by Abby Deuel
"Can I check inside? I need to see what he feeds her and how it is stored."
"Of course. I have to go with you, though," said Gerry.
They went inside. In the kitchen was a large aluminum can with a tight-fitting lid. The food inside smelled fine and had no bugs or anything in it. Mandy checked the fridge for canned food. There was some and it was fresh-smelling as well. She checked the pantry for any other clues. Normally, she would have just asked the owner for a complete history. In this case, there was no owner to ask anymore. She was on her own to figure out what may have happened to Maggie.
Chapter 13
Mandy continued to search the area for clues of a possible toxicity. She checked all of the garbage cans for evidence that Derek might have sprayed anything or put down any mouse bait. No clues were revealed. She finally decided that this was leading nowhere and she needed to get back to Maggie.
"Can I ask you a favor? I need to know how Derek died in case it is related to Maggie's illness at all," said Mandy.
"I think if it will help Maggie, we can bend that rule just this once. Don't publicize it," said Gerry, winking at Mandy.
Mandy blushed in response. She couldn't help it. She had always blushed easily. Lately, it seemed that Gerry was taking great pleasure in turning her cheeks crimson. She found that annoying since she had no ability to control it.
"We better head back in to check on Maggie. Rhonda hasn't called so I hope she is at least still alive," Mandy said.
They took the police car back to the clinic for another speedy ride. When they arrived, Gillian had joined Rhonda by Maggie's side.
"You didn't have to come in, Gillian. I was trying to give you a break," Mandy said.
"Are you kidding? I can't be doing anything more important than trying to save this good old dog. What do you think happened?" asked Gillian.
"Hard to say. I found nothing of significance at Derek's house. We can't get any blood work or anything today. We have to do good old fashioned medicine. We have a microscope. We can run a CBC and a fecal with it. Do you remember how to look at blood smears?" asked Mandy to Gillian.
"I have seen a couple. I am no expert. You better do that. I can help with the fecal, though," said Gillian.
Rhonda and Gerry looked at each other and then at the girls. "It looks like you two are on it. We will leave you to it so you can work your magic. Please keep us posted," said Rhonda.
"Will do. And thanks for all of your help," Mandy said, making eye contact with both Rhonda and Gerry. She kept her conversation short as she had the cap of the syringe dangling out of her mouth and was fishing for a vein in Maggie's leg. She got blood and drew enough for tests to send off and for her smear. Rhonda and Gerry made their exit as she was making blood smears on slides. Gillian was preparing the fecal to inspect under the microscope while Mandy stained her best blood smears.
They sat side by side at the microscope. The fecal was ready first. Mandy scanned it and then had Gillian check it. They found nothing of importance. They checked the fecal float as well and found nothing there either. The smears were dry and stained. Mandy placed one under the microscope. She scanned under low power first to see if she had a nice smear. It was pretty good, considering she hadn't made blood smears in years. She switched to oil immersion and the cells on the slide came to life.
Cytology was one of Mandy's favorite subjects in vet school. She loved that a tiny little world, visible only with a fancy microscope, could elucidate so much about an animal. She had spent hours in the pathology lab, becoming familiar with all of the different cell types of the body, both in health and in sickness. She hadn't used the knowledge much in practice because most places had technicians or outside labs to send samples to. She would always double check samples before sending them out or giving them to a technician, to keep her eye sharp. She was glad she had done that because this case needed some clues and she didn't have time to waste.
Under the microscope, she found a severe case of non-regenerative anemia. That meant that the body had either been tapped out of the ability to make more red blood cells or that something sudden had used them all up and the body had not yet circulated any younger red blood cells. She also found very toxic white blood cells. They looked like something was attacking them right before her eyes. She saw some macrophages, which are the body's clean up crew. They join the party when something needs cleaned up. She didn't have a powerful enough scope or the right stains to check for some of the weird and wonderful blood parasites so she couldn't rule them out. She could learn a little by what she didn't see, though. There were no monocytes to speak of, which indicated that this hadn't been a chronic infection.
"So, doc, what do you know?" asked Gillian.
"It seems Maggie's body is definitely under attack and it is something that has very recently occurred. There is nothing chronic about this illness. We better start her on antibiotics in case whatever it is is now causing an infection that will respond to antibiotics. Other than that, that's all we have," said Mandy.
"That's something. Let's start the antibiotics IV. Her temperature is down to normal now. Do we need a heating pad on her?"
"Not yet. I will keep checking her through the night and we may need to put one on her later," said Mandy.
"Has Crestview been cursed or something? What is going on these last few days?"
"I wish I knew. Did you hear about Derek?"
"Yes. What happened there?"
"I haven't a clue. I saw him and there was nothing obvious at all," said Mandy.
"This is crazy. If you are going to stay up all night, do you want a cup of tea?"
"Definitely," said Mandy. They went to the kitchenette and put the kettle on. Lyle had been snoozing in there, trying to stay out of the way. She looked at Mandy and yawned. "Are you bored? I can't imagine being bored at a time like this." Lyle rolled over in response. "Hungry?" Lyle leapt up and headed for her bowl in the office. Mandy gave her some food and she ate piece by piece, savoring each morsel.
