Hounded in Christmas River

by Meg Muldoon

  “Shoot,” I mumbled.

  I walked over and picked up the hat. I fixed it back on the cocker spaniel’s head, then looked over at Daniel.

  “They still have to get used to being outlaws,” I said. “Anyway, what do you think?”

  “Honestly, darlin’, I don’t have the words. You really sewed all that?”

  I nodded.

  “Them tiny pockets and everything?”

  “Everything but the hats and the pocket watches. I had to order those – they were a little beyond my expertise.”

  Daniel let out a staggered breath.

  “Well I’ll be a chili dog in December, Cin – they look like the spitting image of Butch and Sundance.”

  I let out a laugh.

  He grinned, putting an arm around me.

  “You really outdid yourself,” he said. “Looks like I’m gonna be walking the two best-dressed dogs at that parade tomorrow. I bet I’ll get elected for a second term as sheriff based on these costumes alone—”

  At that moment, Chadwick let out another low grumble. He sat down, scratching his head with his hind leg. Once again, the small cowboy hat went skidding across the porch.

  “Well, I guess not all of us are so impressed,” I said, going over and picking the hat up again. I gave Chadwick a reassuring pet on his soft head, deciding to give him a break from the hat which he clearly wasn’t as amused with as we were.

  “They’ll come around,” Daniel said. “Soon as Chadwick sees how much attention he gets at the parade tomorrow on account of that costume, he won’t want to take it off.”

  I smiled, going over and putting my arms around Daniel’s waist and hugging him.

  A gust of warm wind wound its way through the trees in the woods around us. A shower of dry pine needles gently tumbled down from above.

  “So how was your day?” I asked.

  “Good,” Daniel said. “Slow enough so it allowed me to keep an eye on Connor Redfield. He’s been at the brewery all day, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do except watch about a million tourists coming and going. All of them came out with these giant bags of cans. Connor must be making a killing with that Pooch Vitamin Brew.”

  “Guess those tourists don’t read the local paper,” I said.

  “No. But you could see how Connor might be worried by that editorial Aubrey wrote. From what I saw today, it seems like their biggest money maker aside from the restaurant must be the Pooch Vitamin Brew. If that was to change for some reason – justified or not – Connor might be in for a tough time financially. Rent can’t be cheap in that big downtown building.”

  I nodded.

  “So he didn’t go anywhere today?” I asked.

  “Nope. Stayed there and worked all day. Billy’s watching him tonight since I’ve got the parade to oversee bright and early tomorrow. We’re expecting a pretty big turnout.”

  “Bigger than the Puppy Love Auction?” I asked.

  “This thing is gonna make the Puppy Love Auction seem like a sideshow.”

  I smiled, thinking about all the cats and dogs that were going to benefit from the event.

  “Glad to hear that,” I said. “So are you ready to go to the Humane Society and reserve Brighty?”

  Daniel looked at me with questioning eyes.

  “Brighty?” he said.

  I shrugged.

  “I just thought since he was probably born on that farm near the BrightStar area, and with our last name being Brightman and all… it just had a nice ring to it. Don’t you think?”

  Daniel scratched his chin, then smiled.

  “Huckleberry, Chadwick, and Brighty… sounds like one big happy family if you ask me.”

  I was beaming all the way to the car.

  Chapter 15

  It was obvious from the second we pulled into the Humane Society parking lot that something was very wrong.

  She stood in front of her car, seemingly unable to move. There was a piece of paper in her hands, and her face was fixed in a frozen expression of shock as she gazed at it.

  I quickly glanced at Daniel, feeling a sudden queasiness overwhelm me.

  We both stepped out of the truck and headed over to Aubrey as a stiff breeze rolled across the dimming parking lot.

  “Is everything all right, Aubrey?”

  She didn’t acknowledge the sound of Daniel’s voice.

  “Aubrey?”

  Hearing him this time, she looked over.

