Witch Is When I Said Goodbye (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 10) (16 page)

“Thanks, Jill, you’re a life-saver.”

I really should get one of those fancy to-do apps. My memory wasn’t as good as—err—something or other.

Chapter 20

I didn’t want to run the risk of forgetting about Dorothy’s
little problem
again, so I contacted Alan, Pearl’s fiancé, and asked if I could have a few words in private. He was understandably intrigued, but readily agreed.

When I told him about the issue Dorothy had been struggling with since she moved to Washbridge, he didn’t seem at all surprised. Apparently it was quite a common problem. Unlike most other sups who transitioned to the human world with relative ease, vampires often found it quite a struggle. For a vampire who had lived for twenty years or more in the sup world, and who had been used to only synthetic blood, suddenly being surrounded by humans could prove to be very difficult. That’s why more vampires failed to integrate into the human world than any of the other sups.

None of this was very encouraging for Dorothy.

Alan was able to give me one piece of advice though. He had friends who’d had similar problems when they’d moved to the human world. They’d visited a support group called
‘No Fangs’
. In every case, the support group had helped them to get through that initial, difficult period. Before he left, Alan gave me the name of a contact at the local Washbridge branch of No Fangs.

I called them, and spoke to a man called Declan De Stein. He was quite surprised to be contacted by a witch. Most of his calls, understandably, came from vampires. I explained the situation: that I had a friend, a vampire, who was struggling to resist human blood. I told him that before I recommended his support group, I wondered if I might sit in on a session. He was obviously a little surprised by my request, but said he could see no reason why I shouldn’t attend as an observer. Their next meeting was that same night, so I said I’d see him there later.

***

I’d changed into my black suit because I needed to look the part for my visit to Beele Casino. It was mid-morning when I arrived there. As I’d expected, the doors were locked. A sign in the window showed the opening hours were midday to four a.m. every day.

I pressed the button on the intercom, and a few seconds later a man’s voice answered.

“We’re closed.”

“D.I. Lane. Washbridge Police. Open the door, please.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to see Craig Beele.”

“Hold on.”

The line went silent, but then a few minutes later, a man built like a tank opened the door. The badge on his breast pocket read ‘Security’.

“Follow me.” He growled.

The casino was deserted except for a few cleaning staff. The man-tank led me to an office at the back of the building. Behind the desk was a man with black, slicked-back hair; he was wearing a gold ring, which was shaped like a kangaroo. If you were to check the word ‘slime’ in the dictionary, you’d probably find a picture of this man.

“Craig Beele?” I said, in my best police officer voice.

“What do you want?”

“As Jack Maxwell is on gardening leave, I’ve been assigned to your case.”

“My case? There is no case. It’s been closed. You’d better go back and check your records.”

“No need. This case is very much alive, and I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“There’s obviously been a mistake. I was told officially that all investigations into myself and the casino have now ended.”

“Told officially by who?”

His face flushed red with anger. “I don’t have to answer your questions.”

“Who told you the case was closed?” I pressed.

“I’m not talking to you or any other police officer unless my solicitor is present.”

“In that case, I must ask you and your solicitor to report to the station later today. Ask for D.I. Lane.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“I’ll expect you later.”

He mumbled something under his breath, and then gestured for the security man to escort me out. Once outside, I quickly made my way around the back of the casino. I’d mapped out the building in my mind, so it was relatively easy to position myself directly outside Beele’s office.

It didn’t surprise me to discover that he was already on the phone, and courtesy of the ‘listen’ spell, I was able to hear every word he said.

“What’s going on?” he yelled down the phone. “I thought you’d sorted this out?”

I could hear his footsteps as he paced back and forth across the room.

“You can’t have, can you? I just had a visit from some stuck-up little cow of a copper.”

Stuck-up little cow? What a charmer.

“Just now. I can’t remember—D.I. Pain or Lane or something.”

Something crashed against the wall. He was throwing things about now. Perhaps I’d upset him?

“You’d better get your backside down here, and sharpish. I’m paying you enough. I don’t expect to have to do your work for you. I don’t care! Get over here now!”

With that, Beele ended the call. That had been exactly the response I’d hoped for.

The pillars of the building opposite provided ample cover while I waited. Fifteen minutes later, a car pulled up outside the casino.

Yes! Just as I’d expected.

I made myself invisible, and followed the man into the casino. He made a beeline for Beele’s office. Once there, I switched on the digital recorder which was in my pocket.

***

“Jill? I wasn’t expecting to see you.” I’d turned up at Jack’s flat unannounced.

“Nice joggers, Jack.” I couldn’t hide my grin.

Blaze would have approved of Maxwell’s luminous green jogging bottoms.

“They were a present from my auntie.”

“Doesn’t she like you?”

“Did you come here just to insult my clothes or was there another reason?”

“If you ask me in, I might tell you.”

“Sorry.” He stepped aside. “Come in. Do you want a drink?”

“Not right now. I need to talk to you about your suspension.”

His demeanour changed immediately. “I’ve told you already. I don’t want you getting involved. Internal Affairs will—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Internal Affairs will sort it out.”

“I mean it, Jill. Keep out of it.”

“Whoops! Too late, I’m afraid.”

“What have you done now?”

“Sit down, and I’ll tell you.”

“I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what you’ve been up to.”

