Cat Got Your Corpse

by Louise Lynn

  Hazel really didn't expect anything less.

  Esther didn’t look all that convinced, but Hazel had the whole night to work on it.

  The next morning, Esther and Hazel got up bright and early.

  Perhaps too bright and early.

  The sun hadn’t come up yet, nor had the chattiest of the birds. Only the barest hint of light shone over the horizon when Hazel peeked out of her tent.

  Esther's eyes were much too wide and chipper for that hour, and even Anthony Ray gave a meow of protest as Hazel pulled on her clothes. "You can't see her site from here, so we’ll have to walk by and check. I hope she's not still sleeping."

  Esther tugged on her socks. "We can always ask. If she's there, we'll just have to take a hike with her, I guess. You really think she's the killer?" she asked in a hushed voice.

  Hazel hadn't shared her suspicions with any of the deputies yet. She figured it was best to find actual evidence and not just the circumstantial kind. Plus, they were already busy enough guarding the crime scene and the rest of the campground. No use putting more strain on them.

  “I don’t know yet, but it seems plausible. And I’ve accused people of murder based on less,” Hazel said with a grin.

  “You say that like it’s a good thing,” Esther said, but sighed and pulled her hair into a braid.

  “You don’t have to help me,” Hazel reminded her. Esther had mentioned it the day before. She wasn’t one for adventures, not even as a child. “I mean, you didn’t even have to stay.”

  Esther only got that determined when someone told her she couldn’t do something. “I know that, but I wanted to. I already said I was tired of being left out. I know you didn’t do it on purpose, but the only way to fix it is to stay and be here. Do this—whatever this is.”

  “We’re trying to find a killer and save dad’s hide,” Hazel said and tugged her knitted cap over her wild curls. She wouldn’t need it once the sun rose and heated everything up, but this early in the morning, it was still cold enough.

  “I know that! And I’m going to help. No more practical Esther. This time, I’ll jump in with both feet, and make sure Ruth doesn’t resent me for the rest of her life,” she said the last bit under her breath, and Hazel figured she’d have to deal with that later.

  Now, however, they needed to keep their voices down to avoid rousing Deputy Simmons, who seemed to be snoring along with their father, assuming it really was him and not their father’s snoring iPad app.

  “They’re still asleep," she whispered to Esther and situated her Olympus around her neck. No way was she going on a hike without her camera. Or peek into someone else’s ice chest without it either. Hazel even had her new phone tucked into her pocket for good measure.

  As quietly as possible, Hazel fed Anthony Ray. If she didn’t, he’d complain about his missing breakfast the whole time. She knew that from experience.

  Esther fixed them both peanut butter sandwiches, and gave Hazel a look like Hazel gave Anthony Ray.

  Before Hazel finished her snack, Esther reached into their own cooler, tucked into the bear box, and pulled out a cold brewed coffee. She handed it over without a word.

  Hazel grinned. She didn't even realize Esther had packed some, but it went to show how well her sister knew her. Caffeine and Hazel went together like chocolate and caramel. Or like fish and water. That was a more apt comparison considering it felt like Hazel was going to die without it.

  Once everyone was thoroughly fed and caffeinated, they snuck toward Abby Reynold’s campsite. A shroud of early-morning silence hung over the forest. Glancing around, Hazel spotted that hideous diesel truck that belonged to Summer Crawford.

  Hazel hoped whatever press Summer had contacted ignored the daughter of an infamous big game hunter, but she could never be certain. Hazel knew for a fact that their small-town newspaper editor would go with whatever sold the most papers. And a killer mountain lion would definitely sell papers.

  That meant she had to solve this case soon, and not only for her dad’s sake.

  Abby's campsite was as quiet as the rest of the campground. The only thing stirring were the early morning birds and a few squirrels, their fur as wild as Hazel's own hair.

  Hazel tiptoed toward the tent and tapped on the slick material. "Abby? We wondered if you wanted to go on an early morning hike? You up?"

  No answer.

  Hazel looked at Esther, who shrugged, and pointed at the bear box.

  Right.

