Don't Feed the Rat!

by Annie Appleton

  ‘Cecil needs to be stopped,’ I said. ‘Doesn’t he realise that Mad Maggie is going to kill us all?’ I looked at the sky trying to think of something. There had to be a way. Then a thought struck me. ‘I think I’ve found a way a way! Follow me.’

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Everything was quiet. Jacob sat behind his computer at home, trying to find more information about Emily’s father, Scott Norton. Spike had jumped on his lap and was purring away, a sound that calmed him down.

  Jacob didn’t want anyone to disturb him, least of all Emily, so he had turned off his smartphone. What would she think if she found out he was googling her father. She might never trust him again.

  It didn’t take Jacob much time to find something about Scott. Unfortunately everything Rupert had said seemed to be true.

  A newspaper article from 1980 told him that Scott had won the ‘North-East England Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award. He had only been twenty-five at the time and was just married to Jane, Dave and Peggy’s older sister. The reporter of the article was clearly impressed when he wrote that Scott became a manager at a high-end developers only a few years after graduating.

  Jacob sighed. But was this really that special? Perhaps Scott had a real entrepreneurial spirit and had been lucky to be at the right place at the right time. Perhaps his success was his own?

  Jacob tried to remember back to 1980, but he had just been at university himself and could only vaguely remember going to Scott and Jane’s wedding. At the time he was too wrapped up in his own studies to pay much attention to what happened to his best pal’s older sister, a girl he had always been rather afraid of. Had Scott indeed done something untoward to become manager? If so, not many people knew about it. Otherwise things would have come to a head before.

  He took a sip of his coffee and wondered when Scott had set up his own business. Perhaps he should ask Dave or Peggy about it as he really couldn’t remember.

  Suddenly Jacob saw Emily standing in the room, staring at him. His heart jumped into his throat, blood pounding in his ears. He fumbled to click away the page with the newspaper article. He couldn’t let her see it. Spike jumped to the ground, upset by the sudden tension and stalked off in a huff.

  Jacob looked at Emily. ‘How did you get in? Why didn’t you ring the bell?’ He realised he sounded more angry than he felt.

  Emily looked down and shuffled her feet. She was wearing a black woolly hat, which was strange. ‘The door was open.’

  ‘No it wasn’t.’

  ‘Well, it wasn’t locked.’

  Jacob sighed. ‘Perhaps not, but that’s not an excuse to walk in.’

  Emily looked at him, her eyes wide. ‘Sorry... but I was waiting for you at the allotments. And you didn’t come and didn’t answer your phone. Where were you? I was worried that Rupert might have hurt you.’

  Jacob’s cheeks flushed. He had entirely forgotten that he had promised Emily to meet her at the allotments.

  He sighed. ‘I’m sorry, but I forgot. I’m doing something else right now, so please go and leave me alone.’

  Emily glared at him. ‘You don’t trust me.’ She turned on her heel and walked away. Just before she slammed the front door she yelled, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’

  ‘Actually, you broke into my house,’ he yelled back, hoping she didn’t hear. Her words hurt him. He hadn’t realised that she might find him untrustworthy.

  Jacob stared at his computer screen. But what else could he have done? He had to be brusque with Emily; he needed to protect her from the truth. He couldn’t let her see what he was doing. Nor could he let Rupert win. In any case, Emily hadn’t been born when her father made his fortune, so it wasn’t her fault if he did something wrong. Stupid man, putting his family at risk. He’d better ask Peggy about it.

  Emily stormed down the street, kicking a wheelie bin out of the way. A black and white cat scurried to the other side of the street.

  What a stupid arse Jacob was. Here he was being accused of murdering someone and all he wanted to do was his own stupid projects. He should have let her help. And to turn off his phone. Nothing could be that important. He had been watching something on the computer, something he’d clicked away, before she could see. Perhaps it had something to do with him owing money to the loan shark. Had the henchmen threatened him?

  Emily stopped walking and looked back. What if he was in real trouble and not able to ask for help?

  Slowly she made her way back up the street. At the corner to Jacob’s dead-end little street she stopped and squatted behind a parked car. She would lie low and follow him to see what he was doing next. He wasn’t going to get rid of her so easily.

