The Illinois Detective Agency

The Case of the Missing Cattle

By: Al Lamanda

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In 1884, the founder and matriarch of the Illinois Detective Agency is now elderly and active in the way that “Charlie” of “Charlie’s Angels” was. Founded in 1848 as a Stock Detective Agency, the founder is still the backbone of the business he built from the ground up.

In the case of the Missing Cattle, the Stock Growers Association of Montana appeals to Porter for help with a major cattle theft problem inside the Montana Territory. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of cattle are being stolen off the open ranges and the local sheriffs and Army outposts are helpless to stop it.

Porter assigns two of his best agents to the case, James Duffy and Jack Cavill. Both are experts in forensics of the day, expert marksmen, superior detectives and fearless.

Duffy and Cavill go undercover as stock detectives. They discover a band of outlaws scattered throughout the state that is stealing cattle. They change the brands and sell them at an auction house in Wyoming.

The man behind it all has delusions of grandeur. He wants to use the massive amounts of money raised from the stolen cattle to finance his election as the first ever elected governor of Wyoming when it becomes a state and he will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.