I drove straight for the barn and we quickly exited the car. Daisy prattled on about how she was going to find the clues to discover who took Rudolph and who hit Charlie. “I think it’s the same human,” she said. “One really, really, bad human.”

As I glanced around and slowly made my way from one stall to the other, I took note of the goats and small cows that greeted me. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for. Even though she kept talking, I’d tuned Daisy out long ago.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the perpetrator had left a written confession tucked away in an envelope pinned neatly to the door of one of these stalls?

“Gina!”

I ignored her. Maybe I should take a look inside Charlie’s house. He wouldn’t appreciate the intrusion, but if it led to me discovering who had hit him over the head, maybe he’d forgive me for it.

“Gina!”

But then, would any evidence I found be admissible? Probably not.

“Gina!”

“What?!” I yelled, turning toward the back of the barn near the stall where Charlie had discovered the puppies.

There I found Daisy cowering away from what I could only assume was the mama dog—a beautiful Bernese.

“She said she’s going to remove my heart and eat it if I have her babies!” Daisy wailed.

Chapter 8

My breath caught in my throat as I took in the standoff. The bleats and moos from the barn residents slowly faded to the background. Yes, I wanted the mama dog to come home with me, but not if she was going to eat Daisy’s heart. Violence in my house or toward my dog would not be tolerated.

I understood her actions. She’d chased someone away from the barn and then come back to tend to her puppies and found them missing. I’d be furious as well.

“Okay,” I said. Holding my hands out in front of me, I slowly approached the two. Mom crouched into an attack position, baring her teeth. Daisy stood a few feet away with her tail between her legs, her limbs trembling. “Tell her we aren’t here to hurt her, Daisy.”

“She doesn’t care! She’s going to rip my legs off!”

“Tell her!” I hissed.

Mom glanced over at me. For a second, I appreciated that she resembled all of her multi-colored pups. Black, brown and white were all present in her thick, beautiful coat. “Good girl,” I whispered as our gazes met. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”

Her stare returned to Daisy and she growled again.

“We’ve been taking care of your babies,” I said. “They’re healthy and happy, but they’re missing you.” Her ears pricked as she closed her mouth. “Daisy, are you telling her all this?”

“I’m trying! But I’m scared!”

Sometimes I’d swear I could communicate with dogs, not just Daisy. Perhaps it was the tone of my voice, but they responded to me. This canine no longer seemed as if she wanted to rip out Daisy’s throat. “What a good mama dog you are,” I said soothingly. “So brave to protect your babies. Let us help you like we’ve helped them.”

“Yeah,” Daisy said, uncurling her tail. “Gina, I told her you’d feed her better stuff than my heart.”

“I most certainly will,” I said.

After taking a few more steps toward the dog, I squatted and stuck out my hand. She was about ten feet away from me.

She stared at Daisy for a long moment. I got the feeling they were in the middle of a canine conversation, so I stayed quiet. However, I did hope the talk would end soon because like Trevor, my knees couldn’t take the squatting very long.

The mom turned to me and slowly approached. It was then I noticed she had one blue eye and one brown. As she sniffed my fingertips, I remained quiet. She may be able to smell her puppies on me since they’d been all over my lap before I left the house.

Soon, I was stroking her head as she buried her nose in my open coat. Her tail slowly wagged, and then she licked my face. When our gazes met, I knew we’d come to an understanding.

“You must be hungry,” I whispered as I scratched her chin while I felt her neck for a collar. Nothing. “I’d love to get you somewhere warm, feed you and reunite you with your family.”

“You mean the little heathens,” Daisy said as she trotted over.

“Be nice,” I retorted. “And ask her if she’d like to come home with us.”

The two had their silent conversation and I slowly stood.

“She does,” Daisy replied.

“Well, then let’s load up,” I said. Turning toward the door, I led the two dogs out of the barn. After they were safely in the back seat, I glanced at the house. I really wanted to go inside and poke around. Since my perpetrator hadn’t left me a note tacked to a barn stall, maybe there was a clue inside. But again, I had no idea what I was searching for.

With a whispered curse, I slid behind the wheel and checked my charges in the rearview mirror. There was no violence, just two pups with their tongues hanging out. “Hang on, ladies,” I said, starting the car. I had lots of questions for mama dog, but first, I wanted to get her reunited with her family.

As we headed down the driveway toward the highway, I noted a bright red spot on the metal fence that I hadn’t seen before. Was it blood?

I placed the car in park, then exited and trounced through the snow to the fence. Definitely not blood. After running my finger over it, I realized it was paint. Had Charlie been painting something? I looked from the house to the barn. There wasn’t any red to be found on his property. Perhaps a car or truck had skidded on the driveway and hit the fence? Who had a red vehicle? I studied the ground for tire tracks, but the snow had covered anything that might have been there.

Just then, a brown car stopped at Charlie’s mailbox. I returned to my vehicle and started it. A man was going through Charlie’s mail!

When we were closer, I recognized his son.

I rolled down the window. “Hey, Larry!” I called, waving. “How’s your dad?”

“He’s good.” Larry walked over to my car with the letters in hand. “Doctor says he should be home later today. What are you doing out here?”

Pointing to the back seat, I said, “Got the mama dog.”

He peeked inside and smiled. “Great, Gina. Where did you find her?”

“In the barn looking for her babies. We’re going to get her home and back to being a mom.”

“I found her, Gina,” Daisy said. “I’m the big hero in this story.”

“So, what do you think happened to my dad?” Larry asked. “Who hit him?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged and put my car into park. “I’m not sure if Rudolph disappearing is connected to your dad being hit over the head, or if it’s two different things. Did he talk to you at all about not being paid for housing Tony Brewer’s deer?”

“He didn’t, but Dad doesn’t talk much about his finances. He’s more interested in the grandkids and what they’re up to and when they’re coming to see him.”

“Does he happen to have a red car or truck?”