Don't Feed the Rat!

by Annie Appleton

  Suddenly someone came out of a side street. They nearly bumped into each other. Oh no, it was Wilbur. She stepped back.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t see you there,’ Wilbur said. His face turned red. ‘Did I hit you?’

  Emily shook her head. Why had she let her thoughts take over? Bumping into people didn’t suit the bad image she was trying to create.

  Wilbur lightly touched her arm. ‘We really need to stop bumping into each other.’

  ‘Well, perhaps we should.’ Her skin tingled where he had touched it. They both giggled.

  ‘I’ve gotta go,’ Wilbur said. He winked and walked down Milbury Road to where his bicycle was parked against a lamppost.

  Emily watched him unlock his bike, a warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach. Then she wondered what Wilbur had been doing around here the whole time, as the allotments had been closed off. Was he interviewed by the police? No, couldn’t be. His allotment was up at the top. So why was he here?

  Someone rang his doorbell, but Jacob didn’t want to answer it. It would be some of his teenage students playing a prank. He continued scribbling down some notes. He wanted to get this done before he had to teach again in the morning. The doorbell rang again. This time much more insistent. Jacob sighed and opened the door a crack. DCI McDermott was on his doorstep. Now what?

  ‘Please open the door,’ McDermott said. ‘I want to ask you some questions with regards to the murder of Godric Ainsworth.’

  Jacob stepped back and let the inspector in.

  McDermott walked right through to his living room and started nosing about. He checked out Jacob’s bookshelf and wiped his finger over a dresser, wrinkling his nose at the dust deposit on his finger.

  Jacob stood in the doorway, arms folded, watching without a word.

  McDermott now picked up some papers off Jacob’s desk and flicked through them, reading bits here and there. Spike, who had been sitting in Jacob’s chair, hissed as McDermott came too close. Then he made a run for it, disappearing behind the couch.

  Jacob’s blood pressure rose. He could feel it going up, watching McDermott fingering his way through his stuff. ‘I thought you wanted to ask some questions?’

  McDermott ignored him and continued poking around. ‘I don’t know how you can live like this. Tiny house, cramped full of papers and dusty books. Ugh!’ He looked around. ‘There is nowhere to sit. Nowhere to eat.’ He opened a corner cabinet, only to find it chock full of books and papers. ‘You don’t even have a TV.’

  ‘Will you stop touching my stuff!’ Jacob’s stepped forward and with a bang, closed the door of the cabinet, his face bright red. ‘It’s none of your business how I live.’

  McDermott looked at Jacob. ‘You don’t like me touching your stuff? Well perhaps you can now see how annoying it is that someone pokes around on your property. You do it to people all the time!’

  ‘I ask permission first.’

  ‘Do you really believe that?’ McDermott snorted. ‘You know as well as I do that you don’t.’

  Jacob pointed at the door. ‘I think you should leave now. Get out!’

  McDermott shook his head. ‘Not before I deliver this.’ He held up a piece of paper. ‘This is a warrant for your arrest. You’re under arrest on the suspicion of murdering Godric Ainsworth.’

  Jacob’s mouth fell open and he held up both hands as if to ward off McDermott’s presence.

  ‘What...?’ he said. ‘You can’t be serious.’ He took the piece of paper from McDermott’s hand and studied it. It was indeed a warrant for his arrest.

  ‘You’ll have to come to the police station with me.’

  ‘But I have nothing to do with Godric’s murder. Why would you think it’s me?’

  McDermott pulled a radio out of his pocket. ‘Constable, please bring the car around.’

  ‘Now let’s do this the easy way and just quietly come with us,’ McDermott said. He grabbed Jacob by the elbow, but Jacob shook himself loose.

  As Jacob pulled the door behind him, Abe Monday drove up in the police car. His cheeks burned as he got out and held the door open for Jacob. He wasn’t able to look Jacob in the eye.

  Across the street Jacob saw some net curtains twitch. So much for a low profile, with the Jeffersons living cross the street. He wanted to yell at them that it was all a mistake, but McDermott slammed the car door shut. Then he strutted around to the other side of the vehicle, a satisfied smirk on his face. Cleary the man thought that Jacob had actually killed Godric and that he’d made the catch of his life.

