By Cat or By Crook

by Patricia Fry

  “Three horses?” Adam said, looking confused. “How would you get three horses in a two-horse trailer? That would be crowded. Would they fit?”

  “No,” Michael said. “We’d have to make two trips. That’s how.”

  “And two trips back,” Savannah added.

  “Oh, I get it,” Adam said. “Yeah, that would take a lot of time.” He looked up at Savannah. “How old is Kira?”

  “About your age. You met her. She’s one of the twins from next door.”

  “Oh, yeah. Does she know how to ride a horse?”

  Savannah shook her head. “No. She’s a beginner.”

  “I can teach her a few things,” Adam said with an air of confidence. When he saw Michael and Savannah waiting to hear more, he explained, “Like don’t pull on the reins unless you want the horse to stop, be careful when you’re eating an apple because the horse might take it right out of your hand, and don’t let the horse eat while you’re trying to ride him because the weeds get tangled up in his…what do you call it?”

  “Bit?” Michael offered.

  “Yes, bit. And,” Adam added, “if you let him put his head down too far, you might lose the reins and then you can’t steer him.”

  Michael patted Adam on the back. “All good advice, Son.” He looked at Savannah. “That’s your phone.”

  “Yup,” she said, walking into the dining room where it was charging. “Hi, Auntie. How are you?”

  “Pretty good. And you?”

  “Great. We’re just planning our trail ride with Adam and Kira.”

  “That sounds fun,” Margaret said.

  “Want to join us?” Savannah asked cheerfully. “I’m sure I can get another horse.”

  “I don’t think so. Not me. Thanks anyway.” Margaret hesitated, then said, “I hear you went into the attic at the old Kaiser place with Iris this morning.”

  “Huh? Oh yes, I did. She hears something running around up there at night and wanted me to check it out with her. I think it’s cats. But we can’t find any way they could be getting in.” She thought for a moment and said, “I wonder if they’re living inside the walls of that place.”

  “Oh, you know better than that, Vannie. The smell would be awful.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. There is no odor…well, except for the mustiness of the place. We didn’t even find feces or urine in the attic. So they must be going in and out. Only we checked everywhere imaginable and couldn’t find any place where they could be getting in from outside.”

  “Not everywhere,” Margaret said.

  “Huh?”

  “Obviously, you didn’t check everywhere or you would have found the opening.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “Vannie, are you guys going up there again?” Margaret asked.

  “Up where?”

  “To the attic,” she said rather impatiently.

  “Yes, I think so. We want to see what we find up there at night. That’s when Iris hears something moving around.” She added, “You know, I think I’ll take Rags with us. He may be able to solve the mystery of the secret cat door.”

  “Can I go?” Margaret asked. “Can I, huh?”

  “You want to go up in that scary attic? Why?”

  “I want to see what’s in there. I mean, the place has been closed up for forty years. It has a wild and crazy past. That attic is probably a treasure trove of fascinating relics.” She paused. “Did you see anything interesting when you were there this morning?”

  Savannah thought for a moment. “Not that I noticed. It just looked like typical attic stuff—old clothes, furniture, and boxes of who knows what?”

  “Well, I’d like to know what. Call me when you’re going up there again. I want to tag along.”

  “Okay, it’ll probably be the first of the week.”

  “Awesome!” Margaret said. “Oooh, I can’t wait to see what mysterious secrets are tucked away in that old gangster hideout.”

  Chapter 2

  “Is everyone ready?” Savannah asked Sunday morning after she’d finished taking care of the breakfast dishes. She glanced through the kitchen-door window. “Oh, here’s Kira. Come in, honey,” she invited. “All ready to be a cowgirl?”

  “Yes,” she said, smiling from ear to ear. She looked around the kitchen and noticed Michael putting Lily’s sweater on her. “Is Lily going?”

  “No. She’ll be staying at our friends’ house.” Savannah nodded toward Adam, who was filling the cats’ and dog’s water bowls. “Kira, you remember Adam, don’t you?”

  She nodded.

