3 Heads & a Tail (28 page)

T
he door yawned open and a tall woman,
wearing
a long skirt and a shirt
,
appeared
. She had short brown hair and serious eyes.

“
Hello
,
Ayla
,
”
she said,
“
you
'
re
a little bit early and Mimi... oh!
”
S
he
stepped
back
wards as she spotted a familiar-
looking male Labrador. She
didn
'
t say
anything to Ben
, which came as a surprise to
Ayla
. It looked as if sh
e didn
'
t recognise him at all, b
ut she definitely
knew
Glen.

“
What
'
s this crazy dog doing here
on my doorstep
?
”
she demanded.
“
Why is he with Mimi
,
Ayla
?
”

The girl
dropped her plait.
“
Ms Hill... I...
”

“
I
'
m sorry,
”
said Ben, stepped forward.
“
My name is Ben and I tried to
call you on the phone earlier.
”

“
You
'
re the m
an who rang saying that
Glen
was his dog
– the dog that came
h
ere and caused such mischief. H
e frightened
my
Mimi, so why is he here with... who are you
,
exactly?
”

Ms Hill
bent down and pulled Mimi into the house
by her collar. The dog obeyed,
with her
tail between her legs.
Glen looked up at Ben. Help, he seemed to be saying.

Ben took a deep breath.
“
I
'
m really confused
, Ms Hill. You see, I had no idea
that
Glen
has
been here before, but
I can see
you recognise him
an
d he recognised the house. T
he thing is, I asked
Ayla
to speak to you about Glen in regard to Mimi, and she then told me your story ab
out my dog. As far as I know
, he
has
never been here.
I know this soun
ds strange, but I
'
m telling the truth. H
e
'
s a go
od dog.
”

Ms Hill raised an eyebrow and looked doubtfully at Glen,
who
was staring
up at her with his big
dopey
eyes.

“
Really he is!
He
and Mimi have b
ecome good friends.
He
'
s very intelligent
and not like other dogs
.
He thinks differently
,
and he
'
s not crazy at all
.
”

As if on cue, Glen stuck out his paw. Ms Hill laughed.
“
So your dog has been hanging around with my Mimi?
”

“
Yes
,
he has,
”
said Ben
, brightening.
“
Is it possible to
have a chat about it?
They
'
re inseparable...
”

“
I don
'
t think so! W
here is your accomplice who brought the dog
here
last t
ime? I guess you were hoping to get
even more
money out of me? Do I look
gullible to you
?
”

“
No!
I
don
'
t know what you are talking about. What money? What accomplice?
”
asked Ben, at a loss for
answers
.

Ayla
glanced at
him
with sympathy
.

“
Your accomplice!
I was going to pay him
a thousand pounds for his dog to breed with my Mimi
.
He said his dog was well bred.
This man came to the house with your dog
– that dog there!
”
she added, pointed angrily. Glen whined and put his paws over his head.

“
You have to believe me
– I
don
'
t know anything about
it.
I would never put my
dog out to stud!
”
said Ben.
“
I
'
ve had him since he was a pup.
”

“
Whatever, Mr...  whatever.
”
She began to close the door.

Ben huffed.
“
Please, I know you don
'
t believe me, but could you please tell me what this man looked like
? S
omeon
e must have snatched my dog
–
there
'
s no other explanation.
”

“
Perhaps
you
'
re as mad as your dog...
”

“
He
'
s not
mad
...
”

“
Prove it!
”

“
Actually I
can
...
”

“
I
'
m not interested!
”
said Ms
Hill.
“
I can tell you that the man who was here – and
you should know – was over six feet tall and in his early thirties. He had dark hair and was
good looking...
”

Ben sighed.
“
That could be anyone.
”

“
Ayla
, I
'
ll see you at the regular time tomorrow, but without your friend,
”
said Ms Hill, closing the door.

Ayla
nodded.

“
Oh, and he also
had
a really annoying habit of flicking his hair every second and
he wore
extremely tight jeans... I don
'
t know how he got into them,
”
a
dded Ms Hill
.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang
.

Glen whined, and
Ben patted him on the head.
“
It
'
s ok
ay
, boy. We
'
ll let her sleep on it.
”

“
I believe you,
”
smiled
Ayla
, twisting one of her plaits
,
“
if that helps any.
”

“
It does,
”
said Ben.
“
It
really
does.
”
He stopped and gave her a hug.
“
It was worth it to show you that I wasn
'
t lying to you.
”

They walked back
to the
pavement
,
hand in hand,
followed by Glen, who traipsed
along behind them, his tail droo
ping. Now and then
he looked back at the house
.

“
Are you
alright
?
”
asked
Ayla
.

Ben shrugged.
“
Nah, not really, but I j
ust have to think of a solution, that
'
s al
l,
”
replied Ben
.

They turned a few
corners
, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Something flickered in the back of Ben
'
s mind. An annoying thought struggled to come to life, like a word on the tip of your tongue that you can
'
t quite recall. The little hamster wheel kept on spinning.
An annoying habit of flicking his hair...

In silence they walked up the steps
of the house
and
inside. Ben
un
clipped Glen
'
s lead and
hung it up
.
In the kitchen,
Josie was sitting with a mug of coffee, flicking through a magazine. Her long, red hair dangled across her face, shimmering in the summer
sun
that
broke
through the window.

“
Hey,
”
said Ben.

“
H
i
,
you two,
”
said Josi
e, looking up. She flicked her h
air out of her eyes and smiled
, closing the magazine
.

An annoying habit of flicking his hair...

“
Has something bad happened
?
You two look stressed.
”

“
You could say that,
”
said Ben.

“
We visited Ms Hill
'
s house – Mimi
'
s owner – to talk about Glen,
”
explained
Ayla
.

“
Oh? How did it go?
”

“
I really need a coffee
,
”
he said, sitting down heavily.

“
I
'
ll make it,
”
said Josie,
jumping up.
“
You two sit down and tell me what happened.
”
As s
he
got up, she brushed her hair back again
.

An annoying habit of flicking his hair...

Ben
rubbed his foreh
ead.
“
I am so confused, Josie. Y
ou
won
'
t
believe
it, but
Ms Hill
said Glen had been to the house before. He had, too, because she
recognised
him.
She
didn
'
t believe a word I said.
”

“
Are you serious?
”

“
S
he thinks
I
'
m playing a game.
She said some guy arranged for Glen to mate with her dog. She was going to pay him a lot of money, but she threw the
m out when the dog went crazy.
”

“
Glen went cra
zy? How?
”
asked Josie.
“
He
'
s
not crazy
at all – unless you count stepping around dog pooh in the park
!
”

“
I know,
”
said Ben.
“
She thinks I arranged all this
with this guy – my accomplice,
whoever he is. I told her that someone must have snatched my dog. And his dog papers because she knew about his breeding.
”