  At the station the duty officer cautioned Jacob and put him in a cell. When the key turned in the lock it dawned on Jacob that he could be in for a late night. Surely they were only going to ask him some questions. He wasn’t a real suspect. Jacob started pacing his cell. But what if they were serious about him having killed Godric? They might lock him up forever. He had to do something.

  It was a while later that Jacob was led into an interview room by a constable. McDermott and Abe were already sitting behind the table.

  Jacob sat down and looked the two men opposite him in the eye. McDermott first, then Abe. ‘You can’t actually believe that I killed Godric,’ he said. ‘What would be my motive?’

  McDermott shifted in his chair and looked down at his notebook. ‘A witness has come forward and said that you had a dispute of some sort with the victim on Saturday morning.’

  ‘Was it Priscilla Spratt?’ Abe gave Jacob a slight nod.

  ‘Hmpf...’ Jacob said and rolled his eyes. ‘That wasn’t a dispute. Just a misunderstanding about the use of my allotment. And besides that, no one liked Godric Ainsworth very much.’

  ‘We are aware that there were more people on bad terms with the victim,’ McDermott said. He twirled his pen between his fingers. ‘But there is enough evidence against you to take you in for questioning.’

  ‘What evidence?’ Jacob said. ‘Show it to me.’

  ‘You know I can’t do that.’ McDermott crossed his arms. ‘Where were you on Saturday evening between nine and eleven?’

  Jacob ignored the question, but looked the inspector in the eyes. ‘I have the feeling you have been waiting for something like this to happen, just to spite me. You like making my life difficult.’

  McDermott’s eyes flashed, but he managed to stay calm. He shook his head. ‘No, that’s not true. We have some solid leads here.’

  Jacob pushed his chair back from the table and got up. ‘I don’t believe a word of it.’

  The constable, who had quietly been standing in the corner, put a hand on Jacob’s arm. ‘Please sit down, sir.’

  Jacob sat down again. He pointed at McDermott. ‘You better have some serious evidence against me, otherwise this warrant will never stick.’ He crossed his arms and looked stubbornly at the two men. ‘I’m not saying another word.’

  ‘Again, where were you on Saturday evening between nine and eleven?’ McDermott said. Jacob just stared at him.

  McDermott sighed. ‘You know what?’ he said. ‘Everyone in Milbury must now think even worse of you than they already did. The crazy professor doing weird experiments. Why would they accept you in their community any longer, now that chances are you’re a murderer?’

  Abe stared at his DCI and cleared his throat. Undeterred McDermott continued. ‘You’re stuck in a menial job, teaching uninterested teenagers how long it takes a train to get from A to B. Seems that your PhD in biological physics didn’t get you very far. Maybe you should try and find a proper job, because like the train, you’re going nowhere.’

  Jacob stared at the pen in McDermott’s hand. It twirled round and round between the inspector’s fingers. The sight calmed him. Even though heat and anger flushed through his body at McDermott’s words, his mind was calm. The nerve of the man to talk to him like that. But of course that didn’t matter. McDermott was trying to trap him into saying something incriminating, but he wasn’t going to. That was the best thing about being smarter than anyone else. He could stay ahead of their thi
nking.

  Jacob looked at the twirling pen. It was a blue ballpoint with the police logo. The inspector’s hands were large with long fingers and immaculately clipped nails. He had a wedding ring on one finger. McDermott could spew all he wanted. It was not going to touch Jacob.

  * * *

  Paddy

  It took a while, but things finally settled down on the allotments. It was dark now and Vinnie, Pete, Eddy and I had started our round of midnight foraging. We scurried along the bottom of the garden wall.

  ‘There were lots of yummy worms here the other day,’ Pete said, and we followed his lead. Well, we rats did. Eddy had wandered off to the other side of the path to nibble on the young shoots of a bramble bush.

  I felt a bit out of sorts. We neared Older Female’s garden and I wondered if she was still about.

  ‘Guys,’ I said. ‘Maybe we should look under the bramble bushes and keep Eddy company.’

  ‘No,’ Pete said. ‘It’s too dry there. It’s much easier to find worms along the wall.’

