She stands there as if frozen. ‘Zeus only knows the route from the cliff path. How could I have been so careless to leave the gate unlatched?’ Gran folds in on herself and she suddenly looks all of her eighty-three years.
I rub her arms. ‘Don’t blame yourself. Maybe the breeze blew the gate open. It doesn’t matter. We’ll get him home, even if we have to search all night.’ I grab a bottle of water for Gran. And then lather myself in sunscreen, preparing to retrace my steps in the hopes he has found his way back to the path that’s familiar to him. ‘What else do you need, Gran?’
‘I’m OK, darling.’ With teary eyes, she says, ‘I’ll phone Zorba to keep an eye out in case Zeus is still making his way there.’
‘Good plan, and why don’t you phone your neighbours too? Maybe one of them has seen him meandering past and we’ll know which direction to look.’
‘Yes. I’ll call everyone now.’ She goes behind the counter and gets out her well-thumbed telephone book. Argh. She’s so old-school in many ways; it’s so sweet it almost breaks my heart all over again. If we don’t find Zeus – I hate to think how it will affect her.
While I wait for Roxy to get back I dash up a flyer on the computer. I find a recent picture of Zeus, smiling with a tennis ball firmly in his mouth, his fluffy fur blowing in the breeze. I add contact details. When Gran hangs up from Zorba I ask, ‘Should we offer a reward?’
‘Yes, darling, great idea. Make it a decent amount so if anyone does have him they’ll bring him back. Write:no questions asked. I don’t care what their motives are, I just want him home.’
I type in a hefty reward, hoping that he’s lost not taken, because the thought of anyone having him for unscrupulous reasons is too awful to contemplate.
Roxy returns, face downcast. ‘No luck?’ I ask, even though it’s obvious.
‘Nothing.’
‘Damn.’ I go back to the computer and hit print on the flyers. They shoot out of the printer in a neat pile. ‘Want to help me hang these around the place?’ I ask Roxy.
‘I’ll get the staple gun.’
I give Gran a reassuring smile and promise her we’ll come back with goofball Zeus. I only hope it’s true.
*
The sun drops as Roxy and I make our way back to the bookshop. We stoop, eyes on the ground as if we’re carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. I swear we spoke to almost everyone who lives in the village and all of the holidaymakers. Not one person even caught sight of Zeus. It’s like he up and vanished into thin air.
‘I’m not looking forward to telling Gran,’ I say, kicking the dirt as I go, annoyed with myself, the world, dog thieves. You hear about these sorts of thefts all the time, and my mind goes to dark places.
‘Oh God I don’t want to be there when you do.’ Roxy checks her phone. ‘It’s dead. Is yours?’
‘Yes, out of batteries too.’
‘What if someone tried to call about spotting him?’
‘I put the bookshop landline on the flyer too.’
‘OK, that’s good.’
As the bookshop gets closer our progress becomes slower. Neither of us have the heart to tell Gran her big fluffball is going to be sleeping elsewhere tonight.
We unlatch the gate and head to Gran’s villa. I stop short when I hear laughter leach from an open window. Roxy and I exchange a glance and then break into a run. I slide the door open and see Zeus playing with a chew toy, happily munching away, seemingly oblivious to the concern he’s caused.
‘Zeus!’ I bend to rub his fur and kiss to the top of his head. ‘Where were you boy? You little escape artist!’ Relief floods me that’s he back and safe and that my precious Gran won’t suffer any more heartache.
When I stand, I come face to face with Georgios.
‘He was at Donkey Man’s house,’ he says. ‘Floretta called me and told me he was missing so I went to help search.’
Donkey Man’s house! Why didn’t I think to start there? He went to play with his donkey pal!
Roxy laughs. ‘We should have known.’ She smacks her forehead.
‘I’m glad he’s home, Gran,’ I say. ‘I’m going to call it a night – it’s been a long day.’ Roxy gives me an almost imperceptible nod towards Georgios but the last thing I want to do now is talk with him. I’m mentally and physically done.
I spin on my heel and head to my villa. Before long there’s a knock the door. I open it a smidge to find Georgios standing there, his brow wrinkled. ‘Can we talk?’
