by Joanna Neil
‘Yes. He’s going to try and get the police to drop the charges.’ He glanced at the sergeant, who was talking to Ross. ‘I’m sure he still won’t believe me, though, when I say I wasn’t with the gang.’
‘Just keep on telling the truth, Finn. It’s important you do that.’ She glanced at the dressing on his ear. ‘I was glad to hear that you’re having that checked regularly. It’s important to keep the wound absolutely clean and dry, you know.’
He nodded, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other and curling and uncurling his fingers as though he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.
‘How’s your mother?’ she asked, trying to take his mind off things. ‘You said she’d been ill with a virus recently. Is she still poorly?’
‘Actually, she seems a little bit better in herself. She’s started to eat a bit more, but she’s lost weight and she still gets tired very easily. I tell her to rest, and I try to help, but she looks worn out all the time.’
Katie frowned. ‘If she hasn’t been eating properly for quite a while, it’s possible she could be short on iron. Try to persuade her to go and see her doctor to get her iron levels checked. It might be that she needs a vitamin and mineral supplement.’
‘I will. Thanks, Katie.’
‘You’re welcome, Finn.’
‘All right, then, lad, it’s time for you to come along with me to the interview room.’ Sergeant McKenzie waved a hand towards the corridor, and Finn straightened up and reluctantly followed him. Josh stayed by his side as they walked along.
Ross didn’t immediately go after them, but instead stayed behind to send Katie a quizzical glance. ‘Are you still mad at me about the interview?’ he asked in a low voice.
She lifted her chin and returned his gaze. ‘I think we both know the answer to that,’ she said tersely.
‘I didn’t know you were going after the job when I sent in my application, Katie. But you knew you would be up against competition, didn’t you?’
‘Of course. I just expected you to be straight with me about it.’
‘Yes, well...’ He hesitated. ‘Perhaps we’ll find time to talk later.’ It was clear he wasn’t happy with her answer, or the way she’d said it, but he was obviously conscious that he needed to be at Finn’s side. After a moment’s hesitation he reluctantly turned to go with the others to the interview room.
Katie went back into her surgery and prepared to hand over her patient to the police escort. ‘I’ve written up a treatment card for you to hand in at A and E,’ she told the man. ‘They’ll want to X-ray the hand and wrist to see what damage has been done. I’m sure you’ll be well looked after.’
‘Thanks.’ He mumbled the word and appeared resigned to spending time in A and E. She guessed by now he was regretting his impulsive action.
The two young policemen stepped forward. ‘Are we all done here, Doctor?’ the older one asked, and Katie nodded.
‘He’s all yours.’
They left the station, and Katie tidied the room before writing up her notes on the computer. Then she printed off a copy and went back to the reception area to hand it in to the desk clerk.
Sergeant McKenzie appeared a few minutes later, looking stern and businesslike, followed by Ross and Finn. The boy looked apprehensive, Katie thought, but Ross was doing his best to quietly reassure him. They spent some time talking to the sergeant about what was to happen in the next few days or weeks, but she didn’t get to hear much of that conversation because Josh came over to her and took her to one side.
‘It’s good to see you again, Katie,’ he said, laying his hand lightly on her elbow in a friendly gesture.
‘You, too,’ she murmured, smiling at him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Ross was looking their way. He was frowning, and she guessed he was put out by her apparent closeness with Josh. Of course, there was nothing at all between her and Josh except for friendship, but if Ross thought otherwise, so be it. She wasn’t going to worry about that. Didn’t he deserve to suffer a little after the way he’d behaved?
She tried to put him out of her mind for the moment and turned her attention back to Josh. ‘I didn’t realise you were going to be acting for Finn,’ she said.
He nodded. ‘I was given his case this morning. We seem to get on well together, and he wants me to go on working with him, so with any luck I’ll be able to stay with the case through to the end. It all depends on the date for the court hearing, though, and who happens to be on duty at my firm that day. I could always try to change my schedule if I’m meant to be elsewhere.’
