Chapter 12, Missing.
The call ended. Ryder not wasting a second to find Zuma's location, which was somewhere around the residential houses of the town. Not more than a few minutes later Ryder arrived at the location, following it behind the buildings. Disappointed and worried by the outcome, just Zuma's backpack and pup tag laying on the ground. Something was badly wrong. Ryder called Zuma's name a few times, but with no response. In these cases there is no time to hesitate, Ryder pushed the button, sending his 6, now 5 main pups to the lookout, meeting them there. Explaining the situation, Rocky and Chase shared a moment of eye contact, both remembering that moment a while ago now. When Zuma started to act differently.
Chase, Ryder and Marshall went to the school, the rest starting to search for their friend. The school principal was already waiting outside the schoolyard, having heard about what was going on.
'Any sight or trail?' She asked.
'Nothing so far, but we are on it.' Chase said.
'What do you think we should do now Chase.' Ryder asked Chase, who now served as a detective.
'Something we should've done a long time ago.' Chase said.
As Chase wanted to enter the school Marshall gave him a tap on the shoulder, Chase looked in the direction Marshall was looking and saw three dogs approaching. Chase's stomach dropping as somehow, he could sense something was going on with these dogs.
The dog Chase recognized as Bear, was talking to the others about a sleepover. Chase confronted them.
'What brings you three to school so late?' Chase asked in a friendly tone, not to scare the dogs.
'Oh, we had a sleepover, and we overslept.' Bear answered.
'You three are in big trouble, you can be certain that we will have a conversation soon!' The principal said.
'Yeah, sorry.' Bear said. Him, jack and Roscoe walking to the school entrance, Chase noticing Roscoe trying to evade eye contact.
'A sleep over in the middle of a school week?' Marshall said. 'You buying that?'
'Of course not, but we can't make them feel like we suspect them of anything, doesn't help in finding them.' Chase answered.
'Smart.' Marshall answered.
'Could I have a Chat with a few pups by any chance?' Chase asked the principal.
'Of course.' She answered.
'I'll go see what I can find out with the pups, maybe good idea for you to help the others with the search?' Chase said.
'I fully agree.' Ryder said.
Ryder and Marshall left, Chase thinking of who to talk to first. Then he remembered the Mudi bred dog Zuma used to hang out with, but he hadn't seen the two together in a while.
The principal gave Chase access to a room to ask questions to some pups. Chase went to Riley's classroom, and came in. The teacher surprised to see Chase in his uniform. 'Anything I can help you with?' He asked.
'Is it okay if I have a chat with her for a little bit.' Chase said, pointing at Riley. The teacher looked at Riley and back at Chase, not understanding why this was needed. 'Sure.' He then said. Riley immediately got up and followed Chase to the room.
'What's going on.' She immediately asked the German shepherd. 'We are looking for Zuma.' Chase answered.
'You don't know where he is?' Riley asked.
'Not at this moment, I know you and Zuma are friends, can you tell me a bit about that.' Chase asked.
'Well, we were, but the friend group fell apart, Zuma started behaving differently as well, I don't know what went on there.' Riley answered
'When did it fall apart?' Chase asked.
'Not long after the start of the year, we all got mad at each other, Zuma made sure we didn't go head-to-head.' Riley answered.
The two pups talk about the events for a while, as the school bell rang announcing break time, Chase let Riley go. A lot wiser, but not the answer he was hoping for. He went to the schoolyard, spotting Roscoe very quickly.
'Do you mind if we have a short chat?' Chase asked the terrier.
'Yeah, sure.' Roscoe said, clearly nervous.
