by Holly Webb
There was a window, though. Above the sink, like at home. And it was open, just a little.
Milly stood at the edge of the table, her back legs tensed, ready to spring. There were glasses and plates stacked by the sink, and if she banged into them, he might come. She had to be quiet as well as quick. She leaped right into the sink, and some knives and forks jingled under her paws. But there was no thunder of footsteps on the stairs. Hurriedly, she climbed up to the windowsill. She was free!
“What did the police say?” Tia asked. She’d been hovering by her mum the whole while she’d been on the phone.
“Well, this time they did seem to take it a bit more seriously. They said they’d pass on all the information.”
“They think Milly was stolen, then?” Tia said, her voice eager. “They’ll find her?”
Mum sighed. “Look, Tia, the police will do the best they can. But there isn’t a lot to go on, is there?”
“I suppose not,” Tia sat down at the table, her legs feeling wobbly. Then she frowned. “If they haven’t got much to go on, we have to find them some more evidence, Mum! Lucy said we should put posters up in the shops near her. There’s a newsagent’s with a board – she says loads of people go and read the ads on it. Please!”
“All right. It’s quite a walk, though. Dad’s taken the car to drive round and look for Milly.”
“I don’t mind!” Tia assured her.
Mum sighed. “Have you printed out some more posters?”
Tia picked up a pile from the end of the table and waved them at her.
“Now, you two go into the newsagent’s, and I’ll go and ask if I can put a poster up in the library,” Mum said. She was sounding a bit weary. Christy had whinged most of the way, saying she was sick of walking. Tia had tried to explain that it was all because they were trying to find Milly, but when Christy was tired she wasn’t easy to persuade.
Tia walked up to the counter and the young woman smiled at her. “Are you after some sweets?” she asked.
Tia shook her head. “We came to ask if we could put this up on your board.” She held out a poster. “It’s our kitten, you see. She’s missing.”
“Oh no! Look at her, isn’t she lovely!”
Tia swallowed back tears. “We think she might have been stolen. There was an article about it in the local paper.”
“I remember. Is your cat one of those Bengals, then?”
“Yes. A man was hanging around asking about her, and one day we got back home from school and she was gone.”
The woman nodded. “The board’s over there. You can move a couple of the leaflets around if you need space.”
“Thank you very much!” Tia went over to the board while Christy eyed the sweets hungrily. It was covered in leaflets, some of them curling at the edges as though they’d been there forever. Tia started to unpin a few of them so she could make room for her poster. Most of them were adverts for things people wanted to sell – lawnmowers and pushchairs. Then Tia stopped, staring at the card she’d just taken down.
Pedigree cats for sale. All breeds. Reasonably priced.
And there was a phone number.
How could someone be selling all breeds of cat? Breeders like Helen only bred one sort. No one could have all the different breeds.
Unless they were stealing them.
“What’s the matter?” the woman called to Tia. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Tia walked back over to the counter. “You don’t remember who put this up, do you?” she asked, not very hopefully.
The woman looked down at the card. “Oh, I see. You’re thinking—”
“It could be them, couldn’t it?” Tia gasped. She was desperate for a clue. Anything that might help them track Milly down.
The woman sniffed. “As it happens, I do know who put that up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a cat thief. He’s rude. I wish he didn’t come in here, but he picks up his motorcycle magazine every week. Some special order.”
Tia stared at her. “So – have you got his address then?” she whispered.
The woman looked uncomfortable. “Well, yes… I mean, I shouldn’t give it out. Just don’t say I gave it to you, will you?” She pulled out a big folder and flicked through. “Here, look. That’s him. But hang on, you can’t go over there on your own! Where’s your mum and dad?”
“It’s all right,” Tia said. “My mum’s just at the library – I’ll get her. Seventeen Emwell Road. Thanks!”
She grabbed Christy’s hand, and hauled her out of the shop. “I think we’re about to get Milly back! We have to find Mum… Come on.”
They raced up the steps to the library and shoved open the door. Mum was in the queue, and there were loads of people in front of her.
“I won’t be too long, Tia,” Mum said, as Tia came up to her.
“But I’ve found them!” Tia cried. “The catnappers!”
“What?” Mum stared at her, and some of the people in the line looked round curiously.
“There was an ad for pedigree cats for sale in the newsagent’s. It has to be them! And I’ve got the address.”
“Oh, Tia, I know you’re desperate to find Milly, but you’re jumping to conclusions.” Mum shook her head.
“Why won’t you ever believe me?” Tia said furiously. “I’m going there now!” She turned and marched out, Christy scampering after her. She didn’t even look back to see if Mum was following. She just had to find Milly.
