by Nic Saint
For a moment, silence ensued, then Bertie shook the man’s hand, dropped it, and walked out of his own house, back to his car, and moments later was cruising down the road, in search of a place to stay. He had the impression his life had just turned to crap.
When Odelia finally arrived home, she let the three cats out of her pickup, then slammed the door, still lost in thought. Like Dooley, she wasn’t happy about leaving Max in Vena’s care. Not that she doubted the vet’s qualifications, or that she would take excellent care of Max. But she had a bad feeling about leaving her cat behind, and would have preferred to stay with him throughout the procedure. The thought of Max waking up in the middle of the night in a cage gave her a sick feeling, and she wondered if she shouldn’t ask Vena if she could pick up Max as soon as the operation was behind him.
She entered the house, three cats scooting between her legs, and her heart sank as she watched the devastation. She and Chase had decided to give the house a thorough remodeling. Now that Chase had officially moved in with her, they needed to make some changes. Chase needed shelf space and closet space, and wanted to turn the guest room into an office so they could both work from home if they wanted to. Until now she’d simply plunked her laptop on the kitchen counter but a regular office was a great idea.
They’d also decided to put a stationary bike in there, and use the room as a home gym as well. And while they were at it they’d decided to put up some nice new wallpaper and give the ceilings a fresh coat of paint, too. All in all, it would be great when it was done, but right now it looked like a tornado had hit the house and decided to linger.
Chase was home already, and greeted her with a smile and a kiss. “Hey, babe. So how did it go with Max?”
“Not so good,” she said as she dropped her purse on a chair. “He needs to have an operation. Vena is going to pull three teeth. And he needs to stay there overnight.”
“Oh, heck,” he said. “That’s tough. How did he take it?”
“Um… I’m not sure. We didn’t have a lot of time to say goodbye. He wasn’t happy.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. And how are you?”
“Oh, I’ll be fine,” she said with a wave of the hand. “I was thinking…” She hesitated as she slung her arms around her boyfriend’s neck.
“Were you thinking? That’s interesting,” he said with a grin.
“I was thinking about picking up Max after the operation. There’s no need for him to stay there, is there? Locked up in a small cage, feeling woozy, waking up all alone…”
“He’s not alone. Vena is there, remember? And the other pets.”
“Yeah, but still.”
“Let’s ask Vena. She probably knows best.”
“Yeah, she probably does,” she relented, then sniffed the air. “Something smells good in here, and it’s not paint or bleach or wallpaper glue.”
He grinned, more widely this time. “I decided to surprise you with a nice home-cooked meal. To celebrate the end of phase one of our home renovation project.”
She closed her eyes with relish. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you. I’m starving.”
She hadn’t realized it before, but she really was starving. They’d painted the guest bedroom ceiling that afternoon, then she’d brought the cats to the vet, and she now realized she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.
Moments later she hopped up onto the high kitchen stool and enjoyed the sight of her boyfriend placing a plate in front of her. It was spaghetti bolognese, the special sauce probably her mother’s, microwaved from the freezer. She didn’t care, though. She was grateful Chase had put in the work, and she appreciated the gesture.
In a corner of the kitchen the television was softly playing, and she now focused on the image of a familiar figure.
“Isn’t that the lottery guy?” asked Chase, pointing to the screen with his fork.
“Yeah. Looks like he went missing.”
“Weird,” said Chase, twirling spaghetti around the tines of his fork like an expert.
“Why?”
“Missing person in Hampton Cove? And your uncle didn’t think to tell me?”
“He’s keeping his promise, Chase. He told you to enjoy your vacation, and that he wouldn’t trouble you with work, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. As promised.”
“Still. It would be nice to be kept in the loop.”
“Enjoy being out of the loop for a change.” But she understood where he was coming from. She hated to be out of the loop, too, and wondered why her boss, Dan Goory, hadn’t told her about the missing Elon Pope.
