Abby and the Bachelor Cop Read online

  Kleppy lay limp in Fred’s arms. He looked back at her.

  The paw on her knee…

  Help. Help, help, help.

  ‘It’ll be quick?’

  Fred glanced at her, brows snapping. Abby had gone to school with Fred’s daughter. He knew her well. ‘Don’t,’ he said.

  ‘Don’t what?’

  ‘Think about it. Get on with your life. Nine days till the wedding?’

  ‘I…yes.’

  ‘Then you’ve enough on your plate without worrying about stray dogs. Not that you and Philip would ever want a dog. You’re not dog people.’

  ‘What…what do you mean?’

  ‘Dogs are mess,’ he said. ‘Not your style. You guys might qualify for a goldfish. See you later, love. Happy wedding if I don’t see you before.’

  He turned away. She could no longer see Kleppy.

  She could feel him.

  His eyes…

  Help. Help, help, help.

  She was a goldfish person? She’d never even had a goldfish.

  A paw on her knee…

  He reached the door before she broke.

  ‘Fred?’

  The vet turned. Kleppy was still slumped.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I can’t bear this,’ she said. ‘Can you…can you take him in, check him out for damage and then give him back to me?’

  ‘Give him back?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You want him?’

  ‘He’s my wedding present to me.’ She knew she sounded defiant but she didn’t care. ‘I’ve decided. How hard can one dog be? I can do this. Kleppy is mine.’

  Fred did his best to dissuade her. ‘A dog is for life, Abigail. Small dogs like Kleppy live for sixteen years or longer. That’s ten years at least of keeping this dog.’

  ‘Yes.’ But ten years? That was a fact to give her pause.

  But the paw…

  ‘He’s a mutt,’ Fred said. ‘Mostly Cairn but a bit of something else.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Her voice was better, she decided. Firmer. If she was adopting a stray, what use was a pedigree?

  ‘What will Philip say?’

  ‘Philip will say I’m crazy, but it’ll be fine,’ she said stoutly, though in truth she did have qualms. ‘Is he okay?’

  Fred was checking him, even as he tried to dissuade her. ‘He seems shocked, and he’s much thinner than when Isaac brought him in for his last vaccinations. My guess is that he’s barely eaten since the old man died. Isaac found him six years back, as a pup, dumped out in the bush. There were a few problems, but in the end they were pretty much inseparable.’

  Inseparable? The word suddenly pushed her back to the scene she’d just left. To Raff.

  Once upon a time, she and Raff had been inseparable, she thought, and inexplicably there was a crazy twist of her heart.

  Inseparable. This dog. The paw…

  ‘He looks okay,’ Fred said, feeding him a liver treat. Kleppy took it with dignified politeness. ‘Just deflated from what life’s done to him. So now what?’

  ‘I take him home.’

  ‘You’ll need food. Bedding. A decent chain.’

  ‘I’ll stop at the pet store. Tell me what to get.’

  But Fred was glancing at his watch, looking anxious. ‘I’m urgently needed at a calving. Tell you what, you’ll be seeing Raff again in court. Raff’ll tell you what you need.’

  ‘How did you know…?’

  ‘Everyone knows everything in Banksia Bay,’ Fred said. ‘I know where you’re supposed to be right now. I know Raff’s had the case set back half an hour and I hear Judge Weatherby’s not happy. He’s fed up with Raff though, not you, so chances are you’ll get Baxter off. Which no one in Banksia Bay will be happy about. But hey, if your fees go toward buying dog food, then who am I to argue? Get Baxter off, then talk to Raff about dog food. He gets a discount at the Stock and Station store.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because Raff has one pony, two dogs, three cats, two rabbits and, at last count, eighteen guinea pigs,’ Fred said, handing her Kleppy and starting to clear up. ‘His place is a menagerie. It’s a wonder he didn’t take this one but I guess even Raff has limits. He has a lot on his plate. See you later, love. Happy wedding and happy new dog.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  S HE couldn’t go to the Stock and Station store now. That’d have to wait until she’d talked to Raff. Still, Kleppy obviously needed something. What? Best guess.

