Witch Silenced in Westerham
Paranormal Investigation Bureau 5
Dionne Lister
Copyright © 2019 by Dionne Lister
ISBN 978-0-6483489-5-5
Ebook Edition
Cover art by Robert Baird
Content edit by Becky at Hot Tree Editing
Line edit by Chryse Wymer
All rights reserved.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or school assignment.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
To one of my best friends, Debra D. Has it really been that long since we finished school together? Thanks for sticking by me and reading my books. You’re awesome. Text me. I think it’s time we had another catch up and coffee.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
About the Author
Also by Dionne Lister
Chapter 1
The cloying odour of disinfectant did its best to overpower the stench of human waste lurking somewhere in the building. Somewhere close. The smell forced its way past the inadequate protection of my vigilant hand. I had to remind myself I was here to support Will, and running back the way we’d come wasn’t what a good support person would do. It wasn’t even the behaviour of an adequate support person, and surely, I could at least be adequate. That’s the spirit, Lily. Aim high.
Will’s fist hovered in front of the door before dropping to his side for the third time. His inability to knock on the door was starting to worry me. I squeezed his hand but didn’t offer any words. I’d never been faced with the tragedy of having a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and I had no right to tell him it would be okay. If it were easy, we would have been in with his grandmother already, rather than standing in the corridor of the Saint Catherine Laboure Care Home for over five minutes, breathing in its unfortunate bouquet.
I took my hand off my nose and mouth. “Do you want me to go in and see how she is first?” Argh, the stink. I was such a baby. I put my hand back again before I gagged. It was hard having a sensitive nose.
“No. I’m sorry. It’s just… I have no idea how she’ll be. Two weeks ago, she knew who I was, but last week and a month ago, she thought I was her husband.” He sighed. “My grandfather died twenty years ago.” I’d learned a lot about Will in the six weeks we’d been dating, and even though I hadn’t met his parents yet—I was putting that off as long as possible—he insisted I meet his gran, which made sense because who knew how much longer she’d be around. She was ninety-two, after all.
This time, I left my hand over my nose and mouth and mumbled through it. I was sure he could see the emotion in my eyes. “I know it hurts, but even if she doesn’t know who you are, at least you’ve made her happy. She probably enjoys having company, even if she doesn’t really know who it is. You’ll regret it if you don’t go in and make her happy.”
Will looked down at me and snorted. “You’re such an idiot.”
I widened my eyes in fake horror. “Oh my God, who told you?”
He laughed, which meant my work here was done. I hated seeing him sad. “Okay, then. Let’s get you out of this corridor before the fumes kill the few brain cells you have left.” He knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for a “come in.”
The room was small but not tiny. It was what you’d expect if you walked into a hospital room: white walls, a metal bed, a side table that looked like a mini filing cabinet, and two metal chairs with beige vinyl over the seat and back—not very attractive, but if someone had an accident, the chair would live to see another day.
His grandmother was a slender, long-limbed woman. Sitting on top of the covers of her neatly made bed, her legs were stretched out in front of her. She watched the TV that hung on the opposite wall. Her bedspread broke with the clinical theme of the room and added a splash of colour with blue and yellow flowers and multi-coloured butterflies. She wore light-grey slacks, with a distinct straight crease down the front, a fuchsia button-down shirt, and a stylish scarf around her neck with more vibrant butterflies.
As soon as she laid eyes on her grandson, her face blossomed with joy. “Oh, Frank, you came to see me!”
Will’s shoulders sagged, but he quickly turned his frown into a tight smile, his forehead lines firmly in place. I guessed today was not a good day for her. “Of course I came to see you.” He went to the side of the bed, leaned down, and kissed her cheek.
She gently patted his face. “I get so few visitors. It will be wonderful when I can get out of here. I’m so glad you could come.” She turned to me. “And who’s this?”
“This is my friend, Lily. We work together. Lily, this is Edith.” He probably couldn’t introduce me as his girlfriend because Frank, whoever he was, was probably married. We didn’t want to upset her.
“Hi. Lovely to meet you.” I gave her my brightest smile. Her skin was wrinkled, her hair white, but her eyes were the same blue as Will’s, albeit a bit duller.
She returned my smile. “Please, have a seat.” Other than not recognising Will and thinking she was going to leave here soon, she seemed fine. Her accent was suitably British and refined, her speech clear. She picked up the TV remote and switched the TV off.
Will sat in the chair closest to the bedhead, and I sat in the chair next to him. Edith fussed with the scarf. “So, Lily, what do you do at the factory? Are you Frank’s new secretary?”
“Ah… yes. I am. He’s lovely to work for, when he isn’t grumpy.” I winked at her. She laughed, and Will gave me a “you’re going to cop it later” look. I did wonder if Frank was his grandfather or a cousin, maybe an uncle.
