Don't Feed the Rat!

by Annie Appleton

  ‘Look, wild bees.’ He pointed at the stones. ‘Did you know that bees do a little dance to tell other bees where they can find the best flowers?’

  Emily just stared at him.

  ‘Wild bees are getting quite rare, but I have discovered at least three nests on the allotments.’ He looked up at her. ‘Isn’t that great?’

  Emily’s blue eyes bore down on him. He started to sweat. So now he could put stubborn on his list of character traits for her as well.

  Jacob sighed deeply and closed his notebook. ‘Okay, I will come with you.’

  At the exit they nearly bumped into the tenant of the allotment. The woman stared at Emily, then stood back to give them space.

  ‘You’re scary,’ Jacob said as they were walking down the hill again.

  ‘No, you are.’

  Georgie was planting out chrysanthemums on her allotment. She was dressed in a frilly dress with short sleeves that showed off her curvy arms. Not to mention it being cut quite low and tight at the top. Her boobs strained against the fabric.

  Dear Lord, Jacob thought. Better look somewhere else. He stared at Georgie’s wellingtons, but from the corner of his eye he saw Emily smirk. She was such a brat. How on earth could he ask Georgie if she murdered Godric?

  ‘Nice boots,’ he said, face all red. Idiot. That sounded far too much like boobs.

  Emily pushed him in the ribs with her elbow. He glared at her.

  ‘They keep your feet dry in the rain?’ he said.

  Emily rolled her eyes and pushed Jacob aside. She smiled at Georgie. ‘Can we ask you a question?’

  ‘Of course, dear.’ Georgie rubbed her hands together to get rid of the dirt. ‘What is it?’

  ‘We were wondering if it was true that you hadn’t been on very good terms with Godric,’ Emily said. ‘Because he took the Chair position away from you.’

  Georgie’s eyes went from Emily to Jacob and back. She laughed, but it sounded fake. ‘That’s not a secret, dear.’

  ‘And now that Godric is dead have you, as vice-chair, become Chair instead?’

  ‘Yes, I am the chairman now,’ Georgie said. ‘But only temporarily until the autumn, when the allotment members will decide if they want to keep me as Chair.’

  Jacob stirred. Perhaps this was his moment to ask a question. ‘Have you ever heard anything about building plans for the top part of the allotments?’ he asked, concentrating on Georgie’s face, scared to death that his eyes would stray downward.

  Georgie’s smile disappeared. ‘I’ve never heard about such a crazy plan.’ She smoothed out her dress and looked at her hands. ‘May I know what all these questions are about?’

  Emily opened her mouth to answer, but Jacob was there before her. ‘Just one more question, Georgie, if you don’t mind. Have you ever heard of Rupert Fairclough?’

  It gave Jacob great pleasure to see Georgie’s face go bright red in seconds. Aha, so she could be rattled. Busted!

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Georgie said. She waved her hands at them. ‘I want you to go now.’

  ‘I want you two to go as well,’ a voice came from behind them. Jacob’s heart sank. They turned around. DCI McDermott was glaring at them, hands on his hips. ‘I would like to talk to Ms Wilcrick myself.’

  Jacob started moving, but Emily stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  She turned to McDermott. ‘You know you’re crazy to think that this man is capable of murder.’ Jacob’s heart was racing now. What was she thinking, talking to McDermott like that? ‘He went home right after the space station came over, so that should be proof enough that he didn’t do it.’

  Stop talking, Jacob yelled at her in silence.

  McDermott stepped up to Emily and glared down on her. His teeth clenched. ‘I know all about the disrespectful behaviour you exhibited towards police officers in the past, but you’re not going to get away with that with me.’ He poked her in the chest with a finger. Jacob suddenly felt very protective towards her.

  ‘You’d better be careful, missy,’ McDermott continued. ‘After all, you’re still on probation and better not get in my way during this investigation. Spoiled little rich girl turned Goth freak!’

  Jacob’s blood boiled. How dare McDermott talk to her like that? But before he could say anything Emily stepped up to the inspector.

  ‘You’d better be careful yourself,’ she said. ‘I have no problem with biting another policeman.’ She snapped her teeth at him.

  Jacob pulled Emily away. ‘I will take her home.’

