Baa'd to Death: A Cozy Mystery Novella (Cozy Mystery Dogs Book 1)

by Sarah Jane Weldon

  Fflur’s lip trembled as she tried hard not to cry. It was a terrible shock, and worse still was seeing her girls so upset, and after all they had been through already with their tricky birth and fight for survival. What was the world coming to?

  Delyth was quick to leave, but Fflur agreed. It was better for her brother to hear the news from someone who loved him, than a stranger. Fflur knew all too well that she didn’t have the heart to break the news to him herself. He would be in a great deal of shock.

  I was about to run over and speak to Wynn, to let him know about the tragic circumstances of his wife’s death, but Wynn beat me to it, and was already asking me question after question. He seemed genuinely surprised by the news of the murder, and was evidently upset at his wife’s death. He didn’t seem like the murderer to me.

  16

  Delyth was surprised to find Meredith sobbing his heart out in a corner of the field. How could he possibly have got the news of Seren’s death already?

  She approached him stealthily and sat beside him on a rock. “You heard the news then?” Delyth asked.

  Meredith turned to look at her, now sporting a black eye from a recent fight with Wynn. “Have they really found her?” he asked suspiciously.

  “What happened to your eye?” Delyth said, pointing to the shiner.

  Meredith raised his foot. “Oh that. Oh it’s nothing. Wynn was upset that’s all. Said I’d killed his wife. But I swear that I had nothing to do with her disappearance. We just went for a walk by the river is all”.

  Delyth looked him in the eye. “I believe you. Really I do. But I can completely understand why the rest of the flock would think it was you. I mean, you can’t blame them. You were the last one to see her alive after all, and you were seen leaving together and coming back alone. Doesn’t take a genius to work that one out does it?”.

  Meredith dropped his head into his feet. He was utterly devastated. One minute he was the all singing, all dancing ram and head of the flock, the next, he was a murdering criminal.

  “You know they’ll send you to the slaughter house for this, don’t you Meredith?” Delyth informed him.

  Meredith patted him with a little hesitation. “There’s only one thing for it. We need to get away from here fast. We’ll go on the run, far, far, away where no one will ever find us. What do you say?”.

  “But I didn’t kill her. I’m innocent” Meredith protested. “Why oh why would I kill the love of my life?

  Delyth was full of answers. “Because you couldn’t have her. Because she was already married. Look you don’t need to hide things for me, I get it, really I do”.

  Meredith could not believe his ears. “That makes no sense at all. Seren had already decided to leave Wynn, and was going to start dating me. Her marriage was over long ago, Wynn knew it”.

  This was news to Delyth, but it explained why Meredith now had a black eye, and if anything it made Wynn look all the more of a suspect, with a very strong motive for killing his wife, or in the least, setting up hi wife’s lover as the murderer, thus solving two problems with one stone.

  “Will you just think about it, please, for me?” Delyth pleaded. “The last thing I want is to see you sent to the slaughter house. If you would just consider us running away together, to start afresh. Sleep on it at least. But don’t take too long, they’re already after you”. Meredith was convinced that running away would solve everything, not least because it would mean that Meredith would finally belong to her.

  17

  “Do you really think that Meredith killed Seren?” I asked aunty Gwawr as she licked the farmer’s steak and kidney pie plate clean with her tongue.

  Aunty Gwawr cleaned off some gravy from her paw. “You know what, I actually don’t think it was him. Sure we have our differences and it’s no secret that we aren’t friends, but never did he strike me as the kind of sheep that would kill another. I just don’t buy it”.

  “Well if it wasn’t Meredith, and you say that it wasn’t Briallen, then who did murder Seren?. There’s no way that Fflur or Blodwen or Heddwen did it. And Wynn seems innocent as well.” I was determined to track down Seren’s killer but it wasn’t proving to be easy. The flock had been giving Meredith a really hard time over the murder. Some were blaming him for not keeping the flock safe, whilst others were convinced that he killed her, just so that no one else could have her if he couldn’t.

  18

  Mrs Shepphard gave her husband a kiss as he left the old farmhouse for the day. He was sad about Seren, but there was no time to stop. There was work to be done as always. “Ready guys?” he called as I ran behind him, next to aunty Gwawr.

