Chapter Two

"Hmm, yes…" Winnie said as she pointed her magnifying glass at multiple areas in and around the hotel. So far, she had found nothing of interest except mere tufts of werewolf fur. "Jeez, do I really shed that much?" She thought to herself, a little displeased. After fifteen minutes of continued searching, she had come to one certain conclusion: She had absolutely no idea what she should be looking for.

"I just need to think like a detective…" She said to herself. "What would Dennis do in a situation like this?" She then remembered a particular game they played not too long ago. It was one in which Dennis had to find her in the Hotel after she had "escaped" from his "laboratory". He had used his sense of smell to track her down.

"Of course!" She exclaimed. "I should use my sense of smell to find the culprit!" She began sniffing around the hotel, starting with the scene of the crime. The stench of the spilled food was still potent, but she pushed through it. After a few minutes of sniffing, she finally picked up on a scent. It was faint, but it was there. And it led her straight to Dennis' room.

"This is impossible…" She said as she tried to make sense of what she was smelling. All the evidence seemed to point to Dennis, but she knew that couldn't be the case. He just didn't have it in him to do something like this, no matter how much he may have wanted to. The smell was perplexing to Winnie, it had elements of Dennis's scent, something she was deeply familiar with, but it also had elements of an entirely different scent entirely, one she was unfamiliar with. At first, she believed herself to be mistaken but, no, this was definitely it. What does it matter? What does it mean? There would be only one way to find out, and that would be to venture into Dennis's room. She recalled Mavis said no more playdates, but this wasn't a playdate. This was a case. And Detective Winnie was on the case.

However, just as Detective Winnie was about to enter Dennis's room, a familiar but nonetheless unwelcome face enter her presence.

"Stop right there!" Marshall, The Suits of Armor said. "You're not allowed to play in there, Mavis's orders."

"I'm not here to play, I'm on the case." She said as she held up her magnifying glass.

"The case of what?" They asked, unamused.

"The case of who vandalized the hotel!"

"It was Dennis, wasn't it?" They stated.

"No!" She protested, a pouting expression forming on her face.

"Oh but it was, I saw him. Yes I did." They confidently asserted.

"You…WHAT!?" She exclaimed, as she began shaking their metallic leg. This was a major development, but in the completely opposite direction. "Answers, now." She said, with a hint of seriousness in her voice.

"Yes, I was at the scene of the crime when the incident had taken place. I saw as Dennis wrecked the place. I couldn't believe it. I tried to stop him, but the boy was just too slippery, and he ran off back into his room. When I chased after him and into his room, he was nowhere to be found."

This new information from Marshall threw a wrench into Winnie's investigation. The scent she had picked up led her directly to Dennis's room, but if he was the one who did it, then why does it smell like someone else entirely? She needed to get to the bottom of this, and she needed to do it fast. She would need to devise a way to get past Marshall. She thought back once again to one of their many playtime adventures. She remembered when they played out of the story of Rapunzel. With Winnie being the titular character and Dennis her thief with a heart of gold. It was one of her favorite games that they had done together. They made a make-shift rope from blankets and placed it outside the window so Dennis could climb up it. Though he could've just turned into a bat and flied up to the window, but that wouldn't have been nearly as riveting.

"I got it! I'll use the window!" The young werewolf thought to herself. She looked at Marshall with an adorably innocent smile before saying, "Thanks, Marshall! See ya." As she then walks out of the front of the Hotel.

Marshall stood their momentarily confused before concluding, "You did good today, Marshall."

Meanwhile, Dennis could be found in his room, sulking. He looked tired and defeated, with bags under his eyes. It was clear he had been crying. That's when he started to hear noises emanating from outside his window. He looked outside his window only to see it was Winnie, throwing twigs, rocks, and other assortment of materials in order to get his attention. Clearly, it had worked. He quickly opened the window to hear what she had to say.

"Winnie! What are you doing?" He asked.

"Dennis! Let me in." She said.

"But mom said we couldn't play anymore until I'm ungrounded…" He stated, rather dejectedly.

"This isn't about play, this is serious business! I can solve this case, zing!" She stated with enthusiasm.

"This case…?" Dennis wasn't sure what she was talking about, but she seemed committed and serious about it. He transformed into a bat as he flew down and picked Winnie up, flying her up and into his room. It looked as if he had some difficulty with carrying her up but accomplished it nonetheless.

As soon as Dennis placed her onto the floor and transformed back into a human she would envelope him in a warm embrace. They stayed like that for a moment, just enjoying each other's company. They were content in each others' arms, and nothing else mattered.

"Thanks, I needed that." Dennis quaintly replied.

"Me too." Winnie said, before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Dennis, I know you're innocent and I'm going to prove it. I'll find the true culprit and set you free, or my name isn't Winnie K. Johnston!" She said with passion ringing from her voice.

"Your last name's Johnston?" Dennis questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"No, but that's besides the point." Winnie replied. "Point is, there's evidence here. I know it. I've smelled it." She said as she began sniffing the area. The scent was very close by, in fact, it was on the ground and there was more than one.

"What's this?" Winnie said, picking up the two items in question. One was a superhero mask, in fact, she had seen this one before, it belonged to Dennis.

"My superhero mask. What about it?" Dennis wondered.

"It has someone else's scent on it." Winnie noted. "In fact, it's the same scent from the scene of the crime."

"What are you saying?" Dennis asked, not sure where she was going with this.

"I'm saying that the culprit is someone who was recently in your room." She said.

The second item was a "Nintenboy 64", a hand-held video game console she only saw in commercials between watching Kakie the Cake Monster episodes with Dennis.

"Woah. I didn't know you had a Nintenboy, Dennis!" She said with astonishment.

"I don't, that's not mine." Dennis replied.

"Then whose Nintenboy is it?" She asked, Dennis could only reply with a shrug. "Well, whoever's it is, they've been in your room recently."

"How do you know?" Dennis inquired.

"The scent, remember?" Winnie answered. "Plus, it's not like you to just leave your stuff lying around."

"Good point." Dennis conceded.

"Now, can you fly me back down to the ground?" Winnie asked.

"Of course." He said before doing just that.

"Thanks, Dennis. I'll take it from here, I think I have all the evidence I need to pinpoint the culprit!" She said, stuffing the items into her pockets.

Dennis scratched the back of his head a little bit, "I didn't really do much at all." He said, modestly.

"Nonsense!" Winnie exclaimed. "You helped more than you know." She said as she gave him one final pat on the shoulder before running back to the Hotel.