Milly knew Inspector Young quite well. He had been a friend of her father.

By now a couple of girls were in tears, and for the first time Milly felt nervous herself. This was becoming more and more alarming.

When she eventually arrived, the Worthing Wonderland was almost deserted. Milly made her way towards Seebold’s office and, opening the door, she saw Lena sitting by the desk. As she rose to her feet, Milly ran towards her to give her a hug. ‘You shouldn’t have come,’ Lena said. ‘It’s not really safe.’

‘I couldn’t leave you to face all this alone,’ said Milly. ‘Where’s Seebold?’

‘Sergeant Littlejohn took him to the police station this morning,’ said Lena. ‘He’s not back yet.’

Milly frowned. ‘Why? He hasn’t done anything wrong.’

‘I don’t really know.’

Milly looked anxious. ‘Has the wolf been found?’

Lena shook her head. ‘Do you want some tea?’ she asked, picking up the empty kettle to fill with water from a tap just outside the door.

Milly hesitated. If it was as dangerous as they said, was it worth the risk of sending Lena outside. Her sister tossed her head as if she could read her mind. ‘Oh bugger it,’ she said, opening the door again. ‘I want a cup of tea. If I get eaten, I get eaten.’

Milly admired her bravado, but it was slightly disconcerting all the same.

Ten minutes later, they sat in the office sipping their tea in silence. What could they say? Each girl was going over every scenario she could think of, but really there would be no resolution until the animal was accounted for. Then the door burst open and Seebold tumbled in. ‘Blimey,’ he exclaimed. ‘What a day. What a blinkin’ ’orrible day.’ He threw himself into a chair and put his head in his hands.

Lena busied herself pouring him a mug of tea. Milly laid her hand on his shoulder. ‘We were worried that they’d arrested you.’

‘They wanted to, but they couldn’t pin anything on me. How could they? It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t anywhere near that road train. All I did was buy the damned thing.’

‘So, does anyone know what happened to it yet?’ asked Lena, putting the mug on the desk in front of him.

‘Search me,’ said Seebold. ‘As far as the police are concerned, there’s a wolf on the loose somewhere and it has to be found.’

Milly nodded. ‘I’m sure they’ll catch it soon.’

‘No, I’m afraid they won’t,’ Seebold said dejectedly.

Milly and Lena exchanged a confused frown.

Seebold took a gulp of his tea. ‘You see, there never was a wolf. As soon as the bloke who sold it to me saw the condition of the cage, he never bloody sent it.’

Chapter 24

Milly took in a noisy breath while Lena stared at him with her mouth open. ‘You mean all this has been a hoax?’

‘Not exactly,’ said Seebold. ‘I honestly thought it had been sent. As soon as I saw the broken cage, I went and telephoned the seller but he was out. His wife said to phone back.’

‘And all afternoon, when you were talking to the police,’ said Lena, ‘you didn’t tell them? Do they know?’

Seebold shook his head. ‘I’ve only just found out myself,’ he said. ‘They questioned me and sent me home at about three. There were no buses so I walked. When I got to Ham Road, I was so anxious I couldn’t wait any longer, so I used the telephone box on the corner by the pub.’

‘And that’s when you found out?’ Milly asked.

Seebold nodded.

‘So why didn’t you go back to the police station and tell them the animal had never even been sent?’ Seebold didn’t answer.

‘Seebold!’ Lena said crossly.

‘I was afraid if I went back, they would arrest me,’ he said, his face colouring.

‘Why?’ said Milly. ‘It was obviously a misunderstanding.’

Lena frowned. ‘You can’t ignore this. They’ll find out eventually.’

Seebold got to his feet and took off his coat. As he sat down again, Milly wondered if he realised how serious this had become. There was every possibility that he could be in big trouble. ‘Seebold, the whole of Worthing is virtually shut down because of this,’ she said. ‘Everybody is so terrified they are going to be attacked by some ferocious animal. Even Hubbard’s closed early. All the girls were sent home.’

‘I know, I know.’ He ran his fingers through his hair. ‘But what can I do? If I tell them there never was a wolf, they’ll say I made it up and arrest me. They’ll shut the Wonderland down. The punters love the place but there’s plenty around here who would be only too glad to see the back of an entertainer like me.’

Milly’s heart went out to him. ‘Did you know someone has claimed to have spotted the wolf in his garden?’

‘What?’ Seebold gasped. ‘Where?’

‘It was Stop Press in the evening paper,’ said Milly.

‘This is getting out of hand,’ cried Seebold.

‘Of course it is,’ said Milly. ‘That’s why you have to come clean. You have to tell them.’

He leaned forward, his head in his hands. As much as she wanted to, Milly resisted the urge to put a comforting hand on his back. His heart belonged to somebody else. She was here purely as his friend.

‘There is one way around it,’ he said, suddenly looking up at them. ‘We could produce the wolf.’

Milly was puzzled. ‘What do you mean . . . produce the wolf? You yourself have just told us there was no wolf.’

‘Yeah, but I’ve been thinking. A mate of mine has an old dog,’ Seebold said excitedly. ‘He’s a bit doddery and grey, but he’s the right size and shape. I reckon he could fool them.’

‘Don’t be so ridiculous!’ Lena snapped. ‘People aren’t stupid. They’ll know the difference between some old mutt and a wolf.’

‘But don’t you see?’ Seebold said, rising to his feet. ‘People won’t believe me if I simply say there was no wolf, but if I can produce it and say it ran away, it’ll be fine.’

Milly shook her head. ‘No, it won’t work. How would it know to come here? It’s too much of a coincidence if it suddenly turns up.’

‘Ah yes,’ said Seebold, beaming, ‘but what if we caught it out in the wilds somewhere . . .’

Lena looked thoughtful but Milly’s heart sank. If they ‘found’ the wolf, everybody would start asking questions and she was no good at lying. She glanced at Seebold, who was becoming more and more animated at the idea. Much as she wanted to help, she couldn’t do this. ‘Count me out,’ she said. ‘I’m not lying to the police.’

‘You won’t have to,’ said Lena with a sudden change of heart. ‘Look, Seebold is right. If he gets on to his mate, he can arrange to borrow the dog. Then first thing in the morning, when he goes looking for it, he’ll “find it”,’ she added, making quote marks in the air, ‘and bring it back here in a cage. What’s wrong with that?’

‘You can’t be serious,’ said Milly. ‘It’s crazy.’