Witch Is When I Said Goodbye (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 10) (15 page)

Chapter 18

Coffee Triangle was scheduled to reopen at nine a.m. When I arrived there at seven-thirty, the lights were on, so I knew someone was inside. I banged on the door, and eventually Tony Tuck, the manager, appeared from the back office.

“We’re not open yet,” he shouted.

I banged on the door again.

“Nine o’clock!”

I banged on the door again.

He was clearly annoyed as he approached the door. “We’re not open!”

“Let me in. I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“It’ll have to wait until nine o’clock.”

“This can’t wait. I want to talk to you about Joe Snow.”

“You can’t come in.”

“Unlock the door or I’ll break it down.”

He looked more puzzled than worried, but he unlocked the door anyway.

“Who are you? What’s this about?”

“My name is Jill Gooder. I’m a private investigator.”

“If you have information about the murder, you should take it to the police.”

“Don’t worry, I will, but first I want to know why you killed Snow.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you owed him money. Had he threatened to harm you? Or kill you? Is that why you did it?”

“You’re talking nonsense. Get out of here before I call the police.”

“Why don’t you do that? I’m sure they’d be interested to hear what I have to tell them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t kill anybody. You can’t prove a thing.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m fairly sure that once the police examine the murder weapon, they’ll be able to trace it back to you one way or another.”

“What murder weapon? There is no murder weapon. The police said they couldn’t find it. Get out of here before I throw you out.” He started towards me, but I easily pushed him away. The ‘power’ spell made me far stronger than he was.

He looked surprised. “You can’t prove anything,” he repeated. “You’re wasting your time.”

“Hmm. Well, let’s see now. This is what I think happened. Joe Snow came around to collect on his debt. He probably threatened to hurt or even kill you, but when he got here the shop was absolutely packed. He couldn’t do anything while there were people around, so he took a seat and waited. You knew what was going to happen after everyone had left. Things were going to turn nasty. The drums had already been handed out, but you knew that there were plenty of damaged ones down at Tom Tom. You’d probably had the gun for some time because you were expecting trouble. This was your opportunity. You hid the gun in the drum until you were standing right next to Snow. No one saw you shoot him—you made sure of that by standing in such a way that the drum obscured the view of those close by. And no one heard anything because there was so much noise in the shop at the time. Then you slid the gun back inside the drum, and took it back to Tom Tom. You knew that the drums waiting for repair could be there for weeks or even months. You no doubt planned to dispose of it once things had quietened down. How am I doing so far?”

Tuck had turned pale; he obviously knew the game was up. He rushed forward, and tried to push me out of the way, but I easily deflected him, and then used the ‘tie-up’ spell to bind his feet and hands.

“What are you going to do now?” he said, panic-stricken.

“That’s for the police to decide. It’s possible you may get off with a lesser charge once they know Snow had threatened you.”

I fetched the drum, with the gun still inside it, from my car, and put it on the floor next to him. Then I made a call to Tom Hawk.

***

Aunt Lucy had phoned to ask if I’d go straight over to see her.

“Thanks for coming over, Jill. I made some muffins yesterday, would you like to try one?”

“What flavour are they?”

“Your favourite, blueberry.”

“Go on then, if you’re twisting my arm.”

Aunt Lucy made tea for us both. The muffin was delicious. Maybe I should have had two?

“Why did you want to see me, Aunt Lucy. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah—everything’s fine. I suppose.”

“That’s not very convincing.”

“It’s just that I’ve had a bit of a shock.”

“What’s happened?”

“Yesterday, out of the blue, Lester suddenly suggested that he’d like us to live in the human world.”

For some reason, I’d never pictured Aunt Lucy living anywhere other than Candlefield. In fact, I couldn’t imagine her living anywhere other than in that house.

“What brought that up?”

“Lester used to live and work in the human world, but it’s quite a long time ago now.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“He worked as a traffic warden. He’s always saying how much he enjoyed the job, and how friendly the people were.”

