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Chapter Thirty Three

Gareth

Gareth's ears remained splayed as he walked through the village with Ralph and Marcus behind him.

It felt like he was being marched to an execution. He kept his eyes on the ground, hoping he would not bump into anyone he knew.

"Hello there Gareth!"

Dammit.

Mrs Hinchcliffe was waving from her front gate.

Gareth responded with a sheepish wave while Marcus nodded to her.

"Hi Mrs Hinchcliffe," Frank said in a calm voice as they walked by.

They turned into the lane and Gareth felt his shoulders droop as the gates to the Mansfield house approached.

Frank pushed the gates open. They squealed and creaked, causing Gareth to cover his ears.

"D... did you say the woman in there has a gun?" he asked nervously. "Will she shoot me?"

"Hopefully not, I need you to provide evidence," Frank replied. "She didn't shoot Marcus and me," he added to Marcus.

"Although we have a shield just in case she tries," Marcus grinned, gesturing at Gareth who felt his paws quiver.

"Marcus!" Frank said sternly.

"Okay, it was just a joke," Marcus shrugged.

Frank led the way up to the front door and Gareth followed with his heart pounding in his chest.

He watched as Frank knocked on the door.

"Mrs Mansfield, we've returned!" he called.

Gareth wanted to cross his fingers and hope no one was in, but he felt a cold sense of dread flutter in his stomach as the front door opened slowly like a scene from a horror movie.

"Come in," a voice croaked.

Frank stepped inside and gestured for Gareth to follow.

Gareth wondered whether to try running, but Marcus was standing right behind him so he took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold.

The inside of the house smelt dusty and slightly damp, but Gareth noticed that it was in fairly good condition for somewhere that was known to be abandoned.

"This is Gareth," he heard Frank say. "Gareth, this is Arabella Mansfield, the current owner of the house."

Gareth turned to see a small and elderly looking vixen wearing the chunkiest pair of glasses he had ever seen. He was relieved to see that she was not holding a gun at least.

"Um, hello," he said nervously.

The vixen's eyes looked him up and down.

"This gentleman says you believe someone is trying to burn my house down," she croaked. "Is this true?"

"I'm not sure," Gareth admitted in a shaky voice. "I know my not-dad, I mean step-dad is up to something though."

He could feel his tail tuck itself between his legs and he willed himself to put on a braver face.

"Why don't we sit down somewhere?" Frank suggested.

Arabella fixed Frank a suspicious glance before nodding.

"Follow me," she instructed.

Gareth felt Frank give him a light push behind his shoulder to prompt him to move. He sighed and followed Arabella into the drawing room.

The room had a couple of Edwardian era sofas covered in dust sheets. Gareth sat down on one which caused a small mushroom cloud of dust to fly up and tickle his nose.

He sneezed and splayed his ears with embarrassment.

"Bless me," he said quietly.

Arabella stood opposite with her arms folded.

"So, tell me everything," she croaked. "This wolf says you know about a plan to burn my house down?"

"Sort of," Gareth replied.

He took a deep breath and recounted everything he had overheard at home and at the Mansfield house.

"Show Mrs Mansfield the photo," Frank encouraged once he had finished.

Gareth pulled his phone out and reluctantly handed it over like a naughty school kid who had been caught texting in class.

Frank took the phone and showed the image to Arabella.

The vixen's magnified eyes gazed over the photo before she handed the phone back. Gareth took it and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Blueprints for a housing development, and HD-C is the name of the company," Frank explained. "I believe it could be what Anthony Higson-Pearidge has planned for here."

Arabella sat in silence for a minute. Gareth glanced around the room, wondering how he had ended up in such a weird situation; Frank, his former number two crush and an old vixen who was supposedly armed in a house that looked like something from Scoobie Do.

Just when I had been complaining that Little Hartbrook was boring.

Gareth knew he should have been careful what he wished for.

"So, this is what they want to build here?" Arabella said, her tone didn't sound too convinced.

"I believe so," Frank replied.

"If you want to ask Anthony he's heading up the driveway now," Marcus announced.

Everyone turned and Gareth gulped as he saw the Bentley parked by the gates at the front. Not-dad was already walking up the driveway to the front door.

"What should we do?" Marcus asked.

"Technically we're not supposed to be here, although Arabella invited us," Frank mused. "Marcus and Gareth, you two hide yourselves. I'll handle this."