She turned to her grandson. “How are Elspeth and the boys?”
“They’re doing well, thanks. What about you? Have you been okay?”
“Other than the terrible food, and the ward against magic use, I’m fine. I don’t know why they won’t let us use our magic. And why can’t I go home? They healed my pneumonia as soon as I got here.”
“They’re worried it might come back. The weather’s been terrible, and so many illnesses are going around.” He avoided answering her question about the ward against magic use. I could just imagine the disasters a bunch of demented witches could conjure. It was sad she didn’t even realise why she was here. Or maybe that was a good thing. Ignorance could be bliss.
“How are Elspeth and the boys?” She smiled.
Will and I shared a glance. I gave him my sympathetic face. I wished I could give him a hug because he definitely needed one, but I didn’t want to upset her, although she’d probably forget “Frank” and his secretary were having an affair the moment we left.
Will forced another smile. “They’re good, thanks. How was your art class yesterday?”
She looked at him blankly. Alzheimer’s was brutal. My heart broke for Will and his grandmother. Will leaned over and took her hand. “They must have called it off.”
Edith stared into space for a mome
nt. “Yes. They had to call it off because Queen Elizabeth visited.”
Wanting to give Will a break, I said, “That must have been exciting. Did you get to meet her?” Why not play into the fantasy, if that made her happy? The truth didn’t matter.
She smiled again. “Oh, yes. But only for a moment. She gave me a chocolate. Apparently she gave everyone one for being good patients. She also said that one day soon, witches will be able to announce they’re here. We won’t have to hide anymore. Won’t that be wonderful?”
“That would be incredible.” I smiled.
Her smile vanished. “But after the Queen left, Arnold came into my room to play cards, and before we had the game set-up, he collapsed. They came and took him away and won’t tell me what happened to him.”
Will turned to me. “Arnold is one of Edith’s best friends here. They play cards quite often.” He turned back to Edith. “I’ll find out what happened and let you know. Okay?”
“Thank you, Frank.” She shut her eyes for a minute, then opened them again. “Do you mind coming back later? I’m tired.”
“Of course.” He stood and bent to kiss her forehead. “I’ll see you soon. Get some rest.” He blinked, his expression soft, eyes glistening.
She gave me a sleepy smile. “It was lovely to meet you. Do you work with Frank?”
I smiled again, but my heart weighed a little bit more than when I’d come in. I couldn’t help but wonder if James and I would have had to go through this one day if my parents had still been around. Having more years with them would definitely be worth this pain, not that I’d say that to Will. His despair was valid and hard for me to watch. “Yes. It was lovely to meet you, Edith. I hope you have a good nap.”
Will put his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the door. Once we were in the hallway, he dropped his hand and shut the door. I started down the hallway, but only one set of footsteps tapped against the floor. I stopped and turned. Will stood in front of her door, staring at the ground. Should I go and comfort him, or did he need alone time? We’d only had a few dates since we’d decided to try things together because the PIB had been crazy busy after the Piranha disaster. I didn’t know him nearly as well as I wanted.
He looked up and gave me a close-mouthed attempt at a smile. I tilted my head to the side. “Ready to go?”
“Yes, but just give me a minute. I’ll find out what happened to Edith’s friend.” He approached me, and I went with him to the lift. Will punched the six-number code into the keypad. The care home was almost as hard to get in and out of as a prison.
I sighed.
“What’s up?” Will was such a sweetie. He had enough to worry about, yet he was still tuned into me.
“Nothing major. It’s just sad that people’s lives, everything they’ve done, all the relationships they’ve had, are wiped, reduced to nothing, as if it never happened. They lose their freedom and who they are. It’s like they die before they’re dead.” I frowned. “Dementia’s horrible. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.” I stared into his eyes. “I wish I could take your pain away and make your grandmother better.”
The elevator dinged and opened. We stepped in.
“Trust me. Beren’s tried. But this stuff is beyond healing. Magic doesn’t work on it.”
The doors closed, and the lift descended one floor to ground level. “Why not?”
“We have a theory, but it’s too complicated to explain in two minutes. We can talk about it another time if you like.”
I shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
He stepped out of the lift. I followed him down the corridor to a green door that had Manager on a golden metal plate on the front. He knocked.
“Come in,” a male voice called out.
Will opened the door and gestured for me to enter first—such a gentleman. I walked into a utilitarian space, which didn’t exactly scream “manager”. Grey vinyl floors, cream-coloured walls, a brown desk with three square-looking purple fabric armchairs. A purple pen holder sat between a purple stapler and a purple coffee cup on his desk. The purple piece that grabbed most of my attention, however, was the Great-Dane-sized Dino the Dinosaur sitting to his right. The cartoon character stared at me over the desk.