  When no one spoke, Savannah said, “I got you each a disposable digital camera in case you’d like to take some pictures today.”

  “Awesome!” Adam said. He placed the water pitcher on the countertop and took one of the cameras.

  Savannah handed the other one to Kira. “You have twenty-seven pictures in there. Once you’ve used them all up, that’s it.”

  Kira turned the camera over a time or two in her hands. “How does it work?”

  “I can show you,” Adam offered.

  “Okay, I’m off,” Michael said, walking toward the door with Lily in his arms and a tote bag over one shoulder.

  “Where are you going, Dad?” Adam asked.

  “To deliver Lily to the babysitters, and pick up the horse trailer. Be ready when I get back and we’ll give Peaches a ride to meet the other trail horses.”

  “Okay,” Adam said. “We’ll practice with our cameras.”

  Once Michael had returned and had helped load Savannah’s mare into the trailer, he stood by and watched Savannah and the children carry armloads of bags to the car. “Holy cow, where are we going to put this stuff?” he asked. “Is it all absolutely necessary? You know, cowboys…” he smiled at Kira when adding, “…and cowgirls…carry only the basics on a trail ride. No hair dryers, iPads, computers, and especially not the kitchen sink.” He looked into the bag Adam carried. “You don’t have the kitchen sink in there, do you?”

  Both children giggled. “Dad, you’re funny,” Adam said. “We don’t have any of that stuff. It’s our lunch and water bottles.” He became more serious. “Lunch is important, don’t you think so?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Michael said, winking at his son. “Wouldn’t want you kids to faint from starvation and get carried off by buzzards.”

  “Ewww,” Kira said, crinkling her nose.

  “Adam, which horse do you want to ride today?” Savannah asked once they’d arrived at the Teagues’ stables, where Savannah’s friend Bonnie had tied three horses to the hitching post.

  “Can I ride Peaches?” he asked hopefully.

  Savannah thinned her lips. “I’d probably better ride her this morning. It’s been a while since she’s been exercised and she might be a little spunky.”

  “I like it when she’s spunky,” Adam said, his eyes wide.

  Savannah smiled at the boy. “Let’s put Kira on Wilson and you and your dad can ride Beulah and Delilah.”

  Adam chuckled.

  “What’s funny?” Michael asked.

  “Those names. I still think those are some funny names for horses.” Adam became more serious as he studied the mares. “I forgot which is which.”

  “Delilah’s the freckled one,” Michael said.

  After mulling it over, Adam decided. “I think I’d like to ride the plain one…Beulah.”

  “Then I’ll ride Fancy Pants.” Michael grinned when both children laughed.

  Once Michael and Savannah had saddled their horses, she handed him her camera. “Here, take a few pictures of the kids helping me get their horses ready, would you?”

  “Good one, Adam,” Kira said, laughing as she watched him lift himself off the ground.

  Savannah looked in the boy’s direction and creased her brow. “What happened?”

  “She tripped me,” Adam complained.

  “Who?” Savannah asked, glancing at
Kira.

  “That horse,” Kira said between giggles.

  “Yes, the horse…Beulah. I started to walk in front of her and she put her foot out and tripped me.”

  “She didn’t do it on purpose,” Kira said. “She was just trying to scratch her face on her leg—or maybe she was scratching her leg on her face.” She held up her camera. “Hey Adam, do it again. I want to get a picture.”

  “No way.” Obviously somewhat embarrassed, he turned to Savannah. “Can I get on her now?”

  “Yeah, in a minute. Let’s fill the saddlebags before we climb aboard.” She handed each of the children a few granola bars and a bottle of water. “Here’s an apple in case you guys get hungry before lunchtime. I’ll carry the sandwiches, chips, and grapes in my canvas bags so they won’t get squished.” After a few minutes, Savannah said, “Okay, mount up.”

  “You mean get on the horse?” Kira asked. “Now, how do I do that?” When Savannah looked at her, she winced. “I know you showed me once, but I forget.”

  “Want to show her, Adam?” Michael suggested.