  That's where she kept her cooler, but Hazel wanted to make sure that Abby wasn't just a deep sleeper. It may be a huge violation of privacy, but she could use the excuse that she was worried about the young woman.

  Slowly, Hazel pulled on the zipper and peeked inside the tent.

  The sleeping bag was mussed and a backpack sat open, but Abby wasn’t there.

  Hazel let out a sigh and zipped it up.

  The trees swayed in a cold breeze, and the horizon shown golden. She had no idea when Abby had left, or when the girl would be back, so they needed to get this over with quickly.

  "She's not here. Let's take a look."

  Esther stared at her. "I suppose you want me to do the honors?"

  “Hey, this is your first adventure, so you might as well," Hazel said and got her camera ready.

  Esther rolled her eyes but did as she was asked. She tugged the cooler out of the bear box, and furrowed her brow. "This thing is stuffed to the gills. I swear it's heavier than ours. What does she have in here?"

  Hazel shrugged. "That's what we’re about to find out."

  Esther lifted the lid. "What's the difference between a vegetarian, a vegan, and the other one again?"

  "Other what?" Hazel asked and peeked at the contents.

  Oh, now she knew why Esther was asking that.

  "You know, the pescatarian or whatever."

  Hazel thought she remembered. "Vegetarians don't eat meat or fish. Vegan’s don’t eat meat, fish or any animal products including cheese, eggs, or milk. And I think pescatarians don't eat meat but do eat fish. And this is definitely meat,” Hazel said and stared at the bloody red slabs.

  No wonder the cooler was so heavy. It hardly even had any ice in it—it was filled with slabs of beef.

  "So our little vegan friend is carrying around a giant cooler full of steaks?" Esther said and her eyes narrowed.

  Hazel snapped a few photos with both her camera and her phone. "Looks like it. Although, that doesn't mean she killed a man. Unless she hid the murder weapon under the raw meat. You want to have a look-see?"

  Esther gave her a withering frown. "Do I look like I want to go pawing around through slabs of beef? No. But—” She sighed. "That's what non-adventurous Esther would say. Fine. But you’d better find me some soap as I'm going to have to scrub my hands to high heavens once I'm done.” Then she wrinkled her nose and dug in.

  After fingering through a good ten slabs, she found nothing but more meat.

  Hazel gave her an apologetic look and followed her sister to the bathroom. "It was all in the name of the investigation so–"

  "I don't want to hear it. If there comes another point in this investigation where we have to finger through raw cooler meat, you can do it on your own," Esther said and began scrubbing vigorously.

  Hazel bit back the desire to chuckle.

  Once Esther was finished thoroughly scrubbing her hands clean, they looked around the campground, but didn't find Abby or anything out of sorts.

  "The ranger’s backup hasn’t arrived yet," Esther said and glanced at the Rangers cabin. Her jeep was parked out front, and the lights were off. Well, it was still too early for normal people to be up and about, Hazel thought. “Abby told me about one of those trails she liked to take early in the morning. We can give it a shot?"

  Esther smiled. "We might as well. We are up, after all."

  Hazel kept it to herself that the full hike was nine miles, because she knew they wouldn't do the whole loop. But she hoped they made it to at le
ast one of the sub-alpine lakes tucked into a high Sierra meadow. Those were her favorites. Maybe if Esther saw one with her own eyes instead of through a photo, she’d fall in love with them too.

  The sun peeked over the mountains within the hour, and the farther they got from the campground, the jitterier Esther became. "Dad did say there was a mountain lion about, right? So even if it didn't kill Cliff Crawford–"

  Hazel grabbed Esther’s hands. "Don't you remember the lessons he taught us? Getting attacked by a mountain lion is pretty rare. Most people who do don't know the animal is there and inadvertently provoke it by running."

  "Oh, that's good to know. I'm not allowed to run for my life," Esther said.

  Hazel decided not to answer that. They were headed up an incline that involved all of her focus. Hopefully, the view from the top would be worth it. It wasn't a mountain, more like an exaggeration of a hill, but the trail wound up it steeply.

