Finding Christmas Page 4

  “It does seem as if one of the five must be the killer if Piney was murdered.” Jake looked at me. “Are you sure the flash of memory you experienced was from someone in the inn?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I think so. To be honest I can’t be a hundred percent certain, but if I had to guess whose memory I hijacked, I would say the person who held the memory was in close proximity.”

  “Were there any other guests in the inn other than the five men who went on the ski trip?” Jake asked.

  “Yes. Houston spoke to Mary about the guests. In addition to the six men on the ski trip and the two women who accompanied them, Nick Clauston and his daughter and her husband are still at the inn, although they planned to leave after what happened this morning. Mary said there were four other guests, including a visiting businessman from Germany named Deidrick Eckhart, who Mary pointed out as the gray haired man reading in the front parlor, a skier who had gone out earlier in the day named Walter Sandman, who Mary described early thirties with light hair, and a couple named Fred and Victoria Pendleton, a retired history professor and his wife from Connecticut.”

  “Is it possible any of them were on the mountain when Piney was killed?” Jake asked.

  “I suppose it’s possible the skier went up the mountain with another heli-skiing tour. As far as I know, he wasn’t in the inn when Houston and I were there. We didn’t verify his whereabouts, but maybe.” I looked around. “I think it’s probably a waste of time to look for other suspects. My gut tells me one of the five men is the killer.”

  Chapter 4

  It was completely dark when I got home. My little cabin looked cold and forlorn after all the lights in town. With the memories stirred up by the decorations at the inn, I’d momentarily considered buying some lights, and maybe a few small things to replace the ones I’d lost, but money was tight as usual, and it seemed smarter to stock up on food for me and my animals. Supplies would get even thinner as the winter wore on, so spending money on frivolous things really didn’t make sense at all.

  Grabbing a flashlight and my rifle, I headed out into the darkness to walk the dogs. Yukon took a position in the front of the pack, with my wolf hybrid Denali and my husky mix Shia, while my two retired sled dogs, Juno and Kodi, settled into the middle. I walked slowly so my three-legged dog, Lucky, could keep up on the trail I’d packed down with my snowmobile, and Honey, my retriever, trotted along right next to him.

  I preferred to walk the dogs when it was light, but with so few hours of daylight now, walking in the dark was inevitable. This presented a certain level of danger; the area I could see with my flashlight was severely limited. I’d been seeing cougar prints in the snow the last few days, so I planned a short walk tonight, rather than going all the way out to the lake, which I might have done during daylight hours.

  I had just called the dogs back in anticipation of turning around when I heard barking from the front of the pack. “Denali, Yukon, come,” I shouted into the darkness.

  After a brief pause, Yukon returned, but Denali was still missing. He tended to have a mind of his own, but I’d heard the echoes of the wolves who lived nearby earlier. Hopefully, Denali wouldn’t engage. I whistled loudly, then called his name again. After a couple of minutes he came to where the other dogs and I were waiting. He was wagging his tail and looked happy as could be, so I guessed he must have discovered a rabbit or squirrel, not a predator or intruder.

  “You need to stay with me,” I scolded the large dog. “I can’t be searching in the dark for you if you get it in your head to run off.”

  Denali wagged his tail, then trotted back toward the house. There was only so much I could do to train the stubborn dog, and most of the time when he disobeyed it was for a good reason.

  When I returned to the house I found a large box on the front porch. It was wrapped in green paper with a brown piece of string for ribbon. I picked it up, looking for a tag, but there wasn’t one. Curious, I looked around, in search of fresh footprints. There were so many dog prints, it was hard to make out one print from another, but it looked as if whoever had dropped off the package had both arrived and left via the forest. Who would be walking around on a night like this? The image of Santa flashed into my mind for the tenth time that day. I shrugged and smiled, then took the box inside and set it on the dining table. I couldn’t imagine who would leave a gift on my doorstep. It was still ten days until Christmas, so a bit early for gifts anyway. Besides, no one I knew would leave an anonymous gift. Jake and I exchanged gifts every Christmas and the others from the search-and-rescue team usually had a dinner on Christmas Eve at which we exchanged small tokens. Harley had given me a gift last year, but he’d waited until Christmas Eve. Chloe and I usually exchanged gifts, but we normally did it during a meal a day or two before the actual holiday. I shook the box and heard something rattling, but that wasn’t much of a clue to what might be inside.

