Forty-one
‘Fern did the deed.’ Charlie was jubilant as he strolled back into the surgery, with the blue heeler trotting beside him on a lead. ‘Reckon she’d been holding it for a while. But she looks good to me, Doc. What do you reckon?’
Ryan checked over the dog.
Cap was sitting on the floor of the large cage with Atlas lying alongside, watching the drip-drip-drip of the liquid falling from the plastic bag, the clear tube disappearing under the bandage wrapped around one of Atlas’s front legs.
The dog thumped his heavy tail, his worried eyes on Cap.
‘All good, mate. I’m right here. You just get better.’ He tenderly stroked the animal.
Ryan finished inspecting Fern and stripped off his gloves. ‘I don’t think Fern got poisoned. Her vitals are fine, and my preliminary blood tests didn’t find any toxins in her system. Is it possible she didn’t drink any of that water?’
‘There were two bowls in their pen. Maybe she didn’t.Come here, Fern?’ He sat forward. ‘Stay, Atlas.’
The blue cattle dog trotted over, her tail wagging, her eyes clear, and lapped up the pats. ‘Fern’s been known not to drink that much water. She does after a big run, but they haven’t run today. I was saving them for…’ The events he’d been hoping to make a name in, not only for himself, but for the station, to show his brothers they were a team. Even though his methods may seem unconventional to some for picking up stray dogs or saving them from a farmer’s bullet to turn them into muster dogs, he was doing it to help the dogs born for the job, and also to show those farmers how minor changes could make a bigger impact for the better.
But that was all dashed.
And he was never leaving his dogs unsupervised in town again.
‘To be on the safe side, Charlie, keep giving Fern water,’ said Ryan.
‘I’ll get Bree to whip up her special chicken dog stew,’ said Charlie. ‘Cleans ‘em out proper, but full of goodies. It’ll be safe for all your dogs, Cap, for sure.’
‘What about Atlas? Did you find anything in his bloods?’
‘Yeah, sorry mate. Sadly, it’s only preliminary findings so I can’t tell you the concentration level. The police have asked me to do a full blood screening.’
Charlie poked back the brim of his hat. ‘Who called the coppers?’
‘Ryder, who else?’ His big brother was always on the ball. ‘If they only found the lead in my dogs’ bowls, that’s malicious tampering.’
And if the police were involved, it wouldn’t take long for word to get out in a small town about the lead poisoning, it could ruin their family’s reputation as cattle producers and all their goals as a family. Was this what Leo was aiming for?
It was also a stupid way to do this, because everyone was going to know it happened at the campdraft, ticking off a lot of those dog owners. Stockmen hated anyone messing with their muster dogs. ‘Will the police charge them with animal cruelty, too?’
Ryan nodded. ‘Porter spent thousands on Willow fixing her up, so he’s on a mission to lay charges.’
‘Did Porter tell you they found out who Willow’s owner was?’
‘Who?’
‘Leo Travers.’ Cap scowled at the name, both dogs perking their ears in his direction. ‘All good, Atlas, you chill there, mate. You’ve earned a few days of R&R. But I’ll take you up on that offer for Bree’s dog stew, Charlie, if it’s okay with Bree. I’ll get the recipe.’
‘Trust me, that kid will be stoked to make it for them puppies. Bree cooks when she’s worried.’
‘Bree must worry a lot, because she’s always cooking.’ Some days the cooking aromas that wafted over from the cottage were torturous, the memory made his stomach grumble, even now.
‘Bree enjoys cooking, just like her grandmother, my beautiful Bea. My wife wasted nothing, always preserving, drying and what-not with food. Me, I just baked the bread or pizza bases.’
‘I’ve heard about your pizza nights,’ said Ryan, checking on Atlas’s IV bag and vitals. ‘Do I get an invitation one day?’
‘Sure. I’ll talk to the party planner later. Shouldn’t the rest of your mob be here, Cap?’
‘They’re packing up. Ash said they were heading home to wait for the news. We don’t want to crowd out Ryan’s surgery.’
‘Did Ash get to test out his new gadget, that drone thingy?’
‘Ryder got permission for him to use it for our dog trials.’ But that wasn’t happening. ‘I’ll let Ash know Fern’s going to be okay. He can pass on the news.’ Again, he tapped out a text message, much shorter than the one he’d shared about the previous water poisoning and warning his brothers how dangerous Leo might be. ‘ Fern is good. Atlas is still being treated. Fingers crossed.’
It was a few moments later when Ash texted back. The all-night gamer was always quick at texting.
‘What the hell?’ Cap sat forwards, staring at the text message.
‘What’s wrong now?’ Charlie asked.
‘Mia is entering Willow in the muster dog trials .’ Did he read that right? Instantly, he pressed the dial button. ‘Are you for real?’
Ash chuckled over the phone. ‘I know, right? It made me ask twice when I found out. They got Harper to shop for a special show outfit, and Bree’s doing a makeover on Mia. Don’t worry, bro, I’m going to film it with the drone, so you’ll get to see everything.’
He couldn’t picture Mia standing there in front of a crowd. It couldn’t be true. Mia would run. It’s what Mia did. ‘Mia won’t do it, brother. Tell the others not to get mad at Mia when she pulls out.’
‘Why would she? She’s agreed.’
‘Because Mia hates being the centre of attention, especially when she knows that her ex is somewhere in that crowd. It was a nice thought, though. Tell Mia that. I appreciate the effort. But be prepared for her to bolt at the first chance she gets.’ And then he’d lose her, and his best dog, along with his dreams, and perhaps his family’s dreams all on the one day. He should have never left the station, then none of this would have happened. They should have just stayed home.