Gareth got to his hind-paws and glanced around the room, trying to locate a hiding place.

Marcus was already making for a side door and Gareth followed him. The fox eased the door open and Gareth saw it led to a dead-end room that looked like a large broom cupboard of some kind.

He hurried inside it and Marcus closed the door.

"It smells like dead people in here," Gareth sighed.

"Shut up," Marcus hissed.

Gareth listened out and minute later he heard the sound of a door open.

"Frank Trelawney, now this is a surprise!" Arseny boomed, and even through the door Gareth could detect the iciness in not-dad's voice.

Gareth tried crouching down to look through the key hole, but Marcus tried doing the same thing at the same time and their muzzles bumped into each other.

"Hello Anthony," Frank replied curtly.

"What brings you here, or should I say I'm not wholly surprised either," Arseny continued.

Gareth tried crouching down to spy through the key hole again but Marcus had gotten there first.

"Let me see," he whispered.

"I want to make sure Frank is okay," Marcus replied.

"But that's my not-dad out there!"

"I thought you hated him?" Marcus whispered.

"I do, I want to see if Frank beats him up," Gareth hissed back.

Is Frank going to beat up not-dad?

Gareth saw Marcus fix him a funny glance in the gloom before the fox turned back to the key hole. He sighed, before clamping a paw to his muzzle, hoping no one outside had heard.

"Just as I thought, you've been skulking around here, up to no good," Arseny was saying.

"That's quite a wild accusation," Frank replied. "How did you know I was skulking around here?"

"I walk in here and you're standing in the house!"

"I didn't realise standing in here was a crime, Arabella invited me," Frank said coolly.

"Did she now?" Arseny replied.

"I did," the vixen's voice croaked.

Gareth could almost imagine the look of surprise on not-dad's face.

"Does he look surprised?" he whispered to Marcus.

The fox nodded before letting out a small sigh of his own.

"Here," Marcus said, stepping back from the key hole so Gareth could watch.

Gareth crouched down and glued his eye to the opening. Arabella had sat down in an armchair. Frank was standing with his arms folded while not-dad was looking flustered.

"You invited him?" not-dad asked in an incredulous tone.

"Are you not going to preserve this place?" Arabella asked not-dad. "This wolf says you're going to burn it down."

"Burn it down?" Arseny repeated. "Where did you hear such nonsense?"

Arabella opened her mouth and Gareth hoped she wouldn't reveal where that information had come from.

"I overheard Anthony talking the other night," Frank spoke up. "He was talking to someone about a Plan B, and Arabella now knows you are not going to preserve this place, I've seen HD-C vans drive through the village. They're a property development company. You also told me about attracting more people to the village and told me to keep it under wraps. It was pretty easy to put two and two together."

Arseny stood in a stunned silence before he forced out a laugh.

"I don't know where you are getting these ideas from," he began before turning to Arabella. "I'm very sorry about this intrusion."

"They're not ideas," Frank countered. "You said yourself that you wanted me to keep quiet which was very suspicious, and then you started driving by my house like a stalker."

"And you didn't keep quiet," Arseny growled.

"All I did was talk to the owner of the house," Frank replied, gesturing at Arabella. "Having believed this place was unoccupied."

Gareth had been scared of Frank until now, but in his head he found himself willing the wolf on.

Go on, punch not-dad already!

Arseny was making a growling, chuntering sound.

"Very well," he said, trying to muster a calm tone. "But I assure you this project is still going ahead, and you are not going to tell anyone."

"Is that a threat?"

Arseny didn't reply. He turned and made for the door.

Gareth held his breath, wondering if Frank would not beat up not-dad after all, but he let himself exhale as not-dad wrenched the door open and walked away.

Frank stood in silence for a minute before gesturing at the door for them to emerge.

Marcus opened the door and Gareth followed the fox back into the drawing room.

"Why did you let me watch?" he asked Marcus.

"You busted Anthony so I figured you could watch the finale," Marcus reasoned.

"Oh, um, thanks," Gareth replied, feeling surprised.

"Wow, that was quite a show," Marcus added to Frank.

The wolf let out a sigh.

"I'm not sure what I just did, but Anthony knows I know what he's up to for sure."

"Do you think he'll try killing you?" Marcus asked nervously. "Is that the sort of thing he does?" he added, turning to Gareth.

