3 Heads & a Tail (32 page)

“
Drrriiiinnnngggg!
”

The sound almost made him jump
. H
e dug his mobile out of his pocket. It was
Ayla
. He wasn
'
t sure if he was in the mood to speak to anyone right now, but he answered anyway
, as it m
ight be nice to hear a friendly voice.

“
Hi
,
Ayla
, how are you?
”
he asked, trying to act normal. He flicked his thumb and forefinger nervously.

“
I
'
m fine.
Ben
,
I
'
m ringing
to ask if you
'
v
e seen Mimi today?
”

“
No,
”
he
replied
, rubbing his head
.
“
Why would I have seen Mimi?
”

“
I just wondered, on the off chance, if she was with your dog
. Thing is,
Mimi has gone missing.
”

“
What?
”

“
S
he
'
s gone. Ms Hill got up today, around 8, and she was gone. The back door was open. She thin
ks someone has stolen her dog and then...
”

Ben couldn
'
t listen
to
any more.
“
Glen
'
s gone too.
”

“
No! Since when?
”

Ben
sighed
.
“
When
I went to bed
last night, he was in my room, but when
I got up this morning
he was
gone. David
'
s in, but hasn
'
t seen him
. I checked the p
ark and
the streets, I rang the vet,
went to
the police. I
'
ve even put up posters with his picture on.
All morning I
'
ve been looking.
”

“
Oh, Ben, I
'
m sorry. Really I am,
”
said
Ayla
.
“
But what does this
mean? Both dogs missing c
an
'
t be
a coincidence
, surely
?
”

“
David!
I bet David
'
s behind this!
I told you I should have sorted him out!
”

“
But why would he, Ben? Think straight – why
?
”

“
I don
'
t know, but I didn
'
t expect him to steal my
stuff and take my dog before.
I
'
ll ring you back!
”
he said, slamming his phone down on the sofa. It must
be him. He sped up the stairs
.

“
David!
”
he
yelled
, hammering on the
hatch
.

“
Hang on!
”
came a shout from inside.

The hatch opened and Ben forced his
way in, pushing David backwards
. The taller man tripped, falling smack on
the bed
in astonishment.
“
What
'
s
wrong with you,
man?
”

“
What have you done with my dog?
”
yelled Ben,
his hands bunched into fists
.

“
What are you talking about?
”
asked David, sitting up and flicking his hair out of his eyes.

“
S
top
messing with your bloody hair!
What is that about? Why don
'
t you just get it cut?
”

“
Hang on!
”
said David, sitting upright.
“
What
'
s up with you? What
'
s
my hair gotta do with anything
?
”

“
My dog!
What have you done with my dog?
”

“
I haven
'
t done anything
with him
. Why are you asking me?
”
demanded David,
standing up
.

“
Because you stole Glen
'
s papers and tried to sell him to a woman for money! That
'
s why!
”
shouted
Ben.
“
I can
'
t believe you did that
. I wanted to smack you in the head when I found out, but the girls talked me out of it. How could yo
u be such a conniving bastard?
”

David
'
s face fell
.

Ben stepped right in front of him.
“
Have you got nothing to say?
Have you forgotten how long we
'
ve been friends? You
'
re meant to be my mate, but you
'
ve been acting like a selfish prick!
”

As David opened his mouth, Ben shoved him in the chest, and he toppled back on to the bed.

“
Years,
”
replied David
, pushing himself up on his elbows
.
“
You
'
ve known me for years.
”

“
Yeah,
so stop bullshitting
and tell me what
'
s going on?
”

“
Okay,
”
mumbled David
.
“
Look,
I
needed the money.
I
'
m sorry
I took your dog
,
but I brought him back. The other dog was nice –
I
thought Glen might enjoy it.
”

“
What? So, that makes it alright, does it?
”

David went to get up, but changed his mind. Ben looked ready to punch him.

“
Sorry. Glen freaked out,
had a fit and
tried to hump that woman
'
s
leg. She
chucked us out, told us never to come back, refused
to pay me because Glen didn
'
t perform. T
hat
'
s it. Sorry
, mate. I
was skint. I
lost my job.
”

“
That
'
s n
o excuse.
”
Ben clenched his fists. He didn
'
t know how much longer he could control his anger.

“
Fair dues, i
t won
'
t happen again.
I don
'
t want any trouble with you. I had no money to pay
the rent
.
”

“
Well
,
you didn
'
t need to pay the
bloody rent did you? S
eeing as you
'
re
shagging
the
landlady!
”
shouted Ben.

“
Y-y
ou k
-k
now about that?
”
stammered David
, sitting up very slowly
.

“
Everyon
e knows about that!
She
'
s o
ld enough to be your
mother!
”

“
She
'
s not that old... and she
'
s a very experienced
woman...
”

“
David!
”
ye
lled Ben. His patience had
run out.

“
Look,
calm down,
I
'
ve
told you the truth, b
ut t
here
'
s
just
one other thing. L
ast night, when I came
home
after band practice
, Glen
ran at me
. I tried to stop him
– really
I did! Bu
t he knocked me sideways and
legged it
.
”

“
Really? You expect me to believe that
?
Or did you sell him again?
”

“
No! Honestly, that
'
s what happened, h
e ran ou
t. I tried to grab his collar. W
eird thing is, I think he
'
d been waiting for me to open the door because he ran so
fast
I didn
'
t s
tand a c
hance.
”

“
And if what you say is true, why
did
n
'
t wake me up?
”
asked Ben
.

“
It is true!
”
David protested.
“
But y
ou haven
'
t been talking to me.
I got the idea you were avoiding me.
Anyway,
I thought the dog would come back,
”
said David.

“
Get up!
”

“
W-what?
”

“
Get up – I
'
ve got an idea.
”

David
flicked
the hair out of his eyes and pushed himself up into a standing p
osition.
“
Cool, how can I
...
”

H
e didn
'
t get a chance to finish his sentence. Ben punched him on the nose and David made contact with the bed again.

“
Just stay away from me... and my dog!
”

Ben opened the hatch and
stormed
back downstairs. He was so angry he didn
'
t
know what to do with himself, b
ut punching David had helped a bit.
When
exactly
had
his so-called friend
change
d
so much? Probably when he realised he could get any woman at the snap of his fingers... well, almost any.

He didn
'
t know
what to
do next.
If Mimi
was
missing too
,
had they both been stolen? W
ho would want to steal both dogs?
Had
someone
seen them in the park? No
, tha
t didn
'
t make sense.
Ben
had this nagging feeling in the back of his head that they had disappea
red voluntarily... together. T
hey hadn
'
t seen each other for a week b
ecause Ms Hill had banned it.
Ben
shook his head – impossible. W
hat w
as he thinking?
His
ruminations
were in
terrupted by the doorbell.
He opened the front door.