Chapter 2
Half an hour later, the Duck Pond Rescue search parties had searched a lot of the sanctuary’s land.
They’d spread out a bit more to maximise efficiency.
Jade and Finn had gone up to the chicken field but it was obvious a strange dog wasn’t there.
The snowy white geese and the brown ex-battery hens were all dotted about, pecking the grass contentedly with not a ruffled feather between them.
‘There’s no way Cooper’s been up here.’ Jade shielded her eyes against the hot sun and scanned her few acres. ‘We’d know about it. They’d be much more unsettled.’
They caught up with Ben, Everley and Stella back at the horse’s field, and it was the same story there. Just the two horses, Rosanna and Cocoa, grazing happily in their light summer rugs and flicking their tails to ward off the flies.
Stella shook her head in confirmation. ‘I don’t think he’s been here. They’d be less peaceful. He’s a bit scared of horses anyway.’
Dawn Layton, a bustling, motherly woman who’d been a dinner lady back in the day, and was Jade’s only full-time paid member of staff, confirmed the same thing at the kennel block.
‘There’s been a lot of barking, but that’s because we’re all wandering about. There would have been a lot more fuss if they’d seen a strange dog, so I think we can rule out the fact he’s been here. And if he had they’d have scared him away.’
Stella looked disappointed and Dawn gave her a reassuring smile.
‘Don’t worry. There are still plenty of places we can look.
There are the outbuildings and the feed stores and the stables, and I think it’s worth doing another good search of the dog field.
There are plenty of places to hide in there. ’
They all spread out to search the dog-walking field, which had a well-worn track around its perimeter and, at its centre, a crowd of tall pink rosebay willowherbs and purple thistles interspersed with long grass.
Stella and Everley called Cooper’s name as they walked, but there was no sign of a small black and white spaniel hiding anywhere in the long grass.
It was a young volunteer who brought up the subject of social media.
‘Have you put any posts online? Facebook is good. There’s the Arleston Village News group for locals.
I’m on that so I could do a post. And I know you probably feel you just want to be out looking, but the more people who know Cooper’s missing, the better. ’
‘That’s true.’ Dawn glanced at the youngster approvingly. ‘I’m pretty sure there are lots of lost dog sites on Facebook. National and local. Let’s get some posts on there too. The more the merrier.’
Stella nodded, and pulled out her phone. ‘I haven’t got a signal though. Has anyone?’
‘There’s not much signal out here,’ Jade told her.
‘Which means we can’t get any messages from the others who are searching either.
I think a few of us should head back to reception and you can hook up to our Wi-Fi.
Dawn’s right. There are several big search groups.
You could upload a picture of Cooper from your phone. ’
A little while later, they were in the office, to the obvious delight of Mr Spock, the potty-mouthed parrot, who loved people and who’d started a stream of chatter as soon as he’d seen them. ‘Come in, you buggers, come in, you buggers. Bloody hell, people. What’s occurring?’
Jade winced. Mr Spock had been foul mouthed when he’d arrived at Duck Pond Rescue, which was one of the reasons he’d ended up there, and he was getting worse. Partly thanks to her volunteers, some of whom thought it was entertaining to teach him new phrases.
‘Did that parrot just swear?’ Stella looked at Jade askance.
‘Yes, sorry. It’s a bad habit. I’m trying to retrain him.’ Jade shot a guilty glance at Everley, who was looking interested. Oops.
‘Good luck with that,’ Stella remarked as Mr Spock added another couple of expletives for good measure. Then suddenly her face crumpled and Jade thought for one horrible moment she was going to burst into tears, but instead she began to snort with laughter.
‘Oh my God, sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh.
But my uncle has a parrot who swears. Yours just reminded me.
’ She sniffed. ‘And frankly if I didn’t laugh I’d cry.
Laughing’s good.’ She wiped her face. ‘Crying’s not going to help.
Social media’s going to help.’ She gathered herself visibly.
‘Right. What’s your Wi-Fi password, please? Everley, darling, can you help?’
Everley nodded eagerly. She’d been much happier since they’d all been actively looking for her dog.
Dawn and the young volunteer already had their mobiles out and were tapping away on the screens at various speeds.
Dawn glanced across at Stella. ‘OK, I’ve started a post on one of the biggest sites.
It’s called DogLost UK. All I need is a decent photo of Cooper with his details, and the exact area he went missing and your phone number. ’
‘I’m on it,’ Stella said, scrolling through a screen of images on her mobile. ‘Everley, can you help me choose a picture?’
Ben had got his mobile out too. ‘Shall I do a video for TikTok?’
Finn, who was looking a bit fazed at all this social media activity, shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’m afraid I’m not much use on social media, although I can share posts,’ he offered.
Jade looked at him with affection. He’d had to get more social media savvy lately thanks to marketing his art.
He mostly uploaded pictures of his canvases when his fierce agent, Eleanor Smythe, nagged him enough.
Jade wondered what Eleanor would think when she saw a lost dog post popping up in Finn’s artwork feed.
‘Every little helps,’ Dawn murmured. ‘Right, I’ve tagged you in if I can. Stella, let’s just share some details.’
For the next few minutes there was a hive of activity in the office, and a lot of phones were pinging with notifications.
Every so often Mr Spock made some comment, picking up on a word he knew, but thankfully he’d mostly stopped swearing now and was contenting himself with quoting some of the innocuous phrases Jade had been teaching him lately in a bid to distract him from swearing like, ‘Ahoy therrrrrre, me lovelies,’ and ‘Arrrrrrr,’ rolling his rrrs dramatically in a very impressive West Country accent.
