New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow

by Jessica Redland

  I laughed. ‘Possibly not. It suits you. The name and the hair.’

  Aurora made a sudden bid for freedom so Fizz scooped her up and placed her back on the heat pad with Belle.

  ‘You said you’ve fed various baby animals before. How come?’

  ‘My grandparents on my mum’s side had a farm so I spent loads of time there when I was younger and got the animal bug. They’re retired now and my brother runs it. I studied animal care at college and got a job at a cat rescue centre afterwards but I left there because I won the lottery last year.’

  I gasped. ‘Oh my gosh! That’s amazing!’

  She laughed. ‘It is but there were a few winners that week so we’re not talking millions. It was enough to buy a little cottage, my car and to pay to get qualified as a veterinary nurse. I started studying full-time in September and, oh my God, it’s awesome. Best thing I ever did.’

  ‘Congratulations! And if you’re ever looking for somewhere to do some work experience, you should… Hang on a second.’ I cocked my head to one side. ‘Did you hear a car just now?’

  Fizz narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to one side too. ‘I don’t think so.’

  I shrugged. ‘Must be me imagining things. Where was I? Oh yeah, my boyfriend owns—'

  We both screamed as something hit the window above the sink.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ I ran towards it and squealed again as more objects hit the glass. ‘Eggs!’ Trails of thick yellow yolk trickled down the pane and chunks of shell clung to the window in among the sticky whites. I peered through the mess but it was too dark to see anyone.

  I turned to Fizz. ‘Can you put the hoglets in a crate and put them under the table then move back from the windows?’ I didn’t trust the Grimes boys – or whoever it was – not to lob a brick through the glass. ‘And can you call the police?’

  While Fizz followed my instructions quickly and calmly, I ran upstairs with a notepad and pen. A knackered old beige Ford Escort with both front doors wide open was parked near Fizz’s Mini. I scribbled down the registration number and ran back downstairs to Fizz who relayed the information to the emergency services operator.

  ‘They say to stay inside and away from any windows,’ she said. ‘The police are at an address nearby so they’ll be here in minutes. I’m to stay on the line.’

  I nodded and mouthed ‘thanks’, my heart racing as I listened for sounds outside.

  ‘What do you think they’re doing?’ Fizz whispered.

  I pictured the previous message painted on the stones. ‘Graffiti. It’s not the first time.’

  ‘There’s a moggie here,’ shouted a man from outside.

  I gasped. ‘Misty-Blue!’

  ‘Give it a kicking,’ called the other.

  I heard Misty-Blue howl and rage propelled me towards the door.

  ‘Shit! I missed.’

  ‘There it is! Get it!’

  Not on my watch. I flung the door open and yelled into the night, ‘Kick my cat and it’s the last thing you will ever do!’ I have no idea where the threat came from or the power in my voice but I meant it. Brandishing a heavy torch in my hand, I ran round to the back of the barn. ‘Now get the hell off my farm!’

  I could hear the rustling of running through the tall grasses but couldn’t see anyone when I shone my torch. They must have legged it round the other side. Moments later, a car door slammed and the engine started. I dashed back towards the farmyard to see a hooded figure sprinting towards the passenger side.

  ‘Don’t you dare come back!’ Then I screamed as something heavy hit me on the side of my face before the car screeched across the gravel towards the farm track. The pain was acute, causing spots to swim before my eyes. I pressed the palm of my hand against my cheek and, for a moment, I thought I might faint again but the dizziness ceased. I trembled as I looked down. A box of a half-dozen broken eggs lay by my feet and eggs dripped down my T-shirt. Removing my hand from my face, I looked at my egg and blood-covered fingers. Crap. But that would have to wait.

  ‘Misty-Blue!’ I called. ‘Where are you, sweetheart?’

  ‘Have they gone?’ Fizz rushed to my side. ‘Oh my God! You’re bleeding.’

  ‘I know but I need to find my cat and make sure they haven’t hurt her.’ My voice was shaking.

  ‘You’re bleeding pretty bad. Let’s get you inside and patch you up then I promise I’ll look for her.’

