A Midwinters Morn Mystery, The End

Just in case I didn’t make it clear – the fences involved are those 6 ft “privacy” fences.

That said:

Friday afternoon Stephen and I head out to the alley through my yard. We’re walking along, heads down as we scan the concrete for signs of blood. We get as far as Moses’ back yard when I see out of the corner of my eye Stephen stopping suddenly.
“Shit.”
I glance up. In front of us, where the alley takes a curve, stands a brown pit bull.
“Stephen, turn around slowly. No sudden moves. Do not, and I repeat, do not run. Walk calmly back to the gate and don’t make eye contact. Keep your head down.” Forget about me, if Stephen gets hurt I’ll never forgive myself. I’ve known this kid since he was in diapers and used to come over to watch my dad work in the garage. “Up grandpa” he’d say, and dad would lift him up onto a stool to watch. My second thought went to the feral kittens in my yard. We’d left the gate open. Intellectually, I knew that the babies would head for the hole under the house where the pit bull couldn’t catch them, but I feared for them anyway. The dog trailed up next to us and I glanced over at him under my lashes. There were letters tattoo on its side, the same kind of gang graffiti I’d seen in other areas of town. A chill went down my back. We reached the gate and went on into the yard, slamming the door behind us. I expelled the breath I’d been holding.
“Well, that was fun.”
We walked through the yard and into the front, discussing theories back and forth. As we stood there I heard barking. Looking up we watched as this ‘little yippy dog’ (that’s what we call it) that lives at a house on the corner chased the pit bull across the street, nipping at its heels. The.pit.bull.was.running.from.a.little.yippy.dog. Stephen and I looked at each other and just started laughing. But you know, we were still smart to be careful. How did we know the pit bull was a coward?
Nothing, there had been no blood in the alley. So here’s our theory. No cats. While it’s true that the cats could have (and do) go over those fences, the lack of blood on the tree and the fact that they didn’t go under the fence as usual pretty much ruled them out. Although they could leap over a spot and land, then jump back, we still didn’t think it was a cat. Dog? Not over the 6 ft fences. Even with a ladder in one spot. So that leaves humans. At least two. We believe a fight broke out in the alley (or even Moses’ yard), they chased each other over the fences (each other would be if there were more than 2), around the cars. One ran toward my ramp - might have fallen or was tackled, either way one fell with a hand outstretched (possibly the hand they had been using to stem the flow of blood from a broken nose) and that hand landed on the ceramic cat (the distance would have been about right for a tall person). He then scrambled up the ramp and off the end, heading towards Gwen’s house. This would also explain the blood going to two different directions. We theorize that a car came down the street, the fight broke up and they split, one up the street, one down.
The police, btw, think it was an animal. Brian, Debbie’s next older son had called them that night after he got home and was told what happened. They were only there for a few minutes, made a cursory look around and then left. Yeah, an animal. Flying dogs. Or maybe that kangaroo.

What do you think?

Yep, that’s right, we don’t know what happened. This is a choose your own adventure. Debbie and the boys could sleep through a tornado, and my bedroom is in the back of the house, with fans blowing. All I know is that my cats had gone a bit nuts somewhere around 11:00 p.m. – I know, because I was on the running track. But I was too tired to get out of bed and see what was bothering them. Now I wish I had. Who knows what I would have seen?

A Midwinters Morn Mystery Part III

If you haven't been following this non-fiction story, you need to catch up. Go here and here.

