Sofie Ryan's

Second Chance Cat Series

Fur Love or Money

Excerpt

We started down the road walking a bit slower than I normally would have to accommodate Ashley's pace. Casey was several feet in front of us and kept looking back as if to reassure himself that we were still behind him.

Through the trees I could see the cupola on the roof of one of the cottages up ahead. It had been pale gray, now it was painted a deep navy blue with bright white trim. "They painted the little gray cottage," I said.

Ashley nodded. "You didn't hear? It was sold. The new owner has been using it as a short-term rental."

I shook my head. "I didn't." I was scanning both sides of the road as we walked and trying not to be too obvious about it.

"Oh, I knew," Rose said. "Channing bought it."

Ashley nodded. "That's right."

"Hang on," I said. "Channing bought the cottage. Channing Caulfield? Why didn't I know this?" Rose had gone to school with Channing.

Rose glanced at Casey to make sure he wasn't getting too far ahead of us. "I have no idea, dear," she said. "Although I have noticed that sometimes your attention wanders in a conversation."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ashley duck her head and try to unsuccessfully stifle a smile.

"Well, umm. I'll try to do better," I said.

"I know you will," she said. She reached over and patted my arm. I felt a little like a six year-old.

We came level then with the little house. Not only had it been painted since the last time I'd seen it, the hedge had been trimmed and the rose bushes pruned.

Casey bolted for the backyard.

Ashley sighed.

"It's okay. I'll go after him," I said.

"Is there a tenant at the moment?" Rose asked her.

She nodded. "A man as far as I know. I don't know his name and I haven't seen him but I have gotten to know the rental agent and she said that she had someone coming for a couple of weeks last Sunday."

"We'll go see if anyone is home," Rose said to me. We were just a couple of houses away from where she had been attacked and I felt a little unsettled, but if Rose was bothered at all it didn't show.

I nodded and started down the driveway.

There was no sign of the dog anywhere in the backyard. Where had Casey gone? I called his name a couple of times and then I heard an answering bark from somewhere in the trees behind the house. I cut across the grass and as I got to the back edge of the lawn I finally spotted the dog, maybe twenty feet away. He seemed to be looking at something on the ground.

"What are you doing?" I said. "Come here." He looked up at me, barked once and then dropped his gaze again. Casey paid about as much attention to what I said as Elvis did.

I made my way through the trees, managing to only smack myself once on the side of the head with a branch. Casey was standing next to a small mound covered with leaves and dirt and several weather-beaten boards. It looked like an old storm cellar. I had no idea how long it could have been back here. Decades, easily, based on the condition of the half rotted boards covering the opening.

I bent down beside the dog for a better look and put one hand on his back. He looked at me and looked at the ground again. Then he barked. A faint, answering bark came from below us. There was a dog trapped down there. That's why Casey had been so jumpy.

"We'll figure this out," I said, patting his flank.

I heard Rose calling my name. "Stay here," I told him. I moved back through the trees. "I'm here," I called, waving my arm.

Rose and Ashley made their way over to me. "There's no one home," Rose said. "Where's Casey?"

"He's all right," I said. "He found an old storm cellar. It looks like there's another dog trapped down there."

"Hang on," Ashley said. She pulled out her phone, tapped the screen several times and then turned it around so Rose and I could see. "I saw this at the grocery store this morning."

It was a flyer for a puppy that had been lost yesterday in this neighborhood.

"Do you think it could be this dog?" she asked.

"It's possible," I said. "I need to go lift some of the boards off the opening so I can get a better look." I had a decent flashlight app on my phone. "Stay here."

"No," Rose said in the same agreeable tone she would have used to tell me she liked the color of my shirt.

"What do you mean, no?" I said.

"I mean no, I'm not staying here. Was I not clear?" She looked puzzled.

I glanced at Ashley.

She smiled and inclined her head in Rose's direction. "What she said."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Because I'm pregnant?"

"Yes," I said. "The ground is uneven. There could be poison ivy back there or...or wild animals."

"Sarah, I know what poison ivy looks like," Ashley said. "Casey and Rose and you are here so I don't think I need to worry about any rogue porcupines, and even though I look wobbly I promise you I'm not."

"I'm not going to win this one, am I?" I said.

She smiled again. "I appreciate your concern but no you're not. For centuries pregnant women have worked on farms and in factories, they've walked miles carrying water and children, they've ridden on horseback and wagon trains and city buses for miles." She gestured with both hands as her voice rose. "We've slept on the floor, on the ground, on ice floes for heaven's sake!" She was getting increasingly animated.

"You're right," I said, holding up one hand. "And I'm sorry. Let's go." I led her and Rose through the trees.

"Did I overreact? " I heard Ashley ask Rose in a low voice. "I'm just getting tired of everyone having an opinion on what I should or shouldn't be doing."

"Of course not," Rose said. "However I probably would have gone with cooked in a lumber camp instead of slept on an ice floe. This is Maine, after all."

