Halloween Hijinks (A Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 1) (6 page)

Wednesday turned out to be a strange day. One of the strangest I’d had for quite some time.

The day started off, as
do most of my days on the mountain, peaceful and calm, in the presence of nature and good friends. Charlie and I went for our early morning run, first along the lakeshore as we greeted the sunrise and galloped among the geese, then through the densely forested footpath that led to the marina at the north end of town. As we ran along the main street of Ashton Falls, we waved to proprietors just opening their shops, stopping briefly to talk to a few, but never very many and never for very long. As we neared the south end of town we veered slightly to the left, once again taking to the forest trail blanketed with the yellow leaves of autumn as the days shortened and winter neared.

After we got back
to the boathouse I fed the animals and then showered while the coffee dripped. After dressing casually in jeans and my official county shirt over a black tank, I sat down on the railing of the deck overlooking the lake and watched the forest come to life for yet another day. It wasn’t until Jeremy called just as I was turning onto the highway that things started to gently merge toward the bizarre.

“M
rs. Pansy called,” Jeremy informed me. “Said Sadie is up a tree and can’t get down.”

“Up a tree?
” I questioned. Sadie is Mrs. Pansy’s dog, some totally unidentifiable mixed breed of nonspecific origin.

“That’s what she said
. I can head over if you want.”

“No, I’m not far from there now
. I’ll check it out on my way into work.”

I’ve been working with animal control and rescue for a long time
. I started off as a volunteer when I was still in high school and have continued on as an employee; first part-time during summer breaks when I was in college, and now as the county director for the Ashton Falls facility. I’ve seen a lot during those years, but I have to admit that this was the first time I’d ever come across a dog up a tree. It looked like the Halloween hijinks were starting early this year.

When I arrived at Mrs. Pansy’s home I verified that Jeremy had been correct
; there was indeed a dog in a tree. A very frightened dog, by the look of things.

“She do t
his often?” I asked Mrs. Pansy.

“No
. Never. I didn’t even know dogs could climb trees.”

I studied the area
. The tree in question was easier than most to climb. In fact, it was just the type of tree I would never have been able to resist when I was a child. There were low branches that served as a base from which to access higher limbs that were conveniently spaced for maximum access. Sadie was perched on a branch about twelve feet off the ground in a bowl-shaped area where several branches met to form a perch of sorts. I realized that the only way the silly dog was going to get down was if I climbed up and got her.

I s
et my gear on the ground and started up the tree. Sadie was making the most god-awful noise that sounded like a cross between a howl and a screech. I forced myself to ignore the intense desire to cover my ears as I methodically climbed higher and higher. There’s a certain rush that can be had climbing a tree. Much of my childhood was spent high atop the branches of the trees that surrounded the cabin where Dad and I lived while I was growing up. As I inched my way toward Sadie, I remembered the feeling of freedom that can be found thirty or forty feet above the ground. My dad used to say that if he couldn’t find me, the first place he looked was up.

I focused my attention on the tree I
was scaling. As I looked up into the branches dappled with sunlight, I smiled. In another situation I might have explored the limits presented by this specific tree, but poor Sadie looked scared to death. I was afraid she was going to take matters into her own metaphorical hands and jump before I could reach her and lower her safely to the ground, so I set my own yearnings aside and focused all my attention on the dog.

“I’m coming to get you
, sweetie.” I tried for a calm and soothing voice, which I realized was never going to be heard over Sadie’s caterwauling. “Stupid dog,” I said louder. “The first rule of tree climbing is never to climb up a tree you can’t climb down.”

Sadie stopped howling long enough to look at me
. I guess that got her attention. “I’m going to move to the branch just below you,” I explained, certain that she understood. “Once I get my footing, I’m going to lift you off the branch and tuck you into my shirtfront. It’s important that you not wiggle around. Capiche?”

Apparently Sadie did
, because other than a quick lick to the cheek, she followed my directions to a T.

“Oh
, thank you!” Mrs. Pansy grabbed Sadie the moment my feet hit the ground. “I can’t imagine how she got up there.”

“Yeah
.” I glanced at a pair of tweens watching and laughing from across the street. “I can’t imagine.”

Several hours later I was cruising the alley behind the shops on Main Street looking for Dumpster dogs when I noticed Pack Rat Nelson sorting through the garbage behind Second Hand Suzie’s. Pack Rat, so nicknamed due to his propensity for collecting
everything
, waved to me as I slowly neared. Pulling my truck next to the stout man with the bulbous nose and bloodshot eyes, I smiled at him in response to his toothless grin and asked how he was doing.

“Can’t complain,” he grunted
. “You find a home for that mutt I brought into the shelter a few days ago?”

“I did
. I meant to stop by and thank you, by the way. Poor little guy had an intestinal blockage. He would have died if you hadn’t rescued him.”

“Glad to help.
” Pack Rat picked up a lamp that was broken at the base and gently set it into his shopping cart. “I normally leave those who want to live on the streets to themselves, but the dog was moving slow and I was afraid if I didn’t bring him in Sasquatch would get him.”

“
Sasquatch?”

“Seen i
t every night for the past week or so. Comes out after dark.”

“Are you sure you haven’t been seeing a bear
? They’ve been extra-active lately.” While we don’t have grizzlies in our area, our black bear population is both plentiful and dynamic. Every year, once the weather starts to cool, the bears enter into a feeding frenzy in preparation for hibernation, and the dumpsters along Main Street become a smorgasbord of cubby delight.

