Page 30 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Phoebe and Sam had never been huge fans of New Year’s Eve, so they had a quiet one, just the two of them, and stayed home at Puddleduck.

Their main concession to the date was staying up late enough to listen to the chimes of Big Ben on TV and watching the crowds of London revellers before they headed off to bed.

They discussed their New Year resolutions in bed.

‘Mine’s planning our wedding and getting my new business off the ground,’ Sam said. ‘What are yours?’

‘Helping you plan our wedding,’ Phoebe told him happily. ‘And helping Maggie to track down that kitten-milling chappie and bringing him to justice.’

* * *

January got off to a busy start. Puddleduck Vets was busy with people catching up after the holidays.

It didn’t seem to matter how much information there was about dogs and cats not making good Christmas presents, people still got them.

The responsible ones registered them and booked them in for vaccinations.

Their vaccination clinics for January were already full to bursting.

Puddleduck Pets had their usual post-Christmas influx of animals that had been unwanted Christmas presents. To Phoebe’s dismay, two of these were African pygmy hedgehogs.

‘The woman who brought them in said her husband had got them after seeing a piece about them in New Forest Views ,’ Natasha said, flicking back her brown ponytail and widening her eyes in annoyance. ‘Wasn’t that the piece Tori wrote trying to put people off buying them?’

‘Yes, it was. But the photos she used were very cute. So I guess it’s raised their profile a bit.’

‘Obviously for people who look at pictures but can’t actually read,’ Natasha said in irritation. ‘Do we still have that vivarium that was out the back? Can I plug it in in the haybarn?’

‘Yes, and yes, but is it worth contacting the hedgehog rescue place again? She’s more set up for them than we are here. And she’s probably got more chance of rehoming them too.’

‘OK, I’ll just put them in there temporarily again and then I’ll get on to it.’

* * *

Denise had been shocked when Phoebe had mooted Maggie’s theory about the possibility of Oscar being stolen for use as a stud cat in a kitten mill.

‘Oh, good heavens, that’s awful. My poor baby. Do you think that might be how he got that nasty infection?’

‘I honestly don’t know, but it’s possible. He’s clearly been with other cats somewhere.’

Phoebe had let this sink in before she mentioned Maggie’s suggestion that Oscar might also have actually fathered the kitten that her husband had bought from the ‘very nice’ breeder.

‘We have nothing to base this on apart from the fact that they’re very similar looking and the timings would work. But of course it could all just be a coincidence. The breeder your husband got Freda from might be perfectly legitimate.’

‘But he might not be.’ Denise caught on quickly. ‘Can you do DNA tests on cats to check parentage?’

‘Yes, you can. It’s a simple mouth swab. To be absolutely accurate we would need to test the mother cat too, but that isn’t going to be so easy necessarily. Did you say your husband saw the mother cat when he picked up the kittens?’

‘Yes, he did, but not in real life. I’ve already asked him that.

It turns out that he saw a video of them all together.

When he went to pick up Freda, the man just brought her out to the door to see him.

There were two actually. Freda and another kitten that was similar looking but a boy.

The man had them both in a box. He said the mother was very shy.

Oh, my goodness, that all sounds terribly suspicious when I say it like that.

But Ken wasn’t suspicious. Looking back now in the cold light of day he definitely shouldn’t have bought Freda, should he? ’

Phoebe felt her heart sink. Partly because Denise looked so sad and guilty about the whole situation, but also because the breeder had clearly covered his tracks really well.

‘It’s not your fault. These people are very clever.

They’re doing this all the time, don’t forget, and they know every trick in the book.

’ She paused. ‘I think it’s still worth doing the DNA test anyway.

If you don’t mind. That will give us an idea of parentage.

Which could be vital if you were ever thinking of breeding from Freda yourself.

’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘For obvious reasons.’

‘Goodness me. Of course. That would never do.’ Denise looked horrified.

Phoebe went on gently, ‘It would also be really useful if I could have the breeder’s address. The place where Ken went to get Freda.’

‘Of course. I’ll text that over to you. And if it does turn out that it was actually him that stole Oscar, then we could go to the police, couldn’t we? Get him arrested and closed down.’

‘That’s also a possibility. I really hope we could do that, yes.’

