FORTY-FIVE MINUTES later, conscious of the three sets of baleful dark brown eyes stabbing like a devil's pitchfork between his shoulder-blades, Rafferty squelched with as measured a tread as he could muster, from the tumbledown, weatherboard farmhouse, across the glutinous black mud of the yard, to his car.
The two lean mongrels dancing hungrily beside Thomson flashed teeth far superior to their master's, so it was with a sigh of relief that Rafferty reached the car and opened the door. Annoyed that he'd allowed the trio to intimidate him, he turned and scowled at them.
The dogs bared their magnificent teeth in angry growls, but Thomson took no notice. He was too busy staring, with an expression of malevolent satisfaction, at Rafferty's ill-shod feet.
Rafferty glanced down and sighed. H