  Of course, Anthony Ray darted ahead of them both as if it were nothing.

  As they crested the top, Hazel let out a gasp of delight. She was right. One of the great Sierra meadows, practically untouched by humans, spread before them.

  In the distance, she spotted a group of deer congregating by the side of a small lake. The waters were a bright glacial blue, and sprigs of wildflowers, white, yellow, purple, and pink bloomed everywhere.

  It was all Hazel could do to keep from snapping as many photos as possible right away. Instead, she took a moment to glance at her sister.

  Esther's eyes were wide, and she seemed to be holding her breath.

  Hazel knew what it was like to see a meadow like that for the first time. The majesty of the snowcapped rugged crags in the distance, and the beautiful blue waters, pristine and lovely, all spread before them.

  "Oh, this is why you and dad go on adventures. I mean, your pictures are always amazing but in person… Wow," she said in a hushed voice.

  Hazel knew why she used it. A place like that demanded respect, sort of like a church. With a smile, Hazel motioned to a large rock for Esther to sit, and she began to snap pictures to her heart's content.

  The group of deer kept a wary eye on them but grazed nonetheless at a distance.

  They were toward the top of the tree line, so the valley was only studded with a few pine and not the cedar that grew at the lower elevations.

  Anthony Ray climbed onto a low granite boulder and cleaned his paws.

  “I wish Ruth could see this," Esther said wistfully as Hazel finally plopped beside her.

  She took a long gulp of water. "She will soon enough. Next year, right? It can be our new summer adventure."

  Esther gave her a pained smile. "Yeah, the yearly adventure. You know, I gave dad and you a hard time, but I never even considered asking to come along. I know you invited me at first, and I was too stubborn to say yes. And now," she said and squeezed her hands in her lap.

  "Now what?"

  Esther’s shoulders slumped. “I’m just like dad, aren't I? I know you said we’re a lot alike, but I never wanted to believe you because I thought he was like you. But, I'm like him in all the worst ways."

  Hazel worried her bottom lip. "What do you mean the worst ways? That your dedicated to your work? Because you're not absent-minded, which is one of his worst qualities, I think."

  Esther snorted. "Dedicated to your work or workaholic? I guess it depends on who you ask, but I feel like I'm doing something wrong with Ruth. I'm running the business of my dreams, but I'm working all the time, even when I have a part-time employee.”

  Hazel nodded. She understood the feeling well enough, but she also didn't have a daughter to raise solo. "So get a full-time employee. Or a few full-time employees like Celia. She actually takes days off without closing CATfeinated, you know? You can do that too." She nudged Esther’s shoulder with her own.

  "That's not the only thing. I—I don't even know what my own daughter likes. Here she is into this Mexican wrestling thing, which is fine. I don’t mind if she likes wrestling, but I didn't even know about it. Mom knew but she didn't tell me. Probably because she thought I'd get overprotective."

  Hazel figured that was the reason too, and squeezed her sister’s elbow. "Colton was doing the same thing with Violet, and you have a right to be overprotective of an eight-year-old, but the fact that she likes wrestling, yeah. Let her do what she likes, as long as it's not something inappropriate for her age."

  Esther nodded. "I'm trying to, but you get to be the cool aunt with Ruth and Violet. And I have to be the bad guy. It feels completely unfair. I want her to get excited with me the way she does with dad and mom and with you. Instead of seeing me as disciplinarian meany face," Esther said and scuffed her tennis shoe into the dirt.

  "I don't think Ruth sees you like that though. She does get excited when she sees you. Even after spending the day with fun Auntie Hazy, she loves going home to her mom. And you could do fun things with her. You know she loves crafts. You could make your own Mexican wrestling masks. Something like that," Hazel said with a grin.

  Esther chewed on her bottom lip. "You're right. I know you're right. I need to work less, don't I?”

  Hazel nodded. "Oh yeah. You sure do. But I get that it's hard to find someone to run your business for you when you're not around."

  Esther's eyes fixed on the meadow, and she sucked in a breath through her nose. "Yeah, but I guess something has to give, before I go crazy. Or I miss Ruth’s entire childhood because I’m too much of a perfectionist."

