Animal Shelter Mystery (2 page)

“It's a great box, Jessie, but I don't think she much likes it,” Henry told his sister.

Patches wasn't just meowing now. She was howling mad.

In between the howls, the Aldens heard the thud of Jessie's newspapers hitting the curb. “My papers are here,” Jessie said. “Let's fold them up quickly so we have plenty of time to talk to people along the way.”

When all the papers were folded, everyone set out to deliver them just the way Jessie did. Even Benny was careful to place each newspaper on the porch mat and not just toss it across the yard.

“No one's up this early on our street,” Henry said when he came back for another armload of papers. “I'll do the next street. Maybe more people will be out. I'll ask them about the cat.”

But there was no one to ask. People in Greenfield were still asleep. The Aldens didn't see anyone until they reached Acorn Street.

“There's Mr. Clover delivering milk and eggs,” Benny said. “Mr. Clover! Mr. Clover! Do you know this cat?”

Mr. Clover put down his milk crate and looked into the cat carrier. Patches sniffed at Mr. Clover's hand.

“I sure do,” Mr. Clover said. “Belongs to one of my customers, Miss Newcombe, over on Fox Den Road. How did you folks happen to get her?”

The Aldens all talked at once.

“Whoa.” Mr. Clover smiled. “How about you, Benny? You're always full of good stories.”

Benny took a deep breath and told Mr. Clover all about how Patches had showed up thumping at the window the night before.

Everyone expected Mr. Clover to smile when Benny got to the part about reading the note all by himself. But Mr. Clover wasn't smiling at all.

“You say the note wasn't signed?” He looked upset. “That's pretty odd, I must say. Up until I ran into you, I thought Miss Newcombe had gone on a trip and forgotten to cancel her weekly order for milk and eggs. Went there today, and the gate was locked up tight. Got a box of stuff to bring back to the dairy,” he said. He pointed into his truck.

“Why don't you head over to Miss Newcombe's while I finish my route? She lives at 264 Fox Den Road. Maybe she's there by now. Tell her I'll make another run by at the end of my route if she'll just give me a call. I like to check on my older customers when I don't see them around. Miss Newcombe is old and has no family left, so I keep an eye on her when I can. She's very private, though, so I try not to meddle.”

After Mr. Clover's bright blue truck pulled away, the Aldens finished the rest of the route quickly. Even Jessie tossed the last few papers up to the porches instead of delivering them by hand. Everyone wanted to get to Fox Den Road as soon as they could.

“What Mr. Clover said doesn't make sense,” Henry said when he delivered the last of the newspapers. “Miss Newcombe might have left town too quickly to cancel her order with Mr. Clover. But why did she take the time to write a note and deliver her cat to our house?”

Jessie was puzzled. “And why didn't she sign the note?”

“Oh, where, oh, where is your owner, little cat?” Violet asked.

Patches whined in answer to Violet's question.

CHAPTER 3

No Trespassing!

F
ox Den Road was narrow and twisted. Benny didn't take any chances with his wagon or Patches as the Aldens walked along. He kept his red wagon as far to the side as he could so that cars could get by.

Screech! Screech!
Everyone heard the noise when they neared the mailbox marked 264. Benny nearly tipped over the wagon at the awful sound.

“What was that sound, Henry?” Violet asked.

Jessie and Henry had run ahead. “It was these iron gates closing!” Jessie yelled back to Violet and Benny. “Someone just slammed them shut on us!”

The Aldens walked up to the rusted iron gate that blocked the driveway. Next to the gate was a freshly painted sign in dripping black letters: No T
RESPASSING
! T
HIS
M
EANS
You!

“Does that mean me, too?” Benny asked Jessie. People usually wanted to meet Benny Alden, not chase him away.

“It means everybody,” Henry said.

Violet tried to calm the cat. “They can't mean Patches. This is her home!”

Jessie was careful not to get wet paint on her clothes. “This sign is brand-new,” she said. “Someone is in there, but we didn't see who it was.” Jessie was twelve and not a bit put off by the sign. She tried to shake open the gate.

“It's no use, Jessie,” Violet told her sister. “That padlock is locked tight.”

The Aldens stared at the house from outside the gate. Tall, dark evergreens covered most of the house. Unlike the other homes they had passed, there were no cheery lights on, or people making breakfast in their kitchens. The windows above the tall front door looked like big blank eyes. The drapes in every window on the first floor were pulled shut.

“Watch out! Watch out!” Henry and Jessie yelled when a rusty pickup truck roared up Fox Den Road out of nowhere. Violet felt gravel hit her legs. Benny nearly tipped over the wagon again.

“It's turning around. Step back!” Henry warned. He pushed his brother and sisters even farther back from the road.

The truck made a sharp turn in the middle of the narrow road and roared back past the children. Again, pieces of gravel peppered everyone's legs.

Henry was angry but not afraid. He chased the truck halfway down Fox Den Road. He wanted to catch it and yell at the driver. The truck sped around the corner and left Henry behind, shaking his fist.

He was still angry when he got back to his brother and sisters. “I bet the men in that truck didn't want anyone to see them going into Miss Newcombe's property,” he said. “That must be why they turned around when they saw us. I couldn't read the sign on the side. All I could make out was ‘Wolf D-E-M,'or something like that.”

The Aldens tried to calm themselves down. Jessie pulled burrs from the cuffs of Benny's pants. Her hands were shaking. “Are you all right, Benny?”

