by Iva Ibbotson
“The nine-thirty service for Berwick and Edinburgh is now ready to depart from platform seven,” said a voice over the loudspeaker.
Doors slammed shut. The guard gave his signal. The train began to move.
The phone went at six o’clock in the morning and Pippa ran into the hall and lifted the receiver. It would probably be from Alison, the friend she was meeting so that they could go to school together. Everybody was assembling there to wait for the bus which would take them to the camp in the New Forest.
But it was not Alison.
“Is that Pippa?” said a faint voice.
“Yes. Who’s that?”
“It’s Hal.”
“Goodness! Have you got to your grandparents’ already?”
“No, I haven’t.” Hal’s voice sounded strained and worried. “I’m still here. I’m in London because an awful thing’s happened. All the dogs that were in the room with Fleck have escaped, and they caught up with me and won’t go away. I’d got on the train, I was all ready to go, but they just sat on the platform and looked and waited. They were sure I was going to take them too. I tried to ignore them but I couldn’t, so I got off the train again and spent the night in a freezing shed at the back of a building site. It was horrible. There was a Rottweiler guarding it but Otto just talked to him and he let us in. Only you’ve got to come and take the dogs back, Pippa. You’ve got to.”
Pippa’s mind was racing. “Where are you? Tell me exactly.”
“I’m in Mortland Square. There’s a patch of grass and a war memorial. I can wait here for a while but people are beginning to stare. It’s off the North Road.”
“All right. I know it. Just stay there. Don’t move, whatever you do. Tell them you’re waiting for their owners or something.”
She put down the phone. Kayley was still asleep. She’d been asleep the previous night too when Pippa came back. Pippa’s rucksack was packed, there was only her toothbrush to put in and the packet of sandwiches her mother had made the night before. She crept to the kitchen and took it from the fridge and added some cold sausages and half a loaf of bread. Then she hurried to the sitting room and turned on the computer and printer and wrote a note to her teacher to say that she had flu and would be unable to come to camp, and signed it with her mother’s name. Her mother’s handwriting was easy to copy.
“Did I hear the phone?” said Mrs O’Brian sleepily as Pippa crept in to say goodbye.
“Yes. It was Alison to say we’re to meet half an hour earlier. I’ll have to be off.”
She hugged her mother and let herself out of the house. When she reached Alison’s house she dropped the letter in and hurried on to the bus stop. She was sorry to miss the camp but Hal was obviously going to make a thorough mess of things if she didn’t get there to put him right.
Hal looked cold and peaky and there was a smutty stain on his cheek, but the dogs seemed to be in fine fettle. They greeted her rapturously, tails rotating like windmills. Francine gave her a paw; Honey rubbed her nose against Pippa’s leg.
Pippa opened her rucksack.
“We’d all better eat something,” she said. “Cold sausages aren’t good for dogs, but they’ll have to do.”
The sausages did very well, wolfed down by all five of the dogs, and Pippa and Hal shared the sandwiches. Hal was beginning to feel a bit better. The night on the filthy floor of the hut had taken it out of him.
“We’ll get a hot drink in a minute,” said Pippa. And then: “I think I better tell you what happened to the dogs. They didn’t escape. I let them out. On purpose.”
Hal stared at her. She went on. “Suddenly I couldn’t bear to see them in their cages like that, when Fleck was going to be free. It was a sort of brainstorm, I suppose. Really stupid. Anything could have happened to them, but it didn’t. They found you so that’s all right.”
“But it isn’t all right,” said Hal frantically. “I must get away. I think I may be able to change my ticket – I’m not sure – but I can’t take the others. You simply have to take them back.”
“Well I’m not going to,” said Pippa firmly, zipping up the rucksack, “so you can forget that absolutely.”
Fleck was in his usual position on Hal’s lap and Hal gathered him and held him very close.