Katie was shocked. ‘Will it come to that? I was hoping the sergeant would come to realise it was all a mistake.’
He grimaced. ‘Unfortunately, Finn seems to have found himself mixed up with a gang of hooligans that has been causing mayhem in the area, and I think the sergeant has decided to come down hard on them. Anyway, it’ll be up to the powers-that-be to decide whether any further action is to be taken. I’ll write a report and send it off, and hope that it does some good.’
‘Thanks, Josh.’ She shook her head. ‘I really can’t see that Finn is guilty in all this. He’s made mistakes in the past, but he’s not a bad lad.’
He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ‘I’ll do what I can for him, Katie.’
She nodded, but she was anxious, wishing that she could do something to put things right. Finn seemed so young, so out of his depth.
Ross came over to them. His blue eyes were cool as he noted the way Josh was standing, close to Katie, and Josh must have felt uncomfortable under that probing gaze because he coloured slightly and eased himself away from her a little.
‘I saw you came here in a taxi,’ Ross said, addressing Josh. ‘Do you need a lift back? I’m going to take Finn home, but we can drop you off on the way if you like. Are you staying locally?’
‘Thanks, Ross—yes, I’m renting the old corn mill. I’m afraid it’s in the opposite direction from where Finn lives, though. I don’t want to put you out. It’s just that it’s awkward for me at the moment because my car’s at the garage—somebody backed into it on the ferry when I was coming over here.’
Katie quietly interrupted. ‘My house is close to Finn’s,’ she said, glancing at Ross. ‘My shift here’s finished, so I could take the lad home. That will save you doubling back on yourself—it looks as though you and Josh are living fairly close to one another.’
Ross nodded. ‘Okay. That sounds good.’ He turned to Finn. ‘Is that all right with you?’
‘Yeah, that’ll be fine.’ Finn’s face lit up. ‘I can take Katie to see Baz.’
‘Baz?’ Katie frowned.
‘He’s Finn’s latest good cause,’ Ross supplied helpfully, his mouth making a wry shape. ‘He came across an abandoned puppy this morning when he was helping the farmer cut down the overgrown hedge. At least, that’s what we think happened to him. He was in a sorry state, huddled in the undergrowth, cold and shaking. I was working, so I couldn’t deal with it right away, but it’s a situation we need to sort out.’ He frowned as he looked at Finn.
‘He needs to go to the vet, Finn, and then maybe the RSPCA. I’m sorry, but I don’t see any way you can keep him, and much as I’d like to take care of him, I can’t have pets while I’m staying at McAskie’s.’
‘I’m not letting him go.’ Finn’s mouth set in a mutinous line. ‘He came to me. He crawled over to me and put his paws on my legs. He wants me to help him. I know he’s relying on me to look after him.’
‘I do understand how you feel.’ Ross put an arm around his brother. ‘Like I said to you earlier, we’ll talk it over and see if we can come to some agreement about what we’re going to do.’
He gave Katie a thoughtful look a minute or two later, as he and Josh prepared to leave. It seemed as though he wanted to talk to her and attempt to c
lear the air between them, but that was never going to happen, given that they weren’t alone, and Katie turned her head away. She was still smarting inside, upset and angry because he’d kept the news of his interview to himself all that time.
She went with Finn out to her car. ‘So, is there something wrong with you having Baz at your house?’ she asked, when he was settled in the passenger seat. ‘What do your parents think about having him around? Aren’t they very keen on the idea?’
He shook his head. ‘Mum’s okay with it, but Dad says it’s too much work for her, even though I promised I would look after him. And, anyway, he doesn’t want a dog around the place. He says he’ll dig up the garden and chew the furniture to bits, and mess everywhere, but I said I wouldn’t let him.’
‘Well, actually, he has a point there, you know,’ Katie said, as she started up the engine. She glanced at him. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know yet. But I’ll think of something. If he gets this job he’s after, maybe Ross will get a place of his own—he did talk about doing that—and then Baz could live there.’