  She didn’t have to wait long. After only five minutes, Jacob came out of his house and turned towards Woolaston Road. Again Emily followed him, sticking close to the cars, ready to hide behind them if necessary. But Jacob was deep in thought, too preoccupied to notice anything at all, least of all her.

  On Woolaston Road, Jacob entered Posh Nosh. What should she do now? Emily quickly crossed the road and entered Hoofs Haven charity shop, which was situated right across the street from Posh Nosh.

  She nodded a good morning to the volunteer at the till, then pretended to check out some items on a rack near the window. Jacob and Aunt Peggy were talking.

  ‘Are you looking for something special?’ the volunteer said. Emily jumped, having not heard the woman approach.

  ‘No, thank you. Just browsing,’ she said. The woman moved off to another victim and Emily turned her attention back to Posh Nosh. Just in time, as Jacob came out the door looking none too happy. With long strides he crossed the road at the pedestrian lights, not noticing that the light was red. Emily ducked behind a mannequin and waited till he had walked down the street and turned into Milbury Road. She left Hoofs Haven and followed again at a distance. He was up to something, she knew it. She had to find out what it was.

  * * *

  Paddy

  ‘Are you sure this is going to work, Paddy?’ Vinnie asked. With a last enormous effort we pushed the scarecrow in its new position near the pond on an allotment. This had been a five-rat-and-one-squirrel job and we all flopped down, exhausted.

  My legs trembled and my fur was all dirty and covered in pieces of straw. ‘Of course it will work.’ I looked up at the towering scarecrow above me.

  My cousin Oscar did the same. ‘I don’t know, Paddy. It seems awfully wobbly, if you ask me.’ He started picking straw out of his fur.

  ‘I still don’t understand the plan.’ My other cousin Millicent licked her paws clean. ‘How is this going to scare Cecil? Most of the time it doesn’t even scare away the birds.’

  Everyone looked at me. I sighed and waved at the scarecrow. ‘It’s very simple. When Cecil and his posse walk past the scarecrow, Pete, who’s inside the head, will wiggle it. Cecil will get a shock and end up in the pond. The humiliation will show the posse that Cecil is just a silly rat, not worth following around.’ My fur tingled in the anticipation of my plan leading to Cecil’s downfall.

  Vinnie shook his head. ‘Isn’t it better to reason with Cecil than to play a stupid prank? And what about Moe?’

  ‘I tried reasoning with him and that didn’t work. We need a more hands-on approach this time.’ I smiled at my friends. ‘And as for Moe. He’s a cat. They don’t like water.’ I omitted to mention that I had seen Moe drink from this very pond. It didn’t matter. The cat might not even come.

  Vinnie looked at me, shaking his head. ‘I’m not convinced.’

  I didn’t care. I was certain of our impending success.

  There was some jeering and shouting from further down the hill. It was Cecil and his posse, looking for trouble and they were coming our way.

  ‘Quick, Pete! Climb up into the scarecrow’s head!’ I said.

  ‘Do I have to do this?’ Pete swallowed and glanced up at the scarecrow with some trepidation. ‘It doesn’t look very safe.’

  ‘Go!’ I gave him
a shove. Pete started his climb. The scarecrow wobbled and we all watched with fascination how Pete made his way up the leg.

  ‘Oscar? Do your thing,’ I said when Pete had disappeared into the head. ‘The rest of us, hide.’ We scattered under bushes and behind buckets. I hid near the compost bin and watched Oscar, who stood outside the allotment on the path, waiting for Cecil and the posse.

  ‘What do you want, old rat?’ Cecil said when he spotted Oscar.

  ‘Hi, Cecil. I want to show you something.’ Oscar turned around and led Cecil and his posse through the fence on to the allotment.

  They neared the pond. Cecil looked up at the scarecrow and shrugged. ‘What’s so special about this?’

  ‘Ummm... well,’ Oscar said.

  The scarecrow moved. Not just the head, but the whole thing. I stroked the tip of my tail as a good luck charm. We had to succeed.

  A sound came from the scarecrow’s head. It was Pete. ‘No... wait... This is not supposed to happen!’ The scarecrow moved some more. The posse scattered, spooked.