  “Okay,” he said, reaching for the saddle strings. He put his left foot into the stirrup, and struggled to pull himself up on the saddle, with a little boost from his dad.

  “Good job,” Michael said. He looked around the tack room and spotted a mounting stool, which he carried to where Wilson stood quietly at the hitching post. “Just step up on this stool, Kira, hold onto the saddle while putting your left foot in the stirrup, and up you go,” Michael said, helping her a little.

  “He’s tall,” the child said, once she was seated and holding tightly to the horn. “Sure hope I don’t fall off him from way up here.”

  “Let’s adjust your stirrups so you’ll be more secure,” Savannah suggested.

  “I like your cowboy hat,” Kira said, looking down at it from atop the horse.

  Savannah smiled up at her. “Thanks.”

  “Where did you get one with a ponytail hole?”

  “I cut the hole in there myself,” Savannah admitted, running her hand over her highlighted blond ponytail.

  “Cool,” Kira said.

  Before mounting Peaches, Savannah made sure Adam’s stirrups were adjusted properly, then she asked the children, “Comfortable?”

  They both nodded.

  “You look like real cowboys and cowgirls,” she said, smiling. “Here, let me get a picture of you all ready to go.”

  After posing for Savannah, Adam pulled out his camera and said to Kira, “I’ll take your picture and you can take mine.”

  “Smile, Adam,” Kira said.

  “Not at the same time,” Adam complained, when he saw her pointing her camera at him.

  “Shall we be off?” Michael suggested. “Everyone ready?”

  Both children shouted, “Yes!”

  “This is so cool,” Kira said as she rode alongside Savannah several minutes later.

  Savannah smiled. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”

  “So, so, so much fun. Thank you for inviting me.” Suddenly, she stopped Wilson with a jerk. “Look, a bunny,” she whispered. “I want to take a picture of the bunny.”

  “Me, too,” Adam said.

  The foursome had ridden for nearly an hour, stopping every once in a while to snap a picture or admire the view, when Adam shouted, “Hey, there’s a deer.” He fumbled to get his hands on his camera just as the deer moved into thicker brush out of sight. “Darn, I missed it.”

  “Keep watching,” Michael suggested quietly. “You might get another look at him.”

  Savannah motioned with one arm. “Let’s move up onto that knoll. Maybe we can see him from there.”

  As the riders watched and waited, Michael finally whispered, “There he is.”

  “Kinda far away,” Adam complained.

  “We can bring him closer on the computer screen,” Michael said. “Go ahead and take a shot.”

  “I got him,” Kira said. “That’s awesome. A wild deer. I’ve never seen a wild deer except in the zoo.”

  “Yeah, that was awesome,” Adam agreed, urging Beulah to follow the others back toward the main dirt road. Suddenly, he shouted, “Hey, what’s that?”

  “What?” Savannah asked, turning in her saddle to look back at him.

  Kira pointed. “I think it’s someone’s backpack.”

  Adam frowned. “Yeah, what’s it doing way out here in the mountains?”

  “Hmmm, good question,” Michael said, dismounting and walking with his horse toward the pack, which was mostly hidden among dense brush just off the dirt road. He stood studying it for a few moments, then pushed it with one foot. “Looks like an animal’s been chewing on it. There’s a hole in it.”

  “Open it, Dad. Let’s see what’s in it.”

  “Just relax. I’m trying to decide if it might be booby-trapped.” He looked around. “I mean, why is it here, caught up in the brush like this?”

  “Maybe it belongs to a hiker and it fell out of the back of his pickup truck when he went over a bump,” Adam said.

  Kira examined the dirt road in both directions. “I don’t see any bumps.”

  “He could have been driving crazy and ran over that rock over there,” Adam surmised.

  “Open it up, Dad. I want to see what’s in it.”

  “You sure are nosey,” Michael said, winking at his son. He handed his reins to Savannah, who had moved closer to the others, then he leaned over the pack. “Books,” he said, once he’d unzipped it. “Looks like it belongs to a student.” He thought for a moment before saying, “A young student.” He stood and looked around again. “But what would a kid be doing way out here with his school books, for heaven’s sake?”

