Page 72 of The Village of Lost and Found

She paid for her fruit and had just turned around to leave when she saw the lady from the Mothers and Toddlers group whom she had met when delivering the newspapers.

‘Hi again,’ said Lucy. ‘I don’t know if you remember me. I’m fromThe Cranbridge Times.’

‘Oh yeah, hi,’ said the woman, moving her writhing toddler from one hip to the other.

‘How did you get on with finding a new venue for your group?’ asked Lucy.

The woman shook her head. ‘There’s nowhere around here,’ she said. ‘So we’re alternating houses. Trouble is, some of them are beautifully decorated.’ She grimaced. ‘I’m just hoping that Marcus here doesn’t end up colouring in someone’s prize painting or something.’

‘Well, if we hear of anywhere, I’ll let you know,’ said Lucy.

‘Thanks,’ said the woman, looking down at the newspaper. ‘Is that the latest copy? I’ll take one as well, please.’

Lucy exchanged a smile with Amber before picking up her fruit and heading back outside again. But as she went down the steps, she heard a familiar whimper underneath the veranda.

She bent down and saw Keith was once more sitting there looking very sorry for himself.

Nobody wanted him, she thought. It was absolutely heartbreaking. She thought back to what Glenda, the vicar, had said at the Pet Service about blessed are the animals. Not this poor thing. He wasn’t blessed at all, it appeared.

But just as she was thinking about luring the dog out of there, Henry suddenly appeared at the end of Riverside Lane.

‘Hey!’ he said, smiling when he spotted her. ‘I was just coming to see you.’

But Lucy didn’t smile back. The only thing she felt when she saw Henry was cross. Really cross.

‘Don’t hey me,’ she snapped, standing up. ‘Your poor dog has run away again and I don’t blame him. Had you even noticed? Probably not! Now look, if you don’t want him, then I’m sure that there are many other people around here that would. They would certainly make sure that Keith was fed and watered. And loved. Really loved. It’s not his fault that you’re such a bad dog owner, is it?’

Henry just stared at her in amazement.

Still overcome with rage, Lucy ignored him and knelt down.

‘Come on, Keith,’ she said, holding out a hand to the dog. ‘He’s rotten for leaving you behind all the time, isn’t he?’

Keith took a little shuffle forward tentatively. But Lucy forced herself to keep holding out her hand. All of her anger was directed at Henry. None of it towards the dog.

‘It’s really rotten luck that you ended up with someone like that,’ she carried on, using a softer tone. ‘But you can do a lot better, you know. Come on. I’m sure the shop has got some nice treats that we can find for you.’

Keith’s soft ears twitched at the magic word ‘treats’ and he shuffled forward again so that he was within touching distance.

She reached out to stroke his soft ear. Then he shuffled forward more so that his whole head was cupped by her outstretched hand. She gave it a little rub.

‘You’re OK, aren’t you?’ she asked.

He turned to give her hand a tentative lick.

‘Eww,’ she said, but deliberately made her voice soft. ‘Well, let’s try not to do that again, yeah?’

A soft chuckle nearby made her turn her head and she found Tom had come out of the office to see what was going on.

‘I thought you may need some support, but you seem to be doing just fine by yourself,’ he said, reaching out to stroke the dog. ‘Hello, boy. Shall we get you some water?’

Lucy stood up and looked around at Henry. ‘Your dog’s staying with me for a while,’ she told him, surprising both of them.

‘OK, fine by me,’ said Henry, sounding as if he really didn’t care. ‘Do you fancy going out for a drink tonight?’

Lucy frowned. ‘Absolutely not,’ she snapped. ‘Do you really think I want to waste any more time on someone who clearly treats his dog so appallingly.’

Henry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before he gave a small shrug of his shoulders and wandered away.