The Secret Dog

by Joe Friedman

  ‘I’m going to walk from the north end of the island to the south,’ Yvonne said, trying to smile brightly.

  ‘When’s this “walk” happening?’

  ‘In ten days.’

  ‘Strange then, it was so urgent to sign us up you had to go out on a night like this . . .’

  ‘He doesn’t know anything,’ Yvonne told herself. ‘He’s just fishing.’

  * * *

  Josh knew he had to hurry. It took just a few minutes to get to the barn with the calves. He removed his torch from the rucksack and switched it on. The light highlighted the drops of falling rain. Holding his breath, he entered through the open door. The three calves looked at him, blinking in the bright light. But as he scanned the rest of the barn, he saw Reggae wasn’t there. He’d been wrong.

  His shoulders slumped. He hadn’t figured out how Dunham would think . . . in fact, every single idea he’d had about this rescue mission had been wrong. He was useless.

  * * *

  Yvonne watched as Mariella finished preparing Dunham’s cup of tea. Then she brought it over to him and stood awkwardly by his side. Yvonne noticed she’d put several biscuits on the side of the saucer.

  When Dunham didn’t move to take the cup, Mariella asked, ‘Would you like me to take it into the living room for you?’

  Dunham gave her a shark-toothed smile. ‘I think I’ll pass some more time with our visitor . . .’ He left his wife holding the cup of tea and, ignoring both her and Kearney, focused on Yvonne. ‘I’ve seen you walking with Calum’s boy, haven’t I?’

  Involuntarily, her hand went to the mobile on the table. Dunham noticed.

  ‘Waiting for a call?’

  * * *

  Josh thought even James Bond would have trouble keeping a secret from Dunham. Yvonne didn’t have a chance. It would just take seconds before Dunham saw through her. And a few seconds more before he knew why she was there . . .

  ‘Get up, stand up. Don’t give up the fight.’

  He couldn’t stop now. Reggae needed him. Josh stepped out into the driving rain.

  He didn’t have time to search every one of Dunham’s farm buildings. Why didn’t he just call Reggae? The sound of his voice would be muffled by the downpour. But what would be the point? Josh had taught her never to bark.

  ‘Don’t give up the fight.’

  ‘Reggae,’ he called out. He was shocked at the sound of his voice – it sounded cracked and desperate. He turned to face the farm buildings at his back, and called out again. ‘Reggae!’

  * * *

  Yvonne’s brain seemed to step up a gear. Dunham’s voice had been gentle, but she knew there was a threat behind it. It was the same bullying tone he’d used with Mariella. She had to stop being scared and start thinking strategically. Maybe she couldn’t prevent him from discovering Josh, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

  ‘My dad’s out at a farm nearby. He said he’d ring on his way home, in case I wanted a lift.’

  ‘He knows you’re here, then . . .’

  Yvonne seemed to be digging a deeper hole, and not only for herself. ‘Of course.’

  Dunham looked at her sceptically. ‘I’m not a big believer in coincidence,’ he said. He turned to Kearney. ‘Go check on our recent arrival.’

  Yvonne forced her face to remain still. She wasn’t going to let this man intimidate her. ‘Do you have an early calf, then?’

  Dunham looked disconcerted, as if, for a moment, he was questioning his reading of the situation.

  Kearney smiled fondly at Yvonne. Mariella, tired of waiting, put Dunham’s cup of tea down heavily on the kitchen counter. ‘I didn’t know we had an early calf . . .’

  ‘I don’t tell you everything, woman.’ Then he turned to Kearney. ‘Move!’ he ordered.

  Yvonne knew most people would have flinched at the force of Dunham’s voice. But Kearney stayed completely still. Then he gathered himself and stood just a bit taller. What was he going to do?

  ‘There’s no need to talk to Mum that way.’

  Dunham glared at Kearney, who stared right back at him. They were both the same height, Yvonne realised, though Dunham was much the more imposing presence.

  ‘We’ll talk about this later. I asked you to do something.’

  ‘You didn’t “ask”, actually.’

  Yvonne sensed how much courage it was taking for Kearney to speak to his father this way.