Milly threaded her way through the overgrown front garden and squeezed under the rickety wooden gate. She darted a glance back to the house, but the man wasn’t chasing her. Still, she wanted to get further away. Then she would find Tia. She set off down the pavement, sniffing at the dandelions and the parked cars. It was when she reached the end of the street, where it met another, larger road, that she realized finding her home was going to be harder than she’d thought. She had expected to somehow know which way to go. But coming here in a van, she had lost her sense of direction.
She set off along one road, but it didn’t feel good. Milly turned uncertainly and hurried back. The other way felt as though it led home.
Milly plodded on, trying to sense the right direction. She wasn’t used to walking so far and the pavements were hard. Her paws hurt. Worst of all, she wasn’t really sure she was getting any closer to Tia.
Wearily, she jumped up on to a low wall for a rest. Another cat had scent-marked the garden beyond the wall, and Milly peered down nervously. The cat didn’t seem to be around. She curled herself into a tense little ball and let her eyes close. She was so tired.
Suddenly, Milly’s eyes shot open, and she nearly fell off the wall. A ginger cat was in the garden below her, hissing furiously. His fur fluffed up so much that he looked four times as big as her.
Milly scrambled backwards, her tail straight up, all the fur sticking out like a brush. She hissed at the ginger cat, but he was much bigger than she was. Milly backed herself up to the end of the wall and then sprang down on to the pavement, racing away as fast as she could.
“It’s this way,” Tia panted, hauling Christy along behind her.
“We should wait for Mum!” Christy wailed. “I can’t see her, Tia! We aren’t supposed to go where we can’t see Mum! We’ll get in trouble!”
“I don’t care! I’m going to find Milly. Look, this is Emwell Road!” Tia stopped, gasping for breath. What if the man who took Milly saw her and Christy? He’d probably recognize them. “Be like spies, all right? We don’t want the catnappers to catch us.”
Tia pulled Christy in close to the wall and they began to creep along, looking for number seventeen.
“This is it,” Tia murmured, a little way up the road. “Oh! The van!” She squeezed Christy’s hand and pointed. “Laura saw a blue van when the man was asking about Charlie.”
“Tia!” Mum was running up the road after them, looking furious. “How could you run off like that? You crossed roads! You know you’re not allowed!”
“Mum, look!” Tia grabbed her arm, towing her towards the van. “Look! It’s the catnappers!”
Mum frowned. “Oh… Is that the van Laura talked about?”
“Yes! And this is the road where the man who put up that advert lives. It’s got to be him, hasn’t it?”
Mum nodded slowly. “All right. Don’t you dare go in there, Tia! I’m going to call that number the police gave me. It’s starting to look as though you’re right.”
“Have a look at these.” The policewoman held out her mobile phone, and Tia stared at it eagerly. It had been so hard to wait for news. Tia had wanted to stay outside the house in Emwell Road, but Mum had said they’d better go home. They didn’t want to get in the way when the police came.
“We might make that man suspicious if we’re hanging around,” she had pointed out to Tia. “We don’t want him moving the cats.”
Tia knew she was right, but she hated to walk away when she was so sure that Milly was somewhere in that house.
It had only been a few hours until a police car drew up outside their house that evening, but it felt like Tia had been waiting for days.
“Is Milly one of these?” PC Ryan flicked through the photos – a Persian, and what looked like another Bengal, but with a marbled, stripey coat, and another cat Tia didn’t recognize.
“No…” Tia’s voice shook. “Look, there’s an empty cage next to this one. He’s already sold her!”
PC Ryan frowned. “Maybe. But he was definitely showing a spotted Bengal kitten to someone this morning. Another lady phoned us, saying that she’d been to see a kitten, and she suspected she might have been stolen. Perhaps your Milly got out.”
“Milly is very good at getting in and out of places,” Mum agreed hopefully. “If any cat could, it would be her, wouldn’t it, Tia…”
But Tia wasn’t listening. She dashed away upstairs to her room and scrambled up her ladder to hide in her bed. She couldn’t bear it. They were too late, and Milly was gone.
Milly kept walking all afternoon even though she was so tired she stumbled. The light was starting to fade now, and it was getting colder. Someone was walking along the road towards her with a dog, and Milly darted under a parked car to hide.
Even when the dog had gone by, she didn’t want to move. At least under the car she was out of the wind, and she couldn’t smell any other cats. She would just stay here for a little while, until she felt better. Milly dozed, her eyelids flickering and her paws twitching as the ginger cat chased after her. It was chasing her further and further away from Tia…
She hissed and startled awake, not sure where she was. It was now bright daylight, she realized as she peered out from under the parked car. She must have slept there all night, worn out from her long walk.
She stepped cautiously out on to the pavement and stretched herself. Then she heard voices. Children’s voices. Not Tia and Christy, she was pretty sure, but still … she would just go and see. Somehow she felt much more hopeful today, with the bright sunshine warming her fur.
