Part 37 (2/2)

'Too much white on him.'

'Is white a no-no?'

Fizz sighed. 'Buchanan,' she muttered in an undertone, 'you wouldn't call a cat ”Jet” if it wasn't totally black, now would you? Like that one there.'

She indicated a motionless object in one of the playrooms.

Surrounded by what amounted to a feline Disneyland, it was lying on its side on a piece of rug in an att.i.tude of deepest unconcern, and looked like it had been filleted and left out in the sun to cure.

Fizz turned to their a.s.sistant. 'Can you tell me about this one?'

The girl heaved herself off the door post and wandered over to an empty cage to read the card. 'Male, two years old, his name's Pooky and he was handed in the day before yesterday by his owner who was going abroad. Thirty pounds.'

Fizz was somewhat taken aback by the price. She had more or less a.s.sumed that they'd be giving cats away with a packet of tea but, since it was totally dependent on charity, the home, she supposed, would need to get some money from somewhere to support the long-stay animals. She risked a glance at Buchanan's face and discovered him looking a trifle pained but, what the h.e.l.l?

He'd spend that much on a decent meal without thinking twice about it.

'I'd like that one,' she said, making a unilateral decision to save time. 'We have a cat basket in the car.'

Pooky barely woke up as the girl picked him up and carried him back to the reception desk. Nor did he make any objection when, presently, he was transferred into Buchanan's arms and carried out to the Saab. Actually, he was a very attractive cat, if you liked that sort of 231. thing, with huge green eyes and a purr that clearly stole Buchanan's heart.

'What are they going to think when you take him back tomorrow,' he asked as he tenderly laid the inert bundle in Selina's travelling basket.

Fizz was not at all worried about that. If it actually came to pa.s.s, which she doubted, she'd be surprised if the people at the home would mind being able to sell Pooky for another thirty pounds.

Unlike Selina, who hated the sight of her travelling basket and demanded the freedom of the whole car on a journey of any length, Pooky was tickled pink with the mohair lap rug with which it was padded and fell asleep almost right away. Every time Buchanan stopped the car to check that he was still content and in perfect health his reports were heart-gladdeningly optimistic and they reached Hawick without incident.

'We'd better eat first,' Fizz said, spotting a promising restaurant in the main street and simultaneously experiencing a strong spasm of hunger.

'What about Pooky?'

'Look at him. He's unconscious.'

'Yes, but what if he wakes up and finds us gone?'

'Buchanan, he's a cat.' Fizz gave him a warning look. 'It won't mark him for life. And I'm hungry.'

He took a further careful look at the inert moggy and reluctantly abandoned it to its fate for all of twenty minutes. Fortunately, Fizz could eat quite a lot in twenty minutes and, seeing that they had no idea when they'd next get a decent meal, she forced Buchanan not only to do the same, but to buy a stock of Yorkie bars and canned drinks sufficient to sustain them for an indefinite period.

'Okay, mon capitaine,' Fizz said, as she sampled one of the Yorkie bars, 'let's do it.'

They couldn't miss the police station: it was an impressive three-storey building, as befitted the main office for the Borders district, standing on its own in the main street 232. and only a few yards from where they'd parked the car.

Pooky, as far as Fizz could tell, didn't even wake up as she carried the basket into the foyer and laid it on the counter of the inquiry desk.

'Help you, miss?'

The desk sergeant was no rookie. He had one of those middle-aged faces that has seen human nature at its worst and would slap the cuffs on you as soon as look at you.

Not the ideal sucker for any sort of scam.

Fizz gave him a nervous smile which was only partly counterfeit. 'I'm staying up at Chirnside and I've been looking after this cat for a couple of weeks. It was starving. I'd really like to keep it but a neighbour told me she'd seen a guy looking for a black cat.'

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