room and there, sitting on the sofa with his legs tucked under his body, was her cat.
‘I was so relieved,’ Mary said. ‘I thought he’d been run over, or, well, I don’t know what. You hear of awful things happening to people’s cats. In the paper last week there was a report of these children shooting a cat with an air rifle and killing it. Horrible. But Lennon’s safe and sound. As you can see.’
Jamie crossed the room and bent to stroke the cat, who rolled over onto his back, inviting Jamie to scratch his belly.
He remembered what he had meant to ask her. ‘Does Lennon ever bring rats in?’
Mary shook her head. ‘God, no. He never brings anything in apart from the odd earthworm. I remember he caught a butterfly once, and that was a major achievement. He was really proud of himself. But rats – well, he’d run a mile if he saw a rat. Especially the big ones you get round here. Linda upstairs told me she saw a rat that was as big as a puppy – a monstrous thing.’ He wasn’t really convinced by what she said about her cat. It reminded him of the parents of a school bully who think the little brat is in fact an angel. It probably was Lennon who had left the rats on their doorstep.
Mary walked over to the fireplace and took a silver cigarette case off of the mantelpiece. She produced a ready-rolled spliff, confirming Jamie’s suspicions. She held it up. ‘Care to join me?’
Jamie wondered if this was the reason why Lucy disliked Mary so much, accusing her of being a practitioner of the black arts. Maybe Mary had offered her a smoke on a previous occasion. He smiled. He could imagine Lucy being the type who would freak out at the mere mention of illegal substances.
‘I’d better get back to Kirsty,’ he said. ‘She needs nursing.’
‘Yes, of course.’ She lay the unlit joint on the edge of an ashtray. ‘What did you come up here for, by the way?’
‘Pardon?’
She smiled. ‘You haven’t told me the purpose of your visit.’
‘Oh. I just wanted to check if Lennon had come back.’ He felt foolish now for suspecting that Lucy had harmed the cat, so he decided not to mention it.
‘How sweet of you.’
As she saw him out, she said, ‘Did Kirsty drink that ginger I gave her?’
‘She just drank it ten minutes ago.’
‘Good. She’ll feel much better in the morning.’ She spoke with certainty. ‘But if she needs any more, you know where I am.’
Downstairs, Kirsty was sitting on the sofa, staring into the middle distance, not moving or reacting when Jamie came in.
‘Are you alright?’
‘Sorry? Oh, listen, I was just reading that book Brian gave you. The Creature In The Cradle.’ She picked up the book and Jamie took it from her.
‘What’s it like? Isn’t it a bit childish?’
‘Huh. I’ll tell you what – if I’d read that when I was a kid, I would have had to sleep in my mum and dad’s bed for a month. It’s really creepy. But listen to this bit.’ She took the book back and flicked through it. ‘Here. Listen.’ She read aloud: ‘The next morning, Barbara went downstairs to get the milk in. She was tired and crabby where Suzy had cried all night – that’s the baby, the one that’s being terrified by these creatures that run amok in her bedroom every night. Barbara opened the front door and let out a shrill scream. There, lying beside the milk bottles, was a dead rat, one eye open and seemingly staring at her. It was the biggest rat she had ever seen. It was as big as a puppy.’
Jamie and Kirsty stared at each other.
‘That’s bizarre,’ he breathed.
‘Spooky, isn’t it?
‘A spooky coincidence.’
‘Of course.’
‘Do kids really enjoy this stuff?’ Kirsty said. ‘I suppose they must do, or they wouldn’t publish it. Hey, are you OK? You’ve got goosepimples all up your arms.’
He nodded. ‘I’m fine. Maybe I’m catching your cold.’
‘I hope not. For your sake.’
He picked the book up and reread the passage Kirsty had just read aloud. ‘A coincidence,’ he said, ‘but damn spooky.’
The alarm clock beeped and Jamie stuck out an arm and quelled it. It was his least favourite sound in the universe. He imagined his ancestors must have developed a severe loathing for cockerels. The first thing he would do if he won the Lottery would be to throw away his alarm clock. If he