Don't Feed the Rat! Read online

  Jacob turned red. ‘Professor, yes. I used to work at the University of York. But weird? I’m definitely not weird.’

  Emily smiled. ‘Just like people don’t think I’m bad...’

  Jacob looked at the floor and cleared his throat. ‘At least the police didn’t take my computer. It was probably too big and bulky for them to lug out.’ He walked up to the computer and checked it again, then stroked a metal panel.

  A movement caught his eye. Emily was picking up things from the floor and putting them on his desk. ‘Careful with that,’ he said.

  Emily waved a hand at him. ‘Stop worrying, professor. You’re too smart for that. Just let me help you.’

  ‘What?’ Jacob watched as Emily carefully picked up a test tube and put it in the holder. He sighed. ‘Okay, stay if you want.’ He started helping her.

  ‘Have you given any thought about possible suspects for Godric’s murder?’ Emily said. She looked up at him with a gleam in her eyes.

  He shuffled his feet. ‘Well, Georgie Wilcrick came to mind.’

  Emily nodded. Her blue hair bounced about. ‘Yes, something is definitely going on with Georgie. Otherwise, why would Marlee hover around her allotment all the time?’

  ‘You do like keeping an eye on people, don’t you?’ Jacob said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘How else would you know about Marlee and Georgie?’

  ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed Marlee’s strange behaviour?’ Emily’s blue eyes flashed.

  ‘Well, yes,’ Jacob said. ‘But I don’t go around scaring people all the time.’

  ‘I like scaring people,’ Emily said. ‘It keeps them away, so they don’t ask stupid questions.’ She walked out in a huff.

  Jacob watched through the window as Emily sat down in the grass and took her pet rats out of the pocket of her hoodie. Something was going on with that girl. Like the way she behaved like a teenager sometimes, while Jacob knew she was in her twenties. Interesting. He should ask Dave about it some time.

  Jacob finished tidying up and then joined Emily outside. Her rats now wandered around her. Jacob eyed them.

  ‘What are their names?’

  Emily pointed. ‘The brown one is Trevor and the brown with white spots is Mike.’ She watched them for a bit.

  ‘You have a cat, don’t you?’ she said.

  Jacob nodded. ‘Spike. He’s a red tomcat.’

  ‘Do you think he would like my rats?’

  ‘If you mean like as in eat, he might.’ Jacob thought back to the half-eaten mouse.

  ‘Oh, don’t worry. These babies can viciously defend themselves.’ She picked up Mike and petted him. ‘Have you ever seen any strange things happening near Georgie’s allotment?’ she said.

  Jacob sighed and sat down on the garden bench against the wall of his shed. He’d hoped Emily had forgotten about suspects. He shook his head. ‘No... well... There was this strange man coming off Georgie’s allotment a couple of nights ago. I nearly bumped into him.’

  ‘Yes, I know who you mean.’ Emily’s face lit up. ‘In his forties, nicely dressed like a businessman, slick manners.’

  ‘That’s the one. And not to mention arrogant. Who is he?’

  ‘I don’t know, but we need to find out.’

  ‘We?’ Jacob shook his head. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you but I’m not planning to look into suspects.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘That’s the task of the police.’

  ‘But they think you murdered Godric. You have to defend yourself. Don’t trust the police to get it right.’ Emily crossed her arms. ‘They won’t. They are a bunch of incompetent idiots.’

  ‘Well, you’re probably not wrong there.’

  Emily smiled. ‘In any case, if you saw the man leaving Georgie’s shed, we could safely assume that Georgie was there as well that night. That puts her on the allotments the night Godric was murdered, so she has at least had an opportunity.’

  Jacob nodded. ‘True, but I did see her leave not long after the mystery man.’

  ‘Ah, but maybe she came back. Any other suspects?’

  Jacob pointed at the allotment next door. ‘Wilbur Stapleton crossed my mind.’

  ‘He can’t have done it.’ There was a defensiveness in Emily’s voice. ‘He’s far too nice.’ Her face turned red and she fidgeted with the shoelace of her boot.

  Jacob arched one eyebrow. More than nice, it seemed.

  ‘Everybody has a breaking point,’ he said. ‘Maybe Godric pushed Wilbur to the limit with his nagging about the vole project and using pesticides.’