  ‘I will check. In a couple of minutes,’ he continued. ‘But I need to ask Yvonne about our geography homework first.’

  Dunham’s face flushed with colour.

  Mariella came in quickly. ‘I didn’t know you had homework . . .’

  Yvonne silently thanked Mariella for joining in. What would Dunham do now?

  * * *

  Josh stood in the rain, turning in a circle. Listening for Reggae’s bark. He couldn’t hear a thing. Just the sound of the rain pounding on the metal barn roofs.

  What did he have to lose? Life without Reggae would be just too bleak to face.

  ‘REGGAE!’ he shouted.

  Still nothing.

  Then he heard it. Two short barks. Coming from the building right next to the one with the calves. Was it really her? Josh charged over and opened the door. There were four cows in pens here. And Reggae, chained to the wall up on the other side of the barn. Dunham had kept her with his animals!

  She leapt up onto his chest, and licked his face, again and again. He hugged her tight, fighting back tears.

  He removing his uncle’s bolt cutters from his rucksack. The edges of their blades gleamed. He’d sharpened them when he was supposed to be at lunch. ‘Let’s get you out of here.’

  * * *

  Yvonne kept an eye on Dunham as she told Kearney about their homework. ‘Mr Eldon asked us to draw a map showing the effects of the glaciers across Scotland and the islands. It’s a bit complicated. Do you want to write it down?’

  Kearney nodded, and slowly walked over to the telephone where there was a pad of paper and a pen. Then he returned to the kitchen table and sat down. Dunham watched this movement with barely concealed rage. Yvonne worried about the price Kearney would pay for his help.

  Kearney started writing. ‘A map showing the effects of the glaciers.’

  ‘We need to show which lochs were formed by them.’

  Kearney scribbled on the notepad.

  Yvonne continued, ‘And which mountain ranges are glacial as opposed to volcanic. Also the U-shaped valleys that were carved out.’

  ‘I hate these geography projects,’ Kearney said, as he finished writing. He looked up and gave Yvonne a soft look. He then glanced over to his father, who was standing with his arms crossed, fuming.

  Kearney turned back to Yvonne. ‘Have you done it already?’

  Yvonne nodded, recognising Kearney was trying to give them a few more precious moments, in spite of his father’s anger. How brave he was!

  * * *

  The chains that were holding Reggae were brand new. And the links were too close together to cut them one at a time. Josh struggled to bring the arms of the bolt cutter together. He’d never tried to cut anything that was so hard.

  Maybe they were made of some new kind of metal . . . Josh hoped his uncle’s old bolt cutter was up to the task.

  Reggae sat, keeping her liquid eyes on his face.

  Josh’s muscles felt close to snapping as he strained to force his arms together, closing the bolt cutter. What if he wasn’t able to do it? What if he failed so close to his goal?

  He loosened his grip, put down the bolt cutter and stretched his arms out in every direction. Then he picked up the cutter again. It was now or never. Yvonne couldn’t keep Dunham away forever.

  He fastened the cutters around the chain in the same place, noting with dismay that he hadn’t even dented it with his last try. It didn’t matter, he told himself. This time he was going to succeed.

  He pulled the chain up so that he could stand, and get the full force of
his shoulders behind his arms. Then keeping his eyes on Reggae, he forced his arms together. Nothing happened. The chain seemed break-proof.

  Josh knew he was almost out of time. He put everything he had into the bolt cutter. For a moment, he wasn’t sure it would be enough.

  ‘CRAAACK!’ The old bolt cutter came apart in his hands. A wave of despair swept over Josh. He’d failed.

  Then he realised the chain was also lying in pieces. His last supreme effort had cracked the bolt cutter and the chain together.

  Reggae sat quietly, waiting to be released, her trust in Josh complete.

  Josh felt like crying. He took out Yvonne’s phone from his trousers.

  * * *

  Yvonne felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She didn’t dare look at the message. But she prayed it was Josh. But first she had to answer Kearney.

  ‘I found the map on a school website. I’ll email it to you.’

  Dunham had heard the phone buzz too. He gave Kearney an angry look. ‘Your father,’ he said to Yvonne, in a flat voice.