“I'm not scared,” he said in a small voice.

Violet brushed her scratched legs. “That truck nearly ran us over!” she said.

Henry put his arm around Violet. “Well, they won't do it again,” he said in a strong voice. “I want to come back here later and get to the bottom of this!”

Violet and Benny still looked pale and frightened and not at all eager to come back to this place again. Jessie took several deep gulps of air and tried to look brave. But her hands were still shaking, and her legs felt rubbery.

When everyone felt a little safer they set off for the animal shelter again. No speeding trucks passed the Aldens this time. Still, all of them turned around every few minutes to make sure they wouldn't be surprised again. That truck had come
so
close. Everyone stayed to the far edge of the road, just in case.

The sight of the Greenfield Animal Shelter made them all feel a little better. It was in a big red barn, not too far from Seed's Hardware Store and the Greenfield Bank.

“I like going to work in a barn that's practically in the middle of our town,” Benny said to his brother and sisters. “Especially a red one.”

“Me, too,” Jessie said. She put her arm around Benny to give him a squeeze. She was glad that he was feeling better after their upsetting morning.

“See you at lunchtime when I get off from work,” Henry told Jessie, Violet, and Benny when they reached the small parking lot at the shelter. “Tell Dr. Scott that Mr. Seed is giving me some leftover shingles from the store. I'll use them to fix up that rundown toolshed in back of the shelter. It will make a good kennel once we clean it out and patch it up.”

After Henry left, Benny lifted Patches from her carrier.

“Uh-oh,” Jessie warned Benny. “You'd better put her back inside. That dog is coming straight for her.”

Sure enough, a black and white dog with one floppy ear was headed straight for Patches. Behind him was a little boy trying hard to hang onto a leash.

“I'm sorry,” said a woman with the little boy when she came over to the Aldens. “This dog is very nervous around all these animals.”

Benny was still holding Patches. For some reason, she didn't seem one bit scared of the large dog. The dog sniffed at the cat, then rubbed his nose against Patches's nose.

“Mom, look. Fred is kissing this cat,” the little boy said. “If we can't keep Fred, can we get a cat like this one, Mom?”

The woman bent down to talk with her little boy. She spoke softly, but the Aldens heard every word. “Maybe we can think about that, Jeffrey. I wish we could keep Fred, but we'll lose our apartment if we bring him home again. It's too bad the shelter can't take him today. I just don't know what we're going to do with him.”

Jessie coughed. “I'm Jessie Alden, and this is my brother, Benny, and my sister, Violet. We're volunteers at the shelter this summer. I'm sure the shelter will take in your dog. They accept every animal.”

The woman shook Jessie's outstretched hand. “I'm Susan O'Connor, and this is my little boy, Jeffrey. I wish what you said were true,” Mrs. O'Connor told Jessie. “But the people in the shelter said they're closing down in two weeks, and as of today they can't take any more animals.”

“That can't be true!” Violet said in alarm.

“I'm afraid it is,” Mrs. O'Connor said. “I explained that Fred isn't even our dog, and that we found him wandering around last night in a parking lot. But we were told they don't even know what they're going to do with the animals they already have.”

Now Jessie's voice was full of worry. “There must be a misunderstanding. The shelter would never close down.”

Mrs. O'Connor sighed. “I wish that were true, but the people inside seemed very certain. I even explained how I had already tried to find Fred's owner this morning. See, there's part of an address on his tag.”

Jessie took a look at the tag. “It says, ‘264 Fox,' then the rest is worn off. Why, we were just at 264 Fox Den Road ourselves,” Jessie told Mrs. O'Connor. “This calico cat lives there, too.”

“We went to the house where this cat came from,” Violet explained, “but no one was home.”

The woman looked upset. “Well, there was someone in the house when we were there. A horrible man.”

“With a mean face,” the little boy added. “He yelled at us to go away.”

Violet petted the friendly dog. “We thought someone named Miss Newcombe lived there. That's her address. But the house was dark.”

“And someone put up a mean sign,” Benny added. “ ‘No Trespassing!' Then a rusty truck almost ran us over.”

Jeffrey shivered. “An old bad rusty truck,” he said.

His mother explained how a truck had almost run them over that morning, too. As they had stood in the driveway to check the address on the mailbox, the truck came out of the driveway.

“I can't help thinking it must be some other road that starts with the word ‘Fox,' ” the woman went on. “This nice dog and that sweet cat couldn't possibly belong to such a mean-looking person as the man who chased us away.”

The woman sighed. “I must get to work soon. I was going to check if there's another road in Greenfield that starts with ‘Fox,' to see if Fred belongs to someone else.”

“I deliver newspapers around town and I know most of the roads. I've never seen another road that starts with ‘Fox,' ” Jessie said. “Maybe you could leave the dog with us. We'll talk to Dr. Scott for you. I'm sure she would take Fred in.”

“Look, Mom, Fred likes this girl,” Jeffrey said to his mother. “Maybe she can be his mom.”

Violet smiled at the little boy. “I'll make sure this dog gets a good home and that you can come and visit,” she told the O'Connors. “For now, we'll take him inside and see what Dr. Scott says.”

After the O'Connors gave the Aldens their telephone number, Violet walked the dog inside the animal shelter. Behind her, Benny and Jessie carefully carried Patches in her carrier.