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“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!

[Êàðòèíêà: img_39]

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“What did the police say?” Tia asked. She’d been hovering by her mum the whole while she’d been on the phone.

“Well, this time they did seem to take it a bit more seriously. They said they’d pass on all the information.”

“They think Millywas stolen, then?” Tia said, her voice eager. “They’ll find her?”

Mum sighed.“Look, Tia, the police will do the best they can. But there isn’t a lot to go on, is there?”

“I suppose not,” Tia sat down at the table, her legs feeling wobbly. Then she frowned. “If they haven’t got much to go on, we have to find them some more evidence, Mum! Lucy said we should put posters up in the shops near her. There’s a newsagent’s with a board – she says loads of people go and read the ads on it. Please!”

“All right. It’s quite a walk, though. Dad’s taken the car to drive round and look for Milly.”

“I don’t mind!” Tia assured her.

Mum sighed.“Have you printed out some more posters?”

Tia picked up a pile from the end of the table and waved them at her.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_18]

“Now, you two go into the newsagent’s, and I’ll go and ask if I can put a poster up in the library,” Mum said. She was sounding a bit weary. Christy had whinged most of the way, saying she was sick of walking. Tia had tried to explain that it was all because they were trying to find Milly, but when Christy was tired she wasn’t easy to persuade.

Tia walked up to the counter and the young woman smiled at her.“Are you after some sweets?” she asked.

Tia shook her head.“We came to ask if we could put this up on your board.” She held out a poster. “It’s our kitten, you see. She’s missing.”

“Oh no! Look at her, isn’t she lovely!”

Tia swallowed back tears.“We think she might have been stolen. There was an article about it in the local paper.”

“I remember. Is your cat one of those Bengals, then?”

“Yes. A man was hanging around asking about her, and one day we got back home from school and she was gone.”

The woman nodded.“The board’s over there. You can move a couple of the leaflets around if you need space.”

“Thank you very much!” Tia went over to the board while Christy eyed the sweets hungrily. It was covered in leaflets, some of them curling at the edges as though they’d been there forever. Tia started to unpin a few of them so she could make room for her poster. Most of them were adverts for things people wanted to sell – lawnmowers and pushchairs. Then Tia stopped, staring at the card she’d just taken down.

Pedigree cats for sale. All breeds. Reasonably priced.

And there was a phone number.

How could someone be selling all breeds of cat? Breeders like Helen only bred one sort. No one could have all the different breeds.

Unless they were stealing them.

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