The Case of the Missing Cats (12 page)

Dirk cut silently through the air towards the man.
He knew he had one chance to get this right.

Centimetres away from the man's back, Dirk swung his feet down, clamped the man's shoulder with his right forepaw and thrust his index claw into the small of his back, as though it were a gun.

The man froze, then raised his arms. ‘I'm not armed,' he said.

‘Don't turn around,' Dirk whispered in his ear. ‘I'll shoot if I have to. Now start talking.'

‘What d'you want to talk about?' replied the man casually.

‘Your favourite brand of baked beans,' said Dirk. ‘What do you think?'

‘I prefer spaghetti hoops and you're going to have to be more specific,' he retorted.

He was talking coolly. Dirk could tell that this wasn't the first time that the man had felt a gun pushed against his back. It was, however, probably the first time that the gun had actually been a very sharp claw belonging to a red-backed, green-bellied, urban-based Mountain Dragon.

‘OK. Let's start with your name,' said Dirk.

‘Blake,' said the man. ‘Ladbroke Blake.'

‘Ladbroke Blake,' he said. ‘Sort of name that would look good on a gravestone.'

‘Is that supposed to be a threat?'

‘Just answer my questions, buddy. It's been a long day.'

‘Give me a question I can answer then, buddy,' replied Ladbroke.

‘Where's the girl?'

‘I could ask you the same thing.'

‘Except that I'm the one holding the gun.' Dirk pushed his claw further into the man's back.

‘All right, take it easy. I haven't touched her. I was just hired to follow her. OK?'

‘Who hired you?' asked Dirk.

‘There is such a thing as client confidentiality,' said Ladbroke.

‘Honour amongst thieves, eh?' smirked the dragon.

‘I'm not a thief. I'm a private detective. My card is in my top pocket.'

‘OK,' said Dirk. ‘Carefully, without making any sudden movements and using your left hand, pull it out and show it to me.'

Ladbroke pulled out a business card and held it up.

‘Dr Hilary Fletch,' read Dirk. ‘Forensic specialist and part-time pathologist?'

‘Oh, sorry,' said Ladbroke. ‘Wrong card. Try this one.'

He pulled out another. It read:

LADBROKE BLAKE
BLAKE INVESTIGATIONS:

Confidential, Professional and
Affordable Private Investigations

‘Nice card,' said Dirk.

‘Thanks. I just got new ones from the printer. Romalian typeface on Eggshell, whatever that means.'

‘I'm not interested in your typeface, Blake. Just tell me who hired you or I'll be asking you to investigate the bottom of the Thames.'

‘That's another threat, isn't it?'

‘Who?' demanded Dirk, tightening his grip on the man's shoulder.

‘Mrs Bigsby, Holly's mother.'

‘You mean her dad's wife,' replied Dirk.

‘Well, it's a good job she did hire me. This isn't your average truant case. It seems that young Holly has got herself mixed up in some serious trouble.'

‘What do you know?' asked Dirk anxiously.

‘I know that she's been hanging around with some crazy, blind, old lady, who drives like a lunatic. I know
that the old lady gave her a lift to a warehouse in East London this evening, where she was forced into the back of a dirty white van – license plate K884 UTA – at gunpoint by two low-life thugs and that they drove her here and that right now she's about fifty metres in that direction.' Dirk could tell he was telling the truth. ‘Now will you let me go?'

‘No problem,' said Dirk. He released the detective from his grip, but before he could turn round, whacked him over the head. Ladbroke Blake fell to the ground in a slump. Dirk checked his pulse. He was fine, just unconscious. He dragged the body under a hedge and continued carefully down the path, wondering what sort of stepmother hires a private detective because her daughter is bunking off school.

His thoughts were interrupted by approaching voices. Dirk dived behind a tree.

‘Hey, Arthur, what was that?' said the first voice.

‘Don't be so paranoid, Reg. It was probably just a fox,' said the second.

‘This job just gets worse and worse. First cats, now little girls. It's not right. It's not normal.'