  She stopped at the supermarket and bought a water bowl, a nice red lead with pictures of balls on it and a marrowbone.

  She drove to the courthouse and Kleppy lay on the passenger seat and looked anxious. His tail had stopped wagging.

  ‘Hey, I saved you,’ she told him. ‘Look happy.’

  He obviously didn’t get the word saved. He sort of…hunched.

  What was she going to do with him while she was in court?

  She drove her car into her personal parking space. How neat was this? She remembered the day her name had gone up. Her parents had cracked champagne.

  It was a fine car park. But…it was in full sun.

  She might not be a dog person but she wasn’t dumb. She couldn’t leave Kleppy here. Nor could she take him home-or not yet-not until she’d done something about dog-proofing. Her parents? Ha! They’d take him right back to Fred.

  So she drove two blocks to the local park. There were shade trees here and she could tie him by her car. Anyone passing would know he hadn’t been abandoned.

  She hoped Kleppy would know it, too.

  She gave him water and his bone and he slumped on the ground and looked miserable.

  Maybe he didn’t know it.

  She looked at him and sighed. She took off her jacket-her lovely tailored jacket that matched her skirt exactly-and she laid it beside Kleppy.

  He sniffed it. The paw came out again-and he inched forward on his belly until it was under him.

  Her very expensive jacket was on dirt and grass, and under dog. Her professional jacket.

  She didn’t actually like that jacket anyway; she preferred less serious clothes. She was five foot four and a bit…mousy. But maybe lawyers should be mousy. Her shiny brown hair curled happily when she let it hang to her shoulders but Philip liked it in a chignon. She had freckles but Philip liked her to wear foundation that disguised them. She had a neat figure that looked good in a suit. Professional. Lawyers should be professional.

  She’d given up on professional this morning. She was so late.

  Oh, but Kleppy looked sad.

  ‘I’ll be back at midday,’ she told him. ‘Two hours, tops. Promise. Then we’ll work out where we go from here.’

  Where? She’d think of something. She must.

  Maybe Raff…

  There was a thought.

  Fred had said Raff had a menagerie. What difference would one dog make? Once upon a time, he’d had seven.

  Instead of advice, maybe she could persuade him to take him.

  ‘You’d like Rafferty Finn,’ she told Kleppy. ‘He’s basically a good man.’ Good but flawed-trouble-but she didn’t need to go into that with Kleppy.

  But how to talk him into it? Or Philip into the alternative?

  It was too hard to think of that right now. She grabbed her briefcase and headed to the courthouse without looking back. Or without looking back more than half a dozen times.

  Kleppy watched her until she was out of sight.

  Heart twist. She didn’t want to leave him.

  It couldn’t matter. Her work was in front of her and what was more important than work?

  What was facing her was the case of The Crown versus Wallace Baxter.

  Wallace was one of three Banksia Bay accountants. The other two made modest incomes. Wallace, however, had the biggest house in Banksia Bay. The Baxter kids went to the best private school in Sydney. Sylvia Baxter drove a Mercedes Coupé, and they skied in Aspen twice a year. They owned a lodge there.

  ‘Lucky
investments,’ Wallace always said but, after years of juggling, his web of dealings had turned into one appalling tangle. Wallace himself wasn’t suffering-his house, cars, even the ski lodge in Aspen, were all in his wife’s name-but there were scores of Banksia Bay’s retirees who were suffering a lot.

  ‘It’s just the financial crisis,’ Wallace had said as Philip and Abby had gone over his case notes. ‘I can’t be responsible for the failure of overseas banks. Just because I’m global…’

  Because he was global, his financial dealings were hard to track.

  This was a small case by national standards. The Crown Prosecutor who covered Banksia Bay should have retired years ago. The case against Wallace had been left pretty much to Raff, who had few resources and less time. So Raff was right- Philip and Abby had every chance of getting their client off.

  Philip rose to meet her, looking relieved. The documents they needed were in her briefcase. He kept the bulk of the confidential files, but it was her job to bring day to day stuff to court.

  ‘What the…?’

  ‘Did Raff tell you what happened?’