  Usually we would head towards the field with the tractor to feed the sheep their pellets, but now that the weather was warming up, the sheep had plenty of grass and didn’t need any supplements. “Where are we going?” I asked aunty Gwawr, noticing that we were headed towards the back of the barn.

  “It’s sheep dipping day” aunty Gwawr replied. “We’re going to be extra busy. Mr Shepphard gets really tired dipping all the sheep on his own, so it’s really important that we help him as much as we can alright”.

  I nodded my head keenly. Of course I would do anything to help Mr Shepphard, especially with him being so upset about Seren. “Tidy”.

  Mr Shepphard filled the dipping baths with water and the insecticide, and put a decoy sheep close to the entry ramp. “I don’t want you and Beau coming anywhere near his dip, do you hear me Gwawr”.

  “Got it”. Aunty Gwawr growled.

  With the dipping baths all set up, it was up to aunty Gwawr and I to bring the sheep from the field. “Don’t be too harsh on Meredith today, will you aunty Gwawr? He looked really blue yesterday. I think he’s taken the news of Seren’s death very badly”.

  The sheep looked fierce as we arrived at the field, and I felt very afraid to see them so out of character. “What’s going on?” aunty Gwawr asked me, looking equally surprised.

  “I don’t know” I replied. “It’s like they want to kill us”.

  Delyth stepped ahead of the flock, facing aunty Gwawr square on, drawing herself up tall. “As the newly appointed head of the committee, I’m here to inform you that we will no longer be following your orders. You’re a murder Gwawr. And we don’t take orders from murderers”.

  Aunty Gwawr was suddenly snarly, and grimaced with all her teeth showing. “I am not a murderer Delyth. In all the years I have known you and kept you safe. How could you say that to me.”

  The sheep began to bleat together. “Murderer. Murderer. Murderer”. Growing louder with each call. A chill ran down my spine, and I feared for aunty Gwawr. It wouldn’t take much for the flock of sheep to charge her and trample her to death, but I didn’t want to speak up and undermine aunty Gwawr either.

  Blodwen and Heddwen ran over to me, worried in case the other sheep might see them colluding with the sheep dogs as their new enemies. “Do something Beau” they whispered.

  “But what? I’m only a puppy myself. Why would the flock listen to me?” I felt helpless and lost without aunty Gwawr’s encouragement, and I knew in my heart that aunty Gwawr was not the murder. “If only we could prove who did kill Seren” I said.

  Heddwen began to cry. “But we don’t know who the murderer is, so how do we prove what we don’t know?”.

  I had a flicker of an idea. “Maybe we don’t need to know who the murderer is, maybe we just need to prove who it isn’t?”.

  Blodwen looked at me confused. “So we use the clues to work out who is innocent…”.

  “Exactly”. I said. “That way, by process of elimination, we will eventually work out who the killer is. Assuming that it is one of us on the farm anyway”.

  A smile crept across Heddwen’s tear stained face. “Right. And since we are so remote, it’s unlikely that anyone outside the farm would have murdered her. So it has to be someone from within our community?”.

  “Let’s start with Gwawr then shall we. At least that will get
the flock off her back, if we can prove her innocence. But first we need to get everyone over to the dipping baths. Mr Shepphard’s waiting for the flock”. I felt a little bit better now that I had a plan of sorts, thanks to the twins.

  I ran over to aunty Gwawr, who was now in a stand off situation with Delyth. Neither of them prepared to budge. Aunty Gwawr would be mad at me for making her look silly in front of the sheep, but it was my only option. “Aunty Gwawr. Aunty Gwawr” I called, running around her in Delyth in circles.

  “Not now Beau” aunty Gwawr growled. She looked super mad.

  I had to distract her with something, even if it was a little lie. “But aunty Gwawr, I know who the murder is. Blodwen and Heddwen helped me to work it out”. I didn’t like to lie, but at least it had worked, and the two ladies stopped dead in their tracks. There stand off broken.

  Delyth squealed like a pig, but quickly composed herself “what?”. Aunty Gwawr looked at me suspiciously. I could tell from her face that she knew I was telling a big fat lie, but she had figured out that I had a plan too.

