Princess Phoebe (11 page)

‘Oh, I know where this is,' says Nick, ‘it's not far at all.'

I hope desperately that Mrs Henderson will be back from her asparagus thing by now. She
must
be back. I feel that if I can't see Princess after all this I will die.

Nick finds the way easily. Being a driver, he's good at things like finding addresses, and before I know it we're coming up the lane from the opposite direction to the one I'd taken on my own.

Then Nick says, ‘Hang on Ellie, does that look like Frank's van to you?'

He brakes and pulls up against the hedge. It's not quite a lay-by, but there's enough room for us to park just out of sight.

‘Get down quick,' he says, and we both duck under the dashboard.

‘It is him! He's parked outside Mrs Henderson's house,' I say, ‘what are we going to do?'

We crouch there for a few minutes while Nick thinks, then he says, ‘You stay here and wait. I'll go and have a sneak around and see what's happening. Frank must have decided to get Princess. I'll bet he's trying to break in.'

‘Let me come,' I beg, ‘I can be quiet too. We might need two of us, Nick.'

‘No!' he says firmly. ‘You wait here, and I'll leave the keys in the engine in case we need to make a quick getaway.'

Before I can argue, Nick gets out of the van and is edging his way up the lane, keeping to the right-hand side where there are the most bushes. Then he disappears.

But I'm afraid for Mrs Henderson, and for my dog, and I simply can't bear to sit and wait. I get out and run along the road, keeping to the right as Nick had done. Being so much smaller, I can dart in and out among the hedges, and I soon reach Mrs Henderson's gate. I squeeze past a bush on the near side of it, coming out into the garden, where I can hear the chickens squawking round the back. Nick must have been moving towards the noise too because the next thing I hear is a familiar, sarcastic voice.

‘Nick! Well, well! So this
is
my dog. I thought so. Phoebe eh? Your friend must think I'm stupid. You can tell her I've just been to collect what's mine.'

I hear a tiny whine then, and as I peep through the branches where I'm hiding, I can see that Frank has Princess on a tight lead, and is holding her very close to his leg.

‘Leave the dog alone, Frank,' says Nick. ‘She doesn't belong to you.'

I shrink deeper in to the hedge as they come round from the side of the house into the front garden, and stand facing each other on the path. Nick makes as if to take Princess's lead. He seems quite calm.

‘Get lost,' says Frank, ‘the dog's coming with me.'

Princess starts to whine more loudly.

‘Shut up you stupid dog,' says Frank, and aims a kick at her hip. She yelps and falls silent.

‘So that's how you treat your dogs Frank, is it?' says Nick. ‘How are they supposed to work for you if you hurt them like that?'

Frank laughs. ‘I couldn't care less whether this dog works Nick. That's no longer important to me. In fact, I'll probably take her to the river once I've got her back. I'm tired of her already, and I've got plenty of other dogs. But I have my reputation to look after and I can't have little girls making a fool of me. Your sister needs to be taught a lesson. And so do you.'

With that Frank gives Nick a shove, ‘So get out of my way!'

‘I won't!' says Nick, but he falls back a little as Frank drops Princess's lead and grabs a stick that's lying on the ground. Without hesitating for a moment, Frank hits out at Nick, knocking him to the ground where he kicks him
just as he kicked my poor dog. I stifle a cry. Then he leans over my brother and shouts at him. ‘Leave me and my dogs alone! Mind your own business! And if you don't pay me the money you owe me, all of it, by the end of the month, I'll set the boys on you. And all the money means interest as well.' He aims another kick at my brother, but misses as Nick rolls over and starts to get up.

Nick is big and also younger than Frank, but he doesn't have that vicious streak that I know Frank has. As he gets to his feet, it looks as if Frank will hit him again, but Nick ducks and lands a punch in the middle of Frank's fat belly.

I stand rooted to the spot, forgetting that I'm supposed to be hiding.
Should I go and try to help Nick, or what
? Then a cold nose pushes itself under my right hand as Princess, her lead trailing behind her as it was dropped by Frank, comes to me for safety.

I put my hand on her head, thrilled to have her next to me again, but I'm watching my brother too.
What to do
? I feel sick at the bashes he's getting from Frank, although he's landing quite a few of his own. I've seen fights before between Nick and the twins, but I realise now that those had just been playing. These two are fighting properly.