Katie blinked. It hadn’t occurred to her before this, but Finn was right. If Ross was successful in getting the job, it followed that he would need to live hereabouts. She was completely shaken by that thought. Ross, living here...
‘I could stay with Ross, too. I know he would let me.’ Finn pressed his lips together in the same way she’d seen Ross do many times, and her heart gave a small, unbidden lurch. She gave herself a mental shake. She had to get that man out of her mind. It was doing her no good at all to keep thinking of him this way.
She drove along the country lane towards the outskirts of the village. Finn lived in a small hamlet, in a house near a wooded area, and she had fond memories of the place. She had explored that woodland with her sister when they’d been teenagers, and often they had come across Ross and his friends there, too.
One day, she’d stretched out on the long, low branch of a tree and he’d come to stand beside her, talking to her about this and that. It had been an idyllic time, lying there in the warm sunshine, chatting, with Ross leaning negligently against the bole of the tree... Until Jessie had come along, that was. Jessie had been totally oblivious to the warm intimacy she was disturbing, and reluctantly Ross had straightened up and turned to greet her.
Katie determinedly pushed the image from her mind. ‘Presumably your parents are looking after the puppy at the moment—until you can sort things out?’
Finn shook his head. ‘My dad won’t have him in the house. He told me to take him to the RSPCA, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. He’s not very well, and I was afraid they might put him down. I couldn’t let that happen, Katie, so I put him in the shed. Dad never goes in there these days. I have to look after him. I’ve always wanted a dog, ever since I was little.’
Katie gave an inward sigh. The puppy was definitely going to be a problem, that was clear. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ she asked. She guessed the puppy must be quite sick because Ross had said earlier that he needed to see a vet.
‘He has a cough. And he shivers all the time and keeps retching, but I know he’ll get better if I look after him. I can’t let him go, Katie—he looks at me with his brown eyes as though he’s pleading with me to take care of him. I can’t let him down.’
Katie parked her car in the lane near the back of Finn’s house. She turned to look at him. ‘You know, Finn, I’m amazed that you care so much about this puppy, considering that you were bitten by a dog just a few days ago. Hasn’t it put you off at all? They don’t stay puppies for ever, you know.’
‘No, it hasn’t put me off.’ He shook his head. ‘Baz is really good-natured and he would never do anything like that. Besides, perhaps that other dog thought I was on its territory, and that’s why he attacked me.’ He frowned. ‘He shouldn’t have been there, though, out on the street. His owners should have kept him indoors or had him on a leash. That’s what Sergeant McKenzie said, anyway. I think he’s going to make them keep him in. I said I didn’t want him to be put down, not if this was the first time he’d hurt anyone. I think he should have a second chance.’
‘That’s very generous of you, Finn.’ She wasn’t sure it was altogether a wise move, but no doubt Sergeant McKenzie would do the right thing.
They climbed out of the car and went through a gateway at the end of a long garden. Finn led the way along a short crazy-paving path. ‘We have to be quiet,’ he said, putting a finger to his lips. ‘I don’t want Mum and Dad to hear us.’
‘All right.’ She frowned. ‘Do they know where you’ve been this evening?’
‘No. They don’t know anything about what’s been happening. Ross said he’ll have to tell them at some point, but he agreed to wait a while. He told Sergeant McKenzie he’d be responsible for me. If my dad knew what was going on I’d be grounded for weeks. He wouldn’t believe I didn’t do it.’
It was a sorry state of affairs, but Katie kept quiet and went with him to the shed. It was hidden by a trellis covered by an overgrown clematis. The windows were open, letting in warm air, and as they went in she could see that Finn had put down a dish of clean water for the puppy. Coming from the shadows, she heard hoarse, rasping sounds and a low, unhappy whining.
The puppy was huddled in a corner, lying on a couple of old towels. He was a boxer crossbreed, Katie guessed, about seven weeks old, a bundle of brown fur with a smudge of black around his nose, jaw and eyes, and there were white markings on his chest and paws. When he saw Finn, his tail began to thump happily, but it seemed he was too listless to get up and come to greet him.
