Turning to face the front she strapped herself in as Brodie turned the Land Rover and drove back to the lane.
‘How are you?’ she asked, glad he had asked her to accompany him.
‘Miserable.’ He glanced at her with a half-smile. ‘I know I should be happy for Thistle, and I am. I’m just upset that I have toreturn him so soon. Selfish of me, I know. And not very professional for a vet.’
‘Rubbish. You’re only human and you’ve become more attached to him than you expected, that’s all.’
He sighed and she saw him look at Thistle briefly in his rear-view mirror. ‘The lady who contacted Tina did sound very nice. In fact the reason I’m hurrying to return him is because she sounded very troubled by having lost him in the first place.’
‘Oh dear.’ Lettie didn’t like anyone to be upset. ‘We’ll have to reassure her that he was fine and well looked after and none the worse for his experience in the wild, so to speak.’
He gave her a smile and nodded. ‘Yes. I want to reassure her.’ He glanced into his mirror again then back at the road. ‘I’ll be happy to see Thistle back with his owner again. He must have missed her as much as she missed him.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Another good thing about living on this small island is that nothing tends to go missing for long.’
Lettie agreed. ‘Yes, and there’s always someone who knows someone else who can help.’
‘True.’
‘I wonder what Thistle’s real name is,’ Lettie said almost to herself.
‘I’d like to know that, too. I was hoping she didn’t mind us giving him a new name.’ He indicated left before turning down another road.
‘Where exactly are we headed?’ she asked a little later. They’d been driving for longer than she had expected them to and Lettie was surprised that Thistle didn’t live in one of the closer parishes.
‘Trinity.’
‘Trinity? But that’s miles from St Ouen.’
He nodded. ‘I know. The poor dog has come quite a way and I couldn’t help wondering why.’
She was wondering the same thing. ‘Maybe he tried to return to where he’s taken for walks each day, or something.’
‘Maybe.’ He sighed. ‘I guess we’ll soon find out. It is a bit odd though, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is.’
Lettie thought back to when she had found Thistle. He had seemed hungry and somewhat distressed and was hiding in a bush. Surely there was more to why he had run off, if in fact that was what had happened. She was glad she could be with Brodie when he met the owner and find out for herself exactly what had gone on.
Brodie pulled up to the gateway of a bungalow. ‘This is the address the woman gave me when I called her.’ He parked the car and turned to Lettie. ‘I suppose we should go and do this then.’
‘I suppose we should,’ she said miserably. She turned and reached out to stroke Thistle’s soft nose. ‘He doesn’t seem all that excited to be here, does he?’
‘I was thinking that, too.’ He turned to her and reached back to stroke Thistle’s head. ‘Thankfully though he doesn’t seem too worried about being here either, otherwise I’d leave him in the vehicle and go in first without him.’
She loved that Brodie was protective of this sweet stray. ‘Come along then, let’s do this.’
Brodie sighed. ‘Yes, may as well get it over with.’
31
BRODIE
Brodie lifted Thistle down from the vehicle and clipped a lead onto his collar; the last thing he needed was for the dog to run away again just when they had arrived at his home. He might be returning Thistle to his rightful owner, but he had every intention of observing every one of Thistle’s reactions to being back here. And he wanted to discover what it was that had caused this friendly dog to run away.
Lettie looked at him and pointed to the doorbell. ‘Shall I?’
