Page 35 of Eight for Losing, One for Loving

“Right, Mau, we need to get out of here. Ready?”

Yellow eyes blinked at him in the lamplight, Mau’s tail swishing expectantly.

Leo nodded. “Come along, then.”

Leo extinguished the lamp, opened the door, and fastened it shut behind him before running back to where the vicar was waiting for him. Except he wasn’t.

Leo looked around and cursed, wondering what the man was up to. He groaned inwardly as he heard voices from inside.

“Well, Reverend, what was you up to, sneaking about in the dark?”

Edgar’s voice, Leo thought, hearing a tone similar to Burt’s. Damn and blast. Why could the old fellow not just have kept still?

“Night Hoopooloos,” the reverend replied placidly.

“Night whatapooloos?” Edgar repeated, baffled.

Leo listened, intrigued, as he wondered if the vicar had been as entirely taken in by their Egyptian Water Sphinx as they had believed.

“Hoopooloos,” the vicar repeated. “A very rare bird, only sings at night and is almost never seen in this part of the world. Hails from Africa. A glorious thing, bright green and red, but the song… ah, the song is not to be missed. I tracked one all along the lane but lost it when I got close to your house. I think something frightened it. Such a shame. If I could prove it was here it would be quite a feather in my ornithological cap, if you will excuse the pun.”

Leo shook his head. He had to hand it to Harbottle, he was cool under pressure.

“Well, there ain’t no rare birds here,” Edgar said firmly. “So I reckon I’ll just be escorting you home.”

“You may get Burt to do that,” the faux upper-class voice cut in once more.

“Oh, no need to provide an escort,” Harbottle said at once. “I’m quite capable of finding my own way—”

“Burt will escort you,” the man said, his voice firm. “One wouldn’t want you getting yourself lost or falling into a ditch. You might hurt yourself.”

There was nothing resembling concern in the words, but the hint of menace was unmistakeable.

“Oh, well, if you insist,” the vicar replied cheerfully, apparently not taking the fellow’s meaning. “If we’re lucky, we might hear the Hoopooloo again.”

Leo shook his head. He wouldn’t have long, but if he dealt with the man behind this scheme first while Edgar was finding Burt, he thought he could deal with the Hatt brothers without too much difficulty. The man coordinating this little scheme was clearly the dangerous one, and he needed to be taken out of the picture first.

Leo looked down at Mau, who had been winding himself in and out of Leo’s ankles, purring contentedly.

“Stay here, Mau,” he said quietly. “And if any of those men get near you again, run.”

Mau gave him an affection nip on the calf through the fabric of his trousers, and Leo smiled before turning his attention back to the building. The door creaked open and swung shut and Leo watched Edgar cross the yard to the shed. Once he was out of sight, Leo ran around to the front door and kicked it open.

Harbottle jumped in his seat, and Leo looked from him to the man in the centre of the room, leaning against an ancient table. He pushed to his feet upon seeing Leo, his posture one that left Leo in no doubt there would be the turn-up the vicar had been hoping for.

“I know you,” Leo said, frowning as he regarded the man. “Where do I know you from?”

“I couldn’t say, Mr Hunt, and I doubt you’d remember in any case,” the fellow replied with a sneer. “But it was good of you to come calling.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Leo replied with a snort as the man gave him a considering look up and down. Where the hell had he seen him before? Leo wracked his brain but came up empty.

“You know, Mr Hunt. It occurs to me the ransom we can get for you will be a good deal fatter than the one I was going to ask for your cat. If you had only acted with a bit of sense, you’d have had your wretched pet back and I would have gained a couple of hundred quid you could easily do without. Where’s the harm in that? But I see now I was thinking too small. That amount of money won’t see me comfortably through all my days, now will it? But when I had the notion of ransoming the horrid creature, I had no idea his master would fall into my hands like a ripe plum.”

Leo returned a grim smile. “Don’t count your chickens, sir. I’m in no mood to be held hostage.”

The man removed a pistol from his waistband and pointed it at Leo. “Is that so?” he asked with a grin.