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

Nick and Sam of starting that fire.
    Nick knew they hadn’t, of course, and that started his thoughts on another train that wasn’t any easier to deal with. Because if Nick and Sam hadn’t started it, someone else had,and if it had been deliberate, that other person, or persons, hadn’t cared if the house burned down and all the tenants and pets along with it.
    And that, Nick thought, chilled, would have been not only arson but murder.

Chapter Six
    He couldn’t get the matter out of his mind. All the time he was feeding Fred and Maynard, and taking Maynard for his outing, Nick kept thinking about it.
    He was still trying to figure out what had really happened when he came down the stairs and ran into Mrs. Sylvan.
    â€œI’m glad I caught you,” she said. “Even though it’s the weekend, I’ll be gone this afternoon and early this evening, and again tomorrow, so will you take care of Eloise just as you have been doing?”
    Nick gave a sigh and agreed. He sure hoped Eloise would be better soon. Even the towel trick didn’t help as much as it once had. Eloise was a pain. The only thing that kept him at it was the money.
    He went back to Mr. Haggard’s apartment and made sure Rudy had food and water. Rudy looked at the dish and then back at Nick, waiting.
    â€œWell? What’s the matter with you? Eat it,” Nick said.
    Still Rudy waited, giving his stubby tail a tentative twitch.
    And then Nick remembered. Vitamins. Mr. Haggard had said Rudy wouldn’t eat the food without the vitamins.
    He found the bottle and measured out the amount it said for a dog Rudy’s size. And sure enough, as soon as he’d done that, the big Airedale began to eat enthusiastically, crunching the hard bits as if they were bones being ground up by ogre teeth.
    Nick watched him. Rudy could really run. If he’d chased anybody, could even a grown man have gotten completely away from him?
    Nick didn’t think so. Unless, of course, the man had a good head start. That might have happened.
    If Rudy had closed those teeth on anybody, there surely would have been some noise Nickand Sam would have heard. Anybody would yell if a dog bit into his leg or his behind, wouldn’t he?
    He didn’t know for sure that Rudy would have bitten anybody he chased. Rudy had been gentle as a lamb, as far as Nick had seen.
    A stranger wouldn’t know Rudy was running for fun, and might have been scared enough to do anything to get away. Still thinking it all over, Nick let himself out of Mr. Haggard’s apartment and went to check the mailbox, in case the old man’s pension check was there. He knew how elderly people had to be careful about those.
    There were six boxes, and they had numbers on them made by the same crayon as had been used to mark the doors inside, but they were so smudged Nick couldn’t really make them out. There was an official-looking envelope protruding from one of the boxes, so Nick pulled it out and looked at it.
    It was a check, all right; it showed through the window envelope. But it wasn’t Mr. Haggard’s pension, it was addressed to Clyde Foster, and it was from an insurance company.Nick dropped it back into the metal box and tried the next one.
    There, that was Mr. Haggard’s mail. No check, only two bills. Nick took them inside and put them on the table by the chair where the old man usually sat, anchoring them with a book so they wouldn’t get knocked off.
    â€œNo, I’m not taking you out again,” he told Rudy, who seemed as overjoyed at his appearance as he had been at the two earlier visits. “I’ll be back later, though.”
    He opened the door into the hall and heard voices; it was the hippies, Clyde and Roy, coming in.
    â€œHey, they finally paid for that stuff we lost,” Clyde said in a pleased tone. “Now maybe we can get us some furniture. Like a table and a couple of real chairs. And I need some more