Eight

I followed the sound of Trixie’s bark. Activity on the street diminished as I walked. The streetlights and a few porch lights, along with the moon, were enough to show me the way. I paused once in a while to listen for Trixie’s barks to be sure I was heading in the correct direction. Brenda and Fagan passed me on the other side of the street, returning to the scene of the fire. In seconds, I was back at Rose’s house.

I walked through the arbor and around to the side of the yard. Someone had turned out the party lights that had glowed in strands above the dining table. Just before a cloud washed across the moon, I spotted Twinkletoes and Trixie at the edge of the garden—with a wolf.

We didn’t have wolves in Wagtail, I reasoned. But that didn’t stop my heart from pounding. The creature I had seen could devour them. It was far too big to be a coyote.

I stopped in my tracks, paralyzed with fear. For them as much as for me. “Trixie! Twinkletoes!” I called softly.

The cloud moved on, and I was able to see them better among the bushes and trees that lined the backyard, providing privacy from the house that backed up to Rose’s. The wolf sat up and looked toward me. He didn’t seem particularly interested in Trixie or Twinkletoes. But when Trixie began to bark again, he joined in, and Loki romped toward them.

My hands shook as I turned on the light on my phone and aimed it at the wolf. He was too far away for me to get a good look. I called Dave. He had to be worn out after fighting the fire, but he was our only police officer. If I called 911, they would patch me through to him or have him call me back. “I know you have your hands full, but I think there’s a wolf behind Rose’s house.”

I heard him sigh.

“Why are you behind her house?”

“She was having a dinner party for the WAG Ladies. Everyone left to watch the fire. Trixie led me here.”

“I hear Trixie barking. Is there a corpse?”

“If there is, I haven’t seen it yet. I thought it prudent to call you so someone would know about it when I’m attacked by the wolf. And it might be a good idea to stop the WAG Ladies, Oma, and Rose from coming back for the moment.”

“Be there as soon as I can.” The line went dead.

I could still make out Trixie and Twinkletoes sniffing something in the dark. Either the wolf was gone or his fur had merged with the colors of night. I edged closer very slowly. Did Rose lock her doors before she left? I hoped she had left them open so I could seek refuge there now if necessary. Could I reach the back door before the wolf could get to me? Probably not. Didn’t they say not to run from wild animals because they think you’re prey if you run?

I asked Siri to turn on the light on my phone, but I was still too far away to see if the wolf had left. I glanced around for a weapon. I realized there was no weapon besides possibly a gun that would help me fend off a wolf, but I felt better anyway when I picked up a folding chair. It wouldn’t incapacitate a wolf, but it might deter it some. Maybe.

I continued toward Trixie and Twinkletoes. If it was really a wolf, wouldn’t it have attacked them already? As far as I could tell, neither of them appeared to be afraid of him. It seemed to me that they would have run away from him by now.

I could hear female voices behind me. I didn’t dare take my eyes off the wolf. I yelled, “Stay back! Better yet, go inside the house.” Sucking in a deep breath, I aimed the light on my phone at the faint white cloud of Trixie’s fur. Just to her left, I could see the wolf.

He looked straight at me, and I felt a complete fool. It was Fritz, the missing German shepherd. No question about it. But with his long fur, he sure looked like a wolf in the dark.

Feeling much relieved, I walked toward the bushes. Fritz wagged his tail like he was happy to see me. But at his feet lay a human body.

Fritz appeared to be guarding the person, who was curled in a fetal position. Trixie was busy sniffing his shoes, and Twinkletoes was pawing at his abdomen. “Hello?” I called. There was no response. I wanted to check on the person. Maybe he or she was still alive. But I wasn’t sure how Fritz would react.

In a soft, high voice I said, “Well, Fritz, do you know that everyone has been searching for you? Where have you been?”

I offered my hand to Fritz to sniff. He wagged his tail and leaned against me, almost as though he was glad I had arrived. I took it as a sign of approval. Maybe he could smell my scent on Trixie and Twinkletoes and had deduced that I was okay. I stroked his large head while peering at the body.