  "You wouldn't want to do that."

  "Thanks, I needed this," Esther said and pulled Hazel into a hug.

  Hazel gave her sister a tight squeeze, and furrowed her brows. "Wait a minute. We’re not wearing boots."

  Esther pulled back and glanced around. "What does that have to do with anything?"

  Hazel pointed at a track in the dirt. It was just a bit further down the trail than they had hiked so far, and it was definitely a boot print—a large one. Well, it looks somewhere between a woman's size ten and a man's size eight, if she had to guess. And it looked like the one at the crime scene. She was almost certain of it.

  "This is a hiking trail," Esther reminded her with a nudge.

  Hazel nodded and took a few photos of the print nonetheless. "Yeah, I know, but I hope it's not Summer Crawford's."

  Esther's eyes widened, and her fingers dug into Hazel’s shoulder, talon-like. "Speaking of Summer Crawford, we've got a guest," she said, her voice trembling.

  Hazel glanced toward the lake where her sister's eyes were fixed.

  There, in the distance, strolled a beautiful fully-grown mountain lion and two adorable cubs.

  The deer had fled at some point, and the mountain lion and her cubs casually walked toward the water's edge and began to drink.

  Hazel's breath caught in her throat, and she internally kicked herself for not bringing her longest telephoto lens. Well, the one she had on her would have to do.

  She raised her camera to snap some photos, and Esther’s grip tightened.

  "What are you doing?” she whispered.

  “They're a good five hundred yards away in a valley, and haven’t seen us yet. We can sneak away before they do. Just let me get a couple photos," Hazel whispered back and began shooting.

  "I take it back; you are more like dad. You're both crazy."

  Crazy or not, Hazel wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass her by.

  Chapter 15

  Much to Hazel's delight, they didn’t become breakfast for the mountain lion. However, by the time they made it back to camp, her stomach was grumbling for a proper breakfast.

  When they arrived, Hazel spotted their father talking to Abby at her site, and she hoped he hadn't spilled the beans about them wanting a peek inside of her cooler.

  Abby smiled warmly in their direction. "There you guys are! I guess we missed each other on the trail, huh?" she said and stretched from side to side.

  "Yeah. We took the trail you told me about,
but we obviously didn't do the whole thing," she said.

  Abby nodded. "That's why I missed you. I did the ridge trail today. Well, part of it,” she said and glanced at the ugly diesel.

  Summer and James were both up by that time, and Abby's expression turned dangerous when she spotted them through the trees.

  "Look at this," their father said and held up a zipper bag filled with something brown, dried and misshapen. "She gave me a whole month’s supply of her mushroom jerky. Can you believe it?"

  Hazel shook her head. "I can't. How wonderful."

  She didn't have the heart to say she had no interest in ever trying it, but if her dad liked it, good for him.

  "Has the ranger said anything about what happened yesterday?" Hazel asked.

  Abby tore her eyes away from James and Summer. "As if Ranger Albright would talk to me. I saw her get back to her cabin a few minutes ago though."

  Hazel blinked. "What you mean back? She wasn't in there the whole morning?"

  Abby shrugged. I don't think so. I got up at about four to start my hike, it was still dark so I had to use a flashlight, and she was up then too. In fact, she started on the trail you guys took. You didn't see her?"

  Hazel looked at Esther, and they both shook their heads. "No. But she had a pretty big head start if she got up that early."

  Hazel didn't say the next thing she was thinking, however. Which was: why would the ranger get up so early and go on a hike when she couldn't see anything. It wasn't light enough to see outside until about five a.m, when Hazel and Esther themselves got up. So getting up earlier than that was a recipe for disaster.

  Unless, of course, she wasn't worried about what she was looking at, but more worried about other people seeing her.

  Four a.m. was a prime time for sneaking around, she thought.

  Hazel glanced at the ranger’s cabin suspiciously. "Summer and James haven't said anything, have they?"

  Abby snorted. "No, but Summer Crawford is gonna be sorry she showed her face here. I can tell you that much."