When we reached Casey he was pawing at one of the boards over the opening to the storm cellar. Two of them had already slipped to one side exposing one small corner of the hole.

"Will you call him, please?" I said to Ashley. "I don't want him to end up down there, too."

Ashley patted the side of her leg. "Casey, come," she said.

The dog hesitated.

"Come," she repeated.

He moved over to stand beside her but his eyes stayed on that low mound of earth.

I crouched down and started pulling the boards away from the opening to the storm cellar. Rose took them from me, making a neat pile on the ground behind us. "Watch out for splinters," I warned her.

The fact that the wood was so dried out and weathered meant that we made short work of clearing the opening. I edged closer to the side of the hole. I felt Rose take hold of my waistband.

I used the flashlight on my phone to look down into the space. It was small, probably five or six feet in both directions and maybe eight feet down to the bottom. There was a bag of what looked to be garbage in the corner farthest from me, partly covered with a tarp. A small, wooden ladder was laying on the dirt floor next to a small, very dirty puppy. He cocked his head to one side and blinked up at me. Then he barked and behind me Casey answered.

I sat back on my heels.

"Is it the puppy?" Ashley asked.

I turned to look at her. "I think so. It's definitely a puppy and what are the chances there are two lost in this neighbourhood?"

"Can you get him out of there?" She had one hand on Casey's head and I could see the concern in her eyes.

"I don't know," I said. "I can't see any stairs. There's a ladder but it's lying on the ground."

Rose leaned over me for a better look. "It's not that far down to the bottom," she said. "And that ladder looks like it's in one piece.

I recognized the expression on her face. "You're not jumping down there to get that dog," I said, firmly.

She squared her shoulders and her chin came up. "I wasn't going to. But you could. It can't be any more than eight feet down to the bottom which means it would be less than a two and a half foot drop if you hung from the side."

I nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

"Sarah, you can't do that," Ashley said. "That ladder could be broken. You don't know what condition the ground is down there. It's not safe."

I looked over at her. Color flooded her cheeks. "Yes, I know I'm a hypocrite."

"You're not a hypocrite," I said. "I appreciate that you care, but I can do this. If I hang from the edge of the opening it's a very short drop. And I took a good look at the ladder. There's nothing that makes me think it could be broken."

"I wouldn't let Sarah even try if I didn't think she could do it," Rose chimed in. "She's been climbing up things and over them and under them since she was a little girl."

"Couldn't we just call the fire department?" Ashley asked. She still had one hand on Casey's head. The other was wrapped around her baby bump.

"We could," I said. "But I don't know how long it will take them to get here and I'm a bit worried the puppy might be hurt. He's not running around. He just seems to be sitting in one spot." I pointed over my head. "And based on what I can see of the sky it's going to start raining anytime now."

Ashley pressed her lips together and nodded. "Just please be careful," she said.

"What do you need me to do?" Rose asked.

"I'm hoping the ladder comes all the way up to the top of this hole," I said. "If you can hold on to the sides that will help. Stay low to the ground."

She nodded.

I found a spot on the rim of the hole where I felt I could get a good grip. I didn't waste any time thinking about what I was going to do. Rose was right. I'd been climbing up, over and under things since I was a kid. I swung my legs over the side and let go.

I landed on the densely packed dirt without any problem. "I'm all right," I called up to Rose.

The puppy barked twice but came to me without any hesitation, his stubby tail wagging.

I crouched down next to him. "Hey boy," I said, holding out my hand so he could sniff it. His brown and black fur made me wonder if he was part German shepherd. I looked him over but I didn't find any obvious indication that he was hurt. I was hoping he was just cold and hungry.

"Give me a minute and we're going to get out of here," I told him. He wagged his tail again as though he'd understood what I'd said.

I stood up and pulled out my phone so I could use the flashlight and take a closer look at the ladder. It seemed to be nothing more than a make-shift means of getting out of the storm cellar—two lengths of wood linked by several short pieces that made the ladder's rungs. But it was in one piece and looked like it would hold my weight. I leaned it against the lowest edge of the opening. I realized part of the end wall was made of brick. Maybe part of an old foundation?

"I've got it," Rose said after a moment. I looked up and I could see her hands holding the sides of the ladder.

I bent down and picked up the puppy, tucking him under my left arm. There was a leather collar around his neck with a couple of metal tags attached. He looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and I was glad we hadn't waited for the fire department. He was so little and so trusting.

I shined the light around the space and the garbage bag under the tarp in the corner caught my eye. I took several steps closer, reached down and lifted up one corner of the heavy plastic. I swallowed hard, briefly touched what was underneath it, then I let the tarp drop and pressed my cheek against the top of the puppy's head for a moment. I swallowed a couple of times and made my way back over to the ladder. "Let's get out of here," I said to the dog. I felt as though a large rock had settled in the pit of my stomach.

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