The Adventures of Chad and Cathy: The Unwelcome Visitor

By Joseph H. Rabb

The book opens with Chad and Cathy’s godfather, Professor Barnhart, phoning them and reporting a strange series of burglaries occurring at his residence, Sunset Village Retirement Community. What makes these burglaries strange is the thief is leaving behind an item of equal or greater value in place of the item stolen.
Chad and Cathy must find out who is stealing the jewelry, how they are able to enter and exit the residences without being seen, and who is funding these highly complex break-ins.
When they finally uncover the answers to this caper, a conspiracy of epic proportions starts to unravel. Their very lives are now threatened. They started to wish that they were somewhere else when Professor Barnhart called!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781665752565

Joseph H. Rabb

Joe began his new career as a writer during the dark days of the COVID-19 epidemic. While waiting for the lockdown to be over, he was looking to do something creative to keep the boredom at bay and decided to write a children’s book. While getting ready for bedtime, he and his two sisters looked forward to hearing scary mystery stories told by their dad. They would suggest various mystery plots, and without skipping a beat, their dad would make up stories based on a fictitious brother and sister team named Chad and Cathy. They were two teenage amateur sleuths who loved solving a good mystery. Joe plans to continue his new career as a writer. His second book, The Case of the Lost City of Cahokia, will be coming out soon. He has several interesting plots in mind that need a good audience. So, buckle your seat belt, Chad and Cathy to the rescue.

Book preview

The Adventures of

Chad and Cathy

The Unwelcome Visitor

JOSEPH H. RABB

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Copyright © 2023 Joseph H. Rabb.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5255-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5256-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023920828

Archway Publishing rev. date:  11/20/2023

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

BOOK TWO

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Epilogue

About the Author

Chapter One

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I WAS GETTING A little hungry and was about to ask Cath where she would like to go for lunch when my cell phone began to roar. I had recently installed the sound of a T Rex dinosaur as my ring sound. Cath hated it!

"Good morning, Chad speaking. You have reached the detective agency of Chad & Cathy. We unscrew things you have screwed up. May I help you?"

Cath looked over at me and groaned loudly.

Very funny, Chad. You always were the comic relief. I meant to call Cathy, but you’ll have to do. My mistake. Is she available to share this call? I could use her well-etched myelin brain tissue and you could add something as well.

Aw, Professor Barnhart. You are sounding chipper this lovely morning. What can I do for you?

I put the phone on speaker so Cath could hear the conversation.

"Cathy, I hope you can hear what I’m about to tell you. As you know, my wife and I recently purchased a home over at Sunset Village Retirement Community. Well, there have been at least nine burglaries reported in the community over the past couple of months. More have not been reported. I know that break-ins happen all the time. What makes these break-ins different is that whoever is doing these robberies is leaving a piece of jewelry of equal or greater value in the place of the stolen jewelry."

Suddenly, Cath stopped peddling her exercise bike and walked over to where I was now perched on one end of the couch. She took the phone out of my hands. I continued to rub Bailey’s stomach with my size thirteen barefoot.

She would lay on her back with her four paws sticking straight up in the air, her favorite position. Her tail wagging back and forth. Her tongue lay crooked on the side of her open mouth. She was one happy dog. We were both lucky to have each other.

Professor Barnhart, this is Cathy. Is there any evidence of who might be behind these burglaries?

Hi Cathy, glad to hear the brains of the family are now involved. Professor Barnhart chuckled at his joke. "That, my dear, is the mystery. No one has a clue. To make matters even stranger, the same thing is happening all over the community.

A set of diamond earrings would be replaced with a pearl necklace. Yesterday, Danielle, my wife, had her ruby ring stolen and replaced with an 18c gold pendant.

Whoever is behind these burglaries is either trying to throw the authorities out or an eviler motive is at play here-who knows. I am quite sure other break-ins have not been reported."

Cath was wearing that it’s a mystery to me look. Professor Barnhart, I must admit that sounds incredible, and beyond anything I have ever heard of. I have several questions and would like to meet with you. Chad and I can make some sense of the situation once we have a better understanding of the case. What time works for you tomorrow?

I will be teaching until 10:00 a.m. I should be in my office soon after.

As soon as we hung up with Professor Barnhart, Cath looked at me with a quizzical look on her face. Well, that was a strange phone call. I have no idea what could be going on, do you?

Not in the slightest. Why would a burglar leave something of value in exchange for something he just stole? As a Chinese philosopher once said, ‘may you live in interesting times.’ I have no clue as to what might be occurring, but something tells me that we are not dealing with your average crook. No, whoever these guys are, they have come up with a clever way to steal things. How they do it is still a mystery. I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow to find out more about this caper.

