Read Thief for Free Online

him.
     
    The front lawn had been invaded by a menagerie from the surrounding woods. Possums, dogs, cats, birds, sheep, goats, and every other animal for at least a mile in any direction had decided to turn his gardens into their new home. It wasn’t just the front lawn either. He discovered that fact as he circled the house, looking for some limit to the throng. They were massed in a great ring around the house like a concert crowd, all at peace despite the fact that at least a few of them should have been trying to eat the others. Since when have cats and pigeons been good mates?
     
    Right in the middle of them, he spotted a creature he knew well. “Soxy!”
     
    His own cat, a ginger striped tabby far too fat and as affectionate as any cat could be. He’d picked her up as a kitten on the streets of Las Vegas nearly ten years earlier, something in her eyes, her mewling drawing him like a magnet. Ever since then she’d lived with him, keeping him better company than any other living being, and keeping his secrets too.
     
    He’d always worried that it was cruel to own a pet when he was away so often, usually for up to a week at a time, but Soxy didn’t seem to mind, as long as her physical needs were met. Besides the gardener and the cleaner would feed her and keep her company. And she was always delighted when he returned, knowing he’d spoil her rotten. Which he always did, out of guilt.
     
    At the sound of her name her ears perked up and immediately she came to him, no doubt suddenly remembering it was dinner time. For Soxy it was always dinnertime, hence the reason she was rather larger around the middle than a cat should be. She might look at a sparrow, perhaps lick her lips, might even dream of them, but Mikel doubted she’d ever actually catch one.
     
    “At least you still remember me, huh”.  But even as he petted her he knew her thoughts were elsewhere. Sure she purred, but she also kept returning her attention to the house, ears aimed directly at the front door and he knew she was hunting, though not for food. Reluctantly he let her go and watched her take her place once more with the others, a stray dog on one side, a sheep on the other. All thoughts of food seemed to have been forgotten as Soxy, like the rest stared and waited.
     
    Ornamental plants, grass, shrubs and any number of hedges were paying the cost of the animals’ visit, which had left a trail of devastation that circled the entire house. The bird bath, guttering and gazebo were covered with birds of every shape and size. Sparrows perched beside black birds and seagulls, seemingly all at peace. Ducks had invaded the small pond he’d built with his own two hands en mass. At a guess there were more ducks than there was water for them to swim in. Broken windows at the top of the outer buildings suggested others had made it inside, to wreak who knew what damage.
     
    He groaned aloud at the sight. So much work destroyed in a single night. Cedric, his gardener was going to give him no end of grief when he turned up on Thursday. He had painstakingly tended the garden for the last five years. And this was after only a single night and a morning. What would the gardens be like by the time he actually got here?
     
    Of course he realized eventually, the animals hadn’t visited this day simply to annoy him. They should have surely fled at the sight of him. He stared at them, then waved his arms and screamed, while they in turn ignored him as just another stupid human. They had come to pay their respects to Sherial, and as long as she stayed, so would they.
     
    “Ahh Sherial. There’s some people here to see you.”
     
    As soon as she came out to see, he knew he was right. The change in the congregation was positively electric. Every single one of them whipped its head around to see her, ears pricked and nostrils flaring. He’d have bet dollars to dimes they even stopped blinking when she came near. Yet they didn’t move towards her. They