Princess Phoebe (6 page)

‘No,' I say.

He turns to Jan. ‘You come here once more and I
will
lock you in the shed. Now bugger off the pair of you.'

Jan's trembling but she bravely stares back at him as we back away. She has a red patch where he had his hand over her mouth.

‘He's a pig,' I say, and take her arm as we go out of his gate. I turn and call back to him, ‘Why don't you look after your greyhounds properly? They should have beds and water and food, and it's way too hot in that shed. I'm going to report you to the RSPCA. And I want my dog back.'

Lennie takes two steps towards us, then we run for it.

‘What next?' asks Jan, as soon as we're far enough away to stop running.

‘I'm going to go out with Nick,' I say.

We're walking back to her house. The day's bright and sunny – the opposite of how I feel. When we get there, I slump down at her kitchen table.

‘I'll get some lunch,' Jan says, and brings two large tubs of double choc chip ice cream from the freezer. We're quiet for five minutes while we think and eat.

‘The problem isn't getting Princess, is it?' I say. ‘We could break into Lennie's place easily and get her out. But what then? I can't take her home. She can't stay at your gran's allotment on her own, and nobody round here would keep her for me because everyone knows Frank and they'd never dare.'

‘We'll think of something,' says Jan, throwing the empty tubs in the swing bin.

‘Thanks,' I say.

We decide to take Jade for a walk in the park. By now it's really hot and we flake out under a tree, trying to come up with a brainwave. Jade sits close to Jan, as if she's afraid of being the next to disappear.

‘I
have
to see Princess again soon,' I say, ‘even if I can't rescue her. What if she thinks I've left her at Lennie's
because I don't care about her? She'll be waiting for me to come back, I know she will. And I can't bear to think of her watching the shed door and listening for me. If I could only make her understand that I
do
want her, and that I'm making a plan, even if I haven't thought of it yet.'

‘So will you ask Nick?'

‘There's no point. He'll say no. But if he's going coursing with Frank I could hide in the back of his van. He's got a pile of blankets in there for when he shifts furniture, and I could get underneath them. Frank said he was going to take Princess to train with Martin, so it's worth a try. I've heard Dad say they often take the young dogs out to watch, so they learn.'

‘Learn what?' asks Jan.

‘I've never seen it,' I say, ‘but I know they chase hares and bet on the quickest dog, how many turns the dog makes, and that sort of stuff. It
must
be cruel to the hares.'

‘It sounds horrible,' Jan says, ‘shall we both go?'

She's a brilliant friend, but I say, ‘Better not. You'd take up too much room.'

‘Oh, thanks!' She looks relieved though. And while part of me does want to have Jan there, I know that on my own it'll be easier to hide.

Jan goes off to meet her gran and I walk slowly home. Without Princess by my side nothing feels right. I hardly notice the twins as I come indoors. They're sharing out maggots on the table and Nick's making himself toast.

Nick beckons me over and turns so they won't hear. ‘Don't count on it, but I may see Princess tonight. I'm having to work with Frank.' He gives me a kind look. ‘I'll tell you about it tomorrow.'

I have to think fast. I hadn't expected this to happen so soon. I borrow Sam's phone while he's not looking and run up to my room to phone Jan.

‘It's tonight!' I say. ‘Loads sooner than I thought. I'll have to tell Mum I'm sleeping at yours.'

‘OK ...' Jan sounds worried, ‘What shall I tell Dad if you pitch up at midnight?'

‘I won't,' I say, ‘I won't come till morning. I'll creep out of the van when we get back and sleep in our shed. But I'll come to you early, as soon as your dad's gone to work, so make sure you're not still snoring in bed. And keep your mobile on.'

‘And you make sure yours is charged up,' she says. ‘Good luck and
be careful
!'

I put my phone on to charge and decide the shed is the place to start my preparations. I get together what I reckon I'll need for an evening under blankets in the back of Nick's van. I think about food but all I can find is a half-eaten bag of crisps and a couple of biscuits, so I take those along with a bottle of water. When Mum gets back she doesn't question my story about sleeping at Jan's. I feel a tiny bit guilty as I call out to her that I'm off.