I aimed my phone light at the lifeless person on the ground. Dark hair fell over his forehead. He had a mustache and needed a shave. It was Seth.

Twinkletoes mewed and pawed at his stomach.

I squatted next to Fritz. In a sweet tone, so I wouldn’t alarm Fritz, I called, “Seth! Seth!”

Moving slowly, I held my hand out toward Seth. It didn’t appear to disturb Fritz in the least. I moved closer to Seth and stretched my fingers to reach his neck. I couldn’t feel a pulse, but his skin wasn’t cold.

“Holly?” Holmes’s voice cut through the quiet night.

“Back here.” I replied, noting that Fritz showed no agitation whatsoever.

A strong light beamed at us. “Is that Fritz?” It was Dave’s voice.

“Yes. He looked like a wolf in the dark. I found the corpse, Dave. It’s Seth. Fritz hasn’t left his side, but he seems okay with me here.”

I watched as Dave and Holmes moved toward us slowly.

“I don’t know if he found Seth or if Seth found him. Rose has overhead lights, maybe even spotlights. It would help if they were turned on. Have all the ambulances left?” I was having so many thoughts at once I felt like I was blabbering incoherently, jumping from one subject to the next.

Suddenly the lights turned on. We were still far enough back in the yard to be in semidarkness, but I could see Seth clearly enough. Dave must have been on the phone because I heard him asking for an ambulance to return.

Dave walked over to Fritz and calmly said, “We’re glad to see you back in Wagtail, champ.” He gently stroked Fritz’s back, which made his tail swish back and forth.

“He seems okay,” he murmured, moving toward Seth.

Holmes scratched behind Fritz’s ears.

Dave knelt next to me and checked for a pulse, much as I had.

“He’s still kind of warm. Is he alive?” I asked.

Dave aimed his flashlight at Seth’s head and scanned it along his body. “No pulse. No sign of injury. No blood.”

But then something moved. I screamed and jumped to my feet. “Something is under him,” I breathed.

Dave stood up and aimed the light at Seth’s abdomen. Twinkletoes, who clearly thought she was superior to Dave, gently tapped her paw on the spot that had twitched.

“It could be a snake,” Holmes cautioned. My heart pounding, I hustled around Seth’s body, bent, and quickly swept Twinkletoes into my arms.

She yowled in protest and squirmed, but I held her tight. “Not a chance, little one. I’m not having some snake bite you.”

Dave cautiously walked around Seth’s body.

“See anything?” I asked.

He shone his strong light at the area in question. “It’s moving, but—” he squatted and his tone changed “—it’s a kitten!” Dave scooped up a tiny kitten that couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks old.

Fritz immediately sniffed the kitten and wagged his tail.

I set Twinkletoes on the ground. “I’m confused. Do you think Seth found the kitten and then died?”

“Possibly. Shove over. I’m going to start CPR.”

At that moment, an ambulance pulled up. I couldn’t see the vehicle, but flashing lights strobed in the night on the other side of the house. In less than a minute, three emergency medical technicians calmly walked past Rose and her guests to join us and assess the situation.

But their presence alarmed Fritz. He took one look, turned, and ran through the bushes.

“Oh no. Not again,” I groaned. “Why didn’t I bring a leash?”

Twinkletoes inspected the kitten and began to groom it like it belonged to her.

“I thought he would stay,” I said to no one in particular. They were more concerned about Seth, which was fully understandable. “I’ll go after him.”

I found I was trembling when I stumbled through the grass to Rose and Oma. “Do you have a rope or an old leash in case I can catch Fritz?”

“What happened?” asked Oma. “Who is that?”

Oh no. I didn’t want to be the one to break the bad news. But I didn’t have much choice. I had to tell them. “It’s Seth.”

“Is he hurt?” Oriana pressed a hand just below her throat. Her chest heaved with each breath. “Was he at the fire?”

“They’re trying to revive him. He’s not responsive.”

Addi wilted, but I caught her. She clung to me, whispering, “It can’t be.”

Brenda and Joanne appeared stoic, but they exchanged a look, and I suspected that Seth had not been a stranger to them.

