3 Heads & a Tail (27 page)

They all said their
farewells
, including
the dogs, and Mimi and
Ayla
left.

Ben sighed and drank the rest of his tea.
“
Don
'
t worry, boy,
I
'
ll sort it out,
”
he said, giving
Glen a bear hug.

I hope Ben
'
s right and he can sort it out. The only other plan I have is to convince Mimi to run away with me. It would be hard, but I
'
m sure we could make it on our own. Maybe Ben would let us hide out here? We could dye Mimi
'
s fur black so she wouldn
'
t be recognised
,
and we could just stay low until her owner got over it and bought a new dog. Then Mimi would be in the clea
r and we could go to the park again
. Easy.

I want her to have my puppies, not some stranger
'
s, and I know she doesn
'
t want any yet.
She thinks she
'
s too young
for family life. Me, well, I kind o
f like the idea of
little paws running around!
“
Voof!
”
I
f Ben sorts it out,
we
can
take the easy way,
with no doggie hiding or fur dying
!

But what
'
s
all this with David? There was
a weird atm
osphere. What did
Kay
say
?
“
Something delicate
.
”
S
he really wanted
Josie to t
ell Ben
something
. What
can
it be?
I
'
m sure
David
was warning them not to say
,
whatever it
is
. What
is
it? What
'
s he planning? I wish Be
n would see
what a bad friend he is.
If only I could
tell him all the secrets, including the BIG one about the landlady.

In a wa
y
, I should be thanking Mr Tight Pants. T
hanks
to him, I met Mimi. I wonder if we would have
met otherwise.
Fate is a strange creature. A strange, four-legged one!

“
Hi,
”
said Ben, giving
Ayla
a peck on the cheek. How
'
s my favourite dog walker?
”

“
I
'
m fine,
”
she replied coolly, turning her head away.

Ben frowned, confused. In contrast,
Glen and Mimi greet
ed
one another
enthusiastically
with a lot of tail
wagging, drooling tongues
a
nd huffing.

“
I wonder how their tails don
'
t fall off!
”
said
Ayla
, pointing at Glen
'
s, which was moving at a ferocious speed.

Ben
nodded
.
Glen
'
s tail
had
pick
ed
up speed
lately – must
be the effect of Mimi. He wondered how fast
Ayla
would make his tail wag if he had one.
Then he
smirked
as
the concept swiftly headed into 18-rating territory in his mind. Well, they do say that men think about
sex
every five minutes. Or was it five seconds? Couldn
'
t be five seconds – when
would they think about sport, cars, music, beer, food, work and stuff? All that during
t
he other four?
Impossible.

They sauntered towards the lake. Mimi and Glen were off their leads, and
padded
along freely.

Ayla
stopped.
“
T
here
'
s something I
have
to talk to you about.
”

Ben frowned at her serious tone.
“
What
'
s up
?
”

“
I showed Glen
'
s papers to Mrs Hill
,
and explained his history and stuff, and the weirdest t
hing happened,
”
said
Ayla
.

“
What?
”

“
S
he said that she had already seen Glen
. S
omeone
brought
him
to the house and she
'
d had high hopes,
but then
Glen
ha
d a massive fit
and went crazy
. They had to ask his owner to leave. So,
what I
want to
know is,
have you got somet
hing to tell me?
Did you send me on a wild goose chase?
”

She stopped walking and looke
d straight at Ben.
He
was s
peechless.

Ben scratched his head and glanced at Glen.
“
No, I don
'
t even know who
this
Mrs Hill i
s.
She must be confusing him with someone else.
Sorry,
I mean
,
another dog.
”

Ayla
sighed, looking annoyed.
“
That
'
s not possible, Ben. She saw the papers. Her daughter met with you and you agreed on a price. Then you brought the dog to the house and he caused a scene, apparently. And for some reason
,
you
'
re not tell
ing me the truth. Why is that
?
”

“
I
'
m not
lying
,
”
insisted Ben, taking
her arm.
“
I
'
m really not.
I
'
ve never met Mrs Hill or her daughter. I
'
ve never been to her house. I never
heard
of her until I
met you
,
and Glen met Mimi
, h
onestly.
”

“
I want to believe you, Ben, but it doesn
'
t make sense,
”
said
Ayla
, standing with her hands on her hips
.

“
L
et
'
s just sit
down here for a minute
,
”
he
suggested
.

T
hey sat down o
n the grass, with Glen and Mimi
next to them. Glen had his paws over his head, which normally meant he was d
istressed about something. That was
all
Ben needed
right now
– something
wrong with the dog too.

Ayla
was looking
towards
the lake, pondering. She twisted one of her plaits in her hand
, avoiding eye contact
.

“
I have an idea,
”
said Ben quietly.
“
Do you have Mrs Hill
'
s number? I
'
ll ring her.
”

“
It
'
s Ms,
”
said
Ayla
, fumbling for her mobile.
“
She
'
s divorced. She loves Mimi to death, I can tell you that. She
really wants the best for her.
”

“
And that
'
s Glen,
”
smiled Ben, tapping the number into his own phone
.

He dialled.
“
Ms Hill? Hi,
my name is Ben. I
'
m sitting here with
Ayla
, who walks your dog, Mimi. Yes. Yes. Yes, she told me that, Ms Hill, but... but... Ms Hill, no I
'
m not trying to mess you around... no
,
I
'
m not winding you up... sorry,
but
no
,
I
'
m not that kind of person... oh...
”

He put his
mobile
back
into his pocket.
“
She hung up on me.
”

“
I
'
m not surp
rised,
”
said
Ayla
.

“
T
hat
'
s it,
”
said Ben, standing up.
“
I
'
m not having you and Mrs,
erm
,
Ms Hill thinking I
'
m some kind of
crazy liar. Let
'
s go to her house!
”

“
What?!
”

“
Why not?
”
asked Ben
.
“
Let
'
s go and clear this up.
When she sees me and Glen, she
'
ll
realise
she
'
s
made a mistake
!
”

“
You
'
re serious?
”
asked
Ayla
, standing up and brushing off some grass.
She stared at him.
“
Oh, y
ou a
re totally serious!
”

“
Of course, i
t
'
s the only way to prove I
'
m telling the truth.
”

Ayla
resigned
herself to the idea.
“
It
'
s within walking distance,
”
she said, clipping on Mimi
'
s lead.

They trotted
along the pavement in silenc
e. Ben
'
s mood had sunk and c
onfusion
reigned in his mind
. He hated not bei
ng able to work something out – everything had
a solution
in theory. H
e was determined to clear his name and show that this was a case of mistaken identity
, for Glen
'
s sake
.

After half an hour
th
ey came to a
huge house with a front garden full of fragrant rose bushes
. T
wo lines of t
all trees
leaned inwards
all the way
up the
front
pathway
.
To Ben
'
s surprise,
Glen followed Mimi st
raight up to the door
.
The two dogs
sat waiting
until
he
rang
the doorbell.
Ayla
twisted one of her plaits, uncomfortably.