him. And the coat he was wearing looked like it was already pretty wrinkled!

Donny looked excited. Grandma Cathy narrowed her eyes in focus.

So there were two men, you said? Mary Grace pressed. Can you tell us anything else about them? What they looked like?

The woman behind the counter chuckled. Well . . . I don’t remember their faces too well. But their clothing definitely needed to be cleaned and pressed. It was very wrinkled.

Okay, that helps. How about their age? Were they young, old? Mary Grace asked.

"Well, I’m not too sure. Adults, for sure. Not young. Middle-aged, I would say. I can’t remember much more than that. I wish I