  Then with a trembling hand, she held out the piece of paper toward us.

  It was written in black Sharpie on a page ripped out from a lined notebook. The scrawl was uneven and jagged and perhaps hinted at an unstable mind.

  “YOU’RE GOING TO GET HURT.”

  My jaw dropped.

  The words might have been simple and straightforward.

  But the malice they held chilled me right down to the bone.

  “Where did you find this?” Daniel asked.

  Aubrey nodded to her car.

  “On my windshield,” she said in a quiet voice. “Just now. I stopped back here to pick up a checkbook before heading over to Meadow Plaza. I was only in my office for a few minutes. And when I came back out, this…”

  Her gaze fell on the threatening note.

  She looked at Daniel.

  “I don’t… understand… why…”

  There were tears in her eyes and the words came out choked and full of emotion.

  She started inhaling deeply.

  “It’s okay, Aubrey,” I said in the most reassuring voice I could muster. “You’re okay.”

  Her face was pale as moonlight.

  “Cin’s right,” Daniel said, looking at me with a worried expression. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, okay? You have my word, Aubrey.”

  She nodded.

  But a moment later, Aubrey let out a deep, frightened sob.

  Chapter 16

  The baby-faced weatherman on the news station promised that it was going to be a crystal clear day for the First Annual Pooch Parade, but the morning started off as anything but clear. The sun rose up the next day through a thick bank of clouds, casting an eerie red glow over the downtown streets of Christmas River. The unseasonably cool weather only added to the odd atmosphere.

  But the tourists didn’t seem to mind all that much.

  Meadow Plaza was damn near buzzing with excitement early that morning. Thanks to all the hard work Aubrey had done in organizing and publicizing the Pooch Parade, people from all over the state had flooded our humble town for the sole purpose of seeing dogs decked out in all variety and manner of costumes. The event hadn’t even begun, but already, it was shaping up to be the highlight of the summer. Hell, it might have even rivaled the annual Gingerbread Junction Competition when all was said and done.

  But with everything she’d accomplished, it didn’t seem like Aubrey was getting a chance to enjoy any of her hard work.

  After the incident at the Humane Society the evening before, Daniel had spent the night staked out in front of Aubrey’s house along with Deputy Jasper. Daniel had given her his word that he’d keep her safe, and being a man of his word, I knew he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. Even if it meant a month of stake-outs in front of her house.

  I knew that Aubrey was the type of person who was used to people being unhappy with her. And from everything I’d seen, she never seemed to have any problems being the most controversial person in the room at any given time.

  However, it was clear these threats were really getting to her. And I hated seeing it – seeing a person who was usually so confident and sure in her own shoes become scared to even walk outside her home in the morning.

  It wasn’t right.

  And though I didn’t know how, whoever was doing this needed to pay for the distress they’d caused.

  The situation had consumed my thoughts the entire night before, but I tried not to think too much about it all that morning. Instead, I tried to focus on the task at hand. I
grabbed another big stack of Canine Crumble treats from the trunk of my car and carried them across the street toward the pie stand in the plaza.

  I’d spent a long night at the pie shop, making not only the Canine Crumble – which were homemade crumbly bacon dog treats mixed with healthy peanut butter – but also human treats in the form of marionberry, cherry, blueberry, and peach blackberry pies. All profits from the dog treats and pie sales were going directly to the Humane Society – the thought of which had propelled me through the long evening of baking.

  I made my way across the cobblestone plaza to where Tobias and I had set up the pie stand. It was nestled in a long row of other stands that were selling funnel cakes, T-shirts, marionberry cider, and more.

  Tobias was counting out the till just as I set the Canine Crumble Cups down. Tiana was manning the shop this morning along with Ian.

  “I’d sure feel better if you let me get the rest of those from the trunk, Cin,” Tobias said.

  The way he was studying me, I had a feeling that I was looking a little worse for wear. Which would have made sense – it had been a very long night, and I was bone-tired.

