by Abby Deuel
“We know that there are a few debt collectors after him from this town. He had struck deals that led nowhere with people so he owes them money. Plus there were a few people around who never got paid from bets that he had made, that sort of thing.”
“I see,” said Mandy.
“I am still interviewing people to see if anything seems suspicious.”
“I am hoping to find out more information at the Hoedown. The pool competition should also yield a few clues, with any luck, as long as I avoid Larry. Of course every client who comes to the clinic seems to offer more information.”
“That’s handy for you. People aren’t as willing to talk to the law. Larry doesn’t exactly bring out the conversation in people either. He’s very by the books.”
“Anything else of note on the autopsy?”
“It was a small caliber that got him. Whoever did it was close enough to get a perfect shot. He probably didn’t get to put up a fight so it caught him off guard, which means he probably knew the murderer. Another question is why on the farm? Why were they out there?”
“Hard to say. Something we need to look into.”
“So far, it’s a bunch of dead ends. Let’s talk about you. Have you been to every state in the union in your travels as a vet?” asked Gerry.
“Almost. I haven’t been to Hawaii,” said Mandy. “Have you traveled much yourself?”
“I have a thing for national parks. I take one trip a year and aim to see the national parks in the area. Last year, I went to the Badlands. That is a very strange landscape if you haven’t seen it. It is almost hard to get a perspective as to whether you are a giant in a martian landscape or an ant in a runoff. The geology out there is astounding.”
“You are into geology?” asked Mandy.
“It’s a little of a hobby of mine. Geology tells a story if you are just open to the language it speaks,” said Gerry.
Myrna made her way over to their table.
“There’s a call for you at the counter.”
“Me,” Mandy said, completely surprised.
“Yep, it’s Rhonda and she sounds a little panicked.”
Mandy walked to the counter and picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it looks like we are having a little trouble with Honey. I have tried to assist her but I think a puppy is stuck. I hate to bother you afterhours. But this is an emergency. Shall I meet you at the clinic?” Rhonda said.
“I’ll be there in a jiffy.” Mandy hung up the phone and headed back to the booth. “That was strange. I wonder how Rhonda knew to call here.”
“Get used to it. We are such a small community that we tend to know a little too much about everyone’s business. I’ll take care of the check. We can meet again to discuss the case,” Gerry said picking up the check.
“Next time dinner is on me,” Mandy said.
Gerry just winked in reply.
Mandy set off down the main street of town back to the clinic. Lyle was bouncing along beside her. Lyle must know their abrupt departure from the Inn indicated an adventure on the horizon. Gillian was already at the clinic and was starting to prepare for a possible cesarean. She had a heating pad in a laundry basket, towels in the drier, and was putting out the necessary instruments for the surgery. Hamish, her son, was with her.
“Hope you don’t mind, I brought Hamish along. He is great with puppies and I thought you’d want to meet him.” Hamish was every bit as rugged as his mother. He had on worn-down Redwing work boots, carpenter’s pants, and a plaid flannel shirt tucked in to reveal a big oval pewter belt buckle with a horseshoe on it. His cap was literally held together with shreds of material around the edges. He clearly never took it off.
“Pleased to meet you, Dr. Bell,” Hamish said as he tipped his hat.
“Nice to meet you as well. Ready to get your hands dirty?” Mandy smiled.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Excellent.”
Rhonda was pulling up as Mandy was introducing Lyle to Hamish. Lyle had always had a fascination with kids since they typically will play fetch for hours longer than adults. Lyle and Hamish hit it off famously as they played up and down the hallway.
As the door opened to the clinic, Dr. Bell could see Honey was swaddled in a baby blanket and panting. Rhonda placed her on the exam table and Mandy got to work. Using a rubber glove and lube, she carefully examined to see what was exposed. A little dapple tail was visible and she couldn’t quite get her hands around the pelvis of the puppy to reposition it. It was quite a large puppy for a little mama dachshund.
“Looks like we will need to take an x-ray to give us a better idea,” Mandy said and Gillian was already on her way to the x-ray room.