  Should I open it? Should I wait? Making a quick decision, I went into the kitchen for my scissors. I had to dig through my junk drawer to find them and was just returning to the box when Denali started to growl.

  “What is it? Do you hear something?”

  Denali ran to the front door and began to bark. Yukon followed immediately. No one had knocked and I hadn’t seen a light from a vehicle, so I picked up my rifle and headed to the main entry. I peered out the window next to the door but didn’t see anything. I slowly opened the door and gasped. On the porch was a box and inside it were five kittens. “You poor things,” I said aloud as I picked up the box and brought it inside. “I wonder why you weren’t dropped off at the shelter.”

  The shelter was closed to drop-offs at this time of night, so I supposed whoever had left the kittens hadn’t wanted to wait. I made sure they were uninjured, then made up bowls of soft food mixed with the milk replacement I kept on hand and set them on the kitchen floor. The kittens didn’t seem all that hungry, but being thrust into a strange house with seven dogs and four cats was probably a bit intimidating. I managed to get a few bites into each one before changing my plan of attack. Grabbing a heated pet bed from my supply closet, I went into my guest room and set up a little nest for the kittens, then set up a cat box and an eating area where I could leave some food. I settled the kittens with a soft blanket in an area I could block off with furniture. With the lights turned down low, I left them alone so they could take some time to settle in. I figured I’d check on them in an hour. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be so frightened once they had a chance to adjust and I could get more food in them. I could take them to the shelter tomorrow, but they were awfully tiny. It might be best to keep them here with me until they were old enough to be adopted.

  I returned to the main living area, where my cats and dogs were waiting for their own meals. I fed everyone, cleaned cat boxes, and then went out to the barn to see to the rabbits and Homer. He couldn’t see me, but he seemed to enjoy my presence, so I chatted to him about my day as I cleaned his stall. After my old barn had burned down, my neighbors had gotten together to build a brand-new and far superior one. I was still out my Christmas decorations, as well as the other things I’d stored in the old barn, but I was so grateful for a safe, warm, dry place to house Homer and the rabbits, I didn’t mind.

  When I returned to the extra bedroom an hour later to check on the kittens, I found the door cracked open. Strange; I was sure I’d pulled it closed behind me. Maybe it hadn’t clicked. I opened the door a bit more and tiptoed inside to find my mama dog, Honey, curled up on the heated pad with all five kittens tucked in tight between her legs. My heart filled with warmth as I took in the sight before me. I’d thought I’d had a good plan, but Honey’s worked just as well.

  When I’d found Honey last Christmas, she’d been pregnant herself. She’d been a wonderful mother to her own pups, nurturing every one until it was time for them to go to wonderful forever homes. Since she’d been with me, she’d fostered several of the babies who’d entered my life, including a bear cub the night his mother w
as shot.

  I supposed that all the animals in my menagerie seemed to have come to me for some purpose. Denali was my protector, Yukon my search-and-rescue partner, Shia was the funny one, and Lucky was the one who gave me hope. Each animal was loved and appreciated for their own personality and contribution to my life. I supposed Honey’s purpose was clearly to provide comfort and to nurture the babies I picked up along the way. Making a quick decision, I transferred both Honey and the kittens to the larger dog bed in my bedroom. That was where I should have put the kittens in the first place, but I’d thought they might be nervous sharing space with the five dogs who slept with me. While they’d been skittish at first, with Honey to look out for them, they’d probably be content to hang out with the rest of us.