“My parents will find I’m gone in a few hours and then it will all begin. And I tell you if they try to take Fleck away again, I’ll kill them, and no one wants to kill their parents.”
“Never mind your parents,” said Pippa. “What about your grandparents? The people you’re escaping to. What are they like? Describe them.”
“They’re very kind and … quiet but not soft at all. They’re like … it sounds silly, but like trees, or earth … things that are just there and you don’t think about them but it would be awful if they were gone.”
“And you’re sure that they’d take you in, you and Fleck?”
“Yes. They’ve always thought I should have a dog and they live by the sea in Northumberland where there’s lots of space. They wouldn’t just send us back, I’m sure.”
Pippa was fiddling with the strap of her rucksack. Otto had come to sit beside her and was resting his head on her shoulder. “And what about the others?” She waved her hand at the four dogs sitting round in a companionable silence. “Would they take them in too?”
This was difficult. “I don’t know,” said Hal slowly. “They live in a small cottage and my parents are always saying how poor they are … but I don’t believe they’d send the dogs back to Easy Pets once they knew what it was like. I don’t know, but I don’t believe they would.”
“Well, that settles it,” said Pippa. “We’ll come with you. We’ll all go to Northumberland.”
Hal stared at her. “But how? I’ve hardly any money left and they won’t let us take all the dogs on the train.”
“Then we won’t go by train. We’ll walk and get lifts on lorries or on anything we can get to take us. You’ll see,” said Pippa, getting to her feet. “We’ll get a map as soon as the shops open. But it can’t be too difficult. After all, one thing is certain about Northumberland. It must be in the north.”
11
Hal Has Gone
Albina was sitting by the telephone. She was as pale as death and every so often she let out a little moan. Gloria sat beside her, ready to take over when Albina had to go to the lavatory so that the phone was never left unattended. Geraldine was manning the coffee machine in the kitchen.
The Fentons were waiting for word from the kidnappers who held Hal. Any moment now they would ring and demand an enormous ransom for the boy – and then Hal would be returned. Donald had sent out for thousands of pounds in cash. It was in a pouch in the hall guarded by Glenda so that they could drive it instantly to wherever the kidnappers wanted to meet them.
If they were willing to pay enough, Hal would be returned, they told themselves again and again. Everything would surely come right, if the money was there. Even in their distress and fear for Hal, the Fentons found it hard to believe that money wasn’t the answer to everything.
It was three hours now since they had rung Joel’s parents to tell them to send Hal home, and heard that Hal had not been with them – that they had no idea where he was.
Albina’s terrified shriek had brought Donald running, and half an hour later the house filled with policemen. Donald had been angry because they were ordinary constables, not high-ranking detectives, and he’d made so much fuss that a second squad car arrived with an inspector and a sergeant.
The police had searched the house, examined Hal’s belongings, taken photographs and removed items from the bathroom for DNA testing.
And they had asked questions, some of which had annoyed the Fentons very much.
“Is there anything that was upsetting your son?” they had wanted to know. “Anything that might make him think of running away?”
Even in the midst of their grief, Hal’s parents had been very angry.
“Certainly not. Hal had everything a boy
could want,” said Albina.
“You say he was going away to boarding school. Could he have been frightened of that?”
“No. Definitely not.” Both Hal’s parents were certain. “He said only yesterday how much he was looking forward to it. And you can see,” repeated Albina, waving her hands at the heaped-up toys in Hal’s room, “he had everything a boy could want. He wouldn’t run away.”
“I tell you the boy’s been kidnapped,” said Donald. “Everyone knows we’re well off. You must get a lead on that – and make it clear that we’ll pay any ransom. The sky’s the limit.”
But the infuriating policemen had insisted on going through the routine procedures and getting the names of all the people they wanted to question: Joel’s parents, Hal’s school friends, people in the shops.
“Was there anyone else working here in the house?” asked the superintendent.
“There was a maid, a foreigner. But she won’t know anything. Unless she’s in league with the kidnappers. She was a most impertinent woman.”
