by Abby Deuel
“Oh, they’re the same age. We got them at the same time from one of my son’s friends. It must have been around Valentine’s Day.”
“How do you know Marvin is a Marvin and not a Marvina?”
“Well, we had a look at both of them together and decided they were both boys.”
“Hmm, well, I think perhaps you are right with Marvin but it seems as though Marvin and Pumpkin might be expecting a family.”
“Oh dear. Can they do that? They are related and all.”
“It doesn’t seem to stop hamsters. I’d say Pumpkin is due pretty soon by the looks of it. I’d get another cage and separate them for now. Not only do you not want Pumpkin pregnant again but sometimes male hamsters get a little aggressive with the babies. You’ll need to look around for some good hamster owners because they don’t often have one or two. You’ll be run out of the house if you keep them all.”
“I’ll start right on that. I know loads of people.”
“And make sure you bring them all in once they are born so we can determine who’s what from the start.”
“Sounds like a great plan to me. Now that we’ve solved that mystery, how are you holding up after, well, discovering Buck?”
“I’m ok. I’m sure interested to know who would have done such a thing.”
“We may never know. Larry and Gerry don’t have the best track record with solving this sort of thing. The last time we had a problem in our community, it wasn’t solved until the culprit got sloppy and went to the next town over. That was just serial burglaries but it sure was frustrating. Around here, cattle are gold. The thief would wait till dark and then steal a few cattle at a time from this farmer or that farmer. They never left any clues. Finally, somebody hooked up a camera outside the paddock their cows were in and they caught the guy.”
“Do you have any ideas as to who could have done this to Buck?”
“My best guess would be somebody he owed money to. That’s a pretty long list though. I’d say they’re going to be talking about it at the Inn tonight: it’s pool night. I better take Pumpkin home and get back to baking for the Hoedown Bake-off.”
“There must be some yummy treats at the Bake-off. Everyone seems to be busily baking,” said Mandy.
“I can’t enter. I help run it. I still bake because the proceeds from the bake sale go to a different worthy cause each year. Plus there is never any shortage of people to sample baking at my house. I seem to run a day camp for many of the kids in town. During harvest time, lots of parents are busy. Around here, the saying ‘it takes a village’ is completely true,” said Mrs. Bouvier.
“Yummy baking and a good cause. Ooh la la. Keep in touch on those babies. I’ll keep my ear out for someone who might want a little hamster of their own.”
Mandy returned to her office and pulled out the piece of paper. More of a visual learner, she needed to write things out to think. With the pencil in her mouth, she stared at the list so far. The only way to make more headway would be to go to the Inn tonight. She hated pool. She didn’t like the feeling of the wood in her fingers. She never knew where that came from. Any kind of wood near her skin or anyone else’s drove her mad. The worst are popsicles and corndogs. Several times over the years she had asked clients to remove the toothpicks from their mouths just so she could make eye contact.
“Reggie is here,” said Gillian, poking her head in the door.
“Righty-o.” Mandy left the office to find Gerry in the consult room with a big fluffy ginger cat on the table, purring away.
“I didn’t expect to see you here. You must be awful busy with this case,” said Mandy.
“Well, while I was waiting for Doc to give us the verdict on what he reckons, I figured I better take care of Reggie here. He’s been, well,” he took off his hat and blushed a little. “He’s been pissing on my good boots. I can’t work out why. He’s always been such a good cat.”
“Hmm. How long has this been going on?”
“About a week.”
“Any changes in diet?”
“No.”
“Has he been drinking more than normal?”
“Hard to say. He has a big bowl that he shares with my Coon Hound.”
“Does he strain when he pees?”
“I’m not too sure, it seems like he does it at night when I’m asleep.”
Meanwhile, Mandy was doing a quick physical on Reggie. She started at his head, checking his teeth, tongue, ears, and eyes. She palpated his abdomen and examined his back end for any irritation. She had a listen to Reggie’s heart and lungs. Gillian had already taken the temperature and it was normal.
“Well, it could be a couple of things. Is Reggie indoor only?”
“Yep.”
“What type of litter do you use?”
“I had been using clay but there was a deal on some of that modern clumping stuff so we are onto that now. Man, it’s so much easier!”
“Does it have an odor to it?”
“Well, I keep it clean but I guess it does smell like a litter box.”
Laughing, Mandy said “No, I mean is it scented?”
“Oh, I see. Yep, it smells like a rainforest, so the packet says.”
“That could be the culprit. Sometimes cats stop using the litter pan or use it intermittently if something changes that they don’t like. It might be that he misses his clay litter. Since you took it away, he might be telling you he’s not impressed by marking something of yours.”
“That makes sense. It did start about the time I changed litter.”
“I’d go back to the old stuff pretty quick smart. Just to be sure that we don’t have a urinary tract infection which can also cause inappropriate urination, I’ll take a urine sample and check it out for you.”
“Best to be safe. I’m pretty attached to the old guy.”
Mandy left to get Gillian and together they obtained a urine sample. Gillian held Reggie on his side and Mandy palpated and isolated the bladder in one hand, pressing it against Reggie’s backbone. She then took the needle and syringe and penetrated the abdomen where she was holding the bladder. The syringe filled with yellow as she sucked it back.
