The sky was getting cloudy. A low rumble of thunder made it clear that the day’s sunshine had been only a brief respite from the storm.
Help howls out now, I thought, as I lay down to sleep.
“Help howls out now.”
What did it mean?
Chapter 9 - And Then There Were Three
IT WAS useless trying to sleep. Even if I’d been able to get the message of the food dish out of my mind (which I wasn’t), my eardrums were assaulted by Howard’s and Heather’s ceaseless caterwauling. It seemed worse than usual that night, with one taking up the howl as soon as the other had left off. With it all, the storm was again raging in full force, thunder and lightning exploding in the air like a giant fireworks display. In short, Chateau Bow-Wow was not exactly slumber heaven that night.
“Help howls out now.” I turned the phrase over and over in my head. I had already decided that “howls” referred to Howard and Heather. Someone was telling me to help them out. But who? And why? They seemed perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. The way they kept apart from everyone else, they probably wouldn’t accept help even if it were offered. Unless—and here I stopped for a moment to consider this new thought—unless they had sent the message. Maybe they were saying, “Help us out now.” Were they in trouble? Were they, in fact, the next victims?
A sudden crash of thunder startled me into the realization that it had become very still. For several minutes there had been no thunder. And no howling. Why? I asked myself. And then a flash of lightning revealed it all.
In that fleeting moment of illumination, I saw two figures scurrying across the compound. Howard and Heather are out, I thought. And then the words in the food dish took on a new meaning. What if, instead of “Help howls out now,” it read “Help! Howls out now”?
A scene rapidly played itself out in my mind. Chester is eating his dinner. He looks up. Howard and Heather are staring at him through the wire mesh of his bungalow. He realizes that they have put poison in his food, and as he takes a last gasp of breath (I could feel the tears coming to my eyes as I imagined this part), he finds some way to scratch out the message on the bottom of his food dish, hoping that somehow it would reach me. A cry for help. A warning from beyond! That was it, I was certain.
Without giving a thought to what I’d do once I got there, I threw open my door and raced across the compound to Howard’s and Heather’s bungalows. Taxi must have seen me coming, because he called out, “Harold!”
I didn’t answer.
“Harold, is that you? What are you doing? What’s going on?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Howard and Heather were gone.
“They’re out again!” I cried. “On the loose!”
“What are you talking about?” Taxi asked. “Who’s out?”
“Howard and Heather,” I answered. “Have you seen them, Taxi? We have to find them before it’s too late.”
“Sure, I’ve seen them. Seems like I’ve seen everybody tonight.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Who have you seen?
“I just told you, Harold. Everybody. Well, everybody but you, that is. Until now, that is. Now, I’ve seen you, too. Boy, it’s been some night. Try and sleep? Forget it.”
“Who have you seen?” I demanded again.
“Everybody! First Howard and Heather were running around. I thought that was pretty silly. I mean, with the rain coming down like it is and all. Seems to me it’s a good night to stay at home, you know what I mean?”
“Who else?”
“Oh, well, then Max and Georgette …”
“So they were out, too,” I said under my breath.
“Yeah. I thought, boy, some night for a picnic. Then I got mad that I wasn’t invited, so I went to the back of my bungalow and sulked.”
“And Lyle?”
“I don’t know if he sulked or not. He probably did, knowing him. But you’ll have to ask him yourse—”
“No, no,” I interrupted. “I mean, was he out, too?”
“Oh.” Taxi paused for a moment to think it over. “Yes. No, no, I don’t think so. Maybe. I’m not sure.”
I glanced over at Lyle’s bungalow. I heard him muttering to himself inside. And then I cast my eyes in the direction of Max’s and Georgette’s bungalows. They were both empty. Mystery upon mystery, I thought. What did it all mean?
I thought back to the message at the bottom of the food dish. If it read “Help! Howls out now,” it might mean that Howard and Heather were the murderers and that they’d now killed Max and Georgette. Or if it read “Help howls out now,” it could mean that Howard and Heather were next on the list of victims, that Max and Georgette were the killers and they’d struck again. Now they’d escaped, just as they had planned. My mind was spinning.
“Taxi,” I said, scratching myself behind the ear.
“Yes, Harold?”
“What do you make of it?”
“Oh, I’d say it should let up by tomorrow morning.”
“Huh?”
“I think it’ll blow over soon. This is just a little squall. I don’t think—”
“I’m not talking about the storm, Taxi,” I said sharply.
“Oh.”
“I’m talking about all these strange disappearances.”
“I don’t know what to make of it, Harold,” Taxi said after thinking a moment. “But I’ll tell you one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I sure will be glad to get back home.”
I looked around the compound. There were three of us left. Three out of nine who had started the week at Chateau Bow-Wow.
“So will I, Taxi,” I said softly. “So will I.”
BACK INSIDE my bungalow, I shook myself dry and lay down to think. I really didn’t know what was left for me to do. Obviously, I’d been too late. Whatever the message had meant, Howard and Heather were gone, and there was no longer anything anyone could do to help. With a heavy heart, I shut my eyes and tried once again to sleep.
I shall never forget my dream that night. I was the only one left. In all of Chateau Bow-Wow, perhaps in all the world, I was the only one left. I went running from bungalow to bungalow, crying “They’re gone! They’re gone!” And then, from all around me, a terrible cry went up. It was like Howard’s and Heather’s howling, but echoing and coming from all directions. I tried to run from it. I ran in a big circle, round and round, attempting to escape the awful sound. “They’re gone!” I cried again, as the howling reverberated in my ears. And then I felt myself being kicked. Over and over. It was Chester. Or the ghost of Chester. Kicking me and accusing me. “You blew it!” he snarled. “I tried to tell you, but you couldn’t figure it out until it was too late. Boy, leave it to a dumb dog!” The kicking went on and on. It was so bad that it woke me up. “Chester!” I cried, thinking I was still in my nightmare.
“It’s about time!” a voice replied.
I shook my head, trying to make clear if I was asleep or awake.
“Boy, Harold, nobody sleeps the way you do. Even for a dog, you’re in a class by yourself!” I’d know that voice anywhere. And those insults! It could only be …
“Chester!” I cried.
“Well, give the little dog a big cigar!” he said.
There was no doubt about it. I was awake. And Chester was back.
Chapter 10 - Mystery, Mayhem and Mud
I COULDN’T believe my eyes.
“Was it all a dream?” I asked Chester.
“Of course it wasn’t,” he said. “Now, come on. We’ve got to move fast.”
I was still blinking in disbelief when I heard a howl that sounded like the one in my dream. Echoing eerily, it sent a shiver all through me.
“Howard and Heather!” I exclaimed. “It’s them, isn’t it, Chester? They’re the ones, aren’t they?”