“Ambyr! Heads up!”
    Ambyr, who was lazily resting to the side, snapped her head up, but she was too late. The red, rubber ball flew through the air, and rapped her upside the head. It fell too the floor and bounced a couple of times; SQUEAK! Sqeak...squeak.
    “Quick thinking, genius!”
    Ambyr growled as Haywire happily trotted past her, and picked up the ball in his mouth. He threw her a playful wink as he ran off, and dropped it at Mr. Drago’s feet.
    However, something was wrong with Mr. Drago this morning. He tried to plaster a smile on his face whenever Haywire came bounding up with the ball, but as soon as he threw it, and Haywire left, his face turned worrisome and troubled. Occasionally, he slipped a hand in one of the pockets of his parka. Ambyr knew this to be the pocket Mr. Drago kept the key to the mailroom. Whenever he withdrew his hand out, it always turned out empty.
    Humans,” thought Ambyr with a shrug. So irresponsible.
    Mr. Drago’s face returned back to normal as Haywire returned back again with the ball. “You ready, boy?” Mr. Drago said, picking it up. “Hey, Ambyr! Girl, you want some of this too?”
    Ambyr yawned and lowered her head on her paws.
    Mr. Drago shrugged. “Alright, Haywire! Go long, boy! Go long!” Haywire ecstatically yipped and barked as he ran a good distance from where he was standing. With a grunt and a heave, he chucked the ball as hard as he could.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Haywire stood dumbfounded, waving his head around at the sky, as the ball came sailing over his head. She chuckled.
    It wasn’t until the red ball released its SQUEAK that Haywire finally turned in the right direction. Catching sight at the red circle rolling across the white snow, he yipped again and ran after it.
    That’s when they came.
    Two tall men dressed in blue uniforms came walking up the road the Mr. Drago, twirling tonfa batons (The long stick that cops use to beat and disarm people with) in their hands. While Haywire was still busy retrieving the ball, they came up from behind Mr. Drago and tapped on his shoulder. He whirled around, and his eyes widened in shock. But they quickly became friendly again as he began engaging in a conversation with them.
    Ambyr perked her ears and lifted her head, but she couldn’t hear what any of them were saying. All that she could pick up was “Drago...musher...mail...stolen...taking you in.”
    Haywire had retrieved the ball, and he came bounding up back to Mr. Drago He dropped it to the ground, but Mr. Drago didn’t even notice him. Suddenly, one of the tall men in blue walked behind Mr. Drago, and pulled his arms behind his back.
    “Hey! What is this?” He struggled to get free, but the man held firm to his arms. “I demand you release me this instant!”
    The other man in blue talked calmly to him, and Mr. Drago struggled more, and shouted in his face. “BUT I DIDN’T DO IT!”
    By now, people had stopped along the sides of the street, wondering what the heck was going on. Their faint voices spoke in hushed whispers. “Is that him? Did they get him? But that’s Mr. Drago! Impossible! Sssshh.”
    Ambyr jumped to her feet, alarmed, and Haywire merely stood there, ball at his feet, his head cocked to the side in confusion.
    Then the man that spoke calmly to Mr. Drago gestured to the other man holding him, and they began taking him away, towards the police station. Mr. Drago was still struggling and shouting at them as they disappeared down the road.
    The small crowd looked down, and shook their heads sadly, continuing on with their business. Ambyr squeezed through the lot of them, and ran up to Haywire, who was still sitting in the middle with the road, red ball at feet, and staring blankly to where the three men disappeared off to.
    “Wha, what’s happening?’ Ambyr asked frantically. “What’s going on?”
    “I think Mr. Drago’s being arrested.”
    Ambyr rolled her eyes. “Yeah, quick thinking, genius. I mean, what did he do?”
    “Apparently, there was a break-in at the post office last night. They’re taking him in for...what’s that word they used?” Haywire made a face as he pronounced the next word. “In-ter-ior-a-tion.”
    Ambyr sighed. “You mean ‘interrogation’?”
    “Yeah, that’s it! Erm...what’s that mean, anyhow?”
    “I think it’s where they take you to the police station, and throw you a surprise party with tons of ice cream and candy.”
    Haywire’s face lit up. “Really? I wanna get interiorated!”
    Ambyr shook her head, and slapped him lightly with her paw. “Moron,” she said. “It’s where they forcibly ask you questions to see if you’re guilty or not!”
    “Oh.” Then he added, “What does ‘forcibly’ mean?”
    “It’s how I get stuck with the town idiot to help me solve the mystery as to who did break into the post office. Because I’m willing to bet my life it wasn’t Mr. Drago.
    Haywire thought for a moment. “...What’s a...life?”