It was a playground, and two little boys were chasing each other round and round. Milly paused at the gate, ready to run.
“Ooooh, look! Mum, look! A kitten!” The older boy dashed over.
Milly squeaked – she was nervous after the way that nice man had turned out not to be nice after all. She shot underneath the slide and hid there, shivering.
“Oh, Alfie, you frightened her. She doesn’t know you like Whiskers does. No, don’t try and pull her out, Billy. She’ll come out if she wants to.”
The woman’s voice was gentle, and the fur began to lay down flat on Milly’s back again. “She is pretty… Oh!”
“What, Mum?”
“I think she’s the kitten on those posters! You know, we said it was sad that she was lost. She’s called Milly, if she is that missing kitten.”
“And we found her!”
“No, I found her! I saw her first!”
“Shhh! You’ll scare her away. We need to ring the number and say she’s found. You two watch her, and I’ll run and see if I can find a poster. I think I saw one on that lamp post by the gate.”
Milly huddled under the slide with two curious little faces staring in. She was feeling a bit better now – the bigger boy had surprised her, that was all. She sniffed at his fingers as he held them out hopefully, and he beamed and patted her head.
“Hello, Milly…”
Milly came out from under the slide a little more. The boy knew her name! She nuzzled his fingers, and he giggled.
“Me too! Me too!” the littler one squeaked, so she rubbed her head against his jeans.
The boys’ mother hurried back over. “Good boys… I’m just ringing her owners now…” she said, crouching down beside them. She smiled at Milly as she keyed in the number. “I bet you want to go home, don’t you?”
“Tia, love, wake up.”
Tia blinked and rubbed at her sticky eyes. They were sore, and she couldn’t remember why. And then all at once she did remember and she gave a horrified little gasp.
Mum was standing at the bottom of the bunkbed ladder with Christy next to her. “Tia, why don’t you get up and have a shower and get changed? You fell asleep in your clothes last night!”
Tia peered over the edge of her bed. “Milly could be anywhere, Mum. That man isn’t telling the police anything, PC Ryan said so. He just says he’s looking after the cats for a friend. He must have sold her. We’re never going to get Milly back.”
“Listen, Dad and I think PC Ryan’s right. The man was showing someone a kitten just like Milly yesterday morning. You know how sneaky Milly can be! She ran away from him, I’m sure she did. The police have arrested the man, so they’ll be able to ask him more questions. Dad’s gone to put more posters up around Emwell Road. Do you want to go out looking again after breakfast? Shall we see if Lucy wants to come and help too?”
Tia sniffed and nodded, and Mum reached up awkwardly to hug her round the ladder. “Oh, that’s my phone. Maybe it’s Dad.” She dug it out of her pocket. “Hello?” She listened for a moment and then she gasped, shaking Tia’s shoulder. “Someone’s found her! She must have escaped! She’s not even that far away.” Mum held the phone back to her ear. “In the park between here and school. Oh, thank you so much, we’ll be there in a few minutes. Tia, come back!”
But Tia had already jumped down the ladder, and Christy was racing after her.
Milly had stopped listening to the little boys as they told her how nice she was and what soft fur she had. She could hear something. A voice…
It was Christy! “Tia, wait for me!”
“Come on, Christy! This is where Milly is, they said on the phone.”
Milly jumped right over the little boy’s knees and raced for the park gate.
“She’s there! Look!” Christy squealed.
“Milly!” Tia crouched down and the kitten bounded up to her, purring delightedly. “Oh, we were so worried!” She stood up, cradling Milly in her arms like a baby.
“Thank you for phoning us!” Tia said shyly to the woman with the two little boys.
The woman smiled. “I’m just glad we saw her. She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
Tia smiled back. “She’s the most beautiful kitten ever.”
Christy danced round her sister. “We found you! Mum, look, here’s Milly!”
“She’s fine!” Tia called, as she turned to see Mum hurrying towards them.
“Better than fine,” her mum said, gently tickling Milly under the chin. “You little darling, did you run away from that man, hmmm?”
“The most beautiful kitten ever and the cleverest!” Tia sighed happily. It felt like she could breathe properly for the first time since Milly had disappeared. There had been a horrible lump of fear stuck in her throat all that time. “We got you back,” she whispered, rubbing her cheek over the top of the kitten’s head, and Milly purred so hard she shook all over.
Copyright
STRIPES PUB
LISHING
An imprint of Little Tiger Press
1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2014
Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2014
Author photograph copyright © Nigel Bird
My Naughty Little Puppy illustration copyright © Kate Pankhurst
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2014.
eISBN: 978–1–84715–507–8
The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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