“That’s a neat trick,” said Gerry.
“Let me check this in the lab for you,” Gillian left the room with the sample. She put Reggie back in his cage. Gillian returned with the results a few minutes later and handed them to Mandy.
“Looks like a mild infection which may have been brought on by the stress of changing litter or the litter could be unrelated. Either way, we’ll put him on some antibiotics to help sort him out. I would get rid of the scented litter too.”
“Whatever you say, Doc. You’re a pretty good sleuth if you could figure out all that just from the questions you asked. Maybe we should put you on the force to help us with Buck’s murder.”
“To be honest, I wouldn’t mind helping. I find it so disturbing that someone would do that in such a sweet little town.”
“I’ll tell you what. Let’s meet tonight and talk it over. We can’t let Larry catch wind of it. I figure you might give us an angle we haven’t thought of. Do you want to meet at the Inn at seven? Besides, I think you’ve earned a drink after this morning. Just don’t tell Larry I’m giving you information. He would never let anybody in on any details from the case. You can’t tell anybody else either.”
“I think I can keep a few secrets. Although that doesn’t seem to be one of this town’s strengths. Everyone who has come in today seems to know what happened. Tonight would be a smart choice to go to the Inn because I hear they have a pool match. From what I understand, Buck was in on that circle so we might overhear something helpful. ”
“You’re not wrong there. Anything competitive, he was all over it: darts, pool, archery, target shooting. I shall see you at seven then.” Gerry put his hat back on and collected Reggie in his cage.
“One more case and then we can rest for a bit,” said Gillian as she came in and wiped the counters off in the consult
room. “Larry should be in after that to get your statement.”
“This is Babe Ruth.” Gillian ushered in the next client and handed Mandy the file. A young man carried in a small shoe box. He had mousy brown hair and wore white overalls covered in spatters of paint. He placed the box on the counter and pulled out a turtle about the size of the palm of his hand.
“Nick, how do you do?” he said as he extended his hand to Mandy. “I named her that because she’s only about that size and I found her when I was on a break from painting. I was eating a Baby Ruth and looked down and there she was, all alone. I didn’t know too much about them. I thought she would be a low maintenance pet. Boy, was I wrong. It takes a fair bit of effort to keep a turtle here in Illinois.”
“It sure does. What’s the trouble?”
“She’s started swimming in circles. It’s the weirdest thing.”
“I see. Let’s have a look.” Mandy picked Babe Ruth up and examined her shell. That’s about all she could look at because Babe had hidden in her shell. Mandy pulled out her stethoscope and tried to listen to her chest. Turtles are a bit tricky to examine altogether but Mandy had a good idea as to what was wrong. She placed Babe back on the table. “Have you got a heat lamp for her?”
“I do, but the bulb went out over the weekend and I haven’t had a chance to fix it. I’ve been so busy with painting at the rifle range.”
Babe stuck her head out to explore the counter and Mandy could see that there was a bit of discharge around her nose and eyes.
“I’d say that Babe here caught a chill and has a bit of pneumonia. We can take x-rays to confirm. That’d cost a bit and I’m not sure it would change the treatment I’d recommend. She has some crustiness around her face so it’s in her upper and lower respiratory tract.”
“So why is she swimming in circles?” inquired Nick.
“Well, she’s probably got more crud in one side of her lungs than the other and they use the air in their lungs to help swim. She’s not balanced so she favors the bad side when she’s swimming.”
“That’s interesting. What can we do for her?”
“The best bet would be to put her on a good course of antibiotics. I’ll go get them for you.”
Mandy returned with a bottle and a dropper. “We can do oral antibiotics and see how she gets on. If she’s not improving, we’ll have to switch to injectable. I can teach you how to do it. The main thing is that you stick to the instructions and finish the whole course I give you. No cutting corners. And make sure you get that lamp going. I’d keep her out of full submersion water until she’s better. She can get wet under supervision to keep her shell healthy. We just don’t want her to catch cold.”
“I can handle that. Thanks.”
“So you’ve been painting at the rifle range?”
“Yep, they sure did run it down over the years. It’s a busy place. We like our hunting around here and it’s key to keep your shot up to speed. It’s a bit of a social place too. Old Buck was always out there.”
“I guess they’ll miss him then.”
“I guess so. Although there’s going to be a scramble for the top shooter now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Buck was always the top which is a big deal around here. Looks like it’ll be between Jim and Barney now.”
“Who are they?”
“Jim Moore is a local farmer and Barney Saunders owns the general store in town. I’m sure you’ll meet them both soon enough.”
“I look forward to it.”
Nick left with his shoe box and antibiotics and Mandy went back to the office. She pulled out the list and added Jim Moore and Barney Saunders, only because they had motive and knowledge. She’d work on meeting them soon.
Gillian popped her head in. “Phone’s for you. It’s Rhonda.”
“Thanks Gillian.”
“Hello,” said Mandy.
