The place seemed to fall very quiet as soon as Faith had gone. ‘Ah, a moment’s peace,’ Ralph said, settling himself down with an enormous mug of tea and balancing four digestives on his knees, without the benefit of a plate. ‘I’m Ralph Barton, by the way, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. Sian has mentioned you, so I know enough not to bore you with the same old questions. Good to meet you anyway, and I’m sure we’ll soon have our Flo back fighting fit.’

‘I hope so. I can’t help but feel responsible for her while Prue’s away. And I have no experience of pets at all. If anything were to happen to her while she’s in my care …’

‘Well, I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t.’ He gulped his tea down and smacked his lips, popped the first biscuit into his mouth whole and slipped the remaining three into the pocket of his white coat. ‘Right, I’ll just grab my bag and fetch the keys, and we can walk down together. A little something to keep me going until dinner.’ He laughed, patting the pocket.

‘Do much more of that and they’ll turn to crumbs!’

‘No chance. These’ll be long gone by the time we arrive. Food doesn’t last long when I’m around.’

Ralph pushed a few buttons on the alarm pad on their way out, turned the key in the lock and pulled at the door to make sure it was locked. ‘Can’t be too careful,’ he said. ‘Not when we have drugs and cash on the premises. You may think this is a safe village, and it generally is, but crime gets everywhere these days. The estate agent had his car nicked a week or two back.’

‘That would be Donny’s dad?’

Ralph laughed. ‘I see you’re getting to know a bit about the village already. Met young Donny, have you?’

‘Not yet, but I’ve heard him.

‘Ah. The bells, the bells …’ Ralph went instantly into a bent-over Hunchback of Notre Dame impression, which set Madi off giggling. ‘No, seriously though, Donny’s a good kid, but from his efforts so far I’m not convinced he has a future in campanology. Just not enough going on locally to keep him occupied, and there are so few kids his own age living in the village, but at least while he’s up there in the tower he’s not getting into any trouble. That’s how crime so often starts among the young, isn’t it? Boredom.’

‘I suppose it is. Although in London we have more than enough things for kids to do, but still have such high crime rates …’

‘True.’

They had reached Snowdrop Cottage and Madi let them in.

‘So, here’s my little patient.’ Ralph crossed straight to Flo, still curled up on her pouffe, and got down onto his knees beside her.

Madi watched as he gently ran his hands over her, stretching out each paw to check for damage, lifting her ears and feeling around her abdomen. He put on some disposable gloves, took a thermometer from his bag and inserted it in her rear end, checked and disinfected it and put it away again, then pulled off his gloves and slid his fingers into her mouth and over her teeth. ‘Her temperature’s up, and her face is quite swollen,’ he said, turning back to Madi. ‘And she’s not at all happy about me touching her mouth. I’m pretty sure what we have here is an abscess. It’s no wonder she hasn’t wanted to eat.’