  McDermott shouted at their backs as they retreated, ‘I’m keeping an eye on you both!’

  Once on the path Emily shook loose Jacob’s arm. ‘Why did you pull me away? I wasn’t done with him yet.’

  ‘Yes you were.’

  ‘How would you know what’s good for me?’ She glared at Jacob, swallowing hard.

  Jacob looked down at her and smiled. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

  They walked in silence up to the corner of Emily’s street. Jacob watched her walk home, a swirl of emotions running through his head. This was the first time he had felt protective of another human being other than his mother, Dave, Peggy or Robbie. If this was what it felt like to have a daughter, he would make sure McDermott would never hurt her again.

  * * *

  Paddy

  ‘Ugh, it’s so much harder to find food these days.’ Pete scoured around a raised bed with strawberries, rooting with his nose under the straw that covered the soil. He didn’t have any luck. ‘In the old days it was so much easier.’

  ‘You make it sound as if you’re a hundred years old,’ Vinnie said. ‘Finding food has never been easy, but it’s what we do.’

  Pete glared at him. ‘It was easier when there was bird food around.’

  We ignored him. The four of us were out hunting for food again. At least it was cooler now that it was getting dark, which made it more enjoyable.

  Eddy had climbed up into a rose bush. I always wondered how it was possible that his fluffy red tail never got entangled on twigs or thorns. It seemed so much easier to have an elegant thin tail, like we rats did.

  ‘Do you want some rosebuds?’ Eddy said to Pete from up high. ‘They are very yummy.’

  Pete shrugged. ‘Toss me one.’ The rosebud dropped in front of his paws and he sniffed it. His nose wrinkled. ‘I’m not sure about this.’

  ‘Just try it,’ I said, near exasperation with his constant moaning.

  Pete bit a small piece of the rosebud and then spat it out. ‘Sorry, Eddy. I tried, but this is not my thing.’

  ‘Not to worry,’ Eddy said and kept looking for new rosebuds for himself.

  Pete scanned around the allotment, whiskers drooping. He sighed deeply. ‘There is nothing for me to eat here.’

  ‘That’s it,’ I ran up to him and gave him a kick in the side. ‘Stop moaning and look for food.’ Pete looked daggers at me and wandered off. In the high grass he soon found a couple of buckets and pushed one over.

  ‘Hey, look! There’s several snails stuck to the bottom of this one.’

  ‘There you go,’ Vinnie said. Pete started picking them off, one by one.

  Suddenly out of the blue we were surrounded by Cecil’s posse. They circled us, jeering and laughing. ‘Isn’t it time for your naps, old guys? Look, the squirrel is by himself in the tree, let’s scare him away!’

  About ten young rats swarmed on to the rose bush, climbing up. Eddy tried to jump higher, but in a panic underestimated the strength of the little twigs. He fell down to the ground and scrambled up. In a second the posse pounced on him, pointing and laughing. They pawed Eddy’s long fluffy tail and made fun of his little nose.

  ‘I thought squirrels were masters of balance,’ Patch, Cecil’s right-hand rat said, giving Eddy a push. ‘But this one is just clumsy.’ The posse snickered.

  ‘Stop it,’ I said. ‘Leave him alone.’ Immediately the posse turned around and focussed on us. Patch ran up to Vinnie and sna
tched a worm out of his paws. ‘You’re not fast enough, stupid oldie! Go back to Hull! That’s where you belong with your dark fur!’

  My skin prickled and the fur on my back stood on end. Why couldn’t these brats leave my friends alone? Then to my horror I saw that my nephews were part of the posse again and it was as if someone kicked me in the stomach. They were back with the posse and laughing just as hard about Patch’s stupid joke as the rest of them. But they loved Vinnie. Why make fun of him? I stared at my nephews, ears drooped.

  Then Cecil appeared on the allotment. ‘Are we having fun?’ he said. The posse cheered.

  Cecil walked up to Pete. ‘Did I hear you say you’ve found some snails?’ The posse now swarmed around Pete, who tried to hide a large juice snail behind his back.

  ‘No, I didn’t. There’s nothing to see here.’

  ‘It’s behind your back, fatty,’ Cecil pointed. ‘We can all see it.’ He grabbed the snail out of Pete’s paws and started eating it. Pete visibly became smaller.

