Baa'd to Death: A Cozy Mystery Novella (Cozy Mystery Dogs Book 1)

by Sarah Jane Weldon

  “Only Fflur I think?” Taffy replied. “Can you fill her in on the details Meredith?”.

  Meredith nodded his head. “Sure”.

  “Tidy” Taffy replied, turning to speak to Wynn. “I’m afraid I need to leave a bit earlier tonight, I’ve got somewhere I need to be”.

  “Oh yeah?” Wynn asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. “And where exactly do you need to be at this time of night eh? Got yourself a lady friend I suppose?”.

  Taffy flushed, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed. There was no way that he would tell the committee his real reason for leaving the flock early. It was for him to know and no one else. “Something like that” he stated, nervously. And with that, he rushed off in a rather suspicious manner, all eyes following him.

  “What was all that about?” Seren asked the members. “Did he look suspicious or what? I wonder what he’s up to?”. “Did you write that down Wynn?”.

  Wynn nodded at his wife. “Yes dear, I did. I’m not a complete idiot”. Wynn seemed suddenly offended.

  “I was only asking” Seren replied, sensing that her husband had taken umbrage at her suggestion. It seemed to be happening a lot recently and it was getting her down knowing that her marriage to Wynn was on the rocks. But she didn’t want the others to know.

  “Well I think we’re done here” Briallen commented, making sure that everyone was in agreement. “Shall we call it a night then?”.

  “It’s a night then” everyone answered.

  Meredith was suddenly sad as he caught Seren’s eye. She was the love of his life, but she had chosen to marry Wynn over him all those year’s ago. It hit him hard at the time, knowing that the only reason Seren had turned him down was because she didn’t consider herself worthy of him. It was his only regret in life, and in hindsight he always wished that he had done more to win her over and put her mind at rest. But instead, she had settled on a marriage to Wynn even though she didn’t love him. “Everything alright with you?” Meredith asked Seren, as he took her quietly to the side.

  “Not really” Seren sobbed.

  Meredith nuzzled her with his head in an attempt to cheer her up. “Why don’t we go for a walk by the river, see if we can’t cheer you up a little?”.

  “Well, it’s a bit late….but, oh OK, why not. I use a little walk to clear my mind”. Seren walked side by side with Meredith, on route to the river. It looked like it was about to be a lovely star filled night.

  10

  I was desperate for it to be morning, and as I lay there wide awake I listened to the pendulum swing of Mr and Mrs Shepphard’s grandfather clock as it swung from side to side in the toasty kitchen. I stood up and turned about in my dog bed, adjusting my position slightly. It was absolutely quiet outside, apart from the hoot hoot of a far off owl. And then, as the moments passed, the sound of a hundred singing birds began to build into a full dawn chorus, signalling that morning had at last arrived.

  “Aunty Gwawr. Aunty Gwawr”. I whispered loudly. But there was no reply. She must be still asleep I thought, jumping out of my padded bed on the stone floor, with the sudden urge to speed things up and keep myself busy until Mr Shepphard arrived in the kitchen for his morning tea. I suddenly had an idea, one that would mean we could get outside fast once Mr Shepphard arrived. I ran over to Mr Shepphard’s overalls and Wellington boots and dragged them across the room in my mouth, creating a pile so he wouldn’t waste time looking around the house for them. I was sure he would be delighted with my use of initiative. That should save him a bit of time, and then we would be able to start training faster.

  A long ray of golden light travelled slowly across the kitchen floor, and after what felt like an eternity, Mr Shepphard finally pushed open the door and walked into the kitchen. “Morning guys” he called cheerily as he bent over to give Gwawr a belly rub before approaching me with for a tickle on my chin. “Big day for you today, eh Beau. Time to see what you’re really made of”.

  11

  Mr Shepphard and aunty Gwawr walked through the dewy grass towards the sheep in the field. But the excitement of my first session learning to round up sheep seemed to have turned into a deathly silence. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.

  I ran to aunty Gwawr’s side. “What’s is it aunty Gwawr?”.

