Wild Rescue (14 page)

Chapter 53

I called Bryce
from inside the Morrises’ house and got his voice mail, so I figured he would call me when he could.

“We’ll be right back after these messages!” Lewis squawked, startling me.

Then I heard something weird, like someone was banging on a nail. I looked out the back window, wondering if someone was building a house.

Nothing.

When I opened the front door I realized it wasn’t pounding but Buck barking, sharp and loud. I raced to the barn but found it empty except for Whitney, who was pacing again, peering through the slats, and humming.

“Where’s the rest of the herd, Whitney?” I said, and I would have hardly been surprised if she had told me.

I could hear Buck down the driveway, so I ran out, only to find an ambulance parked outside the gate. A paramedic was talking to a girl in a robe.

I ran closer. “Denise!”

Chapter 54

The garage phone rang every few minutes,
and the radio got on my nerves. The music made it hard to hear the conversations.

Someone called out, “Hey, lover boy!” Other guys laughed. “Eddie?” the man said in a singsong voice. “Phone call. It’s your sweetheart.”

I peeked over the seat and through the slit between the hood and the truck frame. The man handed a greasy cordless phone to Eddie, who hopped into Sam’s truck and closed the door. I had slid out of sight just in time.

“Yeah, hang on,” he said. “Let me close the windows.” The others hooted at him and clapped. “Okay, what happened?”

Eddie chuckled. “Perfect. Good girl. Way to go. Where are you now? . . . You’re kidding, that close? . . . What happened?”

He paused.

“Okay, stay there and make sure they take him away.”

Another pause.

“Well, the next step is to get the trailer . . . no, not till tomorrow, so it’ll be tomorrow night.”

I couldn’t make sense of what he was talking about, but it sure didn’t seem to have anything to do with Mrs. Watson’s stolen stuff.

“Okay, don’t let anybody see you,” Eddie said. “Call in sick, tell them what happened . . . no, don’t let them make you go to the doctor. . . . Do you know how much those are worth? We’ll be able to blow this town before anybody suspects. Our dreams come true Saturday night.”

Chapter 55

I flew down the gravel driveway
so fast that I almost lost my footing. Denise was wearing a bathing suit under the terry cloth robe, and she’d been crying.

“What happened?” I said.

“It was awful,” Denise cried. “I saw the whole thing.”

“What? Tell me!”

The paramedic stepped toward me. “You own that dog?”

Buck’s pure white coat was streaked with blood.

“What happened to him?” I said.

“Ma’am, your dog attacked a jogger.”

“What? Buck’s not my dog, but he wouldn’t—”

“Is the owner here?”

“They’re on vacation. I’m watching the farm. Will somebody please—?”

A silver sheriff’s car roared up, lights whirling and leather creaking when an officer got out.

A sob welled up inside me as I moved toward Buck. He was on the other side of the fence with a few alpacas around him, as if they were the ones guarding him.

“Miss, you need to stay away from that animal,” the officer said.

I heard a snap and saw him draw his gun. “No! Don’t shoot him!”

“I’m not going to shoot unless he attacks. Now stand back.”

I burst into tears. “He doesn’t attack people.”

“He did today,” the paramedic said.

“Who?”

“That’s classified.”

Buck growled. I yelled at him to stop and he did, his tongue hanging as he panted.

The officer wrote down my information. “Animal control is on the way,” he said.

“What for? Buck’s not going to hurt anyone.”

“We’re going to make sure of that,” the officer said. “We’ll keep him quarantined. Do you know if his shots are up to date?”

I shrugged. “He’s got those things on his collar, and Mr. Morris says he has all his animals vaccinated every year.”

“So this is the Morris place, huh? You have a phone number for him?”

“In the house. But I don’t think his cell works where they are.”

“I’ll need it anyway.”

I hesitated, looking at Buck.

“He’ll still be here when you get back.”

Chapter 56

Eddie got out of the truck
and closed the door. The windows were up again, which blocked some of the garage smells, but I couldn’t hear much except the tinny music.

“Lunch!” somebody called.