  ‘There’s more snails under these buckets,’ Patch said. The posse descended on the buckets and took all of Pete’s snails.

  My whiskers quivered and the blood rushed to my head. How dare Cecil pick on Pete like that! Forgetting all about my disappointment in my nephews, I stormed forward with Vinnie a close second.

  ‘Give him his snails back,’ I said to Cecil. We were nose to nose. I bared my teeth. ‘Go look for your own food.’

  Cecil was not impressed. ‘Or what?’

  I clipped him about the ears. Some of his posse giggled. He glared at them.

  Now Vinnie clipped him about the ears as well. Cecil swatted at him. ‘Stop that.’ His posse giggled some more and Cecil stamped his paws in frustration.

  I glared down my nose at Cecil. ‘Give Pete his snails back and get off this allotment.’ One of my nephews dropped the snail he was holding and the other members of the posse followed. Then they trooped off. Cecil looked at me.

  ‘This isn’t over,’ he said. As he walked off the allotment a dog barked in the distance. He pointed in the air. ‘Could that be Billy the Weasel?’

  The effect those words had on me was immediate. My body tensed and my ears twitched. That little furball was wrong. It wasn’t Billy the Weasel. I quickly pulled my left ear once and then smoothed out my whiskers on either side. In any case, that should help to keep him away.

  Cecil laughed. ‘Superstitious old rat.’

  Vinnie glared at me. ‘Stop this warding off. It’s just a dog barking.’

  Cecil asked, ‘Are you certain? You’d better all walk clockwise around the hill tonight.’

  I was angry. Angry for letting myself get riled by Cecil; just now that we had a victory. But also angry at Cecil for making fun of the ratlore that was so important to me. I kicked one of Pete’s buckets.

  Just as Cecil walked off, he said over his shoulder, ‘By the way, I have a new friend, so you’re all warned.’

  We watched him go.

  ‘Who is Billy the weasel?’ Eddy said.

  ‘He’s a weasel who eats rats,’ Pete said. ‘But he always walks around the hill counter clockwise, so we can see him coming as long as we go clockwise.’

  Eddy blinked. ‘Whoa.’

  Vinnie wasn’t listening to Pete’s ratlore story. He was stroking the fur on his chin, deep in thought. ‘What did Cecil mean about having a new friend?’

  ‘He’s bluffing,’ I said.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jacob sat in Dave’s comfy armchair and listened to Abe talking to Dave. Jacob had flopped down in the chair when he came in and hadn’t been able to move again. He couldn’t really believe how much had happened today. Now his mind was empty and barely able to follow what Abe was saying. But he did realise that Acting Detective Constable Abe Monday shouldn’t be spilling the beans on the investigation, like he was doing right at this moment. If McDermott ever found out his young detective was blabbing secrets to their number one suspect, he would be looking for a new sidekick.

  Abe was on the edge of his seat, looking from Dave to Jacob and back. ‘We’re now certain Godric was murdered between nine and eleven on Saturday evening. Possibly strangled by his own garden hose. We interviewed all the tenants who have an allotment at the bottom of the hill, including Ian Fraser, Ian’s brother Doug, Georgie Wilcrick and the Jeffersons. But no one saw anything. Not Godric, nor the killer, nor Jacob.’

  ‘I’m glad you didn’t mention me as the killer,’ Jacob said.

  Abe waved his hand at Jacob. ‘The evidence against you is very flimsy. I don’t know why McDermott thinks you have anything to do with it; other than not having an alibi, there is nothing against you.’

  Jacob shrugged his shoulders. ‘The way I see it is that McDermott is a chief inspector who needs to pin the murder on someone. And what better person than someone he sees as an unambitious strange guy; someone who does what he wants and gets in everyone’s way. Especially as McDermott sees me focusing all my energy on a project he doesn’t see the use of, nor understand what it is.’

  ‘No, I think you’re wrong there,’ Abe said. ‘McDermott might be annoyed by your... um... free spirited behaviour, but we’re not in the 1970s any more. He wouldn’t pin the murder on an innocent man just to tick solving the murder off his list and get rid of someone he doesn’t like.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ Dave said. ‘But you have to wonder why he’s so obsessed with Jacob.’