  “Shhhh” came aunty Gwawr’s reply. I pricked up my ears, but I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.

  Mr Shepphard stroked his chin with his hand, and pointed at each of the sheep in turn as he counted them. “un, dau, tri, pedwar, pump, chwech, saith…”. He turned to aunty Gwawr and patted her head. “Something’s not right old girl”.

  Gwawr stood to attention and dashed towards the flock of sheep, weaving in between the individuals as she did her own checks. She ran quickly back to Mr Shepphard and lay low to the ground. “Seren is missing. I can’t see Seren anywhere”.

  “Missing?” I asked aunty Gwawr. “How can a sheep be missing? Why would one of the sheep run off when they have everything they need here?”. I looked across at the sheep in the hilly field, suddenly aware that they were all very quiet, not one of them was bleating and that was why it felt so strange.

  “I don’t think Seren has gone walkabout Beau. I think something terrible has happened to her”. Gwawr said.

  I’d met Seren a few times and she seemed like a nice sheep to me, popular with the flock, so I couldn’t imagine that anyone would do her harm, nor that she would have gone off on her own, leaving the flock behind.

  The twins came running up to me, as I stood close to aunty Gwawr and Mr Shepphard, not knowing what to do for the best. “Aye-ah girls” I barked softly to Blodwen and Heddwen. The girls looked a lot more serious and were quieter than usual. “Have you seen Seren anywhere?” they fleeted in unison. “We’ve been looking for her everywhere, but no one has seen her since she went for a walk with uncle Meredith last night. It’s not like her at all”.

  I looked at the twins sad but hopeful faces. “Hmmm. No. I haven’t I’m afraid. But maybe we can look for her together? I’m sure she can’t have gone far”. The twins looked a little less worried.

  “Yes, that’s a great idea. I’ll just run and tell mum what we’re planning, OK” Blodwen called out as she ran off to find her mother.

  Mr Shepphard loaded up the things on the back of his tractor and sent aunty Gwawr off to look for Seren. “I’ll go and speak to the sheep and see if they have any information, is that OK aunty Gwawr?”.

  Aunty Gwawr slowly gave me a nod of her head. “Just be careful though Beau, not all sheep are trustworthy. And don’t go near any tractors or machines. The last thing Mr Shepphard needs right now is for anyone else to come to harm, you hear me?”.

  “Yes aunty Gwawr” I promised. I turned to the twins “come on let’s go and talk to Wynn first, if anyone knows where she is, it should be her husband”.

  12

  We found Wynn over by a clump of grass at the far end of the field, looking beside himself with worry. I didn’t want to upset him any more than was necessary, but he was our best hope of finding out where Seren had disappeared to.

  “Please can you speak to him?” Heddwen asked me “it’s different for you, you’re a dog, he respects you. We’re just kids to him”.

  “Sure” I replied feeling a little bit nervous. Wynn was a full grown sheep and I was still a puppy myself, but I knew the twins were right, and if nothing else it would be easier for me because I wasn’t a part of the flock, I was an outsider of sorts.

  “Excuse me Wynn. I need to ask you a few questions about Seren” I asked tentatively.

  Wynn turned to me, with tears in his eyes. “Baaaaa”.

  I was hesitant at first, but I knew I had to ask him if we were to have any hope of finding Seren. “Please can you tell me everything you can about the last time you saw Seren, it would really help me”.

  Wynn scratched his back against the fence post as he sobbed and sniffed. “There’s not much to tell really. One minute we were at the AGM meetin
g planning for the sheep trials, the next she went for a walk with Meredith. And that was the last I saw of her. We’ve not been apart in all the years we’ve been married”. Wynn wiped his eyes against his wool.

  “And who was at this meeting? I asked.

  Wynn gave another sniff as he caught his breath between tears. “Well now. There was me, and Seren, Meredith, Briallen, Taffy, Delyth, and…I think that was everyone?”.

  “What about Fflur” I enquired, knowing that she was an active member of the committee.

  Blodwen answered before Wynn got a chance. “Mother couldn’t get a babysitter for me and Heddwen, so she was at home with us all night”.

