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Where We Left Off:
Oliver and Gus checked our security footage to find something paranormal.
**This case contains images of a deceased animal (rat) under a fold.**
Family Plot:
On the morning of August 29, 2025, Oliver Winchester was enjoying his stroll in the brisk end-of-summer air as the bats came home to roost. The light expanded as the sun rose, illuminating spaces with a rosy hue around the estate. Ollie noticed something and pawed at his front window screen. Gus walked on his leash next to us, but veered to the right to head towards weeds in front of the hangar.
I navigated Ollie the way he seemed to want to go. The light on the exterior of the hangar created a terminating line across the pavement between the dark shadows and Casablanca lamplight. Ollie told me something was directly ahead. I saw a white form over that line of light on the dark side. Something was left in the shadows. What was it? Was it intentionally left there?
Oliver leaned forward in his seat with his neck stretching to get the best level for his senses. What did he see and smell?
Before we were close, I could tell the shape was some sort of animal. A gleaming white belly like so many Rodentia: red squirrels, grey squirrels, chipmunks, and rats. Was this a white pawn in a greater game? I wheeled Ollie closer, step after step up the hill. My gut told me I’d have to brace myself for finding the body of a squirrel friend.
Oliver kept his tone calm. He knew if he elevated is voice, Gus would come running to chase away anything posing danger on the property. “That’s not a squirrel.”
I was still saddened by the sight. There was no mistaking the figure as soon as we were close. This was a dead brown rat. The appearance of it brought up a lot of questions.
Before a close examination, Oliver and I were worried that the rat had been poisoned. It’s such a common way for humans to get rid of them. Poisoning causes risks humans might not consider. Anything that feeds on that carcass will then be poisoned. Eagles get poisoned frequently because they ingest meat containing lead shot in victims that escaped their human hunters. While I was growing up, The Cook always told me that animals wouldn’t eat anything spoiled—they knew when something would make them sick. Maybe that’s true for wild animals, but our South Jersey canine consultant, Rocco, has been known to eat entire pies, bunches of grapes (supposedly poisonous to dogs), a remote control, chocolates, and soap.
“It’s Nicodemus, isn’t it?” I said to Ollie. He said he believed it was, but admitted even he could be wrong at times. I spun the carriage around and headed towards Gus. We needed to be together for this. I interrupted him chewing on bristle grass sprouting from a pile of junk.
“Ye need ol’ Gus for a case, huh?” Burton Guster Nabu could exude confidence when he wanted.
Ollie looked up at me. “You better take down the basic information and get photos of the scenes.”
“There are puncture wounds on this victim,” Gus said. “Could have been one of the stray cats roaming around.”
“Yeah, we’ve been through this before. A fox or bobcat would have taken it with them,” I said.
The injuries were not consistent with a bird attack. We could rule out the owls, hawks, and crows. After taking the necessary photos, I asked Gus to stay by my car where I parked Oliver. I wanted to take the body and get it off the pavement. As soon as it was clear we didn’t have a poisoning case, I thought it best to put the carcass near the woods where another animal could get a meal from it safely.
There are now four roaming cats in the neighborhood that we’re aware of: the one who looks just like Gus (Bud), a tabby (possibly Mama Cat Marsh), the tuxedo (Savile), and most recently a skinny all black cat. That is too many roaming cats. If they aren’t spayed and neutered, we’ll end up with more. Maybe they’d fix this new rat problem, but what’s the cost? Cats who don’t get veterinary care even if they do get fed by neighbors?
Gus did not stay by my car. I had to chase him down at the neighbors’ and then take both of the cats back home. We had to report our findings to the rest of the team. But, I had no idea we weren’t finished until days later.
One Down. How Many To Go?
Within in days, Gus, Oliver, and I witnessed small rats coming out of the fortress bricks with their mother, Muriel. This was not good.
The pups open their eyes at 14-17 days old. Young feed upon maternal milk during the first 3-4 weeks of their lives, after which they leave the nest. As these animals practice collective nursing, the offspring of different females often live together in the same nest, cared for by various adults. The age of reproductive maturity is 3 months old for males and 4 months old for females. —Animalia.bio
Take in that information about rat reproduction and it shows why humans are rightfully concerned about two rats quickly becoming hundreds. There is no such thing as TNR for rats as there is for stray cats. When there were only two rats, Nicodemus and Muriel, living at the Moretti Rock Fortress, it was cute and we avoided panicking. Then there were babies.
The Grumpy Old Man and The Cook would no longer tolerate the growing rat population. There was a trip to the hardware store and then there were three different kinds of rat traps. Just as The Grumpy Old Man entered the house, The Butler and I had our lunch break interrupted. We witnessed a rat run under the length of the hedge row. It made a sharp turn heading across the lower parking lot towards the Moretti Rock Fortress.
It was time for a war. Time to go to the mattresses.
I was not looking forward to this one bit. I hoped that if there was any carnage, it would be while I was out of town at a crime conference studying psychology, forensics, and maybe K-9 techniques. My biggest fear was that Gus would get hurt. Oliver would be safe in his carriage.
Case Findings:
Early one morning, the body of a dead brown rat was discovered out in the open right in the middle of the private paved road. Oliver and Gus mentally and somatically took in the crime scene and their examinations of the body. Amber took photos and notes then walked the body to the edge of the woods.
There were puncture wounds visible on the rat’s sides consistent with being held in the jaws of a predator. We felt that a fox or bobcat would have taken the body with them for a meal, either for themselves or their children. This left the most likely suspect pool to be the freely roaming domestic cat population. The cat last seen at the specific location where the body was found was Savile, the magnificently handsome tuxedo cat with the dazzling green eyes.
Case Status: Closed