But then she decided to put the whole thing out of her mind. She was home, she was with Chase, and other people were probably out there, scouring the countryside for the missing kid. So she dug in, and ate with relish.
Chapter 4
Nicky and Jay were kicking the ball around in the backyard when suddenly Jay gave it a mighty kick and it flew over the hedge and sailed straight into the neighbor’s yard.
“Oh, darn it!” Nicky yelled. “Now look what you did!”
Both boys stared at the forbidding hedge, which was high and impossible to scale. Nicky’s mom and dad had planted it when they bought the house, long before Nicky was born, so they wouldn’t have to see the neighboring house, which was an eyesore.
“We have to go and get it, Nicky,” said Jay. “That was our last ball.”
“Yeah, I know, I know,” said Nicky without much enthusiasm.
Then an idea occurred to him. His dog Marcia had recently dug a hole underneath the fence, and had managed to sneak through. Mom and Dad had caught the reprobate, though, and had plugged the hole. But wasn’t it possible they’d done a sloppy job?
“Come on,” he said. “I think I know how to get our ball back.”
They ran to the end of the backyard, then behind the rose bushes, and Nicky crouched down next to the hole Marcia had dug. He was right. Dad had done a lousy job. All he’d done was put a piece of cardboard in front of the hole, and call it a day.
Both boys shared a look, then Nicky said, with a resolute frown, “Let’s do this, Jay. Let’s get our ball back.”
Jay didn’t look convinced. “It’s just an old house, right?”
Nicky gulped. “Yeah, just an old house.”
Neither dared to mention that the old house was haunted, and that no one had been in there for many, many years. Or that a weird smell drifted from the house when the wind sat in that direction. A smell of rot and decay and… death.
They carefully removed the piece of cardboard, and found themselves staring into the next-door yard. It was a real jungle out there, just as Nicky had expected. The house had been empty for at least the last twenty years, and the grass probably hadn’t been cut for a decade. At first the real estate agency had hired a gardener to keep the progress of nature in check, hoping to sell the house, but when no buyers had showed an interest they’d given up, and allowed nature to run its course, which it had—with a vengeance.
“Let’s go,” said Nicky, and pushed his way through the hedge. Weeds and grass reached to his chest, and the backyard was full of brambles and nettles, but he had a pretty good idea where the ball had dropped, and made his way over with some effort.
“Where is that darn thing?” asked Jay as he stared at a buzzing bee as big as a marble.
“I can see it!” Nicky called out, but when he looked back, he saw that Jay was staring at something. He retraced his steps and joined his buddy. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
In response, Jay raised his hand and pointed at something in the middle distance. Nicky, turning to look, gulped when he saw what his friend was pointing at. It was the meanest-looking dog he’d ever seen, its fur mottled, its fangs dripping with saliva, its eyes glowing red. And it was making a low growling sound at the back of its throat.
“He’s going to attack, isn’t he?” said Jay in a quivering tone.
“No, he’s not,” said Nicky, though he had a pretty good idea that Jay wa
s right.
Then, suddenly, the dog pushed itself off and lunged for them!
“Run, Jay, run!” Nicky screamed, and took off like a hare.
Both boys raced to the hedge, but even before they could reach it, suddenly a large bearded man blocked their retreat, and before they could stop they’d run straight into him. The man grabbed first Nicky, then Jay, and pressed some piece of cloth against their mouths. Moments later, Nicky suddenly felt mighty weak, and then he passed out.
The last thing he thought was that now they’d never get their ball back…
Uncle Alec was not having a good day. First word had reached him that the lottery kid had gone missing overnight, and then frantic parents of some other, younger, kid, had told him that their son had gone missing, too, possibly along with his little buddy.
Great. He’d hoped the week would be quiet, with Chase out of the office, and Odelia, too, but of course it hadn’t turned out that way. So he’d dragged his tired ass from his chair, had put on his belt and had walked out of his office.
“I’m going to follow up on that missing kid business, Dolores,” he said as he walked past the police station’s trusty front desk officer.