“Are you sure he said ‘traffic warden’?”

“Positive. He said people were always happy to see him.”

Lester was either delusional or he’d had a drink problem back then.

“Anyway,” Aunt Lucy continued. “He came out with the idea yesterday; completely out of the blue. It was the last thing I’d expected him to suggest.”

“Have you ever lived in the human world?”

“No. I’ve never really had any desire to. I’ve been there many times, but never to stay. Not even for a single night. I’ve always lived here in Candlefield, among sups. It’s where I feel comfortable. It’s where I belong.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I said I couldn’t give him an answer straight away. That I’d need time to think about it. And, to be fair, he understood.”

“Have you told anyone else about this—what about Grandma?”

“No. Your grandmother wouldn’t like the idea at all. She’s not a fan of the human world.”

“But
she
has a business in Washbridge.”

“Yeah, but it’s a case of
‘Do as I say, not do as I do’
with Grandma. You should know that by now.”

It was true. Grandma was always telling me I should live in Candlefield, and yet she spent almost as much time in Washbridge as I did.

“What about the twins? Haven’t you told them either?”

“No. I need to think this through for myself first. I know both of them would love to move to the human world one day, but it’s not really practical at the moment. Not while they have Cuppy C to run. I’m not sure how they’d cope if I moved there.”

“They’re grown women, Aunt Lucy. They should be able to take care of themselves.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but judging by the amount of time they spend around here, the number of things they ask me to do for them, and the amount of money they borrow from me—”

“I didn’t know they borrowed money from you. They shouldn’t need to do that—they have their own business.”

“I know, but have you seen how many clothes they buy? Those two girls have never been any different. If I moved to the human world, how would they cope? Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you had any thoughts on it.”

“Not really. Maybe you could try spending a few days there. That would give you a chance to see whether you’d like to live there or not.”

“That’s a good idea. I could spend a little time there between now and the wedding. Then, if I absolutely hate it, I’ll just have to tell Lester that I can’t do it. Thanks, Jill. I knew you’d give me good advice.”

“Don’t mention it. My pleasure.”

“In fact,” Aunt Lucy said. “I know what I could do, if it’s okay with you?”

“What’s that?”

“Why don’t I move in with you for a little while, and see how I like it. You could be my guide to the human world, and we’d be company for one another.”

“You mean move into my flat?”

“Yeah, that would be great, wouldn’t it?”

“Err—yeah. Great.”

Why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut? If Aunt Lucy moved in with me, it would be a disaster. Don’t get me wrong, I loved her to bits. She was like a mother to me, and I’d do anything for her. Well,
almost
anything. But I really didn’t want her
to live
with me. How was I meant to have any kind of love life if she moved in? I know I didn’t actually
have
much of a love life, but I lived in hope. Can you imagine if I invited Jack back to the flat, and Aunt Lucy greeted him at the door? What a passion killer that would be.

***

While walking to Cuppy C, I was still trying to get my head around the idea of Aunt Lucy moving in with me. What a nightmare!

When I reached the top of the road, I spotted a crowd of people on the opposite side of the street from Cuppy C. As I drew closer, I realised the crowd was outside Best Cakes. Were they having some kind of promotion?

Then, I noticed the twins. They were staring out of the window of Cuppy C. I expected them to be annoyed because Miles Best’s shop was doing so well, but in fact both Amber and Pearl were laughing their heads off.

I was intrigued. What could be happening in Best Cakes to draw such a crowd? I crossed the road to take a closer look. The crowd outside was getting bigger by the minute, and it took me some time to fight my way through to the front. When I eventually made it, I could see what all the commotion was about. Every seat in the tea room at Best Cakes was taken, and the cake shop was also full. The strange thing was, every one of the customers in the shop was dressed as a clown. It was like my worst nightmare. I hated clowns; I’d always hated clowns. They’re evil. I’d never seen so many of them in one place.