  Tossing another log on the fire, I snuggled onto the sofa and used the remote to turn on the TV. I wasn’t a huge television watcher, but there was a Christmas romance movie set on a ranch in Montana I wanted to see. If history served as a predictor, I’d watch it until I fell asleep about halfway through. The setting was beautiful, which added to my enjoyment. The first commercials had come on when my phone rang.

  “I thought you were going to come by to check on Brando after the rescue,” Harley said.

  I had totally forgotten about my promise. “I’m sorry,” I answered. “I did say I would. I only just got home a little while ago. By the time I walked the dogs, fed everyone, and cleaned stalls and cat boxes, it was late. But I still should have called. I really am sorry.”

  Harley let out a breath. “That’s okay. It sounds as if you were busy.”

  “How’s the pup doing?”

  Harley hesitated. “He’s okay. He ate one of my slippers. It was Italian leather, so it made for an expensive chew toy, but otherwise he seems to have settled in. He sure has a lot of energy. After I fed him and put him to sleep, I felt like I’d been involved in hand-to-hand combat.”

  I grinned. “Puppies do tend to be high on energy. Especially lab puppies. Have you tried the crate we picked up at the pet store?”

  “He’s sleeping in it right now. I played with him until we were both on the verge of exhaustion, then I put him in the crate with a heated blanket and some toys. I’m hoping he’ll sleep through the night. Do you think he will?”

  “He should. And if he wakes up, he won’t be able to get out of the crate, so he should be fine. You’ll want to take him outside immediately after you let him out of the crate in the morning. And I mean immediately. Don’t stop to make coffee or turn on the television or anything.”

  “Got it. Take the puppy out to pee first, have coffee second. I still don’t know how you talked me into this.”

  I couldn’t help but remember his comment about my sweet smile and big brown eyes. “I guess I just have a knack for persuasion.”

  “I’d say you’re the queen of persuasion. If anyone would have told me yesterday that I’d be talked into babysitting a puppy, even for a few days, I would have said they were nuts.”

  “You’re doing a good thing.”

  “I know. And he’s pretty cute, even if he runs around with his mouth open so he won’t have to stop when he finds the next thing he wants to chew up.”

  “It’ll get better. I promise. Tomorrow we’ll go over correcting and replacing. Once you get the hang of that, his training will move quickly.”

  “I hope so. I’d hate it if he ate the wrong thing and it made him sick.”

  “Some puppy proofing of your house wouldn’t be a bad idea. An even better idea is to make him stay in his crate when you aren’t able to keep an eye on him. It’s a big crate and he has a lot of toys to keep him occupied. He’ll be fine in it for short periods of time.”

  “He looks at me like I’m some kind of traitor when I put him in it.”

  “After a while he’ll actually learn to like it. You’ll see.”

  “You sound like I’m going to have this dog for more than a few days,” Harley said, a tone of accusation in his voice.

  “It might be hard to place him before Christmas,” I responded. “But shortly after. I promise.”

  Harley sighed. “Oh, all right. It might be nice to have someone to wake up to on Christmas morning.”

  I was willing to bet there were a lot of someones who’d be willing to wake up next to Harley if he asked. Before I got to know him, I’d let the tabloids convince me he woke up to a different someone pretty much every morning.

  “By the way,” Harley said, “I meant to ask if you still wanted to go to the Christmas festival tomorrow.”

  “I’d like to.”

  “Do you think Brando will be okay?”

  I considered that. “I think so. For a few hours. How about if I come over in the morning and spend some time working on his training? That usually tires puppies out. When he’s good and tuckered out, we can put him in his crate and head into town for a few hours.”

  “That sounds great. Why don’t you text me in the morning to let me know when you’ll be here?”

  “I’ll need to walk the dogs and feed the clan, which has grown by five kittens as of this evening.”

  “Five kittens?”

  “Someone left them in a box on my doorstep. They’re pretty small, but they look healthy, and Honey has taken over the nurturing part of their care. I thought about taking them to the shelter tomorrow, but I think I’ll just keep them here until they’re old enough to go to forever homes.”

