“But it could have been a guest sneaking around,”
Bess pointed out, “except somehow the word sneak
doesn't fit the Warriners' profile.”
George shrugged. “You never know.”
Nancy thought for a moment. It was possible that
either Dexter or Dody had needed something in the
middle of the night, like pain medicine after a hard day
of skiing. Dexter was shy enough that he might have
felt awkward about disturbing the Marshalls and
decided to leave when the animals barked. But
remembering the mysterious Swiss army knife with the
carved initials, Nancy felt there was a small chance the
intruder could be Rusty. Facing Alice, she asked,
“Could you tell whether this person was a man or a
woman?”
Alice bit her lip for a moment, then said, “As I
mentioned, I saw only a shadowy form, but I got the
sense it was a man—someone with broader shoulders
than those of most women. Sorry, but I don't re-
member any other details.”
As Nancy, George, and Bess admired the little
wolves, Jenny filled her mother in on Stella Stevenson's
accident.
Alice's expression was one of disgust. “Stella is so
annoyingly stubborn,” Alice said hotly. “I've noticed in
town how bad her driving is. She bangs other people's
cars when she tries to parallel park, but she refuses to
admit that she probably shouldn't be on the road
anymore. All I can say is, she'd better pay for that
fence—she can afford it more than we can.”
Opening the outside door, Jenny said, “I'll tell Ross
to fix the fence. If Rainbow goes outside, she could
escape.” Nancy noticed a dog door covered by a loose
plastic flap carved into the wall next to the door.
“Its Ross's day off, darling,” Alice said. “We'll just
have to walk Rainbow on a leash till he gets back.” She
pushed down a piece of hard plastic that was hooked
above the dog door to cover it.
“I'll leave him a note, then. Oh, and by the way, it's
beginning to snow,” Jenny finished, closing the door
behind her.
“Do you guys worry about Rainbow escaping?”
Nancy asked Alice. “I mean, now that she's tame,
would she want to?”
“I definitely don't think she'd want to,” Alice said.
“But her instinct is to roam, and she might get lost. If
that happened, she wouldn't do very well in the wild
because she's used to getting her food from us. Wild
wolves are a lot tougher than she is.”
“Even some dog breeds like to wander more than
others,” George declared. “Like basset hounds and
beagles.”
“Huskies, too,” Alice said. “Still, I have the feeling
Grover wouldn't go as far as Rainbow would. Even
though she's tame, she's wilder than most dogs.”
“What are these puppies going to look like when
they're grown?” Bess asked. “They're so cute now.”
“They'll still be cute,” Alice said, smiling as she
gently rubbed a puppy's furry stomach as he rolled
over playfully on his back. “In fact, wolfdog breeds are
highly prized by some people. They can fetch a lot of
money.”
“Really?” Nancy asked. “Why do people want them
so much?”
“A lot of folks are fascinated by wolves, but they
want an animal that's easier to tame,” Alice explained.
“What a lot of them don't understand is that wolfdog
hybrids can be really hard to control. Training them is
a full-time job. And they tend to need a lot of
attention—hours and hours a day. Otherwise, they can
resort to all sorts of bad behaviors, like tearing apart a
house.”
“Wow!” Bess said. Then, looking at the puppies with
an enraptured gaze, she added, “But it's hard to believe
these adorable little critters could ever be bad.”
Alice smiled, then checked her watch. “Excuse me,
girls. I have to help John with supper now. It's almost
five o'clock.”
That evening Nancy, Bess, and George joined the
Marshalls, the Warriners, and Paul at dinner, which
was eaten ranch style at a long table in the cozy dining
room off the kitchen. Alice and Jenny served John
Marshall's special roast chicken with herb stuffing, new
potatoes with rosemary butter, green beans, and salad.
A fire blazed in the fireplace while snow blew against
the dark window-panes.
“We're supposed to get several inches tonight,”
Dody said, his eyes lighting up like those of a happy
child. “That's the best news I've heard all day.”
Dexter groaned. “Just don't make me go down those
extreme expert slopes with you tomorrow, Dad.”
“But those are the ones that'll have the best pow-
der,” Dody said, looking askance at his son. “Don't be
such a chicken, Dex.”
Dexter rolled his eyes, then glanced shyly at Bess as
he murmured, “I'm just smart enough not to risk
them.”
“You call those bunny slopes risky?” Dody said,
eating a slice of potato. “Now, when I climbed Mount
Everest five years ago, that was risky.”
“Don't forget to mention your travels by dogsled to
the Arctic Circle,” Alice said.
“Kid stuff,” Dody proclaimed, beaming at the
memory.
“You can ski with us tomorrow, Dexter,” Bess of-
fered. “We won't be doing any extreme expert slopes
our first day out.”