  Vinnie looked at me. ‘What’s wrong with you? You love looking for worms along the wall.’

  I pointed at the wall. ‘What if Older Female sees us?’ I said. ‘She might freak out at the sight of us again.’

  Pete laughed. ‘She’s harmless.’

  I snorted. ‘How can you say that? She almost killed you this afternoon.’

  ‘Nah,’ Pete said. ‘She got lucky. I’m lightning fast on my feet.’

  Vinnie shrugged his shoulders at me. ‘You have to admit that for a big rat he is pretty fast.’

  Before our eyes Pete climbed up the trunk of the old lilac tree that was our easy access to the garden wall. It was in full bloom and smelled lovely. ‘Let’s go in the gardens,’ he said.

  Eddy’s voice came from the other side of the path. ‘I’m not going near that dog food again.’

  ‘You can stay here and keep watch,’ Pete said.

  Vinnie was just about to climb the tree when I saw someone coming up the hill.

  ‘What’s that,’ I said and Vinnie and I watched as it came closer. It was a two-legged with a light. ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ I said.

  Vinnie and I made our way across the path to the bramble bushes where we joined Eddy.

  ‘I’m not scared,’ Pete said to us from up high in the lilac. ‘Why would I be scared of a two-legged walking by? What would it do? Cut down the tree?’

  ‘Two-leggeds are irrational creatures,’ I said. ‘You know that, Pete.’

  Then my heart skipped a beat as I recognised Older Female and her dog. He was trailing behind her on his lead. Her face seemed contorted into a sinister sneer by the light. My stomach lurched. This could be no good.

  ‘Come down from the tree, Pete.’ I hoped my urgent whisper and thumping heartbeat weren’t overheard by Older Female or the dog.

  She stopped in front of the lilac. It turned out she was carrying a light in one hand and an axe in the other. She looked up at the tree.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ she said and wildly started swinging the axe at the tree. The dog watched her, unmoved, sitting a few feet away. Chips of wood started flying about. They soon covered the path.

  I wanted to run, but I was fascinated by the sight of Pete, who was holding on to a tree branch for dear life.

  Older Female kept hacking. She was totally focussed on her task at hand and didn’t see Pete. Then, with a sound of splintering wood, the tree fell over on to the path. Pete tumbled out and disappeared out of sight.

  ‘Where did Pete go?’ Vinnie said, straining his neck to see across the path.

  Eddy and I both peered into the darkness, beyond the circle of light from Older Female’s light. Pete was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘I hope he’s alright,’ I muttered. ‘Stupid idiot.’

  Older Female picked up the light. She surveyed the tree and said, ‘That’ll teach those rats not to use it any more to climb up the wall.’ Suddenly she pointed the light at something invisible to us.

  ‘What’s that, Major?’ She kicked something with her toe. ‘One of those blasted rats?’

  We stared, holding our breaths. The dog sniffed whatever it was and growled. Pete’s dumb luck seemed to have run out.

  ‘What are you all looking at?’ Pete materialised beside us, a funny grin on his face. I nearly jumped out of my skin and swatted him across the ears.

  ‘Idiot,’ I whispered. ‘We thought you were dead.’

  The dog growled again.

  ‘Just leave it, Major. It’s just an old glove someone dropped.’ Older Female said.

  ‘I bumped my head,’ Pete said, vigorously rubbing his scalp. The dog spotted the motion and headed our way, sniffing the ground. Vinnie and I each grabbed Pete by an arm and dragged him with us. Eddy led the way through the bramble bush. Behind us the dog growled some more.

  ‘Come along, Major,’ Older Female said. ‘Our work here is done.’

  We made it to my digs without further incident.

  ‘That was crazy, wasn’t it,’ I said. ‘I wonder why Older Female has it in for us so much.’ We pondered this for a while.

  ‘Does she have it in for us?’ Pete said. ‘Or does she have it in for me?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, she definitely has it in for us. You just get in the way more.’

  Pete’s whiskers drooped a little. ‘Pity. I would have liked to have my own personal archenemy.’

  ‘She’s not our archenemy,’ Vinnie said, giving Pete a friendly shove. ‘She’s just another two-legged who doesn’t like us. So what’s new? Not many two-leggeds do.’

