Page 115 of Never Too Late to Date

She’d take a different route back along the headland to avoid bumping into Alex before she absolutely had to.

He was early for their rendezvous, as usual, already waiting for her in the half-light, and obviously not in the mood for small talk. She followed him out past the first field, and they walked for a good twenty minutes in silence. The set of his shoulders told her all she needed to know. She couldn’t carry on like this a moment longer.

‘Are you angry with me for some reason?’

He stopped and turned to face her.

‘Yes, bloody angry if you must know. I woke up, and you were gone. No note, nothing.’

A flash of something over to her left caught Vicky’s attention.

‘Shhhh.’

‘Don’t tell me to shush.’

Vicky lowered her voice to a whisper.

‘No, I think there’s someone there.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

A hooded figure all in black dashed out of the bushes a few yards away. Without hesitation, Vicky followed Alex as he sprinted after the apparition. It was too solid to be a ghost. It had to be the poisoner. Who else would be creeping about at this time of night?

Although she was fit, Alex had a good ten years on her, and she had fallen back a few feet when he managed to grab the mystery man or woman by the edge of their backpack and bring them crashing to the ground.

‘Stamata! Stop! Stay there.’

Alex’s voice echoed round the field, the anger in it raising the volume tenfold.

When Vicky caught up with the duo, a wrestling match was underway on the ground. The hooded figure was easily a match for the vet, and their bodies rolled over and over towards her as they grappled with each other. She’d been right. There was no way the figure was a woman.

‘Sit on him!’

Alex’s shouted instruction brought her to her senses. She sat down hard on the guy’s back, which gave Alex the chance to whip out a piece of rope from his bag, tie the man’s ankles together and flip him over.

The fight went out of the mystery man as he lay there panting, his chest heaving with the effort of trying to overpower Alex. He wore a full balaclava over his face, with just his eyes showing. Vicky looked closely into their brown depths, but rather than unbridled evil, all she could see was fear.

Alex bent down to pull the guy’s disguise off. It revealed a youth who looked as if he was still in his teens. His backpack had been thrown clear during the struggle, and Alex pointed at it while keeping a foot on the guy’s chest.

‘We need to check what’s in it.’

Rifling through the bag, Vicky found a couple of bottles of beer, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, pretty standard fare for a teenager so far. Right at the bottom, she spotted a wrapped plastic container, which she passed straight to Alex.

He carefully unwrapped it, checked the words on the side and opened the top to take a quick sniff.

‘Yep, it’s poison all right, you little bastard. What the hell do you think you’re doing? Killing defenceless animals.’

Alex moved towards the youth with fury in his face, but Vicky managed to grab his arm.

‘Don’t hit him. He’s not worth it. I’m sure he’s not the mastermind behind this.’

The sound of snivelling was loud in the night air. They both looked down at the crying figure.

‘Lipáme, lipáme.’

Alex let out a grunt.

‘It’s no use saying sorry now. I’ve had to bury the cats that you’ve killed. All nine of them. Have you ever seen a cat after it’s been poisoned? Seen the agony in their little faces?’