Free Leighann Dobbs - Mystic Notch 02 - A Spirited Tail by Leighann Dobbs Page A

sympathetically. “And you never saw the other man?”
    Ranger shook his head, his eyes still cast downward.
    “Did you stay with your master the whole time?”
    Ranger frowned. “No. I followed the man’s scent in two directions, but I did not find him. Then I came back and stayed with Master.”
    “Two directions?” Pandora wondered why the man would have gone in two directions. Wouldn’t he have killed Bruce and run away?  She assumed he had a car so one of the directions would have been the driveway, but what was the other? “Show me which directions.”
    Ranger nodded toward the front of the house. “That way.”
    “The driveway. He probably drove away in a car.”
    Ranger nodded. He’d already figured that out on his own. Then he jerked his head toward the woods on the other side of the road. “And that way.”
    Pandora squinted at the woods. Why would the man go over there?  She could think of only one reason.
    “Can you still follow his scent?” she asked.
    Ranger sniffed at the ground. He walked around the trampled area in a circle his nose twitching as he tried to pick up the scent. “Maybe. It’s not strong, but I will try.”
    “Good, let’s see where he went in the woods. I think it might help us find out who it was.”
    Ranger’s ears perked up and he sniffed even harder, leading Pandora up the road and into the woods to an area near the shallow river. They didn’t have to go far before a coppery odor flooded Pandora’s senses. Blood. 
    They both stopped, Pandora honing in on the origin of the blood smell and Ranger sniffing in circles to pick up the trail.
    “This is where his scent trail ends, isn’t it?” she asked Ranger.
    “I think so.”
    Pandora knew why. The murder weapon was here somewhere. She could sense that people had been here searching and assumed it was the police. They’d looked for the murder weapon but not found it and she knew why. It was buried, right beneath where she was standing, cleverly covered up with leaves and forest debris so no one would notice the ground had been dug up. She herself wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t smelled it with her finely tuned senses. It was no wonder the police had not discovered it. 
    “Help me dig here.” She pointed to a spot in the ground and Ranger used his powerful claws to dig.  He didn’t have to go far before he hit something—a heavy piece of white-painted wood that looked like it came from one of Van Dorn’s porch columns.
    “Hold it.” The blood smell was stronger and Pandora could see the dirt caked on one end of it along with something that looked like it had been sticky—blood.
    Ranger sniffed and started to whine. “Master!”
    “You did well,” Pandora said to him.
    “I did?”
    “You found the murder weapon. This will help the police find the killer of your master.” 
    Ranger’s ears perked up and he held his head high. “Good dog?”
    “Yep.” Pandora answered. “Now that we have that taken care of, can you take me to where you lived and show me the special thing your master had?”
    “Woof!” Ranger started back toward the house with a spring in his step.
    Pandora followed him, glancing back at the partially uncovered column. She was sure it had been used to kill Bruce Norton and probably held a clue as to the killer’s identity. But, the police had already searched here and she doubted they’d be back, which left her with only one solution. Somehow, she was going to have to lure Willa into these woods so she could discover the weapon and hand it over to the police.

Chapter Eight
     
    I woke up wondering about the murder weapon. Striker wouldn’t tell me what exactly it was, but obviously, Bruce had been hit on the back of the head. Striker alluded to the fact that the blow had killed Bruce, so I imagined it must have been something large and heavy. A shovel, baseball bat, or board maybe? Not that I was trying to solve Bruce’s murder … I had enough problems trying to solve