Two hours later we were back in Willow Bay, and I had dropped Sophie off at home with the promise that we would text each other if we found out anything important about the case. But for now, I had more important things to worry about.
I spent about an hour sitting at the kitchen table playing around with the new cameras that I had just bought. I eventually figured out how they worked, set them up, and made sure they were ready for my plan.
“What are you doing with those?” Bee asked, jumping up onto the dining room table and sniffing the cameras curiously.
“I’m going to help out the beavers,” I said. “Someone has been wrecking their dams, and it leaves their lodge vulnerable. This way, if whoever did it comes back, I’ll be able to track them down.”
“Why do you care about the stupid beavers anyway?” Bee replied. “They’re a little bit annoying, after all. Buster and I decided to go wandering over there one day a few months ago, and they got all accusatory, telling us we were in their territory. You don’t see me complaining whenever you bring another animal into this house.”
I shot Bee a look. “That is literally all you do. Remember when Sprinkles lived here?”
“That was different; he was a dog. It was an insult to my species to force me to live with the worst of the animals. He was always so happy, it was disgusting.”
I smiled. “You say that, but I remember that towards the end you and Sprinkles got along just fine.”
“Only because I was forced to, and because destroying a creature of such low intelligence with my wit and intellect felt like cheating.”
“Right. So how is that different from the beavers?”
“It was totally different! They were being territorial towards me!”
I laughed as I got up from the dining room table and got ready to go out. Throwing on a coat, I gave Bee a quick pat.
“I should be back soon,” I said. “I should beat Charlotte home, so if you’re lucky, I’ll stop by the Japanese restaurant and grab some sushi for dinner.”
Bee’s tail wagged appreciatively as I left the house and made my way back towards the beavers’ lodge.
Luckily for me, it was still only mid-afternoon, so not only was it a little bit warmer thanks to the sun still being up high in the sky, but there was more light to play with as well.
“Hello? It’s just me, Angela,” I called out towards the beavers’ lodge as I approached. Now that I had forged a little bit of a path to make my way towards their home, it had been much less of an adventure to get here. The beavers had obviously been busy; the parts of the dam that had been destroyed were now completely rebuilt, less than twenty-four hours after I had last been here.
“Why, hello there again,” I heard a voice say with a slight lisp. The beaver whose name I was fairly certain was Naba made her way out of the den towards me.
“I’ve brought the security camera equipment,” I told her. “Has anyone been back since I was here yesterday?”
“No, there have been no humans,” Naba said. “I’m quite glad, actually. Personally, I trusted your spell completely, but the little ones were scared all the same.”
“Well, I can say the spell worked, and that there is no way anyone can get into your lodge to attack you. And now, since I have the cameras to set up, if anyone comes by in the future, we will know.”
Naba crawled towards the bag I was carrying. I pulled out two GoPro-sized cameras and showed them to her.
“And those work?” Naba asked. “I don’t understand how something so small will be able to show you who is hurting us.”
“They do work,” I replied. “Let me set them up around here and a couple of different places, and I will show you.”
I set myself to work, with Naba watching carefully as I scouted the area. I eventually settled on placing the first camera hidden slightly behind a rather large bush near a tree, figuring that the leaves of the bushes would hide the camera from view better than most things. Managing to set up the camera and point it directly at the beavers’ lodge, I waved my hand in front of it and opened my phone, checking the corresponding app to see if the footage was recorded and sent.
Sure enough, it had worked.
“Here, come have a look at this,” I told Naba. “See? The little box there shows on my phone exactly what’s happening. The camera is motion-activated, so it will only run if someone comes in front of the camera’s screen.”
“Alright,” Naba said after spending about two solid minutes looking at my phone’s screen. I had a sneaking suspicion she could barely see what was on it, but that was fine. So long as the beavers trusted me, that was what was most important.
I moved over towards the dam and found a prime spot to set up the second camera. It was inside the dam, with the camera somewhat hidden inside the logs. This setup gave me a great view over the whole lodge from another angle completely, but also allowed me to see the entire dam setup as well. This way, even if the intruder came back and only wrecked the dams again instead of targeting the lodge as well, I would still hopefully get some footage.
After spending about ten minutes making sure the second camera was also placed in prime position and double-checking the footage on my phone, I was satisfied that this was as good as it was going to get.
“All done,” I told Naba. “You can tell your family that if the intruder comes back, to stay in the lodge. The spell is still active, but this time, I’ll be able to see them.”
“When will you come back?” Naba asked.
“In a few days, to replace the batteries on the camera. It depends on how often the motion sensor is triggered.”
“Alright. Thank you for the help. I do hope whoever did it doesn’t come back, but it is good to know that if they do you will be able to find them.”
“Hopefully,” I said. “There are no guarantees.”
“Right.”
With that, Naba turned and waddled back towards the lodge, diving into the water to access the entrance I knew would be hidden underneath.
I smiled and turned, heading back towards home. At least my spell would keep the beavers safe.
Chapter 12
I got home just as the sun began to set. I let my mind wander to what I was going to make for dinner—I kind of felt like pasta, maybe a fettucine and broccoli alfredo?—until I saw Jason sitting on the couch, looking through his notes, and I froze.
“Hey, how was your day?” he asked, getting up off the couch as soon as he saw me.
“Eh, it was ok,” I replied. “Sophie and I went to Portland, but I’m not sure how much we learned. How about yours?” I was almost scared of the answer.
Jason shrugged. “Sort of the same. I was just going to sit here and finish my article, but the words flowed pretty easily and I had it done by ten. I went up to Portland to speak to Michael Carlton’s old boss and coworkers, but I’m not sure I learned anything amazing from them.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, it was like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. Jason wasn’t hiding anything from me at all. He had probably just been preoccupied, which was why he hadn’t replied to my text. After all, he had just admitted to me straightaway that he’d gone to the city.
I couldn’t wait to tell Sophie she was all wrong about him. Petty? Definitely. But I wanted her to know that I trusted Jason, and that he was a trustworthy man.
“So what did you find out?” I asked as I made my way to the kitchen, grabbing a deep pot in which to cook the pasta.
“Not a whole lot. Michael Carlton retired three years ago after a career that was basically spent entirely within the Portland school district.”
“He was an accountant, right? So he wouldn’t have had anything to do with Gloria directly?”
“That’s right, as far as I could tell. I mean, he worked in the office building above the Oregon State Credit Union right downtown; I spoke to one of his coworkers from a few years back and he basically never went into schools individually. There was no reason for him to have had to.”