Wild Rescue (18 page)

Chapter 72

I woke up to something sniffing my face.
I thought it was the bear and almost yelled before I remembered where I was and realized it was an alpaca. I sat up on my soft bed of hay in the barn. The animals were up, and the sun was peeking through the boards.

Ashley and I smelled like the fires, which had burned out. At least we had kept the animals safe. Whitney was standing still, but when Ashley moved toward her, she jumped. I guess she’d been sleeping.

We gave the alpacas their food and water, then carried our sleeping bags to the house. I pulled out the tube I had stuck in my pocket the night before and held it under the light in the kitchen. It had turned upside down, and a red spot dotted my pocket. I squeezed a drop of the stuff onto my finger. It didn’t smell like nail polish.

Ashley said, “Remember that play in sixth grade? I had to put fake blood on my arm. That’s the kind of bottle the stuff came in. Bryce, what if the girl—?” She stopped and pointed to the answering machine, which was blinking.

I pushed the button.

“Ashley, this is Officer Tolson from the sheriff’s department. Got your message this morning. We haven’t been able to get in touch with the Morrises, so if you hear from them, please have them call. Animal control said they had to tranquilize the dog to get him out of the truck.

“Normally we’d keep an animal like this until we can make a determination. But I have to be honest. We heard from the girl’s father yesterday, and he wants the animal destroyed. I’m sorry, but I guess we don’t have a choice.”

Ashley picked up the phone, shaking. “Bryce, Buck didn’t do anything to that girl.” She dialed, her lip trembling.

I took the phone from her, and she looked relieved.

The officer answered, sounding like he was in his car. I told him who I was. “Have they already . . . ?”

“Put him to sleep? Not yet.”

“When?”

He paused. “Unless we hear from the owners, the vet will put him down first thing Monday morning at nine.”

Chapter 73

Officer Tolson’s words haunted me
as we drove our ATVs home that morning.

I was afraid Mom wouldn’t let us stay at the Morrises’ that night, and that was the only way we were going to protect the alpacas and catch the thieves.

We hurried inside for breakfast. Mom smiled. “Is Leigh going to be gone tonight?” I said as she broke some eggs into a bowl.

“She and Randy are going to a movie. She should be back late. Why?”

“Bryce and I want to stay at the farm again.”

Bryce groaned as he opened the paper. “The Cubs traded one of their best pitchers to the Mets!”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Mom said.

“It was a terrible idea,” Bryce said.

“No, about staying there tonight. If Leigh isn’t here and you need her—”

“Mom, I have to see that game. They’ve got this new TV—it’s like being at Wrigley.”

I’ll admit ganging up on Mom was unfair. “You told Mrs. Henderson you like to say yes to us as often as you can,” I said. “That if you can’t think of a good reason to say no, you try to let us do what we want.”

She rolled her eyes. “You both look like you didn’t sleep well.”

“It was a lot of fun,” I said.

“Well, as long as that dog is there, I feel a lot better.”

I sneaked a glance at Bryce, but he just stared at the newspaper. Not telling her everything was like lying. Normally I could tell her anything.

Mom finally gave in, on the condition that we take naps that afternoon. That made me feel like a little kid, but keeping stuff from her made me feel terrible. I tried to tell myself I had no choice and that it was the only way to protect the alpacas, save Buck, and catch the criminals.

Chapter 74

Being in a cage
must be the worst for a dog that is usually able to run in big fields. Everything in him must have wanted to go home and protect his herd.

Then again, maybe it was like vacation. Meals brought to your kennel. You could lounge around and talk with the other campers. As much as I tried to make it funny, Buck was on death row. If we didn’t do something fast, his owners would return to find his grave.

Ashley and I went back to the farm before dinner and made sure the alpacas were okay. There were no more signs of the bear, but the animals stayed close to the barn. I guess they sensed Buck wasn’t there and didn’t want to take any chances.

We walked through the house trying to figure out what Eddie might be looking for. The big television was the only thing worth a lot of money. That and the leather couch, I guess.

“Has to be something else,” Ashley said. “Who would risk trying to lug that out of here?”

We went through the bedrooms and found Mrs. Morris’s jewelry box. There wasn’t much inside, and I figured she just wasn’t a jewelry person. Downstairs was a den with a big deer head on the wall and a locked gun cabinet with a glass door. I counted six guns. I wondered what the bear’s head would look like on the wall.

Ashley said, “What’s this?”

I shrugged. It looked like an end table with a Southwestern-style blanket over it, colored triangles woven into the intricate design.

She picked up the lamp and pulled the blanket away. Underneath was a gray safe with a huge metal handle and tumblers the size of my hand. I spun the knob and heard the
click-click-click
.

“Maybe this is what they’re after,” I said.

“Wonder how they would know about it,” Ashley said, looking around. “There’s no window down here. If we can get them inside and jam the door from the outside, we’ll catch the crooks. Then the police will have to believe us about Buck.”

Chapter 75

Mom looked concerned
when we came back to the house for dinner. She motioned me into the kitchen and asked me to sit down. She only does that when there’s a good reason, so I started getting nervous. “Denise’s mother called today,” she said.

“Oh?” I said as innocently as I could.

“She said you crept up on Denise and Liz and scared them last night.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I said.

Mom put up a hand. “She said they saw two fires at the Morrises’ last night. She wanted to know if you knew how dangerous that was.”

I nodded. “We wanted to watch the animals, so we stayed in the barn. We dug a trench around the fires—”

“Ashley, you know how edgy people are about fire during the summer. You can’t set campfires that close to the woods.”

“It won’t happen again,” I said.

Mom pursed her lips. “Denise’s mom also told me what happened with Buck.”

I felt a lump in my throat. I was sure she wasn’t going to let us stay at the farm, and I had to keep that from happening. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“I’ve tried to call Mr. Morris,” she said. “Can’t get through.”

“They’re going to put Buck to sleep if we don’t do something, Mom.”

“You should have told me.”

“I thought you wouldn’t let us stay out there, and if anything happened to the alpacas—”

“You should have told me anyway.”

“I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to him,” I said, tearing up.

“If you and Bryce want to stay the night again, it’s okay. I just don’t want you outside. Understand?”

I nodded.

“Pastor Andy called and wants to talk to you. I saw him at the grocery store yesterday and told him what you were doing this weekend. He wondered if you’d do a short devotional before Sunday school. He said you could tell what you’ve learned about alpacas.”

“I’m not sure I’ve learned anything.”

“Call him. Maybe by tomorrow something will come to mind.”