"I don't know," Gareth replied. "Knowing not-dad, anything is possible. I used to joke that he was in the mafia. Now that doesn't seem so funny."

"I wish he'd just stick to cider making," Marcus huffed.

Frank turned to Arabella.

"I hope that was convincing enough?" he asked.

The elderly vixen nodded.

"I never liked him much anyway, I only agreed to this because I thought he wanted to help the place," she croaked.

Frank wagged his tail before turning to Gareth.

"So, now that Anthony knows I'm onto him, I think you have to take over from here."

"Take over?" Gareth repeated.

"I want you to watch Anthony to see what he does next," Frank explained. "He didn't know you were here."

"What do I get in return?" Gareth replied. "I've already apologised for breaking into the house."

"Eh, Ralph might give you his autograph," Marcus laughed.

"A blowjob would have been better," Gareth muttered before hoping Arabella hadn't heard him. The elderly vixen seemed distracted by something out of the window. "Can't we just call the police on him?"

"Theoretically he hasn't done anything wrong, yet," Frank said. "You invited him to your property, Arabella?" The elderly vixen nodded. "And that's our problem," Frank sighed.

"So, you want me to spy on him?" Gareth asked.

"Yup."

"What if I get murdered by not-dad?" he asked.

Frank pulled out his phone and Gareth wondered if the wolf was going to call the police after all. Instead, he held the phone out and showed a number on the screen.

"That's my number, I want you to call me if you have any problems, and use it to report anything interesting to me," Frank instructed. "Save it in your contacts, there's a good boy."

Gareth copied the number down and saved it.

"What if I go to the police?" he asked.

"About what?"

"Arse, I mean Anthony," Gareth explained.

"Well, do that when you actually have some evidence," Frank said. "You'd better get home before anyone misses you."

Gareth knew he wouldn't be able to catch up with Arseny owing to the fact he'd left his bike at Honeysuckle Lodge.

"Are you going to be all right Mrs Mansfield?" Frank asked.

"I've been all right for about thirty bloody years here, if that man shows up again, you know what he'll get," the vixen replied.

Gareth wondered if you know what he'll get referred to her gun.

"So, you don't do any more deals with Anthony?" Frank continued.

"Not on your nelly," the vixen croaked. "Now, be off with all of you. I'm tired and want to take a nap."

"Okay, but I'll come back to check on you tomorrow," Frank said.

Gareth followed Frank's wagging tail from the room and to the front door.

"Well, I think she's convinced," Marcus said as they left the house. "Even if she seems senile."

"That's what makes it sick, Anthony has been manipulating someone who clearly isn't in the best frame of mind," Frank sighed before turning to Gareth.

"Do you want me to go after Anthony now?" Gareth asked nervously.

"That would be a good idea," Frank nodded.

"And if I say no?" Gareth asked with a nervous smile.

The wolf didn't say anything but Gareth let out an audible yelp as Frank cracked his knuckles and slapped his paws together.

"Remember, if you run into trouble, call my number," Frank instructed.

"And bring Frank's underwear back!" Marcus called.

Gareth nodded and hurried down the driveway.

He wondered whether to go back to retrieve his bike or walk home, but he decided on walking.

There was an unusually long line of traffic leading into the village and Gareth walked alongside it. The cars were almost at a standstill as he neared the centre of Little Hartbrook.

Is there road works going on?

Gareth's question was answered as he neared the centre of the village. It was not road works and he couldn't help but let out a laugh when he saw what the obstruction was.

The village Morris dancing troupe were rehearsing by the pub and drawing quite a crowd. The cars passed them slowly as the dancers stopped every now and again to let one pass.

Gareth noticed the distinct sight of Arseny's Bentley sitting near the front of the traffic jam.

The Bentley's window wound down and not-dad stuck his head out.

"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded. "Get the fuck out of my way!"

Gareth recognised the white Alsatian vicar walking up to Arseny's car.

"Hello Mr Higson-Pearidge," he said. "Is everything all right?"

"No, I need to get home and this bunch of cretins in their ridiculous outfits are blocking the fucking way!"

The vicar looked taken aback as Arseny would his window back up and manoeuvred his Bentley around the Morris dancers, almost knocking down a surprised looking Beagle in the process.

Gareth began following cautiously and passed the shocked looking vicar.

"Afternoon father," he said casually before strolling by.

Wow, Frank has really unhinged not-dad.