Milly stared at the door, wondering when the man would come to bring their food. He’d fed them that morning, but the food hadn’t been the same kind she had at home. She’d left it for a while, but then finally eaten it – she’d been too hungry not to.
She had tried to dart out of the cage when the man put her food bowl in, but he’d batted her away. She felt hopeless – she couldn’t see how she was ever going to get out of here. And she was hungry again.
Tia always fed her at about this time of day. Where was Tia? Milly had been hoping that Tia would come and take her away from this horrible place.
She began to wail, over and over again. The Persian cat didn’t join in, he just stayed in the corner of his cage, sulking. But the other two cats started to howl too.
The door banged open, and the man stamped in, scowling. “Shut up!” he yelled, hitting the front of the cage.
Milly let out a frightened little whimper. No one had ever shouted at her like that before. People had been cross or snapped, “Milly, no!” But this was different. She cowered at the back of the cage as he shoved in a fresh bowl of food. She didn’t even think about trying to escape this time. She didn’t want to go any closer to the man than she had to.
“I’m glad it’s Saturday and we can be out looking for Milly,” Tia said to Lucy. Her mum had texted Lucy’s the night before to ask if Lucy could come and help.
“That’s a brilliant photo,” Lucy said, as she gave Tia some sellotape to stick the poster to a lamp post. “Anyone who sees Milly will definitely recognize her.”
Tia sighed. “I don’t think anyone will see her, though. I still reckon it was those catnappers Laura told me about. Mum did ring the police, and they said they’d make a note of it, but there wasn’t a lot to go on. Actually, do you mind if we run back and ask Mum if we can go and tell Laura what’s happened? I want to warn her to keep Charlie safe.”
“Good idea,” Lucy agreed. “If the catnappers did take Milly, I bet they saw Charlie too. They might come back, mightn’t they?”
“Exactly.” Tia shuddered.
They hurried back down the road to meet Tia’s mum and Christy, who were doing the lamp posts at that end. Mum had told the girls they could go further up the road as long as they stayed where she could see them. Dad had gone to the street that ran behind theirs, in case Milly had jumped over the back fence.
“Mum! Can we go and tell Laura what happened? I want to warn her to keep Charlie in.”
“Oh, Tia… I’m sure it’s nothing to do with catnappers,” Mum said, patting her shoulder. “Milly’s just wandered off. Cats do!”
“Please?”
“Well, OK. But don’t bother Laura for long.”
Tia and Lucy crossed over the road, and rang Laura’s bell.
“Hello! I’ve just seen you from upstairs, putting up posters.” Laura frowned. “Milly’s not lost, is she?”
“Yes.” Tia gulped. “Actually, I’m sure she’s been stolen. There was a man asking me about her, just a couple of days ago…”
Laura gasped. “Youngish? Short blond hair? With a blue van?”
“I don’t know about the van…” Tia started to say. “Hang on, yes, there was a van…” She scowled to herself, wishing she could remember. It just hadn’t seemed important at the time. “I think it was blue. You saw him too, then?”
“Yes! He was asking me about Charlie. He was nice, he said my cat looked very special, and I was all set to say Charlie was a Bengal. Then I remembered that newspaper article, and I just smiled at him and went inside. I felt a bit guilty afterwards. I was rude…”
“He was nice to me too,” Tia whispered sadly. “If he was asking about Charlie, that’s not just chance, is it? He’s a cat thief, and Milly really has been stolen.” Tia’s eyes filled with tears. “He’ll sell her to someone else, and we’ll never get her back!”
Milly flattened her ears. She could hear the man coming. She gave a small, nervous mew. He frightened her.
He had a pile of food bowls in one hand, but in the other he was holding a cat carrier. What was happening? Then she suddenly realized – perhaps he was going to take her home! She purred, hoping she was the one he had brought the carrier for.
She stood nicely as he opened the cage door, and let him pick her up and put her in, though usually she would scrabble and fight.
“Who’s being a good girl,” he murmured in the sort of voice that Tia would use. Milly still didn’t like him, but at least he was carrying her carefully. She had expected him to put her back in the van. But instead he put the carrier down indoors somewhere and left her.
What was happening? Why had he put her in the carrier if he wasn’t going to take her home? Milly mewed worriedly, but she didn’t howl like she had before. If she was noisy, she was sure the man would shout at her again.
At last, she heard him coming back. He was talking to someone else, a woman, and his voice was soft.
“Yes, she’s lovely. Unfortunately her owner couldn’t keep her. The old lady had to go into hospital, you see, so she asked me to find her a new home. She’s very reasonably priced for a Bengal.”
Milly tensed as he undid the clips on the front door of the carrier, and then he reached in and scooped her out. She did her best not to hiss, but she wanted to, and the fur rose up all along her back.
“Oh dear, she doesn’t look very happy.” The woman frowned. “She’s so pretty, though. Do you have her pedigree?”
“I don’t have the pedigree at the moment – with being in hospital, her owner was a bit frantic. But it’s very good.”
“Can I hold her?” the woman asked, and she took Milly, stroking her softly. The woman seemed nice – or at any rate, a lot nicer than the man. Milly relaxed a little. She didn’t know who this person was, but perhaps she was going to take her back to Tia.
“Oh…” The lady ran her hand down Milly’s tail. “There’s something wrong with her tail.”
“What?” The man’s voice was cross again, and Milly flinched and pressed herself against the woman’s coat.
“Look – it’s bent over.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter, does it? Seeing how reasonable the price is.”
“I don’t know. If there’s something wrong with her…” The woman held Milly out to the man. “I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”
Milly looked up at her, realizing that she wasn’t going to take her away from here, and let out a despairing yowl. The man snatched her and stuffed her into the carrier, slamming the wire door angrily. He looked furious – and the woman appeared very glad to be leaving.
Milly was worried that he might come back and shout at her again. But there was a loud bang, like a door shutting, and heavy footsteps went thudding away upstairs.
After a few minutes she felt brave enough to come closer to the wire door and look out. The room was a kitchen, a bit like Tia’s, and the carrier seemed to be on a table. Milly pressed her nose up against the wire and then jumped back as it moved.
He hadn’t shut the door! He had only slammed it – he hadn’t twisted the catches to hold it in place! Milly nudged the door with her nose, harder and harder, and it swung open. She jumped out on to the table. She had to get away from here, as quickly as she could. She looked over at the back door, but there was no cat flap.
There was a window, though. Above the sink, like at home. And it was open, just a little.
Milly stood at the edge of the table, her back legs tensed, ready to spring. There were glasses and plates stacked by the sink, and if she banged into them, he might come. She had to be quiet as well as quick. She leaped right into the sink, and some knives and forks jingled under her paws. But there was no thunder of footsteps on the stairs. Hurriedly, she climbed up to the windowsill. She was free!