  “Oh OK. Fine. I’m going back to Mr Shepphard at the dipping baths, you can bring the sheep over Beau”. Aunty Gwawr turned and ran across the field back to the farm. It was a difficult decision, but she knew that she could trust me.

  Delyth kicked the ground hard. “Hah. I knew it” she shouted, making sure that the whole flock could hear her. “That’s guilt right there. She’s as good as admitted it. Gwawr is the murderer”. The flock looked at Delyth with admiration. She had indeed been right all along, Gwawr was the monster who murdered their beloved Seren.

  The twins were keen to break the tension, and ran up to me in the confusion “come on everyone. Mr Shepphard’s waiting for us at the sheep dip. Let’s follow our new sheep dog Beau”.

  “Thanks ladies. I really appreciate that” I muttered. There was no way I could have got the sheep to follow me on my own. But with Blodwen and Heddwen’s endorsement, the sheep were keen to follow me as I led them towards Mr Shepphard and the dipping baths.

  19

  BriallenAunty Gwawr and Mr Shepphard were already waiting for us as I led the sheep towards the dipping baths. Mr Shepphard looked ever so impressed.

  “Fair do’s Beau. We’ll make a terrific sheep dog of you yet. But I know you had the best teacher eh Gwawr”. Mr Shepphard gave aunty Gwawr a big fuss, not wanting her to feel left out. “I’m so proud of you Gwawr”. Aunty Gwawr lowered her head for a rub. she didn’t feel like a great dog today. After years of service, the sheep had suddenly turned on her, and she felt dejected.

  I tried my best to lift aunty Gwawr’s spirits. “Where should I take them aunty?” I barked.

  Aunty Gwawr ran over to show me the entrance to the dipping bath ramp, but the sheep suddenly took fright as she came close. “It’s OK. It’s OK”, I called. “Aunty Gwawr isn’t going to hurt you. She’s just giving me instructions. I’ve never done this before, and I need her help”.

  The sheep nodded in agreement as they looked around at each other for reassurance. “That seems fair enough to me” a young sheep called Bevan bleated. “Can’t be easy, first day on the job an’ all. Let’s give the lad a break shall we”. The other sheep baa’d their agreement.

  “Thank you Bevan”. I said.

  Bevan winked at me. “No bother. I trust you Beau. And if anyone gives you any gyp, then they’ll have me to answer to”. Bevan had the makings of a very fine ram in the future, once Meredith stepped from the role.

  “Make sure that you separate the ewes from the lambs Beau” aunty Gwawr called “otherwise they might get trampled by the bigguns”.

  “OK aunty”. It was ever so tricky trying to learn and remember everything with so many sheep to organise and not knowing how the sheep dipping worked, but at least I had aunty Gwawr to teach me.

  The sheep were not keen on getting wet, especially after Seren had drowned at the river, and they were reluctant to commit to the ramp. But Bevan bravely led the way.

  “Ych-a-fi” Mr Shepphard exclaimed as he saw the state of Bevan’s wool. “You look like you’ve been rolling in mud”. Mr Shepphard smiled warmly, but it gave me an idea.

  I ran over to aunty Gwawr, keen to get her advice. “I think I know how to prove your innocence” I exclaimed hurriedly.

  “Go on” aunty Gwawr eyed me curiously.

  It was starting to make a bit more sense to me now. “You see, aunty Gwawr, I found a bell at the river, the one with blood on it that was used to hit Seren over the head. Well, the bell had some wool on it. We won’t be able to identify the sheep once they’ve all been washed, but what if I can take a tiny bit of wool from each of them, and later we can see if any of them match the wool on the bell?”

  Aunty Gwawr thought for a second, and sighed. “Well, I suppose it can’t do any harm. Yes, why not?”.

  That was settled, I would take a small sample of wool from each of the sheep before they got dipped, and aunty Gwawr would arrange them so that we could match them later. I ran back to the sheep and as Devan went through the tunnel that led to the bath, I asked him for a sample of his wool. “It’s to help me with my learning. Ready for the sheep dog trials” I said.