  Philip cast Raff a look of irritation across the court. There was no love lost between these two men-there never had been. ‘He said you had to take a dog to the vet, to get it put down. Isn’t that his job?’

  ‘He had cars to move.’

  ‘He got here before you. What kept you? And where’s your jacket?’

  ‘It got dog hair on it.’ That, at least, was true. ‘Can we get on?’

  ‘It’d be appreciated,’ the judge said dryly from the bench.

  So she sat and watched as Philip decimated the Crown’s case. Maybe his irritation gave him an edge this morning, she thought. He was smooth, intelligent, insightful-the best lawyer she knew. He’d do magnificently in the city. That he’d returned home to Banksia Bay-to her-seemed incredible.

  Her parents thought so. They loved him to bits. What was more, Philip’s father had been her brother Ben’s godfather. They were almost family already.

  ‘He almost makes up for our Ben,’ her mother said over and over, and their engagement had been a foregone conclusion that made everyone happy.

  Except… Except…

  Don’t go there.

  She generally didn’t. It was only in the small hours when she woke and thought of Philip’s dry kisses, and thought why don’t I feel…why don’t I feel…?

  Like she did when she looked at Rafferty Finn?

  No. This was pre-wedding nerves. She had no business thinking like that. If she so much as looked at Raff in that way it’d break her parents’ hearts.

  So no and no and no.

  Raff was on the stand now, steady and sure, giving his evidence with solid backup. His investigation stretched over years, with so many pointers…

  But all of those pointers were circumstantial.

  She suspected there were things in Philip’s briefcase that might not be circumstantial.

  Um…don’t go there. There was such a thing as lawyer-client confidentiality. Even if Baxter admitted dishonesty to them outright-which he hadn’t-they couldn’t use it against him.

  So Raff didn’t have the answers to Philip’s questions. The Crown Prosecutor didn’t ask the right questions of Baxter. It’d take a few days, maybe more, but even by lunch time no one doubted the outcome.

  At twelve the court rose. The courtroom emptied.

  ‘You might like to go home and get another jacket,’ Philip said. ‘I’m taking Wallace to lunch.’

  She wasn’t up to explaining about Kleppy right now. Where to start? But she surely didn’t want to have lunch with Wallace. Acting for the guy made her feel dirty.

  ‘Go ahead,’ she said.

  Philip left, escorting a smug Wallace. She felt an almost irresistible urge to talk to the Crown Prosecutor, tell him to push harder.

  It was only suspicion. She had no proof.

  ‘Thanks for taking Kleppy.’ Raff was right behind her, and made her jump. Her heart did the same stupid skittering thing it had done for years whenever she heard his voice. She turned to face him and he was smiling at her, looking rueful. ‘Sorry, Abby. That was a hard thing to ask you to do this morning, but I had no choice.’

  Putting Kleppy down. A hard thing…

  ‘It was too hard,’ she whispered. The Crown Prosecutor was leaving for lunch. If she wanted to talk to him…

  She was lawyer for the defence. What was she thinking?

  ‘Hey, but you’re tough.’ Raff motioned to the back of the courtroom, where Bert and Gwen Mackervale were shuffling out to find somewhere to eat their packed sandwiches. ‘Not like the Mackervales. They’re as soft a touch as any I’ve seen. They lost their house, yet you’ll get Wallace off.’

  ‘Raff, this is inappropriate. I’m a defence lawyer. You know it’s what I do.’

  ‘You don’t have to. You’re better than this, Abby.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’

  ‘Yeah, well…’ He shrugged. ‘I’m going to find me a hamburger. See you later.’

  Uh-oh. Maybe she shouldn’t have snapped. Definitely she shouldn’t have snapped. Not when there was such a big favour to ask.

  How to ask?

  Just ask.

  ‘You couldn’t cope with another dog, could you?’ she managed and he stilled.

  ‘Another…’

  ‘I couldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t. He’s still alive. Raff, he…he looked at me.’

  ‘He looked at you.’ Raff was looking at her as if she’d just landed from Mars.

  ‘I couldn’t get him put down.’

  Raff was carrying papers. He placed them on the nearest bench without breaking his gaze. He stared at her for a full minute.

