Free The Pet-Sitting Peril by Willo Davis Roberts Page A

could tell by the expression on the man’s face that he intended to pursue this matter further. He was sorry he’d mentioned it, because it might seem as if Nick were only trying to throw blame elsewhere to shift it away from himself.
    â€œI’ll ask the manager about it,” Mr. Howard said. “Well, thank you for talking to me. I’ll probably be around for a few days. I’ll see you again, Nick.”
    Nick devoutly hoped that would not be the case, at least not if the authorities thought he was guilty of anything. When Mr. Howard turned to retrace his steps, Nick and Rudy sped down the alley, as if they could run away from whatever problems remained.
    At the yard where Rudy had somehow been imprisoned the night before, a man came through the gate into the alley, and picked up a big metal garbage can. He put it down again and looked around, then glanced at Nick.
    â€œYou see an extra lid anywhere? Mine’s missing.”
    â€œNo, sir. I didn’t notice one,” Nick said, slowing to a walk.
    â€œDarned garbage men, they’re always losing the lids instead of putting them back where they belong,” the man grumbled. He dropped a plastic sack into the can and went back inside the fence, latching the gate behind him.
    Nick looked thoughtfully at the can beside the fence. If the lid had been on it last night, Rudy could easily have leaped onto the garbage can, then over the fence. And since there was nothing for the dog to climb on inside the fence, Rudy wouldn’t have been able to get back out. He wished the Airedale could tell him what had happened. Had Rudy chased the person who started the fire? Or had he just run along because someone was running and Rudy loved to run?
    He found the lid several houses away, as if it had rolled there, or been thrown, wedged between two more garbage cans that each had its proper cover. Nick picked it up and carried it along to see if it fit the open can.
    It did, but not as well as it ought to. Because although it was a relatively new can—thebottom part had no dents in it at all—the lid was dented as if something heavy had damaged it. It would no longer stay tight on the can.
    Not Rudy, Nick thought. Rudy wasn’t heavy enough to have pushed it out of shape that way. He didn’t think his own weight would bend it. But a heavier person might have done so. An adult.
    Had someone run down the alley in the dark while Nick and Sam were acting upon the emergency of the fire? Someone who climbed on the garbage can and jumped over the fence, while Rudy chased after him?
    It could have happened, Nick decided. Would the fire department investigator believe him if he saw the dented can lid and told him about Rudy being trapped inside the yard?
    Or would the man think Nick had jumped on the lid until he dented it himself, and made up the entire story? Certainly there was no proof of anything, only Nick’s suspicions.
    For a moment, before he moved on, Nick stared at the house inside the fence. If someone had fled the scene of the fire and vaulted the fence (possibly to escape Rudy), he musteither have entered the house or gone through the yard and out into the street beyond. And he’d had very good luck to find the garbage can in the darkness.
    Or, Nick suddenly realized, he could have scouted it out ahead of time, known where it was, even marked it in some way.
    Rudy was running by this time, ears blowing back, and Nick ran with him, wondering if his old shoes would hold out for the rest of the summer with this kind of activity every day. Nick liked to run; it was one of the few athletic things he was good at—better than Barney, who could beat him at almost everything else—and usually he enjoyed it.
    Today, though, it was hard to enjoy anything, though the sun was bright and the air was warm and he could run for an hour. Because Nick couldn’t help thinking about the way Mr. Howard had acted as if he still suspected