Cry Woof

by Sarah Hines-Stephens

  “Well, not really,” he said, glancing at the flyer. “They just come around sometimes. You know cats, always prowling.”

  I knew. Furball was a sly one.

  “But, seriously, I’ll think about it. And I’d invite you all in but I’m sort of in the middle of a project.”

  “A fish and chips project?” Hayley asked, her nose wrinkling.

  Bill looked surprised for a second, then nodded. “Uh, yeah. Exactly,” he confirmed. “I’ve actually got fish cooking right now, so if you’ll excuse me …” He retreated into his house, closing the door.

  “He’s way friendlier than the other guy,” Alicia remarked after the door clicked shut, and I was surprised to agree. I could actually see what Erica meant by “good neighbor.”

  I pondered these new details as we paraded back to the sidewalk. Then, out of the blue, a new idea popped into my head. “Let’s take some flyers over to Home Away from Home.”

  “Ooh, that’s good. I bet some of the residents have grandchildren who’d love a kitten,” Hayley agreed.

  “Exactly.” I was nodding when my phone chimed. I pulled it out and stared.

  BornBlonde: Meet me @ Roberts Park, tom 4:30.

  BornBlonde was Summer. As in Summer Hill.

  Clued-In: Um. Wrong number?

  BornBlonde: I’m serious.

  Clued-In: What’s up?

  BornBlonde: Tell u there.

  Huh? I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t think. I just stood there like a big dummy.

  “Who was that? Did something happen?” Alicia asked, noticing my paralysis. Hayley looked concerned and Dodge nudged my knee.

  I dropped the phone to my side and the bomb on my friends. “That was Summer. She wants to meet with me.”

  I nudged Cassie behind the knees to get her to stop staring at her phone. To get her moving. I’d heard her say Home Away from Home, and I was excited. All that postering had made me hungry. Hungry for Peanut Butter Buddies. Plus I loved the old-timers. And Peanut Butter Buddies.

  But Cassie wasn’t moving, and neither was Alicia. Or Hayley. “You can’t be serious,” she said.

  Cassie handed Hayley her phone. “Dead serious.”

  Woof. What did I miss?

  Hayley stared at the phone, her mouth hanging open in a very un-Hayley way. “That’s just crazy.”

  “No kidding,” Cassie agreed. “As crazy as Madame LeFarge. Maybe crazier.”

  “Woof!” I barked out loud this time, to get everyone moving. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but I was ready to go. Go! Hugo was, too. We bounded ahead and I felt Bananas sink her claws into my fur. Good thing I liked The Kid.

  Stopping to turn back, I panted with relief. They were finally coming, and Cassie’s phone was nowhere in sight.

  Cassie pulled open the door for us and I trotted into Home Away. Esther and Paul were in the front room. Their faces smiled at us, but I smelled their sad. They looked worried under their smiles, too. Like they’d been skunked. Esther was wringing her soft hands. And someone was missing.

  “Where’s Duke?” Cassie asked, scanning the room. “Out training for a marathon?”

  Nobody laughed at her joke, and Cassie’s face shifted. She couldn’t smell the sad like I could, but she was starting to feel it. She knew something was wrong.

  Esther shook her head. “Duke collapsed yesterday,” she said. “He’s in the hospital. We’re still waiting for news.”

  “That’s awful!” I said, unable to believe it. The day was taking another bad turn. Duke MacLean didn’t belong in the hospital — the last time I saw him he was doing chin-ups! “What happened?”

  Esther shook her head. “We weren’t with him,” she explained, “but one of the nurses said he was walking down the hallway and fell. Collapsed, just like that.” Her eyes welled up. I gave her a hug, and Dodge licked Paul’s hand. Bananas was surprisingly still and quiet. I wanted to tell Esther that he’d be fine, as good as new in no time. But what if it wasn’t true? What if he … ?

  I squeezed my eyes shut. This was hitting me hard. I suddenly wanted to see Duke, to go straight to the hospital. But how could I do that? I wasn’t a relative, and I was with a pack of friends, fur-covered and otherwise. Not exactly discreet.

  No. My visit to Duke would have to be planned carefully. It would have to wait.

  “We just have to be patient,” Paul said, putting a shaky hand on Esther’s shoulder. “They’ll call as soon as they know something.”