“No,” Pack Rat insisted
. “Not a bear.”

“
Can you describe what you saw?” I asked. On one hand, Pack Rat has a strange hobby, but as far as I knew he wasn’t crazy. If he said he saw something, I’d be willing to bet he had.

“
Tall, broad shouldered, face like a gorilla, body like a man. I know what you’re thinking, but I really did see it. I was looking for scraps behind the lumberyard when I saw a kitten scramble under a woodpile. I was following the kitten to the back of the lot where its mom and siblings were hiding when I saw something coming from out of the woods. I scrunched down behind some logs, but I got a good look at it.”

“Do you think it saw you?” I
asked. I made a mental note to check on the kittens. If I could capture both the kittens and the mother, I could find homes for them where they would be safe from the coyotes that blanket this area. The fact of the matter is, our feral cat population is close to nonexistent due to the large number of natural predators.

“No,
” Pack Rat responded. “It was pretty intent on heading wherever it was it was going. He pretty much kept his head down.”

“And he was heading to the alley behind Main Street?
” I clarified.

“Yup
. I followed him for a spell, but I tripped over an old soda bottle, and I’m afraid that got his attention. I took off real quick like.”

Pack Rat picked up a discarded fork and wiped it clean on his stained overalls
. He held up the fork to the light for a better look. Satisfied with what he saw, he placed the fork in his pocket.

“If you see Sasquatch again
, will you let me know?” I requested. It wasn’t that I was worried that the
real
Sasquatch was prowling around Ashton Falls, but if we had a nuisance animal, I felt it best that we dealt with it sooner rather than later.

Pack Rat shrugged but didn’t say anything
. I handed him $20. “A reward for bringing in the sick dog,” I informed him. “Thanks again. Oh, and about those kittens,” I added, as I placed the truck into drive. “I really should pick them up and find them homes before the coyotes get them. Can you remember how many there were?”

Pack Rat paused
. I knew he was trying to decide whether or not to help me with the kittens. I understood his philosophy that both people and animals should be allowed to live as they saw fit, but I also knew the kittens would never make it into adulthood if left to fend for themselves.

“They’re too little to take care of themselves,” I reminded him.

“Four,” he finally answered. “There were four. One orange, two black, and one gray and white.”

“Thanks
.” I smiled at the man. “I appreciate your help.”

“The orange one is tricky,” he warned
. “Gonna be hard to catch him.”

“I’ll see what I can do
, and if I can’t get him, maybe you can help me later. After lunch.” I glanced at the twenty he still clutched in his hand.

Pack Rat looked at the money in his hand and headed down the alley toward Jim’s Taco Hut.

I radioed Jeremy to let him know I was going to head over to the lumberyard in the hope of locating and capturing the kittens. If I could catch the mom, I would. Feral cats rarely made good pets and are hard to place, but maybe the poor mom hadn’t been on her own for long and was still salvageable. If not, I’d try to find a placement for her on one of the ranches in the valley, where there were mild winters and plenty of barns to hide in.

“How’d you do?” Jeremy asked as I walked in the door of the shelter an hour later with the five cats in a crate and Charlie on my heels.

“Got
ʼem all. The mom seems friendly enough. I’m betting she had a home and either wandered off or was abandoned. Let’s put out a standard notification in case she’s simply lost. The kittens are about four weeks old. We’ll keep mom and kittens together a couple more weeks and then start looking for homes for them if no one claims them.”

“
Tawny Upton is looking for a kitten for Emily,” Jeremy informed me. “She was in a few days ago and asked me to keep an eye out for one. I guess she promised Emily she could have her own cat when she turned ten.”

“Give her a call
.” I released the mom and kittens into a large holding pen, where they would have plenty of room to wander around. “Do we still have that bedding we used for the Doberman puppies?” I asked.

“Yeah, I washed it and put it in the storeroom
. I’ll get it.”

“Grab a litter box while you’re in there,”
I suggested. I stopped to cradle and caress each of our new residents as I placed them into the pen. The mom actually looked relieved that someone was helping out, if it was possible for a cat to look relieved. She began to purr, confirming my suspicion that she hadn’t been on the street long. I hoped we’d find her owner, but if not, I had several seniors in mind who might welcome an adult cat into their homes.

I sorted through the messages on my desk as I waited for Jeremy to return with the stuff from the
storage room. The Bryton Lake shelter had three dogs they desperately needed to place and wondered if we could find homes for them. I never turn down an animal on the short list for disposal, so I made a note to call them and arrange for a pickup.

“Have you heard anything about Sasquatch sightings?” I asked Jeremy when he returned to the office.

“Sasquatch?” Jeremy looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“I had a conversation with Pack Rat earlier
, and he mentioned seeing Sasquatch several times during the past week.”

“Probably a bear.
”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought
. Still, it occurred to me that with the rash of break-ins we’ve been having, maybe what he really saw was our local thief.”

“Could be
.” Jeremy shrugged, “By the way, Zak came by. He brought Lambda. It was good to see them both. He mentioned he was looking into buying a house and staying around for a while.”

“Yeah,” I
said vaguely. I didn’t want to rehash my feelings about Zak’s return to the area with Jeremy. For one thing, what I had thought were strong feelings of repulsion for the guy were becoming inexplicably muddied with something so closely akin to fondness that it was totally freaking me out.

“He offered to help out with the pet adoption booth at
the community picnic on Sunday and I took him up on it. I figured it’d be nice to have the extra help. We’re going to need a few more pets, though.”