The Secret Dog

by Joe Friedman

  Still, he had to say something more than ‘thank you’.

  ‘Thanks for staying up too. We’d better get to bed.’

  His uncle hesitated. He stood, suddenly looking old. Defeated.

  What did he expect? Josh thought, defensively.

  * * *

  Calum had let him use the bathroom first, on the grounds that he had to get his rest so he could do well at school again the next day. He brushed his teeth mechanically. School was the last thing in Josh’s thoughts. He was imagining how frightened Reggae must be.

  An involuntary moan escaped him.

  ‘Are you all right, Josh?’ his uncle asked.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  Josh finished up and said good night again. Then he climbed the ladder to his room. He was aware of his uncle’s eyes on him. The ladder seemed longer than usual.

  And his bedroom darker. And emptier.

  Josh was hardly aware of removing his clothes and climbing into bed. His only thoughts were of Reggae. How alone and cold she must feel.

  Like he’d felt, when the police had come to his door that awful night.

  He’d been asleep when the doorbell rang. He’d opened his eyes and had seen the mobile hanging over his bed, the one he and his mum had made, with planets and stars. When the bell rang a second time, he’d realised his mum wasn’t home yet and he got up to answer it. His first thought, when he saw the two policemen, was that they’d come about the desk he’d written on at school.

  They’d been awkward, two big men probably happier chasing a criminal with a gun than standing here on his doorstep.

  ‘Can we speak to your father?’

  ‘He’s dead,’ Josh told them.

  ‘Is there another adult we could speak to?’

  ‘Just my mum, but she’s not here now. She’s taking Charlene to the hospital.’

  ‘Could we come in?’

  ‘I’m not supposed to let strangers in.’

  ‘That’s generally good advice,’ the bigger one had said.

  The other said gently, ‘We’re not really strangers,’ and took out his police badge for Josh to look at.

  Josh curled up on the worn sofa, still half asleep in his Transformer pyjamas. He wondered if he should offer them water, like his mum would have done.

  The two policemen turned the armchairs around so that they faced him and not the telly. Then they sat, and looked at one another.

  The smaller one said, ‘Your mum has had an accident.’

  Even then, Josh hadn’t twigged. ‘Is she hurt? Are you here to take me to see her?’

  The big policeman asked, ‘Do you have a relative living anywhere nearby?’

  ‘What does that matter? She’ll want to see me. Just take me there!’

  ‘We can’t do that.’

  Then Josh had understood. It was as if suddenly he was far away from the living room and the two policemen, as if he’d been transported to outer space, to the planets in the mobile above his bed. He remembered thinking, as all the light in the room, in the world, vanished, this is what a black hole does . . .

  * * *

  Josh shivered in spite of the heat. How had he forgotten all that? He’d felt the world had come to an end then. But it hadn’t, really.

  He was still here. And in some ways, she’d come back to him, especially through her music. He reached over to the wooden box on the side of his bed and picked up the MP3 player Yvonne had given him. He turned it on. It was still tuned to the faint reggae programme he listened to late at night.

  They were playing a song he remembered! It was his mother’s ‘fighting song’. The one she played (and sang, at the top of her lungs) before she went into ‘battle’ with teachers about Josh or council officers about their flat. They’d sing it together. He’d sing the chorus, ‘Get up, stand up!’ and she’d do the following verse. He listened to the radio. Yes, that was it! ‘Don’t give up the fight.’ That’s what she sang!

  For a moment, Josh was lost in the memory. Then he thought, it’s a sign they played that song just then.

  He couldn’t do a thing about his mother’s accident. But he wasn’t helpless now. He could fight. And he had a friend who would help him.

  Chapter 23

  Their bodies leant forward as they struggled to walk into the strong north-east wind. The drizzle that started when they left Yvonne’s house had turned into a downpour. Josh’s anorak protected his head and chest for the first ten minutes, but now the driving rain had forced its way through the hoodie’s worn seams and waterproofing. His jeans were already completely soaked.

  The wind blew Yvonne’s umbrella inside out as soon as they hit the road. She just carried on without it.