  Cecil and Oscar stood their ground and watched as the scarecrow slowly fell over, then got stuck at an awkward angle.

  ‘Help me! Get me out!’ Pete was in a panic, trying to leave the head through a tiny hole in the neck. The movement made the head shoot loose and Pete flew out in an arc, taking a nosedive into the pond. Water splashed everywhere.

  Cecil was in stitches. His posse reappeared and stood around the pond, pointing at Pete. ‘You drained the pond with your big splash, fatty.’

  I was horrified. What had just happened?

  Pete was helped out of the pond by Vinnie. He walked up to me, soaking wet, and glared. ‘I told you I didn’t want to do this. Why did you send me up there?’

  I avoided Pete’s gaze. ‘Sorry, buddy. I didn’t know this was going to happen.’ Pete turned and walked away, leaving a wet trail behind him.

  ‘Idiot,’ Vinnie said. He swatted me across the ears. ‘You know Pete hates to get wet. This was a stupid plan.’

  Cecil and the posse moved off. They were still laughing. ‘Make certain you call me next time something like this is about to happen,’ Cecil said over his shoulder. ‘I wouldn’t want to miss it.’

  My whiskers drooped. ‘I was certain it would work.’

  ‘There must be a more mature way of dealing with Cecil,’ Vinnie said.

  I nodded. I hated to admit it, but deep down I knew he was right. There had to be another way.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Women! How was it possible they always found a way to twist your words and start nagging? Jacob kicked an imaginary pebble.

  It all started innocently enough. Peggy told him that Scott, not long after winning the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award, had set up his own business. She guessed that this had been a bit fast, but hadn’t really thought anything of it at the time. She hadn’t even asked herself where he would get the money to manage such a thing. Perhaps he had got a starter loan from a bank or something.

  Then Peggy had wondered why he asked all these questions. Not wanting to say too much, he had said ‘just because’. That of course was his downfall. Peggy had immediately pounced on him and asked if Scott had anything to do with Godric’s murder, or with Dot being threatened by Rupert. And when he had answered in the negative, she had asked why he didn’t concentrate on the problem at hand and get himself off the suspect list first.

  So now two women of the Dawson family were mad at him, but who cared? If they only knew he was trying to protect them from harm, they wouldn’t nag him so much. Perhaps he should have asked Dave instead. At least men didn’t nag...

  Jacob looked up to see that without realising it he had walked halfway down Milbury Road. He had to decide on what to do next. Perhaps he could find out where Scott had got the money for his business. But how did one go about that?

  ‘Jacob! There you are.’ Dave appeared from a side street and fell into step with him. He glared at his friend. ‘Where did you run off to before? I needed your help.’

  Jacob shrugged. ‘I had things to do.’

  ‘Whatever.’

  They walked on for a bit.

  ‘Can you believe that Rupert?’ Dave smashed one fist in the other. ‘If that man really hurts Emily I’ll let him see all the corners of his fancy office.’

  For a moment Jacob wondered if Dave knew about Rupert’s new threat. Then he realised that Dave was talking about Rupert’s earlier threat about Emily’s probation. He’d all but forgotten about that.

  Dave continued, not noticing his friend’s silence. ‘Emily has been really good since she came to York. She’s not doing anything to hurt her probation. Granted, she’s a little bit weird, but nothing bad.’ He sighed deeply. ‘I’m afraid that things will go south for her again because of this and just now that she has found a friend and is less negative and brooding. She’s so much happier these days.’

  Jacob wondered if that wasn’t because of Godric’s murder, but instead said, ‘I’m certain Rupert is bluffing.’

  ‘I hope you’re right.’ Dave tucked his hands deep into the pockets of his work coat. ‘I wish there was a way to get Rupert to stop blackmailing people.’

  Yes, Jacob thought, that would be nice.

  A police car stopped at the kerb and DCI McDermott and Abe Monday got out.

  ‘Where were you last night?’ McDermott asked Jacob, wasting no time on pleasantries. ‘This time the Hoes & Rakes society shed was broken into. Are you going to rifle through all the sheds on the allotments?’

  Jacob glared at the inspector. ‘When are you going to realise that I didn’t have anything to do with this? I didn’t break into any shed. I was at Dave’s house the whole evening.’