  But I had the Humane Society counting on me today, and I couldn’t let all those cats and dogs down.

  “Thanks, Tobias, but I’ve got it. There’s only one more load, and anyway, I need you to get the Square app up and running. It’s been giving me trouble, and you always seem to have a magic touch with it.”

  “Sure thing, Cin,” he said, grabbing my phone off the edge of the table and getting to it.

  In truth, Tiana had told me that Tobias’s back was bothering him a little lately. I didn’t want to add anymore strain if I could help it.

  I let out a long yawn on my way back to the car. I passed someone walking two mammoth Great Pyrenees in red T-shirts. The dogs had blue dye on the top of their heads, and I didn’t have to read the shirts to recognize them as Thing 1 and Thing 2.

  I chuckled to myself as I grabbed the final stack of marionberry pies from the trunk. I waited as a truck rumbled down Main Street, then I crossed. I started heading across the plaza again to the pie stand, still thinking about the Dr. Seuss-inspired Pyrenees, when I heard a deep-throated voice from behind me.

  “Police harassment,” it boomed. “That’s what your husband’s doing, in case you didn’t know.”

  My blood turned to ice.

  I swallowed hard, slowly turning around to face him.

  Connor’s eyes bulged out of his head like a fuming bull.

  “I’m a tax-paying citizen of this county and I know my rights,” he continued. “The Sheriff’s not going to get away with this.”

  He didn’t try to disguise the rage in his voice.

  And even though we were in the middle of a crowded plaza, I felt just as afraid as I’d be if I was alone with him in his office at Redfield Brewing.

  I looked over his shoulder at the Pooch Vitamin Brew stand across the way. Hundreds of cans of the stuff were lined up, waiting for eager tourists to come by and empty their wallets.

  “I…” I stammered, trying to steel myself as best I could. “I don’t know what you’re—”

  “Yes you do,” he said, cutting me off before I could finish my thought. “A sheriff’s car was sitting outside of the brewery all day yesterday. It was outside my house all night last night, too. He’s after me like I just robbed the Cascades Bank. And here I haven’t done a single damn thing wrong.”

  Connor stepped toward me, getting too close for comfort.

  I cleared my throat, meeting his swollen eyes.

  “Listen to me,” I said in the strongest, most unwavering voice I could muster. “He’s doing his job and keeping people safe. But if you’ve got a problem with the sheriff, then you go take it up with him—”

  “Do you seriously think I’d be dumb enough to go after Aubrey Berg?” he said, glaring at me. “With everyone watching me the way they are?”

  “I have no idea about the level of your intelligence, Connor. All I know is that I’m not the one you need to be speaking to right now.”

  Those bull eyes of his flickered with malice.

  “Oh, I think you’re exactly the person I need to be speaking to.”

  Just then, a young woman with a big pack of yapping dogs walked behind Connor. He looked back with a scheming smile.

  Then, out of the blue, he stumbled forward toward me, his big tree-trunk arms flailing wildly into the stack of pies in my arms.

  Before I knew what had happened, the boxes were sliding every which way.

  Splat.

  Splat.

  Splat.

  Suddenly, those pretty pink boxes were scattered all over the cobblestone at my feet.

  Chapter 17

  “Oops,” Connor said, putting his hands up.

  “Why you… you… you son of a…”

  My voice shook and soon the anger rising up the back of my throat snuffed out any audible words.

  Connor Redfield just smiled at me maliciously, watching my face turn red. Then he backed away toward the Pooch Brew stand on the opposite side of the plaza.

  “Sorry about that, Cinnamon,” Connor said. “That chick and those dogs just came out of nowhere and tripped me up.”

  I felt my fists curl at my sides at his sarcastic tone.

  No way in a Hades snowstorm had that been an accident, and he knew it. The lady with the dogs hadn’t even come close to bumping into him.