  The adrenaline had left me and I sagged against Fizz as she put her arm round my waist and led me into the barn.

  She pulled one of the chairs over to the sink and lowered me down onto it.

  ‘I know it might sound gruesome but can I take some photos? Might be useful evidence.’

  ‘My phone’s on the table.’

  ‘What should I use to clean your face?’ she asked after taking some photos.

  I indicated a drawer containing fresh tea towels. She wet one and gently cleaned the egg and blood off my face with it, tutting and muttering under her breath about ‘cowardly scum’.

  ‘How’s it looking?’ I asked when she stepped back.

  ‘You’re going to need stitches.’

  ‘I’m a nurse. I’ve got some Steri-strips in the house.’

  Fizz shook her head. ‘It’s deep. I don’t think they’re gonna do the trick.’

  ‘No! I could do without a trip to A&E tonight.’

  She wet a fresh tea towel which I held against my cheek while she went to look for Misty-Blue. Her howl echoed in my mind and I felt sick with fear that they might have hurt her. They’d certainly hurt me. My cheek throbbed and my eye felt painful too.

  Feeling some strength return to my legs now the initial shock had worn off, I shuffled into the toilets. One look in the mirror confirmed that Fizz was right about needing stitches. I’d no idea a box of eggs could inflict so much damage but I suppose anything thrown with force could be a weapon.

  I returned to the main room and felt weak with relief when I spotted flashing blue lights reflecting in the windows followed by a knock on the door. ‘Hello? Police.’

  I recognised the police constable as one of the ones who’d given me the news about them originally catching the Grimes boys.

  ‘PC Sunning? Come in.’

  ‘You’re bleeding.’

  ‘One of them threw a box of eggs at me.’ I lifted the towel away from my cheek. ‘As you can see, he had a pretty good aim.’

  ‘That looks painful.’ He shook his head. ‘We’ve caught them. Bear with me a moment. I just need to tell my sarge you were assaulted. Back shortly.’

  I sank down into the chair by the sink. They’d caught them? Thank goodness for that.

  The barn door opened again. ‘Is this her?’ Fizz called.

  I pressed my fingers to my lips at the sight of Misty-Blue cradled in Fizz’s arms, feeling light-headed with relief. ‘Yes. Is she okay?’

  ‘A little jittery but it doesn’t look like they’ve hurt her.’ She brought the cat over to me.

  ‘Thank goodness.’

  ‘She’s so beautiful.’ She tickled her behind the ears and Misty-Blue’s purrs instantly soothed me. ’Did you see the police are outside?’

  I nodded. ‘One of them came in just now but he saw my cheek and went to tell his sergeant. Apparently they’ve caught them.’

  ‘Awesome.’

  PC Sunning returned. ‘Fizz! What are you doing here?’

  ‘Hi, Mike. I was helping feed some baby hedgehogs I’d brought in. Are you on with my dad tonight? Is he outside?’

  ‘He’s calling for a van. Does he know you’re here?’

  She shook her head. ‘He’ll find out soon enough.’

  ‘Small world,’ I muttered as PC Sunning turned to me. If Fizz’s dad was a police sergeant, it explained why she’d been so calm and why she’d thought to take photos for evidence.

  ‘I need to take a statement,’ PC Sunning said, ‘but you might need to get that gash seen to first.’

  ‘I’ll be fine to g
ive a statement now but I will need to get to A&E straight after. Would you mind if I call my dad? I’m going to need him to look after the hedgehogs while I’m gone.’ So much for not disturbing him tonight but, with six hoglets to feed now, I couldn’t risk being held up too long at hospital.

  ‘Go ahead.’

  I rang Dad and quickly explained what had happened. It pained me to hear the panic in his voice. He’d be feeling guilty for me being alone at the barn and I suspected we’d be having another conversation about him staying when Josh was away or on call but he couldn’t keep trying to protect me like that. The perpetrators had been caught and hopefully this would be the end. If it was the Grimes boys, surely they had to get locked up now. I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t been already.

  ‘My dad’s on his way. Have a seat.’ I picked up the crate from under the table and gently placed the hoglets back on the heat pads. I smiled weakly at him. ‘They’d give you a statement but they were hiding under the table for protection in case a window got put through which it thankfully didn’t.’