The whole garage emptied and I was glad. I lowered the windows again, then called Ashley. If you’re wondering why she doesn’t have a cell phone, Mom said we had to pay for them. I had the cash but Ashley didn’t.

The phone rang at the farm until the answering machine picked up. I hung up and dialed our home number. Mom answered and asked how everything at the farm was going.

“Fine, I guess. . . . Hey, Ashley’s not there, is she?”

“She’s not with you?”

“Well, she’s probably in the barn. I’ll find her.”

“Bryce, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Can you do me a favor?” I asked her to look up Stan’s phone number from the school directory.

She gave it to me and said, “Now tell me what’s up.”

“Mom, it’s detective stuff. We’re fine. I’ll see you later.”

I called the farm again. No answer. I dialed Stan’s and he picked up.

“Double-checking, Stan. Are you sure your dad didn’t take his car to the repair shop before your trip to Oregon?”

“He’s right here. Let me ask.”

Stan came back on. “We were going on a trip this week. Dad had an appointment at Carhardt’s, but he canceled it.”

Then how did the robbers get the key?

“Any other work on the car around that time?” I said.

Stan covered the phone again. Then, “Nothing but an oil change.”

“At Carhardt’s?”

“No. He always goes to Instant Oil.”

Chapter 57

When I got back
a white van had pulled up and a lady in a blue uniform was talking with the officer and the paramedic. She was tall and thin and looked like one of those beach volleyball players, her hair pulled back under a baseball cap. She wore dark, wraparound sunglasses.

I whispered to Denise, “Do you know who the jogger was?”

“I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where.”

“Is she in the ambulance?”

Denise shook her head. “She limped off. Said she didn’t want any treatment but that somebody should take care of that dog.”

“I can’t imagine Buck attacking anyone.”

“He did,” Denise said. “I was out by our pool when I heard the barking. I didn’t think much of it because that dog barks a lot. Then I heard screaming. I threw on my robe and ran down here. He just attacked her as she was running. She had bite marks and blood on her legs. I don’t know how she walked away.”

“You actually saw the attack?”

“You bet I did. And I wouldn’t want anybody else to get bitten like that. Look at him. They say once a dog tastes human blood, he wants more.”

The officer came over. “Ashley, we’re going to take the animal.” The way he said
animal
made it sound like
murderer
.

“But we need him! He protects the herd!”

Buck growled again as the animal control lady joined us. “He was probably just scared,” she said. “Something about the jogger frightened him, and he probably thought he was protecting his herd, like you say. But we have to check him out, make sure nothing’s wrong, okay?”

I nodded, but it wasn’t okay. “Where are you taking him?”

“To the shelter. Until . . . we figure out what to do next.”

She went to her truck and brought out a long pole with a rope at the end.

“Wait,” I said. “You don’t have to use that.”

The officer waved. “We can’t let you—”

“Buck won’t hurt you. He’s nice. I’ll show you.”

Before they could stop me I crawled through the fence and knelt by Buck. I have to admit he had a wild look, like something wasn’t right. I reached to pet him and he growled.

“That’s it!” the officer shouted, drawing his gun again. “Get away from him!”

“It’s okay,” I whispered to Buck. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Buck whined and turned, licking my hand. I patted his head and scratched under his chin, and he bounced up and ran around the alpacas. They were all restless and humming.

“Don’t let him get away!” the officer said.

“Put your gun away and I’ll bring him over,” I said. “Where do you want him?”

The lady pointed to the side door of her van. The officer and Denise stepped behind the sheriff’s cruiser. I crawled back through the fence and patted my knees, coaxing Buck to follow. He loped after me. I stepped into the van where a cage separated the driver from the back and smaller cages were stacked. Buck followed me inside, then whined as if sensing something wrong.

Before I knew it the door closed behind me, and a smaller door opened on the other side.

“Ashley, hurry!” the woman said.

I jumped out before Buck could follow. He scratched at the door, then started barking louder than I had ever heard him. I heard cages tumbling as he lunged at the back window, leaving streaks of blood on it.

“That’s one vicious dog,” the officer said.