  Yvonne nodded.

  Kearney rose. ‘I’ll check on the recent arrival now.’

  ‘I’ll come with,’ Dunham decided suddenly.

  Yvonne didn’t like the sound of that. She stood, and went over to Mariella. She gave her a warm hug. ‘Thanks for the donation, the cup of tea, and the advice. I may need to ask you a few more questions about shoes.’

  ‘You can call any time,’ Mariella responded equally warmly.

  Yvonne nodded curtly to Dunham.

  ‘Remember me to your father,’ he said ominously.

  ‘I will,’ Yvonne replied, smiling brightly.

  Kearney and his father left the house at the same time as Yvonne. Dunham picked up a long case. It took a moment for Yvonne to register what it was. A shotgun! She knew she only had a minute or two until he and Kearney discovered Reggae was gone. Then Dunham would know her father wasn’t picking her up. But she forced herself to walk normally, at least until they were out of sight.

  Then, leaving the gate wide open, she ran, tearing down the road as fast as she could.

  Josh had arranged to meet her by the bus shelter. As she ran towards it, he stepped out from behind it. Reggae was by his side, and she wagged her tail furiously at the sight of Yvonne.

  ‘We don’t have time for greetings,’ she gasped. ‘Dunham will be right behind me. He had a gun.’

  They heard a loud crash from behind them. The direction of the barn.

  Josh asked incredulously. ‘A gun?’

  Yvonne nodded.

  Josh started to run down the verge alongside the road. Yvonne followed, just a few steps behind him. Reggae raced ahead.

  ‘We’ve got to get off the road,’ Yvonne wheezed. She wasn’t used to running. ‘He’ll think of his car soon.’

  As if to confirm her thought, they heard shouting from the farm.

  Yvonne looked ahead on the road. There were ditches filled with water on both sides. Behind them were steep embankments, topped by wire fences. How were they going to get off?

  Yvonne watched as Josh raced ahead, Reggae keeping pace with him. They disappeared around the bend of the road.

  Yvonne forced air in and out of her lungs. Even just breathing was painful. But she knew she couldn’t stop running. They had a minute or two at most to get off the road.

  As she rounded the curve of the road, she heard Josh.

  ‘Up here!’

  He was at the top of a small rise above the road, a break in the high embankment. His rucksack was on the ground and he seemed to be wearing some kind of gloves.

  Yvonne stumbled through the ditch, glad, for the first time, she was wearing boots. As she laboured to reach the top, she saw Josh lift the barbed wire with his gloved hand. As she reached the top, she saw a car’s lights illuminating the road behind them.

  Josh yanked her through the fence and down to the ground. Then he dived down next to her.

  Dunham’s car rounded the bend, and sped on.

  Chapter 24

  The smell of damp clothes permeated the vet’s barn. Josh’s soaking trousers, shirt and socks were spread out over the hay bales. Yvonne had brought him one of her dad’s shirts and a pair of old jeans. All their clothes had been a mess by the time they’d reached home. She’d changed too, into jeans and a hoodie.

  Josh had borrowed one of her father’s dog brushes. He had just started to get the tangles out of Reggae’s fur when he discovered the first of the cuts. At first, he could hardly believe it. Then he found the second cut, and the third. There were bruises too. Everywhere.

  ‘I need some antiseptic,’ he said to Yvonne. ‘Something that won’t sting.’

  While Yvonne went to get something from her father, Josh washed Reggae tenderly with a tub of warm water. He felt awful that Reggae had had to experience such a cruel man in charge of her, even for a day. And more than that, he was furious with Dunham. There would have been no cause for such treatment. Reggae would have done everything he asked.

  When Yvonne returned, Josh dabbed antiseptic into the cuts, talking softly to Reggae as he did.

  ‘It’s all over, girl. Nothing like that will ever happen to you again.’

  After he was sure he’d treated all the cuts, he touch-dried Reggae with a towel, just as he had a year earlier, when he’d found her by the river.

  As soon as he was finished, Reggae licked his face and rolled over onto her back. ‘You want a tummy tickle? You deserve it.’

  Josh couldn’t quite take in that he had her back. As he stroked her and blew raspberries into her tummy, he started to tremble.