  “What kind of animal chewed it?” Kira asked.

  “Maybe a raccoon or a squirrel…or a bear cub.”

  “The kid probably left his lunch in there,” Adam said.

  “I think you’re right, Son. And some lucky critter smelled it and helped himself to the sandwich and apple.”

  “Apple?” Savannah said.

  “Yeah, there’s part of an apple core here and plastic, like from a sandwich bag.”

  “I wonder where the kid is,” Kira said. She looked around. “Do you think he fell down that hill?”

  “That’s a good question,” Savannah said, scouring the area below. “I don’t see anything, but that brush is pretty thick.”

  “Yeah, if I had chaps,” Adam said, “I could ride down there and look around.”

  “Hello!” Michael shouted. “Anyone down there?”

  After hearing no response to his repeated calls, Michael picked up the pack. “We’d better take this to that ranger station we passed. A child might be lost out here somewhere.”

  “Or he just ditched his pack so he won’t have to do his homework,” Savannah joked. More seriously, she added, “But I agree, we should let someone know what we’ve found.”

  “Awww,” Adam said. “Turn around already? Can’t we go to the ranger station after our trail ride?”

  Michael looked at his son. “We’ll still be riding, won’t we? We’re just going in a different direction.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Adam said, rather sullenly.

  Speaking more firmly, Michael said, “Son, if someone’s hurt, we want to get them some help as soon as possible.”

  Adam nodded. “Sure, Dad. Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “Okay then, northward ho!” Michael quipped as he mounted his mare. “Or is that eastward ho? Well, whatever ho it is, head ’em up and move ’em out.”

  “Your dad’s funny,” Kira said, giggling.

  ****

  “Well, I’ll be,” the ranger said when he took a look at the contents of the backpack. He scratched his head and grimaced. “This is peculiar. I’d better call it in and see if there’s a missing-persons report on this kid.” He filed through some of the papers in the backpack. “Let’s see, his name’s Aaron…Aaron Webb. He’s in the fifth grade.” The ranger
put his phone up to his ear and walked several feet from the riders to make the call.

  “I’m in fifth grade,” Adam said.

  Kira nodded. “Me too.”

  Adam stood up in his stirrups for a moment. “I know a boy at my school named Aaron.”

  “I know a boy at my school named Aaron, too,” Kira said. “Aaron Axelrod.”

  Adam laughed. “Axelrod? That’s funny.”

  “What’s the name of the kid in your school?” Kira asked.

  “Aaron Smith.”

  Within a few minutes, the ranger returned shaking his head. “He’s been missing now for more than forty-eight hours. He’s from Mason. What he was doing up here, so far away, is a real puzzle.” He looked at the others. “That is, if he’s been up here at all. Could be that someone brought his pack up here to throw searchers off.” He focused on Michael and Savannah. “So where will you be riding today?”

  “Probably as far as the Deer Track Campground for a picnic,” Savannah explained.

  The ranger pursed his lips. “Well, watch for the boy, would you?” He then said to the children, “You kids keep a keen eye while you’re riding. We want to find the little boy as soon as possible.”

  Adam and Kira nodded.

  The ranger addressed Michael again, “You may not be alone on the trail for long; they’ll probably send a search team up here. I hope your horses aren’t spooked by choppers. It could get kind of chaotic.”

  Michael and Savannah exchanged looks and he said, “Hopefully, we’ll be out of here before it gets too crazy.” He turned his horse toward the trail. “Thanks for the tip.”

  “Sure,” the ranger said. “Thank you for bringing this in. Please let us know if you find anything else.” He pulled a business card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Michael. “Here’s our number. Just give us a call.”

  “Okay,” Michael said.

  Savannah rode up next to Michael. “Let me see the card. I’ll put the number in my phone.”

  Michael handed it to her, saying, “Let’s be off, kids,” as he led the way back down the road.

  Adam promptly reined his mare in the direction Michael rode. “Yay!”