The Pet-Sitting Peril by Willo Davis Roberts Page A

hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was most uncomfortable to be under suspicion.
    Finally the firemen turned off the flashing red lights and the neighbors drifted back to their own homes. The Jamisons were among the last to leave.
    â€œI still don’t understand how our boxes got over against the back of the house next door,”Mr. Jamison said, sounding troubled. “I hope it wasn’t because someone moved them just to start a fire in them.”
    â€œWhy would anyone do that?” Mrs. Jamison asked. She was a pretty woman, looking much like Melody, though now that the trucks had gone it was too dark to see her.
    â€œI don’t know. Well, I hope that’s the end of the excitement. And I still think you did a fine job,” Mr. Jamison told Nick. “A good thing you noticed where Dickie left the hose. Come on, let’s go inside; it’s too cold out here to stand around in our shirtsleeves.”
    And so at last only Nick and Sam were left, holding Maynard.
    â€œCriminy,” Sam said. “Imagine, blaming us! If we hadn’t seen the fire and turned in the alarm, the whole house could have burned down.”
    â€œYeah,” Nick agreed. “Listen, Sam, I have to find Rudy. Let’s walk through the alley and see if he’s down there somewhere.”
    â€œWhat if there’s somebody there?” Sam asked. “I mean, we know we didn’t start any fire, but somebody did. Either accidentally oron purpose. Nobody ran out of the alley on this end, but somebody could have gone the other way.”
    â€œWe didn’t hear anybody,” Nick reminded him. “Nobody could run on the gravel without making some noise.”
    â€œRudy didn’t make much noise. I’ll bet somebody who was barefooted wouldn’t have, either.”
    â€œWhy would anybody be barefooted, when it’s cool enough to wear a jacket?” Nick asked, and then, more slowly, said, “You mean someone deliberately started the fire and was barefoot so he could move quietly? But why would anybody do that, Sam?”
    â€œWhy did somebody move the packing boxes from behind the house next door over to this one? They weren’t over here when you went through the alley this morning, were they?”
    â€œNo. Well, a couple of small ones, but that’s all.” Nick frowned in the darkness. “Sam, you think somebody really did it on purpose? Not just accidentally?”
    It was hard to believe that anybody would do such a thing. Yet Nick knew such things did happen. More and more often, when the TV news reported a major fire, the word arson came up. And arson meant a fire that was deliberately set.
    They began to walk down the alley, and Nick whistled and called “Hey, Rudy! Here, boy! Here, Rudy!”
    Maynard trotted along on his little leash; like the bigger dog, he enjoyed poking his nose into the refuse set out for tomorrow’s trash collection, but when he tried to go too far in the wrong direction, it was easy to pull him back. Suddenly Maynard whined and tugged Nick to one side, and there was a joyful barking reply.
    â€œIt’s Rudy! Here, Sam, take Maynard. Where are you, boy? Behind the fence?”
    Now Rudy whined and leaped happily against the picket fence; his warm rough tongue licked at Nick’s fingers when they were pressed between the boards. Nick groped along, feeling for a gate and not finding one.
    â€œYou stupid dog, how’d you get in there?” Perplexed, Nick glanced toward the lighted house set in the middle of the yard. “There are people up, but to get to their door we’d have togo all the way around the block. And they might not like finding out they’ve got a horse-sized dog in their yard.”
    â€œThere must be a gate somewhere,” Sam said, and joined in the effort to find it. “If he could jump over it to get in, you’d think he could jump over it to get out.”
    Rudy, however,