  “Do any of the pets you have there ever end up in the shelter?” Harley asked.

  I laughed. “A few.”

  Actually a lot, but Harley knew that because he was at the facility almost as much as I was when he was in town. I chatted with him for a few more minutes, then hung up.

  I knew Jake planned to go up the mountain with Dani in the morning to retrieve Piney Portman’s body. He might need to call a meeting of the search-and-rescue team after that. I should call him to ask about his plans. Neverland was closed on Sundays, so he usually took the time to watch football or go skiing, but if Portman really had been murdered, the entire search-and-rescue team might be pulled into the investigation. Not that Houston wasn’t a great cop. He was. But because the two men he’d inherited when he took the job of police chief were somewhat lazy and unenthusiastic, so when it came to really investigating a case, he was on his own. I’d already helped him out with several pretty complex cases. I knew he valued my input and wouldn’t be surprised if he asked for it again. It was really a win-win situation because working with Houston had turned out to be one of the most satisfying things I’d done recently. And not just working with him on the murder cases that had landed on his desk, but as he developed his own S&R dog. Like Yukon, Kojak had been a stray, but also like him, Kojak seemed to have a lot of natural talent and was making progress at an amazing rate. I imagined our two-dog team would be a three-dog team before the summer rescue season.

  Chapter 5

  Sunday, December 16

  It was pitch black when I awoke the next morning. I groaned as I rolled out of bed, grabbed a heavy sweatshirt and a pair of knee-high slippers, and padded into the main living area of the cabin. I turned on the coffeemaker, then went to find Honey and the kittens, who were all missing from the dog bed. After a bit of searching, I found them sleeping under my bed. I called to Honey and the kittens followed.

  “Hey there, sweetie,” I said, picking up one of the kittens. It might have been my sleep-deprived brain at work, but darn it if the kitten didn’t look fluffier. Perhaps Honey had cleaned her up. She certainly looked perkier. I scratched her under her chin as I cuddled her to my chest. She actually began to purr. Calling Honey and the other four kittens to follow, I went back out into the living area. I set the kitten down near a saucer of milk replacement, then arranged bowls for the others. I pulled on my heavy boots and a jacket, grabbing my rifle, and took the dogs out for a quick bathroom break.

  When I returned, I fed the dogs and cats, then settled in with my first cup of coffee of the day. No
ticing the box, still sitting wrapped on my dining table, I grabbed the scissors and cut the string. I peeled back the paper and opened the lid to find several strings of brand-new lights. Outdoor lights. The very lights I’d been thinking I wished I had for the cabin. Had someone read my mind?

  I reached into the box and pulled out the lights. Who on earth even knew I needed lights? Landon? We’d discussed them the day before, but I couldn’t see him running out and buying an anonymous gift. Jake might have realized my Christmas decorations would have been destroyed in the fire. Or perhaps Chloe? My money was on her, although there was no way she’d tromp through the woods to drop the box off anonymously. Still, I’d ask her when I went into town. I was grateful to whoever left the lights. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that lights on the cabin would go a long way toward bringing the spirit of the holiday into my life.

  As I finished my first cup of coffee, I received a text from Harley, asking if I still planned to come by for a training session. I told him I did and asked if he had any food in his house. He said he did and offered to make me breakfast. If I jumped into the shower, I could be at his house in an hour.

  When I arrived at Harley’s, I was greeted by a bundle of fur with a sock in his mouth. I raised an eye at Harley who, upon noticing the sock, tried to grab it, which only made the pup run. After watching the battle of wits between man and dog for a solid minute, I called a halt to things by clapping my hands loudly to get the attention of both dog and man. “Don’t chase him,” I cautioned Harley. “He wants you to chase him.”

  “He’s eating my sock.”

  “Italian cotton?” I chuckled.

  Harley smiled. “No. Just regular cotton.”

  I pulled a treat out of my pocket, then called the pup over. He immediately ran toward me, skidding on the floor, and sliding into my legs. “Good dog, Brando.”