  I gave my back a quick itch with my paw as I thought about other things I might need to ask Wynn whilst I had the chance. But there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary so far. I needed to ask the right questions if I wanted to find clues about Seren’s sudden and unexpected disappearance.

  Heddwen suddenly found the courage to ask Wynn some questions, which was good because I didn’t have anything to ask him yet. “Was there anything different about last night’s meeting? Anyone acting oddly? Anything at all that seemed out of place?” she asked.

  Wynn blew his nose. “Not that I can think of. Not really. I suppose Taffy was acting a bit weird, and he left the meeting before we had finished. And…” Wynn suddenly looked in pain.

  “Go on…” I encouraged.

  Wynn hesitated, not sure whether to say anything. “I don’t want to admit it, but Seren and I, well our relationship has been on the rocks recently, and we had a little bit of an argument last night. Not a big one, but I could tell she was sad about it. That’s why she went for a walk with Meredith after the meeting, to clear her head”.

  I couldn’t for a minute imagine that Wynn had anything to do with Seren’s disappearance. I had seen them together, and though they had grown apart as husband and wife, they still seemed to be great friends even if they did argue from time to time. There was a motive perhaps, jealousy towards Meredith, but that was all. Unless, of course, Seren had run away, in which case it was highly likely that Meredith would be the only one to know where she had gone to, since they were great friends. But judging by Meredith’s face when we arrived at the field, it seemed to me that Meredith was as worried and confused about her disappearance as the rest of the flock.

  “Did you see Seren at all after she went for a walk with Meredith?” I asked.

  Wynn burst into a loud wail. “No. No. I didn’t. That’s what makes it even worse, the fact that the last time I saw her we had a quarrel, and now that might just be the last thing I ever said to her. After all those years we were happy together too”.

  “Where exactly did Seren go for a walk with my uncle Meredith? Did they tell you where they were going?” Blodwen asked Wynn.

  Wynn shook his head. “She just said that they were going for a walk by the river since it was a lovely clear night. No once did I think that she might not return. She just seemed normal, other than us having a little argument at the meeting”.

  My mind was made up now. We should start by walking along the river, to see if there were any clues before we spoke to Meredith about what happened on their walk. He was starting to look like a suspect in her disappearance, but I couldn’t believe that he was the kind of sheep to harm another, in spite of his ongoing feud with aunty Gwawr.

  13

  It was ever so muddy along the banks of the river. Which turned out to be lucky for us since we were able to follow the indistinguishable footprints of Meredith the ram, accompanied by a second set of more dainty prints right by the side of them.

  “There’s one”. Heddwen baa’d, springing into the air as she followed in Meredith’s deep, confident tracks.

  “And there’s another” called Blodwen.

  We hurriedly followed them, for a very long way along the course of the river. But suddenly the tracks stopped. Right by a bend in the river and a steep slope down to the water. It wasn’t looking good for Meredith. We could easily make out his footprints as we saw that he had walked back along the river alone. Without the second set of tracks that we could only assume belonged to Seren. No where could we find evidence of Seren’s prints returning home. There was only one thing for it. She must have fallen or been pushed into the river somehow.

  “One of us needs to go back and tell aunty Gwawr” I pointed out. “In the meantime, I suggest we do a thorough search of the area here, to see if we can find any more clues.

  Heddwen didn’t want to left alone by the river, with just her sister, but since I was the best runner of us all, it made sense for me to go back and alert aunty Gwawr.

  14

  It took me a long time to find aunty Gwawr. She had been searching everywhere in the fields and around the farm for any place at all that a sheep might hide. She didn’t think that Seren was likely to hide in or near the chicken shed, but it was the only place that she hadn’t searched, and she wanted to be doubly sure.

  “Aunty Gwawr. Aunty Gwawr” I barked. “Come quickly. Up by the river, I think I’ve found something”. It was hard to bark with being so out of breath from my fast run, but I wanted to get aunty Gwawr and Mr Shepphard to come to the river as quickly as possible. If Seren had indeed slipped into the river, then there might still be a chance of helping her, especially if she had managed to find a branch to cling on to.

