Rough Justice (44 page)

‘She was really hurting, Dad, and there was nothing I could do. She was looking at me like she wanted me to help but I couldn’t.’ He began to cry.

‘Liam, I’m so sorry. I’ll wake you up when I get home.’

‘I’m okay,’ said Liam, tearfully.

‘You’re not okay,’ said Shepherd. ‘But locking yourself in your room isn’t the right way to go.’

‘I just want to be on my own.’

‘I understand that,’ said Shepherd. ‘But Katra’s upset, too. She needs your support now. She really loved Lady, you know.’

‘I know,’ said Liam. He sniffed.

The lights turned green and Shepherd accelerated away. ‘Go down and make sure she’s all right,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘Okay, Dad, I’ll take care of her,’ said Liam.

Shepherd arrived in Hereford just before midnight. There was no sign of the CRV, and for a moment his heart raced. Then he remembered that Katra had said she would park it in the garage after the damage to the tyre. As he walked up the path, she opened the front door for him. Her face was tearstained and her eyes were red from crying. ‘Dan, I’m so sorry,’ she said.

‘It’s not your fault,’ said Shepherd, hugging her.

‘She was hurting so much,’ said Katra. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. ‘I don’t know what happened.’

‘I’ll talk to the vet tomorrow. Is Liam okay?’

‘He’s sleeping, I think,’ she said.

Shepherd thanked her and hurried upstairs. He pushed open the door to Liam’s bedroom. As the light from the hallway fell across the bed, Liam opened his eyes. ‘Dad,’ he said. Shepherd went over to him and sat down beside him. ‘What time is it?’ asked Liam, rubbing his eyes.

‘Late,’ said Shepherd. He bent down and kissed his son on the top of the head. He wrinkled his nose. ‘When was the last time you washed your hair?’

‘Yesterday?’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Wednesday, maybe.’

‘Make sure you use shampoo after the match tomorrow.’

‘I don’t want to play.’

‘You have to,’ said Shepherd. ‘You’re on the team.’

‘They can play without me,’ he said.

‘It’ll take your mind off things,’ said Shepherd.

Liam sat up. ‘I don’t want to take my mind off anything,’ he said.

‘I just meant it’s better to be doing something, that’s all. If you don’t want to play, that’s fine, but I don’t think you should let the team down.’

‘Okay, Dad.’

‘Are you okay?’

‘What are we going to do about Lady?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Do we bury her? Or do we cremate her? Do we go to a church?’

‘I’ll ask the vet tomorrow,’ said Shepherd.

‘Can I come?’

‘Best not,’ said Shepherd. He tucked the quilt around his son and sat with him until he was asleep.

Shepherd woke up at nine o’clock. Liam was still asleep but Katra was in the kitchen. She made him a cup of coffee and an omelette.

‘I didn’t want to wake Liam, I don’t think he slept well last night,’ said Shepherd as he sat down with his breakfast.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’ll talk to the vet,’ said Shepherd.

‘I mean about that man.’

‘We don’t know for sure that it was him,’ said Shepherd. ‘I want to find out what happened and then I’ll know how to handle it.’

‘I thought things like this didn’t happen in this country.’

‘They don’t, usually,’ said Shepherd. ‘But there are bad people all over the world. But let’s not jump to conclusions. Let me speak to the vet first.’

He finished his breakfast and drove to the vet’s surgery. Susan Heaton worked from home, a pretty, ivy-covered cottage with a garden that had been concreted over to make parking spaces for six cars. He pushed open the front door where a young Asian girl in a white coat smiled brightly at him. ‘I’m Dan Shepherd, here to see Miss Heaton,’ he said.

Before the receptionist could reply, the vet came out of her office. She was in her early thirties, with short blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Like the receptionist, she was wearing a long white coat but she had shapely legs and high heels. She was talking on a mobile phone but she ended the call and smiled sympathetically at Shepherd. ‘Mr Shepherd, I’m so sorry about what happened to Lady. She was such a sweet dog.’ She put the phone in the pocket of her coat and picked up a clipboard off the reception counter.

‘Thank you,’ said Shepherd. ‘Do you have any idea what happened to her?’

She ushered him into her office. It was bright and airy with french windows looking out over her garden. Her degree was on the wall, along with framed photographs of several dozen cats, dogs and ponies, which Shepherd assumed were grateful patients. As she sat down, she put the clipboard on her desk. ‘There was some partially digested meat in Lady’s stomach,’ said the vet. ‘Hot-dog sausage, I think. The rat poison was inside it.’