‘Imagine, Reg, that you are in a room. Can you imagine that?'

‘What sort of room?' asked Reg.

The two crooks passed where Dirk was hiding.

‘A very boring room, Reg, one with just a chair in it and a picture of some flowers in a bowl. Imagine you are in a boring room like that and then you leave.'

‘Because it's so boring?'

‘Yes, Reg. The question is, once you have left, how do you know the room still exists?'

‘Because I've just been there.'

The voices grew fainter as the men got further away.

‘But you are no longer there. You have left. How do you know it still exists?

‘I don't think I follow you,' said Reg.

‘Forget the girl. She no longer exists. Think about the money,' replied Arthur.

The two men gone, Dirk continued down the path, which opened on to the clearing by the river, where he saw the once-white van parked. He made three steps towards it then stopped. His ears pricked up. He could hear the whirring of approaching dragon wings. He dived for cover just as the four Kinghorn dragons landed by the side of the van.

Heads lowered, they prowled silently towards the
vehicle, glancing from side to side as they moved. The Mountain Dragon and the Sea Dragon stopped on either side of the van. The small Scavenger hopped on top. The large one, Leon, walked to the back, raised himself up on his hind legs, grabbed the handles, and pulled the door open. The sound of a young girl screaming filled the air.

Holly
, thought Dirk.

‘Ar-right, calm down,' he heard the large Scavenger say, jumping into the van. ‘
I'm
not going to hurt you.'

The Sea Dragon and the Mountain Dragon sniggered, rounded the van and, using their tails, slammed the doors shut.

The screaming stopped.

Dirk watched the three dragons guarding the van. He had to help Holly but even he couldn't take on all three of them. Not all at once, anyway. As quietly as possible he backed into the undergrowth then headed down the path.

In the back of the once-white van, the dragon's large ugly face loomed close to Holly's. A droplet of spittle fell from one of its long, sharp teeth on to her jeans. It sniffed Holly's hair, and brought its enormous yellow eyes to peer at her face. Dirk had been right. Its breath stank. Holly moved her head away as much as she could, but the two crooks had tied the ropes too
tightly. The dragon examined her up and down.

‘Scared, are you?' it asked.

‘I'm not scared of you,' she replied defiantly. ‘You're just a coward.'

‘Coward, eh? We'll see how brave you are in a minute.'

‘Well, carry on, if it makes you feel big to pick on girls and defenceless cats.'

‘What do you know about the cats?' snapped the dragon.

‘I know you've been stealing them. I know about the Kinghorns. And I know about Vainclaw Grandin.'

For a moment, Holly thought she saw fear in the dragon's yellow eyes. It pushed its face up to hers. The breath was unbearable, like it had been gargling with toilet water. ‘Where did you hear that name?' it demanded.

‘Why are you doing this?' she asked.

‘This is war. How do you know about . . .' the dragon lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘Vainclaw?'

‘But we're not at war. Anyway, what does it matter what I know. You're going to kill me, anyway, aren't you?'

‘True. And not just you. Soon your whole pathetic race will be extinct.'

‘But why?' she asked.

‘Because we hate you, all of you. Humans have always been terrified of the big scaly creature lurking beneath the surface, waiting to rear its ugly head and feast on the fair maiden, always relying on the knight in shining armour to turn up at the last minute to kill the creature, save the maiden and take all the glory. Well, have you ever thought about this? Maybe the maiden never needed saving. Maybe the creature doesn't need killing. Maybe it's the knight that's the problem.'

Outside the van the Sea Dragon, Flotsam, was getting jittery. ‘What was that noise?' he said, glancing fearfully at the trees.

‘What noise?' asked Jegsy. ‘I didn't hear no noise.'

‘Over there. I heard something.'

‘What you two talking about?' spat Mali, circling the top of the van.

‘Flotsam's hearing noises, like,' said Jegsy.

‘Well, go and check it out, then,' said Mali.

‘On my own? What if it's a . . . a human?' stammered Flotsam, looking scared.