“I thought she was pushing so hard and nothing was changing.”
“It’s ok. We will see pretty quickly here but it feels like we have a breech puppy that’s too big to turn around.”
Gillian whisked Honey to x-ray room and positioned her for the correct view. Rhonda and Mandy waited patiently as Gillian went to the developer. Hamish was still playing with Lyle in the hall, safely away from the x-ray radiation.
“So, did you find out anything from Gerry?”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you knew I was at the Inn and you knew I was with Gerry. We were trying to put our heads together to see what direction to take with this Buck Dawson murder. So far, we both are perplexed.”
“Just don’t let Larry know you are helping. He likes to keep it all by the rules. Even though you are a doctor, veterinarians are not part of the police force.”
“Duly noted. I can keep a secret.” Gillian reappeared with the developed x-ray and placed it on the viewer.
“Well, it certainly doesn’t look like that will come out naturally. Who wants to help bring some puppies into the world?” Mandy said this is as she did this little shimmy with her shoulders and hands. Obviously, this sort of surgery got her excited as a veterinarian. Gillian and Rhonda exchanged a glance and they all got to work. They made their way to the surgery room and Mandy was humming as she put the catheter in Honey’s front leg.
They hooked Honey up to IV fluids as a precaution and as Mandy calculated the dose of anesthesia, Gillian shaved and prepped Honey’s abdomen. Gillian unwrapped all of the instruments while Mandy scrubbed and gloved up. Mandy placed a large sterile drape that covered Honey’s entire body. She made her incision through the skin, muscle, and peritoneum. She instantly found the enlarged uterus, making a careful incision through the body of it. She located the first puppy, removed it from the uterus and embryonic sac, and handed it over to Gillian with a hemostat around its umbilical cord. After the first one, her surgical speed increased until she had safely removed all of the puppies and given them to Rhonda, Gillian, and Hamish so they could stimulate them to breathe. Everyone worked quietly at the task at hand so all that could be heard was the beeping of the pulse oximeter on Honey’s tongue and the tiny little whines of the puppies as they started to take their first breaths. Only once did Gillian have to push Mandy’s glasses back up on her nose. They tended to slip during surgeries since she was concentrating and had her head down. With sterile gloves on, she couldn’t push them up herself. Any normal person would get a new pair of glasses, but not Mandy.
The surgery went very smoothly, with Honey’s vitals staying within normal throughout. All six puppies were whining and writhing in their warm blankets. Mandy closed the incision expertly. Honey was just starting to come out of the anesthesia when Mandy was cleaning around the incision. The litter was split evenly between males and females. Mandy would leave the fluids hooked up until just before Honey was going home to allow the fluids to support her cardiovascular system as long as possible.
“Oh thank you, Dr. Bell,” Rhonda said happily as she inspected her new brood.
Mandy carefully checked each puppy for any obvious abnormalities like a cleft palate or inadequate size. Mandy worked quickly to remove the hemostats from the cords a
nd tie each one off with a small knot of suture. The puppy that had been stuck in the birth canal was definitely the biggest and was a beautiful little dapple girl.
“It’s superstitious to name them when they are this young but that little girl will be named Candy, after you, Mandy. I can’t name her just Mandy because all of my dogs have names in the sweets category.”
“That is very kind of you! I’m touched,” Mandy said as she put a hand on Rhonda’s shoulder.
“I just love new puppies,” said Hamish, as he reached under the blanket to watch them. Although he clearly had a masculine fashion statement and demeanor, his sensitive side came out with the puppies. Gillian looked on with pride. Although hard to raise a son on her own, Gillian had encouraged Hamish to find male role models in the community to fill in the blanks.
“I don’t normally send mothers home on antibiotics unless there is a problem. Everything went well so let’s allow Honey to recover first. Any signs of redness at the incision or mastitis, let me know and we can put her on something. I hate exposing the babies to drugs via the milk if we don’t need to. I will send her home on more pain medication though. This pain medication will not affect the babies negatively. No matter what, pain is unacceptable for my patients.”
