Free High Stakes, a Hetty Fox Short: a Hetty Fox Short Story (Hetty Fox Cozy Mysteries Book 3) by Anna Drake

High Stakes, A Hetty Fox Short
    Copyright 2015 by Anna Drake
     
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used, fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
     
     
     
     
    THE PHONE RANG at about eight that Saturday morning. Calls that early were rare in my life. So this one set off instant alarm bells. I dropped the edge of the quilt and snatched up the receiver.
    “Grandma. Grandma.” It was my grandson. “You’ve got to come over quick!” The concern in Hugh’s voice gave further rise to grim thoughts.
    “Yes, of course I will. But sweetheart, can you tell me what’s wrong?”
    “It’s Chaos.”
    My heart rate slowed a notch. Chaos was the name of Hugh’s gerbil, a recent addition to my dear daughter’s family. And in spite of myself, I felt a small smile forming at the corners of my mouth. “What’s wrong with Chaos, dear?”
    “He got out the door. You gotta come over. Help me find him.”
    “Of course, I’ll be right there. But may I speak with your mom first?”
    “Yeah. Just a sec. Mom?”
    Megan came on the line. “I’m sorry about this. Hugh insisted we call you. He’s convinced you’ll lead us straight to the gerbil.”
    I’d recently spent my days snooping around a murder case that had occurred near my house. But I was miles away from being a serious detective. And tracking a gerbil that had broken free from a house would be a serious challenge. The things were so small. They could hide anywhere. “No pressure, right?”
    Megan chuckled. “See ya’.”
    As I replaced the receiver, Andrew Peters, my resident ghost, materialized opposite me. Tall, with dark hair and dark eyes, Andrew looked much as he had all those years ago — before he’d been killed in a tragic car crash. His death had left me floundering for years.
    “I couldn’t help but hear,” he said. “I should come with you.”
    “Absolutely not, I don’t want you flitting around outside my  daughter’s house. What if she sees you? Or worse yet, what if one of her neighbors spots you? And Hugh doesn’t need to be worrying  about ghosts. He’s way too young for that.”
    “Hetty, I’ll stay invisible. I promise no one will see me. Plus, I move more quickly than you do.  I can get into places you can’t. The odds of your catching that gerbil increase if I’m with you.”
    I shook my head.
    ‘Don’t decide against me,” he protested. “If you don’t locate Hugh’s gerbil,  you’ll disappoint that grandson of yours. I don’t think you want to do that. You’re facing high stakes here.”
    I sighed. He had a point. “Okay, but you don’t make a habit of going over there.  And for Pete’s sake, make sure no one sees you. Not Hugh. Not Megan. Not the neighbors.”
    He shot me that smile of his that had so touched my heart when I was young.
    I smiled as best I could. And debate over, I rushed to the kitchen, grabbed my purse, and headed for my car.
    Hendricksville is a small town of about three thousand people. It’s located along the banks of the Illinois River, about halfway down the state. I live on a high bluff which overlooks the river and the lowlands on the other side. That’s the side my daughter lives on. And firing up the car, I pointed its nose her direction.
    Megan’s house was located amid a couple of blocks of old Victorian houses in a small, but charming part of town. With their bright colors, the homes were like a rainbow tucked in  among tall, arching trees. The lawns here were generous, the grass carefully trimmed.
    As I pulled to the curb, I found Megan on her front lawn with her nose stuck beneath one of her large lilac bushes. My other grandson, Jeremy, was about to turn one. He sat in a stroller behind her. Hugh was dropping what I assumed was gerbil food on the grass. I climbed out of my car and was almost halfway to my