Kay ruffled Oscar’s ears as she padded into the kitchen and filled a glass with water from a filter jug, her eyes bleary.
After spending most of Saturday night dealing with a string of text messages containing updates from her team, she had fallen into an uneasy sleep that had been interrupted by the alarm clock ten minutes ago.
She shivered, pulling her dressing gown to her chest and heard the boiler click on, a soft rumble from within the cupboard next to the back door and the subtle tick tick from the radiator next to Oscar’s bed promising warmth in a few minutes.
Yawning, she switched on the coffee machine and inhaled the soothing aroma of freshly ground beans and then refilled Oscar’s water bowl. She measured a cupful of kibble into a second bowl before placing it in front of the Golden Retriever, wrinkling her nose.
‘I know you probably can’t help it, but Scott really needs to tell his friend to stop feeding you whatever’s upsetting your stomach,’ she murmured, mindful of footsteps from the bedroom above.
Oscar nudged her hand away and buried his face in his food, happy slurping noises filling the kitchen as Kay fetched a steaming mug of coffee and returned to the central worktop.
A new message appeared on her phone screen, and she sat on a stool while she read the text from Barnes.
We’ll all be in from 8 for the debrief – see you soon.
‘Coffee…’
She glanced over her shoulder as Adam entered the kitchen, his arms held out in front of him zombie-like as he scuffed across the tiles.
Kay tucked her phone under a takeaway menu and forced a smile. ‘I thought I’d go in and find out how they got on last night.’
‘No phone calls?’
‘A few messages, that’s all. They’d have only called if something urgent came up.’
Adam shuffled across to the coffee machine and dropped a pod into place. ‘No news is good news, then.’
Her smile faltered when he turned.
The bruising to his eye socket and cheekbone was starting to turn yellow and purple, the deep colouring to his skin changing as he healed. The redness in his eye was fading, and she noted that the packet of painkillers on the worktop beside her hadn’t been touched for a couple of days.
And yet…
‘What is it?’ he said, bringing his coffee mug over to where she sat and putting his arm around her shoulders. He kissed her hair. ‘What’s on your mind?’
She waited until he put down his mug, then twisted in her chair and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. ‘I’m worried about you.’
‘I’m out of danger. You wait and see – when we go back to the hospital on Tuesday, they’ll give me the all-clear.’ He tipped her face towards his and kissed her nose. ‘So there’s nothing to worry about.’
Pulling away as he picked up his coffee, Kay sighed. ‘Adam, you know as well as I do whoever broke into the practice could come back. We’ve seen it happen before with other businesses. Now that they know what’s kept in that cabinet of yours, it’ll be too tempting for them. If Gavin doesn’t find out who did this…’
‘Listen, I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday – you were too tired when you got home – but Scott ordered a new secure cabinet for those drugs on Friday.’ Adam sank onto the stool beside her. ‘It’s better than the one we had before. No-one should be able to break into it.’
‘It’s not the drugs I’m worried about. Well, it is – obviously.’ Kay reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘I’m worried about you. And Scott, and Stephanie. Whoever did this didn’t think twice about attacking you in order to get to the drugs. That’s a whole other act of desperation – we haven’t had a vet attacked before. Not around here.’
‘We’ll put new security measures in place, then. We’ll add cameras to the outside of the building, things like that.’
She sighed and lowered her gaze to her lap. ‘Great, so when you get attacked next time we can watch it in high resolution.’
‘What would you have me do? Close the practice? Quit?’
Her head snapped up. ‘No. No – of course not.’
‘Then stop worrying about what might happen.’ He smiled, kissed her fingers and then picked up his coffee mug and slid off of his stool. ‘Besides, I know you. You won’t give up until you find out who did this to me, and stop them. Right?’
‘I won’t.’
A subtle hiss broke the atmosphere, and Kay turned around to see Oscar raising his head from his bed, his brown eyes troubled.
‘Oh, Jesus – not again!’
She stumbled over to the back door, wrenched it open and picked up a tea towel from the draining board, flapping it to counteract the rotten smell that hung in the air.
‘That bloody dog,’ she said, glaring at the Golden Retriever while Adam bent to rub its ears. ‘The sooner Scott takes him back, the better.’
‘Aw, he can’t help it. He’s sick.’
Kay pursed her lips, biting back the truth and vowing to phone Adam’s colleague when she got into work to give him a piece of her mind.
‘I’m going to have a shower.’ Adam straightened, then winked. ‘If you fancy helping me waste some hot water…’
Despite herself, despite all her worries, Kay laughed.
‘How could I resist an offer like that?’