Paws & Claws Read online

  The Three Dog Detective Agency

  vs

  The Feral Gang!

  Chula Vista is more than a sleepy bedroom community in Southern California, for hidden behind the sun-drenched façade of palm trees, traditional homes and mom-and-pop stores is another city, one ruled by gangs of rogue dogs and feral cats. Unknown to the companions as they work at their 9-to-5 jobs and live their self-centered lives, their pets are often terrorized by these canine or feline marauders, forced to offer tribute…or else. Of course, the crack K-9 Unit of the Chula Vista Police Department tries to maintain order among the animal population, prevent crime and protect the weak, but they cannot be everywhere at once, nor can they always assist those who need help the most. Fortunately, the animals of one neighborhood know they can always turn to the Three Dog Detective Agency, a pack of dogs always ready to right wrongs, to protect pets from a cruel and uncaring world, to intervene when the law is helpless to act, and to occasionally save the world. Chief amongst their foes is the dreaded Feral Gang, a clowder of cats dedicated to terror and the acquisition of power. This is the story of the final apocalyptic battle between the Three Dog Detective Agency and the Feral Gang. It is a story of crime and lawlessness, of despair and hope, of malefaction and redemption…it is a story of paws and claws.

  Also by Ralph E. Vaughan

  Paws & Claws: A Three Dog Mystery (Paws & Claws #1)

  A Flight of Raptors (Paws & Claws #2)

  K-9 Blues (Paws & Claws #3)

  Sherlock Holmes: The Coils of Time & Other Stories

  Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Ancient Gods

  Sherlock Holmes and The Terror Out of Time

  Sherlock Holmes: The Dreaming Detective

  Sherlock Holmes in The Coils of Time (Gryphon Books)

  Professor Challenger and the Secrets of the Dreamlands

  Shadows Against the Empire: An Interplanetary Steampunk Adventure

  Reflections Upon Elder Egypt: Staring Deep into the Eye of Horus

  H.P. Lovecraft in the Comics

  The Confession (play)

  Oh, Mr Yoda! (play) with Patricia E. Vaughan

  A Walk in the Dark (editor)

  Alternate Lives (editor)

  Ancient Nights (editor)

  Beneath Twin Moons (editor)

  Lost Lands (editor)

  Fantastic Realms (editor)

  The Horses of Byzantium & Other Poems (poetry)

  A Darkness Upon My Mind (poetry)

  The Many Worlds of Duane Rimel (editor)

  The Second Book of Rimel (editor)

  Dreams of Yith (editor/illustrator)

  Fungi From Yuggoth (editor/illustrator)

  Sozoryoku Literary Magazine (editor)

  Cerberus Literary Magazine (editor)

  Running Dinosaur Newsletter (editor)

  Paws & Claws

  A Three Dog Mystery

  Paws & Claws #1

  (2nd Edition)

  by

  Ralph E. Vaughan

  Dog in the Night Books

  2014

   2012 by Ralph E. Vaughan

  2nd Edition © 2014 by Ralph E. Vaughan

  All Rights Reserved

  This is the first book in the Paws & Claws series, which recounts the adventures of the Three Dog Detective Agency of Chula Vista, Calif., which is operated by Levi (an elderly Dachshund-mix), Sunny (a compassionate Golden Retriever-mix) and Yoda (a snarky Pomeranian); they are assisted in their efforts by their feline house-mates, Kim (Torby) and Little Kitty (Calico).

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to my mother, Barbara (1930 – 2012) who always thought better of me than I really deserved.

  NOTE

  Any people in this book (if you can find any) are purely fictional and no one should look for themselves. On the other paw, all animals depicted are real and based on neighborhood animals, although names and character have been changed in some places for dramatic effect. Fortunately, both cats and dogs are much too intelligent to have lawyers, so if any are offended…well, there you go

  Prologue

  My name is Kim, and I am not a dog.