Louisa and Oriana appeared to be in shock.

“How?” asked Oriana.

“What happened?” blurted Louisa.

Addi bit her lower lip and tears ran down her face.

If I had been a cop, I would have made note of the guilty look on Louisa’s face.

“We don’t really know. He was—” Someone nudged me from behind. I turned to see Dave and guessed that he had seen their reactions and didn’t want me to divulge much information. Not that I had much to share. “—just lying there when I found him. This is Sergeant Dave Quinlan.”

“Did any of you ladies know Seth?” he asked.

The awkward silence that followed went on much too long. Joanne was the one who finally spoke on their behalf. “Just to be clear, Sergeant, we all knew Seth. But we didn’t know him well. Obviously, since we were involved in rescuing animals and he was in the business of finding lost animals, our paths were bound to cross occasionally.”

“Dave?” asked Addi, letting go of me. “Dave Quinlan? It’s Addi.” She placed her hand on her chest. “Addi Lieras, don’t you remember? Gosh, I haven’t seen you since we were probably twelve years old.”

Dave grinned. “No kidding. I heard you were here visiting the judge.”

I stepped to the side to make room for Dave. He might have been speaking to Addi, but I could see how carefully he was observing all of them.

“Maybe we can find some time to catch up, Addi. I hope you might be able to tell us where to find his family or next of kin.”

Brenda mashed her lips together. Joanne was finally at a loss for words. Oriana was, for the first time since I had met her, losing her composure. She looked positively ill and nervously twisted her diamond-encrusted wedding band.

Brenda spoke up. “The last I knew, his parents lived in Cary. Larry and Barbara, I think. I don’t have an address or a number for them, though they used to live on Mourning Dove Lane. He was a friend of my brother’s when we were growing up.”

“Thank you very much. Did any of the rest of you ladies know him?” asked Dave.

Oriana said softly, “He worked for our company while he started his pet detective agency. Do you think he’ll be all right?”

“What company is that?”

“My husband and I own Treats and Toys, the pet supply company.”

“Rose,” I whispered. “A rope for Fritz?”

Rose fetched a rope from her house and handed it to me. “It’s better than nothing, I guess.”

I had wasted precious time, and the search for Fritz would now probably be for naught. Nevertheless, I had to try to find him. I fervently hoped that snakes slept at night. I left Dave with the WAG Ladies and stepped around the area where Seth lay to go in the direction Fritz had taken. I overheard an EMT say, “Doc will probably call it.”

So Seth was definitely dead. It couldn’t have happened long before I found him. I staggered back a little bit in shock. I’d hoped they could bring him around. He’d been loping along in Wagtail only hours earlier, not showing any sign of illness or even fatigue.

I struggled to shift my focus. “Fritz! Fritz, come!” I called him in a tone that I hoped would sound encouraging to him.

I asked Siri to turn on the light on my phone again, wondering how long it would last. And then I heard what I thought was Fritz barking and turned in that direction. I waited for more sounds from him. Unfortunately, dogs all over Wagtail were barking.

The moonlight illuminated Trixie’s white fur up ahead. I squeezed through bushes and past trees in spite of sharp twigs grabbing at me.

Trixie suddenly zoomed around me.

“Slow down!” I hurried after her, hoping she knew where Fritz was and that I wouldn’t trip over something in my haste. She was leading me through dense trees that ran behind backyards. My sandals weren’t the best thing to wear in the woods. I panted and did my best to catch up, but the truth was that I was slowing with each step.

I came to an abrupt stop at the road that marked the western boundary of Wagtail. The local church and graveyard weren’t too far down the road. But across from me was nothing but dark woods. Only then did it occur to me that Seth might have been in that exact location earlier in the evening. Had he ventured into those woods in pursuit of Fritz?

Trixie barked, and I caught a flash of her white fur. I crossed the silent street and entered the forest, moving much more slowly. I found Trixie standing next to Fritz. He sat like he had by Seth while Trixie was busy sniffing and wagging her tail like a little flag. I fervently hoped it wasn’t another dead person.