by Anita Notaro
‘Yes, I’ve got him.’ Jack was a big, burly man and he had no trouble pinning Ronan down. ‘How did he get in?’ he asked me, just as we heard the siren screaming up the lane.
‘He’s a client, I let him in. He’s been watching me, that’s why Pete’s been growling so much.’ I threw my arms around my beloved pet and gradually eased him on to my lap. ‘Pete’s been stabbed.’ It all hit me then. ‘Please help me.’
Suddenly, it was chaos. Two policemen came storming in, handcuffed Ronan and dragged him away.
‘I’m sorry, the knife slipped,’ he told me as he left. ‘I would never have hurt you, or Pete, or any animal. You know that.’
All I could do was nod. What had happened was totally out of character for him, I was pretty sure of that. And I knew how much he loved Deputy, so he wasn’t a man to intentionally hurt any animal, as he’d said.
One policeman was on his phone, while the other checked we were all OK. ‘Luckily, we were very close by. You’d been broken into before, hadn’t you?’ he asked, after introducing himself as Paul Keegan. ‘There was a record of it at the station.’
‘Yes, but please, I need help. My dog’s been stabbed.’ Each time I said the words, I could feel myself getting hysterical.
‘We’re on to it,’ he told me. ‘Jim, any word?’
The second policeman appeared. ‘Yep, just got him. He says he’ll meet us at the surgery. He reckons it’ll be quicker and, besides, he has everything he needs there. It’s only down the road.’ He knelt down beside me. ‘I’m Jim Doran. Are you OK? Will I carry him for you?’
‘No, it’s fine, he’s not heavy,’ I said, but as I stood up I seemed to lose the power in my legs, and all four of them grabbed me and Pete as I buckled.
‘I’ve got him,’ Paul Keegan said.
‘We’ve got Lulu,’ Jill said. ‘Can you manage?’ she asked, leading me to a chair.
‘Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I just stood up too quickly,’ I explained. ‘I need to go with him, though. I can’t leave him.’
‘I’ll come too,’ Jill said. ‘Jack, will you be OK here?’
‘Yes, of course. I’ll lock up here and tell our neighbours what’s happened, although I suspect they know something’s up by now.’ He grimaced. ‘We were having dinner with our friends next door,’ he told me. ‘Pete sure knows how to attract attention when he wants help.’ He scratched his head. ‘We were upstairs in their front room instead of on the ground floor in the kitchen, yet he managed to get up on to a raised platform and tear at the door until we heard him. He had me by the leg in seconds. There was no doubting something was up – he wasn’t taking no for an answer.’
We were walking out as we talked. ‘I didn’t even know he’d escaped until I heard his bark and your voice,’ I told Jack as I handed him my keys. ‘Thank God you came when you did.’
‘It really was impossible not to.’ Jill smiled. ‘That dog will do anything to protect you.’ She stroked Pete’s head as the policeman gently carried him outside. ‘He sure as hell loves you.’
We were in the car at that stage, and Paul placed Pete gently on my lap with a rug over him. ‘I don’t think it’s too bad,’ he said kindly. ‘The bleeding’s slowed to a trickle anyway.’
‘Thank you.’ I was trying not to cry. ‘What happened to Ronan?’
‘Another car took him to the station; we called for help as soon as we realized the intruder was still here,’ Jim Doran said. ‘We’ll need to talk to you at some stage, if that’s OK?’
I nodded.
‘Is there anyone I should call?’ Jill wanted to know.
‘Clodagh,’ I told her. ‘Her number is in my phone. No, wait she’s in London tonight, I forgot. Will you ring my sister Becky?’ I don’t know why, but I wanted her. ‘Her number is on speed dial five.’
‘Her phone’s off,’ Jill said after a second. ‘It won’t allow me to leave a message.’
‘Actually, could you try Mike? He’s first under “m”. I think I’d like him to know, at least.’
We had arrived at the vet’s by then, so I left her in the car, gathering up my stuff as I carried Pete inside.
Joe Ryan, the vet, was waiting at the door. He introduced himself and quickly asked me what had happened.
I explained what little I knew as the vet carried him into the surgery and lay him on the stainless-steel table in the centre of the room.
