I was awakened in the middle of the night by a terrible crash. Next door, Boomer, a hound-retriever mix, started barking. Boomer always did that whenever he heard a noise which made him the most unpopular dog in the neighborhood. But this time, he was right to bark. This crash didn't happen on the highway five blocks away. This crash was somewhere on our street, maybe right outside. I ran to the window and looked out. I saw a pair of tall, thin, tail lights disappearing over the hill. There were a couple of trashcans knocked over on the sidewalk. Someone must have turned the corner wide and hit them. A light came on from the house across the street. Mrs. O'Shaughnessy was a light sleeper. I saw her push the drapes aside and look out. After a minute or so, she left the window, and the light went out. "There's nothing to see here, Mrs. O", I said to myself, "Just some trashcans. You go on back to bed."
Boomer was still barking up a storm, so I went into the backyard. "Boomer, shut up! It's just some trashcans that got knocked over."
"Trashcans? Who did it? Was it Scrapper's gang? Those guys make me crazy. One of these days, Deke, I swear I'm gonna put a stop to their shenanigans - waking folks up in the middle of the night, crashing things and making noise. I tell you, Deke, it makes me crazy - just crazy", Boomer barked.
"The only thing waking folks up in the middle of the night is you, Boomer! Be quiet!" I yelled.
"Okay, Deke. But I tell you, someone's gotta do something about those strays!" Boomer always had to have the last word in any conversation. I only hoped our rather loud exchange hadn't woken my family, the Devlins. Mike Devlin had worked some nights recently, and this was his first chance to catch up on his sleep. He didn't need crashing trashcans and barking dogs waking him up.
I went back inside and poked my head into Mike's bedroom. He and Carol had slept right through the ruckus. I was glad of that. I made one more pass around the house for good measure. All was well, so I went into Josh's room, curled up on the floor at the foot of his bed, and went back to sleep. I barely noticed the police sirens going off in the distance.
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Deke Devlin Dog Detective - The Case of the Hit and Run Hubcap
Mystery / ThrillerDeke is a retired Army dog. Now he lives with the Devlin family. In "The Case of the Hit and Run Hubcap", Mike Devlin's parked car is wrecked by a hit-and-run driver in the middle of the night, and Deke is on the case to find out who the culprit i...