  I nodded, glad that Esther and Paul didn’t have to wait for news about their friend alone. We visited for a while, and gave them some flyers. “We’ll be sure to tell everyone about them,” Esther said, her eyes bright. “I’m sure someone here knows someone who would love a fuzzy friend.”

  “Meowf!” Bananas agreed.

  I gently squeezed Esther’s hand. “Thank you. That would be a huge help.”

  She sniffled and smiled, and we said good-bye. “Dodge and I will be back in a few days,” I promised.

  “I’m sure we’ll have news by then,” Esther said.

  Outside, we gathered on the sidewalk. “Holy cow,” Alicia said. “They must be scared to death.”

  “I’m glad they have each other, at least.” I pulled out my phone to call Gwen and let her know about our progress. If nothing else, we’d successfully spread the word about Madame’s cats. I hit speed dial and listened as the call rang through.

  “Pet Rescue,” Gwen answered. But it wasn’t her cheerful, capable phone voice. She sounded upset.

  “Hi, Gwen, it’s me, Cassie. What’s wrong?”

  Gwen sighed heavily on the other end of the line, and I braced myself. Gwen was not a sigher. “That obvious?” she asked sadly. “Oh, Cassie. Salt and Pepper died this morning.”

  “Oh, no!” I suddenly felt woozy, like I’d been kicked in the stomach. This was terrible — the worst news I’d heard all day. And I’d been getting plenty of bad news.

  “The other sick cats don’t seem to be getting worse, so that’s good,” she said. “But when Pepper died I …” Her voice caught, and she let out a ragged exhale.

  “Oh, Gwen, I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible.” Hayley and Alicia were watching me with big worried eyes.

  “It’s just so — I don’t understand it,” Gwen said. “They were cared for in a good home. It’s not like they came in off the streets.”

  “Do we know what they died of?”

  “We’re not sure, but Dr. Byrnes is going to do a postmortem to see if she can figure it out. It’s weird, though.”

  Definitely, I thought. The cats hadn’t been old. My mind flashed to the bag in Erica’s trash, and then to Madame’s claims about poison. Crazy fantasy or crazy fact? Anything was possible, and one thing was certain: I still had more research to do.

  “I have a small bit of good news,” I told her. “We put adoption flyers up all over town, and even have a few leads.”

  “Well, that’s something,” Gwen said, sounding a little better. “Thanks, Cassie, and to your friends, too. You’re a big help.”

  I felt like anything but. Two kitties had died, and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I hung up the phone, feeling deflated. “Only eleven cats to find homes for now,” I told my friends. “We lost two this morning.” I glanced at Bananas, hoping she didn’t understand what I’d just said.

  We walked back to my house in silence, thinking about poor Salt and Pepper, and poor Duke. Dodge’s tail hung low between his legs. Even Bananas seemed defeated.

  “Call me later if you need anything,” Hayley said. “Or better yet, I’ll call you.” She gave me a hug, and Alicia wrapped her arms around both of us.

  “Thanks, guys,” I said.

  “Whuff!” Dodge agreed as we started up the walk. But he didn’t sound like his energetic self.

  Inside and upstairs, I snatched the laptop from Sam’s room. I searched for “cat poisons,” and a list of the top-ten household poisons for pets popped up. Among them w
ere human medications, certain kinds of people food, rat poison, and fertilizer. Fertilizer! There was definitely more than one way to kill a cat….

  The biggest bummer about being a twelve-year-old detective was — you guessed it — school. Having to be at Harbor Middle for thirty-two-plus hours a week totally got in the way of my sleuthing. I mean 8:30 to 3:00? That was practically the whole day! I could ditch, of course. Only my mom was chief of police, and they took truancy pretty seriously in Bellport. Plus I actually cared — more than I wanted to admit — about my classes. So I saved skipping for serious emergencies.

  Also, I had other important stuff to keep tabs on. Like Summer Hill. The wave of bad news had distracted me from Summer’s freaky behavior, but hadn’t made it go away. I had to keep an eye on that girl without letting her know I was watching. She was up to something and I wanted to know what it was before I walked into an ambush. Like the one she clearly had planned for me at Roberts Park. I was racking my brain to figure out why in the world she would want me to meet her — and trying to get a clue from her behavior.