No blood on my patio or on the sidewalk as it wound its way back around the side of the house. I followed the Scooby gang out my gate.
“Stop here.” Debbie reached around me and pulled my gate shut. Then she shone her light at my feet. There on the concrete, in front of the hole that the ferals had knocked in the slats of the fence, were three to four drops of blood. It was if someone or something had stopped there for a moment.
“It continues down your sidewalk.” Was it my imagination, or had Debbie’s voice taken on an ominous tone?
I turned my light (torch for you Brits) on the walk and slowly followed droplets of blood. “So it goes across your driveway, up my sidewalk where it mysteriously disappears before re-emerging at my car?” What was it, a kangaroo? Stephen opened their and moved a ladder away from the fence that divided our yards.
“Was that there the entire time?”
“Nope. We left it against the house. There’s a drop of blood on the bottom rung too. And look.” Debbie turned towards where our fences met. There on the bottom post, right below where someone on the ladder would have hovered, suspended before dropping to the ground, was a single drop of blood. I felt a headache coming on.
“There’s also a single drop on the sidewalk in front of Moses’ house.”
Moses was the neighbor on Debbie’s other side.
We all walked around to the front of my house. I noticed that Debbie’s terriers Beau and Maverick (actually, a coincidence) were outside too. I felt better, after all no one’s ankles would be safe from them. Walking over to the ramp, I stood and watched as the other three went around my tree on their way to my other neighbor’s yard. Since I had my slippers on I decided to let them continue the snooping alone. I walked up to my porch and sat on the swing. Debbie and Lana stopped by Gwen’s car, Stephen and the dogs went on to her house. Of course, my mind is going in circles. It couldn’t have been a dog – it/they would have had to jump over two 6 foot wooden fences. Cat’s? Why didn’t they go under the fence, or up the tree? The tree? I called to Debbie to check the tree. Nothing. Not a drop of blood. She and Lana came on over to the ramp.
“What did you find?”
Debbie looked over at Stephen, who had continued on up the street. “The blood picked up at the edge of Gwen’s driveway on up to her porch and then disappears into her yard.”
The end of my ramp, where all of the blood splotches were, faces Gwen’s yard. Evidently, whatever it was, went off the end of my ramp and across the yard to her drive. I watched Stephen as he reached the corner. I wasn’t too scared, after all he had his trusty golf club.

Come to find out, the blood went on up the street, around the corner a little and then disappeared. That kangaroo was back. There wasn’t much more we could do then. I couldn’t talk Stephen into going into the alley. Wuss.

To be continued.

I know, but I don’t want to make the post too long, do I? *gg*

A Midwinters Morn Mystery Part II

I went to work, my mind still on that morning, but managed to make it through the day. That night, I waited for my neighbor, Debbie, to come home. Debbie was a year ahead of me in school (Susie in High School), so I’ve known her for a long time. How she ended up being my neighbor is another story. I managed to catch her as she was out starting her bar-b-que.

I called to her. “Come see this.”
She started across the drive-way. “Do you have blood too?”
Well, that stopped me in my tracks. “Too?”
“I have drops across my driveway.”

We stood and talked about it for a while, no answers. Then we parted ways, each going into our respective houses. Still a mystery.

A couple of hours later my doorbell rang. It was Debbie.

“I thought I’d tell you that we’re going into your backyard.”
“Um, why?”
“There’s blood drops going down your side sidewalk. They end at your gate. And when I went to put water in Tyson’s (their dog) water dish, the water was pink with a spot of blood on the rim.”
Yikes!
I got my flashlight and met them outside. Them being Debbie, her 15 year-old-son Stephen and her friend Lana. Stephen had a flashlight too and we began walking around. The Who kept singing around my head – any of the three CSI themes, you pick. But they wouldn’t let me be Catherine Willows. Damn!



To be continued ... on Monday.

Come on, admit it, you really do love me.

Edit: There are two new reviews up at Isn't It Romantic, one is for the best book that I've ever read. Period.

A Midwinters Morn Mystery

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. Thursday morning and shuffled outside to get my paper. It was still dark outside, with the light above the garage door illuminating the way down the ramp and driveway. I noticed dark spots on the ramp, but of course I couldn’t see what they were. When I returned to the porch swing to have my morning cig, I noticed a bunch of those splotches over at the end of the first platform, the turn of the ramp. Still, I couldn’t tell what they were.

Fast forward about an hour. Outside for another cig, I sat on the swing and looked over to the end of that platform. The splotches were red, bright in the morning sun. Getting up, I walked over to look closer. Yes, blood. I followed the trail down the ramp; a drop here, one there, nothing like the splotches before. There was a gap of a few feet between the last drop and where they picked up again on the driveway – a trail going around the front of my car. I walked around the car, but the drops were only around the front, like someone walked in front of it and then on to the grass. I turned back towards the house and stopped. There on the top tier of the flower box, level with the porch sits a ceramic cat. Along its side were two larger blood traces. Nothing on the brick in front of it, nor on the brick along the lower tier. I studied the concrete that ran along the front (the part of the sidewalk that shows through. Nothing. That part of the ramp was bare too. It was if whatever it was leaped into the air and landed on the side of this cat and then bounced back out to the driveway.

To be continued …

I know, you love me. :)