Nick half turns his head and shouts,

‘Go back to the van, Ellie! Take the dog and go! I'll join you in a minute.' Then there's a horrible thud – while Nick was distracted, Frank hit him again.

I hadn't even realised that Nick had seen me, but I decide for once to do as I'm told and, hanging on tight to Princess's lead, I run for the gate then up the lane as quickly as I can. As I get near Nick's van, though, a figure steps out from the side of it and stands blocking my way.

Big Lennie! He must have been waiting outside for Frank, which means he must have seen Nick, and then me, creeping along the lane.

‘Give me the dog,' he says.

‘No!' I shout, kicking out at him and gripping the lead with all my strength as he comes closer to me. But Lennie calmly stretches out one tattooed arm and grasps my hand, bending my fingers back and taking the lead from me.

‘We've had enough of you,' he says and, without another word, he walks back down the lane towards Frank's van, dragging Princess behind him.

‘Oi, Frank!' I hear him call as he reaches Mrs Henderson's garden. Within a moment, Frank's joined him and their engine starts up. There's a squeal of tyres and they come fast in my direction, then Frank brakes, he winds his window down and smiles through his brown teeth.

‘You'd better go and fetch your brother. He's lying on the grass. Oh, and don't even think about reporting your friend's broken window to the police. If I get just one visit about my dog, it'll be found in the river before the cops can even get back in their cars.'

Frank was right about Nick being on the grass, though as I get back to him he's trying to stand up. I hold out a shaky hand.

‘Are you all right?'

‘Never better,' he says, through a cut on his lip. There's blood all over the place, and Mrs Henderson's lawn looks like a road accident's happened on top of it. Nick groans and stands, nearly pulling me over as he straightens. I feel my hand change shape as he grips it. .

‘I'll do for that man!' he says, ‘If it's the last thing I ever do!'

‘It's all my fault,' I say, ‘for taking Princess back in the first place. And now Frank's going to drown her! Oh, Nick! What are we going to do?'

Nick dabs at the cut on his face and puts his arm around me. ‘Something,' he says, ‘we'll do something.'

At that moment, we hear a car pulling up outside. Mrs Henderson is back.

‘Ellie? What on earth's going on?' As she comes through the gate she's staring at Nick. ‘What's happened?'

‘Oh, Mrs Henderson!' I say, ‘Frank's been and he's taken Princess and he's going to drown her, and he's beaten Nick up.' Mrs Henderson stays calm. Perhaps she doesn't believe me. She looks at Nick and says he should come in
and she'll see if she can clean him up. Then she sees her broken window and goes nuts.

‘But what's this? How dare he? There's glass all over my kitchen! Right! I'm phoning the police!' She marches to the phone as I try to stop her.

‘No! Don't ring them! Frank said he'd drown Princess straightaway if anyone calls the cops. Please don't!'

‘No Ellie, I'm sorry, but this won't do. I can't just do nothing, and if that man's arrested he won't be able to drown your dog. You can be witnesses to the fact that he broke in to my house. We have to fight back, don't you agree Nick?'

‘Mrs Henderson's right,' says Nick.

I am astonished. ‘But what about Princess?'

Nick says, ‘If we're quick, we should be able to get her back from Big Lennie. That's where Frank will put her for sure. If the police are on to Frank he won't want the dog at his place, even if he does claim that he owns her. He'll never admit to coming over here and breaking Mrs Henderson's window, and he'll rely on us keeping quiet for Princess's sake. I don't think he'll take the chance of hurting her, either. He talks big but he doesn't want to go to prison, you can count on that.'

I can't count on anything. ‘But they've set off already!' I say. ‘What if they decide to get rid of Princess before we can follow them?'

But I'm too late, Mrs Henderson's already talking on the phone.

‘They'll come as soon as they can,' she says as she puts the receiver down. ‘We all know each other round here and they won't leave an old lady like me without a window. In fact, I believe I used to teach the young man who's now at the local police station, a few years ago of course. Now Ellie, you get us all a cold drink from the fridge and, for
heaven's sake, sit down and have a biscuit or something. You look dreadful.'

