“You have her scent?” I asked, turning to her.
“Yep. I caught it in the barn.”
“There are a lot of animals in there,” I said.
“Yes, but I can tell the difference between a dog and a goat.” She narrowed her gaze as if I was the stupidest human ever. “I’m not dumb, Gina.”
With a sigh, I flung open the door. “Fine. Go ahead and see if you can track where she went.”
I had my doubts that the dog had ever come out this way, but at least I had a few minutes of silence so I could think. Who would want to take Rudolph? Someone who hated Christmas?
Or was it something else?
Maybe it had nothing to do with Christmas, but instead had something to do with Charlie. Perhaps he had a bone to pick with someone? Another farmer?
I’d been acquainted with Charlie most of my life, but I didn’t know him well. He seemed harmless. His focus was always on his grandkids, especially since his wife had passed away. That was the reason why he had so many miniature animals—so his grandkids learned about farming but weren’t afraid of the goats and cows. He’d described it as their own private petting zoo.
But people had dark sides, so for all I knew, Charlie worshipped Satan and sacrificed the goats while dancing naked under the full moon.
Definitely not a pleasant vision.
Daisy came running back to the car and I opened the door. She jumped in, her snow-covered paws wetting my jeans.
“Anything?” I asked.
“No. It’s cold out there, though.”
We waited as the police slowly funneled the goats and cows into the trailers. Oddly enough, they didn’t put up much of a fight, which I assumed was because they were very accustomed to humans treating them correctly. “Poor things must’ve been terrified when they were being chased,” I said.
After the last goats were loaded into the trailer, Trevor walked back to the truck and got in. “Thanks for your help,” he said, smirking.
“I’m afraid I’d be more of a hinderance than help,” I said. “I’ve never corralled livestock before, so I thought I’d better stay put.”
“Or you just wanted to stay warm,” Trevor said. He shoved the gearstick into drive.
“Well, yes, that too.”
We headed through the field, but not toward the house. “Are the animals going to be okay?” I asked. “It’s so cold.”
“I didn’t inspect each one, but I didn’t see any issues. They’re used to the winter weather, Gina.”
“Yeah, dork,” Daisy said. “They live in a barn.”
I shot her a glare and bit my tongue to keep from insulting her right back.
My heart was heavy with worry. In fact, I would say I was more concerned about the little cows and goats than I was about Charlie. He’d assured me he was fine, but the little ones couldn’t speak. Well, not that I could hear, anyway.
“Where are we going?” Daisy asked.
“Trevor, the house is in that direction,” I said, pointing to my right.
“I know. We’ve got a trail here, though. It looks like it could be the ATV. I wanted to follow it.”
As the sunlight bounced off the snow, I felt at times Mother Nature was trying to blind me, and I wished I’d brought my sunglasses as I squinted.
Driving up a hill, Trevor’s tires began to spin in the snow, but after he slammed the truck into four-wheel-drive, we were good to go. Once on top of the hill, he stopped.
There, at the bottom of the ravine, stood an ATV.
After he placed the gearshift into park, we exited the car with Daisy in tow and walked toward the vehicle. Once we reached, it, we slowly circled. I hoped to find a clue who could be responsible for everything, but nothing jumped out at me.
Considering the ATV had Christmas lights hanging from the roof and two Barbie dolls inside, I assumed it was Charlie’s.
“I don’t think some big, bad livestock thief is going to drive this,” Trevor said.
“Me neither,” I sighed. “My guess is Charlie decorated it for his grandkids, and the granddaughter left her dolls in there.”
“I’m not sure what to make out of all this,” Trevor said, rubbing his neck. “The whole thing is giving me a headache.”
He had no idea of the full scope of the issue. If he knew what I did, his brain would probably explode. I had a litter of puppies who proclaimed their mother had run off after Rudolph’s kidnapper. Then said kidnapper possibly came back to the barn, hit Charlie in the head, and used Charlie’s ATV to chase the rest of the livestock out into the man’s lower fields. To make everything even weirder, he dumped it on Charlie’s property in a ravine.
“I’m wondering what this was about,” I ventured, hoping to give Trevor the full story, but at the same time, not admit I was speaking to my dog on a regular basis.
“What do you mean?” Trevor asked.
“Well, did whoever do this have a problem with Charlie, or was this about the Christmas reindeer?”
Trevor furrowed his brow. “Why would you think this was about the reindeer?”
