Now, I must tell you about Montgomery Weasel.

He arrived on a Saturday — the only proper day for a salesman — with a cart painted red and yellow, a hat with a small feather, and a voice that suggested he had once sold something to someone who hadn't particularly wanted it, and had found this deeply satisfying.

Montgomery Weasel, according to his cart, was a Purveyor of Remarkable Things. The remarkable things included: waterproof hats, mechanical bird deterrents (Robin eyed these with deep suspicion), a tin of something called Fog Ointment, and several dozen jars of honey from a village three counties over.

The village gathered. Willowburrow is not a village that ignores a cart.

Pip and Whisker Ferret stood at the very front, because ferrets do not worry about being at the front.

"Are those biscuits?" said Pip, pointing at a tin.

"They are a premium oat-based teatime assortment," said Montgomery Weasel.

"Could we try one?"

"One," said the Weasel, and opened the tin.

By the time Montgomery had sold four waterproof hats and two jars of honey, and finished explaining the Fog Ointment to Mrs Partridge (it did not, he clarified, make fog), he noticed that three jars of honey were missing from the display.

Robin Redbreast noticed a moment later, which meant BirdTok noticed a moment after that.

"BREAKING," Robin announced. "Ferrets STEAL from visiting merchant. Commerce in Willowburrow UNDER THREAT. Three jars of honey. Eyewitness available."

The eyewitness footage showed Pip eating one premium oat-based teatime biscuit. It did not show any honey.

Constable Bartholomew Badger arrived with his notebook and his Look of Commercial Concern. He took statements. He wrote things. He looked at the ferrets for quite a long time.

I, Benji, had been watching the cart from the beginning. And I had seen — clearly, unhurriedly — a shadow pass beneath it in the mid-morning.

Low to the ground. Fast. Gone before you'd properly seen it.

The honey jars had been slid from the back edge of the cart while everyone watched the front.

Marlo does not much like honey. But he does like having it.