"Did you at least have a nice day off?" asked Gillian.
"It started off great. We weren't at the paddock very long when Lyle discovered Derek."
"Shame. No rest for the wicked," said Gillian.
"More like no rest for the vet," said Mandy.
Chapter 14
While Gillian and Mandy were sipping their cup of tea, they heard Lyle barking. They went to see what she was upset about. Lyle was pawing at Maggie, trying to wake her. Maggie, on the other hand, was breathing very irregularly and had lost consciousness.
Maggie's gums were getting pale and her pulse even weaker. Mandy grabbed some atropine to try to increase her heart rate. They turned on the oxygen machine and gave Maggie fresh oxygen. They knew they were losing her. They intubated her and tried CPR. She drifted off peacefully, never even regaining consciousness.
"I'm so sorry," said Gillian.
"Me too. I just don't understand," said Mandy. "I've never seen anything like this. It was so quick and with no apparent signs beforehand. Derek was a star owner. He would have noticed anything wrong with Maggie well before most owners. He never mentioned anything yesterday when I talked to him. Maggie wasn't that old either. She couldn't have been shutting down from age."
"We will send the blood off first thing in the morning. Maybe that will help."
"I am also going to do a necropsy. I have to know if there is anything I could have done," said Mandy.
"Do you want to do that now?"
"I don't want to waste any time. I will take samples of all of the organs for additional information."
"I can make another cup of tea when we are done. Let's get this over with," Gillian said.
"I'm not looking forward to it either," Mandy said.
They got to work, thoroughly checking Maggie's body for clues. They saw some movement in her abdomen area. After an animal has died, sometimes the intestines continue to contract. This seemed like a little more movement than that. Mandy decided to open t
he abdomen first, even though she always checked the chest cavity first. Inside the abdomen, they found a swollen uterus that was wiggling.
"What on earth?" asked Gillian.
Mandy didn't respond. She had a good idea what was going on. She worked quickly to open the uterus. She extracted a wiggling little puppy.
"She was pregnant?" exclaimed Gillian.
"Looks like she was. I don't recall Derek mentioning that he bred her. He must have thought she didn't take since she wasn't showing very much with just one pup. We have our work cut out for us. I don't know how this puppy survived. Our challenge is to keep her alive," said Mandy.
They rushed into the surgery to get the puppy on oxygen and fluids. She seemed healthy but she was just removed from a possibly poisoned deceased dog. They got her breathing well and her temperature up. She was a complete miracle to have survived the worst odds. She was continuing to gain strength as they warmed her up.
"I am astounded," Mandy said. "It's like Derek wanted to give us one last memory of him. We are going to have to think long and hard for a suitable name for our new miracle puppy."
"Let's get her healthy enough before we even name her. It's bad juju to name them until we get to know them," said Gillian.
Once they were confident that the puppy was stable, they left her to rest from her exciting entrance into this world. They returned to Maggie to finish the post mortem. The lungs were congested. That was the only gross abnormal finding. They took samples of all of the bodily fluids and organs in little bottles. Neither one of them spoke through the whole autopsy. It's not easy to dissect an animal that you knew as a living being. Somehow, Mandy found it harder, knowing that she didn't have an owner to report her findings to. She had a deep need to solve the cause of Maggie's death to somehow make amends with the fact that Derek was also dead. They packed up all of the samples and prepared them to be sent to the lab with a rush order the next day.
Meanwhile, they prepared Maggie's body for cremation by sewing her back together and placing her in a body bag. They placed her in the fridge. They would wait until the lab had some results before cremating or freezing her in case they needed any additional samples. This was a lesson that Mandy had learned years ago. A case is never closed until the cause of death had been confirmed. Destroying the body prematurely had resulted in an open-ended case for a colleague of hers. He had ended up paying a fine because the owner sued him and he had no evidence to support his innocence since he had already cremated the body.
People assume that being a veterinarian is nothing like being a doctor. On the contrary, people are more likely to sue over their pet because they have a different sense of responsibility for keeping them safe and healthy. Mandy had never been sued but had witnessed a number of cases involving colleagues. She tried to dot all of her I's and cross all of her T's to prevent any such issue. Clearly this owner would not be suing. Mandy had her own reasons for wanting a thorough necropsy on this case.
"Ready for another cup of tea?" asked Gillian.
"Actually, I am not keen on ingesting more caffeine this late. How about dinner instead? Let's check the puppy while we are talking," said Mandy. They returned to the surgery and found a warm, pink, soft, thriving little puppy. They mixed up some colostrum for her to fill up her little belly.
"She's so cute. She's eating well which is another miracle. The good news is that the ducks have been slow-roasting while we've been here so we, too, can go eat. Hamish was in charge of watching them and I gave him thorough instructions about basting," said Gillian.
"I see. You really are teaching your son to be a man of many talents. Roasted duck and cream of morel mushroom soup in one day. I think I might be in heaven," said Mandy. "I'm starving, even after that delicious lunch at the Inn. We can downplay the events of this week with an enjoyable evening," said Mandy.