‘Flotsam, you idiot! You're a dragon,' said Mali, ‘You have razor-sharp talons, teeth that could snap a man in half, an armour-plated back and you can breathe
fire. What are you scared of?'

‘But it's still breaching the forbidden divide,' Flotsam shuddered. ‘We're not supposed to be seen.'

‘You fool,' spat Mali. ‘What's it matter if anyone sees you at this stage?'

‘That's true, like,' said Jegsy. ‘It don't matter.'

‘Still, can't one of you come with me?' pleaded Flotsam.

‘I'll come,' said Jegsy. ‘I don't mind.'

‘Go on, then, hurry up,' said Mali. ‘Remember the plan.'

The two dragons walked into the overgrown wooded area cautiously. With each step it got darker and they grew closer together, until they were walking shoulder to shoulder.

‘Look, someone's there,' whispered Flotsam.

Jegsy looked. Sure enough he could make out a figure. It looked like a man, wearing a long raincoat and a wide-brimmed hat.

‘Come on,' said Jegsy.

‘What if he's armed?' asked Flotsam. ‘They have guns, remember.'

‘I'll go round the back, surround him, like,' said Jegsy. ‘We'll do the old surround-and-pounce plan.'

‘What's the old surround-and-pounce plan?' asked
Flotsam.

‘Well, we surround him, then we pounce on him.'

‘Oh yeah,' said Flotsam, and Jegsy disappeared into the darkness, leaving Flotsam to creep slowly towards the unmoving shadowy figure, stepping as lightly as possible. Once he was near enough he crouched down. Jegsy moved into position on the other side of the man. Then, in one sudden movement, they both leapt forward, landing on top of him. But instead of feeling a solid body crumbling beneath them, they heard a stick snap and both fell heavily to the ground. They looked at each other in confusion.

‘There's no one here, like,' said Jegsy.

‘Why would someone leave their clothes here?' replied Flotsam.

‘Dunno,' said Jegsy, shrugging. ‘Neat hat though,' he said, picking up the wide-brimmed hat, examining it then placing it on his head. ‘Hey, I think it suits me? What do you think, Flotsam? Flotsam?'

Jegsy turned to look at the other dragon. Flotsam was lying flat out on the ground.

That's why the clothes were there
, thought Jegsy. It was a trap. His suspicion was confirmed when he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and he was knocked out.

Clinging to the thick trunk of the oak above the two unconscious dragons, Dirk Dilly swung his trusty tail back up and smiled. Then he dropped to the ground, and headed towards the riverfront.

‘Two down,' he muttered.

For a moment Holly thought the dragon was going to bite her. She closed her eyes, but his teeth fell just short, cutting through the ropes that were holding her down.

‘Out,' said the Scavenger, backing out and knocking the doors wide open. Holly followed him out. ‘And no funny business. Unless you want to be toast.'

Stepping out of the van Holly could see the other yellow-backed dragon on the roof. It stared at her intently.

‘Where are the others, ar' kid?' asked the larger brother.

‘They went to check out a noise that Flotsam heard,' said Mali.

‘Idiots. Come on, let's get the girl in place.'

The other dragon jumped down and nudged Holly towards the river. ‘Move,' he said.

Her heart beating fast, she walked to where the wooden raft was once again drawn in. ‘Get on,' said
the smaller dragon.

‘What are you going to do to me?' she asked.

‘
I'm
not going to do anything to you. Get on,' said the dragon, shoving her with his nose so that she slipped down the bank and on to the raft, which wobbled unstably. She dropped to her knees and clung to the base to avoid falling in, but water lapped over the top, soaking her jeans, and making her hands bitterly cold.

Without another word, the dragon let the rope out and nudged the raft just as Holly had seen the two crooks do before. Caught by the current, the raft bobbed out on to the dark river. The two yellow dragons watched from the shore, getting further and further away. Holly was alone, like she had never been in her life. And scared. For the first time in a long, long time she felt a genuine tear fall down her cheek.