  ‘No.’ Emily sulked. ‘Wilbur’s a biologist and a vegetarian, just like me. He wouldn’t kill anyone.’

  Jacob shrugged. She was probably right. Wilbur seemed like a good guy.

  ‘Georgie’s behaviour is more suspicious,’ Emily said. ‘She’s a better suspect.’

  Loud-ish voices reached them from over the bramble hedge. They both craned their necks to see what was going on. Dave in his neighbourhood warden uniform was talking to Priscilla. A lilac tree lay in between them on the path. Priscilla shouted something at Dave, gesticulating with her arms.

  Both Jacob and Emily ducked out of sight behind the bramble bush.

  ‘Hope she didn’t see us,’ Emily said.

  Jacob smiled. ‘Indeed.’

  Emily picked up her two rats. They crawled back into her pocket. ‘I need to go to work. Promise me you will think about suspects?’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Jacob sighed. Emily sneaked out of the allotment unseen by Dave or Priscilla. She would never leave this alone.

  * * *

  Paddy

  Older Female, now also known as Mad Maggie, was shouting at the burly two-legged who seemed to be the boss around Milbury.

  I was sitting on the garden wall with Vinnie, Pete and Eddy and watched the drama unfold. Involuntarily I pulled my left ear twice and my right ear once.

  Vinnie rolled his eyes at me. ‘Stop doing that. It’s nonsense.’

  Mad Maggie was yelling at the top of her voice. ‘I had to cut down the tree. The rats were using it to climb on to the wall.’

  Boss Guy stood his ground. ‘What rats? It wasn’t your tree to cut down. It belonged to the council and was very old and beautiful. What if everyone went around and willy-nilly started chopping down trees? This hill would become completely bare.’

  I nodded. ‘The allotments would be horrible without trees and shrubs. It wouldn’t be fun to live here any more.’

  ‘And besides,’ Pete said. ‘We might have used the tree to climb up the wall, but we don’t need it. How else could we have ended up here right now?’

  Mad Maggie meanwhile stared Boss Guy in the face. ‘I don’t agree,’ she said. ‘Fewer trees would mean fewer rats.’

  ‘There’s not really a problem with rats,’ Boss Guy said. ‘I don’t know what you’re going on about.’

  ‘You’re delusional!’ Mad Maggie screamed. ‘The rats are everywhere.’

  Pete nodded. ‘She’s not wrong, actually.’

  I had to agree with Pete. There were far too many young rats around this year, all because the last couple of winters had been mild. And now that Cecil had brought them together... Mayhem.

  Boss Guy ignored Mad Maggie and scribbled something down. He tore off a piece of paper and handed it to her. She snatched it out of his hands and marched down the hill, crumpling up the paper and chucking it into a bramble hedge.

  We watched as Boss Guy walked around the fallen tree. He sighed as he surveyed the remains. My shoulders drooped. It was sad to see the lilac lying on the ground.

  ‘I’m hungry,’ Pete said. We jumped off the wall and made our way on to some allotment. Pete wandered off in search of a snack.

  ‘I think Boss Guy is our friend,’ I said. ‘He could become our ally against Mad Maggie.’

  Vinnie stamped his foot on the ground. ‘Mad Maggie is just a two-legged. We don’t need an ally against her.’

 
; ‘I’m not worried about Mad Maggie,’ came Pete’s voice from a distance. ‘As long as she doesn’t keep carrying out the no-bird-food rule.’ We saw him pull his left ear twice and right ear once.

  ‘Why did you do that?’ Vinnie said in a loud voice.

  Pete shrugged. ‘To make certain the no-bird-food rule doesn’t go ahead.’

  Vinnie rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. ‘You’re a bad influence on him,’ he said to me. I ignored it.

  ‘We have our own stories,’ Eddy said. ‘They’re similar to yours and we call them squirrel-lore. We take them very seriously.’

  I stared at Eddy, then at Vinnie. ‘You see? I’m not crazy. The squirrels have stories as well.’ I pulled my left ear twice and right ear once.

  Vinnie shook his head at me. ‘You’d better stop this nonsense, or bad things really will be happening.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘Ouch, stop biting me!’ A voice came from the allotment next door. Jacob wondered who it was, then realised Wilbur must be checking his vole traps. If he went over, he might have the opportunity to ask Wilbur some questions about his relationship with Godric.