A policeman took down Olga’s address. Their slowness infuriated Donald.
“For God’s sake! Surely you know how to track down kidnappers? They’re probably a well-known gang. They could be hacking off his ear.” He broke off and turned his head away. All the ghastly things he had seen on television swam before him. “I’ll offer a hundred thousand pounds’ reward for any information,” he went on. “Make sure you put that up everywhere.”
“Best hold on a minute, sir. We don’t want everybody coming in with cock and bull stories. Not till we’ve finished our enquiries.”
So now they had gone, leaving Donald desperate and fuming.
“They’re hopeless. You can tell. It’s all plod, plod. I’m going to hire a private detective. Mackenzie had one when his wife lost her jewels. He said he was very professional. Cost the earth, but that’s all to the good. You can’t get the best on the cheap.”
Donald went to look up the names of private detectives, and poor Albina sat by the telephone, weeping and waiting for word from the kidnappers while Gloria and Glenda and Geraldine made coffee and brought her clean handkerchiefs. But the hours passed and no word came.
The first thing Kayley heard when she came down the street towards the Easy Pets building was Queen Tilly screaming.
“Oh heavens, what’s happened?” said Kayley and began to run.
She was still ill and shouldn’t have been coming to work at all. Her mother had tried to stop her but without success: there was no one else to see to the dogs.
The side door which led into her office was unlocked. The burglar alarm was off.
Kayley’s heart was thumping now. What was Queen Tilly doing in her daytime cage when she should have been asleep with the others out in the compound at the back? And why were the doors of the other cages wide open?
Queen Tilly, seeing her, screamed even louder. Her hot water bottle had been cold for hours and she had an itch on her back. Tilly never scratched her own back; she waited till somebody came and gave her a body rub.
But today, Kayley, who always spoke so gently to the dogs, just said, “Shut up, for goodness’ sake,” and hurried out to the yard. What had happened to the other dogs in Room A? Where were Otto and Francine and Li-Chee and Honey? And where was Fleck?
It didn’t take long for her to find out that the dogs were gone. She searched the sleeping quarters, the other rooms, every nook and cranny of the Easy Pets building, whistling and calling, but there was no sign of them.
An hour later, Mr and Mrs Carker sat in their office, scowling at the policemen who had come to investigate, and scowling at Kayley.
“It’s a tragedy. An outrage,” said Mr Carker. “Five of my most valuable dogs stolen! What do I pay for if not the protection of the police, eh? Tell me that!”
Kayley sat scrunching her handkerchief into a ball. She had been crying and looked completely exhausted, and the youngest of the policemen glanced at her and shook his head.
She had answered their questions as truthfully as she could, but she had not told them everything. It was clear to her that Pippa had forgotten to put on the burglar alarm and as a result the thieves had been able to get in and steal the dogs. And she would not give Pippa away. Her sister was too young to be in that kind of trouble.
“I must have forgotten,” she said when she was questioned about the alarm. “I wasn’t feeling very well.” The police could see that this was true. The girl shouldn’t have been at work at all.
But Mr Carker was busy telling the superintendent how valuable the dogs were.
“The St Bernard was bred specially for me in Switzerland,” lied Mr Carker. “He must be worth a cool three thousand pounds. And the poodle won best in show in Paris. I’ve refused a fortune for her. Every dog in that room is priceless. One of them was a new breed, a Tottenham terrier. He’s just been registered by the Kennel Club. I’ve had a stampede of people trying to buy him off me, but I wouldn’t sell.”
The policeman who had been recording what Mr Carker said looked up. “What about that bald little yelper?” he asked. “The Mexican hairless? She was in the same room as the others, wasn’t she? Is she worth anything?”
“I’ll say she is,” said Mr Carker. “She’s the most valuable one of the lot.”
