Free Frisky Business by Clodagh Murphy Page A

bloody animal, when in reality it was the other way around. She looked the cat over, checking for injuries.
    Kit waited for her to recognise him. He was surprised it was taking her this long, but then it was dark and it had been a very long time. Still, he didn’t think he’d changed that much. He reached a hand up to run his fingers through his hair and rake out any bits of tree, and his fingers met plastic. Of course! He’d forgotten he’d put the mask on, and somehow it had survived the fall. Maybe he could get out of this with his dignity intact after all. He could run away incognito and she would never know it was him. Then he could call to her house tomorrow like a normal person.
    ‘So … what are you doing here?’ she asked him.
    ‘Oh, just …’He shrugged, playing it casual while desperately trying to think of something to say to convince her he wasn’t a nutjob or a pervert. ‘Just, you know … Hallowe’en.’ Great! He was really on fire tonight.
    ‘You were up a tree.’
    ‘Um …yes. I was.’
    ‘Aren’t you a bit old for climbing trees and dressing up for Hallowe’en?’
    ‘I’m very immature.’ Brilliant! Where the fuck had that come from? Still, it got a little smile from her. She nodded slowly, looking at him for a long time, like she was trying to decide something – probably whether he was an axe murderer or not.
    ‘Well, happy Hallowe’en,’ she said, throwing him a dubious look as she turned to go.
    ‘Happy Hallowe’en,’ Kit called. When she was at the gate, he bent down to brush mud from his trousers. ‘May the force be with you,’ he mumbled to her back.
    Romy spun around. ‘What did you say?’
    ‘Happy Hallowe’en.’
    She shook her head. ‘After that.’
    ‘Um … may the force be with you?’
    The cat wriggled out of her arms and padded back through the gate and up the steps, but Romy still stood there, looking at him strangely. ‘Why did you say that?’ She looked a bit freaked out – which he supposed made sense in the circumstances. But why now? She hadn’t seemed fazed when he first landed at her feet.
    ‘It’s just an expression.’ Kit shrugged. ‘It’s
Star Wars.’
Surely she knew
Star Wars?
He was sure he could remember watching it with her.
    ‘Yes, I know it’s
Star Wars.
It just … it seems an odd thing to say.’
    ‘I guess I’m just in a
Star Wars
frame of mind,’ he said, pointing at his mask.
    ‘Do you like
Star Wars?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I said do you like
Star Wars.’
    ‘Sure,’he said, shrugging. ‘Doesn’t everyone?’
    ‘Who’s your favourite character?’
    Christ, did she think he was five or something? Granted, he had just fallen out of a tree wearing a Hallowe’en mask, but even so … and why was she still standing out here engaging him in conversation anyway? Shouldn’t she be inside ringing the police or something? He just wanted to get away, as quickly as possible. ‘I can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought. I guess R2D2 is pretty cool.’
    ‘Oh.’ Her face fell, and he got the impression his answer disappointed her somehow. He must be imagining it. Why would she care who he liked out of
Star Wars?
    ‘Disappointed, you seem.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘You know, Yoda,’ he said, pointing to his mask again in explanation. ‘Says everything backwards, doesn’t he?’
    ‘Oh. Yeah.’
    ‘I mean, obviously I like him too. But y’know, they’re all good,’ he said, hoping to cheer her up. Stop babbling about
Star Wars
and get out of here, he chided himself.
    Romy was looking up at the tree where he had been sitting and across at her windows, clearly putting two and two together. ‘Were you watching my house?’ she asked.
    Jesus, why was she standing here confronting him about it? Didn’t she have any self-preservation instincts? If he really was a mad stalker, she could be in serious danger right now.
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t.’
    ‘Really?’ She regarded him sceptically.
    ‘Look, it’s not what