The clowns seemed to be in full flow: hitting one another in the face with custard pies, spraying water from plastic flowers, and dropping cups and saucers all over the floor. They were making a terrible mess and one heck of a racket. No wonder the twins were laughing.

A thought suddenly struck me: were the twins behind this?

I fought my way back out through the crowd, and hurried over the road to Cuppy C.

“What’s Miles clowning around at?” Pearl dissolved into laughter.

“You two did this, didn’t you?”

“Who? Us?” Amber feigned innocence.

“Why did you do it?”

“Have you forgotten what those two did to us?”

“You mean the rats?”

“Yes. Miles infested us with rats, so we’ve given him an infestation of another kind—of clowns.”

“But how on earth did you organise it?”

“Have you heard of crowdfunding?” Amber wiped a tear from her eye.

“Err—yeah?”

“Well this is crowd
funning
. You can hire a crowd of whatever you want: clowns, knitters or even dentists.”

“Who on earth would want to hire a crowd of dentists?”

“If the price list is anything to go by—” Pearl had just about managed to compose herself. “Not many people.”

“We could have had the dentists for half the cost of the clowns,” Amber said. “But we figured it was worth paying extra for the clowns. I don’t think Miles will try another stunt on us in a hurry.”

Chapter 19

It was ages now since Jack Maxwell had been suspended. It was time I gave him a call.

“Jack, it’s Jill.”

“Hi. Sorry I haven’t been in touch.” He sounded low.

“That’s okay. I thought I should check what’s happening with your suspension.”

“Nothing much. Like I told you, the cogs move very slowly.”

“There’s
slowly
and there’s
seized up
. Have you heard back from Internal Affairs?”

“Only to say the enquiry is on-going.”

“On-going? What does that mean? It sounds like they need a fire under them.”

“That’s not how it works. It’ll get sorted.”

“Before or after you’ve retired? Why won’t you let me see what I can find out?”

“No! I’ve told you. Keep out of this. It will only make things worse.”

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

And, as everyone knows, a successful relationship is based upon honesty and trust. Everyone apart from me, apparently.

I’d called the police station numerous times, and asked for Tom Hawk, but he was never available. I’d left messages asking him to call me back, but so far, I’d heard nothing. So, the next day, I drove to the police station in the early hours of the morning, parked across the road, and waited for him to arrive. Sure enough, just before a quarter to eight, Tom’s car pulled up at the barrier. I hurried across the road, and knocked on the side window. It took him a moment to realise who I was, but then he wound the window down.

“Jill? What are you doing here? Is Jack all right?”

“If you call being suspended for weeks on end with no feedback, ‘
all right
’, then yes, I guess he’s all right. Look, Tom, what’s happening? Why is the investigation taking so long?”

“It’s just how these things work.”

“There must be a reason why someone planted that money in his car. My guess is it’s related to a case he was working on.”

“I can’t talk about that, and Jack wouldn’t thank me for discussing his suspension with you. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave it alone. Internal Affairs will sort it out.”

“But Tom—”

The barrier raised, and he drove through.

If Tom Hawk thought he was going to brush me off that easily, he had another think coming. I cast the ‘invisible’ spell, ducked under the barrier, and waited for him to get out of his car. Then, I followed him into the station. He was working out of Jack Maxwell’s office.

I was sure that the information I needed would be on the computer, but to access it I was going to need the password. I stood directly behind the chair, and waited for Tom to sit down. When he did, he immediately pushed the chair backwards, and almost squashed me against the wall.

I watched closely as he entered the password—I would have to memorise every keystroke. Fortunately for me, it was laughably short and simple: HAWKEYE.

Even though I had the password, I daren’t risk using the computer even when Tom stepped out of the office. There was a constant stream of people walking along the corridor outside; they would have noticed if the mouse suddenly started to move, and the screen switched display. I had no choice but to find somewhere to hide until late at night, by which time the police station should be much quieter.

