‘I’ve sacrificed everything,’ he yelled. ‘Everything. Do you think I wanted to practice in a dump like Banksia Bay? Do you know how much money I could have earned if I’d stayed in Sydney? But here I am, doing the books of the Banksia Bay yacht club, stuck here, seeing the same people over and over, even mowing your parents’ lawn.’

‘I could never figure out why you offered to do that,’ she whispered, but he wasn’t listening.

‘I’ve done everything, and you throw it all away. For this?’ His tone was incredulous. He was staring at Raff as if he were pond scum. ‘A Finn.’

‘There’s some pretty nice Finns,’ she said mildly and Raff grinned and tugged her a little closer. Just a little, but Philip noticed.

‘You’d leave me for this…this…’

‘For Raff,’ she said and she gazed steadily at Philip and she even found it in her to feel sorry for him. ‘I’m sorry, Philip, but I’m not who you think I am. I’ve tried…really hard…to be what everyone wants me to be, but I’ve figured it out. I’m not that person. I’m Abby and I love bright clothes and sleeping in on Sunday and I hate business dinners and I don’t like spending my whole life in legal chambers. I like dogs and…’

‘Dogs,’ Philip snarled. The new, brave Kleppy with his brave new life had emerged from behind Abby’s legs and was nosing round Philip’s feet, checking him out for smells. Philip looked down at him with loathing. ‘That’s what this is about. A dog.’

‘I know you don’t like dogs,’ Abby said. ‘It was generous of you to say you’d take him…’

‘Generous?’ He gave a laugh that made her wince. ‘Yeah. I’d even put up with that.’ The word made her know exactly what he thought of Kleppy.

‘Because you love me?’ she asked in a small voice and Raff’s hand tightened around hers.

‘Love.’ Philip was staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. ‘What’s love got to do with it?’

‘I…everything.’

‘You have no clue. Not one single clue. Enough. You and your parents have messed with my life for ten years. That’s it. I’ve paid a thousandfold. I’m out of here, and if I never see this place again I’ll be delighted.’

He turned away, fast, only Kleppy was in the way. He tripped and almost fell. Kleppy yelped.

Philip regained his feet but Kleppy was still between him and his car. And suddenly…

‘No,’ Raff snapped, but it was too late. They were both too late.

Philip’s foot swung back and he kicked. All the frustration and rage of the last two days was in that kick and Kleppy copped it all.

The little dog flew about eight feet, squealing in pain and shock.

‘Kleppy!’ Abby screamed and ran for him, but Philip moved, too, heading for another kick. Abby launched herself at him, throwing herself down between boot and dog.

Philip grabbed her by the hair and hauled her back… And then suddenly he wasn’t there any more. Raff’s body was between hers and Philip’s. Raff’s fist came into contact with Philip-she didn’t know where; she couldn’t see-but she heard a sickening thud, she saw Philip lurch backwards, stumble, and she saw Raff follow him down.

He had him on the ground, on his stomach, his arm twisted up behind his back, and Philip was screaming…

‘Lie still or I’ll really hurt you,’ Raff said in a voice she didn’t recognise. ‘Abby, the dog…’

She turned back to Kleppy but Kleppy was no longer there.

He’d backed away in terror. Whining. Horrified, she saw him bolt under the fence and into the undergrowth beyond.

He was yelping in pain and fear and he ran until he was out of sight.


She couldn’t catch him. Beyond Raff’s fence was Black Mountain. Wilderness.

‘Kleppy,’ she yelled uselessly into the bushland, but he was gone.

She turned and stared back at Philip with loathing and distress. ‘You kicked him.’

‘He’s a stray.’

‘He’s mine. I can’t believe…’ She gulped and turned back to the fence, knowing to try and follow the little dog into the bush would be futile.

‘He was running,’ Raff said. He was hauling Philip to his feet, none too gentle. ‘If he’s running, he can’t be too badly injured.’

‘More’s the pity,’ Philip snarled, and Raff wrenched him over to the Porsche with a ruthlessness Abby had never seen before. He shoved him into his driver’s seat like she’d seen cops put villains into squad cars, only this was Philip’s car and he was sending him away.

Or not. Before Philip could guess what he intended, Raff grabbed the keys to Philip’s car and tossed them as far as he could, out into the bush.

‘You’ve lost your keys,’ he said conversationally. ‘Abby, get the handcuffs. They’re in the compartment on the passenger side of the patrol car.’

‘What…?’ she said, and Raff sighed.

‘You want to hold your fiancé or get the cuffs.’

‘He’s not my fiancé.’ It seemed important.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Get the cuffs, Abby.’ Then, as she glanced despairingly at the fence, he softened. ‘Cuffs first. Kleppy second. Move.’

