1 Murder on Sugar Creek by Michelle Goff

her shins, and sobbed. “Where is
he?”
    “Hey, he’s got to be around here
somewhere,” Luke squatted beside Maggie. “I’ll bet he’s in the back yard.”
    “How did he get there? He can’t
open the door,” she pleaded.
    “Maybe your dad came over here for
something and let him out.”
    Maggie’s heart raced as she considered
the possibility. “You think so?”
    “I’ll bet that’s what happened.”
Luke stood and held out his hand to Maggie. “Let’s go check.”
    Maggie ran to the back door, turned
on the outdoor light, stepped outside, and called Barnaby’s name. The only
noise she heard was the hum of her heat pump.
    “He’s gone.”
    “Look,” Luke pointed to the fence.
“The gate is open.”
    “I never leave that gate open.
Never. And Daddy wouldn’t open it and leave him out here alone.”
    With that, Maggie made way for her
parents’ house. As soon as she opened the door for her, Lena said, “You’re as
pale as a ghost. What’s wrong?”
    “Barnaby’s gone. Have you or Daddy
seen him?”
    “Come inside. Hello, Luke, how are
you?” Once Lena dispensed with the pleasantries, she said, “You mean to tell me
that dog is gone?”
    “That’s what I’m trying to tell
you. We came home and he’s not in the house. He’s not in the back yard, either,
and the gate is open.” Robert had joined them in the kitchen. “Did you go over
there tonight, Daddy? Did you let him out?”
    “Why, no. Are you sure he ain’t there?”
    “Yes, Daddy. We would have noticed
a dog.”
    “We looked everywhere, Mr. Morgan.”
    “Well, I just don’t know how a dog
could have opened the door –”
    “And the gate,” Maggie added.
    “– and walked out of the house and
yard,” Robert continued
    “You had a horse once that opened
the door to the barn,” Lena reminded Robert.
    “But he opened the door by pulling
a chain with his enormous teeth.” Maggie clenched her fists and rocked on her
heels as she spoke.
    “Now, Maggie, you need to calm
down,” Robert advised.
    “My dog is gone and, like you said,
he couldn’t have walked out without help.”
    “Well, let me get my shoes on and
we’ll go back over there and have a look around.”
    “No, Daddy. I’m calling the
police.”
    Robert held up his hand. “Just
wait. It’s dark. Maybe you all missed something that I’ll see. I have more
experience tracking animals than you do.”
    After Robert pulled on his boots,
he accompanied Maggie and Luke to Maggie’s back yard where they found Barnaby
scratching at the back door.
    “I told you he’d be here,” Robert
said as Maggie ran to her dog.
    Luke nodded
toward the fence. “The gate is closed. It was open before.”
    Maggie was grateful Luke had been
with her when she came home to an empty house. Not only had he provided the
emotional support she needed when she realized Barnaby was missing, he had also
backed up her claims.
    “I think you all just imagined that
the gate to the fence was open,” Robert declared.
    “How did we imagine that we didn’t
see Barnaby, Daddy?” Maggie petted the dog as he lay in her lap.
    “He could have been asleep.”
    “With all due respect, Mr. Morgan,
Maggie called for the dog repeatedly. We checked every inch of every room and he
was not in the house or the yard and the gate was open.”
    “That would mean somebody had to
let him out of the house. How would they get in without knocking down a door or
breaking a window?” Lena asked.
    “Sometimes I forget to lock the
back door,” Maggie admitted.
    Lena lifted her head and looked to
the ceiling. “With the crime rate as high as it is, you go off and leave the
door unlocked? And, just the other day, a gray Jeep came out here and turned.
And I don’t know anybody up here that drives a gray Jeep.”
    “Mom, the crime rate is not high at
all. The TV news and the newspapers would have you believe that because they,
well we, accentuate the negative because it sells papers and grabs ratings. But
we