Marion Lennox - Banksia Bay

‘Hey, but you’re tough.’ Raff motioned to the back of the courtroom, where Bert and Gwen Mackervale were shuffling out to find somewhere to eat their packed sandwiches. ‘Not like the Mackervales. They’re as soft a touch as any I’ve seen. They lost their house, yet you’ll get Wallace off.’

‘Raff, this is inappropriate. I’m a defence lawyer. You know it’s what I do.’

‘You don’t have to. You’re better than this, Abby.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Yeah, well …’ He shrugged. ‘I’m going to find me a hamburger. See you later.’

Uh-oh. Maybe she shouldn’t have snapped. Definitely she shouldn’t have snapped. Not when there was such a big favour to ask.

How to ask?

Just ask.

‘You couldn’t cope with another dog, could you?’ she managed and he stilled.

‘Another …’

‘I couldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t. He’s still alive. Raff, he … he looked at me.’

‘He looked at you.’ Raff was looking at her as if she’d just landed from Mars.

‘I couldn’t get him put down.’

Raff was carrying papers. He placed them on the nearest bench without breaking his gaze. He stared at her for a full minute.

She didn’t stare back. She stared at her shoes instead. They were nice black shoes. Maybe a bit high. Pert, she thought. Pert was good.

There was a smudge on one toe. She considered bending to wipe it and decided against it.

Still silence.

‘You’re keeping Kleppy?’ he said at last.

She shook her head. ‘I’m … I don’t think it’s possible. I’m asking if you could take him. Fred says you have a menagerie. One more wouldn’t … wouldn’t be much more trouble. I could pay you for his keep.’

‘Fred suggested …’ He sounded flabbergasted.

‘He didn’t,’ she admitted. ‘I thought of it myself.’

‘That I’d take Kleppy?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered and she thought that she sounded about eight years old again. She sounded pathetic.

‘No,’ he said.

She looked up at him then. Raff Finn was a good six inches taller than she was. More. He was a bit too big. He was a bit too male. He was a bit too … Raff?

He was also a bit too angry.

‘N … No?’

‘No!’ His expression was a mixture of incredulity and fury. ‘I don’t believe this. You strung out a dog’s life in the hope I’d take him?’

‘No, I …’

‘Do you know how miserable he is?’

‘That’s why I …’

‘Decided to give him to me. Thanks, Abby, but no.’

‘But …’

‘I’m not a soft option.’

‘You have all those animals.’

‘Because Sarah loves them. Do you know how much they cost to feed? I can’t go away. I can’t do anything because Sarah breaks her heart over each and every one of them. Don’t you dare do this to me, Abby. I’m not your soft option. If you saved Kleppy, then he’s yours.’

‘I can’t …’

‘And neither can I. You brought this on yourself. You deal with it yourself.’ His voice was rough as gravel, his anger palpable. ‘I need to go. I didn’t get breakfast and I don’t intend to miss lunch. I’ll see you back in court at one.’

He turned away. He strode to the court door and she chewed her lip and thought. But then she decided there wasn’t time for thinking. She panicked instead.

‘Raff?’

He stopped, not looking back. ‘What?’

Sometimes only an apology would do. She was smart enough to know that this was one of those times. Maybe a little backtracking wouldn’t hurt either.

‘Raff, I’m very sorry,’ she said. ‘It was just a thought—or maybe it was just a wild hope—but the decision to save Kleppy was mine. Asking you was an easy option and I won’t ask again. But, moving on, if I’m to keep him … I know nothing about dogs. Fred didn’t suggest you take him, but he did suggest I ask you for help. He said you’ll tell me all the things I need to care for him. So please …’

‘Please what?’

‘Just tell me what I need to buy at the Stock and Station store. I have a meeting with the wedding caterers after work, so I need to do my shopping now.’

‘You’re seriously thinking you’ll keep him?’

‘I don’t have a choice.’

He was facing her now, his face a mixture of incredulity and … laughter? Where had laughter come from? ‘You’re keeping Kleppy ?’ He said it as if she’d chosen Kleppy above all others.

‘There’s no other dogs out there?’ she said, alarmed, and he grinned. His grin lit his face—lit the whole court. Oh, she knew that grin …

Trouble. Tragedy.

‘There’s thousands of dogs,’ he said. ‘So many needing homes. But you have to fall for Kleppy.’

‘What’s wrong with Kleppy?’

‘Nothing.’ He was still grinning. ‘I take it you haven’t told Philip.’

‘I … No.’

‘So where’s Kleppy now?’ His grin faded. ‘You haven’t left him in the car? The sun …’

‘I know that much,’ she said, indignant. ‘I took the car to the park and I tied him to a nice shady tree. He has water and feed. He even has my jacket.’

‘He has your jacket.’ He sounded bemused, as if there was some private joke she wasn’t privy to.

‘Yes.’

‘And you’ve tied him up … how?’

‘I bought a lead.’

‘Please tell me it’s a chain.’

‘The chains looked cruel. It’s webbing. Pretty. Red with pictures of balls on it.’

‘I don’t believe this.’

‘What’s wrong? ‘

But she didn’t have a chance to answer. Instead, he grabbed her hand, towed her out of the courthouse—practically at a run—and he headed for the park.

Dragging her behind him.

Kleppy was gone.

Her pretty red lead was chewed into two pieces—or at least she assumed it was chewed into two pieces. One piece was still tied to the tree.

Her jacket lay on the ground, rumpled. The water bowl was half empty. Apparently chewing leads was thirsty work. The marrowbone wasn’t touched.

No dog.

‘He doesn’t like being confined, our Kleppy,’ Raff said, taking in the scene with professional care.

‘You know this how?’ He’d chewed through a lead?

‘It’s always been a problem. I’m guessing he’ll make tracks up to the Abrahams place, but who knows where he’ll end up in the meantime.’

‘He’ll be up at Isaac’s?’

Isaac lived halfway up the mountain at the back of the town. Raff was looking concerned. ‘It is a bit far,’ he admitted. ‘And from … here. It’ll be off his chosen beat.’ He raked his hair. ‘Of all the stupid … I don’t have time to go look for a dog.’

‘I’ll look for him.’

‘You know where to look?’

‘Do you?’

‘Backyards,’ he said. ‘Never takes the fastest route, our Kleppy.’ He raked his hair again. Looking tired. ‘I need lunch. If I’m not back in court at one then Baxter’ll definitely get off. You need to do this, Abby. I can’t.’

Look for a dog all afternoon … ‘Philip’ll kill me.’

‘Then I guess the wedding’ll be off. Is that a good thing?’

Raff spoke absently, as if it didn’t bother him if her wedding was at risk. As indeed it didn’t. What business was it of his to care about the wedding? What business was it of his to even comment on it? She opened her mouth to say so, but suddenly his gaze focused, sharpened. ‘Is that …?’

She turned to see.

It was—and the change was extraordinary.

When she’d left him two hours ago, Kleppy had looked defeated and depressed. When he’d crawled onto her jacket he hadn’t had the energy to even rise off his stomach.

Now he was prancing across the park towards them, looking practically jaunty. His rough coat was never going to be pretty. One of his ears flopped down, almost covering his eye. His tail was a bit ragged.