‘Run!’ she yelled to Houdini, who was standing in the tray of the ute. ‘Houdini, run!’
He did just that, flying over the edge of the tray and landing beside her.
‘Pip!’ Grommet called after her. She could hear other voices too, but she wasn’t waiting to find out whose.
She could hear her pulse beating in her ears and the slap of her damp sneakers on the hard road. Inside her belly, her huge dinner rolled around and she wished she hadn’t eaten quite so much. Beside her, she could hear Houdini panting and feel his warm breath on her legs. She felt reassured. As long as he was with her, everything would be okay.
Far behind her, a car engine roared powerfully to life. It wasn’t the rough, spluttering sound of Grommet’s ute, and it was accompanied by the whine of a police siren, which meant that in two minutes, Constable Payne or another police officer would catch up with her. She couldn’t stay on the road, but with cliffs and a sheer drop into the ocean on one side, the only option was to head into the thickly-wooded hillside on the other.
‘Houdini!’ she screamed, just as a police car screeched to a halt behind her. She swung around but, blinded by the headlights, she couldn’t see a thing; all she could hear was the car door opening and Houdini barking fit to raise the dead.
When she put up a hand to shield her eyes from the glare, she could just make out the stocky silhouette of the policeman climbing out of his car. Constable Payne snapped out an order for her to stay exactly where she was and that everything would be all right. Pip looked one way and then the other, searching for a way out. But where?
A way behind the police car, she glimpsed a wetsuited figure with long, messy brown hair running towards them, but Grommet was too far away to help.
Then, all of a sudden, Houdini was there, standing between Pip and the police officer, tail stiff, growling and snarling, showing all of his impressive teeth.
Despite her desperation, Pip felt her heart swell with pride at her dog’s courage.
Though Houdini wasn’t a very big dog, Constable Payne took a step back behind his car door.
‘Call it off,’ he said, glancing nervously between Pip and Houdini.
Instead, Houdini stepped forward, snarling nastily and tossing his head like a bull about to charge. Then he looked back at Pip and barked twice. The message was clear. ‘Go! I’ll catch you up!’
She didn’t need telling twice, swivelling and legging it up the hill towards the trees. As she reached them, she paused and turned to see Houdini still holding off Constable Payne. Grommet had nearly reached the cars. Once he was there, Pip hoped he would tell the cop to back off and Houdini would catch her up.
Knowing she had to keep moving, Pip forced herself onwards, even though her heart and legs were burning. Up and up she went, never stopping, expecting at any moment to hear Houdini following her scent, and then see that silly sideways grin when he found her. Houdini the hero.
On and on she climbed, her lungs hurting and her legs cramping. She had no sense of time. It could have been half an hour or half a day. It was fully dark now, with only the occasional glimmer of street, house and car lights through the screen of trees.
When she couldn’t go on, she slumped to the ground behind a bush and waited and waited until it became clear that Houdini wasn’t coming. Had he lost her scent? Or run in a different direction to fool Constable Payne?
Or, in giving Pip her chance to escape and continue her journey, had he been caught?
The urge was strong to keep on running, but in the dark she could easily blunder into anyone out hunting for her, so she decided to take cover and stay put. In any case, she couldn’t leave Houdini to whatever fate befell dogs who growled at police officers and helped fugitives to escape.
Knowing the police and others might be out looking for her, she tried hard to stay awake and alert. But she eventually fell fast asleep, huddled beneath an overhanging rock, head on her pack, and awoke what seemed like seconds later to a blazing golden-red sunrise over the trees and across the ocean.
As quietly as she could, Pip climbed on top of the rock she’d been sleeping under. The sky was such a brilliant swirl of orange, red and gold, she had to squint. The ocean was spread out in front of her, a deep and mysterious blue, and when she stood on her toes and craned her neck, she could just make out a corner of Grommet’s birdhouse, perched on its cliff-edge eyrie. She’d like to live in a house like that one day, especially one that wasn’t too tidy.
She hoped Grommet would have tried to do his best for Houdini. But Houdini was her dog, her best friend and her family. And best friends stuck by each other through thick and thin. He had saved her skin last night, and now she had to make sure he was okay.
After a few minutes of hearing nothing but birdsong, she felt confident that no cops were lurking in the bushes. Climbing down from the rock, she began to retrace her footsteps through the trees and down the hill. Every so often, she found a log or a rock to stand on, to ensure she wasn’t veering off course.
Once she heard voices and hid, squeezed inside a hollow tree trunk that smelt of warm, sappy wood. But they turned out to be a white-haired couple out for an early morning walk.
The man reminded her a bit of Sully, and she wondered for a moment if he could see her from wherever he was. If he could have spoken, it would have been something like, ‘Dog’s breakfast you’ve made of that,’ with a disdainful snort thrown in for good measure.
Hungry and really thirsty, and thinking of dogs and breakfasts, she fished out the hamburger leftovers. But they were squished to a paste where she’d lain on her pack so she tossed them out for the ants.
