Rosie was woken up by something being clicked around her neck. She was too drowsy to react quickly. Toffee was a barking mess behind her.

“Young’ uns, what did I tell you about Rosie?!” the homeless man drawled.

“It’s important,” the girl shot back.

Rosie was dragged out of the box and watched as Toffee was dragged out behind her. A long rope was fixed to the things around the dog's’ neck.

Rosie finally came to her senses and snarled while baring her teeth. Did that work? Nope. The dogs were heaved involuntarily down the long street.

They came upon the large police station. The police station was a mix of new and old things. The dark brick wall was worn down by age, the glass doors were shiny and obviously new, the windows were installed a couple of years ago, and the different structures holding up the overhanging roof were a rusty whitish-brown color, obviously pretty old.

But inside, the station looked as if had been built very recently. The walls had a fresh coat of white paint, the bricks were holding up well, the white wooden doors were straight and they were not coming off the hinges like they used to, as well as the glass separators that could open and close between the staff on the inside of the desk and the person on the other side.

“I would like to see Detective Evans and Detective Johnson,” the boy announced.

“Just a minute, please, sir,” the desk lady said calmly.

While they were waiting, Rosie studied her reflection in the glass.

Her short fur was matted, but still the light reddish-brown color it always was, and her eyes were a dark blue color, and she could see the sparkle of aggression in them.

A woman in a dark blue jumpsuit led the group to a back room where multiple men and women in uniforms were typing on boxes. They came upon two men sitting next to each other near the back.

“What can we do for you kids?” The older of the two men asked.

“We are the ones who found the body,” the girl answered.

“Ok. Well write your names and numbers down and we will call you when we need you,” the younger of the two offered.

“No. We want to help now,” the boy answered.

“Well, okay…”

As the two humans signed their names on a piece of paper, Rosie sniffed around the desk. She saw dark blotches on the older man’s shoes. She growled at the man above her.

“Rosie!” The girl warned.

Rosie backed out from under the desk and looked at the paper. She saw the two names, Sarah and Sam.

Rosie lied down between Sam’s ankles and glared at the police officers. Toffee lied down next to Sarah. She didn’t listen to anything the officers had said because she didn’t care if it didn’t have anything to do with her.

She picked up on a familiar frozen, metallic scent that wafted through the air. She knew exactly where it was coming from.

Rosie barked and jumped up, spun around and tangled the rope around Sam’s legs.

“Rosie!” Sam groaned.

Rosie bared her teeth at the police officer closest to her. Her nose had that frozen feeling inside of it again. She scraped at the cold floor with her claws and barked again.

“Can we see your shoe, sir?” Sarah asked.

“No,” the officer replied rudely.

Rosie dug her teeth into the hard leather of the officer’s shoe and yanked on it. The shoe came off after a few tugs, by Rosie of course - although the officer was also tugging because why would he just give his shoe up?

“Let’s go!” Sarah squealed.

Sam’s grip on the rope tightened as they ran out of the police station. Rosie stumbled along with her body close to the ground because she didn’t want to be any closer to Sam’s hands than she already had to be.

The shoe made it even harder for Rosie to breathe because the air was so humid that it was sticking to her throat and covering Rosie’s lungs.

They ran to the edge of the street to a large car that was parked there. Rosie stopped in her tracks and yanked on the rope.

“Let’s go, Rosie,” Sam grunted.

Sarah opened one of the doors and Sam picked up Rosie and placed her in the car. Rosie tried to jump out but Sam closed the door in her face after putting Toffee inside. Rosie started gnawing on the rough rope. Sam and Sarah heaved themselves into the front of the car and Sam started it. Sarah took the shoe out of Rosie’s mouth and studied it. Rosie sat up as she caught an all too familiar scent wafting through the windows. She barked and turned around and around on the shaking car floor.

“What, Rosie?” Sarah questioned.

Rosie slammed the door open and leaped out. She started racing down the street towards the city.

Toffee was right behind her. They came upon a run-down apartment building. She thundered through the open doors and ran up the stairs. She felt the rope around her neck dig into her skin, which warned her that Sam was still behind her.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she came to door number 205. She jumped at the door but it didn’t open.

“Rosie! Quit it!” Sam yelled.

Sam yanked on the rope and Rosie fell backward. He dragged her back downstairs, but the whole time Rosie was staring at the door. They got back into the car and drove down a gravel road. A farmhouse was at the end of it.

