A Malicious Midwinter by Dee Ernst

Author:Dee Ernst [Ernst, Dee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9970514-9-0
Publisher: 235 Alexander Street

Chapter 5

I pulled Boot into the house, yelling for Shelly. “Call James. Right away. Boot is here but Glory is missing in action.”

She rushed into the living room, cellphone in hand, watching me as I tried to pull the clumps of snow from Boot’s belly.

“Jamie? What are you doing now?” She listened. “What? Are you kidding me? God, well, whatever. Glory hasn’t shown up at the house, but Boot is here, on the leash. Something must have happened to her.” She listened some more. “Yes, I know, and Jamie? Beth took Garth’s truck to look for her, Glory, I mean. So be on the look-out for her.”

She put down the phone and put on her coat. “They were getting high. Garth and Jamie. Can you imagine? Jamie’s car is useless in the snow, so they’re heading out on foot to find her. She’d stay on the plowed roads, surely?”

I nodded. Snow removal in Mt. Abrams was a tricky thing. With so many narrow and twisted streets, the plows first came through to clear main roads, to give emergency vehicles access if necessary. Later, they came through again to plow the rest of the streets.

“Okay,” I said, thinking fast and getting my coat on. “We can split up. I think that the smartest way would be to go down Carter Road. You go that way, and see if you meet up with the guys. I’ll go down toward the Library and head down to Sommerfield.”

I went out, Shelly beside me.

“She probably just slipped,” Shelly said.

“Of course. But if she’s in a snow bank somewhere, she could freeze.”

“But if she started yelling, somebody would hear her. Some of those houses are so close together you can’t sneeze without your neighbor saying bless you.”

It wasn’t all that cold, and the wind had died down. If I wasn’t so worried, it would have been a nice walk.

We turned, following the tire tracks of Garth’s truck. Beth had gone straight down the hill, which made the most sense. We stopped and watched as the plow came through again. We had to step back as more snow flew up and on top of the existing snow banks, making them at least another six inches taller. At this rate, we’d need a pick axe to climb over the curb.

“Well, there goes the whole idea of following the tire tracks back home. She’ll never find her way back now,” I said. “What do you think?”

Shelly stamped her feet. I’ll go to James’s. You keep going down the hill.”

“Good idea.” I went on, and she turned and was lost in the dark.

I stopped and listened. Nothing but a scraping sound. Someone digging. I followed the noise.

A man was shoveling out a short parking spot on front of his house. I recognized the house, and maybe would have known the face if I could have seen it, but he had a scarf across his mouth and nose.

“Excuse me,” I called, “but did you see someone walking a dog? A white spotted cocker spaniel?”

He shook his head without pausing his shoveling.

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