  Jacob sighed. Why did he think that? It seems that Emily was getting under his skin. Ever since she had left for work, his mind had crept towards Godric’s murder. He paced up and down in his shed. His project was more important. He should focus on that.

  He sat down in his chair and stared at his papers. The calculations he’d done on them didn’t seem to make much sense today. What if he went to jail and never had a chance to finish his project?

  He slammed his hand on the table. No! He shouldn’t think like that. He needed a distraction that was strong enough to keep him from thinking he was doomed and dwelling on his mother not being able to look after herself after he had gone to jail.

  Jacob stood up and walked to Wilbur’s allotment.

  ‘Hey, old man,’ Wilbur said, as he saw Jacob and gave him a slap on the back. ‘Want to help me with the voles?’

  ‘Certainly, although I gather they are a bit nippy today.’

  Wilbur smiled and rubbed his thumb. ‘I’ll get you some gloves.’ He wandered off to rummage in his shed for an extra pair of sturdy gloves. Jacob checked out one of the humane traps Wilbur used to study the voles. One of the creatures was trapped inside and blinked at him.

  Jacob pulled on the gloves Wilbur handed him and the two men got to work. Jacob had helped out before, so knew what was expected of him.

  Wilbur opened the door of the trap and Jacob carefully took out the little vole. It squirmed in his hand and bit his glove. After checking the microchip, Wilbur measured the vole’s length from its stumpy nose to the shortish tail and scribbled the number down. Then the little creature was put in a cotton bag and weighed. After that, Jacob released the vole into the wild, where it scurried away after its ordeal. Wilbur reset the trap.

  The two men moved on to the next trap.

  ‘Did you hear the news about my arrest?’ Jacob said.

  Wilbur nodded. ‘Ridiculous, of course. Why would you want to murder Godric?’

  Jacob held up the vole for Wilbur to measure. ‘My thoughts exactly.’ He checked out Wilbur’s face. ‘But what about you? Is McDermott suspecting you at all?’

  ‘Why would he do that?’ Wilbur looked puzzled.

  ‘Because your relationship with Godric wasn’t very good either.’

  Wilbur smiled. ‘Well, no. It wasn’t. But I don’t seem to be on McDermott’s radar yet.’

  ‘That’s lucky, believe me.’ The two men smiled.

  Jacob released the vole.

  ‘But I know a better candidate,’ Wilbur said. He leant closer to Jacob. ‘Georgie Wilcrick. There’s some shady things going on in that pretty shed of hers.’

  ‘Oh?’

  Wilbur nodded. ‘I heard she entertains a man called Rupert Fairclough in her shed.’ Wilbur winked and Jacob blushed at the thought. He continued. ‘Rupert isn’t a nice man. I’ve heard he has some hush-hush plans to buy the top part of the allotments and build a high-end apartment block on it.’

  ‘What?’ Jacob stared at Wilbur. ‘An apartment block? Here on the allotments, where we are now?’

  Wilbur nodded. ‘And Georgie seems to know more about it.’

  Jacob scratched his face. This was outrageous. But the council would never agree to a plan like that. He wondered why Wilbur was telling him all this. To get his attention away from Wilbur’s own bad relationship with Godric? Hmmm.

  ‘Is it possible that Godric could have found out about the building plans?’ Jacob said.

  Wilbur shrugged. ‘Perhaps. If that was the case it would put Rupert Fairclough firmly on the list of suspects.’

  ‘It would indeed.’

  The two men walked to the next trap. It was hidden under the bramble hedge that divided their allotments.

  ‘Is it possible that Rupert is the father of Marlee Fairclough?’ Jacob said. That would explain her hanging about Georgie’s allotment.

  ‘I wouldn’t know, sorry.’ Wilbur retrieved the vole trap and held it up. ‘This is the last one for today.’

  As the two men went through the motions of measuring the last vole, Jacob let his mind wander. It seemed that there was more going on with Georgie than he and Emily had thought.

  Emily squinted at the top of the hill. Jacob was coming out of Wilbur’s allotment. She quickened her pace. If Jacob had been asking Wilbur questions about the murder, she would kill him. Wilbur was innocent! Maybe if she was fast enough she could make up an excuse and talk to Wilbur herself. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the thought.