Cath got up from the couch and began to pace up and down our den. She did this whenever she needed to think. Okay, whatever these guys are up to, it is obvious to me that they are trying to stay one step ahead of the cops. Also, where does this replacement jewelry come from? Here’s a thought. What if the jewelry he leaves behind is jewelry he has already stolen?

I have no idea, but that my dear sister is a brilliant observation. You’re not as dumb as you look. If looks could kill, I would be dead. Sis, you know I’m kidding. I gave her one of my biggest toothy smiles. Sometimes my mouth doesn’t wait for my brain to catch up!

You readers might be wondering just who the heck is Professor Barnhart. Our dad and the professor were fraternity brothers and teammates on the football team at the University of Texas many years ago. Professor Barnhart received his Ph.D. in psychology and our dad became a lawyer. He was my dad’s best man at our parents’ wedding. After they were killed, he continued to play an important role in our lives. The professor was quite good at solving problems.

I asked him once what exactly psychologists do. He answered that we try to reach the least common denominator in people to find out what makes them tick. He further added that most people are the same, only their habits make them different. He loved Chinese philosophers.

My dad often told me that to solve a problem use both your heart and your brain. Never just one. I do not doubt that Mom and Dad would have approved of Professor Barnhart playing the role of surrogate father. However, on occasions, he can be irritating.

Chapter Two

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T HE REST OF THE afternoon was spent by the pool. It was getting windier by the minute as I watched the tall oak trees bend. A welcome soaking rain was on the way. Finally, the weather guys got it right. We had recently read a series of articles about working on a cruise ship. The articles paint a picture of fun and adventure on the open seas. Lifelong friendships were made by the young employees working on the ships. They all shared a common experience. Many of the ship’s crew were college students like Cath and me. Room and board were included as part of the compensation package. The young college students working on the cruise ships were able to save quite a lot of money to help pay for college expenses for the coming semester.

We contacted the Destiny Cruise Line, and after they received our resumes, called us back and hired us sight unseen. We made plans to work on cruise ships for the entire summer. The ship we would call home for the next three months was called The Caribbean Sun Dial and was the latest edition to Destiny’s line of ships. The cruise ship was birthed in the Houston Ship Channel. Cath’s new job was to sell jewelry to the passengers. I was hired as a lifeguard. We were scheduled to be in Houston in three weeks to begin our on boarding classes which would last for three days. The Caribbean Sun Dial would set sail immediately afterwards. I was looking forward to a summer of fun in the sun cruising across the Caribbean Ocean. Cath and I read everything we could get our hands on about life as crew members on board a cruise ship. We found a blog online that a crew member had posted. The crew member, Hank, had shared his daily life aboard the Princess Cruise Line. He described in detail what life would be like working for a cruise ship, from the time he got up in the morning until he went to bed. We found the blog extremely interesting.

Hank’s blog made us realize that working on a cruise ship was not all fun and games. It was a job. We would have responsibilities that could not be taken lightly. All in all, it still looked like an exciting way to spend a summer. However, in the meantime, we had a case to solve.

We decided to go to bed right after dinner to be in good shape for our meeting with Professor Barnhart tomorrow morning. We got up early and after a great breakfast, hopped on our electric motorcycles and headed to the U.T. campus.

We arrived at the psychology building around 10:15 parked in the student parking lot and took the elevators up to the tenth floor where Professor Barnhart was waiting in his corner office. He stood up to greet us as we sat down in uncomfortable wooden chairs. Why do all these government chairs make you wish you had brought a pillow with you? Professor Barnhart began the conversation.

Have you thought about how we might get to the bottom of these mysteries? This whole situation keeps my wife up at night worrying about who might be breaking into our home. She is afraid whoever broke in will come back. She even purchased a gun. I must call her now before I come home. I’m afraid she will shoot me.

Cath, as usual, responded first. Professor, this entire story makes no sense. Why would someone go to all the trouble of breaking in, risking certain prison time, stealing something of value, then leaving behind an item of equal or greater value? It just does not add up.

Cathy, it is as though someone is playing a game with us. Their strategy just might be working. Sheriff Newberry believes that more of these break-ins are happening than go unreported. Some of these victims seem to be happy with the jewelry the thief is leaving behind. However, it is just a matter of time before someone gets shot!

Cath looked at the professor and spoke. What does Sheriff Newberry have to say about this matter?

Well, initially he was giving it a lot of attention. However, there has been a recent development with which he is now preoccupied.

I was on the edge of my seat. Please continue, Professor.

Professor Barnhart cleared his throat, then spoke. "There have been no new burglaries reported at Sunset Village over the past few days. However, it seems that over at our sister retirement community, Redstone, there have been several break-ins reported, but unlike the break-ins at our community, the thief did not leave any valuable replacements.

It’s almost like the burglaries at Sunset Village were a trial run. Leaving valuable items might be a way to throw the authorities off. I am thinking