‘Liam didn’t feed Lady yesterday,’ said Shepherd. ‘He just gave her a dog treat.’

The vet nodded. ‘The dog treat was still in her stomach. Mr Shepherd, you do understand what I’m saying, don’t you? The poison couldn’t have got into the meat accidentally.’

‘I understand,’ said Shepherd. ‘Somebody deliberately poisoned Lady.’

Heaton held up her hands. ‘No, I’m not saying that, Mr Shepherd. It could have just been someone with a grudge against dogs. Did Lady go out to the park, or anywhere else?’

‘I’m pretty sure she was in the house or the garden at all times,’ he said.

‘What about walking her on the lead? Did she eat anything, sniff around any rubbish, that sort of thing?’

‘Liam says she was in the house or the garden all day.’

Heaton grimaced. ‘Then I think you have to consider that someone did target her.’ She sighed. ‘That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.’

‘In cases like this, do you have to notify the police?’ asked Shepherd.

The vet shook her head. ‘No, but I suggest that you do,’ she said. ‘We can’t have people throwing poisoned sausages around. A child could pick it up. Rat poison is deadly to animals and humans. Do you have any idea who might have done it?’

Shepherd had a pretty good idea who’d done it but he didn’t want to tell the vet. ‘What happens now to Lady?’ he asked.

‘That’s up to you,’ she said. ‘I can dispose of the remains if you want. Or there are places that can arrange burials. Or some people bury their pets in the garden. It’s up to you.’

‘Can I talk to Liam and get back to you?’ said Shepherd.

Heaton smiled. ‘Of course you can. There’s no rush. We’ll keep her refrigerated, so any time next week will be fine.’

Shepherd stood up and offered his hand. She shook it. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, he noticed. ‘And let me know what I owe you,’ he said.

‘Sally can give you the bill on your way out,’ she said. ‘Look, I don’t know how you feel about having another dog, but I’ve been taking care of one that’s just given birth and I know her owners are looking for homes for the puppies. The mum’s not pure-bred, like Lady, I’m afraid, so the pups are a bit of a mixture, but the mother has a lovely temperament.’

‘I’ll ask Liam,’ said Shepherd. He thanked her again, then left her office. He paid the bill with his Visa card and got back into his car. He started the engine, but sat where he was for several minutes working out what he should do next.

Shepherd drove home and parked in the driveway. He looked up at Liam’s bedroom window and saw his son standing there. He waved and Liam waved back half-heartedly. Shepherd went inside. Katra was in the kitchen, chopping onions. ‘Katra, you didn’t give Lady any meat yesterday, did you? Hot dogs?’

‘I didn’t feed her at all,’ she said, brushing her hair from her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Liam gave her some dog treats. He was training her to stay and he was giving her a tiny piece when she did what he wanted.’

‘So he was in the garden with her?’

Katra nodded. ‘For an hour after he got back from school.’

‘And did you see any meat or anything like that lying around?’

Katra frowned and brushed her hair away from her eyes again. Her eyes were watering and Shepherd wasn’t sure if she was upset or if the onions were making her cry. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Definitely not.’

Shepherd closed the door to the hallway to make sure Liam couldn’t overhear them. ‘I don’t want you to say anything to Liam, but the vet thinks Lady was deliberately poisoned.’

Katra covered her mouth with her hand and whispered something in Slovenian.

‘You mustn’t tell Liam, okay?’ said Shepherd.

Katra nodded. ‘Who could have done such a thing?’

‘I don’t know for sure,’ said Shepherd.

‘The father of that boy in Liam’s school,’ she said. ‘Maybe him? I told you I thought he burst the tyre. And what about the brick through the window? That was him, I’m sure.’

Shepherd knew that Katra was right, but he wanted to downplay her fears. ‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ he said. ‘We mustn’t jump to conclusions. It might just be a random thing. Lady didn’t bark, or bite anyone, while I was away, did she?’

‘She was a sweet dog,’ said Katra. ‘As good as gold.’

‘Just don’t say anything to Liam. I don’t want him worrying about it,’ said Shepherd. He went out of the back door into the garden, stood on the lawn and looked around but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He went over to the hedge and slowly walked around the perimeter of the garden, keeping his eyes on the ground. He spent a good ten minutes scouring the hedgerow and the lawn, but found nothing. Then he went to the side of the house where they kept the wheelie-bin and the hosepipe that he used to water the lawn during the summer months. He looked around but couldn’t see anything unusual.

