The Case of the Missing Cats by Gareth P. Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

watching the bag, she quickly realised that the current ran east towards the sea, not west towards the city. ‘Besides,’ she said to herself. ‘I would probably capsize it trying to get him on and drown him.’
    She held Willow up and asked her, ‘How can I get Dirk back to his office without him being seen?’
    The cat replied with a helpful miaow, which she completely ignored.
    Then she said, ‘Without being seen. That’s it. Of course.’
    She put Willow down carefully and told her to, ‘Stay there.’ Then she grabbed as much foliage as she could gather and threw it over Dirk’s body, which took some time, with him having so much body to cover. Eventually he was covered enough that if someone was to come strolling down the path they wouldn’t instantly recognise what he was. However, it wasn’t a great disguise and she knew she had to act fast, so she scooped up Willow again and ran up the path.
    At the road, she turned right and kept running until eventually she came across a phone box. After making a phone call she returned to the entrance of the path by the road.
    There she waited, ducking back behind a hedge to avoid being seen by passing cars, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. After about half an hour she climbed out and stared down the road. Eventually she saw what she was looking for.
    Coming down the road towards her, lurching dangerously from side to side and driving at around five miles an hour, was a pale blue, round-topped car. Behind it five cars, two vans and a supermarket lorry were all furiously beeping their horns.
    Holly jumped up and down, waved her arms and shouted, ‘Hey, I’m over here.’
    The car turned on to the track, allowing its train of followers finally to pick up a decent speed. As they passed, each one yelled an obscenity at the driver of the blue car, but she remained unfazed, instead, rolling down her window and saying, ‘Is that you, Holly? Where’s your uncle?’
    â€˜Oh, Mrs Klingerflim, thank you so much for coming,’ replied Holly.
    â€˜Don’t you worry yourself, dear. I do like a nicedrive every once in a while. Everyone in London, though, is very impatient, don’t you find?’
    The last of the cars passed and the driver shouted something so obscene that Holly wasn’t even sure what it meant.
    â€˜He’s down this path,’ said Holly, getting into the car. She lowered her voice to a whisper and added, ‘He’s in an awful state though. I think he’s been drinking.’
    â€˜Oh dear,’ replied the old lady, lifting off the handbrake and driving the car down the path, ‘Mr Klingerflim liked a drink, you know. He used to get very silly, though, did Ivor. I remember, he once got so drunk that he thought he was a sheep. A sheep, yes. He kept bleating and following me around and as I recall he refused to eat his lamb stew, saying that it would be cannibalism. Silly man.’
    â€˜Watch out!’ shouted Holly as the car veered towards a tree, which Mrs Klingerflim narrowly avoided by swerving at the last minute.
    â€˜Don’t you worry. I’m an excellent driver,’ she said unconvincingly.
    They stopped by the side of the mound of leaves and branches under which Dirk lay.
    â€˜Where’s that uncle of yours? I don’t know, gettinghimself all drunk and disorderly at his age,’ said Mrs Klingerflim.
    â€˜It’s all right, I’ll get him. You stay here,’ said Holly, getting out of the car, leaving Willow in the passenger seat. She opened the back door, walked over to where Dirk lay and knocked the foliage off his body.
    This was the tricky bit.
    She knelt down beside him. ‘Now, Dirk,’ she said in his ear.
    Another gentle groan indicated that he was still conscious.
    â€˜We need to get you back, and Mrs Klingerflim is here but I can’t lift you into the back seat. I need you to get in.