“That’s the smallest incision I have ever seen for a cesarean. I’m impressed. Anna always said that you were her idol for surgery and now I have been able to witness it firsthand. I’d be honored to be your surgical assistant from here on out, Dr. Bell!” Gillian gushed.
“Why thank you. I just get in the mode and off I go. I have always loved surgery, big animals or small animals,” said Mandy. “I think that we can settle up the bill tomorrow. You get those puppies home.”
Gillian and Hamish carried the basket of puppies while Rhonda carried Honey out to the car. Lyle, of course, followed everyone. She never missed anything, particularly puppies. She had kept her distance during the surgery but she was very inquisitive now. Honey was still groggy from anesthesia and didn’t mind Lyle’s curiosity. Lyle had actually helped Mandy through the years with the wildlife she had raised. Mandy was careful not to let the wildlife become complacent with dogs. When they required bottle feeding every few hours through the night, Lyle was a great nurse to help Mandy wake up. She also always alerted Mandy if anything started to make unusual noises, indicating distress. She had once saved a squirrel’s life by retrieving Mandy when the squirrel was choking on a piece of acorn.
Once the new litter was safely in the vehicle, Gillian and Hamish hopped in their truck. As Mandy watched them drive off, she felt a huge sense of accomplishment for the night. It wasn’t until she did surgery at a clinic that she started to feel at home. Some people say that they don’t feel bonded to new home until they have cooked their first meal in it. For Mandy, it was doing her first non-routine surgery. This town was definitely starting to grow on her. If only she could figure out that murder.
Chapter Eleven
The morning began with a thin layer of fog enveloping the town. An early riser, Mandy enjoyed seeing the evidence of the cool mornings. The automatic coffee maker went off and she poured herself the first cup of the day. She poured Lyle some kibble in her bowl and started preparing oatmeal for herself.
“I wonder what’s in store for today,” she said as she poured a second cup of coffee. Lyle dropped a ball at her feet and backed up. “You never get tired of it, do you?” The RV is a bit small to play fetch so she opened the door and let Lyle out for some exercise. She made a beeline straight to the sheep yards and proceeded to roll in some dried sheep dung.
“Nice. You know what that will earn you!” Laughing, she opened the door to the clinic and Lyle pranced in, so proud of her accomplishment. Luckily, there was a nice big stainless steel tub for bathing so Mandy started warming some water for the bath ahead. Lyle was always good for her baths, having been bathed regularly since she was tiny due to her love of getting dirty.
While Mandy was lathering up Lyle, Gillian came in whistling a chipper tune. “Good morning, Doc. How are we? And what is that smell?”
“Lyle thought she would have a roll in the sheep dung out the back. It’ll smell better shortly.”
“She may have to stay in the clinic this morning to dry off. It’s getting colder out there and you have to go out to Jim Moore’s to pregnancy test some his cows. If Lyle is in the rolling mood, there’s no telling what she’ll find out there. Jim doesn’t run the tightest ship, shall we say.”
“Good idea. Two baths in one day would break a record. She can curl up with you here. How many are we testing?”
“It’ll be about 10, but Jim tends to underestimate so you might want to double that.”
“Gotcha.” She had finished rinsing Lyle and was drying the excess moisture when Lyle shook and water went everywhere. Then Lyle hopped out of the tub herself and made her way up to the front desk where she curled up on the dog bed behind the counter. She started to lick between each paw with such purpose, evidently attempting to erase all evidence of the bath as quickly as possible.
“Guess she’s done with that!” Mandy said, laughing. “I’ll grab some supplies for the farm call if you want to draw me a map for how to get there.”
“Done and done,” Gillian said. Mandy smiled. Gillian was an indispensable right hand. “Must be time for a cuppa before you go,” Gillian said.
“Cuppa? Is that short for cup of tea?” asked Mandy.
“Sure is,” replied Gillian.
“That’d be great. I didn’t quite get that second cup of coffee and I just can’t do much without my morning fix of caffeine.” They settled down to steaming hot cups of tea and a few biscuits. “So what can you tell me about Jim Moore?”
