The Village of Lost and Found by Alison Sherlock

Author:Alison Sherlock [Sherlock, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

31

Monday morning dawned sunny and warm once more. So Lucy slipped on her knee-length shorts and T-shirt, deciding that she might as well dress casually for work as everyone else did in the village.

Despite the worry over the newspaper, she had a spring in her step as she and Molly headed around the corner of Riverside Lane and past the shop. She felt as if she could achieve anything that day.

But as they went towards the office, Lucy heard a familiar whimper and stopped suddenly to crouch down to peer underneath the veranda.

She found Henry’s dog was under there once more.

‘Hey, boy,’ she said softly to him. ‘What are you doing back here again?’

‘Awww,’ said Molly, leaning down next to her to look at the dog. ‘Poor thing.’

Lucy held out her hand. ‘Come on. You must know me by now,’ she urged.

The dog seemed to understand and crept out from underneath the veranda to come and sit immediately on her feet.

‘He’s so sweet!’ said Molly. ‘Whose dog is he?’

‘Henry. That farmer over at Cranley Court Farm,’ Lucy told her and then made a decision. ‘Look, tell Tom I’ll be back as quickly as I can. I’m going to drop the dog back to the farm.’

‘OK,’ said Molly, nodding.

The summer air was so warm even at 9 o’clock in the morning that Lucy wound both front windows of the car down. The dog automatically stuck his head out of the passenger-seat window to let his ears flap in the breeze. Lucy smiled to herself. He really was quite sweet, if somewhat in need of a bath.

It was lovely to be heading down the country lanes which were ablaze with colour and butterflies. Uncle Frank had been right, she thought. Summertime really was lovely in Cranbridge.

As they drew up next to the farmhouse, Lucy saw that Henry was tinkering with the engine of his van, which was parked up on the driveway. He looked up as her car pulled up next to his.

‘Hello,’ she said, switching off the engine and getting out of the car.

The dog followed her out of the driver’s door but didn’t bound up to Henry as Lucy had expected.

‘Hi,’ he said, looking down at the dog, which was once more sitting on her feet. ‘I see that he’s living up to his reputation as a well-known escape artist.’

‘I’m afraid so,’ she told him. ‘He was by Cranbridge Stores again. I’m sure you missed him this morning.’

Henry shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’d love to say I did, but he’s not mine, you see. I inherited him from my uncle when everything on the farm was passed to me.’

‘Maybe he’s grieving,’ she said, glancing down at the dog. ‘Did your uncle used to shop at Cranbridge Stores? The dog keeps turning up underneath their veranda.’

‘I honestly don’t know,’ said Henry. ‘I didn’t have much to do with my uncle before he passed away. But he left everything in his will to me, so I’m just trying to muddle through before I can work out what to do with the place.

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