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Where We Left Off:
Oliver and Gus disagreed on the antique item found in the backyard. Gus believes it is an artifact of the past. Oliver believes it may be evidence in violent crime cases.
Curse of the Undead:
Gus and Oliver had a sad, violent crime to investigate. At least neither of them were involved personally. This case reflects the natural cycle of wildlife—predators and prey animals. There is an animal death in this mystery, however, things take a twist at the end.
As if we are being forced into shock and depression seeing what is happening to the woods that surround the Winchester-Nabu estate by the new Lord and Lady of the back 40, there was something heartbreaking that was discovered on May 23, 2025. When Gus and I started to patrol the grounds, Oliver was up on his observation deck to supervise from above. He wanted a report on Ms. Robin and her eggs. That took our focus at first.
Gus visited his favorite flower bush which is some unknown hybrid the elders bought many years ago. It produces maroon leaves and pink trumpet flowers. Gus loves it. He eats the blossoms and has so far never gotten sick from it. From there, we took a direct line up the private road towards the moldy and mouse-filled mobile command unit which was finally returned. The man who was supposed to repair it, did nothing. Zero stars. It’s still an okay place for Gus and I inspect and rest when he demands to go in there. Lately, he’s been content going underneath it which gives him a lot of shade and leaves me to bake even with a parasol.
I briefly left him to distribute the snacks at The Big Rock area. Our chipmunk friends were eager to get their peanut payments. The birds and squirrels were too. The chipmunks chased each other around the rocks and under the brambles of forsythia, wild raspberry, garlic mustard, artemisia, and wild honeysuckle. It’s a botanical mess.
When Gus was ready to move on, he didn’t want to immediately visit the critters. He demanded to go to work inside where he could inspect the entire hangar, workshop, storage areas, and “his” truck. Once on the truck, it’s a signal to me that he requires a break for his own treats. While on break, Oliver sent Gus a message.
“I smell something afoul,” it read. “You need to use your SuperSmeller and get to the Forbidden Forest (formerly the Northern Woods).
The Investigation Begins
The border of the woodlands is full of summer growth. Phlox is tall and beautiful in shades of white, pink, lavender, and purple. There are smaller yellow flowers called lesser celandine. Every space that was empty for winter now had something growing on it. Nature created its annual woven blanket through discarded metal fencing, an old ladder, and other human refuse. It masks the mess quite well.
It had rained through all the previous day and through the night. I wasn’t surprised to hear trickling water, but I was surprised that it wasn’t running directly next to Fort Winchester. That’s where rain water and melting ice usually drain towards the road.
“Ollie was right,” Gus said. “Something smells off. I’m not going in there today.”
Gus wasn’t interested in going in trees? This was truly mysterious. He left me. I watched him walk to the fern garden wall where he hopped up on the cinder blocks. It’s a smart move. They stay cool. The location gives him a full view of Gnome Grove, the grotto, and Fort Winchester. The water tub intended for the wildlife is on the wall too, but Gus frequently drinks from it as well. Since was within my eyeline, I again felt comfortable walking away from him.
I followed the sound of the trickling water to one of the PVC drainage pipes. It doesn’t exactly lead anywhere like to the street as an engineer would have required. It created a miniature waterfall over sloping steps of dirt and branches one of the entrance ways to the trees we love to climb.
My eyes followed the cascade. Instead of a charming fairy tidepool, I found horror. I yelled out for Gus to come immediately!
A body laid under in a pool of the water that continued to drain down on it. I was in shock. I tried to quickly identify what kind of critter it was. A chipmunk? A small red squirrel? Either would have had a discoloration issue to match this deceased scuridae member.
I looked up to see Gus sniffing the area all around this scene. We were treating it as a crime scene and buckled down looking for clues. Gus called back to Oliver and demanded that he get over to us to help out. Ollie went down to his buggy and yelled for anyone in the house to come attend to him. The Cook heard his call and got him secured. She chauffeured him as far as the garden wall. I took over from there.
I pressed down Ollie’s parking brakes. I put on my work gloves. Then I had to carefully lift the body from the puddle and move it to a dry surface. There was a tree stump a few feet away that would do the job. Gus jumped up on the chopped tree where the stump originally was from.
“Take some measurements and more photos now that you’re in a better spot,” Ollie instructed.
“This isn’t my first investigation, Professor Winchester.” I mumbled, but with feline hearing, I’m sure he heard me.