  A moment later Wilbur came out of his own allotment, wearing his cute backpack. But he didn’t come her way, down the hill. Instead he walked up the last bit of hill towards the top exit. Emily slowed down. What was the point in rushing now?

  Jacob was rummaging about in his shed. She tiptoed to the door. ‘Good afternoon!’

  Jacob jumped and glared at her. She smiled. Funny how she could make people jump.

  ‘How was work?’ Jacob said.

  ‘Interesting.’ Emily plonked down in Jacob’s desk chair. ‘All the customers in the shop were talking about the murder. Unfortunately they also know that you’re a suspect.’

  Jacob shrugged. ‘I don’t care what everyone thinks.’

  ‘Really? That doesn’t bother you at all?’

  ‘They’re gullible idiots. Always were.’ He stood in front of Emily. ‘Now get out of my chair.’

  Emily got up and perched herself on the edge of the desk, arms folded across her chest. ‘Did you do any more investigating?’

  ‘Yes, I interrogated Wilbur.’

  ‘What...? No! You haven’t! That’s ridiculous.’ How could she ever look Wilbur in the eye again?

  Jacob smiled. ‘I had an interesting conversation with him about Rupert Fairclough. He’s most likely the man who I saw coming out of Georgie’s allotment the night of Godric’s murder. Wilbur thinks he should also be on our list of suspects.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘He has plans to buy the allotments and build an apartment complex.’

  ‘Ooh, interesting.’ Emily’s mind jumped past several possibilities. ‘What if Godric had heard about the plans and Rupert tried to stop him? Or what if Godric was secretly in love with Georgie and Rupert found out about it? Or what if Georgie was counting on Rupert’s support for Chair and Godric found out?’

  Jacob nodded. ‘All good questions. But why would Georgie let Rupert build on part of the allotments? She’s been a member of Hoes & Rakes for over twenty years. Why ruin it by an ugly apartment block?’

  ‘Perhaps she needed the money from the sale,’ Emily said.

  ‘But that money would go to Hoes & Rakes and not Georgie herself.’

  ‘Well, perhaps Georgie and the treasurer are in cahoots about pilfering some of it.’

  Jacob shook his head. ‘Now you’re just grasping at straws.’

  ‘People can get very gr
eedy when money is involved,’ Emily said. ‘Believe me.’

  Jacob studied her face, one eyebrow arched. Perhaps she had said too much.

  Emily got up. ‘We need to talk to Georgie.’

  ‘No we don’t,’ Jacob said. ‘I have things to do here. Besides, this is a matter for the police.’ He went back to his papers.

  ‘Why did you talk to Wilbur if you thought it a matter for the police?’

  Jacob looked up. ‘We were just having a conversation while we were checking his vole traps.’

  ‘Nonsense!’ Emily grabbed him by the sleeve. ‘The police think you murdered Godric. So exonerating you from this outrageous lie is your priority!’ She pulled him up and dragged him out of the shed.

  Why was he going along with this? He didn’t want to talk to Georgie. She’d be all curvy and smiley and touching his arm again.

  ‘Wait, Emily.’ Jacob stopped. They were halfway down the hill. ‘I need to check on a colony of wild bees.’ He threw a thumb at the allotment behind him.

  ‘What, now?’

  ‘I haven’t checked on them for a while.’ He pulled his notebook from his pocket and ducked in to the allotment. He made his way to the edge of the pond, where he knew the bees had made a nest under the stones that bordered it. He sat down and waited for a bee to appear. They should be feeding at this time of the day and therefore flying in and out of the nest.

  ‘You’re just making excuses, you know.’ Emily’s voice drifted towards him from the other side of the bramble hedge. ‘I will not go anywhere!’

  Jacob didn’t really care if he made excuses or not. He should be able to do what he wanted, just like before when all this had started. Why should things be different now than to what they were before?

  A small wild bee came buzzing up and disappeared into the tiny hole in between the stones. Good, they were still here. More bees appeared, not just coming back from foraging, but also leaving the nest again. Beautiful. So elegant.

  ‘I know what you are doing,’ came a voice from behind him.

  He jumped. ‘Stop sneaking up on me!’ He glared at Emily, who stood, arms folded, tapping her foot. Maybe if he distracted her, she would forget about Georgie.