‘It doesn’t look too bad, from what I can see.’ He smiled at me. ‘He’s probably just a bit shook.’
‘I think perhaps he climbed up a wall or pole or something to try and raise the alarm.’ I was confused about what Jack had said. ‘My neighbour is outside, she knows more.’
‘Mike’s on his way.’ Jill appeared at the door. She told Joe all she knew then offered to ring Jack and check if he had seen anything else.
A veterinary nurse appeared. ‘Hi, I’m Lisa.’ She smiled. ‘Are you OK?’ I saw her looking at the blood on my blouse.
‘Oh yes, I’m fine, I’m just worried about Pete,’ I told her.
‘Well, my dad’s a great vet, even if I say so myself.’ She grinned. ‘So he’s in good hands. Now, we’ll probably need to run a few tests, so my mum, Maisie, is offering to make you some strong tea upstairs if you can face climbing the stairs?’
‘Can I not stay with him?’
‘I’ll bring you back down in a few minutes. He’ll be sedated anyway, so he’ll be fine, I promise.’
‘Thank you.’ I let her lead the way.
‘Mum, this is Lulu, her dog’s been injured,’ Lisa said a few moments later. Maisie shook my hand and I took the mug of tea she handed me and sat by the fire. She wrapped a rug around me, even though the room was toasty. As I sipped the warm brew I noticed my hands were shaking, so I concentrated on saying a prayer for Pete to keep my mind busy. I liked it that Maisie didn’t talk much; instead, she pottered around, cleaning and humming under her breath. I found her presence very soothing.
‘We’ve got the bleeding under control.’ Lisa appeared at my side a few minutes later as I sat staring into the flames and trying to make sense of what had just happened. ‘It was only a gash, really. Dad wonders if you’re up to going downstairs just so he can run a few things by you?’
‘Sure.’ I stood up. ‘Will you thank your mum for me? She’s been very kind.’
‘No thanks needed, she’s been doing this every day, more or less, since I was born.’ She smiled.
Mike was getting out of his car just as we came out the front door beside the surgery.
‘Are you OK?’ He sprinted towards me, and when I saw him I burst into tears.
‘Oh Lulu, what am I going to do with you?’ He enveloped me in a bear-hug.
‘It wasn’t . . . my . . . fa-ult,’ I stuttered. ‘It just happ . . . ened, he’s been watch . . . ing me,’ I blew my nose. ‘That’s why Pete’s been growling.’
‘Of course it wasn’t your fault.’ He tipped up my face. ‘It’ll be OK, I promise.’ He smiled at Lisa. ‘Mike.’ He held out his hand.
‘Lisa. We’re just heading back to see Dad,’ she told him. ‘He’s the vet. He wants to have a word about Pete.’
‘How is he?’
‘He was stabbed,’ I told Mike. ‘But it’s not bad, apparently.’ I saw his face change. ‘Ronan didn’t mean it, he wouldn’t hurt an animal.’
‘Ronan who?’
‘Ronan O’Meara – that’s who it was, he came to the van. He wanted me to go with him.’ It was all so weird I thought I must have imagined the whole thing.
‘He was the intruder?’ Mike looked stunned.
‘Yes, it’s odd, isn’t it?’
‘It’s unbelievable actually.’ Mike helped me inside. ‘Did the police get him?’
‘Yes, will he be in trouble, do you think?’
‘I dunno, I’d imagine he will. But let’s not worry about that just now. Let’s concentrate on you and Pete.’
‘In here.’ Lisa opened the door to a different room.
‘I’m fine,’ I told Mike as I came face to face with Pete. ‘It’s him I’m worried about.’
Pete struggled to get off the table as soon as he saw me.
‘Well, looking at him, I’d say you don’t have that much to worry about.’ Mike smiled at the efforts Pete was making to get to me.
‘It’s OK, Pete, I’m here.’ I went up to the table, and he gave up trying to stand, simply nuzzled against me. I bent down so that my face was level with his. ‘You’re the best dog in the whole world,’ I whispered as I kissed his head and stroked him. Within seconds he’d settled.
Mike introduced himself to the vet and asked, ‘How’s he doing?’