  No, I am a cat, a daughter of Bast of Ancient Egypt, a prowler of moonlit ruins, a keeper of secrets, and holder of elder arcane lore. And I am also the Office Manager for the Three Dog Detective Agency. Yes, I know: a cat, three dogs, a strange concoction, but were it not for "the cat," the whole enterprise certainly would fall apart, and would the world, then, not be far behind?

  Well, actually, it's an even stranger brew than that, for there is another cat under this roof, but I'll tell you more about the not-so-bright gimpy-eyed lost soul that is Little Kitty later.

  First, of course, me: I'm a Torby, which is to say, a shorthaired Tabby with a bit of tortoiseshell coloring thrown in to keep it complex and interesting. Mixed with the t-shell hue are the usual gray and black stripes common to my kind, as well as the pattern that forms an intricate "M" on my forehead, which I am sure stands for "marvelous" or "magical" or any other superlative you might think of beginning with the lucky thirteenth letter of the alphabet. What is not so common, however, is the bit of ivory coloring at the tip of my tail, giving it something of a cue-tip appearance, but as striking as that may be, my eyes are my best feature, or so I am told, and never tire of hearing – deep, dark, soulful, mystical, and big.

  Now, obviously, we don't call it the Three Dog Detective Agency for nothing.

  First up is Levi, the leader, a handsome (don't tell him I said that) Dachshund-mix who has the length you'd expect from a "doodle dog," but instead of those short paddle-footed legs you get with a purebred designed for chasing badgers into their lairs, he has long muscular legs, just right for running fast, leaping over the sofa (yes, I said "over"), and not stepping on his ears and falling flat on his face as I've seen more than one "sausage hound" do from time to time. When I first met Levi, he was just a tiny trembly little fellow, as black as if someone had dropped him into an ink bottle, and so quiet you had to wonder whether he could bark at all. He does not talk about the days before he came to live with us, he does not talk about the hairless portion under his throat where the healed scars are, and if you are smart you will not ask. Now, he is no longer such a little guy (still lap-sized though), barks when necessary, and is no longer all black, not on his muzzle and face, his chest or along his back and sides; let us agree that he now looks...distinguished, yes, that's the word I was looking for...very distinguished...very very distinguished...but never old. Of course Levi is not old, because we are the same age. He is just prematurely distinguished.

  Now, where Levi is small and dark (except where he is distinguished), Sunny is very large and quite gloriously golden. She certainly lives up to her name. Sunny is a Golden Retriever, a splendid example of the breed that came out of the Scottish Highlands in the mid-1700s, and, as befits her breed, she is friendly, kind, confident, trusting and has a gentle disposition; perhaps not guard dog material, but a miscreant intending harm to any of her loved ones would certainly get a body slam that he would not soon forget. Brave and loyal, she is such a sweetheart...but don't tell her I said that. Sunny is a little fuzzy about her life before she came to dwell with us (she was just a pup then), but I think she must have spent some time on a farm...either that, or knowing how to moo like a cow is one of those traits that Golden Retrievers just don't talk about as a rule; but, if that that is true, how then to explain away the occasional oink or lamby baa?

  The third dog of the mix is Yoda (who names a dog that?), who is either a mutant Pomeranian or the original Wild Boy of Borneo. No, I'm just kidding, he is indeed a Pomeranian, a breed that came out of Northern Poland from the Spitz, but a big...no, make that very large member of the species. Now, other dogs may look at this little yapper and think "What a runt," but no Pomeranian would ever think that, as they would all be looking up to him. A giant among Poms, he is roughly the same size they were before Queen Victoria bred them down by fifty percent, so when I said mutant, perhaps I should have said throwback. Not so easy to explain, however, is all that hair. So much of it. And so wild. At times you look at it and wonder, is there really a dog under there? On the other paw, when it's a breezy day outside, all that flowing hair looks pretty good, and if nothing else, Yoda knows how to make the most of his "Fabio moment;" of course, he's down so low that he never has to worry about a bird flying into that foxy face. Levi is not much of a barker, Sunny does her best, but Yoda has made a science of barking, often and loud, especially if someone walks into his yard...or on his sidewalk...or on his street...or anywhere in his city. Did I mention, he is very territorial? He's black, but with the passing years he, too, is becoming a bit more...distinguished.