“Sit down, please.”

“I’m okay standing.”

“You are the most exasperating man!”

“Coming from you, that’s pretty rich. Now, will you tell me what you’ve done?”

“Listen to this.”

I took the digital recorder out of my pocket and pressed ‘play’.

“What’s going on?”

“That’s Craig Beele.” Maxwell stared at the recorder.

“What did you say her name was?”

“That’s Tom. What is this, Jill?”

“Just listen. I’ll answer your questions afterwards.

“I told you. She said her name was D.I. Pain or Lane.”

“We don’t have a D.I. Pain or Lane.”

“Well, I didn’t dream her up. She was standing right where you are less than thirty minutes ago.”

“What did she say?”

“That she wanted to ask me questions about my case. My case! You told me that it had been closed.”

“It has. I closed it as soon as I got Maxwell thrown off the job.”

“Well, it looks like someone has re-opened it.”

“That’s impossible. I’d know.”

“What are you going to do about it? She wants me down at the station later today with my solicitor.”

“Don’t do anything. Not until I find out what’s going on.”

“You’d better do that, and fast. I didn’t pay you all that money to have to deal with this.”

“I’ll get it sorted.”

“Phone me when you have.”

“I can’t believe it.” Maxwell said. “Tom? Why would he do this to me?”

“He’s screwed you over right and proper. I don’t need two guesses who planted the cash in your car.”

“He and I are meant to be friends.”

“You know what they say. With friends like him—”

“How did you get this?”

“I have my methods.”

“I told you to stay out of it.” He pulled me close. “Thanks for ignoring me.” Then he planted a kiss on my lips. I was so shocked that I hardly had time to respond before he’d pulled away.

“I have to go,” he said.

“Where?”

“It’s time I had a few words with Internal Affairs.” He grabbed the digital recorder. “And with Tom Hawk.”

“One word of advice, if I may?” I shouted after him.

“What’s that?”

“Change out of those joggers first.”

***

With a bit of luck, Jack would be back at his desk soon. That was one less thing for me to worry about. But he hadn’t been the only man playing on my mind.

Ever since I’d bumped into my father at the Fleur Hotel, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head. Before that day, it had been quite easy for me to push him to the back of my mind; he hadn’t seemed real. But now I’d actually met him, it was much more difficult. In the end, I succumbed to what was probably no more than curiosity, and called the number on the card that he’d given me. He sounded both surprised and pleased to hear from me. We arranged to meet in the late afternoon of the following day in a small coffee shop called Caffeine Cellar.

***

The No Fangs meeting was being held in a disused chapel, in a seedy area of Washbridge. Declan met me at the door, and said he’d informed the other members of the group that I’d be attending the meeting. No-one had any objections provided I was there merely to observe, and didn’t try to participate. I readily agreed.

“It’s all very informal.” He led me through to what was obviously the main room. It was very cold inside, and quite dark too. There were eight or nine vampires, a mix of men and women, sitting in a circle. As I walked in, I could feel their eyes on me.

“Take a seat over there, Jill.”

After I joined them in the circle, Declan took his seat. “Okay everyone, before we start today’s meeting, this is Jill Gooder who I told you about earlier.”

They all glanced at me, and for some reason, I suddenly felt very uneasy.

“We don’t get many other kinds of sups in here, but Jill asked if she could check out what we do, and report back to a vampire friend of hers who’s having the usual struggles. So please make her welcome.”

A couple of them said ‘hi’, and smiled at me. As they did, I could see their fangs. That was quite unusual; vampires usually managed to hide their fangs in public. I was feeling more and more uncomfortable.

“Okay. Let’s kick things off,” Declan said. “Marcia, how have things been with you this week?”

“Not so good really, Declan. I was doing okay, but then I had to take the bus because my car was being serviced. I sat next to this young human. It was terrible. His blood—I could almost taste it! All I could think of was sinking my fangs into his neck.”

“It’s okay, Marcia, we’ve all been there. Hopefully, you managed to resist?”

“I did, Declan. I had a bottle of synthetic in my pocket, so I took a quick drink of that. He probably thought it was blackcurrant juice. I got off the bus a couple of stops early; the walk helped to clear my head.”

“You did very well, Marcia. Didn’t she, everyone?”

They all nodded and smiled in approval, but then all eyes were back on me again. And now
everyone’s
fangs were showing. What was going on? I’d assumed they were only interested in human blood, but I had a horrible feeling that they no longer saw me as an observer, more as a meal.

“Okay, Declan, thanks for letting me sit in.” I stood up. “I think I’ve seen enough.”

“But we’ve only just started.”

“Yeah, no, it’s fine. It seems like you’re doing an excellent job. I’ll be happy to recommend that my friend attends. Can she come next week?”

“Yes, of course. Tell her to pop in.”

“Okay.” I began to back slowly towards the door. I half expected one of them to break ranks, and chase after me.

Phew! I was glad to get out of there. I’d never had the slightest concern about vampires before, but then I’d never been alone in a room full of them.

I called Dorothy.

“About your little problem.”

“Did you come up with anything?” I could hear the hope in her voice.

“Yeah. There’s a group which meets once a week in Washbridge called No Fangs.”

“Seriously?”

“Terrible name, I know. It’s for vampires like you who are struggling to resist the temptation of human blood.”