Dolores made a saluting gesture in his direction. “Aye, aye, sir,” she said with her usual raspy voice. The smell of cigarettes always hung heavy in the air whenever Dolores was around, and Alec frankly hated it. Not that he begrudged her a smoke, but he was a cigarette addict, too, and it had taken him a lot of effort to stop smoking. Being around other smokers, especially heavy smokers like Dolores, always made him crave a drag.
“And if anyone asks, tell them to take a break from crime,” he added.
“Sure, I will tell all the rapists, murderers and other scum of the earth to lay off for now, chief,” said Dolores. “Tell them that the long arm of the law is tired and cranky.”
“I’m not cranky, Dolores.” But he was tired, though.
He hadn’t realized before how much he’d come to lean on Chase, and with him gone, and some of the other officers on vacation, too, his workload had suddenly tripled.
“Say, chief!” said Dolores as he put his hand on the door handle.
“Yah?”
“Why don’t I simply tell them that crime doesn’t pay? Maybe they’ll see the light! Maybe they’ll even get back on the straight and narrow, huh?”
“Smartass,” he grunted, and Dolores’s raspy laugh escorted him out the door.
“Chief!”
“Yeah!” he said, turning back.
“You’re not thinking about taking the car, are you?”
“Actually I was. Why?”
She got up and pressed out her belly, then patted it, and blew out her cheeks.
“Very funny, Dolores,” he growled. “Why don’t you just come out and tell me I’m fat, huh?”
“You’re fat, chief.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said, and made to leave.
“Hey, chief, just give that pedometer a try, will you? You may be a grumpy old bastard, but that doesn’t mean I want to get rid of you just yet! Think about your family! And me!”
He made a throwaway gesture with his hand and walked out. Dolores was right, though. He’d installed a pedometer app on his phone and hadn’t actually used it. He took his phone out of his pocket and fired up the app, then stared at it. It seemed pretty straightforward. You had your speed, your distance, your burned calories… He cast a longing glance to his squad car, then raised his eyes heavenward. Oh, what the hell….
So instead of taking his car, he decided to leg it. He was a little heavier around the midsection than he would have liked. And his doctor had told him to lose some weight or else… Or else what? Or else he’d drop dead, like Dolores seemed to think?
How far was it to the August place? Two miles? Three?
A knocking sound behind him had him look up. It was Dolores, tapping the glass and pushing out her belly and blowing up her cheeks again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got the message. Loud and clear!
He gave her a wave, and then he was off. He’d show her what he was made of.
Half an hour later he was huffing and puffing, and sweating like a pig, and as he reached the house where the kid Nicky August and his parents lived, he had to bend over and take a breather. His ticker was beating a rapid drum, and he felt dizzy and faint.
Heck, maybe Dolores was right. Maybe he needed to work out a little more. And go easy on the fatty foods. If a crook tried to steal his wallet now, he wouldn’t even be able to give chase! And as he approached the door to the August house, he decided to wait until he was feeling more like a human being. Or at least didn’t look as if he was melting.
So he wandered to the house next door instead, and glanced up at the facade. The Buschmann place looked less inhabitable year by year. Soon a heavy wind would come and knock the whole place down. And good riddance, too. Who needed an eyesore like that in their town? Out of curiosity, he walked up to the house, then up the few steps to the front door, and looked in. Place was a mess. Why the town hadn’t ordered it to be torn down he didn’t know. If he lived next door to a house like this he’d have filed a complaint a long time ago. Place stank, too. Rot and mold, of course. And something else. Something he couldn’t put his finger on. He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. Weird. Almost as if someone in there was smoking. Impossible, of course. Unless…
And he was about to apply his ham-sized fist to the door and give it a good knock, when suddenly the door was yanked open and a big, bearded guy appeared.
He was so surprised that for a moment he was speechless. Then he produced his badge and held it up. “Chief of Police Alec Lip. Have you by any chance seen two kids? They seem to have gone—”
And he would have said more, if an unexpected sharp pain hadn’t exploded near the back of his head, and the world suddenly turned dark.