    Ambyr didn’t see any more point in smacking him again.

    After a couple minutes of walking, the two dogs stood before the post office. Had it not been for the apathetic man standing out in front of it, no one could ever tell something was wrong. Judging from his looks, he didn’t appear to be an officer as he kept guard, but occasionally, he turned his head through the doorway, swerving it around, as if looking for something inside. He then withdrew, and released a throat-sound as Ambyr and Haywire approached the open door.
    “He growls like a dog,” Haywire muttered.
    Just then, the guard stuck out his foot to block them from coming in. “You two can’t be here. Go on, scram. You’ll contaminate the evidence.”
    “What does ‘contaminate’ –”
    “Don’t even think about asking,” Ambyr growled. Suddenly, she caught sight of something white and brown whizzing by around the post office. “Hey,” she exclaimed. “There’s another dog in there! How come he isn’t contaminating the evidence?”
    “Go on now,” the guard only said at them. He lightly swung his foot to the side, pushing them away. Ambyr let out a low growl at him, and then started to skulk away.
    “Hey wait,” Haywire called after her. “Giving up so soon?”
    “We can’t get in,” Ambyr replied. “If you can turn us invisible, you call me back.” And with that, she turned back to leave. After only a few seconds of rearing around, the loud chuckles of the guard could be heard.
    At first, Ambyr felt like biting that guard on the leg. But as she was about to do just that, her mouth fell open. Haywire was standing on hi hind legs, leaning against the guard, and playfully licking him in the face. Between each lick, he uttered a word at her. “Get...in...before...he sees! This guy....tastes...nasty!”
    Ambyr didn’t need to be told twice. She quickly hurried back, and crouched low to the ground, keeping so that she wouldn’t be spotted. Quietly, she snuck past the laughing guard, and into the post office.
    The room was crowded with busy people hustling on their way; all of them too busy to notice Ambyr. The sight of so many of them talking among each other and looking at a half-open back door dazzled her. She tried looking around fir the dog she saw earlier, but it was a mere matter of seconds before he found her.
    “This is no place for unimportant mutts like you or that silly Haywire friend of yours and Blitz’s.”
    Ambyr spun around, and gasped in shock and alarm. “GILL!!!”
He laughed. “I see my musher at the doorway was blind enough to let you two in.”
She lowered her head in a growl. “YOUR musher? Don’t you work at the filthy old dock?”
Gill replied with a chuckle. “I think your brain sprung a leak since the last time I saw you, Ambyr. I’m talking about for the Iditarod race! What, did you think you and your little team of pups are the only ones competing this year?”
“You wouldn’t stand a chance against us in a race.”
“Whatever. We’ll just have to see about that.” Ambyr looked almost ready to pounce on him, but she had to restrain herself. Gill only laughed. “Gimmie a break. Even I know someone as dumb as you wouldn’t be dumb enough to start a fight in a place like this.”
    “What are you doing here,” Ambyr muttered through gritted teeth.
    “I’m here strictly on business, helping the investigators sniff out clues. You, on the other hand, have no right being here.”
    “I work here, you nitwit!”
    Gill then had the nerve to growl back at her. “In case you haven’t noticed yet – or maybe this hasn’t sunk down deep enough to register in that pea-sized brain of yours – you can’t deliver the mail when it’s been stolen the night before.”
    “My musher’s been arrested.” Ambyr said defiantly. “I want to know why.”
    Gill smiled and shrugged. “That’s classified.” He turned to go, but Ambyr quickly jumped in his way.
    “Who exactly died and made you in charge?”
    Gill thumped his tail on the ground impatiently. “I was a witness. That makes me special, and you – squat.”
    “Is that so? And did you actually see Mr. Drago break into the post office and steal the mail?”
    Gill glared back into her eyes. “No.” Before she could say a word, he continued. “But he’s one of the few mushers that has a key to this place.”
    “That

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