The next time Tom left the office, I followed him through the door. A little way along the corridor, I found what was obviously a cleaner’s cupboard. Once inside, I made my way to the very back—behind some steel shelving—where I sat down and waited. It would be a very long, boring day, but I had no choice but to wait it out.

The last time I’d checked my watch, it was eight p.m. I decided to wait until eleven, and then risk going back to Jack’s office.

At least, that was the plan.

The next thing I knew, I woke up. How long had I been asleep? It was two in the morning. Great! I felt like death warmed up. I was cold, hungry, and I had no feeling in my right leg.

I listened at the door to see if I could hear anyone. It was silent. There would still be a few people around—the front desk would definitely still be manned. But I was banking on the offices being much quieter.

I made myself invisible again, and then sneaked out of the cupboard, and down the corridor to Jack’s office. Once at the computer, I waited for a couple of minutes to make sure that I couldn’t hear anyone. After I’d logged in, it didn’t take long to find a list of all the cases Jack had been working on the day before he was suspended.

I went through each case in turn. They had all been reassigned except for one entitled, ‘Beele Casino’. That one had been closed on the day after Jack had been suspended. I was curious, so I clicked to open the file. The case had been ongoing for over a year; long before Jack Maxwell had arrived in Washbridge. So, why had it been closed so suddenly? I read more, and discovered that the case related to a casino owned by a man called Craig Beele. The notes in the file suggested that the police thought it was a front for a money laundering operation, which was being used by a number of gangs in the area.

Something didn’t smell right about this. Why would a long-running case like that have been closed so suddenly? It warranted further investigation.

***

The twins were behind the counter in Cuppy C; they both had long faces.

“What’s up with you two?”

“Look,” Pearl pointed across the road.

Best Cakes was absolutely packed; both the tea room and cake shop were full. This time with regular customers—not clowns. I’d never seen it so busy.

“What’s going on over there? Are they having a sale or something?”

“No,” Amber said. “It’s all the publicity they’ve had.”

“What publicity?”

“The clown infestation. All the papers covered it. It was on the front page of the Candle.”

“Oh dear.” I laughed. “That kind of backfired, didn’t it?”

“I warned Amber it was a stupid idea,” Pearl said.

“It was
your
idea,” Amber spat back.

“No it wasn’t.”

“Yes it was.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Was too.”

That was my cue to leave.

Barry was doing my head in.

“Please, Jill. Please. Please, Jill. Can I go and see Babs? Please can I see Babs? She’s my girlfriend.”

“Be quiet, Barry. I don’t know if Babs is in today.”

“Can you find out? I want to see Babs. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Wait there.” I left him upstairs while I called Dorothy. I got through first time, and she confirmed that Babs would be at her mother’s house.

“Do you think your mum would mind if I went over there with Barry, and took them both out for a walk?”

“I’m sure she’d be delighted. Mum isn’t as fit as she used to be, so she struggles sometimes with taking Babs for a walk. I’ll give her a call, if you like, and let her know that you’re coming over. When were you thinking of going?”

“Right now, if that’s okay. Barry won’t stop pestering me until we do.”

“Okay, I’ll give you her address, and let her know you’re on your way over.”

Fortunately, Dorothy’s mum, Dolly, lived quite close to the park where I usually walked Barry. He was so excited that I was worried he might knock Dolly over, so I tied his lead to her gate while I went to collect Babs.

“You must be Jill.” Dolly was a plump, elderly lady with a round face and a pleasant smile.

“Yes. Did Dorothy tell you I was coming?”

“She did. She said you wanted to take Babs for a walk.”

“That’s right. If it’s okay with you?”

“Yes, of course. My old legs aren’t what they used to be, so I’m only able to take her around the block. If you can take her for a proper walk in the park, that would be wonderful. Dorothy said that you’ve got a dog too.”

