Page 9 of Secrets of the Frostbound Cottage

‘Well, the thing is,’ Gazza began, ‘we’ve called the animal handlers but they might take a while. And they’ll expect us to wait and secure the area...’

‘And neither of us is really good around dogs,’ Tanya finished.

‘It’s what we bonded over. We’re both cat people,’ Gazza added solemnly, as if confessing to a heinous crime.

I stared at them. The Metropolitan Police, everyone, bravely facing London’s criminal underworld – unless it had four legs and a wagging tail.

Gazza fished a trembling hand into his pocket and pulled out a pristine pack of cigarettes and a lighter. His wife had been nagging him to quit; judging by his shaky resolve, Jean was about to be sorely disappointed.

I sighed. I had another case I needed to be working on but in my job you can’t afford to piss off the police. Besides, it would be even better if they felt like they owed me a favour.

Gazza and Tanya looked terrified and these dogs needed someone around them who wasn’t scared. Plus, Gazza and Tanya would owe me big time for this one. And if anyone else walked in, I’d just say I’d volunteered because, as we all know, ‘crazy dog lady’ is at the pinnacle of public relations.

‘I can help you,’ I promised. ‘I can wait here for at least,’ I checked my watch, ‘fifteen minutes. But can you leave me out of the paperwork? I’m on a missing persons’ case, too, and you know that time is of the essence with those.’ I didn’t mention it had already been nine days. ‘And if I stay here to help you out, could you take BonBon back to his owner?’

‘I know you’re good people, and I don’t mind not mentioning you in our report, but a dog? In our car?’ Gazza looked horrified.

‘It’s a really small one,’ I assured him hastily. ‘Tiny. And he’s totally timid. Trust me, you’ll be fine.’ I held out my hand for the lighter and cigarettes. ‘Give me those. You know your life won’t be worth living if Jean smells smoke on you.’

Gazza grimaced and passed me the contraband, which I promptly tucked out of his sight. Maybe I could keep him on the straight and narrow a while longer.

I headed back to wait with the confined dogs. It seemed like the least I could do, smell be damned.

Chapter Seven

By some miracle, the animal handlers arrived within ten minutes.

We’d still not seen any sign of whoever was behind this: I’d have bet money that they had either heard me coming in and scarpered, or they were too drunk or high to notice. Drink and drugs often go hand in hand with the criminal element and some of them try the wares they peddle. It was unlikely that dogs were the only thing this crew was dealing in.

I was beginning to think that the dognappers weren’t the sharpest athame, given that many of the dogs still had their collars with addresses on them. Unfortunately, the collared canines weren’t the only dogs I’d found; there were also four cages brimming with puppies that, by the looks of things, had lived their entire life in confinement. It made me feel ill.

‘Come on out, you guys,’ I said softly as I opened the cage doors. BonBon was already safely settled in the back of Gazza’s squad car, and I’d rung Rowena to tell her that the police would return her darling within the hour.

With so many dogs and so few hands I figured I could spare another ten minutes to help, although by some miracle Tanya seemed to be getting more and more relaxed with each dog she encountered. By contrast, Gazza had declared himself allergic to anything taller than a handbag, which explained why he was sticking to the chihuahuas.

‘Out you get, little ones.’ A handler sidled up beside me to scoop up the last set of puppies as they scurried through the cage door. One slipped past her. ‘Can you grab it?’ she asked me, her arms already full.

‘Sure, no worries.’ I wasn’t going to miss the chance of a quick puppy cuddle before I left.

I followed the pup but, despite my best encouraging noises, the little golden retriever continued to race towards a staircase at the back of the unit. ‘Puppy! What are you doing?’ I called impatiently. ‘Come here!’

With a slight yap she – she definitely had female energy – ran towards me. The second I crouched down to pick her up, she turned and bolted back to the stairs. ‘What are you doing?’ I repeated, exasperated, as she did the same thing twice more.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, she clambered up the first three then looked back at me. ‘You want me to come too?’ I said slowly. I looked up and lowered my voice. ‘Is someone up there?’ If we went upstairs and I found a treasure trove of squeaky toys, I’d feel like a total idiot.

The dog tipped her head to the side as if beckoning me to follow her. I guessed we were doing some Lassie shit after all. I sighed. There was no chance I would leave her and both handlers were already busy.

I put my foot on the bottom step to follow the tenacious little creature and her gratitude hit me with such force that I had to stop. ‘So this is what you wanted,’ I said, as she glanced back at me impatiently. ‘Okay, I’m coming. I just hope you’vegot something nice for me up there.’ If ever there had been a ridiculous thing to say when heading upstairs in a warehouse housing stolen animals and a puppy farm, that had to be it.

As I pushed open the door, I heard a creak from behind the desk and knew exactly what the puppy had been trying to tell me. The arsehole had been hiding there the entire time.

‘You can come out now and I’ll make it easy for you,’ I threatened gruffly. The puppy was now running back and forth between the desk and me as if I’d not worked out for myself where the culprit was hiding. ‘I have things to be getting on with. Please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.’

That was the moment he stood up. His eyes were red and glassy – he was high, then. Without waiting for me to speak again, the golden retriever pup raced over to him, bit down on the hem of his trousers and held onto him for all she was worth.

Had I been thinking sensibly I would have called Tanya and Gazza, but I wasn’t used to having anyone to call on. Then again, given what happened next, it was probably a good job I didn’t holler for the humans.

The guy was trying to shake the pup off but he wasn’t actuallysayinganything. He wasn’t yelling or swearing the way I’d have expected; in fact, he didn’t make a single sound. Stupidly, in the moment I didn’t think anything of it. Instead, I offered him a swift elbow to the temple with the intention of knocking him out so that the police could deal with him and I could get the hell out of Dodge.

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