  As they caught their first sight of Dunham’s dark house, silhouetted against the grey clouds in the distance, Josh said, ‘Here’s where I go.’ He noticed the rain dripping steadily off Yvonne’s glasses onto her nose and face, and her determined expression.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Whatever happens tonight.’

  Yvonne touched him briefly on the arm. ‘Good luck.’

  Josh vaulted over the fence that marked the boundary to Dunham’s property. He waved to Yvonne, and then jogged away. His heavy rucksack thudded rhythmically on his back. As he ran, he began to recognise buildings from the map he’d memorised.

  It was unlikely anyone would be working outside in this weather, but he threaded his way through Dunham’s farm buildings carefully just in case.

  As he passed between two big barns, he suddenly stopped, startled, as he noticed the door to one of them was open. Was Dunham inside? Josh’s first impulse was to run and hide. But then he realised he needed to know if someone was there. He couldn’t afford to have Dunham stumble upon him while he was rescuing Reggae.

  Josh crept up to the side of the open door, and tilted his head so that his ears were close. He wished he wasn’t so tense, and tried to relax his breathing and shoulders. But after a few minutes, he realised the barn was empty and he started to breathe normally again. He headed for Dunham’s house.

  As he and Yvonne had planned, he ended up behind a red-roofed barn not far from the front door. He took out the mobile phone Yvonne had lent him and texted, ‘I’m in position.’

  * * *

  As Yvonne waited in the pouring rain for Josh to text her, all the things that could go wrong with this hastily planned rescue wove through her mind: Reggae might not be where they expected. Dunham could answer the door. Kearney might have told his father that she was friends with Josh. And then there was all the lying she’d have to do: could she do it convincingly?

  When the text finally arrived she was so tense, she fired off a response without thinking. ‘What took you so long?’ Josh’s reply didn’t help: ‘Long story, later’. She pictured him alongside the barn, his face grim with determination. She was glad she was there to help him. And she hadn’t felt this alive in ages!

  She opened the garden gate. The dogs in the kennel started barking frantically. As she walked towards the door, she was sure she could see Josh moving towards the kennel out of the corner of her eye. But she didn’t turn her head, in case someone in the house was watching her approach.

  Water from the hood of her anorak dripped onto her face. She folded it back with her free hand and then rang the bell, praying that Dunham didn’t answer. She’d prepared a little talk about how she was doing a sponsored walk for Children in Need, but she wasn’t optimistic it would fool someone as suspicious as Dunham. The door started to open. Yvonne held her breath.

  Relief flooded her body, as she recognised Mariella, Dunham’s wife.

  ‘Yvonne!’ Mariella exclaimed. ‘What a nice surprise! What brings you out on this dreadful night?’

  ‘I’m going to do a sponsored walk. In support of Children in Need.’

  * * *

  Josh stayed behind the back of the kennel until he heard the door close. Yvonne had succeeded in the first part of her mission – to enable him to get to the dogs.
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br />   The dogs were still barking frantically. They’d seen him running to hide behind their kennel. He had to get them to stop, otherwise the distraction Yvonne had provided would go to waste. He removed four meaty bones from his rucksack and, still crouching, stepped out from behind the kennel. The kennel was divided into two. There were two dogs on either side. Four dogs stared at him. Before they could react, he shoved two bones into each side of the kennel. There was a brief sound of growling, then the dogs went quiet. They couldn’t eat and bark at the same time.

  The two dogs nearest him were the ones he’d seen in the valley. They were looking up at him. ‘Good boy,’ he whispered, before they decided whether to bark or not. One left his bone and came up to the edge of the kennel. Josh stroked the side of his face. He could hardly believe a dog would leave a bone to get some affection. In a moment, the second dog was there. ‘Good girl.’

  But as Josh soothed the two dogs, a horrible realisation was hitting him. There were just four dogs in the kennel. And none of them was Reggae.

  Could she really be . . . dead? His mind conjured up the scene – Dunham trying to drag her from her shed, her fighting back, biting him, drawing blood, and Dunham striking her hard, without thinking.