‘What are you looking for, Dan?’ asked Katra, behind him.

Shepherd jumped. ‘You could creep up on the devil.’ He laughed. ‘I was just checking to see if someone had tossed the poisoned meat into the garden.’ He pushed the coiled hosepipe with his foot. ‘But there’s nothing.’

‘Maybe Lady ate it all,’ said Katra.

‘Maybe,’ said Shepherd. He grabbed the wheelie-bin and pushed it to the side. Katra gasped when she saw the hot-dog sausage lying on the ground. Shepherd bent down and picked it up.

‘Be careful, if it’s poisoned,’ said Katra.

‘It’s only dangerous if you ingest it,’ said Shepherd. Katra frowned and Shepherd realised she didn’t understand the word. ‘Eat,’ he said. ‘It’s only poisonous if you eat it. But I’ll wash my hands, don’t worry.’ He looked at the sausage in his palm. It seemed normal. He sniffed it, but it smelt exactly as he expected a hot-dog sausage to smell. He gripped it between both hands and twisted. It ruptured and Shepherd saw white granules inside. He cursed under his breath, then opened the top of the wheelie-bin and dropped it in.

‘Is it poisoned?’ asked Katra.

‘I think so,’ said Shepherd, closing the lid.

‘What are you going to do? Are you going to tell the police?’

‘No,’ said Shepherd. ‘I’ll take care of it.’ They went back inside. Shepherd shouted for Liam to come downstairs but there was no reply. He went up to Liam’s bedroom and knocked on the door. There was no answer. ‘Liam, come on, I want to talk to you.’

The door opened. ‘Hi, Dad,’ said Liam.

‘Football today, right?’

‘I guess.’

‘Are you going to be okay?’

‘I’m sad about Lady.’

‘I’m sad about Lady too,’ said Shepherd. ‘I know it’s maybe too soon to be thinking about another dog but the vet says she has some puppies that need homes and we could go and see them if you want.’

Liam nodded. ‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘Are they beagles?’

‘No, she said they’re mongrels but they need good homes. Why don’t you think about it?’

‘Okay, I will,’ said Liam.

‘And there’s something else you have to think about,’ said Shepherd.

‘What?’

‘The vet wanted to know what to do with Lady. Whether you wanted to bury her or, you know . . .’

‘Like a funeral?’

‘We could have a funeral, if you wanted. We could bury her in the garden. Or there are pet graveyards. What do you think?’

‘I dunno,’ said Liam. He rubbed his face. ‘I miss her so much.’

‘I know you do, and I’m sorry.’

‘She was such a sweet dog. She never hurt anybody, Dad. She didn’t deserve to die like that.’

‘I know.’

‘She wanted me to help her but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything.’

‘You took her to the vet, and that was helping. So she knew that you loved her and that you wanted to help.’

Liam wiped his eyes. ‘Did the vet say what it was?’ He sniffed.

‘She probably ate something that she shouldn’t have,’ said Shepherd. ‘Try not to think about it. Just remember what a great dog she was and what a great time you had with her.’

Liam nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Good lad. And get yourself ready for football. Let’s see you get some goals today.’ Then he hugged him. ‘I know it’s hard, Liam. I know you miss her. You just have to get through it, and every day it’ll hurt a bit less.’

‘Like with Mum, you mean?’ he said. He was standing with his arms limp at his sides.

Shepherd put his hands on Liam’s shoulders and looked into his tear-filled eyes. ‘Oh, Liam, it’s nothing like your mum.’

‘Because I still miss Mum, every day, and that’s not getting any better.’

‘I know. That’s not what I meant. Of course we’ll never stop missing your mum, and we’ll never stop thinking about her.’

‘I do miss her.’ A tear rolled down his cheek.

‘I miss her too.’

‘And I don’t ever want another mum.’

‘Your mum will always be your mum, Liam. No one’s ever going to take her place.’

‘And I don’t want to get another dog. If we get another dog it’s like we’ve forgotten all about Lady. Like she never existed.’

‘It’s not about replacing Lady. It’s about giving a home to a dog that needs one, that’s all. But if you don’t want to, that’s all right. You don’t have to decide now.’