  I gazed in the distance at all those cans of Pooch Vitamin Brew shining in the early morning light. I imagined them all lying on the ground, busted and spilling brown liquid everywhere.

  The image gave me a fleeting moment of satisfaction. And for that moment, there was nothing I wanted to do more than to go over there and play dominos with Connor Redfield’s inventory.

  But something in me – a little voice of reason, maybe – wouldn’t let me act that way.

  Something told me that if I did that, I’d only be stooping to his level.

  And after it was all said and done, that would have made me feel worse than I did now.

  I knelt down, ignoring Connor Redfield for the time being, and I tried to salvage what I could of the pies. I was gathering the boxes, holding back some angry tears, when I saw a shadow cross the pavement.

  I looked up.

  A woman I didn’t recognize had collected a couple of the pastry boxes and stood there, holding them.

  She was short and appeared to be in her early thirties. She had light brown hair and deep-set, intelligent-looking eyes. There was a leather messenger bag slung over her shoulder.

  Since I didn’t recognize her, I figured she was most likely a tourist here for the parade.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. “I just saw what happened. I can’t believe that jerk did that to you.”

  “Yeah, I’m all right,” I said. “Thanks for helping. I appreciate it.”

  I stood up. I had to inspect the pies to see how badly they’d suffered in the fall, but I couldn’t do that with the stack in my arms.

  “Would you mind following me and bringing those over to my booth?” I asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  A moment later, we were back at the stand. I noticed Tobias wasn’t there and I spotted him on the opposite side of the plaza speaking to one of the city officials about something regarding our booth. I guessed that he’d probably missed my encounter with Connor Redfield, because I knew that if Tobias had seen it, he would have been by my side so fast, he might have caught those falling pies.

  I went about inspecting the rattled inventory.

  The verdict wasn’t good.

  Only one had survived the fall intact. The others had slumped down, been damaged, or in one case, fallen flat on its face into an unrecognizable gooey mash of marionberries and pastry.

  I held in a disappointed sigh.

  “I take it that’s that,” the woman said.

  I nodded.

  “Tha
nks again, anyway,” I said, putting my hand out and shaking the stranger’s hand. “What’d you say your name was?”

  “Winifred Wolf,” she said. “But most people call me Freddie for short.”

  I didn’t know why, but the name sounded familiar.

  I wondered if maybe she was one of the folks who had recently moved to Christmas River. Drawn by the picturesque views and charming small-town lifestyle, the entire Central Oregon area has seen an uptick in newcomers recently.

  “So who the hell was that guy anyway?” Freddie asked, adjusting the messenger bag on her shoulder.

  I glared across the plaza at Connor, who was just putting up the bright and eye-catching sign for Redfield Brewing Co. with the help of the red-bearded salesman who I’d met at the brewery gift shop.

  “His name’s Connor,” I said. “He’s a brewer in town. Not a very nice one, either, as you can guess.”

  Freddie’s eyebrows lifted when I said his name.

  “So that’s Connor Redfield, huh? The guy behind the Pooch Vitamin Brew.”

  A strange, knowing smile came across her face.

  “Do you know him?” I asked.

  “No. But he’s gonna know me soon enough.”

  I glanced at her questioningly, but she didn’t notice. Her lazer-like gaze was fixed on Connor across the plaza.

  I was about to ask her what she meant, but I didn’t get a chance.

  “Nice meeting you,” she said, glancing at me for a split second and smiling. “Hope the rest of your day goes better than this morning.”

  Then, as if in some sort of trance, Freddie Wolf left the pie stand and quickly headed across the plaza toward Connor.

  I hardly knew anything about her, but I did know one thing:

  Freddie Wolf was most definitely not an average tourist.

  Chapter 18

  “Well now I’ll be a chili dog in December…”

  I wiped away a trickle of sweat from my brow and gaped at the scene before me.

  Then I put a hand on my hip and shook my head in utter disbelief.