  All right, I can't leave out Little Kitty, especially not with her standing right there in the peanut gallery, looking over my shoulder as I write this. Fortunately, she has one dicey eye, can't see that well out of the other, and she's misplaced her glasses, again, so I can write whatever I want. Although Little Kitty is officially my assistant in the agency, she is something of a lost soul, if you know what I mean. She used to be an outdoor cat, born in the wild, so to speak, but if there was ever a cat totally unsuited for life under the wide sky, it is she; could not hunt food, could not find water, could not figure out that the middle of a driveway is not always the best place to sit, could not figure out that some creatures are not worthy of a cat's trust. Quite honestly, if she had not come in out of the cold, she would be nine lives down by now. What Little Kitty may lack upstairs, however, s
he more than makes up for in looks (everyone has something going for them) as she is a beautiful Calico with white, black and orange fur. While a Calico may never have trod the shores of the Nile (watch out for crocodiles!) as did my ancestors in the company of Bast, Little Kitty's progenitors sailed with the old Phoenician merchants, dropping litters in every port from Byblos to Cardiff. One last thing to know about Little Kitty (and here I will move my shoulder to block her just in case she sees better than she lets on) is that she does not quite live up to her name as much as she used to, when she was first rescued from a cruel and sometimes violent world; at first, Little Kitty was indeed little, but she seems to think more with her stomach than her brain...need I say more?

  So there you have it, the three remarkable dogs who comprise the Three Dog Detective Agency, and the two cats (well, at least one) without whom they would be totally and utterly lost.

  And this is the story of their final encounter with the Feral Gang...a story of paws and claws.

  1

  It was a quiet night, deep and dark, with a hundred thousand stars gleaming in a sky awash with the rippling faintly reddish light that only dogs can see, with the curtaining glimmers of the aurora far to the north. It was late and no lights showed in any of the structures surrounding the yard. And though it was a given that several members of the Feral Gang were likely lurking out in the lot behind the yard, and under the Haunted House squatting in the middle of the lot, they had the good sense to stay out of sight and scent while inquisitive eyes and noses were about.

  Levi stood for long minutes staring into the lot through the separating chain-link fence, watching for any sign of movement, listening for the rustle of fur or the sounds of claws upon the asphalt; the wind was out of the west, so no scents came to him except that of the sea and those of the domestic dogs and cats familiar to him.

  "They're out there," Levi murmured. "I know it."

  Sunny peered into the darkness. "If so, they are keeping themselves scarce tonight. They won't show themselves while we're watching."

  "They are up to something."

  "They always are," Sunny said. "But not at the moment, apparently."

  Yoda came bounding up. "The Feral Gang out there?"

  "Levi says they are."

  "I don't hear them," Yoda observed, his pointed ears quivering.

  "And I don't see them," Sunny said.

  "They're there," Levi said, not moving his gaze from the back lot or the Haunted House.

  "Where are they?"

  "They're there."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Quite sure," Levi replied. "When you don't see, hear or smell the Feral Gang, that's when they are most surely there."

  "Do you think you might be paranoid?" Yoda asked, grinning.

  "No," Levi replied.

  "Maybe just a little?" Sunny suggested.

  "Well, maybe," Levi grudgingly admitted after a few moments. "Perhaps just a bit, a tiny bit, but those rascals are definitely out there, and most certainly up to something."

  Yoda turned and walked away, shaking his shaggy head. "I'm going inside. The night is quiet, I can't find anything to bark at, and right now a soft warm bed is all I want."

  "Well, if they are out there," Sunny suggested, "they're not going to do anything with you standing and watching."

  "Exactly."

  "And you can't stand there all night."

  "I guess not," Levi admitted, and started for the long walkway that led between the garage and house to the Library door. He then stopped, turned and sent a sharp bark ringing across the back lot.