Victimology
“It mostly smells like a grey squirrel to me,” Gus said confidently.
It looked so tiny. The little creature was completely saturated. Its eyes were glazed over with a membrane making it look like a haunting specter. It made me think of nictitating membranes in amphibians and sharks. Its wet fur was tight against its little body. The usually bushy characteristic of a scuridae tail looked more like a rat than squirrel, but the fur was present and obvious to the naked eye.
Squirrels’ coats change colors with the seasons. By late May, red squirrels should have their ruddy coloration in with the black delineation “racing stripe” that makes them look almost identical to chipmunks. Our red squirrels don’t have long ear tufts like in Europe.
- This body was definitely not red.
- Body length 7 inches (almost 18 cm).
- Tail length 4 inches (10 cm).
- Eyes open with membrane visible over cornea.
- No insect activity visible.
Identification: juvenile Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Manner of Death
The manner of death does not appear to be natural causes nor self-inflicted. Remaining options are:
- accidental
- homicide
- undetermined.
We chose not to attempt a necropsy. Instead, the animal was placed on the nearby tree stump with a few leaves around it from foliage that was present at the scene. The goal was for a scavenger to take it which did happen on the second night after discovery and relocation.
Cause of Death
It was 46°F at night. Observations include that within the scene’s 20-foot radius, a large branch had fallen from the storm. Could that have played a role in the animal’s death?
Oliver and Gus believed that to be unlikely since squirrels, even juveniles of this age, are skilled at acrobatic activities such as climbing, walking, running, balancing, grasping, and leaping. If the animal had been on a branch as it was falling to the ground, it’s statistically likely the animal would survive. The only caveat being if the squirrel suffered a traumatic injury like breaking of the neck and spinal cord.
From what we could tell of the scene, accidental death also seems unlikely. We shifted our focus to homicide.
Though the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency has not filed a case on the rabbits and wolpertingers yet for this calendar year, two adults were seen with substantial injuries. One in particular had a large injury to the back of its neck where skin had been removed in a bite. Clearly there are predators in the area who could easily kill a juvenile squirrel.
Despite a fall being an unlikely cause of spinal cord and brain trauma, an attack could easily be. Animals like foxes, domestic cats, wild cats, and coyotes are high on the suspect list. Hawks and owls would have the strength also. If any of these animals killed for food, why was the squirrel left on the ground to become saturated under the waterfall.
That drain pipe waterfall—small as it was—seemed to be the actual cause of death. The squirrel was attacked, left behind during the rainstorm, and ultimately perished by drowning because it was unable to move.
“I think you’ve failed to consider something,” Gus said.
Oliver wasn’t fond of how his partner phrased that, but wanted to hear more. “What are you talking about, cousin?”
Gus didn’t answer immediately. We brainstormed the list of suspects that could have been responsible for the attack.
Suspects
The wide pool was able to quickly be narrowed down: foxes, domestic cats, wild cats, coyotes, hawks, owls. None of them appeared on the camera pointing towards the primary location. The only beasts who did show up were a deer and a black bear. Both were alone. Neither would be candidates for attacking a small squirrel under normal conditions.
“Does this mean everyone is ruled out?” I asked the cat detectives when we were back in the office.
“It takes us back to accidental or undetermined.” Oliver hated to mark anything as undetermined. So did I. “Now, Gus, get back to what you were about to bring up before. What have we forgotten?”
“What else lives in the woods, particularly the northern region?” Gus stood up on his hind legs and looked into Ollie’s buggy.
“You mean…vampires?” Ollie said.
That gave us an entirely new type of mystery. The vampuirrels or squirrelpyres were known to be in that general area. It used to be the location of volepyre nests, but Gus vanquished them years ago. Theo and Synthia Scurius were the last known vampuirrels from the surrounding woodland. With all the deforestation going on, it’s possible they were roused and searching for new targets.
After I relocated the squirrel’s body to the tree stump, it took until the second night for it to disappear. If it wasn’t eaten, perhaps it wasn’t dead. It was undead and changing. The second night it was able to rise and join its new family members Theo and Synthia.
Case Findings:
After going through the surveillance footage, the Winchester-Nabu detectives couldn’t identify a viable suspect who would have killed the young grey squirrel for food. Instead, we believe the juvenile victim was found during its state of transitioning from dead to undead after being turned by Theo or Synthia Scurius into a vampuirrel.
Case Status: Closed
