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Her forehead banged into a hard surface and Leilah felt her lower left incisor burrow into her lip. The dog yelped as she landed on top of him and he squirmed to free himself, tangling her body in the rope. Rolling onto her side with a groan, Leilah released the harsh string from around her fingers, feeling it run through them and graze the skin. Moss tugged himself free and gave a dramatic shake, showering her with dead fern and dust. “Stay,” Leilah grunted, forcing herself onto her knees and resting a hand on the dog’s scruff. To her surprise he obeyed, laying next to her and panting. The torch beamed its light on a rock wall, creating flecks and moving shadows. Leilah retrieved it with her free hand and shone it around to get her bearings.
The cave proved tiny, little more than a den beneath the outcrop. It began as the foot of a wall, but subsequent rock falls had deposited a barrier on two other sides and left an aperture big enough for a large man to crawl through. Fresh air came through crevices between the many lumps of grey-wacky and rain had left brown metallic deposits on the walls. A perfect hidey, if a little damp during the rainy season. Leilah shone the torch around her, taking in the leaves which cushioned her fall and an old blanket screwed up against the back wall. Moss grinned at her in the torch beam and she stroked his head. “Good boy, Mossie,” she soothed. “I think we’ve found your calling.” Uncomfortable with the forbidding aura of the place, Leilah rose to a crouch and eyed the exit. She reached out to take up the rope lead again and moved forward.
Moss darted at her, licking her face and then turning his backside to lash her with his tail. He scrabbled in the blanket and then sat down. His dark eyes glinted in the light and his tongue glistened against his pink lips. Leilah winced. “I’m not touching that.” She grimaced. “It’s been there ages.” Pushing nearer the exit, she tugged on the rope but grew irritated when the dog resisted. Another whine and he scratched at the dirty blanket. He turned it over and over with his nose, rolling it into a giant sausage and shifting it around the cave floor. Leilah pointed the torch beam down and gasped as a scrap of pale blue cloth eased its way out.
“My knickers.” She breathed the words as horror filled her chest and spread outward to encompass her gut. Moss hauled them out with his teeth, pulling until they came free before depositing them at Leilah’s feet. Then he sat, looking up into her face and expecting more praise. Leilah sank to her knees, not wanting to touch the fabric she’d once felt so feminine wearing. A sense of violation rolled over her, sullying her from head to toe. Malcolm knew about her secret lover and had stolen her underwear. It was the only thing which seemed to make sense. Leilah bent double, accepting the conciliatory snout which pushed into her face. She cupped the dog’s muzzle in her hands and kissed his cheek, drawing comfort from his presence as he pushed in closer and let her cry against his smooth coat. “We should go,” she whispered and Moss whined. He disappeared outside the line of torch light and Leilah turned the beam to find him digging again, this time in a pile of leaves in the opposite corner. She swiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shone the light on his activity.
A strap caught around the dog’s front foot and he lurched away, bringing a dark object from beneath the leaves. Soil and debris came with it and the dog panicked, jerking backwards until he cannoned into Leilah’s thigh. The torch clattered from her hand and rolled away.
“Moss, drop!” Leilah pushed on his spine and he grunted and sat down, great reluctance in the slow slide onto his stomach. She tugged at the strap, unwinding it from around his front leg as he sniffed and licked at her fingers. The old fashioned case flipped open and Leilah lifted her tee shirt to hold it, remembering at the last moment not to put her fingerprints all over the aged leather surface. She didn’t need to look inside. Her grandfather’s binoculars went missing months before, disappearing off the picnic table where Hector left them. Leilah shuddered and placed the hard bodied tan case on the dusty floor, using her tee shirt to wipe her prints off the strap. She heaved out a ragged breath and pushed shaking hands through her hair. Then she put everything back where she found it, including the bra from her pocket.
Moss yipped in disgust and crawled forward on his belly, concerned as Leilah reburied his spoils. She held him off with her elbow, whispering soothing consolations. “Good boy,” she praised him. “Clever boy.”
The downward journey went fast and Moss stayed by her side, happy to sniff along on his makeshift lead. Leilah knew without a map that the thread’s location was near. She managed the fences without incident and experienced a flicker of sadness at the sight of the dark and lonely house sleeping on the lower slopes in the distance. Hector hadn’t returned home and Leilah put Moss back in his kennel, rewarding him with a bowl of kibbles and giving some to a sleepy Patch. The evening’s discovery made her feel isolated and vulnerable and she knew she couldn’t process this alone. She needed to tell a grown-up.