  I managed to keep my surveillance on the down low all morning. But then, at lunch, I let my guard down and she caught me looking right at her. Again! And ugh! She smiled in my direction. Again!

  “That is totally creepy,” Hayley said as I winced and turned away. It was, too. Summer was probably the only person I knew who could smile without seeming the slightest bit nice, or even happy.

  Meanwhile, Summer’s blondetourage was missing. Probably up a tree, laughing about my detective “hobby,” I thought grimly.

  Hayley handed me a piece of homemade toffee. “I made this for you last night. Thought you might need something sweet.”

  “Do I ever,” I said, biting into the nutty goodness. “Especially when dealing with the Queen of Mean over there.”

  Alicia reached for her own piece of toffee. “Are you going to meet her today?”

  The twenty-million-dollar question. “I don’t know,” I said slowly. I was trying to savor the buttery caramel flavor bursting in my mouth, but having Summer in my line of sight was adding a decided hint of bitterness. “I really want to go see Duke in the hospital, but I told Gwen I’d come to Pet Rescue. She’s still really upset about Salt and Pepper. And worried about the other cats who are sick.”

  Alicia shook her head. “Losing two cats must feel terrible. I mean, I feel terrible, and I never even met them. It’s just so sad!” She was quiet for a long moment, then sat up straighter. “Maybe I could go to Pet Rescue for you. I’d love to help in some way.”

  I shook my head. If only! “That’s totally nice of you, but you’d have to complete volunteer training before you could sub for me. There are all kinds of rules about caring for animals in shelters.” My fingers drummed on the tabletop. “But I’m pretty sure you could come with me to help,” I added.

  Alicia’s whole face lit up. “Really? I could?”

  “Me, too?” Hayley wanted in.

  “You’re both on,” I said, feeling myself smile for the first time all day.

  After school the three of us headed straight to PR. Gwen gave me a grateful smile when she saw me, but she looked totally fried. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad you didn’t bring Dodge.” She wheeled her chair back to show me one of the cats asleep on her lap — a big gray male. “You know I love your dog, but I think he’d upset the kitties. They’re having a hard enough time as it is.”

  I nodded knowingly and gave the cat a gentle scratch under the chin. “Who’s this again?”

  “Parsley. He’s so upset about his siblings that he cries whenever he’s not being held.” Her eyes were full of worry. “Dr. Byrnes didn’t find anything poisonous in Pepper or Salt, but she noticed some elevated levels in their blood work. She’s testing the sick cats now.”

  The unsolved mysteries were making my head spin. Madame LeFarge’s death. Summer’s message. Duke getting sick. Cats dying. The weird stuff just kept piling up! “What was elevated?” I barely remembered to ask. The online list of poisons were still in my head, and I wondered how fertilizer would show up in a blood panel. I remembered a poster about plants from science class, about the nutrients they needed to grow. Nitrogen was at the top of the list. Maybe it would show up as nitrogen.

  “That’s the weird thing,” Gwen said. “It was just elevated vitamin levels. Nothing toxic.”

  Hmmm. Interesting.

  We helped Gwen feed the cats, then walked the dogs. A few of them weren’t leash trained, and kept getting tangled up. It took forever even though there were three of us (or maybe because there were three of us!). By the time we finished it was 4:25, and I was feeling totally torn. I wanted to see Duke. I wanted to get Dodge. And deep down I knew that I had to meet Summer. Ugh. Just the thought of seeing her made me cringe.

  “Cassie, it’s going to be okay.” Hayley could read me like a book.

  “I’d like to believe you,” I said with a huge sigh.

  “You’re going to meet Summer, right? I really think —”

  “Maybe you should go meet Summer,” I grumbled. The whole situation was making me whiny.

  Hayley smiled. “I would if I thought it would help. But if you don’t —”

  I held up a hand. “I know, I know. If I don’t get to the bottom of Summer’s bizarre behavior, it will get weirder.”

  “And drive you crazier,” Alicia put in.

  They were both right, of course. And I knew it. I swung a leg over my bike and pushed off before I could change my mind. “Okay, I’m going,” I said grimly as I rolled down the sidewalk. “I’ll call you later.”