  I paced up and down in front of my digs.

  ‘Is she, Vinnie?’ I said. ‘Just another two-legged? I remember the ratlore story that my Great-grandma Arabella used to tell me. The story of Mad Maggie.’ I bent closer to get their full attention.

  ‘On the nights of a new moon,’ I started, ‘when it’s extra dark on Milbury Hill, Mad Maggie wakes up from her month-long sleep all thirsty and hungry. The first thing this terrible two-legged creature does is wake her dog and grab her shovel. Then she roams about on the hill, looking for rats who have left their digs. Her dog tracks them with his nose.’ All eyes were on me now, even Vinnie’s.

  I continued. ‘And when they spot some rats unfortunate enough to be out, she clonks them on the head with her shovel and turns their pelts into a coat. She eats their flesh and drinks their blood.’

  ‘Ooh,’ Eddy said. ‘Is that really true?’

  Pete nodded, wide eyed. ‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘That’s why I never go out when there’s a new moon.’

  Vinnie laughed. ‘That old story? That’s just some ratlore to spook the little’uns. It’s not real.’

  I glared at Vinnie. ‘What do you mean, not real? Are you calling my Great-grandma Arabella a liar?’

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Vinnie said, pawing my shoulder to calm me down. ‘It’s a story made up to keep the little’uns from getting harmed. That’s all.’

  I looked at him defiantly. ‘You weren’t born here, so what would you know about our ratlore? I happen to know that the story is real; I saw Mad Maggie with my own eyes many years ago.’

  ‘Ooh,’ Eddy said again.

  Vinnie shrugged. ‘If you were young it could have been something that you misinterpreted. Maybe simply a two-legged who looked a bit different than the other two-leggeds.’

  I stepped up to Vinnie until we were nose to nose. ‘It was Mad Maggie that I saw. Why won’t you believe me that something bad is about the happen?’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jacob yawned and blinked at the sun that was just coming up above the roofs of the houses. He turned around to McDermott, who had just shown him to the exit of the police station. As he had expected there was no solid evidence against him and McDermott had no choice other than to let him go.

  ‘Don’t leave York,’ McDermott said and slammed the door shut behind him. Jacob smiled. The man was a sore loser.

  Although Jacob
was still a suspect, he was free to go. He slowly started walking. He was knackered having only had some naps between interviews. His stomach rumbled. The smell of a full English breakfast drifted in from somewhere. His mouth watered. Was he dreaming? He could swear a plate of baked beans had just materialised in front of him. He reached out to touch it, but it vanished into thin air. Those blasted stingy policemen. They could at least have given him a sandwich or something.

  Jacob glanced at his watch; five thirty. It would be too early to go to Dave’s house and tell him what happened. Then again, it was Monday morning and Dave was an earlier riser, so he should be okay. Jacob really wanted to talk to his best friend.

  Dave opened the door in his pyjamas. ‘What happened?’ he said, as Jacob stepped into the hallway.

  ‘I will tell you in a minute,’ Jacob said, ‘but I’d like something to eat first.’ He looked up the stairs. Dave’s wife Judith came down in her dressing gown and Emily stood groggily at the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes. For a change she didn’t look scary at all. ‘Sorry to wake the whole household.’

  ‘That’s alright,’ Judith said and patted him on the arm. ‘You want a cup of tea, dear?’ Everyone followed Judith into the kitchen. They took a seat around the kitchen table, while Judith bustled about, making tea, buttering some toast and warming up a tin of baked beans in a saucepan. Jacob eyed them greedily.

  ‘I was at the police station all night,’ he said, warming his hands on the mug of tea Judith gave him. ‘I was being questioned as a suspect for murdering Godric Ainsworth.’

  ‘What?!’ Dave stared at him, his mouth open. ‘Suspect? For murder? What is this nonsense? Did McDermott take you in?’

  Jacob nodded. His friend’s outrage did him good.

  Dave continued, his voice getting louder and louder. ‘McDermott never did like you very much, but that can’t be a reason for arresting you. He has to be an idiot.’

  ‘Calm down, dear,’ Judith said, putting a hand on Dave’s shoulder. ‘Here, eat some toast. It will make you feel better.’