3 Heads & a Tail (33 page)

“
What have you done with my
Mimi
?
”
demanded
an angry
looking
and somewhat rumpled Ms Hill. She looked
as
though
she hadn
'
t washed.
“
Where is she?
”

“
I h
aven
'
t got your dog!
”
Was this day just going to get worse and worse?

“
You crazy man! You keep sending me pictures of the
dogs together
and then my Mimi vanishes. Where did you think I
'
d come looking first? If you don
'
t give her back, I
'
m phoning the police.
”

“
Please come in. My dog has gone missing too.
”

“
A likel
y story! You
'
re just hiding...
”

“
No, Ms Hill, my dog
is
missing
. I
'
ve spent all morning loo
king for him,
”
said Ben,
too tired to argue.
“
I
'
ve already been to the police and they weren
'
t helpful.
”

The woman scowled and walked into the house, just as David ap
peared at the top of the stairs holding his nose in a small towel
.

“
You!
”
screeched Ms Hill.

David
scurried back up to
his
hatch
.

Ms Hill turned her anger on Ben.
“
Y
ou said
you didn
'
t know
...
”

Ben sighed, exhausted.
“
P
lease
, please
,
just come and
sit dow
n.
”

She followed him into the kitchen and they
sat
.

“
I
worked out that it was my housemate, David, who
m
you just recognised
,
wh
o brought my dog to your house,
”
explained Ben.
“
You gave some clues and
I
twigged it was him. He stole the papers for Glen from my room, tricked you
,
and tried to make some money because he is broke. I
'
m really ang
ry with him for doing it. W
hen we went to the park next, my dog and your dog, Mimi, took an instant liking to each other. I did
n
'
t realise they
'
d met before – because of David. T
o make a long story short,
the dogs
really
enjoy each other
'
s company.
”

“
I know. You sent me the pictures.
”

“
I sent you them, along with a letter from Glen
'
s vet showing he
'
s not crazy or sick, in the hope that you might see that the two dogs get along great,
”
said
Ben.
“
I didn
'
t think it was fair to separate them.
”

“
So you stole her?
”

Ben shook his head.
“
Nope. As I said, my dog has gone too. David told me he rushed out of the house last night. He
'
s never done that before. Y
ou say your dog has gone missing too
.
Is it too crazy to think that they might have gone missing together
? B
ecause I can
'
t work out in my head how it
'
s possible that they could have both been stolen
on the same day. W
hy would anyone
steal both of them?
”
He leant
back in his chair.

Ms Hill looked
as if she
'
d just
swallowed a bucket of lemons.
“
You think the dogs ran off together... like some love story gone wrong
?
”
asked Ms Hill.
“
Are you a loony, young man?
”

“
I can
'
t think of any other plausible
explanation
.
I know my dog. He
'
s no ordinary dog.
”

Ms Hill opened her mouth to say something, but they were disturbed by the front door opening
, followed by footsteps and the sound
of shoes being
kicked off
.

“
Hi, Ben! O
h, hello
!
”
It was Josie.

“
Hello, I
'
m Ms Hill.
”

“
Ah, you
'
r
e
owner of the dog
that Glen likes!
”
said Josie
, smiling.
“
It
'
s n
ice to meet you. I guess you
'
ve realised they
'
re devoted to each other?
”

“
More crazy notions!
”
said Ms Hill.
“
Yes
,
I am Mimi
'
s owner, but I
'
m here
because she has gone missing.
”

“
Oh,
”
gas
ped Josie.
“
I
'
m sorry, really, a
nd t
here
'
s me opening my big mouth...
”

“
Glen
'
s gone missing too,
”
Ben
added
.

“
Oh no,
”
said Josie, sitting down.
“
When
did
you last see the dogs
?
”

“
I last saw Glen yesterday.
Ms Hill
says
Mimi was gone this morning and the back door was open. David said Glen ran out last nigh
t, almost knocking him over.
”

“
That doesn
'
t sound like Glen.
”

Ben nodded.

“
Yes
,
wel
l, you
'
re not much help.
I
'
m going to
see
the police
now
,
”
said Ms Hill, standing up.
“
And if you
do
have my dog, you
'
ll be hearing from me.
”

“
Ben
doesn
'
t
have your d
og
,
Ms Hill
. If Glen
'
s gone missing that
'
s the worst thing that could happen to him. His dog is like his best friend,
”
said Josie.

“
Well
,
miss, we
'
ll see about that. All this nonsense about the dogs running off together, really – I
'
ll see myse
lf out.
”
She got up and left
. The front door slammed.

“
Are you
alright
?
”
asked Josie.

“
Not really,
”
said Ben
, looking lost
.

Josie got up.
“
Y
ou need a coffee and I
'
m going to make
you
one. Tell me everything
. And what
'
s this about the dogs running away together? Do you really think that?
”

“
Doe
s it sound so crazy?
”

“
No,
”
replied Josie.
“
I don
'
t think so. If I was Mimi and I knew Glen, I
'
d be running off with him!
”

“
Thanks,
”
said Ben.
“
I needed to hear that. Anyway,
this is
what happened...
”

Three days
after Glen
'
s disappearance,
everyone was sitting in the kitchen
,
hugging
glasses of juice
and
trying to think up helpful ideas
.

“
I don
'
t know what else to do,
”
admitted
Ben.
“
I
'
ve spoken to the police, vets, put up posters, rung the RSPCA, PDSA
and
every animal related acronym – what
else is left to do?
”

“
You could put an ad in the
news
paper,
”
said David, poking his head round the door.

“
W
e
'
re still not speaking to you!
”
said Kay, waving him away.

David went back upstairs.

“
I
'
m so glad you popped him one,
”
said
Josie
.
“
He so deserved it.
”

“
I think he deserved more
,
”
added Kay
.
“
What a twat!
”

“
You know, a
n ad in the paper is
n
'
t
a
bad
idea,
”
said
Ayla
.

“
Right-o, i
dea number one
– even though it came from a crap source,
”
said Ben, writing
on his pad. He
nibbled
the end of his pen.

“
P
oster
s
in shops and supermarket
s
,
”
suggested
Josie.

Ben
nodded
, writing it down.

Brinnng-brunngya-dooyip-doo-ddoo-yam!

“
Oops, my mobile, sorry!
”
stammered Ben, reaching into hi
s pocket. He looked at the caller ID and grimaced – none other than Ms Hill
!
He
held it up
to the others.

“
W
hoa
!
”
said
Ayla
.
“
Answer it!
”

Ben
shook
his head.

“
If you don
'
t, I w
ill,
”
said
Ayla
.

Ben did as
instructed.
“
Hello Ms Hill.
”