In the office the next day, the girls were all swapping stories of how frightened, or not, their pets had been last night. I was very proud of Talisker, he’d certainly been the bravest and I told him so when I got back that evening. He slowly closed and opened his eyes in his perfect cat smile as if thanking me for the compliment, while also saying that he had, of course, expected nothing less.
I was quite sad that once Henry Halliday came back from his problem-solving trip, I wouldn’t see this lovely creature any more. Then it would be time to hand in my notice properly at Sitting Pretty. And when Davina asked why – well, she didn’t need to know the whole truth, just the edited version.
So I’d bought Talisker some cheap treats and a couple of toys to play with, and we had a lovely evening while he humoured me by pretending to love his new catnip-infused mouse on elastic, batting it about with his paws as if it was the best thing ever. Once he’d got bored with it, he snuggled up on my lap while we fell asleep watching an old black and white film. And of course, we both woke up, stretched, and yawned as soon as the film had finished, neither of us having a clue what it had been about.
‘Come on, Tal,’ I stroked his head, ‘up the wooden hill. We won’t be able to do this for much longer, will we?’ I watched him trot up the stairs ahead of me with his tail in the air and a complete lack of concern in the matter. Maybe, like Davina, he didn’t really believe that I would go away and leave him.
I went to brush my teeth then came back to the spare room. I’d just moved Talisker from where he’d stretched himself out along both pillows, given myself the one his bottom hadn’t been on, got into bed, and was about to turn the bedside light off when I heard a noise. It sounded like the front door opening and closing.
Oh my God! I swung my legs back down and froze, my ears straining. Was Henry Halliday going to catch me here? Or was there a burglar downstairs?