‘Lots of people are sharing my Facebook post about Cooper already,’ Dawn announced, with satisfaction. ‘That’s good news.’
‘I’ve just shared it to the Duck Pond Rescue page,’ Jade told Stella. ‘The more people who know he’s missing, the more chance that someone will read it who’s seen him.’
Stella nodded gratefully.
The reception door opened and Ursula Hargreaves appeared. Ursula, who could have passed for Halle Berry but for her white corkscrew curls, had an imposing presence about her and had recently become one of Jade’s favourite people.
She’d rehomed two greyhounds last year and was a regular volunteer since she’d retired from being a surveyor for the council. She was a wonderfully calm person to have around in a crisis.
‘I’ve got a suggestion,’ Ursula said, and everyone stopped to listen.
She had that effect on people. ‘I’ve got a friend – he’s ex-army, he used to work in search and rescue for the military, but when he left he decided to transfer his skills to helping people search for lost dogs.
He flies a thermal drone. Which means it’s a lot quicker to search fields and rural farmland, which, as we know, it mostly is round here.
He’s absolutely brilliant. Shall we give him a call? ’
Her words were addressed to the room, but she was looking at Stella. ‘What do you think?’
‘Yes, please. I’d love his help. Do you know how much he charges? Is he expensive?’
There was the tiniest of pauses and a sudden stillness, as if the room and everyone in it had just taken a little indrawn breath.
Ursula shook her head and a smile lit her beautiful face. ‘Dreadlock Dave doesn’t charge for his services. He’s one of those lovely people who just wants to be of service to the world. He does it for the love of dogs.’
Jade found herself breathing out. She’d already known she was going to offer to pay for Dreadlock Dave’s services if Stella couldn’t afford his charges. She was way too invested in this search to back out now, but it was wonderful to know she didn’t need to.
‘Would it be best if you phoned him or I did?’ Stella’s face was full of hope.
‘You’ll need to speak to him to authorise the search. I’ll ping you his number.’
‘Use the landline to phone him,’ Jade suggested, offering Stella the office chair behind the desk and moving a pile of papers so she had a clear space.
The small room quietened again as Stella sat down. Even Mr Spock had shut up.
‘Thanks for this. I’m so very, very grateful to you all,’ Stella said as she picked up the phone. ‘As soon as I’ve called this Dave chappie, I’ll go back to the caravan site and check in with my other half, just in case Cooper’s gone back there.’
Finn felt Jade’s hand creep into his as they waited for Stella to talk to Dave, and he squeezed it tight, hoping he was conveying reassurance and comfort in that squeeze.
God, he loved her. He’d never met a woman like her.
She dedicated her entire life to helping animals and the people who gave them up, and now, she’d given up one of her very rare afternoons off to help a complete stranger look for a dog.
They’d recently made a pact to spend less time working.
For Jade working meant looking after the dozens of waifs and strays who inhabited Duck Pond Rescue, raising money for their keep and rehoming as many as she could.
For Finn, whose commercial art career had only begun seriously the previous year, it meant doing as many commissions as possible, and helping Jade out with the animals.
For both, their work was a vocation and a passion, which meant it was easy to forget all about work–life balance.
Luckily Ben was besotted with animals too, so he spent quite a bit of time at Duck Pond Rescue, and by default, so did Sarah and Callum.
Finn hoped they were OK having been abandoned in the garden.
They probably were. Callum was a typically gregarious Scot, but Sarah would be enjoying the peace.
She was probably sunbathing while Callum cooked all the food.
That was much more her style than tramping round the countryside looking for a lost dog.
Sarah and Jade might be best friends, but they couldn’t have been more different from each other.
Sarah was an extrovert, high-flyer programmer, who spent most of her working life behind a laptop writing code, and Jade was an introvert, happiest when she was tramping around the countryside in muddy boots beneath a big sky, preferably in the company of animals.
‘He can come. Dave can come.’ Finn was jolted into the present by the sound of Stella’s voice and the soft click of the walk-around landline as she put it back on its charger. ‘He said he can be here in about half an hour. He sounded really amazing.’ She looked at Ursula and paused.
‘What’s up?’ Ursula frowned. ‘What else did he say?’
‘He said that unfortunately we’re very near an MOD base. There are flight restriction zones around MOD bases and it’s illegal to fly within two miles of them without permission.’ She bit her lip. ‘So he can’t put his drone up. Not without permission anyway.’
There was a collective sigh.
‘I’m guessing it’s not that easy to get permission,’ Finn said.
‘No,’ Stella murmured. ‘It won’t be quick either. My dad used to be a driver for the military. Nothing’s quick. It’s paperwork in triplicate.’
‘But he is still coming, right?’ Ursula asked her.
‘Yes. He said he’s very happy to come out and help us with the foot search.
I said I’d meet him back at the campsite in about half an hour.
He said in the meantime, keep looking and keep asking everyone we see on foot in the vicinity.
Also’ – she lowered her voice, clearly conscious of what she was saying in front of Everley – ‘he said it would be good to contact local vets, just in case…’ She cleared her throat.
‘Just in case anyone has handed him in.’
‘I can check with the dog warden too,’ Jade said, letting go of Finn’s hand and going back into business-like mode. ‘I know Amit well. It’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’re going to find Cooper soon.’
Finn could see she was struggling to bring the mood in the room back up after the drone disappointment.
He stepped in. ‘In the meantime,’ he began, ‘I suggest we all break for a burger. We have a whole pile of them on the barbecue in our garden waiting to be eaten. And we can’t search indefinitely on empty stomachs.’