Free Alice-Miranda to the Rescue by Jacqueline Harvey

accessories, outfits and toys. Outside, a covered veranda, which overlooked a sprawling exercise yard and a lap pool, housed day beds for each dog.
    Barry walked through the central hallway to the rear of the building. ‘She’s looking good,’ he said, stroking Citrine’s back. Farrah sat up and began to yap at the man. Barry turned and put his finger to his lips to shush the little creature.
    â€˜Good? Is that all you can say?’ Roberta pouted.
    â€˜She’s beautiful, Roberta – stunning, in fact,’ Barry tried again, overcompensating horribly. ‘I think she’s a shoo-in for Best in Show.’
    Roberta rolled her eyes at him. ‘Stop going on, Barry. Where have you been, anyway?’
    â€˜I’ve got some very interesting news. Chudleigh’s is going to be held here in Winchesterfield.’
    â€˜No, it’s not,’ Roberta said firmly. She finished buffing Citrine’s nails and retrieved a bottle of clear polish from the drawer. ‘It’s in Downsfordvale.’
    â€˜Well, it was supposed to be, but it’s been moved this morning,’ Barry said. He enjoyed knowing something that his wife didn’t for a change.
    â€˜Who told you that?’ Roberta asked, refusing to look up from her task. She was very careful not to get any polish on Citrine’s fur.
    â€˜I popped in to borrow a drill from Reg Parker and Myrtle came out all abuzz about having just been contacted by the mayor,’ the man explained. ‘I told her that, if she needed, I could help out and you might be able to offer some advice too.’
    Roberta’s head snapped up. ‘Why would you do that?’
    â€˜I just thought …’
    Roberta looked back at the dog’s claw and realised that she’d accidentally painted the tip of Citrine’s paw. ‘Look what you’ve made me do. You don’t think , Barry. That’s the problem. I don’t have time to help that bossy woman. I have preparations to make and we have to practise. You know what it’s like – I’ll be out here sixteen hours a day. You don’t get to be Chudleigh’s Best in Show without putting in the work.’
    The man grimaced. ‘Sorry, it’s just that there’s no one in the village who has more experience with dog shows than you.’
    â€˜Of course there’s not, but I don’t have time. Sounds like the whole thing is going to be a disaster, anyway. You can’t organise Chudleigh’s at the last minute. Have they thought about where they’re going to accommodate everyone and how they’re going to cater for it?’
    Barry tried hard not to smirk. Now that he’d told his wife what was going on, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to help herself.

Caprice Radford carefully snibbed the lock behind her as she entered the flat. She shivered as she hurried across the sparsely furnished sitting room and past the kitchenette. The place was silent apart from the creaks and groans of the timbers and the odd neighing and nickering of a pony down below. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed an old electric coil heater and thought of using it to warm the place up a little. She walked into the bathroom and pulled aside theshower curtain. ‘You’ll need to wake up, little man,’ she said.
    The creature was curled into a tight ball, trembling like a half-set blancmange.
    â€˜What’s the matter?’ Caprice picked him up and realised that his fur was still soaked from the bath she’d given him that morning. He was freezing. She’d towelled him off as best she could but, without the aid of a hair dryer, it was impossible to get him completely dry. She set him back down and raced into the bedroom, where she had found the towels the night before. She snatched another two from the cupboard and fled back to the pup. Gathering him up in her arms, she wrapped the towels around his shivering body.
    The