‘Hi, there, boy, how’re you doing?’ Finn crouched down beside him and lifted him carefully into his lap. ‘Did you miss me? You don’t look too good, young fella. Perhaps you should get some fresh air.’
Katie debated with herself what she should do. It was clear that the puppy meant a great deal to Finn, who obviously had a lot of pent-up love waiting to be poured out on to this vulnerable, abandoned creature.
‘Wrap him up in the towel,’ she told him, making up her mind, ‘and we’ll take him along to the vet. The surgery should still be open if we hurry.’
Finn’s eyes widened. He didn’t need to be urged on and, after taking the pup outside to let him relieve himself, he swiftly did as Katie suggested and hurried to her car, with Baz cradled to his chest.
His mobile phone rang as they drove to the next village and he reached into his jacket pocket to answer it.
‘It’s my brother,’ he mouthed to her as he read the caller display. ‘Hi, Ross. What’s up?’
Katie couldn’t hear what Ross was saying, but it became fairly clear from Finn’s side of the conversation that Ross wanted to make arrangements for the puppy.
‘We’re headed to the vet’s place now,’ Finn told him. ‘Katie said she’d deal with it. She said she’d pay the vet’s bill—but I’m going to pay her back with the money I earn doing jobs on the farm.’
When the call ended, he turned to her. ‘He said he’d already made an appointment for tomorrow morning, but he’s going to cancel that now.’
Katie glanced at the puppy. ‘We could have waited, I suppose, but he doesn’t look very happy, does he? Poor little thing.’
A short time later, they arrived at the large house where the vet held his surgeries. It was a sprawling place, with several outbuildings that served as housing for the animals that needed to be watched overnight.
The vet was a big, kindly man in his fifties, with friendly eyes and dark hair that was beginning to show streaks of grey here and there. ‘Who do we have here, then?’ he asked, as Finn set his precious bundle down on the examination table.
‘His name’s Baz,’ Finn told him. ‘I found him hiding in some long grass near an old well. I think he must have been there all night. He came to me when I started to talk to him.
He trusts me.’
The vet nodded. ‘Let’s have a look at him.’ He looked fondly at the puppy and started to examine him carefully, beginning with his head, eyes and teeth, and then he checked each of his limbs in turn. He was listening to Baz’s chest with his stethoscope when there was a knock at the door and Ross came into the surgery.
Katie stared at him. He must have set out for the surgery as soon as he’d finished talking to Finn. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said. ‘How’s he doing?’
The vet pushed his stethoscope back into his pocket. ‘Hello, there, Ross.’ He stroked the puppy’s ears. ‘It’s kennel cough,’ he answered, ‘as I suspected when we talked on the phone this morning.’
Katie frowned. So Ross had already spoken to the vet?
‘It’s nothing too serious...a while back he probably inhaled some bacterial particles that have set up an irritation in his lungs. His immune system is probably weak, and that’s made him vulnerable. A course of antibiotics should sort him out. In the meantime, he needs plenty of rest and a good diet, three to four meals a day for the next few weeks. And, of course, keep him away from other dogs until he’s had all his vaccinations. We’ll see to those once he’s fit and healthy again.’
They left his office and trooped back to Reception, where Ross insisted on paying the bill instead of Katie. A few minutes later, when he was loaded up with medicines, puppy food and health supplements, they walked out to the car park and stood by the fence for a while, breathing in the fresh evening air. From here they looked out over meadowland, where sheep grazed against a backdrop of hills and valleys.
‘I’ve been thinking about what’s to be done with him, Finn,’ Ross said. ‘Are there any of your friends who could take him on?’
Finn shook his head. ‘They all have dogs, or cats, already. I don’t know what to do, Ross, except...you know you’ve always said you wanted a dog, and you’ll be looking for a place of your own soon if you stay here, won’t you? Can’t I keep him in the shed for a while until we sort something out?’