Chapter Fifteen

Bev followed Hendry, Petula, and the rest of those gathered in the inn to the pasture that Earl Dollman had set up outside town. He was there in conversation with Ida, Claude, and Mayor Twinsly, who wore a look of superiority as they talked.

"To my eyes, nothing's broken," he said. "The gate latch is solid. Nobody's done a thing to it except, well…leave it open."

"And yet here we are. A pasture with zero animals," Twinsly said, glancing at Hendry. "Another stellar performance, Jo."

"He said it wasn't broken, Miranda," Hendry said. "Clearly, someone left the gate open."

"Who was the last one here?" Petula asked. "Ridge? Marcelano?"

The two soldiers looked sheepishly at the ground. "Well, we were both here. But…" Ridge began.

"But I guess…"

"I suppose…"

"Out with it," Petula barked.

"It's like…they disappeared," Ridge said. "Like…um…"

"Magic?" Bev prompted.

"Well, obviously not magic," Petula said with a shake of her head. "Because that would be in direct conflict with Her Majesty's edicts about magical use. And there's no one with an approved magic license in town, is there?"

Bev glanced around the group. In the mix, she counted at least two—Hendry and Ida—who had innate magic, and perhaps three more who might have some kind of magical abilities. But nobody made a peep.

"That's what I thought," Petula said with a huff. "Therefore, it's clear I need to write you both up for dereliction of duty."

They hung their heads. Bev didn't know what that meant for those in the queen's service, but based on their expressions, it wasn't good.

"And in the meantime, we need to find the livestock before someone else does," Petula barked. "The longer we stand around pointing fingers, the farther they'll be able to roam."

"How many animals are we talking about?" Bev asked Ida, who had her trusty clipboard.

"Ten cows, fifteen pigs, twenty sheep, eighteen goats, and twelve rabbits," Ida counted.

"How the heck did the rabbits get out?" cried one of those gathered. "They were in an enclosed pen!"

"The same way all the others did, I'd wager," Twinsly said, giving a death glare to Hendry, who returned it. "Someone clearly wanted to sabotage the livestock showing tomorrow. And considering most of those in the contest were from Middleburg—"

"Unless someone wanted to make Pigsend look bad by releasing the animals," Hendry shot back.

"Will you two cut it out?" Petula barked. "In all my years of judging, I've never encountered two politicians who act so immaturely. Whatever bad blood exists between you two needs to be set aside."

"Since there are so many animals to find," Claude said, "we should find more volunteers to search. Mayor Hendry, do you think you could round up people from town?"

"Of course," Hendry replied. "Pigsend is more than happy to work together."

"I'll be sure to call on the Middleburg delegation," Twinsly replied. "They're always eager to help out those less fortunate."

"I swear to…" Petula muttered. "Fine. Call the whole town if you want. But those who are here, get moving."

~

Word had already spread about the livestock being released, and a good number of Pigsend residents showed up near the pasture to form a search party. Hendry counted them off to Ida, who wrote down their names as she divvied them up into groups and sent them out into the night. When Twinsly returned with the Middleburg delegation, also sizable, Hendry very loudly said they weren't needed.

"You can return to your homes," she said. "We've got this covered."

"We don't," Claude said. "Let's take all the help we can get."

Hendry scowled at the young judge, and Ida wrote down their names, divvying them up into groups and sending them on their way.

"Where do you want me to look?" Bev asked.

"I don't know what else is left," she said, putting her hand on her forehead as she scanned the list. "But maybe you and Hendry can go somewhere else because she's getting on my ever-loving nerves."

Indeed, the mayor had let out a loud whoop of celebration when the first Pigsend search party came back with two cows.

"You see?" Hendry cried. "Don't send strangers to look in our town. We know where to look."

She seemed to regret her celebration when a Middleburg search party brought back three goats and Twinsly made sure Ida wrote that down.

"Wait a minute," Bev said. "You said you found the goats down by Eldred's place, right?"