  Yvonne noticed immediately. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘I must have got a chill,’ Josh said, feeling foolish.

  Yvonne found a heavy blanket and draped it over his shoulder.

  But the shivering got worse.

  ‘I’ve seen you out in the winter cold with just a T-shirt,’ Yvonne said.

  ‘. . . what if I hadn’t found . . .’ Josh couldn’t finish the sentence. His juddering continued. Like a tractor running with dirty diesel.

  ‘You’re white as a sheet,’ Yvonne said, bringing him another blanket. ‘Shock.’

  A fresh bout of shivering hit him. He realised he’d felt cold, no, deep frozen, inside, ever since he’d found the broken padlock outside Reggae’s shed. As usual, Yvonne was right.

  He hated being the centre of attention. Especially for shaking and shivering. And he still hadn’t heard what had happened inside the house.

  ‘I saw Kearney in the kitchen. That must have been really difficult for you . . .’

  ‘It was scary,’ Yvonne admitted. ‘But not half as scary as when Dunham came in . . .’

  ‘I saw him,’ Josh said. ‘That’s when I thought it was all over. What happened?’

  Yvonne told him the whole story.

  Kearney helped? It didn’t make sense. ‘Are you sure Kearney knew?’

  Yvonne nodded. ‘Kearney’s not how you think. He was shocked by how you looked yesterday.’

  Josh found it difficult to believe he’d care.

  ‘I think it made a difference that you apologised,’ Yvonne continued. ‘It was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to think . . . what Dunham will do.’

  Josh remembered how hard it had been for him to stand up to Dunham when he’d seen his dogs hurting Calum’s sheep. It must have been ten times harder for Kearney to stand up to his own father.

  ‘I may have got him wrong,’ Josh had to admit.

  Yvonne seemed pleased. ‘Maybe you two can become friends.’

  That was going a bit far. But he wasn’t going to say that to Yvonne now. Not after she’d risked so much to help him. He switched the subject.

  ‘You’re just amazing,’ he said. ‘I loved how you came up with geography homework. How did you stay so cool?’

  ‘I didn’t feel very cool,’ Yvonne admitted. ‘But with Kearney helping I didn’t feel so alone . . . Where are
you going to keep Reggae the next couple of days?’ Yvonne asked.

  ‘In my room,’ Josh replied. He’d already decided that this was the only place he’d feel certain Reggae was safe. It was only three days until the Gathering. He could smuggle her in and out when his uncle wasn’t around. She’d have no problem controlling her bladder now. And she knew better than to make any noise.

  Josh looked at Yvonne. She was looking down, playing with the ends of her hair, which was still damp from the rain. Without her, he’d have lost Reggae forever.

  ‘Look, I . . . erm . . . Thanks for everything,’ Josh said awkwardly.

  Yvonne picked up Reggae’s half-eaten bone and threw it at Josh. Reggae leapt up and caught it in mid-air.

  She laughed with surprise. ‘You have no idea, Josh, what a pain it is being the vet’s daughter . . . Everyone knows me! I always have to be so good . . . Tonight, it was like I was helping in a bank robbery. It was great!’

  Chapter 25

  Josh woke up with the warm sun on his face and the sound of gentle breathing by his side. He leaned over and rubbed his nose against Reggae’s. Her eyes opened. He could have sworn she smiled. Well anyway, she licked his face.

  It had been a rough night. Reggae’s frantic cries woke Josh several times. Her breathing was rapid and her legs were trying to run. Josh held her close and woke her with soft words. It wasn’t hard to imagine what she was having nightmares about. Each time, it took ages for her breathing to slow down. Afterwards, she’d cuddled up to him even closer before going back to sleep.

  Josh checked the alarm clock and pulled on his school uniform. ‘Stay,’ he ordered. ‘I’ll check if it’s safe for you to come down and pee.’ He climbed down the ladder.

  When he returned, he was surprised to see Reggae had already climbed into his rucksack, for her trip down the ladder.

  * * *

  He met up with Yvonne near the tree where they’d rescued the baby bird.

  ‘Sleep okay?’ Yvonne asked.