“Yeah, Barry. He’s over there—look.” I pointed to the gate.

“And these two get on well, do they?”

“They do. Barry thinks Babs is his girlfriend.”

“That’s nice, dear. There you go.” She handed me Babs’ lead.

Babs was perhaps a little less excited to see Barry than he was to see her, but they both made a fuss of one another.

Barry was much better behaved when we were with Babs than when it was just the two of us. Normally, when he and I went to the park, he would strain at the lead as soon as we got through the gates. With Babs, he was quite happy to walk beside me because she did the same.

I found a bench, and let them off their leads. They went charging around the grassed area, chasing one another around and around. They played together really nicely. And surprisingly, they stayed where I could see them. Normally Barry would run off, and it could take me anything up to half an hour to find him again.

When it was eventually time for us to leave, I called them, and they both came straight away. That was definitely not something Barry would normally do.

I took Babs back to Dolly’s house, and handed her the lead.

“Why don’t you come in for a cup of tea, dear?”

“If you’re sure? Barry can be rather excitable.”

“He’ll be fine. Come on in.”

Amazingly, Babs and Barry settled down together, and began to snooze next to the fire. They’d obviously worn each other out.

“I’d like to give you something as a thank you,” Dolly said.

“There’s no need. You’ve done me a favour letting me take Babs out with us. It made the walk a much pleasanter experience.”

“Still, I really would like to do something. Would you allow me to paint your portrait?”

That took me totally by surprise.

“Portrait?”

“Yes. I’m something of an artist. Didn’t Dorothy tell you?”

“No. She never mentioned it. That would be very nice.” I quite liked the idea of having my portrait hanging on the wall in my flat. “When did you have in mind?”

“Right now, if you like.”

“Do you have time?”

“Yes, of course. Come through to my studio. It’s in the back.”

There were easels, paint brushes, and paints everywhere. Strangely, though, I couldn’t see any completed works.

“Take a seat in the corner on that wooden chair, and we’ll get started.”

“How would you like me to sit?”

“Just pose naturally, dear. Perhaps looking into the distance.”

I stared out through the window, and Dolly began to paint. I wondered how long it would take. I assumed that portraits could take several days, if not weeks to complete.

After an hour, I was beginning to feel a bit stiff.

“Is it all right if I just stretch my legs for a few minutes, Dolly?”

“Yes, of course, dear. I’m almost finished anyway.”

Huh? After only an hour?

“I’d like you to have this as a gift.”

She lifted the portrait off the easel and presented it to me.

Was this a joke? I looked at Dolly to see if she was laughing, but she seemed perfectly serious. The picture was of some kind of matchstick woman. It was the sort of thing that Lizzie would have drawn. In fact, she would have made a better job of it.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s one of my better works, I think.”

Once back at Cuppy C, Barry went straight upstairs to his bed, and was fast asleep in minutes. I unwrapped the portrait, and took another look—just to make sure it was as bad as I thought it was.

And then my phone rang.

“Jill?”

“Hi, Dorothy.”

“Did you go to see Mum?”

“Yes. I took Barry and Babs for a walk. They played very nicely together.”

“That’s great. Any time you feel like doing it again, I’m sure Mum will be only too pleased.”

“I will.” I hesitated. “There is just one thing though, Dorothy.”

“Yes?”

“Your mum offered to do my portrait while I was there.”

“Oh, no.” Dorothy laughed. “You didn’t let her, did you?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it terrible?”

“Well—”

“You can tell me, Jill. I’ve seen her paintings.”

“It wasn’t particularly good. It looked like a child had done it.”

“Yeah. She’s always doing portraits for people, and they’re always terrible. But no one has the heart to tell her. You won’t say anything, will you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Thanks. By the way, Jill, did you have a chance to look into that
other thing
?”

“Other thing?”

“The human blood thing?”

“Oh,
that
other thing.” It had completely slipped my mind. “I’m still on it. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”