SALEM — The Crombie Street cat caper is closed.
It took eagle-eyed neighbors, a big-hearted store owner and a veteran detective to find a long-haired Maine coon cat that was snatched off a city street on Friday and taken by bus to a Salem apartment building.
The cat-napping triggered signs in store windows and postings on Facebook.
Lucy, it turns out, is no ordinary feline.
"He's just a real sociable cat, and has always been the mayor of this end of Essex Street," said Jeff McKee, owner of The Barking Cat, a pet store at 266 Essex St.
"Lucy is like a downtown institution," said David Pelletier of Crombie Street, the cat's owner.
For the record, Lucy, now 10, is not a female. In other words, she is a he who was mistaken for the opposite sex as a kitten and given a girl's name, which stuck. "He had so much hair we couldn't tell," Pelletier said.
On an average day, Lucy crosses Essex Street more than the UPS delivery man. Lucy used to spend so much time sleeping on the couch at the former Tompkins Furniture store that she sometimes got locked in for the night.
The Barking Cat has been the cat's second home in recent years. Lucy has a water bowl, sleeps in a special bed high above customers with dogs, and meows when she wants Kitty Kaviar.
So it was no surprise that alarms went off when word spread that the cat was missing and may have been taken.
The first to notice were Brian Donnelly and Mary Kelley, neighbors who did a double-take Friday night when they drove down Essex Street and spotted a stranger, an elderly man, awkwardly carrying the cat, whom everyone knows doesn't like to be picked up.
"The cat was out in front of him with his paws extended forward," Donnelly said. "... It was almost like there was a cartoon question mark over the cat's head."
They spun around the block, but by the time they got back, the man and cat were gone.
Alerts went out all weekend. The Pelletier family phoned and emailed friends. McKee put up a sign in his store window and posted a notice on Facebook.
Yesterday, a customer called The Barking Cat and asked about the popular cat. When she heard Lucy was missing, the woman recalled friends telling her about somebody in their Highland Avenue apartment building who mysteriously showed up with a cat over the weekend. After being told of the possibly purloined pet, the manager of The Fairweather Apartments called police.
Acting on the tip, Officer Bill Jennings headed over to the apartment building around 11 a.m. In addition to being a veteran officer and former detective, Jennings has another valuable credit: he is a customer at The Barking Cat and knows Lucy.
When the officer knocked outside the apartment, a 72-year-old tenant opened the door. Jennings glanced at the man and then the cat.
"That ain't your cat," Jennings said before scooping up the animal.
The man, who originally said the cat was a stray, told Jennings the pet followed him onto a bus. Police said they are not pressing charges because of the man's age and health issues.
For Jennings, a 26-year veteran who has tracked down drug dealers, prostitutes and even a dominatrix, this was another milestone.
"It was my first cat-napping," he said.
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Raw Video: Earthquake Shakes Evacuees in Italy
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