‘Well, the good news is that the gash was superficial,’ Joe Ryan said. ‘It didn’t even need a stitch. But he appears to have had some sort of attack, or seizure, in his efforts to get help.’ He smiled at me. ‘That’s some loyalty you instilled in him. How long have you had him?’
‘Less than a year,’ I told him. ‘I sort of rescued him. He lived on a farm in Ashford and he’d been neglected a bit. He will be all right though, won’t he?’
‘How old is he?’
‘I’m not sure, nine or ten, at a guess. I could check though – I have a client who lives next door to his original owners.’
The vet shook his head. ‘I think your guess is fairly accurate. And what you tell me about him having been neglected is borne out by the X-rays. He has a few old injuries. The problem is, it’s hard to be sure exactly what happened to him tonight – he may even have had a heart attack. Have you any medical history for him, the name of a previous vet, even?’
‘No, I asked when I took him but, to be honest, I don’t think he’d ever been to a vet. He was a farm dog who wasn’t really wanted after a while.’
‘Well, I think we need to keep him here overnight, for a start. I’ve done all I can for now, and the painkillers and other medication should help. I have to warn you, though. He might never get back to the way he was.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He might not be able to run about, or play like he used to. It’s hard to tell. I could be wrong about this – dogs have confounded me many times in the past, I can tell you – so let’s just wait and see how he is in the morning, eh?’
‘He comes everywhere with me on the front of my bike,’ I told Joe. ‘In a special carrier. Will he still be able to do that?’
‘Hard to tell.’ He grinned; I imagined it was at the picture I painted. ‘Let’s see what the morning brings, eh?’
‘I’ll buy a car.’ I was beginning to panic. ‘I couldn’t leave him at home, you see. He’d hate that, he comes everywhere with me.’
Mike put his arm around me. ‘Let’s not jump the gun, Lulu, just give him the rest of the night, OK? Can he come home with us?’ he asked the vet.
‘No, he needs to be here, but don’t worry, he’ll be well looked after.’
‘I’ll stay with him.’ I wasn’t going anywhere.
‘You can’t. You look exhausted, and the gardai think you should be checked by a doctor, just to be on the safe side.’
‘I’m fine, honestly. Nothing happened, Ronan didn’t hurt me.’ I could feel my stomach heaving again. Please don’t let me faint, I prayed silently.
‘Jill said you almost fainted in the van.’ Mike stared at me. ‘That doesn’t sound right.’
‘I just stood up too quickly, that’s all,’ I told him. ‘I promise you, I feel fine.’
‘Lulu, I’ll be here all night.’ Lisa stepped forward. ‘I won’t leave him, I promise. And I’ll phone you if his condition changes at all.’
The tiredness came over me like a wave then. I knew it was the scary events of the evening catching up with me, so I gave in.
‘OK, I’ll get some rest, but I’m staying in the van so I’ll be close by if you need me – and provided I can come back first thing in the morning?’
‘Come as early as you like,’ Joe Ryan said. ‘And what do you mean by “staying in the van”? Do you mean sleep in your car?’ He looked concerned.
‘She lives in a mobile home,’ Mike said, and as he spoke the absurdity of my life hit me and I laughed.
‘It’s very comfortable, though.’ Mike smiled at me, as if reading my thoughts. ‘Don’t ask,’ he advised Joe and Lisa. ‘It’s a long story. Anyway, I’ll stay there tonight as well and I’ll give you my number so you can ring me if you need us. We can be here in a couple of minutes max. OK with you?’ he asked me.
‘Yes. Thank you.’ It was all I seemed to say to him these days.
46
I DON’T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. MIKE spoke to the gardai and they agreed that my statement could wait until the morning, but I wanted to get it over with, so they came to the van shortly after we arrived home. Jill had phoned Jack and he had the place warm and cosy and well lit, although he and Jill tried to insist that I stay with them for one night, at least. I told them I was afraid that if I left I’d never go back, and they understood, and relaxed when they heard Mike was staying.
The interview didn’t take long; there wasn’t much to tell. I was as confused as anybody about why Ronan had been watching me. Jim Doran had spoken to his mother and his family – especially Myrtle – were confused and very upset by what had happened and wanted to speak to me. Mike immediately offered to ring Myrtle and reassure her, because I knew this would be a huge shock for her and I didn’t want her worrying about me, on top of everything else.