  * * *

  Yvonne took her time removing her boots as she sat at the kitchen table, as Mariella closed the door to the living room. With luck, Reggae would be in the kennel and her phone would buzz in a few moments.

  When it didn’t, Yvonne sighed inwardly. She’d have to do her ‘talk’. She moved to the kitchen table, carrying her bag.

  ‘Would you like some slippers?’ Mariella asked. ‘This floor is always freezing.’

  Yvonne nodded and Mariella scurried off to a cupboard full of knitted slippers.

  The slippers made a difference on the stone floor. ‘Thanks,’ Yvonne said. ‘They’re really lovely and warm. That was very thoughtful.’

  Mariella blushed. ‘It was nothing.’

  ‘And such an interesting design. Where are they from?’

  ‘My brother brought them from Canada.’

  ‘I didn’t know you had a brother in Canada,’ Yvonne replied, attempting to keep the conversation going.

  ‘He’s not there anymore. He moved back to the island,’ Mariella said, sitting down at the table. ‘Tell me about your walk.’

  Yvonne took out the papers and sponsorship form she’d prepared. Surely if Reggae had been in the kennel just outside the door, Josh would have texted her already. Which meant she wasn’t . . . and that their plan wasn’t working out the way they’d hoped. Now her job was to keep Mariella occupied as long as possible, to give Josh the best chance to find Reggae.

  ‘It’s 40 miles as the crow flies,’ Yvonne said. ‘Probably longer in reality.’ Because Mariella had been really impatient when she talked about Children in Need, she’d cut that bit of her talk short and concentrated on her planned walk.

  ‘That’s quite a way,’ Mariella interrupted.

  ‘Would you like to sponsor me?’

  ‘I know about long walks,’ Mariella continued, as if Yvonne hadn’t said anything.

  ‘Do you?’ Yvonne asked, as she took out her phone. She was sure she would have felt a text arrive, but she had to check. Nothing. And the clock on the phone showed her ‘talk’ had only taken a few minutes.

  Where was Josh? And Reggae? What could she do now?

  But Mariella was speaking to her. ‘I’ve done lots of long walks, five days, even a week. So you’re fortunate to be talking to me, even though your walk will only take two or three days. I know as much as anyone on the island about long-distance walking. Walking that far is a serious matter,’ she continued. ‘Blisters . . . that’s your major concern. They can stop you in your tracks.’

  ‘Really?’ Yvonne said. She was beginning to realise that the reason Mariella hadn’t wanted to hear about Children in Need was because she wanted to talk about the walk. And that she’d closed the door to the living room because she was starved of conversation. All Yvonne needed to do was listen, and provide some encouragement.

  ‘Vaseline and thick socks. They’re the key to stopping blisters. And well broken-in shoes . . . Do you know about breaking in shoes?’

  ‘Not anything like enough,’ said Yvonne, trying to look interested.

  ‘Well,’ said Mariella. ‘Shoes are a very big topic!’

  Yvonne began to relax. All she had to do was let Mariella go on.

  It was then that the door to the living opened. And Kearney entered.

  * * *

  Josh sat listening to the dogs gnawing through the bones he’d given them, paralysed by crippling thoughts, which seemed to be on a permanent loop in his head.

  ‘This was your brilliant plan? Look for Reggae in the kennel by Dunham’s front door? What a loser. You don’t deserve a dog like Reggae! Or a friend like Yvonne. You’re just sitting there, useless and stupid, as she risks everything to help you. Useless and stupid. That’s you.’

  Through the window, Josh saw Kearney come into the kitchen. For a moment, he almost welcomed this, as it would bring his agony to an end. But then he thought about Reggae, lost and hopeless. She trusted him.

  Then the tune popped into his head. ‘Get up, stand up!’ His mother’s fighting song again! ‘Stand up for your rights!’ She didn’t want him to give up.

  His brain shifted up a gear. He began to think. Okay, he’d been wrong about the kennel. Yvonne had always said Dunham was too devious to put Reggae there.

  He had to think like Dunham. And he didn’t have any time to waste.

