Mindy said, ‘Maybe it’s the man from the black BMW.’
I couldn’t say one way or another. ‘I don’t recognise him, whoever he is.’
Buster put his front paws on the wall but was still too short to look out of the window. ‘Pick me up so I can see.’
I snorted a laugh. I could pick Buster up, but I avoided doing so for fear I will snap my spine one day. He is like lifting a dead weight.
The man turned away from the car and looked up at the house. Mindy and I both ducked even though I felt certain he couldn’t see us through the net curtain. Now peering over the edge of the windowsill like children, we watched him coming toward the house.
Mindy squeaked, ‘Auntie, what do we do?’
My heart had begun to race again. This was yet another twist to the mystery. Who the heck was this guy? He clearly knew who we were and whether he was the man in the black BMW or not, he was here snooping on us.
‘He’s coming up the drive!’ hissed Mindy.
Buster started back toward the landing and the stairs. ‘Don’t worry ladies. It’s fighting time. I’ll get this one.’
I lunged across the room, grabbing hold of his tail to stop him. ‘This is not the time to attack someone, Buster,’ I whispered for fear my voice would be heard outside. ‘We can just wait in here for a few minutes. He’ll probably just go away, and we can leave then. Or maybe he’ll wander around the back and we can sneak out the front and leg it to the car.’
‘That sounds like a plan,’ said Mindy, still peering down through the window.
The noise we heard next changed that plan fast.
‘Did you leave the front door unlocked?’ I squeaked in fear as we heard it open.
Mindy had a hand over her mouth and a look of horror in her eyes. ‘I think I left the key in the lock,’ she gasped.
Buster was still facing the bedroom door, my hand on his tail the only thing holding him in check.
‘Is it fighting time now?’ he asked. ‘Cornered. No way out. Badly outnumbered. It’s time for Adventure Dog to kick some butt.’
‘Um, he’s the one who is outnumbered,’ I pointed out. ‘There’re three of us.’
Buster glared at the stairs. ‘Semantics. I think the record can show there was a numerical disadvantage. That will be enough detail. Now let me go and try to be brave while I face down the horde courageously so you can escape.’
A man’s voice rang out from downstairs. ‘Hello?’
Getting to my feet, I said, ‘Dog, you really do talk a lot of twaddle. Mindy, get his back end.’
Using his tail, because it was still the only bit I had hold of, I dragged Buster back a yard and hooked my arms around his chest. He was going to bark in protest, so I clamped a hand over his mouth, getting righteously slobbered in the process. Behind me Mindy looped her arm around his waist.
‘What are you doing?’ Buster wanted to know.
‘Hiding,’ I whispered. ‘Keep quiet.’
‘Adventure dog does not hide. Not unless he is about to surprise ambush someone.’
‘That’s exactly what I have planned,’ I hissed next to Buster’s ear to keep him calm. I was a terrible liar, but the dog would have struggled to free himself if I hadn’t come up with something.
We tiptoed across the bedroom until I could peek around the doorframe. We could hear the man moving around downstairs. It sounded like he was in the kitchen. My heart sunk again as I remembered that was where I’d left my stinking clothes.
Mindy leaned close to my head to whisper, ‘He’s going to find us, Auntie. Maybe I should just take him out. I’m not really dressed for it, but if I hitch my skirt up, I should be able to kick properly.’
Buster agreed. ‘Yeah. We can tag-team him. You go high and I’ll go low. He won’t know what hit him.’
‘Good grief,’ I muttered quietly. Both my sidekicks wanted to opt for violence first.
Mindy asked, ‘What? Did Buster just tell you something?’
‘Only that he agrees with your plan to knock out the man downstairs.’ Before she could start hitching up her skirt – quite what the man would make of it when my nineteen-year-old niece ran at him with her knickers on display, I did not wish to consider – I cut her off. ‘He might be armed, Mindy. Did you think of that?’
‘Sure, Auntie. I’m armed too.’
I swore in my head and remembered the pair of batons she pulled from the small of her back a week ago. At the time, someone we thought might be a killer was trying to get away and my death-defying niece stopped her.
‘Or he might just be a neighbour. We are not going to beat him up. I already have the police watching me.’
Mindy giggled. ‘This is so cool.’
I did not agree, but time for further conversation was lost because we heard his feet on the stairs.
Desperately Outnumbered
Holding my breath and fighting to keep hold of Buster as he wriggled to get free, I backed us into the master bedroom again.
The man called out again. ‘Hello? Anyone here?’
‘There’s no way out, Auntie,’ hissed Mindy, her face right next to my ear.
I worried she was right. I
