News of the murder trickled down the town grapevine a week later when a dog walker came across the body on the beach. Charlie hadn’t heard from Arthur, which wasn’t unusual after an event. He knew he could depend on him. Arthur had been a trusted friend since the Brogan Smith fiasco in high school. The detectives knocked on Charlie’s door as he was pulling on his joggies and t-shirt. Heinz jumped about barely able to control his excitement. He was way too hyper in the morning Charlie mused, the mutt’s not right. When the dog heard the door he almost howled. He welcomed the two detectives with more enthusiasm than his master. They were canvassing everyone living between the high street and the coast road, asking informal questions for the time being about the general habits of towns people. All very casual thought Charlie. He explained he had spent the evenings at home alone every night in the past week, only being out to walk the dog sometimes between nine and ten, on occasions later. He couldn’t quite recall at the moment the exact evenings the dog had been walked later. Poor Broonie he said. Who would want to do something like that to Broonie? The last person to see him alive was Ruby, the young woman who worked and lived above in the Railway bar on the high street. A very frightened young woman had been questioned at the police station under caution. The police had already concocted a narrative that had Ruby and Broonie in a romantic relationship. Would it be possible that Ruby had spurned his advances in the end? She told them the truth, Broonie had said he could fix her computer and would come round one night to fix it. It became clear Broonie had no knowledge of computers and she had asked him to leave. She had to push him away. Ruby cried in the cold walls of the interview room. “Do you really think I killed that man? What did I do with the body then? Where the hell is that? Are you saying I dragged it out of the flat, down the stairs along the high street and down to the shore all on my own? I know he’s not a big man, but he’s still too big for me to handle. You’ve turned my home upside down. What’s the murder weapon? You’ve taken all my knives and everything else out of my cutlery drawer”. The police had to release her, with the usual warning of not fleeing the country and they would be back in touch soon. Arseholes thought Ruby in an attempt to regain her fragile composure. Ruby sat on the bench by the river and wiped her tearstained face with an already damp hankie. She replayed the mornings events in her head time and time again, trying to make sense of it. Broonie was a wee chancer but who would want to murder him? She lifted her head to see a scruffy dog sat in front of her giving her a doggy stare. She smiled, the dog wagged his tail, his oversized tongue hung out one side of his mouth. The dog approached her for a sniff, making sure he liked her. She stroked his head, laughing, “what do you know about it?” A figure appeared jogging along the river pathway, on seeing the dog he stopped, more than a little out of breath, “look, numpty dog, I’ve told you before not to run away”. He realised mid-sentence who was stroking his dog’s head. “Ruby, what’s happened?” she retold the story of the police, the indignity of it all, who was wee Broonie anyway? “he fed me a line about how clever he was with computers then he thought he’d make a pass at me Charlie.” She said his name. No-one else said his name quite like that. Heinz had already rested his heavy head on her lap as she stroked it absentmindedly. Charlie couldn’t believe his luck. He sat beside her on the bench. “Ruby, I live not far from here, I could put the kettle on?” Ruby didn’t realise the journey was ten minutes by car but she was happy to go along anyway. The dog whimpered in the back of the car. He wanted to sit with his new friend. He was just the distraction she needed. Charlie had an apartment overlooking Aberlady Bay, large picture windows displayed it to optimum effect. Lucy gasped as she walked into the room. “Charlie this is beautiful” “I sit here when I need to relax” he replied. Charlie made coffee, the dog jumped up on Ruby’s knee, against Charlie harsh words. He couldn’t be too strict with the mutt, it was instrumental in the wooing of Ruby. He couldn’t be happier.