  Aunty Gwawr ran off to get Mr Shepphard and as soon as he appeared, he instructed us to jump onto the back of his quad bike. It was the quickest and easiest way to travel across the mud and fields on the farm. And there was just enough room for me and aunty Gwawr if we budged together tightly.

  Mr Shepphard revved up the engine and drove as fast as he could towards the river where I had left the twins Blodwen and Heddwen. I hoped that they hadn’t gotten into any trouble in my absence. The last thing the farm needed was for the two young lambs to fall in the cold river and drown.

  “Over there” I instructed, “by that tree on the river bank”.

  Mr Shepphard came to an abrupt halt as he cut the engine and slid himself off the plastic moulded seat. But it seemed as if he was already too late.

  Blodwen and Heddwen appeared at the top of the slope, both bleating uncontrollably. Blodwen managed to get her words out as she comforted her sister. “Over there. In the water at the bottom of the river. It’s Seren, she’s dead”.

  Heddwen held up a shiny metal object, covered in blood. “It was Briallen who murdered Seren. Look this is her bell. The murder weapon”.

  Aunty Gwawr ran over to the twins and comforted them as best she could. But she did not believe for a moment that Briallen could do such a thing. Briallen was good friends with Seren, they were close, and there was no reason at all for Briallen to do such a thing. But she had to admit, the evidence did indeed point to Briallen and it clear how Seren had died.

  I took the silver bell and collar from the twins, and examined it closely. It certainly had Briallen’s name on it, and there was a large dent and some blood, presumably Seren’s as if she had been struck on the head with it. But there was something not quite right about it, and it could be that Briallen had lost it here on an earlier visit, not connected with the murder. And then I spotted it, the thing that was odd. Right between a gap in the metal covering of the bell, was a clump of wool. Briallen was a rather scruffy sheep, prone to getting burrs and plants and grasses attached to her, but this wool was ever so white and clean. I could not belong to Briallen that was for sure.

  “You mustn’t let Mr Shepphard see that bell, what ever you do Beau” aunty Gwawr instructed me. She looked worried and a little bit afraid.

  “Why ever not?” I asked. Wondering whether aunty Gwawr knew more about the murder than she was letting on. What was she hiding from me, and why wouldn’t she tell me?

  What I didn’t know until later was that aunty Gwawr wasn’t telling me the reason, not because she was hiding anything, but because she didn’t want the twins to hear wh
at might happen to Briallen if Mr Shepphard believed her to be the killer. “Because Beau, we need to find the true killer first. If Mr Shepphard sees that bell, with Briallen’s name on it, he’ll think it was her, and might just send her to the slaughter house”.

  Aunty Gwawr nudged the twins gently, encouraging them to stand on their feet. “I need to get these two home” aunty Gwawr told me, before Fflur starts to worry. They’ve had a terrible shock, they need to be back with their mother”.

  “I’ll take them” I offered. I could see how upset Mr Shepphard was, and I knew that the best comfort for him right now, was the love of his favourite dog Gwawr.

  “OK” aunty Gwawr replied. “But I want you to go straight home afterwards OK. There’s a murderer on the loose and until we know who it is, no one is safe from harm”.

  15

  It took a while to walk the distance back to the field and even longer to find out where Fflur was in the crowd of sheep. Everyone was talking about Seren and it seemed like everyone had an opinion on the matter.

  “Baaa” Blodwen and Heddwen cried as we approached their mother. Fflur was busy eating the grass with her friend Delyth but her jaw dropped as she saw with horror how shocked her two little lambs were.

  “Whatever is the matter” she cried, rushing over to give them both a nudge.

  “Seren is dead” Blodwen told her. “We found her lying at the bottom of the river. Gwawr said it was murder”.

  Fflur looked as if she might faint at any moment.

  Delyth gasped in horror. “Dead? But she can’t be? Whoever would do such a thing? Oh that’s just terrible, and in our flock too. Fflur, will you let me go and break the news to Meredith. He’ll be absolutely devastated. You know how much he adored Seren”.