Duck eggs were her favorite. She’d purchased a flock a few years ago just for that purpose. She had a mixed flock of Welsh Harlequins, Jumbo Pekins, and Grimaud Hybrid Pekins.
They were all prolific layers and their egg size was extra-large to jumbo. You could easily substitute one duck egg for two chicken eggs in a recipe.
Harley was also in love with the chickens that laid all the colorful eggs. She had enough to supply the ranch and her office in eggs. She brought them into the office by the dozens.
She had a strict deal with the Reyes, not to let her know when one of her chickens or ducks had to be “retired.” She wasn’t squeamish about farm life, she just tended to name and love everything that had a face.
She had pet cows, chickens, goats, etc. They each had a name and a special tag and were designated to never be food.
Green County Ford was located on Dwain Willis Avenue in Vinita, Oklahoma. Having a navigator in her SUV was priceless. She spotted the police tape long before she turned into the lot.
The incident had drawn its share of onlookers. Harley was thankful the police had been here first to quarantine the area so the evidence was not getting trampled on.
She pulled the car up to the sales building and requested the general sales manager. He was a pleasant man who was eager to help her solve the mystery.
He escorted her to each of the nine vehicles that had been damaged. It seems the culprit had a real taste for FORD.
The bumpers had been pulled entirely off the front of four cars. Others had claw marks, and even chew marks on them. Harley didn’t know of any supernatural creatures that craved metal, much less vehicle metal.
Harley cast her energy outwards using her senses to see what she could pick up. Trouble was there were just too many people around the area. Some of them were normal people, others she could tell were paranormal.
There was no way to get a true sense until they were closed and she could explore more when the lot was empty. Until then she would talk to the staff members and use a few minor spells and potions.
She started interviewing the sales staff. The manager had to go out for meetings. He would be back by late afternoon. There was talk of closing the lot a few hours early to give Harley time to properly research the “crime” scene.
The most important piece of information Harley uncovered was the fact that at least one automobile a night for the past two weeks had been damaged.
The damages had been minor, police reports were filed. The damages until last night had been negligible. Last night’s damage had been more severe and more dramatic.
The prints they’d found looked canine. The difference was small but discernable. One of the biggest differences was the size of the print. No canine on record was big enough to leave a print the size of the ones found at the scene. The prints were large enough that they could have belonged to a grizzly bear.
The hair that was found onsite was reddish brown in color. They had been sent off to the lab to see if they belonged to canine or ursine.
Hell, for that matter any number of things had similar hair. Lab results would be in tomorrow or the next day.
She couldn’t tell much more until the lot was empty or at least closer to being empty. Harley would have to postpone her investigation on Luc’s property. She texted him to let him know she was on another investigation and would not be making it there.
Harley lucked out; the local Holiday Inn Express had one King Jacuzzi suite left. The suite also contained a mini fridge, a microwave, and a mini-coffee pot.
She would need to do some shopping, as she hadn’t packed an overnight bag. The manager had decided to close early to give her time to investigate. She had just over three hours to shop.
Two and a half hours later the SUV had several bags in the back. She may have enjoyed shopping just a little too much.
She pulled into the car dealership as the last of the onlookers were being asked to leave. Truly, there was nothing more to see. Not right now. She wondered how many of them would try and come back to “catch” the beast tonight.
Harley pulled out her bag of equipment and went to work. She measured the prints again. She’d had time to look up print sizes earlier. The prints were indeed the size of a large grizzly bear.
An adult grizzly bear’s front paw print was about seven inches long and five inches wide. The back print was about eleven inches long. Rear paw prints of up to fifteen inches had been documented.
This print was right around the seven-inch mark. It looked like a front paw. It was not in the shape of a grizzly but it was close. She would guess the weight of the creature was around 750lbs.
Opening her bag of tricks, she pulled out the paranormal identifying potion. If the potion turned green it was a werecreature; she still had to figure out which animal it was.
Many people just thought of werewolves. There were dozens of other wereanimals. Lions, tigers, swans, crows, bears, alligators and more species had been identified since the shift.
The potions color turned a rather vague grayish white. This indicated that the entity was “other”. In other words, she was back to square one. The only thing she was certain of, was that the creature was paranormal in origin.
Looking over the damaged cars