  * * *

  Yvonne forced herself to smile.

  ‘I thought I heard your voice,’ Kearney said. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I’m going to do a sponsored walk. For Children in Need. I never knew your mum knew so much about walking.’

  In Yvonne’s eyes, Mariella seemed to grow, like a plant being watered.

  ‘She likes nothing better than to set out on a rainy day with her rucksack and a thermos,’ Kearney said proudly, putting his hand on his mother’s shoulder.

  Now Yvonne imagined Mariella blossoming.

  ‘I don’t remember doing anything about fundraising for Children in Need at school,’ Kearney said suspiciously.

  ‘It’s not a school project,’ Yvonne replied quickly. ‘I’ve been thinking about it for a while.’

  As soon as she said this, Yvonne kicked herself mentally. That was a terrible way to put it, because it would make Kearney wonder why she was doing it today.

  Kearney looked at her searchingly. Yvonne fought to keep calm. When she’d agreed to do this, she hadn’t thought about how it would involve lying to people she knew.

  ‘I see,’ Kearney said, nodding to himself.

  Yvonne had a terrible feeling he did see.

  ‘I really miss walking home with you,’ Kearney said.

  Yvonne tried to hide her dismay. She could see Kearney was thinking how Josh had taken his place. And how Josh was no friend of his . . .

  Then Kearney surprised her.

  ‘Josh was in a really bad way today, wasn’t he?’ Kearney continued. ‘He looked like a scarecrow with the stuffing knocked out.’

  Now there was no doubt. He knew. Yvonne’s heart sank. What was Kearney going to do? And why hadn’t Josh texted? Where was he?

  * * *

  Josh crouched by the kennel and tried to think like Dunham. Where was the least likely place you’d put a stolen sheepdog?

  With sheep? Josh smiled grimly at the thought. You didn’t keep sheep inside a building. But what about other animals? You wouldn’t keep most Borders with animals – they’d bark and harry them. But Reggae wasn’t your typical Border. She’d been trained to be quiet. Would Dunham have realised that?

  He would have! Because Reggae wouldn’t have barked, even while he cut off the padlock to his shed . . . She may have created a racket when Dunham tried to grab her . . . but Dunham would have guessed it was safe to keep her with
animals.

  Josh felt a surge of excitement. Okay, he said to himself, you’ve thought like Dunham, where’s Reggae?

  Josh remembered the barn with the open door. There were three calves there. Could Reggae be there?

  He hoicked his rucksack onto his back and took a final look at the kitchen. Oh no!

  * * *

  The door from the living room burst open and Dunham entered the kitchen, his face red with anger.

  He spoke to his wife sharply. ‘I’ve been waiting for that cup of tea you promised fifteen minutes ago!’

  Mariella seemed to shrink visibly. She jumped up and scuttled over to the kettle. ‘I’m so sorry. I got involved in a conversation . . . It’ll just be a minute.’

  Even though she knew it was stupid, Yvonne tried to make herself as small as possible. Kearney had turned his face away from his father. But before he’d moved, Yvonne had registered how upset he seemed. Was it because he realised she was helping Josh?

  Dunham turned to leave. It seemed he had been placated by the way Mariella had jumped to attend to him. Yvonne’s shoulders began to relax as she began to hope he hadn’t noticed her.

  Too soon. Before he reached the door, Dunham swivelled around and faced her. ‘The vet’s daughter,’ he said, like a spider who had just noticed a fly caught in his web. ‘And to what do we owe this visit?’

  ‘She’s doing a sponsored walk for Children in Need.’ Mariella answered swiftly, while reaching for a tin of biscuits.

  ‘Did I ask you anything?’ Dunham said.

  Mariella hunched over the little saucepan. ‘No,’ she said, almost inaudibly.

  Dunham took a step towards Yvonne. He towered above her in the tiny kitchen. Kearney, who now seemed in control of himself, turned to face his father.

  Dunham was looking at her expectantly, but Mariella had already answered his question. What was she supposed to say? Especially when she could almost see Dunham’s suspicious mind making links between Reggae, Josh and her.