They nodded. "That's where you told us to look, so that's where we went."

"That's on the polar opposite side of town from where the cows were found," Bev said to Ida. "How strange that they would travel so far so quickly."

More search parties came back with different animals found in different corners of town. Petula had said there couldn't have been magic afoot, but in Bev's experience, livestock didn't move that fast—except for maybe the goats. It was another curiosity, another question to unravel as to who was actually behind the chaos in town.

"I swear to… It's not a contest," Ida barked when both Twinsly and Hendry asked her who'd found more livestock. "The most important thing is that we find them all in time for tomorrow's competition. In case you ladies forgot, these animals actually belong to people."

"I didn't forget," Twinsly insisted.

"You absolutely did—"

"Hey, Jo," Bev said, as Hendry looked ready to attack. "Why don't you go search down by Pigsend Creek? Maybe some of the animals wanted a drink."

"And Miranda can go look up by the dark forest," Ida said, knowing that Hendry wouldn't argue with that destination.

"Fine," they said in unison then seemed annoyed they'd done anything together.

"Thank you," Ida whispered.

"But only if Bev comes with me," Hendry said.

"Fine, I'll go," Bev said without missing a beat.

"Be sure to come back and let me know, even if you don't find anything," Ida called as they split up.

~

It might've been a good time to have a dog around, even if that dog was a mischievous laelaps. Bev had her glowing stick, but she seemed to be the only one actually keeping an eye out for any of the animals. Hendry was too busy talking (very loudly) about how ridiculously Twinsly was acting.

"You can tell she knew what happened," Hendry said. "Absolutely obvious on her face. She wants to destroy our festival by any means necessary. It's a good thing Petula's starting to see through her tricks." She smirked. "I wouldn't be surprised if an inquiry was opened into Middleburg's management. The queen herself might step in and remove the mayor."

"For upending the Harvest Festival?" Bev asked. "Seems like an extreme reaction."

"Well, a gal can dream."

"Why don't we keep our voices down," Bev said. "We might be scaring away the livestock."

"Bev, this is on the opposite side of town," Hendry said. "I doubt we'll find anything over here."

"Won't we?" Bev walked to another thick bush and peered inside. "The animals seem to be spread to the four winds. That's awfully fishy."

"Animals move."

"Yes, but either the soldiers were asleep on the job for…well, hours, which doesn't make sense because Claude and Petula didn't come to dinner until seven. Or someone with some magic moved the animals." She rubbed her chin. "But why?"

"Because they—"

"What if it had nothing to do with the festival?" Bev said.

"Of course it had something to do with the festival."

"But what if it didn't? What does that change?"

Hendry sighed, watching Bev for a moment before responding. "I know that, for whatever reason, you like to see the best in people. But in this case, we know the Middleburg folks are cheating with magic. You saw it yourself. So, it's reasonable to assume they were also responsible for releasing all the animals so Petula will move the festival."

It was reasonable, and yet, Bev couldn't help but think there was more to the story.

"You said that…uh…dog of yours seems sensitive to magic, no?" Hendry said.

"Not my dog anymore," Bev said.

"Maybe you should get him back. Might help your investigation."

"How come I always end up investigating the problems in town?" Bev asked. "Why not get Rustin to handle it?"

"Darling, he's far too…busy."

"If you say so," Bev said, taking her glowing stick over to a dark clump of bushes and pushing them aside. Nothing. "But it's not in my job description to solve mysteries."

"It seemed to be with those sinkholes."

"Because…" Bev let out a frustrated noise. "Look. Next time something weird happens in town, leave me out of it. Got it?"

She lifted her shoulder and kept walking.

Bev glared at her but was grateful for the silence so she could listen for anything stirring in the darkness. They walked the length of the road, down close to Trent Scrawl's property where some of the sinkhole drama had taken place.

"Who do you think's going to win, Trent or Herman?" Hendry asked.

"Haven't really paid attention to their gourds," Bev replied, taking her glowing stick over to more thickets and pushing them aside. "But I know Alice is ready for it to be over."

