by Mary Hiker
He grabbed the gas can and matches, walked out the door and trapped us inside using heavy chains and locks. Thankfully, he left the flashlight lying in the car trunk and it gave off a nice glow.
Lucky hollered through the door, “Don’t even think about yellin’ out for help. If I hear ya, I’ll have to hurt ya.”
I guess I pushed him too far. Maybe I needed to brush up on my people skills.
I ducked back into Sniper’s car and pulled the tape off Jamie’s mouth. My hands shook so much that the tape did not come off evenly. I had to pull on it a few times before it came off her face.
“Owww,” she said as she rubbed her mouth. Chevy jumped on top of her and licked her face. “Thanks, Avery. Thanks, Chevy!”
“How did you get in here, Jamie?” I wondered aloud.
Jamie’s eyes got wide with excitement. “Rick took me out on a real date last night. Avery, he looked so good in his jeans!” She was swooning. “We were down at the club. Lucky called Rick and asked him to stop by.”
“Where is Rick?” I asked.
“When we got out here, Lucky started on a rant that Rick is really his brother. Rick did not believe a word of it.”
“What did Lucky do?” I asked her.
“Lucky told Rick to go ask his mama. I guess Barber and Rick’s mama had a fling back in the day. Isn’t that romantic?” Jamie continued, “Rick freaked out and ran to find his mama.”
“Rick left you here alone all night?” I was angry at the thought of it.
Jamie looked at the floor and a defeated look came across her face.
“Maybe he came back and couldn’t find me,” she said softly. It sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that unlikely possibility.
Suddenly, Chevy bolted out of Sniper’s car and landed on the dirt floor. His nose bobbed in the air and he started whining. It took a full minute for me to realize why.
I smelled smoke.
Chapter 15
I ran to the barn door and pushed with every ounce of energy I had. The locked chains clanked together with each shove. The door did not budge, but my escape attempt made Lucky furious.
“You are gonna get it now!” he yelled through the door.
I decided to try and distract him some more.
“Lucky, why did you kill Barber?”
He pounded his fist on the outside of the door and sobbed. “I would never hurt my daddy. The stress killed him. He just keeled over and died. Jase helped me bury him.”
“May he rest in peace.” I tried to be positive.
I continued, “Why did you bury your daddy under a bunch of deer carcasses?”
“He liked huntin’!” Lucky sounded exasperated.
“That makes sense,” I lied.
I did not hear any more out of Lucky, but I heard the crackling of a fire. Smoke started to enter the barn from several areas. I knew that smoke inhalation will kill before the fire consumes a building. We needed to get out of there fast.
Chevy ran up to me, shaking his head back and forth as fast as it would go. He had some car keys in his mouth and wanted to go for a joy ride. “Chevy, that sounds like a great idea!”
I grabbed the keys out of Chevy’s mouth, and jumped in the driver’s seat of Sniper’s car. Jamie was still tied up in the back seat.
I gave Chevy his favorite command. “Chevy, Load.”
I said a little prayer and put the key into the ignition. The car cranked up just as the smoke was packing down on us.
I yelled to my passengers, “Hang on, we are going to go ‘Old Man Crash’ on this situation!”
I closed my eyes and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The car flew forward and headed straight for the old rickety wall. We crashed through and burst out the other side. Wood and debris flew everywhere as we knocked over a fence and drove through some bushes. I finally let off the gas and we rolled to a stop in a horse pasture. Chevy was barking with delight.
I looked in the rear view mirror as the barn went up in flames. I opened the car door and saw a bunch of sheriff deputies speeding through farm’s front gate. I honked the horn as they pulled up to the scene.
Deputy Don roared in with lights flashing and radioed for the fire department to respond.
“How did you know to come here?” I was surprised to see such a show of force.
“It was a shot in the dark. I heard you screech ‘High Hor’ on the phone before it went dead. The kids talked about going to High Horse Farm, and add to that Sniper’s attempts to blackmail the owners of this farm. I figured there may be some trouble out this way.
A sheriff’s K9 followed a terrible smell and found Lucky Pierce hiding in the woods. The deputies handcuffed him, put him in the squad car and told him he would get a shower every day in county lock up.
A young, good looking deputy pulled Jamie from the car and cut the rope from her hands and feet. She looked over at me with a great big smile and winked. Her attention quickly returned to flirting with the deputy.
“At least she picked a law abiding guy this time,” I laughed to Don.
Chevy barked and ran across the pasture toward a group of butterflies.
Chapter 16
Exactly a week later, there was a big celebration out at Miss Judy’s field. The town folk decided to make the field a positive place. It was just like a mini-county festival.
The high school band played and there was a big cook-out. The local ladies brought all kinds of pies and desserts. Even the local dogs came out to play with Chevy.
The sheriff called Chevy up to the makeshift podium in front of the crowd. I accompanied him up and stood in front of the sheriff and Deputy Donaldson.
“Chevy, you have helped this community due to your bravery,” Deputy Donaldson said.
The sheriff announced,” I present you with the award ‘Honorary Sheriff Detective Dog, in charge of Community Relations’.”
Deputy Don gave a little plaque to Chevy while the crowd clapped and cheered. Then came the prize Chevy was most happy about – a new tennis ball – and the first throw for a game of fetch was by the sheriff himself!
Several volunteers from the gardening club planted butterfly bushes in the field just for Chevy. Miss Judy got up to say how much she loved Chevy and wanted him to have butterfly friends here all his life.
I was basking in the fun and the sunshine when Deputy Don walked up with a ruggedly handsome stranger.
“I want to introduce you to Rocky,” Don said. “He just got a permit to build an animal sanctuary in the next county. He read about you and Chevy in the local paper.”
Rocky went straight to the point. “Would you be interested in training dogs at our new animal sanctuary?”
“Wow, I am honored you came all the way out here just to offer me a job,” I answered.
“Well, it’s more than just a dog training job.” His voice was rugged, too. “Some strange things have been happening on our land and I thought you and your dog could help us. Let’s take a ride over there and I will fill you in along the way…”
Read More Books by the Author
The second Avery Barks Dog Mystery
STRANGE OUTFIT
By Mary Hiker
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About the Author
Mary has been a dog lover all her life. She lives in western North Carolina, surrounded by animals and nature.
From the Author
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