‘I don’t know. I suppose we didn’t achieve what I’d hoped for, but that, I will admit, was taken out of our hands. Still, I’m pleased she came. That in itself was real progress. For a while, I wasn’t sure she would. I have you to thank for talking her round.’
‘You don’t need to thank me. Why wouldn’t I help when you did so much for me last year? It’s the least I owe you and Billie.’
As they reached the fork in the road, they stopped.
‘I’m not happy about you going back on your own.’ Zoe glanced around the silent fields. ‘Lennon might not have gone yet, and he’s in a foul mood. I’d hate to think…’
Georgia looked as if she might argue but then nodded. ‘I’ll phone Brett. He can come and meet me in Emilia’s car. I’m not scared…’ she added.
‘No,’ Zoe said. ‘Sensible is what I call it. I’ll wait with you until he comes? Unless you want to come to Daffodil with me.’
‘I’ll do that. I bet he’ll be here by the time we’ve even walked over there.’
They began to walk again as Georgia made the call to Brett. Zoe couldn’t hear his side of the conversation, but she could make a good guess at it. Before long, everyone would know about the trouble coming from Kestrel Cottage – and there can’t have been many left who didn’t know already.
27
As Zoe was heating up some soup, too exhausted to cook anything else, Alex pushed open the door and came into the kitchen. Grizzle leaped from his basket, tail whirring in excitement as he ran to greet him.
‘How did it go?’ she asked. Alex had texted earlier to say he was driving Corrine and Victor over to accident unit.
‘They’ve updated his injections, cleaned him up and sent him home. The bite marks are deep, and he’ll have scars, but he’ll be all right. It’s shaken him up badly. That’s the thing worrying me. He’s older, and older people sometimes find it hard to come back from shocks like this.’
‘I had the same thought about Corrine…’
‘You should have seen her face when we first walked in with him. I thought she was going to pass out. But she’s a tough old bird.’
‘Far too practical for passing out,’ Zoe agreed.
He took a seat at the table. ‘Where’s Billie?’
‘Bathing Louisa.’
‘It was good of Brett to bring them back over. Is she all right?’
‘Hard to tell.’
He looked up as she took the soup from the heat and came to sit with him. ‘You should have let me do something about Lennon when we had the chance. Right after you’d told me about the fight with Heath, we should have gone over there.’
‘I said the same to Georgia. I’m sorry. I called it wrong.’
‘I feel like going over there now and having it out with him. The state Victor is in…’
‘I know, but please don’t. You’d think, after today, he’d have the sense to leave.’
‘The hospital staff have taken details. They were pushing Victor to make a statement to the police to get the dog put down. It’s obviously dangerous. But you know animal-loving Victor – he sat there, his arm covered in bandages, and he still didn’t want to do that. Looks as if I’m going to have to do it for him.’
Zoe stared at him. ‘What?’
‘What else can I do? What if he comes for Grizzle again? Or goes for the alpaca again? Or he makes even more of a mess of someone else – it could be a child next time, or Billie or Georgia.’ He lowered his voice. ‘What if Lennon’s still here when we open for business and that dog goes for someone who comes to camp on our field? It’s too dangerous – I can’t take that risk.’
Zoe opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. Like Victor, she hated the idea of putting any animal to sleep, but Alex had a point. ‘What if we could persuade Lennon to take it away from here?’ she asked finally.
‘Doesn’t make it any less dangerous.’
‘But if there was somewhere he could rehome it where it wouldn’t be a danger to anyone?’
Alex shook his head. ‘I have no clue where that could be. I’m sorry, Zoe, but I’m going to report it. If the dog can be rehabilitated, it’s down to the proper authorities to sort it.’