Chapter 5
I woke up feeling woozy and slightly nauseous. As if I’d been sniffing from one of Uncle Alec’s cigarettes, back when he still used to smoke a lot. The smell of his cigarettes gave me the same feeling I had now, along with a slightly metallic taste in my mouth. I was in a cage, and for a moment I thought some horrible thing had happened that I couldn’t quite remember. For a moment I even thought I was at the pound!
But it all came back to me when a familiar figure came into view. It was Vena.
“Awake, little buddy?” she said. “Good. I’m sorry for locking you up in there, but it’s for your own safety. You’ve got plenty of food and water so don’t be afraid to eat your fill, though I can understand that you won’t want to eat right now.”
She took her phone out of her pocket and placed it to her ear.
“Odelia? Vena. You’ll be happy to know that Max is awake. Yeah, the operation went just fine. He’s three teeth poorer but will be without pain from now on. I also have the results from his blood test here—at least the preliminary ones.” She checked a piece of paper, then said, “Everything looks fine. Nothing that jumps out at me.” She moved into the next room, still talking to Odelia, and I was gratified to know that I hadn’t been donated to the pound. I ran my tongue along my teeth. Everything was pretty smooth down there—much smoother than it used to be—and the knowledge that I was minus three teeth didn’t bother me in the slightest. I still had plenty of teeth left.
What did bother me was the cage, though. I don’t like cages, and being cooped up in one wasn’t a lot of fun. I glanced out through the bars, and thought it looked just like a prison. So I heaved a deep sigh, and placed my head on my paws, and decided to take a nap. I was feeling very weak, and before long I was sound asleep again, dreaming of Odelia’s couch, and my favorite scratching post, and of course my buddies back home.
I don’t know what woke me. It may have been a sound, or it may have been movement. I opened my eyes and discovered that all was dark around me. Night must have fallen, or else Vena had decided to turn off the light.
“Psst,” suddenly a
voice sounded nearby. I focused on the source of the sound, and saw that a small rodent was hissing at me.
“Psst! Buddy!” it was saying.
“Oh, hey there, rat,” I said.
The rodent drew itself up to its full height, which wasn’t much. “I’ll have you know I’m not a rat, buster,” said the rodent, sounding a little peeved.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “So you’re a mouse, then?” A giant mouse, though.
“I’m a gerbil!” said the gerbil.
Great. I’d just insulted a gerbil. At least it was locked up in its cage same as I was.
“What are you in here for, buddy?” asked the gerbil.
“They pulled three of his teeth,” said a voice next to me. I glanced over, and saw that in the next cage a small dog sat. “Sorry,” it said. “I couldn’t help overhearing Vena as she was chatting away with your human over the phone.”
“No, that’s fine,” I assured the dog, which looked like a Pekinese.
“I’m having my gall bladder removed,” said the gerbil, swelling out its chest as if actually proud of the fact.
“Tough,” said the Pekinese.
“So what are you in here for?” I asked politely. Even under duress, never forget your manners, my mother always told me.
“Worms,” said the Pekinese softly.
“I’m sorry?” I said. “Did you say worms?”
“Uh-huh. Worms.” Unlike the gerbil he didn’t look particularly proud of his affliction.
“Deworming,” said the gerbil knowingly. “Trust me, I know all about it. Once they pulled a worm out of my butt the size of an elephant.”
Both the Pekinese and I stared at the gerbil. “The size of an elephant?” I asked.
“A small elephant,” the gerbil clarified. “But still an elephant. What a sense of relief, huh, buddy? Huh?”
“I wouldn’t know,” said the Pekinese. “So far I haven’t experienced relief.”
“Oh, you will. Trust me. You’ll feel light as a feather. In fact I wish Vena would pull another one from my butt. There’s something addictive about a good deworming. But I digress. So your teeth, huh? That must have hurt.”