  ‘Erm, I hate to say this but it did.’ Fizz shrugged apologetically. ‘I heard glass smashing upstairs when you went outside.’

  I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head. It just kept getting worse.

  PC Sunning took out his notepad. ‘I know it’s little comfort when your property has been damaged but every charge adds up to a stronger case against them.’

  ‘Is it the Grimes boys?’ I asked.

  ‘No. They’re currently serving at Her Majesty’s Pleasure. Did nobody tell you?’

  I sighed and shook my head. ‘No. And I’ve had several of your colleagues here about other incidents but nobody ever came back to me with an update so I had no idea if it was them or someone new.’

  ‘I’m really sorry. Not that it’s a good enough excuse but we’ve had a few staffing changes. You should have been told about their sentencing. I’ll make sure someone gets in touch early next week with the details.’

  ‘Thank you. So if it’s not Brynn and Cody Grimes, who have you got outside?’

  ‘A couple of young lads who aren’t giving their names. They are connected to the Grimes boys because the car they’re in is registered to one Cody Grimes. I think it’s too much of a coincidence to suggest that they happen to have stolen his car to attack the same farm he attacked. They’re not saying how they’re connected – they’re not saying much of anything – but we’ll find out down at the station.’

  ‘Scum. I bet the car isn’t taxed or insured,’ Fizz muttered.

  ‘Fizz Kinsella, what could possibly make you jump to such an assumption about a fine upstanding member of our community?’ PC Sunning rolled his eyes and shook his head. ‘Needless to say, the recovery truck is on its way too, not that Mr Grimes needs his car where he is.’

  PC Sunning asked me to run through the full events of the evening with Fizz chipping in extra detail like the windows smashing. He took photos of my face for his records and asked me to email him the ones Fizz had taken, then he went upstairs to check out the damage and take photos up there. When he came back down, he reported that there were two broken windows and two bricks on the floor. A note was wrapped round one of them containing two words: GOLD DIGGER.

  ‘Exactly what they painted on the wall a fortnight ago.’ I filled him in on the three other incidents – the faeces on the donation bins, the graffiti on the barn and the box of roadkill – just in case they hadn’t been properly connected. He asked me to email him those photos too, saying he’d make it his personal mission to ensure everything was looked at together and he’d rather have the evidence twice than not at all.

  ‘If the Grimes boys are in prison and you’ve caught their partners in crime too, do you think it will finally be over?’ I felt so weary, I could barely string the sentence together.

  ‘They’re certainly in a whole heap of trouble, especially as there’s an assault involved.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘I think you should send someone round to their house, pelt it with eggs, smear it with dog crap and put a few windows through,’ Fizz declared. ‘See how they like it.’

  PC Sunning smiled ruefully. ‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure but, oddly enough, that sort of behaviour is not part of our police training.’

  ‘It should be.’

  The barn door burst open. ‘Sammie! Are you okay?’ Dad rushed towards me, closely followed by Lauren. ‘Oh, poppet! What have they done to you now?’

  ‘They egged me.’

  Lauren and Dad both winced when I took the tea towel away to show them the damage. ‘That looks painful,’ Lauren said.

  ‘It is. Needs stitches so looks like I’m off to A&E.’

  She placed her hand gently on my shoulder. ‘I’ll take you while your dad looks after things here.’

  I still felt pretty shaky so the offer was very welcome.

  PC Sunning flipped his pad closed. ‘I’ve got everything I need for now so I’ll let you get to hospital while I check the building perimeter to see whether they’ve painted or sprayed on it like you suspect.’

  Seconds later, PC Sunning’s radio buzzed. He listened on his earpiece and nodded. ‘The tow-truck’s just arrived. Are you heading home now, Fizz?’

  She turned to me. ‘Can I stay and help your dad?’

  ‘Aren’t you tired?’

  ‘I’m a night owl. Far too much energy. I only need about four hours’ sleep.’

  ‘I can vouch for that.’ PC Sunning smiled fondly at her. ‘I’ve known this one since she was knee-high to a grasshopper and she’s always been a bundle of positive energy.’

