“Sasha is really happy to see her human,” Daisy said. I hadn’t noticed her next to me. “And Linda seems really glad to see her, too.”
Linda sat down on the floor and scooped up a couple of the puppies, examining each with a critical eye as her tears kept flowing. Finally, she set them down and met my gaze. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “I was so afraid Sasha was gone, and I was sick over it. And now to find her safe… with the babies so healthy… I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present.”
My heart swelled with happiness. I lived for moments like this when I could reunite a dog and its human, or find a perfect pairing of the two.
She swiped at her cheeks. “I left the carriers out in the car. I better go grab them.”
“Let me help,” I replied.
After we’d retrieved the carriers and loaded up the puppies and Sasha into the car, Linda embraced me tightly. “Merry Christmas, Gina. I hope you have a lovely day.”
“You as well,” I said. “I’m glad we were able to connect.” Even though I wasn’t a hugger, I had to admit, this one felt pretty darn nice.
She sighed as she released me. “I wish I could talk to Sasha so I knew where she’s been, and why she left.”
“I know why!” Daisy said, bouncing up and down at my feet. “There was a bunny that wanted to be chased, and then Sasha got lost! Then she found Charlie’s barn!”
“It would be nice if we could talk to them,” I said, ignoring my dog. “But we can’t, so we can only guess what happened. Maybe she chased a rabbit or something.”
“That’s what I just said!” Daisy shouted.
“Maybe,” Linda said. “Perhaps you’re right. My imagination has been going into overdrive thinking she was abducted.”
“I’m just glad to reunite you two,” I replied. “Merry Christmas, Linda.”
I waved as she drove away, then turned to Daisy. “We finally have the house to ourselves again.”
“I’m going to miss the little rug rats, but I’m glad they’re gone,” Daisy sniffed. “They were loud, demanding, and got on my nerves.”
They’re puppies, Daisy,” I sighed. “Let’s go inside and get cleaned up. “We’ve got a busy day tomorrow with the family coming over for dinner and then the Christmas Festival.”
As we walked back to the house, Daisy said, “We may not have found out who hurt Charlie or took Rudolph, but at least we were able to get Sasha back with her puppies and reunite all of them with their human.”
“One mystery solved and only two to go,” I snickered. Or maybe it was a singular mystery. Were the instances of Rudolph disappearing and Charlie being hit over the head connected?
I spent the day baking and preparing for Christmas Eve dinner. After the two dozen cookies were made along with the chocolate Yule log, I decided to have a glass of wine and finally sit down. Daisy talked almost the full day about nothing and everything, and I only heard bits and pieces. I nodded when I thought it was appropriate and hoped it would suffice. I was far too focused on where Rudolph had gone and who had hit Charlie.
After pulling out a pen and paper, I sat down at the kitchen table and made a list of the suspects—Charlie, Doug and Tony—as well as the evidence or questions I had.
First Charlie. He’d seemed innocent at first—in fact, I’d have described him as the victim, but that claims notice from the insurance company seemed to arrive at an opportune time. Would the missing reindeer qualify as an insurance claim? Of course, I could be reading too much into it and maybe he’d had a water leak in his house or had been in a car accident he hadn’t mentioned to me.
The red paint markings on the fence also struck me as odd. Charlie didn’t have a red vehicle, so they had to belong to someone else. I envisioned the perpetrator making a run from Charlie’s property after hitting him over the head or letting Rudolph loose, spinning out on the snow and hitting the fence. But who had a red vehicle? I hadn’t noticed one at Doug’s house, and I’d done a quick search at Tony’s and hadn’t seen one.
Why had Tony lied about his barn roof being replaced? And why had he wanted to board the reindeer at Charlie’s place?
Doug had been angry he hadn’t received the contract to provide the reindeer and had accused City Hall of corruption. Once he found out where Doug was storing his reindeer, he could’ve concocted a plan to make Rudolph disappear so he could step in and claim the contract for himself.
I stared at the paper for such a long time, the words seemed to be mashing together. Suddenly, I had a clear view of who had stolen Rudolph and why.
It was the only thing that made sense.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Trevor. After explaining my theory, he sat quietly for a long time. Finally, he said, “I think you’re on to something, Gina. I’ll swing by and pick you up.”
Chapter 11
We drove out of town under the cover of darkness except for the large moon hanging in the sky giving us just enough light so I could watch the countryside and see everything there. My heart thundered as I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans.
“I don’t know how this is going to play out,” Trevor muttered. “We’ve already asked a bunch of questions and got nowhere with him.”
“You’re right,” I replied. “That’s why you need to stop right up here.”
“Why?” he asked. “What are we doing?”
“Stop!”
He pulled over and turned to me. “What in the heck is going on?”
“You’re a cop,” I said. “I’m not. I’m going to sneak into Tony’s barn and see if my theory is right.”
“You can’t do that,” he hissed. “That’s breaking the law!”
“Only if I’m caught,” I said, pushing open the door.
“Gina, if you go in there and actually find something, it will be inadmissible because you are breaking the law.”
“If I go in there and find something, you can get a warrant,” I said. “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, then come get me.”
