Page 15 - Billy the Cat and Katie

member, but just as suddenly the signal disappeared. ‘We’d better be getting home or we may
be seen’ Billy breathed quietly, little knowing that earlier that exact thing had happened and a
credible source would be reporting their sighting the very next day.

Chapter 5 - The Cats In The News

Back home they quickly slipped out of their outfits and hid everything away so as not to be
discovered by Aunt Mabel. It was Sunday morning and neither William nor Kathleen had gotten
any sleep yet so they went off to bed for a few hours. Aunt Mabel woke them a little later with
tea and toast on trays in bed, a special Sunday treat she always did for them. Little did she
know that they’d been up almost the whole night and they were awfully tired for the whole
day. ‘Now I know what a night shift at work must feel like’ William yawned through his
steaming cup of tea. ‘I certainly wouldn’t want to do that too often’ Kathleen yawned back
from her bedroom next door. All day long they chatted about what had happened whilst
pretending to be reading in the back garden. It was a beautiful sunny day and the branches of
the apple tree in the garden swayed gracefully in the breeze. Jumping up, Kathleen whispered
‘Let’s go for a bike ride down the high street and see if anything’s happening’. As the rode their
bicycles along the main road they could see a group of men with notebooks standing outside
the police station, about six of them in total and one had a camera slung around his neck on a
strap. They were listening to the police Superintendent standing on the steps outside who
looked very pleased with himself as he was telling the men, who turned out to be reporters,
that a robbery had been foiled and a gang of thieves had been arrested at the scene in
possession of large amounts of money and jewellery. He went on to say that the crooks were
well known to Scotland Yard and were all looking at long prison sentences. By the time he’d
finished a large crowd of onlookers had gathered, all asking questions about the raid and how
the police had caught the gang. The Superintendent looked rather quizzically at the Chief
Inspector who was trying hard to avoid being dragged into the conversation. ‘What about the
reports of strange cat creatures in the night?’ shouted one of the reporters. Someone had
obviously tipped them off and they weren’t going to give up and go away without an answer.
‘We can confirm’ the Superintendent announced, ‘That the police were in some small way
assisted by two members of the public whose identities are unknown to us at the moment, but
rest assured that when these people come forward they shall receive our thanks and a reward
of £1000 which has been offered by Burnham Provincial Bank. That is all, thank you all for
coming.’ At this the policemen quickly went back inside and the reporters ran off to find a
phone box to telephone their newspaper offices with the stories.

‘Well, a £1000 reward’ exclaimed Kathleen. But William’s mind was on something else,
something the Superintendent had said and resting his bicycle against the railings went into the
police station. Sitting at his desk the Chief Inspector could see that nothing but the truth would
satisfy William’s curiosity and proceeded to explain. ‘One of the men arrested has confessed to
being involved in the London robbery that resulted in the accident that killed your parents. I can
assure you William that he will go to prison for a lot longer than had he just been involved in