Puzzle Piece Bandit

Does this cat look like a criminal? Nonetheless, he is a very skilled thief.

During our COVID-19 sequester, Sue has completed over a dozen 1,000 piece puzzles and read as many best selling books. A 1,000 piece puzzle typically takes her 3-4 days. Thinking she needed a challenge, David got her a 2,000 piece puzzel for her birthday. It definitely was a challenge - a three week challenge. In the end, two pieces were missing.

Having removed Obie from the top of the puzzle more than a few times, he was a possible suspect even though Sue kept it covered when she was not working on it. One of the two pieces was found at paw's length under the rug below the table. Obie likes to reach under it. I placed that piece on top of the covered puzzle, but it was gone within a few minutes. Surely, Obie was the puzzle piece bandit. But where did he place the shortly found piece and the other missing piece.

We "staked-out" the area around the dining room table. A couple of days later, I caught Obie playing with one of the missing pieces on the nearby kitchen floor. Three days after that, Sue saw him reaching under the refrigerator. The other missing piece was there.

Obie is not in the "dog-house" - a cat will be a cat - but we now know to not leave out in the open small objects he may want to claim as toys.