Page 73 of Box of Frogs
‘You mean every time I did that, I almost brought down the apocalypse on all our heads?’ I shrieked. ‘Why didn’t you say so?’
‘I did.’
‘No, you bloody didn’t! All you said was that it was forbidden!’
‘Well, there you go. I told you more than enough.’
‘You’re very lucky we’re friends now,’ I told him.
‘Actually,’ the tall Redcap said, ‘altering time, as long as it’s just a temporary, short-lived measure, isn’t going to cause that much harm.’
‘There are still risks,’ Morgan said, ignoring my look. ‘Even if they are minor.’
‘Anyway,’ the Redcap said, ‘we’ve heard enough whispers and seen enough evidence that Rubus has worked out how to bring magic here. Chen, the ancient Chinese dragon I mentioned earlier, was working on a device that would suck magic from other demesnes and bring it here. He thought it would help him in his bid to garner more treasure from other worlds. He only realised after its inception what damage it might cause. He had no trouble keeping it away from Rubus.’ His mouth flattened. ‘Dragons are good at keeping their possessions to themselves. But he died last week and now all bets are off. From what we’ve gathered, the device is still here in Manchester. We don’t know exactly where it is or what it looks like, but we know that Rubus doesn’t yet have it.’ He pointed at me. ‘She was hunting for it. So were others. That’s why we were on her trail. We thought she’d found it and we were prepared to do anything to stop her.’
I stiffened. ‘The bogle. On the golf course. The dead bogle whose head...’ My voice trailed away. I looked first at one Redcap then the other. ‘Did you do that? Did you kill him?’
Both of them looked confused. ‘We’re pretty sure that was you.’
‘Me?’ My voice almost reached a screech. Without thinking, I released my hold on the Redcap and stood up. Julie and Morgan were watching me with concerned expressions, although there was a far steelier watchfulness behind Morgan’s eyes.
‘The sword was yours. We saw you with it earlier in the day.’
‘No.’ I shook my head vehemently. ‘It was coated with rowan. That’s poisonous to faeries, not to bogles.’ I checked with Morgan. ‘Right?’
He nodded. ‘That’s correct.’
The Redcap stood up and dusted himself down. He glanced meaningfully at his brother and, in response, his brother lowered the gun from Morgan’s throat. Relieved, I ran a hand through my hair. When I realised that hand was shaking, I dropped it hastily. Alas, from the others’ expressions, I wasn’t fooling anyone.
‘DTs,’ I said quickly. ‘I think I might be an alcoholic.’ I licked a few drops of gin from my bare arm. ‘Mmm. That’s better.’
The Redcap next to Morgan scratched his head. ‘I always wondered why you were called the Madhatter,’ he said. ‘Now I know.’
Morgan snapped his fingers. ‘I should have realised.’ He looked at me. ‘I gave you that nickname for no other reason than that Rubus hated it. He forbade anyone from using it. Anyone loyal to Rubus would have done whatever he asked, but you said they called you Madhatter at the golf course.’ He raised his eyes to the Redcaps. ‘You really aren’t loyal to him.’
They bowed together. The slightly taller one nudged his companion. ‘It’s details like that which can get us killed.’
I hissed. ‘Can we get back to the part about me on the golf course carrying a big, old, poisonous sword? Because that can’t be true. I don’t believe I killed anyone.’
‘All I’m telling you is what we saw,’ said the Redcap ‘We didn’t know what was going on when we found them so we disposed of both the body and the sword. We drove them to the coast and tossed them off the nearest cliff.’
‘Maybe, Mads,’ Julie interjected, with an inappropriately bright tone, ‘you wanted everyone to think that this bogle attacked you, instead of the other way around. Coating the weapon with something that’s poisonous only to you would make everyone believe your story.’
I tried to ignore the oily upsurge of nausea. ‘You’re saying that I followed that bogle up there with the intention of killing him and then covering it up. You’re saying I’m a murderer. You’re saying I committed premeditated murder.’
‘It’s only a theory.’
‘Do you know anything about the bogle?’ I demanded. ‘Who was he? Why would I have killed him? If…’ I swallowed. ‘If I killed him.’
‘His name was Charrie. He showed up from time to time. As far as we can tell, he was tasked the same sort of jobs as we were. We know he visited Rubus three days before he died, but we don’t know any more than that. You should know more than us – you’re the one who’s closest to Rubus out of all us.’
‘I don’t know anything about Rubus!’ I realised I was shouting so I tried to lower my voice. ‘I don’t remember anything about him,’ I said, my shoulders slumping in defeat. ‘I don’t even know if Iwantto remember anything any more.’
Morgan moved over to me. The Redcaps tensed but all he did was put his arm round my shoulders and squeeze them gently. I leaned into his embrace for the briefest moment then something vital occurred to me and I pulled away. ‘Wait,’ I said. ‘The bogle guy had a sheath.’ At their expressions of confusion, I explained further. ‘At his back – he had an empty sword sheath. So either you’re mistaken or,’ I added grimly, ‘simply lying through your crooked, yellow teeth. The poisoned sword had to be his.’
‘We’re not lying. We were not present when the murder took place but you were definitely the one who brought that weapon to the golf course. For one thing, the reek of rowan is how we managed to tail you.’
‘You had money,’ I said, reaching for any detail I could use to protest my innocence. ‘You all had exactly the same amount of brand new bank notes in your pockets. You were paid to come after me.’ I glanced at Morgan. ‘Probably by Rubus.’
