He sat up as I heard the crunching of tires outside. A moment later, Deputy Trevor Hutchinson walked into the stall. Tall with blond hair and a piercing green gaze, his brow furrowed as he took in the scene.
“Gina,” he greeted me. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, standing. “All the animals are missing, and someone must have knocked Charlie unconscious.”
“What do you mean all my animals are missing?!” Charlie said, staggering to his feet. He fell forward and stumbled. Thankfully, Trevor was there to catch him.
“You’ll need to get to the Emergency Clinic, Charlie,” Trevor said, holding onto the older man. “The ambulance will be here soon.”
“And what about my animals?” Charlie asked.
“I came in from the other direction,” Trevor replied. “Not from town. I saw a bunch of miniature goats and cows, along with some deer, on the field about a half-mile away. I’ll call for backup, and we’ll bring them back into the barn.”
The ambulance arrived and loaded Charlie on the stretcher. After they took him away, I turned to Trevor. I could lie to him since he had no idea how much I hadn’t been paying attention during my early morning trek to the farm.
“What’s going on here, Gina?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
I took a deep breath, lining up my lie with the truth. “Charlie called me this morning,” I said. “There was a litter of puppies in the barn he wanted me to take.”
“He said there were a couple of puppies in the barn,” Daisy said. “A couple.”
Ignoring her, I continued. “When I got here, I noticed that the stall labeled Rudolph was empty, but I didn’t think much about it because I was worried about the puppies.”
Trevor walked down the aisle and studied the stalls. “So Rudolph was missing. What about the other animals?”
“They were all here,” I said. “I saw the miniature goats and cows. Just Rudolph’s stall was empty.”
With a sigh, the deputy rubbed his face. “So… someone came in, stole Rudolph, then came back, hit Charlie over the head and… released the rest of his animals out into the back pasture?”
Well, when he put it that way, it sounded crazy. However, the puppies had said their mother had gone after whoever stole Rudolph. That seemed like the place we needed to start.
“We need to find out who took Rudolph,” I said.
Chapter 4
Daisy and I rode out to the pasture with Trevor in his sheriff’s truck.
“See the tracks in the snow?” he asked, pointing straight ahead. “It’s like they were being chased. This wasn’t a quick mosey down to the pasture. It was a herd running.” He pointed to the left at indents in the snow. “That looks like ATV tracks.”
“Does Charlie have an ATV?” I asked.
“That I can’t answer,” Trevor replied. “If not, someone drove on his property and chased his livestock. That doesn’t fly around here.”
Heck, no. There was most likely some law that led to hanging or a firing squad for harassing livestock. Well, maybe not that extreme, but people left other’s animals alone. It was basic consideration for their fellow human.
When the miniature goats, cows and the deer came into view, Trevor stopped the truck. “I don’t want to scare them anymore,” he explained, then he picked up his radio and gave the coordinates to other officers. We sat back and waited.
“Good eye seeing that Rudolph was missing,” he said.
Daisy giggled as I said, “Thanks.”
“So, just to be sure I have the story straight, Rudolph was missing this morning when you went there to rescue a litter of pups. You went home with the puppies, and then you went back to the farm… why?”
“I decided to ask Charlie about the missing deer. When he didn’t answer his phone, I felt something was wrong, so I came out.”
“You felt something was wrong?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Call it women’s intuition.”
“How about you call it that you have the most amazing dog in the world who can talk to puppies and get the real story?” Daisy huffed. “Why don’t I get any credit?”
“Well, whatever it was, I’m glad you came back out to the farm,” Trevor said. “Charlie seems to be in bad shape. Did he say anything about how he got that knot on his head?”
“Nope. He was very confused. I didn’t really ask any questions. I was more worried about his health.”
“Understandable,” he said, glancing in the rearview window. “Here comes the calvary.”
I turned to find a few more trucks coming our way, some towing horse trailers.
Trevor slid from the Ford and shut the door. Daisy and I exchanged glances. “What are we supposed to do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “But it’s warm in here and cold out there, so I think I’ll stay right here until someone tells me otherwise.”
“Good idea.”
As Trevor and the deputies walked around the herd with rope to corral them, Daisy said, “Maybe I should go out there and see if I can smell the mother.”