  She didn’t stare back. She stared at her shoes instead. They were nice black shoes. Maybe a bit high. Pert, she thought. Pert was good.

  There was a smudge on one toe. She considered bending to wipe it and decided against it.

  Still silence.

  ‘You’re keeping Kleppy?’ he said at last.

  She shook her head. ‘I’m…I don’t think it’s possible. I’m asking if you could take him. Fred says you have a menagerie. One more wouldn’t…wouldn’t be much more trouble. I could pay you for his keep.’

  ‘Fred suggested…’ He sounded flabbergasted.

  ‘He didn’t,’ she admitted. ‘I thought of it myself.’

  ‘That I’d take Kleppy?’

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered and she thought that she sounded about eight years old again. She sounded pathetic.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  She looked up at him then. Raff Finn was a good six inches taller than she was. More. He was a bit too big. He was a bit too male. He was a bit too…Raff?

  He was also a bit too angry.

  ‘N…No?’

  ‘No!’ His expression was a mixture of incredulity and fury. ‘I don’t believe this. You strung out a dog’s life in the hope I’d take him?’

  ‘No, I…’

  ‘Do you know how miserable he is?’

  ‘That’s why I…’

  ‘Decided to give him to me. Thanks, Abby, but no.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘I’m not a soft option.’

  ‘You have all those animals.’

  ‘Because Sarah loves them. Do you know how much they cost to feed? I can’t go away. I can’t do anything because Sarah breaks her heart over each and every one of them. Don’t you dare do this to me, Abby. I’m not your soft option. If you saved Kleppy, then he’s yours.’

  ‘I can’t…’

  ‘And neither can I. You brought this on yourself. You deal with it yourself.’ His voice was rough as gravel, his anger palpable. ‘I need to go. I didn’t get breakfast and I don’t intend to miss lunch. I’ll see you back in court at one.’

  He turned away. He strode to the court door and she chewed her lip and thought. But then she decided there wasn’t time for thinking. She panicked instead.

  ‘Raff?’ br />
  He stopped, not looking back. ‘What?’

  Sometimes only an apology would do. She was smart enough to know that this was one of those times. Maybe a little backtracking wouldn’t hurt either.

  ‘Raff, I’m very sorry,’ she said. ‘It was just a thought-or maybe it was just a wild hope-but the decision to save Kleppy was mine. Asking you was an easy option and I won’t ask again. But, moving on, if I’m to keep him… I know nothing about dogs. Fred didn’t suggest you take him, but he did suggest I ask you for help. He said you’ll tell me all the things I need to care for him. So please…’

  ‘Please what?’

  ‘Just tell me what I need to buy at the Stock and Station store. I have a meeting with the wedding caterers after work, so I need to do my shopping now.’

  ‘You’re seriously thinking you’ll keep him?’

  ‘I don’t have a choice.’

  He was facing her now, his face a mixture of incredulity and…laughter? Where had laughter come from? ‘You’re keeping Kleppy?’ He said it as if she’d chosen Kleppy above all others.

  ‘There’s no other dogs out there?’ she said, alarmed, and he grinned. His grin lit his face-lit the whole court. Oh, she knew that grin…

  Trouble. Tragedy.

  ‘There’s thousands of dogs,’ he said. ‘So many needing homes. But you have to fall for Kleppy.’

  ‘What’s wrong with Kleppy?’

  ‘Nothing.’ He was still grinning. ‘I take it you haven’t told Philip.’

  ‘I… No.’

  ‘So where’s Kleppy now?’ His grin faded. ‘You haven’t left him in the car? The sun…’

  ‘I know that much,’ she said, indignant. ‘I took the car to the park and I tied him to a nice shady tree. He has water and feed. He even has my jacket.’

  ‘He has your jacket.’ He sounded bemused, as if there was some private joke she wasn’t privy to.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you’ve tied him up…how?’

  ‘I bought a lead.’

  ‘Please tell me it’s a chain.’

  ‘The chains looked cruel. It’s webbing. Pretty. Red with pictures of balls on it.’

  ‘I don’t believe this.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’