"I'm glad you are starting to see the benefits of Crestview," said Gillian.
Mandy had not actually been to Gillian's house before so it would be nice to finally put a real-life home together with the image that Mandy had created in her head. She felt like she knew Gillian so well that she felt like she had already been to her house. Mandy had worked at clinics over the years where she purposely avoided becoming too close with her co-workers. This stemmed from several occasions when she had found staff members disagreeable to the fact that she was their superior. Maintaining a sense of professionalism was essential to gain her staff members' respect and willingness to follow her orders. It's hard for some people to separate what happens outside work with what happens inside work. It was refreshing to finally find someone she could have the best of both worlds with.
They headed off in tandem to Gillian's house, arriving to find Hamish actually wearing an apron, attending to the ducks in the oven. It was a sight to see. He was normally so rugged and ready to jump on a horse to wrangle something. This softer, more feminine side was evidence that he had been raised by a single mom who had shown him that a person must be a a jack or jill of all trades to make it in this world.
"It smells perfect. How do they look?" asked Gillian.
"They look like we are getting close to done," said Hamish. "You have a look and tell me what you think."
Gillian opened the oven to find gorgeous ducks, lovingly cared for during the roasting process. "You get an A+, Hamish. You are going to make some girl very happy some day," said Gillian.
"Aww, mom. That's gross."
Mandy and Gillian exchanged a look and smiled. Youth has a way of making a person remember all of the phases a person goes through in life. One day, and probably soon, Hamish would be talking about nothing but girls. Today, he was still repulsed by them. Gillian knew her little boy was becoming a man. She would enjoy every moment of every day, no matter what.
Mandy sat at the kitchen table and observed her surroundings. It was a modest house where everything had a place. Clearly, Gillian and Hamish ran a tight ship. They didn't have a disposable income to clutter the house with frivolities but they did have meaningful trinkets here and there. A person could walk in and see that the house was a home and the two people in it loved horses and animals. There was horse gear visible in the porch area, all hanging neatly. There was a tray of boots by the back door. The furniture was sparse yet cozy. They didn't have a fancy TV which probably meant that these two didn't hardly have time for that anyway. An old-fashioned radio was on top of the fridge tuned to a country station.
Gillian's dog, Bella, was curled upon a mat by the front door. Even she was doing her part for this family. As a Pyrenees, she was guarding her flock. Actually, this was the perfect devoted breed for these two. She would sound off if anyone was invading. Mandy always loved the breed, deciding that if she ever did settle in, she would get one to protect her little piece of this earth. If this little puppy survived, she may be granted her wish of her very own Pyrenees.
Mandy watched as Gillian and Hamish finished each other's tasks. They were a perfect pair in the kitchen. That is a rare thing to see; Gillian had bestowed a sense of respect to Hamish, even in the kitchen. She was so proud of her son, able to be a mother figure to him while still having a beautiful friendship. They set the table, making a spot for Mandy at the head of the table.
"Can I do anything?" asked Mandy.
"No. You are our guest. Just sit and relax," said Gillian.
"OK. Normally it would be hard to sit still. Today, though, I am worn out so I won't argue," said Mandy.
Hamish pulled the ducks out of the oven and placed them on a cutting board to rest. The smell was ridiculously appealing. Mandy's mouth watered.
"We have to let them rest before we can cut into them. We wouldn't want to lose all of those juices," said Gillian.
Meanwhile Hamish worked on the mashed potatoes and vegetables. For a young man, he seemed confident about preparing food. He probably had to cook a fair amount, considering how busy their lives were. Mandy knew that there were kids out there who managed to get to college, only knowin
g how to pour their own cereal. Seeing Hamish made Mandy happy. He was a throwback to how life used to be, before technology took over everyone's life.
"Dinner bell, come and get it," Gillian said. She had carved the ducks and given each person a heaping helping of steaming meat.
Just as they sat down at the table, the phone rang.
Chapter 15
"Hello?" Gillian said. "She's right here. Let me get her." She put the phone down on the counter. "It's Gerry. He has some news for you."
Mandy picked up the phone. "How did you know I was here? I see. Well, what do you know. Hmmm. That's interesting. Maggie passed away mysteriously as well. The surprise was that she had a puppy inside her. We have managed to save her. So far, anyway. I sent everything I could off to a lab for diagnostics. I will let you know when I know. Do you think this was murder? Me too. I will do my part with Maggie to figure it out."
Mandy rejoined Hamish and Gillian at the table.
"What happened?" asked Gillian.
"It seems that Derek didn't die of anything obvious. There was no evidence of a heart attack. His lungs were congested but that was the only abnormality Doc Tom found. He has sent off samples too. We will know more when they come back. For now, he thinks foul play was involved. The overwhelming question is why. Who had any reason to want Derek dead?"
"That is strange. Derek was one of the most well-liked people here. He kept to himself and was always welcomed by everyone when he came off the farm. It makes no sense," said Gillian.
"I agree. Let's not worry about it right now. Let's enjoy this beautiful meal," said Mandy.