I leave with a cheery goodbye, then double back at the gate and shoot into the shed. I sit on the old rags Dad put out for Princess on her first night. It feels like years ago. I listen for Nick coming home and once I hear him go in the house I creep out. With one eye on the living room window, I duck and crawl out to his van. I guess he'll only be indoors for a few minutes to change. Luckily for me, the van's sliding door is unlocked and facing away from the house, so I open it quietly and climb into the back. Nick's blankets are neatly stacked near the rear doors but there are a couple still loose and I drape them over me. They smell old and musty.

‘Tell Ellie I'll see her in the morning.' I hear Nick call, as he slams the house door and comes out to start the engine.

I hadn't realised what being in the back of the van would be like. I bump around like a sack of spuds, and with
nothing to hang on to I'm unable to stop myself sliding from side to side when we go round corners. I take everything out of my pockets to try and cut down on the pain, and I slide the food, water and my phone between the folds of the pile of blankets, to stop them making a racket as they move around. I wish I could put myself there too. I'm soon bruised and dying to stop, but Nick drives quite a way, and it's nearly nine o'clock by my watch when I feel the van turning more sharply and the ground becomes bumpier than ever.

There's a bit of a gap between the back doors where they never close properly, and I can get a glimpse of the track we're following. We're going through a wood, and I can make out clouds of midges re-forming as Nick's van pushes through them under the branches of the trees. I'm now boiling under the smelly blankets and the pain is getting worse, too, with me flying up what feels like two metres on the biggest bumps and landing back down with a thud on the van floor. I'm amazed that my brother can't hear me, but he's listening to music and muttering to himself. All I can think of is that I mustn't sneeze, or cry out in pain, and that I wish I hadn't drunk so much water before setting off. I grit my teeth and try to sit tight.

Nick's mobile rings. ‘I'll be there in five minutes,' he says, and swings sharply round on to a second track as I groan silently and think that if he doesn't stop soon I'll have to cry for mercy. But at last he does. I'm aching all over.

I grew up hearing talk about hare coursing. I know it's a crime, but that doesn't stop the betting men from finding places way out in the countryside where they can carry on without getting caught.

Nick parks up and I hear men's voices and doors slamming as other vans pull up too. I wonder whether Frank's arrived.
Would he have my Princess in his van
?
I worry now that Nick might want something from the back near me, but he jumps out and goes off to join the others. I can smell cigarette smoke and someone clears his throat and spits.

I risk raising my head a little. By looking in the wing mirror I can make out a group of men standing around with about ten dogs. The dogs are thin and dull coated, and most are muzzled, but they look excited and ready to run. I can also see a large field stretching uphill into the distance.

‘Here's Frank,' someone calls, and sure enough Frank's van pulls up and parks a little over to our left. My heart sinks when I see that Big Lennie's with him.
What if they see me
? Both of them know me. My stomach churns at the thought of it.

Too late now Ellie
, I tell myself.
Princess needs you
. I take a breath and try to make a plan.

Nick has parked the van with the rear windows overlooking the field, so as the group moves off I can sit up and get a better look. I see two men carrying a crate, and setting it down where Frank directs. It seems that Nick's job is to hold the dogs back as a hare is released, before the word is given to let them go. But the men stand around for ages, passing money to each other, chatting, smoking and laughing. I wish they would move further away. Then I might be able to climb out and look for Princess.

At last there's a shout and the coursing begins. A man lets a hare go running for its life up the field and away, and when it's got a good start, Nick lets two dogs out. They shoot forward like bullets and catch up with the hare in seconds. The poor hare begins to try and shake them off, turning and changing direction, and wheeling around with a speed and agility that would have been amazing to watch had the dogs not been trying to catch it. Their muzzles have been taken off and they are yelping with excitement
as they chase round and about, changing direction with the hare and gaining on it quickly whenever it tries to make a straight dash for cover. The men are shouting at the dogs, yelling encouragement and swearing with every other word.