“I wonder why they didn’t take her then,” said the inspector – and the youngest policeman, who had met Queen Tilly, grinned and said under his breath, “I could guess why not.”
Routine investigations took up the next couple of hours – fingerprints, paw marks, door locks, statements…
“We’ll let you know, sir,” the superintendent said to Mr Carker. “And we could take the young lady home. She obviously isn’t well.”
“Oh no, no,” said Kayley. “I’ve got a lot to do.”
But when the police had gone, Mrs Carker turned to her. “I’m afraid you’ll lose your job over this. We can’t have someone so careless in charge of thousands of pounds’ worth of dogs.”
Kayley looked at her with brimming eyes. She could not imagine life without the dogs.
But Mr Carker gave his wife a look. Kayley was paid half of what they would have to pay anybody else. And all the stolen dogs were heavily insured. He wasn’t going to lose any money, and that was all that mattered.
“You can stay till we find someone to take your place,” he said.
So Kayley went on working though she was ill, though her heart felt like breaking when she thought of the five dogs who had been her friends, and though she was worried sick about Pippa, who would be in such terrible trouble if the truth came out.
Just as the awful day was coming to an end, Donald decided to ring his father and mother up in Northumberland. After all, they were Hal’s grandparents. They had a right to know.
Alec and Marnie were already in bed when the phone rang, but Alec padded downstairs, stepped over old Meg, the Labrador, and picked up the phone. He hated the telephone, and a call late at night could only be unwanted news.
But it was worse than he could have imagined.
“Hal’s been kidnapped?” he repeated – and took a deep breath because the room was spinning round.
Donald told him what had happened.
“The police think he might have run away, but that’s complete nonsense. I’ve got the name of a detective to put on the case. He’s supposed to be very good. He ought to be at that price.”
“How’s Albina taking it?”
“Badly, of course. She won’t go to bed, just sits by the phone.”
“Poor lass. You’ll let us know the minute you hear anything, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
Donald was about to hang up when his father asked one more question. “Was the dog with Hal when he disappeared?”
“What dog?”
“Fleck. He wrote to tell us he had a dog.”
“No, no. That was days ago. We took the dog back. It was only out on hire. Hal didn’t mind. He made a fuss at firs
t and then he forgot all about him. He was excited about going away to school.”
Alec went upstairs very slowly. He thought about saying nothing to Marnie but he’d never been much good at concealing things from his wife.
“What is it?” she asked. “Come on, it’s bad news I know.”
Alec told her.
“Donald is sure the boy’s been kidnapped, but I wonder.”
They sat up in bed, very close together, trying to bear what seemed to be unbearable – that Hal was missing and in danger.
“What exactly did Donald say?” Marnie wanted to know.
She listened carefully while Alec repeated his conversation with his son.
“Well, there’s one thing in all that that’s nonsense,” said Marnie. “There’s no way Hal has forgotten about the little dog.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Alec.
After a while they gave up all attempt at sleeping and went downstairs and made a pot of tea. They sat with it while the night turned gradually paler, thinking about the boy they saw so rarely and loved so much. And old Meg lay with her head resting on Alec’s feet and kept watch also.
12
The Murgatroyd Family Wedding
The children had walked for several hours and it seemed as though London would never end. They were no nearer a road where lorries might slow down and give them a lift. Hal had had no sleep and very little food. He was completely exhausted, and even Pippa was secretly wondering if they should give up.
They reached a big petrol station with a café attached. It was part of a concourse and was completely jammed with a row of cars and lorries and caravans which seemed to belong together.
The children flopped down on a bench by a messy ornamental pool and the dogs had a drink. From the lorries and caravans came unexpected noises – the stamping of hooves, the sound of a parrot squawking, snatches of music. On some of the caravans were red circles and a picture of a clown’s head. Scrawled on the sides were the names of the places they were going to: Todcaster, Berwick, Aberdeen… And above them, in big letters: Henry’s Circus for Today.
