| |
“JACKIE LEE, COME here boy, let me take your scarf off.”
Casey reached down and untied my scarf, and then she took her water bottle and doused it with water. After that she tied it over my nose and behind my head. It made the breathing a bit easier. She then did the same for herself.
It was pitch black, the building we were in was on fire, the door was jarred or something because we couldn’t get out.
There was a sound!
“Casey, Jackie Lee!!! Are you in there? Can you answer if you are?”
Casey looked at me, “It’s Peter and T.J., and they found us!”
“Peter, here we are!!!!” Casey yelled, then she grabbed my harness and we stumbled towards his voice.
Peter was hammering the wall; he finally broke a hole in it, and then tore the wood away. He stepped in with T.J. in front and shined a flashlight on us.
“Are you ok?” He asked Casey as she stumbled into his arms.
“Thank you for coming after us, please get us out of here.”
“No problem, I’m glad we got here in time to save you.” Peter said.
The flames were engulfing the building as he pulled Casey out, I followed T.J.
Hey buddy, that’s twice in two years I owe you for saving our lives. I barked.
No trouble, we need to work together now more than ever. I followed your trail and led Peter to you. T.J. barked.
“Ok pups, stop barking until we get safely out of here, let’s hurry.” Peter had turned back to tell us to be quiet.
We ran down the hill away from the fire and piled into the Jeep, Captain was guarding the vehicle, and we were in danger!
In the Jeep as Pete drove us away, he looked at Casey, “The door was padlocked from the outside, you’ve gotten too close to the killer; we can’t go home, a friend lent us her chalet to hide in.”
The road got narrow and we were climbing the mountain.
“We’re close to whoever is killing the horses competing in the ‘Gubelin Grand Prix of St. Moritz.’ The prize money is 135,135 Swiss francs, which comes to something like $138,500 dollars, plus fame and recognition. All I can say is thank goodness for T.J. being so good at scent and finding us.” Casey replied.
“Casey, T.J., Captain and I want to join you and Jackie Lee, the GSD Agency, and be a part of your team. I don’t need the money and you know I don’t need to work. You wouldn’t either if you’d marry me.” Peter was concentrating on the road.
I think he was serious but of course Casey didn’t jump with an answer.
Casey looked at him, “Why Peter, that’s a funny way of asking me.”
“Well, you’re so busy I haven’t had time to make it romantic, but I can tonight.” He grinned at her.
“Let’s get to the place and get cleaned up, all I can smell is smoke.”
Peter told her, “That place is toast behind us; they meant to kill you and Jackie Lee! I’m not going to let that happen on my watch.”
Casey squeezed his arm; “You and T.J. are definitely our hero’s.”
Then Peter, keeping his hands on the steering wheel and navigating the windy, muddy and curvy road up to the chalet said, “Casey, the first time I saw you on Sandy Island and I looked at you, then met you, my heart melted, and I fell in love with you. You have brought fun, happiness, adventure and life back into my life and T.J.’s too. You melt my heart and you’re the smartest, kindest person I could ever want to know. The way you look at Jackie Lee and all of our dogs I see the person you really are. It makes me love you even more. These last couple of months here in Switzerland with you have made me look at myself even more. I will make it special when I ask you.”
Well it’s about time, I barked to T.J.
Woof! T.J. answered.
Casey looked at us and laughed.
“Peter, that is the kindest thing anyone ever said to me, except for Steve right before Jackie Lee and I were thrown out of the airplane in that horrible storm. So, hold on to that thought because I think there’s trouble ahead!” Casey grabbed the dashboard.
“No kidding, what are all of the police doing?” Peter pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road and rolled down his window.
The policeman approached, “Sir, you can’t pass this way, there’s a hostage situation.”
He pointed down the road, “If you go back about a mile, there’s an access road to the chalets up the hill. Take a left and follow the road up, you will miss this mess.”
“Thank you, sir.” Peter rolled up the window and started backing down the hill.
The wind was howling, and dusk was falling, the trees threw a shadow over the road, Peter took it slow, it seemed like forever, but we finely made it up to our chalet. Peter pulled in the driveway and let us out. We got inside the chalet, it was an A Frame; and I couldn’t see much because it was too dark. Peter flipped the light switch.
