The First of Nine by James Barrie

Author:James Barrie [Barrie, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severus House
Published: 2016-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty minutes later Theodore led Jonathan back to the house. In his arms he carried Arthur, still wrapped in the bin liner.

The front door had been left open while they’d been gone. Emily now stood in the doorway, her wet hair tied back.

‘Where have you two been?’ she said. ‘I was worried.’

‘Scarcroft Allotments,’ Jonathan said. ‘Theodore wanted to show me something.’

He held up the black bag and grimaced.

‘What is it?’

He opened the bag to show her the dead cat. ‘It looks like he’s been whacked over the head,’ he said, pointing to the black fur matted with blood.

Theodore circled his legs. He’s not so stupid after all, he thought.

‘Why have you brought a dead cat in here?’ Emily suddenly shouted. ‘If you think you are going to bring that thing into my house, you’ve got another thing coming.’

‘But your cat led me to it,’ he said. ‘I think someone’s killed it.’

‘I don’t want a dead cat in my house!’

‘I found it in the allotments,’ Jonathan went on. ‘It doesn’t have a collar… Somebody must have killed it and hid it in the allotments.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Emily said, hands on hips. ‘It’ll have been knocked down by a car and crawled into the allotments to die. Cats do that…’

‘But it was in a bin liner.’

‘Maybe the car driver put it in a bin liner and hid it in the allotments rather than owning up to it... I just don’t want a dead cat in my house.’

‘Well,’ Jonathan said, holding the bag out in front of him, ‘what do you suggest I do with it?’

‘I don’t care what you do with it. Just get it out of here.’

The black cat Jonathan had found in the allotments had reminded him of his own cat that had died the year before. Perhaps that was why he had not hesitated to pick it up. He didn’t mention this to Emily. He shook his head.

Theodore stared up at him. What are you going to do now? his eyes asked.

‘I’ll take it back to mine and bury it,’ Jonathan said, matter-of-factly. ‘I’ll be back later and then we can go out and get something to eat.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Emily said. ‘It’ll give me time to dry my hair.’

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