That was unexpected. I got my face under control—stunned mullet was not a good expression when meeting someone for the first time—and smiled at the short, slender man sitting next to his dinosaur. He stood, his wavy salt-and-pepper hair dishevelled and in stark contrast to his wrinkle-free white shirt and peacock-blue tie.
He removed his glasses and let them dangle from a purple chain around his neck. Someone had a favourite colour. I bet if we got him to take his trousers off, he’d have purple undies. I tried to contain my laughter and ended up executing a half snort.
“Can I help you?” His tone was filled with all the enthusiasm of a sports-hating introvert who’d been told they’d have to attend a victory party for the local cricket team. There would be only drunk cricket fanatics at said party, except for the sport-hating introvert who didn’t drink.
Will stood next to me. We were too far from the table for him to reach over and shake the manager’s hand, so he placed his hand on my back. You wouldn’t hear any complaints from me. “I’m William Blakesley, Edith’s grandson. This is my friend Lily.”
I smiled. The manager raised his eyebrows. I dropped my smile and furrowed my brow. What the hell was his problem? Sheesh.
Will stood straighter. “My grandmother mentioned one of her friends wasn’t well yesterday, and I told her I’d find out if he was okay.”
“And who was this friend of hers? Not an imaginary one, I hope.” He finally smiled—well actually, it was more of a smirk. What a di—
“No, it’s a real person. Arnold.”
“Ah, yes, Arnold. He died last night. It happens. They’re all very old. Now, if there was nothing else you needed, I have a mountain of work to get through.”
Other than the purple paraphernalia, his desk had a computer on it and two sheets of paper. It didn’t look like there was a mountain of anything in here, except his crummy attitude, and the colour purple.
Will was more gracious than I would have been when he said, “Thanks for your time.” He turned and went to the door, opened it for me, and followed me through before shutting it firmly.
“Wow, what a horrible little man.”
“I know. I should have warned you. He took over this job a year ago. He’s all about efficiency and cutting costs. Gran still seems to be getting everything she needs, and she’s happy enough, so we’ve kept her here. Plus, there aren’t many nursing homes for witches. There’s one in London, which is always full and has a waiting list, and then there’s one at Brighton, and that’s popular too. They’re the closest.” We made it to the front door, and Will put in another code. The doors slid open, and we went to his car.
“But why does that matter? You can travel there and back.”
“You have to go to an ‘in area’ one. We had those three to choose from, and it was the one she could get into first that she ended up at.” He opened the Range Rover door for me, and I got in.
“But what if they’re all full? What do you do then?”
He got in, shut the door, and started the car. “Make the best of it until you can get a place. It’s not that bad. You can look after them at home using magic, and there are ward spells you can use to keep them contained.”
“Still, that’s not an ideal situation.”
He pulled out into the street. “No, and those spells take a lot of energy. The care home pays eight witches. It takes two to keep the spell intact, and they do ten-hour shifts.”
“When are you going to tell Edith her friend is dead?”
“Next time I’m there, but she might already know by then.” He sighed, and my phone rang.
I pulled it out of my bag. Angelica’s name flashed on the screen. “Hi. What’s up?” She never called just to say hello, and now that she was pretty much runn
ing the PIB after Drake was killed, she was all about work, not that she hadn’t been before, but if she’d had ten minutes a day to talk about other stuff, she didn’t now.
“Meeting at James’s tonight, seven sharp. Please tell Will and bring Olivia.”
“Will do. Is that all?”
“Yes, dear. See you then. Bye.”
William glanced my way before concentrating on the road again. “Anything exciting?”
“Meeting at my brother’s tonight about my parents. You’re included. It starts at seven sharp.”
He grinned. “I’ll be there on time. How are you going with that? Sorry I haven’t been around to help.”
“That’s okay. You have enough to do. Witchface left a mess at headquarters.” Dana had made changes at the PIB that had to be undone, and the crime she’d helped perpetrate—turning people into violent lunatics with contaminated tea—was still costing time and resources. Every assault had to be documented and witnesses interviewed so they could present the full list of crimes to the court when the time came for Gabriel to go on trial. A warrant was out for Agent Lam’s arrest, but she’d disappeared, probably being hidden by the same group who’d tried to kidnap me when I first arrived in the UK, the same group we think orchestrated the disappearance of my parents.
My best friend, Olivia, was helping the PIB team deal with it. It was her first assignment since starting her new job. She liaised between the non-witch police and the PIB. And now she was going to help us find this super-secret witch group, I hoped.
“Tonight’s our first meeting.” I bit my fingernail and looked out the window. It was such a bad habit—biting my fingernails, that is, although when I was at school, looking out the window daydreaming was something I also got in trouble for. When I was nervous, biting my nails was my go-to thing. I figured if that was my worst habit, I was doing okay.
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