The cracking cobblestone walls that made up the outside of the little house were so uneven that it looked like Rosie had done it herself. Some walls were sloping, others were taller, and some had pieces missing altogether. The windows were another story completely. The windows were covered with a thick layer of dust and they were cracking very badly. The door, however, looked as if it was brand new. The smooth layer of paint that coated the door wasn’t chipped like Rosie thought it would be. The roof was even worse than the walls were. It had sunk in places Rosie didn’t even know roofs had.

When the car came to a stop, they all unloaded themselves and scurried into the house. Sarah turned on the light which lit the house up harshly.

The inside of the farmhouse looked like the outside except it wasn’t as run down.

A comfy looking couch was up against one wall with a beat up chair across from it. In another room, there was a kind of stone counter with a white fridge next to it. A porcelain sink was in the middle of the counter and white cabinets hung over all of it.

Rosie ran down the long hall and looked in every room. One room was obviously the bathroom while the rest of the rooms were bedrooms. Golden light filtered into the house through the windows, which lighted up the house even more and cast a golden glow across the floorboards, which made them look as if they were a golden brown instead of a dark brown that they obviously were.

A bag being shaken from the kitchen caught Rosie’s attention and she sprinted back down the hallway. When Rosie got to the kitchen she saw Sarah shaking a bag of what looked like the food that the stray cats were given by humans.

Sarah took out two bowls and filled both of them with the dry food.

Rosie sniffed at it cautiously before taking a bite and chewing it slowly. Her teeth crunched down on it and it made a strange sound like that of a bone cracking in between her jaws. She swallowed before deciding that she was going to eat the rest. She was so caught up in how the food tasted that she didn’t even notice Toffee coming up beside her and eating her own food, as well as Sarah placing bowls of water down next to them.

After all of them had eaten, they scampered into the bedrooms and fell asleep.

Rosie was awoken by a metallic scent wafting through the house. The kind of scent that froze the inside of her nose and made it hard to breathe. She crawled out from under Sarah’s bed and tiptoed into the hallway. She knew that the slightest movement could put her off the scent trail so she thought about her steps before even putting a paw down.

Everything in her peripheral vision was pitch black, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t see the outline of the figure in the living room. She immediately pressed herself against the wall.

The figure turned towards the hallway and started making its way towards Rosie.

Rosie lifted off from the ground and snapped her jaws around the intruder’s arm. The intruder screamed before smacking Rosie on the nose, causing her to let go, and running away.

Sam and Sarah came running out.

Rosie knew who it was, but how was she supposed to tell Sam and Sarah if they didn’t know her language?

That’s when something strange started happening. Rosie’s vision became foggy and blurry before everything went completely blank.

Rosie snapped awake, but instead of the dark hallway, she was in her moonlit bedroom in Peoria.

She reached over and switched on her lamp, the lines in her young face becoming deeper as her eyebrows furrowed.

What in the actual heck? She thought. Then everything started to come together like a puzzle, piece by piece.

She remembered the memories that weren’t supposed to be hers, she remembered the metallic scent, heck, she even remembered the other dang dog that would follow her everywhere-Toffee. Those memories, of course, would fade over time, but she would never forget the face of the murderer, the person who was supposed to be trusted. Detective Johnson.

She ran across the hall and woke up her sleeping roommates. She knew who committed the murder in Chicago and she knew who to call.

“What, Rosie?” Lily asked.

“I know who committed the murder. We need to go to the police department, now.” Rosie answered.

“It’s 3:00 in the morning!” Georgia exclaimed.

“So?” Rosie questioned.

“Go back to sleep and we will talk about it later,” Lily said sleepily.

“Ha. Nah,” Rosie plopped her little bony butt down on the ground by her roommate’s bed.

“UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH,” Georgia turned over in her bed with her back facing the stubborn little butt next to her.

“Cmon. Cmon. Cmon. Cmon. Cmon,” Rosie whined repeatedly.

“Fine!” Lily caved in.

The two roommates quickly got dressed. Rosie excitedly ran out to the silver 2019 Honda Civic while Lily dragged her feet along slowly.

As they drove to the police department, Rosie thought about everything that had happened and she thought that everything would be fine if she told the police about what happened. But she would never expect what was to come next.

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Detective Johnson had been put into prison for murder, but little did Rosie know, he had a plan. This plan consisted of claiming innocence and pulling the “I’m a police officer!” card. What Rosie didn’t know was that it had worked...and he was coming for her next.