  I did the introductions and explained to Dad who Fizz was and how helpful and capable she’d been earlier. ‘He’s a vet, Fizz, so you might be able to bag yourself a work experience opportunity if you impress him.’

  Her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together excitedly.

  Dad smiled. ‘I’m happy to have the help and the company.’

  ‘Thanks for everything, Fizz. I’m so sorry about what happened.’

  She grinned. ‘Not your fault. I loved feeding the hoglets and I loved cuddles with your cat. The other stuff wasn’t quite so much fun but it was exciting. Can I come back and help again some time?’

  ‘You haven’t been put off for life?’ I nodded. ‘It would be a pleasure to have your help. Drop me a message on the Facebook page and we’ll sort something out.’

  ‘Yay!’ She drew me into a hug, taking care not to brush against my wounded cheek. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘What a lovely girl,’ Lauren said as we set off down the farm track. ‘New friend?’

  ‘I think she might be. We had fun before the barn came under attack again. She seems keen to help and, if she’s happy to do that on a voluntary basis every so often, it could make a real difference. Imagine if I could find a whole team of volunteers who’d be willing to help out or collect donations or educate the community…’ My mind was whirring again with possibilities. ‘Just think how much we could achieve.’

  ‘I bet there’ll be a lot of willing volunteers out there.’

  Lauren pulled off the farm track and steered her car in the direction of Reddfield Hospital. ‘Does Josh know what’s happened?’

  ‘Not yet. He’d insist on driving straight back here and he’s barely had any sleep recently. It’s not like he could do anything to help if he came back. I’ll let him know tomorrow but he’s got enough on his plate at the moment without having to deal with this.’

  ‘You’re not having the best May, are you?’

  ‘You’re telling me! The start of it was amazing but it’s gone on a downward trajectory since then. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. If a barn collapsing on top of me didn’t kill me, a drive-by egging certainly isn’t going to.’

  ‘That’s the spirit.’ She laughed. ‘Drive-by egging. What are you like?’

  ‘Tonight wasn’t all bad either. I met Fizz, we rescued four hoglets, I found o
ut that the Grimes boys did get locked up and the police caught the baddies from tonight.’

  Lauren laughed again. ‘Baddies? What are you? Six?’

  ‘Don’t make me laugh. It hurts too much.’ I pressed the tea towel against my wound. It had been a hell of an evening but there’d been lots of chinks of light in the darkness and, throughout my life, I’d naturally gravitated towards the light. When Mum was unkind, I turned to Nanna and Gramps, Dad and even Chloe because, despite what happened with James, she had been my best friend and I missed the moments where it was just the two of us cracking up with laughter. Would that love and friendship ever return?

  47

  Josh

  Mum was at the hospital with Archie when I returned on Saturday evening. He was wide awake and full of beans, becoming especially animated when I handed him a soft toy penguin I’d picked up from a supermarket on the way. She wanted Archie to fall asleep in the car on the way home so she could transfer him straight into the travel cot and suggested I change his nappy and dress him for bed. I was all fingers and thumbs having never dressed a baby before but she gave me tips and encouragement and, other than a popper-alignment disaster, it went fairly smoothly.

  When I settled him in my arms with his bottle, Mum beamed at me. ‘Already a pro for when you have your own.’

  As my parents both smiled proudly at me feeding my half-brother, the expectation that fatherhood would be imminent for me hung in the room. Little did they know. Although what Jonathan had told me was enlightening and might help change Sammie’s mind.

  Archie snuggled against me after finishing his bottle, his eyelids drooping, his hand wrapped round Waddles the penguin. I couldn’t deny a tug of longing to have my own child but it would only feel special if they were also Sammie’s child. She meant more to me than anything in the world. I only had to think about those bleak days while she was in hospital fighting for her life and the same fear I’d felt when she’d been ill recently to know that I’d be lost without her. If a combination of her homework, a conversation with Jonathan, and time didn’t change her mind then I would focus on being the best big brother possible to Archie and Lottie. If it was a choice between Sammie and no babies or babies and no Sammie, it was an easy decision. Sammie every time.