‘I’ll be there.’
CHAPTER TEN
FIRST Ethel’s dog and horse must be attended to.
The Simmonses’ house looked deserted. The only evidence of last night’s drama was a piece of plywood nailed over the hole in the weatherboards. Someone had taken away the chainsaw.
The house was derelict. No money had been spent on it for years.
Barry would come here when he came out of prison-and hopefully live here alone for the rest of his life. As long as Ethel could stay strong and keep him away…
And as long as he didn’t find some other unfortunate woman…
A dog was whining at the back of the house. Jess walked through the back gate and the whining became frenzied barking.
‘Hey, Kiro…’
She’d brought pacifiers if she needed them-but she shouldn’t. This dog knew her; he wasn’t terrified as he’d been the night before, staunchly protective of his mistress, and he was hungry.
Jess had also brought a piece of steak from the hospital kitchen.
The dog growled as she came near but as Jess didn’t hesitate his growl became uncertain.
‘Hey, boy…I’ve come with breakfast. And greetings from your mistress…’
Jess walked steadily forward, the steak in her hand. As soon as she was within reach she laid the steak on the ground and then knelt beside it.
She didn’t stir as the dog ate, careful not to give him the least sign that she was a threat.
Finally the dog finished the steak and looked sideways at this intruder on his territory. Jess didn’t move.
Nonplussed, the big dog whined-and then put his nose in her hand and sniffed.
‘There’s no more here, boy,’ Jess smiled, rubbing him gently behind his ears. ‘But I’ll be back later with more.’
She sat for a good ten minutes, chatting conversationally to the big Rottweiler and slowly gaining his trust. As long as Barry Simmons remained in prison there was no hurry to move him. Kiro could stay on his chain here until she’d arranged alternative accommodation. By the time she took him in her car she wanted his complete trust.
He was lovely. Rottweilers had a vicious reputation but an animal who wastreated well was a real pleasure. Kiro was all pleasure. His steak devoured, he was wriggling his delight in Jessie’s company.
This dog could be an absolute comfort to Ethel and protection as well in case of Barry turning up in Sydney.
‘I have to go,’ Jess said regretfully. ‘See you later, boy.’
She left him whining his own regrets and went to find the horse.
Ethel had been right when she’d said that the horse would have to go to the knackers. Jess saw the little mare and her heart sank.
What sort of penury had reduced Ethel to treating the horse like this? The only excuse for it was that Ethel looked half-starved as well. If she hadn’t, Jess would have felt rage.
Even so…The horse should have been sold long ago rather than fall into this condition. She was in a stable at the other end of the yard to Kiro and whatever trouble had befallen Ethel had meant that the horse hadn’t been tended for days.
The manger was empty and the water supply was reduced to a little fouled water at the bottom of a rusty trough.
Ethel had loved this mare, Jess thought sadly. The woman had been so bashed about that she’d simply given up-though it was her husband’s threat to her animals that had driven her to final rebellion.
‘So, what do we do with you?’
The little mare looked at Jess with apathetic, dulled eyes. She hadn’t been exercised for weeks, Jess guessed, and her coat was rough and unbrushed.
Jess filled the water trough and searched vainly for feed. She’d have to buy some and come back.
Or maybe it would be kinder to ring the knackery this morning.
On the mainland a quiet little mare like this might stand a chance of being sold and rehabilitated. Not here…
There were plenty of healthy horses on the island. No one would want one in this condition.
Jess ran her hand along the mare’s bony flank. ‘Be sensible,’ she told herself.
It was going to be hard enough to arrange accommodation for the dog. Jess could hardly keep a horse at the hospital.
‘So…’
‘So I ring the knackers,’ she told herself harshly. ‘Now, before you burst into tears.’
She walked out of the stables and closed the doors behind her.
‘Doc Harvey…’
Jess blinked as she came from darkness into sunlight. It took her a moment to realise who was calling her.
A curlered head was poking over the back fence.
Monica Sefton.
Island gossip.
‘Dreadful goings-on last night, weren’t they?’ the woman beamed. ‘I was the one that called the police. Well, I said to my Herbert, I know he bashes her something awful and you can’t call the police all the time but the screaming last night-you wouldn’t credit it. And then the chainsaw! How is she, poor soul?’
‘She’ll be OK,’ Jess said briefly. She wasn’t about to fuel gossip by giving Monica any more information than she must.
‘Lost two fingers, I hear. Dreadful! And what’s going to happen to her animals?’
‘I’ll look after Kiro,’ Jess told her and then hesitated. She badly didn’t want to go into the Simmons’s house. ‘Mrs Sefton, could I use your telephone? Ethel’s mare is in dreadful condition and I’ll have to call the knackers.’
‘Come right in,’ the woman beamed. She jumped from the fence and walked toward the front gate, only her curlers visible now behind the wooden palings. She kept right on talking.
‘What a shame. Such a pretty little mare she was when Ethel bought her. I remember the fuss. Ethel’s mum sent her some money for her birthday and Ethel spent it on the horse before Barry knew about it. I thought he’d kill her. I reckoned he might but he only found out when the Benns arrived to deliver it. The Benn kids all came too and Barry wanted to hit Ethel so bad you could taste it.
‘He and Ray had words-Ray’s a big man, isn’t he?-and Barry finally shut up and went down to the pub. Then a couple of Benn kids stayed on till dark to see it settled by which time Barry was drunk and the fuss just died down. Only I hear Ray told Barry if anything ever happen to the foal he’d fix him up proper. And Barry’s a born coward.’
Jessica had stopped dead behind her section offence.
‘Monica, you mean the mare was originally Ray Benn’s foal?’
‘Sure.’ Monica’s head poked up again over the fence. ‘It’s a foal of that mare of theirs…You know the one-nice brown little thing the kids ride in gymkhanas. Though didn’t I hear it bucked one of the kids off last weekend?’
‘You did.’ Jess licked dry lips. ‘Mrs Sefton, I might just ring Ray Benn first before I ring the knackers.’
Half an hour later, Jess bade farewell to Ethel’s mare.
The little horse left the same way as she’d arrived four years ago-in the Benns’ horse float, surrounded by excited little Benns.
‘Of course we want her,’ Ray Benn practically shouted down the phone when Jess rang him. ‘Jess, you send her to the knackers over my dead body.’