  ‘Yeah, that is a bit strange,’ Abe said.

  All three men were silent for a bit. Abe took a big gulp of his coffee then leant in closer to the other two men. ‘I would put my money on Georgie Wilcrick being the killer,’ he said in a half-whisper. ‘She’s hated Godric the moment he walked on to the allotments and never forgave him for taking the Chair.’

  ‘But that still doesn’t seem enough motive for wanting Godric dead,’ Dave said. ‘After all, he’d been Chair for six years, so wouldn’t she have killed him before?’

  Abe shrugged. ‘Maybe she never had the opportunity. In any case, I’m certain she’s our killer.’

  Jacob watched the eager face of Abe. If the young constable had come to the same conclusion as he and Emily, could there be some truth in it? Especially as they knew about the building plans?

  ‘Something funny happened to me today on the allotments,’ Dave said. ‘I had a run-in with that guy we met at the pub the other night, you know, the loan shark’s henchman.’

  ‘Hal Simms?’ Abe asked.

  ‘That’s the one. I was on the allotments this morning to give Priscilla Spratt a fine for randomly cutting down a tree. By the way, she’s as crazy as a bat, but that’s beside the point. When I walked back to my office, I saw Hal Simms hovering near Godric’s allotment.’ Dave shifted in his chair. ‘Now you should know that I talked to Hal and some other guy on Saturday, when they threw litter out of their car window on the Woolaston Road car park. So I decided to keep an eye on him for a bit to see what he was going to do this time. When I realised that he was just hanging about near Godric’s allotment, I sent him packing.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Abe said. ‘That other guy you saw in the car park. Was he similar in size to Hal, but with dark hair and thick black eyebrows?’

  ‘Yep, that’s him.’

  ‘That sounds like Hal’s brother Clyde.’ Abe shifted back in his chair. ‘I find it really strange that two of Jebediah’s henchmen have now been spotted in York and are hanging about the neighbourhood and in particular near the allotment where a man was murdered. Godric had no debts to speak of, so what’s going on?’

  ‘It can hardly be a coincidence to have a murder at the same time as those two guys showing up,’ Dave said.

  Jacob agreed. He wondered why McDermott had been meeting with one of them the evening of the murder and a day later near the crime scene. Was McDermott aware of who the murderer was but trying to frame him instead? No, that was ridiculous.

  Abe got up. ‘In any case, I’d better go, guys. Have to
be up early again tomorrow. Murderer to catch and all.’ Dave walked him to the door.

  ‘I found out something interesting myself today,’ Jacob said as Dave came back in. ‘Apparently there are plans to sell part of the allotments to build an apartment block.’

  ‘What?’ Dave stared at Jacob. ‘Whose plans are these?’

  ‘Rupert Fairclough’s. He’s a city developer, who also happens to have had an affair with Georgie Wilcrick.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell Abe about this? It could be important for their investigation.’

  Jacob thought about this for a second. ‘I don’t know really. I just want to keep it to myself for now.’

  Dave looked at his friend, a twinkle in his eyes. ‘You want to do some sleuthing on your own. Admit it!’

  ‘Have you heard of any such plans?’ Jacob said, ignoring Dave.

  ‘No I haven’t. And when I find out more, I will put a stop to it right away!’ He scooted to the edge of his chair, hands balled into fists. ‘Milbury Hill has been common ground for centuries. They can’t just build an apartment block there. It’s ridiculous!’

  ‘Perhaps one of your council colleagues can find out more about the plans?’

  ‘I will make some discreet enquiries at the planning department tomorrow morning,’ Dave said. ‘I guess it’s best to keep it hush-hush for now.’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  Jacob sighed deeply. He hesitated then said, ‘Can I ask you something else?’

  ‘Of course.’ Dave studied his face.

  ‘This afternoon I had a phone call from Mr Donahue from the crockery company. They’ve decided not to work with me on the development of my mug.’ Jacob looked down at his hands. ‘He said it was for economic reasons, but I think they got wind of me being a murder suspect.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Dave said. ‘I know you were counting on that contract.’

  Jacob nodded. ‘I was. And without it, I won’t have enough money to continue my project.’ He smoothed out the tip of his lab coat on his leg. ‘But maybe you can lend me some money?’