  “No bother”. Devan replied as he walked down into the water and sheep dip. “Ooh that feels better already. Won’t be any lice, ticks, or bugs on me now”.

  Mr Shepphard called to Devan after he bobbed below the surface for a quick dunk. “Alright mush. Coopy down by here”. Devan was happy to oblige. He liked Mr Shepphard and he knew from the sheep at the county fairs that Mr Shepphard was one of the nicest farmers in all of Wales.

  Devan walked up the exit ramp and stepped into the drying area. “There you are then” Mr Shepphard reassured him. His dipping over for another long while.

  There was a sudden commotion over by the dipping bath as one of the older sheep and the twins Blodwen and Heddwen fell into the sheep dip, legs flailing as the shocked sheep struggled to avoid swallowing any of the insecticide. I ran over to the dipping bath without any thought for my own safety, as I too suddenly fell, or rather, was pushed in. Mr Shepphard screamed as he ran over and pulled us all out as quickly as he could. “Gwawr. Gwawr. Help us”. Mr Shepphard called.

  We were all very wet after our dip, and shivering with the shock of what had just happened. I looked around at the faces of the sheep, but no one would admit to pushing me in, nor would they admit to it being a push rather than a fall.

  “I didn’t fall in” Blodwen protested. “I’m tamping I am”. Heddwen shouted. “Someone tried to drown us too. We could have ended up like poor Seren”.

  Fflur came over to console her lambs. “There. There. You’re just shook rigid is all. I’m sure no one tried to kill you. It was an accident was all it was”. Fflur knew that her girls would not have fallen into the dipping bath. They were smart and sensible and they knew to be careful around water. She was certain that someone was trying to kill them, just as someone was trying to frame her brother for Seren’s murder. But with the killer still at large, she knew how vulnerable her girls were, and making accusations so publicly could only do them harm.

  With the drama over, Mr Shepphard was keen to get the rest of the sheep dipped as quickly as possible and to put the whole ordeal behind them.

  “Right then. Let’s get the job finished. “are you warm enough Beau? Do you need to sit indoors for a bit to dry off?” Mr Shepphard was kind, even though I felt I had let him down. I was shivering from the shock and from the water, but I needed to collect samples of wool from the remaining sheep, and it was even more important to find the killer now I knew that attempts had been made on my life, and the life of the twins. But why try to kill us? Had we gotten closer to the truth than we realised?

  Taffy approached the dipping bath, but Mr Shepphard rushed over. “Not you Taffy. No bath for you. Not today”. Taffy was a lump of a sheep, and he looked disappointed not to get a dip with the rest of the flock, but he did as he was told and left the pen.


  “Well that’s odd” Delyth whispered to the sheep next to her. “Why isn’t Taffy getting dipped? And why did he leave the committee meeting early? You don’t think he could have left early to kill Seren do you? Oh don’t listen to me. What do I know. I’m just shaken by the whole ordeal. Don’t know what I’m saying half the time”. The sheep next to Delyth nodded, now processing this new piece of information, and it didn’t take long before all of the sheep now had their convictions that Taffy was their murderer”.

  Taffy was long gone before I got any chance of taking a sample of his wool, and it was certainly a likely suspect. He had no alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the murder, he had left the meeting early, and there was some kind of secret that no one in the flock knew. But there was no motive that I could think of, no reason why he might murder Seren.

  It was Delyth’s turn next, and before I could ask her for a piece of her wool, she handed me her sample. “There you go Beau. I think it’s brilliant what you are doing for us. I only wish that your aunty could have been half the sheep you are, so respectful and polite. We’re lucky to have you”. I took the sample and sent her on her way to the baths.

  “What was all that about, with Delyth” aunty Gwawr asked me once all the sheep were dipped. I handed her the last sample of wool, from a rather down trodden Meredith, last to be dipped, and told her what Delyth had said.

  “Come on Beau. Let’s see if Mrs Shepphard has made us any cake. I think we deserve it after the day we’ve had”.

  20

  After tea, aunty Gwawr washed my ears and gave me a big cuddle. “I was so scared when you fell in the sheep dip today, Beau. Your mother would never forgive me if anything happened to you. What were you doing messing around like that”.