‘Hmmm. It’s more than a possibility. It’s a certainty. If the police don’t want to deal with it we’d bring a private prosecution.’ Denise’s eyes flashed with anger. ‘I don’t think I’ve told you what Ken does for a living, have I?’

Phoebe shook her head, mystified.

‘He’s a barrister. He specialises in criminal law.’

‘I see. Wow.’ Phoebe didn’t know whether to be amazed or delighted.

The fact that a clearly intelligent and well-educated man had been na?ve enough to buy a kitten under such dubious circumstances astounded her.

But on the other hand, why would he have known there was a correct protocol for buying a kitten or a puppy if he hadn’t done it before?

Why would anyone know how to do anything they hadn’t done before?

It came back to the same thing as the little African pygmy hedgehogs.

It was down to education and spreading the word.

That’s what they’d wanted to do with the Voice for Wildlife campaign but they still hadn’t really got that off the ground.

Maybe she should make it another New Year resolution to do more about that.

Although it seemed that double-page spreads in New Forest Views weren’t the answer.

‘Could we get you to be our expert witness?’ Denise asked. ‘As our veterinary professional. Would you do that?’

‘Yes, of course I would if the need arises, but don’t forget this is all supposition at the moment. All we know for sure is that we’re dealing with an irresponsible breeder.’

Denise nodded vehemently. ‘Let’s arrange for the DNA tests to be done. That’ll be a good start.’

Her demeanour had changed completely now she had something to focus on. The guilt had vanished now she had someone to blame.

‘And don’t forget to text me that address,’ Phoebe reminded her.

* * *

‘That’s a stroke of luck,’ Sam said when Phoebe told him what had happened. ‘So you don’t need to worry too much about the police not taking it seriously. Sounds like they won’t need to if Ken’s on the case. What’s his surname?’

‘Wyatt. Why?’

‘I just wondered if Frazier and your dad know him. The legal world’s quite small.’

‘I’ll message Frazier and ask.’ She tapped out a message to her brother and she got a voice note reply back almost immediately.

‘If you mean Ken Thomas Wyatt, then yep, Dad and I know him. His nickname’s the Rottweiler. There’s a standing joke in the industry. What’s the difference between Ken Thomas and a Rottweiler? Answer: A Rottweiler eventually lets go.’

Phoebe and Sam grinned at each other. ‘It sounds like our dodgy cat breeder may have messed with the wrong person this time,’ Phoebe said gleefully.

‘Fingers crossed, eh!’

Phoebe rang Maggie to give her the update and discovered her grandmother hadn’t been idle since their sleuthing chat.

‘It just so happens that Eddie and I are looking for a kitten, and Eddie’s been doing the tippy tappy onliner dance on the world wide webby thingie and we were just watching a video of some pretty little things that are available in the New Forest. In fact, we’ve been watching several videos.

That’s quite a common thing that people do on their tippy tappy onliner adverts. ’

Phoebe smiled at the reminder of her grandmother’s rather quirky language for all things online.

‘Is that so?’

‘It is so, and Eddie’s just done the Google Woogle business and we’ve found a house that backs right up close to where Oscar the stud cat was found.’

‘You don’t know where that was though, do you?’

‘I do because Natasha told me. She sent a safety pin of the location.’

‘A safety pin? Do you mean a pincode?’

‘Pincode. Safety pin, nappy pin, whatever. We’ve nailed it down – or would that be pinned it down.’ She gave a delighted chuckle. ‘It doesn’t matter. There’s a kitten seller very close by. And it just happens to be the one we’re going to see. That can’t be a coincidence.’

‘No, it can’t. When are you planning on going to go and see them?’

‘Tomorrow morning. I’ve just arranged it. Would you like us to get you a swab of mummy cat for your DNA test?’

‘That would be amazing, although I’m not sure how you’re going to do it.’ She explained that Ken hadn’t actually seen the mother cat outside of a video.

‘Thanks for the heads up. OK. Leave it with us. If the mother cat’s there, we’ll get you a swab. I’ll pop by the surgery and pick one up on the way. That dodgy breeder isn’t all that far from you.’

Phoebe heard the ping of a text coming through in her ear. ‘Hang on a sec. That might be my client with the address of the place where they got their kitten.’

It was, and to Phoebe’s delight it was the same address Maggie had. She told her and got a snort of triumph.