She moved and thirty seconds later Philip was cuffed to his own steering wheel.

‘You can’t do this,’ he snarled.

‘Watch me,’ Raff said. Then he lifted his radio. ‘Keith? You know we were getting a search warrant for Dexter, thinking it might be better to do it when he wasn’t home? I have another suggestion. You come up to my place and pick him up. He’s cuffed to the car in the driveway. He kicked a dog, pulled Abby’s hair. Take him to the station, charge him with aggravated cruelty to animals, plus assault. I’ll be there with details when I can but meanwhile he stays in the cells. The paperwork could take quite some time.’

‘You…’

‘Talk among yourself, Dexter,’ he said. ‘Abby and I have things to do. Dogs to rescue. And if I find he’s badly hurt…’ His look said it all. ‘Come on, Abby, let’s go. He’ll be headed for Isaac’s and I hope for all our sakes we find him.’


They drove in silence. There was so much to say. On top of her fear for Kleppy, there was so much to think about. Philip’s invective…

Philip’s words.

I’ve paid a thousandfold. It was a statement that made her foundations shift from under her.

She cast a look at Raff and his face was set and grim. Had he heard? Was he thinking about it?

Philip… But her thoughts kaleidoscoped back to Kleppy.

‘He can’t be too badly hurt.’

‘No,’ Raff said. ‘He can’t be. He’s a dog who’s given me my life back. I owe him more than putting Dexter behind bars.’


Where? Where?

They reached Isaac’s place and it was fenced and padlocked as it had been fenced and padlocked since Isaac’s death.

All the way up the mountain she’d held her breath, hoping Kleppy would be standing at the gate, his nose pressed against the wire. He wasn’t.

She called. They both called.

No Kleppy.

‘We’ve come fast on the track,’ Raff said. ‘Kleppy’s having to manage undergrowth.’

‘He could be lost.’

‘Not Kleppy. Our farm is on his route down to town from here, his route to his source of stolen goods. He’ll know every inch.’

‘If he’s hurt he could creep into the undergrowth and…’

Raff tugged her tight and held her close. ‘He was running,’ he said. ‘If he’s not here in ten minutes I’ll start bush bashing.’ He tugged her tighter still and kissed her, hard and fast. Enormously comforting. Enormously…right. ‘If we don’t have him in an hour I’ll organise a posse,’ he said. ‘We’ll have an army of volunteers up here before nightfall.’

‘For Kleppy?’

‘We have two things going for us,’ Raff said, and his smile was designed to reassure. ‘First, Kleppy’s one of Henrietta’s dogs. She hates having them put down. She’s over the moon that you’re taking him, and she has a team of volunteers she’ll have searching in a heartbeat. Second, if I happen to mention to about half this town that if we find an injured dog we’ll put Dexter behind bars… How many raised hands do you reckon we’d get?’

‘Is he that bad?’ she said in a small voice.

‘You know he is.’

She did know it. The thought made her feel…appalled.

What had she been thinking, to drift towards marriage? She’d been in a bad dream that had lasted for years. Of all the stupid…

‘Don’t kick yourself,’ Raff said. ‘We all have dumb youthful romances.’

She tried to laugh. She couldn’t. A youthful romance that lasted for ten years?

‘I seem to remember I did have a youthful romance.’

‘Yeah,’ he said. They were walking the perimeter now, checking. ‘I should have come home and been your partner at the deb ball.’

She did choke on that one. Her debutante ball. The source of all the trouble.

She’d been seventeen years old. A girl had to have a really cool partner for that.

Raff had been in Sydney. She’d been annoyed that he couldn’t drive home twice a week to practice, two hours here, two hours back, just to be her partner. Of all the selfish…

‘Don’t kick yourself,’ he said again. ‘Dexter does the kicking. Not us.’

‘But why?’ It was practically a wail. Why?

She’d always assumed Philip loved her. He’d given up Sydney, he’d come home, he’d been the devoted boyfriend, the devoted fiancé for ten years.

Why, if he didn’t love her?

‘Let’s walk down to the road,’ Raff said, taking her hand. He held her close, not letting her go for a moment as they walked down the driveway to the gravel road where their world had turned upside down ten years ago.

‘Kleppy?’ she yelled and then paused. ‘Did you hear?’

‘Call again.’

She did and there was no mistaking it. A tiny yelp, and then the sound of scuffling.

She was off the road and into the bush, with Raff close behind. Through the undergrowth. Pushing through…

And there he was. Kleppy.

Digging.

Philip’s kick had hit his side. She could see grazed skin and blood on his wiry coat.