Page 51 of A Merry Little Christmas
‘And anyway, it wasn’t us who triggered that security light,’ I added. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere here. It was probably a wild animal.’
‘A wildanimal?’ Fen let out a yelp.
‘I mean a mouse or a fox or something?’
‘Afox? I really wish you hadn’t said that, Katja.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Hey, no dissension in the ranks, please,’ hissed Maddy. ‘Can we just concentrate on pilfering these pickles?’
There were a few subdued snorts of laughter at this.
‘Or rustling the relish?’ put in Jaz.
‘Snatching the sriracha?’ whispered Fen, who’d started to giggle hysterically and couldn’t seem to stop.
Grinning, I nudged her and she gave a mouse-like squeak and wiped away tears of suppressed laughter.
We all slipped through the gate, and Jaz closed it behind us.
Maddy turned and hissed, ‘We move likeninjas, people – not stampeding badgers.’
I chuckled softly. ‘You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?’ From a tree behind us, an owl let out an enormous hoot and wiped the smile right off my face. ‘Jeez,whoseidea was this?’ I whimpered, my heart racing with fright.
‘Follow me,’ ordered Maddy, leading us along the side of the house. ‘Eyes sharp, feet quiet and no one breathe louder than a goldfish.’
‘Yes, Sir!’ whispered Jaz.
I nudged Fen and murmured, ‘This is not a drill. This is a relish-related extraction.’
Fen snorted with laughter and was rewarded with a glare from Maddy. ‘Single file, you lot. And stop whispering louder than you talk. We’re not doing the conga.’
As we crept across the snowy lawn, our boots made unfortunate crunching noises but it couldn’t be helped. It was Sod’s Law that the shed, target of our mission, should be right at the far end of the garden. Or maybe that was an advantage? As in less chance of anyone in the house hearing any suspicious noises... jars rattling, that kind of thing...
‘Unfortunately, it’s locked.’ Maddy was peering through the window of the shed, shining her phone light inside. ‘I can’tseeany likely boxes that could contain jars of chutney. Are we sure they’re in here?’
I nodded. ‘Ellie definitely said she’d stored them all in boxes in the shed.’
‘Anyone any good at picking locks?’ asked Maddy.
‘I can open a door with a credit card,’ said Fen.
We all turned and stared at her.
She shrugged. ‘It only works with yale locks,’ she whispered. ‘Not with deadlocks. And definitely not on padlocks.’
‘How on earth do you know all that?’ asked Jaz.
‘My friend lost her key so we did an internet search it and it worked,’ explained Fen.
‘When was this?’ I asked.
‘Oh, we were just thirteen or fourteen. It probably wouldn’t work now. Doors are much more secure.’
‘Well, anyway.’ Maddy sighed. ‘How are we going to get in there?’ She looked around at us. ‘Anyone got any other bright ideas?’
Jaz grinned. ‘I’m still trying to get my head round the idea of Fen going rogue and breaking into a house.’