“Speak for yourself, Bess,” George teased.
“You're right, though, Bess,” Nancy said. “We'll save
those slopes for day two.”
Nancy snuggled under the down comforter on her
bed, watching snowflakes swirl outside her window. A
hemlock tree close to the house creaked and groaned
with every gust of wind, its branches whacking the
windowpanes. The noise had woken Nancy up a few
minutes earlier, and she lay in bed warm but wide-
awake.
The time change is why I'm awake so early, Nancy
told herself, glancing at the glow-in-the-dark bedside
clock, which read five. It's really six in the morning for
me.
Nancy was fluffing up her pillow, trying to get
comfortable, when an anguished scream pierced the
silent house. She bolted upright.
“George, wake up!” she cried, her heart hammering.
“Someone needs help!”
5. Blizzard Blindness
George jolted awake, staring wild-eyed at Nancy.
“What's going on? Where are we, Nan?”
“At Elk River Ranch,” Nancy said, jumping out of
bed. “Didn't you hear that scream? It was pretty in-
tense. Let's find out what's happening.”
“Okay,” George said groggily. She swung her feet off
the bed, grimacing as they touched the freezing cold
floor. “But please don't let this be the beginning of
another mystery. I mean, we're on vacation, Drew!”
“It's not the beginning of a my
stery, George,” Nancy
said, opening the bedroom door. “It began with Alice's
intruder.”
George sighed as she followed Nancy out the door.
“I was afraid of that,” she mumbled.
In the hallway, the two girls paused, listening. The
chill air of the house seemed to seep into Nancy's
bones as she waited in her flannel pajamas for another
scream. Where could the first scream have come from?
she wondered. It had sounded pretty far away—maybe
downstairs.
“Look,” George whispered, pointing to an open door
at the end of the hall.
“That's Jenny's room, or Paul's,” Nancy said.
The girls tiptoed to the room and peered inside. A
four-poster bed stood empty and unmade, and Nancy
recognized the blue sweater Jenny had been wearing at
dinner slung over an armchair.
“It's Jenny's room, but she's not in it,” Nancy said.
She gripped George's arm. “She could be in trouble.
Let's hurry downstairs.”
Nancy and George raced down the staircase and into
the living room. The sound of a woman's anguished
sobs penetrated the night. “There!” Nancy said, point-
ing to a hallway off the living room. “It's coming from
the wing of the house where Alice and John live.”
“But that's private,” George countered. “They might
not want us back there.”
“Then again they might,” Nancy said.
As she hurried down the corridor, the sobs grew
louder. Light shone through the open doorway of the
Marshalls' sitting room, dimly illuminating the narrow
hall.
When Nancy and George reached the safety gate
separating the hall from the room, they paused, taking
stock of the scene inside.
Grover lay on the floor, motionless. Alice and John
hovered over him, running their fingers through his fur
and inspecting his eyes and muzzle. Jenny sat by
Rainbows pen, rocking one of the puppies in her arms
as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Nancy felt a pang of foreboding. Where was Rain-
bow?
Nancy knocked on the wall beside the open door.
Jenny and her parents looked up at the sound, their
faces stricken with confusion and grief. “Nancy,
George,” Jenny said. “I can't believe this—someone
stole Rainbow!”
The puppy in Jenny's arms whimpered forlornly as it
wriggled to get down and join its sisters and brothers.
But the other puppies couldn't give it the comfort it
needed. The sight of the tiny puppies sniffing around
the pen, whining for their missing mother, was
heartbreaking.
“They're hungry,” Jenny announced, fighting back
more tears. “I'd better get a bottle and some baby
formula.”
“Let's call the vet first,” John said, getting to his feet.
“We need to find out exactly what to feed them.”
“And tell the vet about Grover, dear,” Alice said just
before John disappeared into their bedroom. Holding
up a dart, she explained to Nancy and George, “The
thief used a tranquilizing gun on him. I'd like to know
how long it takes for this stuff to wear off. Oh dear, I
wish I could remember how we mixed the formula
when Rainbow was small,” Alice said.
At the sound of Rainbow's name, Jenny began to sob
pitifully.
“Jenny,” Nancy said, stepping over the safety gate to
comfort her. “Pull yourself together. I can help you
find Rainbow, but you need to calm down and give me
some information.”
Jenny stared at Nancy with a mixture of hope and
disbelief. “How can you help us find Rainbow?” she
asked.
“Because I'm a detective,” Nancy explained.
“That's right—you are a detective, Nancy,” Alice
said. “Eloise has spoken so admiringly of your work.
Would you really be willing to help us?” She frowned,
adding, “Oh, but you're on vacation. We can't ask you
to spend your free time investigating a case.”