She gets some horrible smelly stuff out of the cupboard to put on Nick's eye, while I get the drinks and the biscuits. But I can't eat or drink a thing.

‘I'm sorry about your window,' says Nick, ‘and I know that Ellie and I should really wait until the police arrive, but I'll leave our address so they can interview us later if they want. I think we need to get back now, and see what we can do about Princess. Even with you knowing the policeman, they might take a while to come. And in the meantime, if you agree, I'll ring my granddad and ask him to come over and fix your window as soon as the police have looked at it. He only lives over in Shipwell, and he's good at stuff like that. I'm sure he'd be glad to help.'

Thank you,' says Mrs Henderson. ‘Yes, you two go.'

Nick rings Granddad and I hear him trying to explain.

‘No, Granddad, it's a lady called Mrs Henderson. She's about four miles from you. Yes, it's a long story, but I haven't got time to explain. If you could just come over ...' There's quiet for a moment then Nick puts the phone down. . ‘Granddad says he knows you,' he says, ‘he claims you share an interest in asparagus.'

‘Mr Wood?' Mrs Henderson looks pleased. ‘He's your grandfather? Ellie! Why didn't you say?'

I would have if I'd known. ‘That's amazing,' I say, and of course I'm pleased too, but compared to the need to rescue Princess ... ‘Nick,
please
let's go.'

Nick must be feeling the urgency too, because he nods in agreement.

‘Granddad will get here as soon as he can,' Nick tells Mrs Henderson as we say goodbye and hurry off down her path. In spite of all the glass, blood and mess, she's full of smiles, I reckon because Granddad's on his way.

‘Let me know what happens!' she calls.

I can't sit still in the van. It seems to be getting hotter and I wish I'd had a drink before we left. I find a bottle of warm lemonade rolling around on the van floor and hand it to Nick.

‘Yuk!' he says. ‘That's disgusting.'

Nick's given Mrs Henderson a note of Frank's address for the police, but he doesn't think they'll hurry over there. He's gripping the steering wheel really hard and I can tell he's worried, however calm he tries to look. When I ask what he thinks we should do, he doesn't answer.

‘D'you think Margaret might have Princess for a bit?' I ask him.

‘It's worth a try. Give her a call. D'you think she'll still be at the allotment? We need to get Princess away quickly,' he says.

‘I'll ring Jan,' I say. There's no reply, so I send her a text instead.

‘We'll go straight to Big Lennie's,' Nick says. By now it's getting on for 8 o'clock. Then he says, ‘Right Ellie, here's what we're going to do. First we'll make sure that Frank's not at Lennie's – we can check around the estate for his van. Then I'll park a good few houses away around the corner, and we'll go to the back where Lennie's gate is. He'll have locked it for certain, because he'll be expecting us. But Lennie's a cowardly little bloke and if Frank's not with him he'll probably draw the curtains and turn the telly on, hoping to avoid trouble. He only fights people that are smaller than him, or children, or poor greyhounds that he knows he can win against.'

‘Can you climb the wall?' I ask him, remembering how high it had seemed when Jan and I had been there.

‘Easy,' Nick reassures me, ‘but if Lennie comes out you'll have to get Princess away while I distract him. I'll open the
gate and let you in. I'll bet there's just one bolt on the inside the same as we've got at home. When you've got her from the shed, go back to the van and wait for me. If things go really wrong, or if Frank turns up or something, you take Princess and run for it. Cut through the park and make for the allotments and I'll catch up with you. But only if you have to. Otherwise, wait in the van.'

‘What about you?' I ask Nick. ‘What if Lennie's not on his own?' I've begun to realise that this isn't just about me and Princess.

‘I'll be fine,' he says, ‘but you've got to be fast Ellie; don't mess about talking to the other dogs. And keep texting Jan. We don't want to get to the allotments and find no one there.

All this while we've been driving, and at last we're back among the familiar roads of our town. Nick knows all the shortcuts and side streets, and he swings the van around and about, bringing us quickly out onto the main route into Lennie's estate. He slows and parks up behind a row of empty garages where the doors are hanging loose and squeaking. It feels like the wind's getting up and I wonder if we might be in for a storm later.