Page 74 of Box of Frogs
‘You need to stop jumping to conclusions. Yes, we had money. We were planning to get hold of you and take you to Morganus. We realised we were out of our depth and we needed help to stop Rubus. We each had the same amount of money because we emptied our bank accounts and split the cash between us so if we were separated…’
‘Or killed,’ interrupted the other Redcap.
His brother nodded. ‘Or killed, we’d each have our own bargaining power. We’d have a chance of escaping.’
Morgan’s eyes were dark. ‘You thought you could pay me off? Throw me a bit of money and I’d do whatever you asked?’
‘Not really. But we thought we could shoot her,’ he pointed to me, ‘and bring her to you as both proof of Rubus’s deeds and as collateral. Then you might listen to us and consider helping.’
Morgan rubbed his chin thoughtfully while I just glared. ‘Shoot Madrona?’ he murmured. ‘And bring her injured, bleeding body to me?’ He nodded. ‘Yeah. Good plan.’
My jaw dropped. Arsebadger. He flashed me an amused smile. I rolled my eyes.
‘Julie,’ I said suddenly. ‘She had threats. Nasty letters and icky animal parts shoved through her letterbox. You can’t tell me you’re pretending to be the heroes of this piece when you did things like that to her.’
‘That wasn’t us.’
‘But we found the guys who were doing it,’ his brother said. He bared his teeth. ‘They won’t try anything like that again.’ His eyes took on an odd sheen of glee that was somehow the most terrifying thing about all of this.
Julie grinned. ‘Once you’ve sorted out this Rubus fellow, you should think about becoming bodyguards. Is it a profession either of you have considered?’
‘Hey!’ I protested. ‘What about me?’
‘Darling,’ she said, ‘I was abducted from right under your nose. I’m no longer convinced this is your best career path.’
She had a point but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. I’d never even got chance to wear a real earpiece or had time to learn kung-fu.
‘What are your names?’ Morgan asked, addressing the Redcaps.
They exchanged looks. ‘Why do you want to know?’
‘Yeah, Morgan,’ I drawled. ‘Their names don’t matter.’ I paused. ‘Unless you need them for their gravestones.’
Morgan grimaced, exasperated. ‘You are not helping, Maddy. We need to know their names because it’ll be easier when we start working together.’
Julie clapped her hands in delight and the taller Redcap pursed his lips. The other Redcap and I exploded. ‘We’re not working together!’ we spat in unison. Then we turned and glared at each other.
‘You killed our brother,’ the Redcap yelled at me.
‘It was an accident! And you tried to kill me!’
‘We weren’t trying to kill you! We just wanted to make you bleed a bit and kidnap you!’
‘Well, that makes everything better then, doesn’t it?’ I said sarcastically.
Morgan sighed. ‘We keep going round in circles. Whatever has happened before, and however we feel about each other, it appears we have a common goal.’
The tall Redcap nodded. ‘Stopping Rubus once and for all.’ He looked at Morgan. ‘I’m Jinn.’
‘Don’t tell them our names!’ his brother howled.
I smirked. ‘He’s Jinn. Your brother was Winn. Let me guess … you’re Rubbish Binn?’
‘He’s Finn.’
Finn huffed and stamped his feet. Jinn raised his bushy eyebrows at him. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’
‘That bitch is not my friend!’