It appeared that Ronan had been very depressed in recent weeks and was on medication. He had, in fact, made two attempts to visit his son but backed out at the last minute. He had become convinced that I was the only one who could help him, he told the two gardai, and when he heard I was spending time with Mike he feared that he’d lose the relationship we shared, which seemed to have become much bigger in his head since Maddy’s death. No one could understand why he’d had a knife; it was completely out of character.
‘I can’t really get my head around any more tonight, if that’s OK?’ I told the two men. ‘But one thing I do know is that I don’t want to press charges.’
‘Maybe you shouldn’t make that decision now,’ Jim Doran suggested.
‘I won’t change my mind. Ronan needs help, and being in trouble with the law will only make things worse for him.’ I smiled sadly, and Mike immediately took over and asked if they had enough information for the moment, so that I could get some rest. They assured us they were satisfied and left, promising to keep me informed.
Clodagh rang shortly afterwards for a chat about our dinner the following night. She had been confused when Mike answered my phone, he told me later, and she got an awful shock when he explained and she’d started to cry. I spoke to her briefly then, just to reassure her that I was fine. She was really upset that it had to happen the one night she was in London and promised to come straight from the airport the following day.
Despite my protests, Jack had asked one of the neighbours – a GP – to drop in. He checked me over and pronounced me fit as a fiddle but said I needed rest. I refused his offer of a sleeping tablet, but he left a couple with Mike in case I changed my mind. Before I knew it, I had been tucked up in bed by Jill with the electric blanket on, glass of warm milk beside me. I heard the three of them still talking as I drifted off wondering if Mike would be OK finding his way around the van.
I woke early, and it took me a few moments to work out what had happened and why my body felt so stiff. I eased myself out of bed, wondering about Pete, and staggered into the kitchen to find Mike making coffee with the door wide open.
‘What’s going on? Has something else happened?’ I asked as I took in the scene. The main room looked topsy-turvy, with glasses lying about and coats on top of cushions and a duvet and pillow on the couch. It was an unwritten rule of mobile-home living, I’d been told, that you had to put everything away, otherwise the place looked as if it had been ransacked. It was something I’d always done, so I panicked a
bit seeing it now.
‘Nothing, just enjoying the peace and quiet,’ he smiled, looking perfectly at home in my little kitchen. ‘And it’s a lovely morning – much milder. I guess this place has its advantages; you feel like you’re on holiday the whole time, I bet.’
‘You’re right. Everyone says the same, that’s why I like it so much.’ I relaxed as soon as I saw he was OK. ‘Where did you sleep, by the way? I should have made sure the spare room was ready.’
‘It was, but you didn’t tell me it was designed for skinny kids or midgets. I tried out the bed, but I wouldn’t fit even with my legs curled around my neck. And when I turned even slightly I hit the wall on one side or fell out the other. So I opted for the couch.’
‘Maddy always said the same.’ I giggled, remembering her expletives the first night she’d slept in the van. ‘In fact, the night before she died she refused to go near it and climbed in beside me instead.’
‘I did think of doing the same thing, but your snores through the wall put me off.’ He grinned. ‘Coffee?’
‘Yes, please. I just want to ring and see how Pete is first.’
‘I’ve just phoned. He had a good night. We can collect him this morning, although the vet agreed only because we were so close by. He’s still a bit concerned about his breathing, so I propose we bring him home, keep him warm and transfer our dinner party here? Although that cooker gives me cause for concern – just as well I’m only nuking. Oops, I think I’ve just given the game away,’ he ducked as I thumped him.
‘I knew it. And you were all set to pass it off as your own, you cheat.’
‘Yes, well, a man’s gotta do and all that. So tell me, how are you feeling? Did you sleep?’
‘I did actually, and I feel much better, although I’m really stiff; I think I went down with a bang in the struggle. Thank you for staying, and for coming out in the first place.’ I rubbed my eyes. ‘You seem to be constantly coming to my aid. I think it all just caught up with me in the end.’ I told him the Dinny story as we drank coffee on the deck and explained that I’d been up early to shop for ‘nibbles’.