  I pedaled slowly, thinking. I was late and it would be faster to go straight to Roberts Park without getting Dodge.

  But no Dodge? No way.

  If I was going to face Summer Hill, I was definitely going to need Dodge by my side.

  I could tell Cassie was coming. I could always tell when Cassie was coming. What I couldn’t tell was that she was in a hurry. And anxious. I had to wait for her to be within sniffing distance for that.

  She threw open the front door without saying anything, and I followed her out. She smelled like cider vinegar and a hint of bacon. Always bacon. Her mouth stayed in a flat line. She moved fast. Her body was tense. So tense I couldn’t even enjoy the wind in my fur.

  I didn’t know where we were going, either. I usually did, but today I didn’t. So I ran a few paces behind. Yeah, I let Cassie lead. She turned her bike toward the hills, away from the ocean. I followed.

  She pedaled hard up a steep hill.

  “Woof!” I barked happily. I knew where we were going now! To Roberts Park. Roberts Park was big and open. It had grass. Picnic leftovers. Squirrels. It had dirt to dig. So much to sniff!

  But as we got close I smelled things that didn’t belong in a park. Nail polish. Lip gloss. Bubble bath. Woof, what? Those weren’t the smells of Roberts Park. Those things smelled like … Summer.

  Cassie was leading us to Summer? My nose knew first. My eyes confirmed. I saw Summer’s light hair. I saw Muffet’s light fur.

  Muffet! I trotted forward to greet the little dog, then stopped. Woof! What?

  Thanks to her owner, Muffet often wore ridiculous outfits. Ruffles. Fringe. Froof. It was weird, but I was used to it. Only this was extreme. Muffet had on a ballet tutu, complete with satin slippers that laced up her legs. I could barely look.

  Lucky for her, the Maltese didn’t seem to mind. She hopped off Summer’s lap. She yipped and wagged. She twirled like a tiny ballerina. Then she tried to get a whiff of what I’d been up to. I expected Summer to freak, but she didn’t. She let Muffet do her dog thing. And I did mine. Sniff, sniff, sniff.

  I was busy making sure Muffet still smelled like dog under all that perfume. So busy that I forgot to pay attention to my girl. Then she started to talk, and I remembered. Her sharp tone told me I had a job to do. She was upset. She needed backup. I stopped sniffing and moved in close.

  “Where’d y
ou get that? It’s mine,” Cassie howled. She pointed, too. At a book in Summer’s hands. Not the kind Cassie got at the library. No. The kind people glued pictures into.

  “It’s ours,” Summer corrected. Her face scrunched up and she pulled the book closer. “We made it together, remember?”

  Cassie folded her arms over her stomach. Protected her guts. Good instincts. “Riiight. And then you threw it into the garbage and I fished it out. I’m pretty sure that’s when you lost ownership.”

  Summer stared, and I moved even closer to Cassie. Woof. It was a standoff. How could these two have been friends? The only thing I smelled between them was the waxy scent of distrust.

  Summer shifted from one foot to the other. Nervous. “Well, if you didn’t want — well, then why did you leave it on my doorstep?” she asked. Her face was squinched together in a weird way.

  Cassie stepped back fast, like she’d run into an electric fence. “I didn’t! Why would I?” Then, slowly, she squinted back at Summer, nodding. She’d figured something out. “Sam,” she whispered, almost silently. Her paws balled into fists. She wasn’t confused anymore. She was mad. Really mad. And not at Summer, either.

  “Woof!” I barked, but she ignored me.

  “Sam!” she muttered again.

  This was not good.

  I stood in front of Summer feeling like a complete idiot. I’d been tricked. Summer and I had both been tricked. She’d found the scrapbook on her doorstep? Only one person could have made that happen: my obnoxious little sister. Sam must have swiped the scrapbook from my room last week. The meddling snoop went into my room and stole it. I was going to kill her!

  It definitely wasn’t news to me that Sam adored Summer. They were both fashion obsessed. They were both way into glitter. They both thought being popular was super important. Back when Summer and I were friends, my little sister followed her around like a tiny clone. Sam was devastated when we had our huge fight. She spent a whole year trying to get us to be friends again. Apparently she was still trying to get us to be friends. As if! I couldn’t remember what I ever liked about Summer Hill — even when I tried really, really hard.