“I'd be happy to help you,” Nancy said, glancing at
the motherless puppies. “Anyway, I wouldn't be able to
enjoy my vacation knowing that these puppies don't
have their mom.”
“Not to mention that Rainbow may be in danger,”
George added as she stood next to Nancy.
“What's going on here?” a man's voice questioned
behind Nancy and George.
“Dody!” Alice exclaimed. “I hope we didn't wake
you and Dexter.”
Turning, Nancy saw Dody Warriner wrapped in a
maroon velvet dressing gown standing outside the gate.
Dexter was with him, wearing blue jeans, bare feet,
and an untucked red flannel shirt, trying his best to
stifle a yawn.
“Don't worry about waking us,” Dody said gallantly.
“Dex and I want to help if there's a problem. Did I
overhear someone say that Rainbow is in danger?”
Alice and Jenny quickly explained to Dody and
Dexter that Rainbow was missing. When they'd fin-
ished, Dody asked, “Why don't you bring in one of the
female sled dogs to act as a surrogate mom? I think she
might help calm the little pups.”
“Great idea,” Alice proclaimed. “Jenny, could you
ask Paul to be a dear and bring Icicle in from the barn?
I'd ask Ross, but it's still officially his day off.”
Jenny frowned. “Paul must still be asleep, but how
could he sleep through all this noise?”
Nancy shrugged. “Bess is still asleep, too.”
“I'll get Icicle,” Jenny said, standing. “The sooner we
give these little guys a warm body, the better.”
“No way, Jen—don't go out,” Alice said firmly. “The
barn is two hundred feet away, and it's snowing like
crazy. I know it sounds impossible, but people have
died getting lost in blizzards when they're practically
next to their houses. The blowing snow can make it
impossible for you to see.”
Jenny shot her mother a critical look. “Then why
would you send Paul out in it, Mom? Don't you care if
he freezes in the snow?”
“Of course I care,” Alice said indignantly. She sighed
with exasperation. “But Paul has had experience with
bad weather conditions when he's tracked wolves. He's
camped out in blizzards, so he knows just what to do.”
“Mom, I could manage the space between here and
the barn,” Jenny said tartly. “But don't worry, we'll wait
and get Icy first thing tomorrow, and meanwhile,
tonight I'll sleep in the pen.”
The bedroom door opened, and John rejoined the
group. “Dr. Goodman told me how to bottle-feed
them,” he explained. “He also said that Grover should
recover soon. We just need to give him plenty of
water.”
“Grover's already awake,” Alice said, stroking
Grover's face as he lay on her lap. Grover stared with-
out moving at the pan of water John had brought him.
As John s
tepped back over the safety gate to go to
the kitchen to mix the formula, Nancy cast her mind
back to Alice's description of the intruder the previous
night.
“Did you see anything weird tonight, Alice?” she
asked. “Did you sleep with your bedroom door open
again?”
“We had our door open, as usual,” Alice replied.
“But John and I are both sound sleepers, and neither of
us heard a thing.”
“I heard a noise,” Jenny cut in, “so I decided to in-
vestigate. I couldn't sleep because of the storm, so I
was alert to every tiny sound, and my bedroom is right
over Mom and Dad's.”
“What kind of noise was it?” Nancy asked. “For in-
stance, a footstep, a slamming door, a dog barking?”
“I just heard a few thumps,” Jenny said. “Normally, I
wouldn't have thought anything of it— maybe a loose
shutter from the storm. But I was so creeped out by
the intruder last night, that I wanted to make sure the
animals were okay.” She sighed, then added grimly, “It
never occurred to me that the person would be so evil
that he'd shoot the animals with a stun gun before they
could bark.”
“What did you see when you got down here?”
George asked.
Jenny pointed to the door leading to the outside
yard. “That door was wide open. Snow was blowing in.
Rainbow was gone, and Grover was out cold on the
floor.”
“I wonder if there are still any footprints in the
snow,” Nancy said, glancing toward the outside door.
“Don't even think about going outside, young lady,”
Alice said sharply. “We don't want you falling in a
snowdrift and freezing ten yards from the house.
Remember what I told Jenny.”
Nancy hesitated. Alice had a point, and Nancy didn't
want to do anything that would make her worry. Still,
there might be clues outside that would be buried by
the snow if she waited to investigate.
“Alice, please let me check outside,” Nancy said. “I
won't go more than a few feet from the porch, but I
don't want to miss any clues. I just need to borrow a
coat and some boots.”
Alice frowned, unconvinced.
“Mom,” Jenny said, “you're being a worrywart. Let
Nancy do her thing. She's only going a few feet away.”
“All right,” Alice said, sighing. “Just be careful. I
don't want to have to tell Eloise that I lost you in a
164 The Mystery Of The Mother Wolf Page 4