"Mm. Does make for a fun contest though. We should have more rivalries. It might draw more people."

"We have plenty of people in town for the festival. Can't house them all as it is. Isn't that one of the strikes against us?" Bev said, crossing the street to look on the other side. Nothing.

"What if you expanded the inn?"

"I'll get right on that with all the gold I have hoarded in my shoe," Bev said. "Near cleaned me out to get the front of the inn repaired. Good thing those soldiers coughed up some money."

"Then I could invite someone to build another inn somewhere in the city."

"Fine by me," Bev said, annoyed with the conversation. Why couldn't Hendry leave well enough alone? The festival was fine at the size it was, even with the mishaps this year. Any larger and it would spill out of the town limits. If anything, she was inadvertently making the argument for it to be moved to Middleburg.

"How much farther are we planning to walk?" Hendry said with a loud sigh. "My feet hurt."

"I was going to go all the way to Sonny's Mill," Bev said, turning. "But we can head back if you want. I haven't seen as much as a hoofprint out this way. Hopefully, when we get back it'll be—"

A loud sound echoed through the darkness. Hendry let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched squeal of terror as she jumped toward Bev.

Bev held her breath as she lifted the glowing stick higher. "Hello?"

A beat. Then a bleat.

Bev's entire body relaxed. "A goat. Looks like there was something out this far after all." Hendry hadn't moved. "Are you going to help or not?"

"I'm not touching that thing," Hendry said with a frown. "It's filthy. And probably smells like a barnyard."

"That's because it lives in a…" Bev shook her head. "Are you telling me you searched for animals with no intention of bringing them back?"

"Why do you think I came with you? I'm not stupid."

Luckily, the goat had a collar and tag, so Bev guided the animal back toward the larger enclosure. She half-expected Hendry to peel off and head back to her house, but perhaps the mayor wanted to be seen as the hero, even though she'd done…exactly nothing to help.

A crowded pen welcomed the trio when they finally reached the pasture outside town.

Ida's face lit up in a relieved smile as she checked the clipboard. "That's the last goat," she said. "Thank goodness."

Hendry peered over Ida's shoulder at her clipboard. "How many did—"

"I stopped counting, Jo," Ida said with a look. "Everybody did their part. Hooray."

"Is everything back?" Bev asked.

"Let me check." She ran her finger down the pages then frowned. "No. I'm missing one pig."

"I'm not going to look for it," Hendry said. "It's past midnight."

"It's a Middleburg pig," Ida said, almost daring her to change her mind.

"Then Twinsly can find it." Hendry yawned. "I'm going home."

And before either of them could argue, she was halfway down the road.

"How many more search parties are out there?" Bev asked.

"None. You guys were the last," Ida said, letting out a yawn herself. "I really don't feel like going back out again. Vellora's already probably furious I didn't come home for dinner or to help clean the shop tonight. But it couldn't be avoided. Some of these farmers are our best customers."

"I'm sure she'll understand," Bev said, though she had a feeling Vellora wouldn't. "Look, it's late. There's nothing more we can do tonight. In the morning, we'll head back out and look again. I'm sure it'll turn up eventually."

"Hopefully," Ida said. "Or Petula Banks is going to have my head."

"After she finishes with the soldiers on duty, I hope," Bev said. "They were the ones supposed to be watching things. Not you."

"No, but, somehow…somehow all these mishaps end up on my shoulders as a committee member," she said. "I'm not getting paid enough for this. I'm not getting paid anything for this."

Bev could relate. "Let's get home. This will all look better in the morning."

They walked together in silence, only saying goodbye when they parted ways. But as Bev walked through the front door of the inn, her plans of falling headfirst into bed were dashed, as there was a large someone sitting in the chair by the fireplace.

"Merv, what are you—" Bev began but the mole man jumped to his feet before she could finish.

"Bev, I'm so sorry, but this…whatever he is…is a menace!"