  Sunny tilted her head and raised a golden eyebrow.

  "Just letting the Feral Gang know that I am always watching," he explained. "Especially when I seem not to be."

  "You know," Sunny said, "Yoda might be onto something."

  As the trio neared the Library door, that strange book-lined room with fifteen bookcases, five desks and two drafting tables, they heard a muffled roar and a crashing sound; moments later there was a loud rattling behind them, followed by a fleshy thud. Sunny and Levi quickly turned about, then were knocked aside as Yoda shot between them. For such a little guy who was more hair than dog he sure packed a wallop when he got a full head of steam going, which he could do in a Pit Bull minute.

  By the time Sunny and Levi shot out from between the tall Canna Lilies on either side of the walkway Yoda was already barking and shouting like a lunatic at something white and large lying on the grass just this side of the fence, near the storage shed.

  "Who are you?" Bark! "What are you doing here?" Bark! Bark! "Why is your head so big?" Bark! Bark! Bark! "Out with it, Big Head!" Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!

  "Who is it, Yoda?" Levi demanded as he caught up with the yappy little Pom.

  "I don't know," Yoda said between barks. "He ain't talking!"

  "Well, he can't talk, can he?" Sunny said. "Look, the poor dear is clean out of breath. Besides, you're not giving him a chance."

  The intruder was not anyone the trio knew from their patrols and investigations in the neighborhood. And he may have been the oddest looking dog they had seen since the day a Xoloitzcuintli from Tijuana visited Crackers the Chihuahua who lives down the alley across the street. The newcomer was indeed winded, great gulps of air rushing out and in a mouth as wide as Levi was long. White with light tan patches, the shorthaired gatecrasher was quite long, but at least half that prodigious length seemed taken up by a head shaped like a classic Buick. His tongue lolled out like a writhing pink anaconda.

  "All right, stranger, who are you and what are you doing here?" Levi demanded, stepping past Yoda to take charge of the interrogation. "Speak up!"

  "Let the poor darling catch his breath," Sunny insisted.

  "Yeah, speak up, Big Head!" Yoda yapped.

  "Roscoe," the strange dog gasped.

  "What?" Levi said.

  "Roscoe," the dog explained as his breathing started to slow. "That's my name. Roscoe."

  "I like Big Head better," Yoda opined.

  "Shh, Yoda," Levi said. "Let him tell his story. What are you doing here, Roscoe?"

  Roscoe stood, though it made little difference in his height, his muscular legs being so short. "Where is here?"

  "You don't know where you are?" Sunny asked.

  Roscoe shook his great head. "Not a clue."

  "Clues are our specialty," Yoda chimed in.

  The massive head titled in perplexion.

  "What Yoda means is that we are detectives," Sunny explained, looking upon the exhausted dog with sympathetic golden eyes.

  "Detectives?"

  "Yes," Levi affirmed. "We are the Three Dog Detective Agency, and where you are is in our back yard."

  "No, I mean, what city is this?"

  "Chula Vista," Levi replied frowning.

  "Never heard of it," Roscoe said dejectedly, sitting down and sighing. "I seem to be more lost than I thought."

  "California," Yoda explained.

  Roscoe again sighed.

  "Where are you from, dear?" Sunny asked.

  "New York City," Roscoe answered. "The last thing I remember is going to sleep; the next thing I know, I'm crawling out of a kennel box and running for my life from a bunch of maniac cats."

  "The Feral Gang," Levi growled low and menacing, turning his attention to the lot, which still seemed deserted, though Levi suspected they were being observed by dozens of questing cat's-eyes.

  "New York City," Yoda breathed, as if it were a far magical place, which indeed it was, even to three detectives wise to the ways of the world.

  "Honey, you are indeed one lost dog," Sunny said.

  "And it's up to us to figure out what's going on," Levi said. "Time for the Three Dog Detective Agency to get to work."

  The Haunted House, lair of the Feral Gang

  2