When the bushwalkers were well and truly gone, Pip emerged from the tree trunk and continued on down the hill. She hit the road slightly further along than the spot where she’d escaped last night, but it gave her a good view both ways. Concealed behind a fringe of long grass, she spent some time watching the road and the birdhouse, but apart from a boy riding his bike down the street, all was quiet.
If she was going to go to Grommet’s, she would have to do it while it was still early. That was her best chance of not being caught. He might know what had happened to Houdini, or even help her to look for him.
With no footpath, Pip had no choice but to walk along the road, but whenever she heard a noise she ducked behind a parked car or a bush, and waited for a minute, her heart beating fast and hard. At any moment, she expected a front door to be flung open and Constable Payne to charge out, red-faced and angry, handcuffs at the ready. But no doors opened and all was quiet.
Within minutes, she stood at the start of the long drive that led to the birdhouse. It really was the strangest place she’d ever seen, with higgledypiggledy rooms on different levels, and even a kind of turret, all built of wood that had faded to a silvery grey, surrounded by ferns and palms.
Grommet’s ute was parked outside, along with another, newer car. There was no sign of any police. It was now or never. Pip squared her shoulders and walked up the path to the front door. Her hand was raised to knock when she heard voices from inside and went stock still.
Who was with him? The people he’d mentioned yesterday who he wanted her to meet?
Pip decided to see if she could catch a glimpse of them before they saw her. That way, she could simply disappear if she didn’t like the look of them. She walked around the side of the house, wary of the windows that jutted out unexpectedly at odd angles. One large one opened from a living room with a big stone fireplace, some saggy chairs and a big sofa. A ceiling fan whirled slowly, and magazines and books were scattered everywhere. The room was empty, but at the far end she could see open glass doors and people moving about outside.
Scarcely daring to breathe, she was about to duck down again when she noticed a photo on the wide mantelpiece. There were five people in the picture. The man on the left was unmistakeably Grommet, although looking much younger. He stood next to an older woman and man smiling at each other. Next to the older man was someone who looked very much like Grommet, with the same messy brown hair but not quite as tall, and he was holding hands with Cassandra.
Frozen, Pip stared at the photo, her mind whirring, trying to make sense of it but her brain couldn’t seem to connect the dots. She was still standing there when Grommet came into the living room and saw her on the other side of the window.
‘Pip! Wait! It’s okay!’
He dashed out through the glass doors at the back, disappearing for a second. Pip could have run, but how could she leave when she was so close to finding out something that she knew could be the most important piece of information yet?
Grommet came tearing around the side of the house, his bare feet silent on the thick grass and his hair even messier than last night. When he saw she was still there, he stopped.
‘Hey.’ He tried a grin but it fell apart after a second.
‘Where’s Houdini?’ Pip asked through stiff lips. Grommet jerked a thumb behind him. ‘Being spoilt to death. Want to see?’
Pip let out a breath. At least the cops hadn’t flung her dog in jail. She shuddered to think of him in one of those cages they’d had for dogs at The Hound Pound. But she hung back.
‘You’ve got people.’
Grommet nodded. ‘The ones I mentioned. I called them last night and they came straight over. They’d really like to meet you.’
‘No police?’
‘No police. Constable Payne called half an hour ago and I told him there was no sign of you. He said they’ll try to get a search party out today. I told him not to bother, that you were very good at taking care of yourself.’ Grommet smiled. ‘So…are you coming?’
Still, Pip didn’t move. ‘The photo,’ she managed, pointing at the window. ‘In there.’
Grommet nodded, running a hand through his rumpled hair. ‘Come and meet…my guests and we’ll explain everything.’
‘Everything?’
‘Everything we know.’
He led the way along the path around the back of the house to a wide shady deck. A large table was laid with plates and cutlery, and a woman was setting out tall glasses. ‘Ignatius, I know you said she’d come for her dog but I really think we should be out looking for her. Breakfast can wait while we—’ She stopped as she saw Grommet and Pip, and Pip realised she was the older lady in the photo. She had Grommet’s hair, but streaked with grey, and his long narrow fingers.
Pip would have backed up but Grommet’s hand fell on her shoulder, holding her close to his side.
‘Do you think bacon is all right for Houdini?’ asked a man, stepping out from a kitchen onto the porch. He was going bald, and had a Santa-like beard, just like in the photo.
‘Yes,’ Pip murmured, though the Brownings had said it was bad for him. ‘He likes it.’
‘Oh!’ The man looked from Pip to Grommet to the woman, as Houdini – hearing Pip’s voice – came skidding from the kitchen, barking joyfully.
He jumped up, licking her face. Pip hugged him and looked up at Grommet.
He cleared his throat. ‘So, Pip, I’d like you to meet my mum and dad, Violet and Bill.’
‘Hi,’ Pip said. They said nothing, just stared at her as if she had three heads. She turned her head to look uncertainly up at Grommet, not sure if their silence was good or bad, if perhaps she should leave.
Grommet cleared his throat again. ‘I realise this is a shock but we’re pretty sure that Violet and Bill are your grandparents.’