I'm glued to the back window, my heart sinking as I see the hare begin to tire and the dogs close in on it. At one stage it nearly gets away as there's a ditch in the field and it tries to get over in that direction. It nearly makes it, as the dogs are tiring too, but I turn away as I know that they are going to catch and kill it.

For a few moments I had forgotten about Princess, but now I need to act quickly while everyone's attention is on the coursing and before the next hare is released. I slip out of the van and across the grass to where Frank is parked. Pulling myself up on the back bumper, I look inside. There she is, along with three other dogs. I don't quite know what I intend to do.
See my beloved dog and give her a hug? Try and explain that somehow I'll get her back
? Swallowing my fear of Frank and Lennie, and convinced that I can do this before they return, I open the front passenger door and crawl in to the back of Frank's van with the dogs.

Princess greets me wildly, and I have a job getting her to calm down and stay still while I explain to her that I'm working hard to get her back and that Jan and I are determined to come up with a master plan.

Then I freeze as I hear Frank's voice.

‘Get those youngsters out Lennie. It's time they had a watch at what they'll be doing.'

I can hear Lennie laughing and I think he must pause to light a cigarette or something, because at that moment there's a shout from someone further up the field and a stream of swearwords from Frank. In seconds he's rattling the door on his side of the van, trying to get his keys in
when I know already that it's not locked. I crouch down in the back as I hear the sound of footsteps running and, in the distance, the howl of police sirens. The men all come dashing back. I can't see anything but hear dogs being thrown into the backs of vans, doors slamming and engines starting up. Three greyhounds land next to me, including Martin. There's the sound of wheels skidding in the mud and more terrible swearing from Frank and Big Lennie as Frank turns the van. I'm thrown around with what are now seven dogs in the back, and we shoot off through the trees.

‘Watch it, Frank!' mutters Lennie through gritted teeth as the van lurches about and his little body is wrenched forwards out of its seat and snapped back again. I crouch down and hang on to the rise of the wheel arch.

‘Shut up you snivelling little rat,' is all the reply Lennie gets. ‘If those cops get us it'll all be over, and you'll be looking at a stretch inside with your record.'

‘You too, Frank, and a longer one if you kill me into the bargain,' says Lennie.

The dogs take no notice of me as they fall about, trying to get a grip on the van floor. I'm glad I've met Martin before, so at least I'm not afraid of him even though he's so big. I hold my breath as we skid around corners and between trees. I can hear the roar of engines as the other men try to escape. All the time, the police sirens come closer.

Then the van gives a massive lurch and we come out on to a smoother road. I lose my grip on the wheel arch and slide across the floor. I grab the arch on the other side. How could I have been so stupid as to think I'd have time to see Princess and get back to the cover of Nick's blankets without being seen? Now I wish my big brother knew where I was and to come and save me, but I remember that my phone is tucked between the folds of his blankets along with my other stuff.
And why didn't I go behind a
bush while I had the chance
? The pain in my tummy makes everything worse.

I can hear the sirens still, but they become more distant as Frank accelerates down what feels like a proper road. I can see the lights of other cars and hear them coming towards us.

‘We can't go back to the estate yet, that's for sure,' says Frank to Lennie. ‘We don't know if any of the others have been caught. When we get clear of this lot I'll call my brother Alex and we'll go over and stay with him for a day or two until the dust dies down.'

‘What about the dogs?' says Lennie, ‘we've got a few in here you know.'

‘Alex won't care,' says Frank, ‘he can put them in the outhouse. He's used to dogs. Then we'll have a sort out and maybe leave a few in a convenient place I know.'

‘Not my dogs,' says Lennie, ‘I brought some good ones out tonight.'

‘Didn't look that good,' says Frank. ‘But there's one I want rid of. So just sit there, shut up and let me get to my brother's place. We need to be sure the bloody police haven't followed. It'd be my luck if they get the helicopter out.'