The Spying Cat (ONC 2023 Shortlister)

Chapter 6

Tobias had said no, of course. He couldn't sanction any more civilian involvement in such a sensitive police matter. Nevertheless, Kitty had resolved to get involved and was going to ask Ben to take her to the theatre.

Except their paths did not cross again for days on end, and when they did, she found no opportunity to talk to him in confidence. Naturally. Isaac had tattled, and her cousins had scared Ben off.

After how Ben had stood up to Isaac on her behalf, Kitty felt disappointed that he'd let himself be intimidated so quickly. But then again, he had told her that he did not intend to marry. Maybe he just wanted to keep away from that idea and not be seen as an available bachelor in pursuit of a wife.

If that were true, Kitty's plan to uncover the bombers would be put in jeopardy. Taking her to the theatre all the time – she had made a list of the most anticipated gala nights – would certainly make it look as if he were courting her.

Kitty asked herself if, perhaps, what she really wanted was to be pursued.

"Ezra," Kitty piped up at breakfast, to distract her brain from that disturbing train of thought.

"Yes, Kitty?" Ezra folded the newspaper he had been reading and put it away.

Ruth picked it up. Joey, sitting next to Kitty, watched the exchange between his brother and his cousin with no small degree of interest. Kezia breakfasted in bed, as she did most mornings.

"I was wondering," Kitty began, tentative, "whatever has become of Gilbert King?"

Ezra attempted to blink his bewilderment away. "What do you mean?"

Ruth peered over the newspaper at Kitty, who shrugged.

"I just mean... I don't know. I've been thinking a lot about Rebecca lately. And I don't remember much, I was so young when she left. And I just realised I never really understood what happened to Gilbert. Is he still alive?"

Ezra's cheeks puffed out on a deep exhale. "Well, I certainly hope so. Last I heard, he was working down at the docks. I think Jeremy spotted him once."

"Has Tobias talked to him, do you reckon?"

"Of course he has. But Rebecca's... disappearance shocked him as much as the rest of us. Even more so, she was his wife and he never saw it coming."

Kitty lowered her butter knife on the plate. "Whyever did she marry him, then? She went to all that trouble, too, just to run away from him."

"Sometimes, love makes you do crazy things."

"Are you saying Rebecca was in love with the husband she ran away from? Or ran away from her husband with someone she loved?"

Ezra smiled through his confusion. "Where is all of this coming from, Kitty?"

"I suppose I'm just old enough to understand these things now. And I can't help thinking about them, now that I get to be out the way Rebecca was. How do I know that I'm not making the same mistakes as Rebecca?"

Ezra tapped his fingers on the tablecloth, thoughtful. Ruth and Joey kept to themselves, though curiosity crackled in the charged atmosphere. All three of them had been children at the time of the whole debacle and had grown up under the shadow of Rebecca's transgression, as if it were historical myth, a legendary parable meant to teach them a lesson.

No one in the family had shared the real facts of the matter with them.

"All right," Ezra spoke up, decisive. "I suppose you all deserve to know what happened – as far as I can remember, at least. This is the truth Tobias, Hannah, and I have managed to reconstruct over the years, though it may not be the whole of it. It certainly isn't Rebecca's truth, as she never told us her full story.