I looked at my watch. We had an hour and a half until Bibi’s recital.
“I’ve got to go.” Jenny came back on the line. “Text me what needs to be done from my end.”
If it looked like Clark was about to be discovered, Jenny needed to be briefed so she could prepare for damage control. The dumpsite was within her police force’s area, another reason why we had picked it.
I abandoned the carrots and grabbed a ready-made pouch from the larder.
“Fox!” I shouted up the stairs to him. “Problem with Clark! We’ve got to go.” I plucked Reggie out of his bouncy chair.
Fox came rushing into the kitchen gripping a leatherbound journal in which I knew he liked to write incredibly bad poetry. He could expertly wield a knife, but not a pen.
“Jenny rang. A fire’s been reported close to the dump site.” His eyes widened. I flung the car keys at him. “You drive. I’ve got to feed Reg.”
Chapter Sixteen
Fox
By the time we werearriving at our destination, Reggie had smeared green purée all over him. Haze had discovered trying to shovel it into him with a plastic spoon in the back of a car was not a good idea. I figured the odds were he must’ve got at least some of it down him.
I drove slowly down the road the factory was on. It actually looked quite nice around here in daylight. There were two commercial buildings on the same road, all a good distance apart. One was a furniture company and the other a storage facility. The factory was at the end of the road. It was a starred dump site due to the fact there was never anyone around in the evening, and there was no CCTV outside the factory. Jenny had looked into it and the owners of the building had no plans to develop the site. It had lain empty for five years since a variety of health infractions had closed it down.
We were halfway down the road when we saw the flashing lights of a parked fire engine ahead.
I turned to Haze. “What’s our plan?”
“Dog?”
I drove slowly down the road until we were parallel with the fire engine. I stopped and rolled down my window.
A tall fireman spotted us and came over. “You okay?”
“Sorry, I’m sure you’re busy, but we’re looking for our dog. Idon’t suppose you’ve seen a small black French bulldog cross-breed? She slipped her collar chasing a rabbit and someone said they saw her running down this road.”
The fireman shook his head. “We’ve only been here an hour and haven’t seen any dogs.”
“What’s going on? The usual teens causing trouble?” I motioned toward the smoking pile of embers just outside the factory.
“Looks like it.”
“You guys here for a while? Our dog is a nervous little thing. She could be scared of all the lights and be hiding until you’ve gone.”
“We’re just waiting to get hold of who owns the building.”
I chuckled. “That place has been abandoned for so long, doubt they’d even notice if damage has been done to it.”
“You locals?”
“It’s a favorite walking route. Are we okay to park up and look for her?”
The fireman shrugged. “No problem.” He walked back to his colleagues. Judging from the ash pile, it hadn’t been that large a fire.
“Kind of overkill, isn’t it?” Haze stared over at the four men walking around the site.
“Must be a quiet afternoon. You stay with Reggie. I’ll go for a walk around.” I got out of the car and made a big show of calling out “Sausage!” as I traipsed up and down the road, only risking the occasional glance at the factory. Bibi had chosen the name Sausage. It had been embarrassing at first, shouting it out in the park, but now I was as oblivious to its ridiculousness as I was to her neon-pink diamante collar and lead.
After a suitably dedicated performance of a good five minutes, I returned to the car and got back into the driver’s seat. “It looks like they’re packing up. I think we’re okay.”
“They’re not going round the back?” The water tower was just behind the factory.
