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My latest case involved a ruined birthday party, an obsessed divorced father, and a supposedly air-tight alibi. The client came to me early in the morning, just minutes before Danny's Boulevard of Books & Coffee opened, in fact. As a horde of customers started coming in not too long afterward, I invited the tranquilly angry she-wolf to my back office, where she detailed me her story.

It all came down to a typical failed marriage. A pair of wolves fell in love after being introduced by the man's brother, they tied the knot, then had a family together. However, Mr. Janowitz emotionally neglected his wife and cub over the years while reaching the top of his workplace's ladder, and he got handed divorce papers months later when it became clear he loved the new job position (as an advertising agency's CFO) more than he loved them. He tried getting sole custody, but enough evidence from his ex-wife's lawyer forced Mr. Janowitz to settle for joint custody. Things began to turn sour with the agreement after Mrs. Janowitz changed back to her surname and became Ms. Paulson. What set her ex-husband off though was when she asked their young daughter, named Mary Jane, if she wanted to take her mother's or father's surname, and the cub chose the former. A heated argument and a few death threats later, Mr. Janowitz lost all custody. Ms. Paulson thought it was the end of it.

Unfortunately, Mary Jane had a big birthday bash at a local park. When they were doing a scavenger hunt, a masked wolf with no scent on him tried luring her away. She refused, and then he tried taking her by force. Her screams led to a quick response, so the kidnapper ran off before he could take her. Mary Jane's tenth birthday party--her golden birthday--had to be canceled due to the ruckus.

Of course, Ms. Paulson immediately assumed it was her former husband. He matched the description. He got questioned by the C.C.P.D., but a solid alibi indicated he was still at work that day when everything went down. So, the police had no choice but to let him go while still trying to catch the culprit. Ms. Paulson didn't buy his so-called innocence.

Mr. Janowitz refused to speak with me without a lawyer present, leaving me to spend a few hours looking through the elusive wolf's social media accounts, his company's website, as well as the social media accounts of his underlings. I sent some emails to the higher ups of his company, asking if they could confirm his presence at the office on that exact day, then decided to give up and make some dinner. As I trudged in defeat up to me and Daniel's shared apartment, something toxic and putrid could be smelt in the air. It came all the way from our bathroom.

Abruptly knocking on the open door, but not seeing what the Saint Bernard was up to until it was a second too late, I loudly asked, "Hey, Daniel, what's going--"

Barking in surprise, Daniel suddenly jumped up to his feet, frantically steadying the bottle he'd been gripping. I exhaled in relief the same time he did, once the rancid smell of chemicals wafted in my direction. Oh, right. The shower drain needed to be unclogged, so the older canine bought heavy-duty Drano.

"You almost caused me to turn our tub into an acid bath!" Daniel rightfully chastised me. "Please, Zack, for the love of God, never do that!"

"I'm sorry, Daniel." I apologized. "Didn't realize you were doing it right after work. Are you okay?"

"Just fine." He sighed. "At least I didn't spill anything..."

He turned on the air conditioning within the bathroom. My whiskers wrinkled at the stench that started to leave. "That's some pretty high-grade stuff there," I commented as he placed the large container under the bathroom sink. "I could smell it from downstairs."

"Yep. Cost me thirty-five dollars." He grumbled, stretching his arms and wincing at the wafting smell as well. "If this doesn't get the damn drain unblocked, I'll be a Doberman's uncle and give the salesman who boasted about this a piece of my mind. I'll go full Karen on him for making me spend twenty extra dollars."

"Huh?" I perked an ear up high. "What did you say?"

"I'll go full Karen?"

I waved my paw dismissively. "No, no, before that."

"I'll give the salesman a piece of my mind?"

I groaned, "Before that too."

"I'll be a Doberman's uncle?" He repeated in confusion, then stared with wide, fearful eyes. "Oh, no. Was that racist or something?"

"Not at all," I shook my nostril. "It just gave me an idea for a case I'm on. I'll be upstairs for dinner later, so don't wait up! Thanks for helping, Daniel!"

"Yeah, sure. Anytime, buddy."

Immediately, I went to my computer in the Leander Investigations, LLC office. If memory served me right from Ms. Paulson's testimony, she'd been introduced to her now-ex-husband because of his brother. They were a year and a half apart in age. The duo weren't exactly close, but when push came to shove, they often stuck out for each other when the goings got tough. The brother, named John, also happened to greatly resemble his older brother.

Fur patterns? Match! Height? Just by an inch or two, but match. Same build, facial structure, tail, etc. What helped prove my case against the younger brother being the attempted kidnapper had been when I found his social media profile. It showed a significant gap in posting between the day before Mary Jane Paulson's tenth birthday party and the day afterward. Otherwise, you would've assumed the wolf was a social media addict.

I sent the information to Ms. Paulson, who sent the information to police and a local judge. From what I managed to gather, the warrant led to them finding the brother's residence, with the kidnapper's gear in the bedroom closet. To add icing on the cake to further cement their guilt, Mr. Janowitz was caught by border patrol trying to flee south for Mexico.

Safe to say, he and the brother were going to prison for a long time.

Ms. Paulson also said she promised her daughter an even bigger birthday party next year, to make it up for her. What a good mother.