“I’ve got some news for you. The one shot through the heart was it and he was dead instantly. It looks like he was shot from the front so he probably knew it was coming. There was no sign of a struggle and nothing missing from his person. He had some cash in his wallet so it wasn’t theft. Buck didn’t look to have a weapon on him.”
“I see. Any idea when it happened?”
“Probably sometime last night between midnight and two a.m.”
“And did it happen there or was he brought there from somewhere else?”
“Tom says there was no blood trail so he wasn’t dragged. It seems like it must’ve happened right there. Weird place to be meeting someone in the middle of the night.”
“Indeed. Well, thanks so much for that. How is Sugar?”
“Oh, she’s good. See you soon, darling.”
“Will do, Rhonda.”
Larry had arrived to take Mandy’s statement for the investigation. Gillian showed him into the office so they could have some privacy.
“It’s not typical protocol to take a statement here and not at the station. I understand you might be a tad shaken up so I opted to bring the necessary equipment here to make it legitimate. I will be recording our conversation on this recorder. You are not under arrest so I do not need to read you any rights. However, you may have a lawyer present if you feel more comfortable.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary. Let’s get started,” said Mandy.
Larry proceeded to ask her standard questions. Mandy relayed the scene she had found in extraordinary detail, though she only answered the questions that Larry asked. She did not offer any more information than was required. Otherwise, the statement could take a rather long time due to her memory caliber.
“I think that will be all that we need. Thank you for your cooperation. Should you think of anything else that might be of assistance, please call me. I take this matter seriously as I am the protector of this community. As such, giving your statement is the only involvement you will be required to provide. That means you are not to investigate this on your own. I am the authority. I do hope I will not need to remind you of that,” said Larry.
“No problem, chief. I respect your position,” said Mandy. She escorted Larry out of the clinic. Gillian had been cleaning and squaring everything away in the clinic.
Chapter Ten
Mandy and Gillian closed up the clinic together. Lyle was pretty excited to be let out for a run in the yards. She was still looking for those sheep. Instead, she found a piece of two by four and dragged it over to Mandy and Gillian.
“That’s a bit big love. Let’s get you a ball. It’s a bit safer for me and you.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Gillian.
“Okey dokey.”
Mandy grabbed a ball from the cupboard above the stairs of the RV and played fetch with Lyle. No matter how long Lyle played fetch, she never got tired of the game. One of her favorite things was to watch sports on TV. Her beloved game was basketball since the ball moved quickly on the screen. She was also intrigued by golf, tennis, and football. She would bark at the screen and follow the ball with her whole body. If the ball went off the screen, she would look for it behind the TV. Fetch in real life was far more fulfilling, though. Finally, Mandy succeeded in slightly wearing her out, as indicated by the tongue hanging completely out of her mouth. She brought her in for some supper. She fixed herself a cup of coffee and sipped it while looking at her list of suspects. She decided she would focus on the gambling angle tonight since she would be at the Inn. She could track down Howie and his parents on a separate occasion. She really needed a good lead.
“Well Lyle, it’s about time to go to the Inn. You wanna come?” Lyle catapulted herself from the couch to the landing at the top of the stairs and sat with very keen eyes. That was her signal that she was indeed interested, even if it meant wearing a harness.
Walking down, she noticed a few more decorations in the windows. As a child, she had been frustrated by small changes like decorations. It took a few years before her parents worked out that she had eidetic me
mory. Their first clue was when she would point out minute changes in her surroundings that most people didn’t even notice. Over the years, she had learned to not let it bother her but instead use it to her advantage. In some ways, it made her a better vet because she could remember exactly what a tumor looked like from one visit to the next. She had learned to try not to take in every part of her environment at all times. Sensory overload prevention, she had learned to call it.
Entering the Inn, she saw Gerry sitting at a small booth. She sat down and Lyle took her place under the table. Myrna arrived shortly thereafter and they each ordered the night’s special: meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn.
“So, what do you know so far?” asked Mandy.
“Buck wasn’t popular, but everyone knows that. The question is, why now. Why not years ago? What changed recently that made someone so angry with him?”
“Has anyone new moved to town, other than me?”
“Not that I can think of.”
Larry came in the back door of the Inn and made his way over to their table.
“What do we have here? We aren’t discussing the case, are we?”
“No, just unwinding after an unsettling day,” Gerry sighed.
“Well, you leave the sleuthing to me,” he said and turned to go put his name down for the dart competition.
The food arrived with more generous helpings. Mandy realized she’d need to do a lot more walking around town if she wanted to eat like this every night. They each started to enjoy the steaming plate of comfort food.
“I think it’s weird that the killer didn’t take the money that Buck had on him,” said Mandy.
“How do you know that?” asked Gerry.
Blushing, Mandy tried to think of a non-incriminating explanation. “Um, well...”
“Rhonda told you, eh?”
“Well…”
“Oh, who are we kidding? Nothing stays a secret in this town. As long as you know, we may as well work together to narrow down the search, but keep it quiet with you know who,” he said, pointing to Larry.
“Sounds good to me. I don’t want a killer on the loose. We know he was a competitive person. What else?”