  ‘And so he was,’ Dave said. He squared his shoulders. ‘Why don’t you start doing some proper detective work for a change, like looking into Rupert’s building plans?’

  McDermott’s nostrils flared. ‘You don’t get to tell me what I do.’ He looked Dave up and down. ‘You think you’re the boss in Milbury just because you wear a council uniform and are the neighbourhood warden.’

  ‘Head neighbourhood warden.’ In turn Dave looked McDermott up and down. ‘In any case, I seem to do a better job at keeping the streets safe than the police.’

  Jacob stepped in between Dave and McDermott and put a hand on Dave’s chest. ‘Perhaps we should just go and leave these two officers alone.’

  McDermott glared at Dave over Jacob’s shoulder and chewed on his moustache. Then he opened his mouth to say something, but Abe pulled him away. ‘Sir, we have a lot more to do...’

  McDermott pulled his arm loose. ‘Yes, I guess you’re right.’ He got back in the police car, but kept glaring at Dave until Abe drove away.

  Jacob watched as the car went around the corner, then looked at his friend. ‘Why did you do that? That’s not you.’

  Dave’s shoulders slumped and he looked down at his feet. ‘I don’t know. It’s been a very stressful week what with the murder and Priscilla cutting down trees, and now the blackmailing.’

  ‘Tell me about it.’ Jacob sighed. He looked down the road and saw Hal and Clyde Simms come around a corner and cross the road. Why did these men keep popping up? He should follow them and find out what they were up to.

  Jacob realised that Dave was talking to him, but his mind wandered off again. What if he could prove they had something to do with Godric’s murder? Or even to find out if McDermott had asked them to make it look like he murdered Godric. Then there would be some suspects other than Rupert, which would make him stop blackmailing everyone.

  The two men rounded a corner and Jacob felt an urge to run after them.

  ‘Are you listening to me at all?’ Dave said. ‘What is wrong with you today? You’re not normally this absentminded.’

  ‘Sorry, Dave. Like you, too much on my mind.’ Jacob spotted Emily watching him and Dave from behind a parked car. He waved at her. ‘Why don’t you and Emily go to the allotments to keep an
eye on Georgie? I have some other business, but I’ll meet up with you later.’

  Emily arrived, looking somewhat shamefaced. ‘I wasn’t spying on you.’

  Jacob looked at Emily. ‘Spying? What do you mean?

  ‘You can come with me,’ Dave said to his niece. ‘We’re keeping an eye on Georgie.’

  ‘Again?’ She shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. Her two rats wriggled. ‘And what is Jacob going to do?’

  ‘I’ll catch up,’ Jacob said over his shoulder as he walked away in the other direction. He didn’t have time for arguments. He didn’t want to lose sight of Hal and Clyde and too much time might already have passed. Who knew what they were up to and he wanted to be there to see it.

  Georgie was still busy weeding her allotment when Emily and Dave arrived. They managed to find a nice large gooseberry bush, big enough for both of them to hide behind and keep an eye on Georgie.

  ‘Jacob is an idiot,’ Emily said. She turned to her uncle. ‘Did you realise he sent us here so he could sneak off to follow the loan shark’s henchmen?’

  ‘Really?’ Dave said. ‘I didn’t notice that.’

  Emily nodded. ‘They appeared just after McDermott and Abe left. Jacob became all excited. Like a hound on a scent; shipping us off on this futile errand while he does the exciting things.’ She snapped a twig in half and threw the pieces on the ground.

  ‘Are you sure about this?’ Dave smiled. ‘It’s more likely that he just realised he forgot to check on some insect colony in someone’s garden.’

  ‘No, not this time.’ Emily looked at Georgie, who was now watering her rose bushes. ‘Haven’t you wondered why Jacob is suddenly more interested in Hal and Clyde Simms than Rupert? It should be more important to find evidence against Rupert than walking after two men who just appeared in the neighbourhood.’

  Dave looked at his niece. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘Could it be possible that Jacob is in some sort of trouble with the loan shark?’ Emily said. She lowered her voice. ‘I saw him talking to the henchmen a few nights back.’