It was much more fun to be on a stakeout with Cindy than with Mark from the Agency—the Yosemite Sam look-alike. I’d filled her in on the dogs’ disappearance from Joe Warner’s neighborhood and she couldn’t believe it either. As we chatted in low tones, I watched the neighborhood intently, almost willing something to happen, something to explain past events.
The row of houses seemed unremarkable and it was difficult to believe that anything bad could happen around here. Cindy and I had walked up one side of Mr. Warner’s street to the other and had spoken to a few neighbors about the kind of traffic they’d seen recently. No one had information to add to the little we knew.
I’d decided on a stakeout the next block over just to see if this neighborhood was any different than Joe’s. I watched the two story brick and wood homes, each with chimneys located on the right side, until my eyes bugged out. There was nothing unique about any of them. Once green lawns had either gone brown or had been replaced with xeriscaping. Bushes and sidewalks had taken the place of grass in this drought-stricken state. Some still retained small patches of grass around the front of their homes with a few fences like the houses on Joe’s street. I assumed the houses with fences were the ones with pets. I was particularly interested in those.
We’d shared a cold cup of coffee between us and the hours were stretching into two when the overhead streetlights came on and we were officially plunged into night. That was okay with me but I moved the car to a darker spot on the street anyway. It would be better if we went unobserved.
Slivers of light streaked Cindy’s pale head and I could see her eyelids begin to droop. Stakeouts were often boring but I’d never fallen asleep during one and it was a good thing. Suddenly, around the corner came a small dog running as fast as his little legs would carry him. I straightened quickly and shook Cindy awake.
“There’s a beagle running down the street. Look!” I pointed in the direction of the fast-moving dog. About that time, a man came tearing around the corner after him. And at the rate he was going, I knew he’d catch up to the dog pretty fast. Something wasn’t right and I jerked open the car door.
“Let’s go!”
I sprinted after the man who was after the dog. Good thing I’d worn my canvas shoes because running in the boots I usually wore would ensure I’d never catch anyone. Cindy was right behind me. I could hear her bursts of breath as she pushed them out.
“Hey!” I yelled at the man.
He flicked a look over his shoulder and shouted back, “Beat it!”
Of course, that just made me mad and I increased my speed. As I began to huff and puff though, I had to admit that maybe a visit to the gym might be in order from time to time. I knew Cindy went occasionally and her strides began to catch up with mine.
The beagle continued to run full out, even with all the pounding footsteps behind him. I’d run too if someone were chasing me like this. Cindy finally passed me and started to catch up with the man. Abruptly, the dog just stopped. The three of us couldn’t stop immediately and we almost ran past him. As he lifted a leg to spray a nearby tree, we grabbed the man as he grabbed for the dog.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing? Get off of me.” Red-faced, the man was stocky wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. He wiped the sweat off his face with the bottom of his shirt. Cindy had grabbed one of his arms while I bent over with hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. She was breathing hard too but managed to keep ahold of him.
“Why are you…puff, puff… chasing this dog?” I asked him finally.
His breathing was ragged but he made his irritation quite plain. “Because he ran…pant, pant… away from me. What… do you think? And who…puff… the heck are you?” He gulped in more air and shook off Cindy’s arm. “Why is this any of your business?”
I’d gotten some breath back in my lungs, wiped off the perspiration dripping from my face and reached over to pick up the dog.
“That’s my dog!”
I calmly turned the beagle’s collar around and hoped a dog tag was on it. Luckily, there was.
“Can you prove it? What’s the name on the tag?”
He put out his arms for the dog and I turned away. “Name, please?”
“Sam Brown,” he reached for his wallet, took out a driver’s license. “See? That tag has my name and address on it, plus the dog’s name.”
“Which is?” I concentrated on the tag in my hand.
“Rufus.” Convinced, I handed the dog over. He cuddled Rufus immediately and the dog began licking his hand.
“Now my turn. Who are you two?”
Cindy glanced over with a good luck expression on her face. She knew I had to come up with something fast and it needed to be believable. I can stretch the facts when I need to. Really.
“We’re part of a new Neighborhood Watch program.”
He narrowed his eyes, crinkly lines appeared in his forehead. “Neighborhood Watch? Don’t they watch for people breaking into homes? Why were you chasing me?”
“It’s a…” I darted a quick look at Cindy who spread her hands, “new part of the program and we’re on the lookout for anything strange.” I gave him my best intense stare. “Have you seen anything strange around here lately?”
“Besides the two of you?” he asked bluntly as he looked me over, took in my cape and deerstalker cap.
“Um, yes.”
He calmed down and seemed to be thinking my question over. I saw his eyes widen and he clutched his dog a little tighter. “Now that you mention it, my next-door neighbor said his dog went missing yesterday. I’d call that strange.”
“Was that the reason you were chasing Rufus here?” I patted the dog on the head. His pink tongue shot out to lick me in response.
“Partially. Rufus digs under the fence and has been known to make a break for it now and then. The last time he escaped, the Humane Society called since he has a tag and chip. Once before that, a guy two blocks over called to say Rufus was in his backyard playing with his dogs.” He angled his head. “So he has a history of running off.”
“And you decided to give chase this time,” Cindy began.
“I lucked out and I saw him take off. Because of my neighbor’s dog who’s gone missing, I’ve been watching him a little closer.” He nodded to her.
“I need you to point out the missing dog’s house, if you don’t mind. We keep watch for this sort of thing too.”
“Well, all right,” he shrugged. “In fact, you can talk to the guy yourself, if you want. He’s putting flyers everywhere and would probably appreciate that someone’s on the look-out.”
So we visited Sam’s neighbor for ten minutes or so, which netted us a little more information. Like the other dogs, his lab was playing in the front yard, the man went out to get the mail and the dog was still there. Yes, he’d seen a couple, a man and a woman walking down the street toward a van, but as far as he knew, they hadn’t been over by his house. When he went to bring the dog in, it was gone.
Back in the car, I sat quietly collecting my thoughts. Cindy was quiet too until she couldn’t take the silence any longer.
“What do you think?”
“It’s exactly like what happened on Joe’s street is my first thought.”
“And your second?”
I smiled at her and started the car engine. I put it into gear and turned to shrug one shoulder. “There’s one thing I know for sure, Watson.”
She laughed. “What’s that, Holmes?”
“The game’s afoot.”
“Which means?”
“We’re doing more stakeouts.”
She groaned and slumped in her seat. Too bad. With or without her, I was going to get to the bottom of this and as soon as humanly possible. There were precious animal lives at stake and the back of my neck was tingling—sometimes a bad sign but always meant that something was going down.
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