‘Have I ever told you you’re wonderful?’ Phoebe added.

‘You don’t tell me often enough,’ Maggie replied without a trace of irony.

Phoebe went to tell Sam the good news. He’d just finished giving Lily her bedtime feed and was now winding her expertly.

‘So the net’s closing in on that breeder one way or the other. Do you think she’ll be able to get a swab?’

‘If anyone can, it will be Maggie. She can be pretty devious if it’s in a good cause.’

‘And a good cause is an animal in need. Are you coming up for bedtime?’

‘I’ll be up in two ticks,’ she said. ‘I’m just going to check at the practice that we’ve got another DNA test in stock. I think Max said we bought a batch.’

Sam nodded. It was good to see Phoebe so fired up.

She was on a mission to find out what had happened to Oscar.

Phoebe had always loved a challenge that involved animals.

Sam remembered how she had been when she was on the trail of the irresponsible lop-eared rabbit breeder, Belinda Bates.

Like Maggie, Phoebe was a passionate crusader for animal welfare.

It was probably in the genes. They’d both move mountains to help an animal in need.

For him, it had taken a bit longer to get back into the routine after Christmas. This was partly because he’d been researching indoor schools and setting up your own business. There was a lot involved.

He hadn’t yet had the chance to go and see Marjorie Taylor at Brook Riding School about doing some more lessons again, but he would get to it soon.

* * *

Phoebe didn’t see Maggie when she called by to get the swab the next day because she was busy doing her morning appointments.

But she had just said goodbye to her last client at lunchtime and apart from Marcus, the practice was empty when Maggie called back again.

‘No go, I’m afraid,’ Maggie said, coming into reception and shaking her head. ‘We couldn’t get past the front door. But not for want of trying.’

‘What happened?’ Marcus asked. The whole practice knew about the Oscar and Freda scenario, although Phoebe had asked them not to discuss it in front of clients, or anyone else.

After all, it might all still be a storm in a teacup.

Everything they knew so far was possibly just supposition or, at best, circumstantial.

‘A man came to the door with this skinny little kitten in a box,’ Maggie said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

‘I told him I needed to see the mother and father, but he refused point blank. He gave me this cock and bull story about his wife having Covid and them being anxious not to pass it on to anyone else. He said they especially didn’t want to pass it on to anyone of our age, the cheeky beggar. ’

‘But they did still have the kitten, at least.’

‘They had a kitten. Who knows if it was the other one that your woman saw? It was the right colour, but probably too young, bearing in mind when they got theirs. For all we know they have a whole pile of kittens in that house and they just bring one out in a box. Poor little mite. It broke my heart having to leave it there with that scoundrel.’ She bit her lip.

‘I tried to push him on it. I said we’d had our vaccinations and weren’t too worried about catching Covid, but he wouldn’t budge. ’

‘Do you think the mother cat was even there?’ Marcus asked.

‘Who knows! I was pretty persistent. In the end the bloke said that he had someone else who wanted the kitten so if we didn’t really want it, it didn’t matter, and then he near enough closed the door in our faces. Didn’t he, Ed?’

Eddie, who’d been standing beside her throughout the conversation, nodded.

‘It was a no go,’ he confirmed.

‘Thank you for trying,’ Phoebe said, swallowing her disappointment.

Marcus tapped his fingers on the reception desk. ‘It’s frustrating. So near and yet so far.’

‘I got a picture,’ Eddie added, and they all looked at him in surprise.

‘I didn’t see you take a picture,’ Maggie said, astonishment in her voice. ‘When did you manage that?’

‘When he got the kitten out. I had a clear shot when he was distracted with you arguing about seeing the mother cat.’

‘You got a photo of the kitten, let’s see it,’ Phoebe said eagerly.

‘No. Not of the kitten. I didn’t think we’d need one of the kitten.’ Eddie shot her a look. ‘I took a photo of ’im…’

It was Phoebe’s turn to look at him in astonishment. ‘Blimey, Eddie, that’s genius.’

The old man tapped his nose. ‘Not just a pretty face, huh.’ He got out his phone and tapped a few buttons before turning it round to show them a picture.

Maggie, Marcus and Phoebe all leaned in for a closer look.

Phoebe gasped. ‘Oh my God. I recognise that guy.’