“No power Casey, I have a flashlight in the Jeep let me go get it for you and I’ll get the fire going. It’s nice they have wood stacked on the porch.” Peter came back and handed the flashlight to Casey.
“Thank you, Peter, let me hold the flashlight for you until you get the fire going.”
“Thank you, Casey, let’s find some lanterns after I light the fire.”
The fire was lit; there were lanterns in every room. Peter lit them, it was pretty cozy, then Peter took us dogs into the kitchen and fed us while Casey showered and changed. She joined us all refreshed, Peter set out crackers, cheese, salami and wine on a table in the living room. He and Casey sat on the big cozy chair by the fire, I stuck close to Casey, Captain was over by the fire and T.J. was in between Casey and Peter’s legs on the throw rug.
“Casey, you and Jackie Lee could have been killed if we hadn’t arrived in time. Please tell me how the two of you got trapped in that building.” Peter took a sip of his wine, there was still no power.
“There was a letter addressed to me under our front doormat this morning. You were already gone, I opened it and it said that someone had information to the whereabouts of the killer. I left Captain to watch the villa, T.J. was off with you, so I left that note you found from me with the address we were going to and Jackie Lee and I took off. We got to the meeting place, it was an old warehouse, the door was opened, and the light was on. I stopped at the door, said hello and we stepped inside. As soon as we did the door slammed, I turned to push it back open and couldn’t budge it, and then the lights went out. I was really frightened; I held on to Jackie Lee and walked along the wall looking for a way out. That’s when we smelled smoke! I covered our faces with the handkerchiefs after soaking them in my drinking water. That’s when you saved the day making a hole in that wall to get us out! I’ve never
been so frightened in my life!” Casey grabbed Peter’s hand, “we need to narrow this down.”
“Casey, they know where we live, that’s why we are staying here; in the morning we’ll go back to our villa and get a list of all of the neighbors. Someone knows something. I’m ready to pull you out of this mystery, it’s gotten too dangerous.”
“Peter, we need to solve it, no more horses need to die or disappear!” Casey sounded determined not to quit.
Everything went smoothly that night, to my relief no big events happened. The next morning all of us piled into Baron’s truck. We headed back to the place we went yesterday. Baron stopped at all of the local places and asked if anyone had seen new people, anything strange lately, his horse. He showed her picture all around. Then we unhitched the horse trailer and took the truck up the road to the house. We looked through the windows of the house, no one was there, the barn was the same. Then I saw something we hadn’t noticed yesterday!
“Five top contender horses have been eliminated by either disappearing or poisoning. The big event takes place in four weeks. We need to figure out if it’s another contender doing this or someone else. We’ve visited with the owners, we’ve covered all of the questions, like is it a disgruntled jockey or trainer. No one has admitted anything. We’re meeting Andre in the morning at our villa; he’s the retired police chief that I introduced you to when we first arrived. The police department has brought him back in to help on the case. I went to the police station this morning for a meeting, I’m now a deputy.” He reached in his pocket and took out a badge, “I don’t want you or Jackie Lee to go anywhere without me knowing until this case is solved.”
“That’s impressive,” Casey took it and checked it over, then handed it back. “Any suggestions?”
“Andre has some, we’ll find out in the morning, we might as well get to sleep early, there’s no electricity anyway.” Peter got up and took Casey’s hand, “Come on, I’ll put you and Jackie Lee in your room. I’m sleeping out here with Captain and T.J.”
“Just let me take a lantern and I’ll find my way.” Casey hugged him, “Good night.”
“Good night Casey and Jackie Lee.” Peter rubbed my head, “Look after our girl tonight kiddo.”
I wagged my tail and followed Casey into a dark bedroom; I jumped on the bed and waited for her, not a bad mattress. Before I knew it, I was sound asleep.
Casey had her arm resting over my shoulder and I felt secure, I might have been snoring. Casey usually pokes me if I snore, but after the day we just completed another surprise would be too much.
Then it happened!
Our window shattered!