Chapter 114: The Uninvited Party Guest
Jake attends one of Gazelle's holiday parties and runs into a former rival's student.
The lean raccoon in the black tuxedo stood in the corner of the room. His odd pale yellow colored eyes swept over the crowd before him and then at the insides of the opulent luxury condominium, it was the gaze of a professional burglar seeking and evaluating everything for its value. The room was gaily decorated for the holidays, with a large almost gaudy looking silver colored artificial fir tree with bright pink and blue ornaments dominating the large room. A well-dressed crowd of animals had gathered around another handsome male raccoon, who was playing jazz on a large grand piano. This musical guest was a famous movie star. For a moment the lean raccoon's eyes lingered on his wife Marie in her simple, but elegant, black dress and he gave a slight frown when he realized that she had gone all 'fangirl' over the other raccoon.
"Jake, why do I get the willies every time I see you standing alone at one of these parties?" a pretty black and white-furred skunk in a white pleated dress shirt and black slacks asked as she offered the raccoon a small fluted glass of bubbly Champaign. "It always looks like you are casing the joint."
"Sorry Kathy, I sometimes get nervous at these events," Jake answered. "All I can think about is how easy it would be to hit one of these places during a gathering like this…" The raccoon suddenly went silent when he noticed a long black tail disappear into a room upstairs.
"If I didn't know you better, I'd be worried when you say things like that," the skunk answered. "You know you have already stolen the best roommate a girl could ever have. Marie was one in a million."
"I noticed that you still own that cheap Mickey Mouse watch that I gave you before Marie and I went on our first date."
"Marie still gets a kick seeing me wearing it. It reminds her of what I did to you the night when you and I first met at that bar."
"I was nervous enough with just approaching Marie and then you asked me for the time while I was holding my drink in my left paw. I dumped my drink right down the front of my pants when I turned my wrist to look at my watch."
"You may have been one of the city's heroes that night for stopping a mad scientist's plans to infect the feline population with a new strain of distemper, but I wasn't buying that goofy suave act you were trying to give her. I just figured you were another jerk low life raccoon chasing after Marie because of her looks and that she had a good-paying job."
"You are a good friend."
"I never thought I'd ever end up catering a party at Gazelle's place," Kathy continued. "This is a really nice place, when did you two meet?"
"I was preparing a quote for the security system over at a mansion she was building in the Rainforest District and I walked into the upstairs bathroom when she was taking a bubble bath."
"You just walked in on the famous music star Gazelle and she was naked in the bathtub?"
"Yep, that was years…" the raccoon hesitated for a moment and then changed the subject. "Did you hire anyone new for this gig?"
"One of my regular employees got sick and so I had to hire a replacement, but she came highly recommended. Is there a problem?"
"No, not really," Jake lied as he began to walk towards the staircase.
A black-furred cat dressed in a catering uniform was inside of one of the upstairs bedrooms and she softly cursed while she stared at the wall safe in front of her. "This isn't the model of safe that I was told she owned. This is a brand new state of the art model."
"That's because I gave her that new one for her birthday last month," a voice said from the doorway and the cat deftly sprung around with her claws out ready for a fight. She slightly relaxed when she saw the raccoon standing there. "The other one was a cheap piece of garbage which anyone could break into. You aren't going to crack this new one with those few tools you have in front of you either, you need a drill."
"Runnel," she softly hissed. "Gazelle isn't one of your clients, what are you doing here?"
"She is a friend and I was invited to her party. Actually, her manager invited me but I think he only wanted me here so he could show off that Gazelle had some friends who were raccoons since her guest of honor tonight is also a raccoon," Jake answered as he crossed his arms and gave her a grin. "Selina, I can't say it is good to see you again under these circumstances. Next time I see Le Rouge at the prison, I have to tell him his former protégé is now resorting to petty theft."
"The diamond necklace she wore to the charity ball earlier tonight is well worth over fifty thousand bucks."
"It's fake," the raccoon chuckled. "Her real one is still locked up in a safety deposit box at the bank."
"I don't believe you!" Selina hissed out.
"She was wearing one of Benny the Moocher's creations with cubic zirconia," Jake continued.
"So are you here to arrest me?" the cat burglar asked as she took a fighting stance. "I won't go down easy."
"Nope, I just want you to go," the raccoon said as he stepped aside, leaving the doorway unobstructed. "My buddy Nick Wilde is the cop, not me."
"You are going to let me leave?"
"Why don't we call it an early Winter's Eve gift? Besides, it will ruin the party if I tried to stop you and called the police."
Selina's green eyes widen slightly in surprise before she tentatively walked towards her freedom, the raccoon didn't move to stop her. Pausing at the door, she turned back and gave Jake a grin before blowing him a kiss.
Now standing at the top of the stairs the raccoon watched as the cat calmly sashayed down the stairs and boldly strolled out of the front door.
"What was all of that about?" Kathy asked while she watched as her new employee walked out the door. A few moments later, Jake descended the stairs and plucked up another glass of Champaign. "Where did Suzie go?"
"Yeah, about her…let's just say you don't have to pay her for her work tonight and never hire her again," Jake replied before he lifted the glass and saluted her. "Here's to old friends."
The puzzled looking skunk just shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't really want to know what is going on, do I?" she finally asked.
The raccoon answered with a knowing wink.