“Well, he’s pretty old school. He had a wife who smoothed his rough edges a bit but she died tragically in an automobile accident. He keeps to himself more or less now. He’s very devout, so don’t curse in front of him. His herd is his life now so he tends to do a very good job with them. He doesn’t keep things non-cow-related very clean though. I think his wife did more of that and with her gone, he just focuses on the cattle.”
“I see. A bit of a loner then.” Mandy thought that at least he would likely be crossed off her list of suspects. Since she was new to town, basically everyone was on the list until they could be removed by either an alibi or no motive or both. It was a tricky and potentially dangerous way to learn all of the people of the community. She embraced the challenge.
Lyle was nudging Gillian, almost spilling the hot tea all over Gillian.
“Lyle. Off,” said Mandy. “She can smell the milk and sugar in your tea and she wants some.”
“I see. How did she become your sidekick anyway?” asked Gillian.
“I was vetting in the great Northwest and way up in the steeper country, I went on a farm visit. They had the most wonderful line of collies for herding their sheep. They are slightly taller and more agile than most that you will see. Plus, they have less fluffy coats. I fell in love with one of the six week old puppies when she broke loose from the pen, dropped a stone by my shoe, and started backing up while staring at me. She came home with me that day and literally has not left my side since then.”
“That is truly love at first sight,” said Gillian.
“Truthfully, Lyle would likely go home with anyone. She’s not terribly loyal. If you can throw, she’s yours,” said Mandy.
“That is not true. I can see that she is extremely devoted to you. She always maintains a sight-line of you, no matter what she is doing,” said Gillian.
As they both finished their cups of tea, Mandy commented “I best be getting on the road then.”
“Indeed because we have a full afternoon of appointments too.”
Lyle tried to rush out the door with Mandy but Gillian held her back, refocusing her attention on a nice new tennis ball. Mandy got in the Jeep and checked to see what supplies Gillian had prepared. There was a full bottle of lube, large animal gloves, gumboots, a gown
, a towel, and a clipboard. Some vets use ultrasound to check for pregnancy. Mandy and Anna had been trained before that technology became popular and neither had picked up the new skill. Mandy could see how if you were doing hundreds of cows per day that the ultrasound would come in handy. For ten to twenty here and there, she preferred manually checking them. It is slightly more accurate in some cases anyway. It had been a few months since she had last pregnancy tested. Once you know how though, you never forget.
As she drove out to the farm, she saw Fred walking Marge. She pulled over and rolled down her window.
“How is she doing, Fred?”
“Oh, much better already, Dr. Bell. Thanks again. I just hate it when she is upset.”
“No problem. I was thinking of coming over for a haircut sometime this week. Are you open late any night? Gillian is keeping me pretty busy at the clinic.”
“You are in luck. Tonight I can see you after the clinic is closed. Say, 5:30. Does that work?”
“Perfect. With all of this wind, my hair is getting unruly and I want to be ready for the Halloween Hoedown.”
“Leave it to me. I can make you the belle of the ball.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that!”
“Trust me! It’s nice to see a vet who likes to keep up her appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Anna. She wasn’t much for spending a lot of time in front of the mirror,” Fred said.
“I hear you. She was a rugged gal,” said Mandy.
“I’ll take you under my wing, honey,” Fred said and winked at Mandy. He then started his walk with Marge again.
Mandy resumed driving, following Gillian’s perfect instructions. The farm was down a long gravel road at the front of which stood an old western style gate with a wooden plank across the top that read “Moore & Sons.” Mandy didn’t remember Gillian mentioning anything about a son. Perhaps the plot would thicken after all.
As she opened the back of her Jeep and started donning the pregnancy testing apparel, Jim himself appeared from within the cow shed. “You must be Dr. Bell. I am Jim Moore and these are a few of my girls,” he said pointing to the mooing ladies circling the round yard beside the shed. They appeared to be Jerseys though she couldn’t tell since they were standing in the shade of the barn.
