Witch Silenced in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  She smiled. “It’s okay. We weren’t that close, but Mum took me to see him a few times, and she’d always check his gold watch was in the drawer. They left it there because it was the only thing that could calm him sometimes.”

  “Okay, but she didn’t accuse me of stealing anything, and she certainly didn’t search me.” I knew Millicent was just looking at every angle, but that didn’t change the fact that I didn’t like that woman.

  “Right. We’ll check her out, but what’s the last page you have?”

  “This is an orderly, according to the sheet.” I handed it to her. “He was pushing a patient down the hallway when I was there. I said hello, and he gave me a nod. I would think he’s a one or two out of ten. He didn’t seem angry or dodgy.” I shrugged. “I’m only giving him a rating because he’s there and has opportunity, but nothing about him screamed ‘murderer.’”

  “They don’t always have a murderer tattoo on their forehead.” Millicent laughed. “That would make our job way too easy.” Millicent picked up her desk phone and dialled. “Hi, Tim. Yes. I need everything you can get me on these three.” She waved her arm, and all the sheets of paper disappeared. “I’ll have more for you later, but that’s it for this afternoon. If you can get the lot on them, I’d appreciate it…. Okay… thanks. Bye.” She hung up.

  “What about this pile?”

  “I’ll rank them in order of importance based on what they do at the care home. As far as your work here, I think you’re done for today. You can go home if you like. Will’s going to call you later about tomorrow. He’s going to run you through protocol and operations in our surveillance van.”

  My heart rate kicked up, and it was nothing to do with being alone in a van with Agent Crankypants. Ma’am was going undercover soon, and she was going to die. My forehead tensed.

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay, Lily.” Millicent gave me a reassuring smile. “Ma’am can look after herself, and your magic may not be telling you the whole story. There’s probably a good explanation for the photograph.” I could tell by her falsely happy tone of voice that she didn’t believe her words either.

  I shook my head slowly. “I don’t like this one bit. We have to do everything we can to make sure she’s not in there a minute longer than necessary.”

  Olivia looked up from her work. “I’m working as fast as I can, and I’m sure everyone else is too. Try not to worry. There’s no use stressing, at least until she’s in the care home. She’s fine right now.”

  What if I was wrong? What if she wasn’t going to die in the care home. What if she didn’t even make it that far? My eyes widened.

  Millicent wrinkled her brow. “What’s wrong, Lily?”

  “What if she dies in a car accident, or on another assignment before then? My magic is never wrong.” I swallowed. This was horrible. My magic was more trouble than it was worth. There was nothing I could do. Tears scalded my eyes, and I gritted my teeth. Feeling helpless sucked big time.

  No one answered, but by the look in their eyes, I knew they felt just as I did.

  “I need to go for a run. I’m going to go home and get changed, then I’m going to travel to Brighton and jog along the coast. I’ll call you when I’m back home in about forty minutes.”

  “Are you okay without protection?” Olivia asked.

  “Yes. If I travel, whoever’s after me won’t have any way to track where I’ve gone.”

  Olivia looked at Millicent.

  “Yes, Liv. Lily will be fine.” Millicent turned to me. “But I will send someone to look for you if you don’t call in at”—she checked the time on her phone—“four. Okay?”

  “Done. I’ll see you later.” I travelled home, changed into my running gear, and grabbed a bottle of water and earbuds. Next was to travel to the public toilets closest to Brighton Palace Pier. I built my door and set my coordinates. Within two seconds, I was there. I switched my music on and hurried out.

  Ah, the sea air. The familiar salty tang soothed my nerves, and I soon got into a pleasant rhythm: one, two, three, breathe in; one, two, three, breathe out. I passed the pier and kept going.

  The sun shone through the high, fluffy white clouds. It was the perfect afternoon for a run, and I grinned, momentarily pushing thoughts of Angelica’s potential demise away. How was it that I could travel from place to place within seconds? What a miracle that I could be in Westerham one moment, Brighton the next, and even Paris if I wanted. I’d already taken Olivia there once for lunch, but it tired me out a fair bit, so I wasn’t going to take her again until I was stronger. Plus, the further from home I went, the harder it would be to get help if the snake people managed to figure out where I was and came after me.

  I savoured each beat of my joggers against the concrete… until ten minutes later when my music cut out, and my phone rang. Damn.

  I pressed the button to answer it, slowing my legs to a walk. “Hello,” I said on an exhale before sucking some air into my greedy lungs.

  “Hey, Lily. It’s Will.”

  “Oh, your number didn’t come up on my phone.”

  “I’m calling from the PIB landline. Sounds like I’ve got you all worked up.” He snickered.

  “Ha! You wish. I was just running. You’re interrupting my sanity-retrieval time.”

  “That’s what they all say.” I could hear his smirk. I rolled my eyes. It was a shame he couldn’t see it.

  “Yeah, yeah. Dream on.” I grinned. He probably wasn’t far from the truth—if I hadn’t already been running, he would have at least caused my heart rate to increase. But I would never admit that to him. His head was big enough as it was. “So, why are you bothering me this afternoon?” It was my turn to smirk.

  “Bothering you? Oh, I thought you enjoyed hearing from me.” Gah, was he pouting? I swear his voice was the most expressive one I’d ever heard.

  “Of course I do. I was just joking. But seriously, why did you call?”

  “Ha! I knew it. I was just joking too. I know you love hearing from me. I’m awesome.”

  “You idiot.” I shook my head and wiped sweat off my brow with the back of my hand. “Please just tell me why you called, or I’m going to have to hang up so I can get back to my run. I have to be back at work soon.”

  “That’s why I’m calling. Millicent asked me to show you the surveillance van this afternoon. Things are moving quicker than we thought.”

  My pleasant afternoon went to hell, and my stomach dropped. I didn’t want to ask, but I had no choice. “When does she go in?”

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  And just like that, everything I’d wanted to forget came rushing back.

  Chapter 8

  After going home and showering, I was back at the PIB in a lift with Will as it descended into the bowels of the organisation. Who came up with that description anyway? Like anyone wants to go into stinky poo-covered tunnels that end in getting squeezed out of someone’s—

  “So, I’ll show you how everything works. It’s really neat equipment.”

  “Ah, yeah. Sounds good.”

  We stepped out into an underground car park, the grey starkness broken only by white parking-space lines and overhead fluorescent lighting. Yep, it was a car park like any other. About thirty metres from the lift sat a white van. That was a surprise. For some reason, I imagined it would be black. Probably because everyone wore black uniforms, and in the movies, spy cars—and bad-guy cars, come to think of it—were black. But white made more sense. It had Brian’s Plumbing on the side in blue text, the apostrophe in the shape of a drip. Nice.

  Will pressed the button to unlock it, and the blinkers flashed. He opened the side sliding door. “After you, m’lady.”

  I grinned. “You’re such a gentleman.” I stepped inside.

  It was empty, except for a large toolbox and a handful of pipes along the opposite side to the door. It really was a plumber’s van.

  “What the hell? Does the surveillance comprise of us looking out the window? Bec
ause if that’s the case, I know why Ma’am’s going to die.” I almost choked on the last word. Dammit! Why wouldn’t she listen and do this a different way?

  “Patience, young grasshopper. All will be revealed.” He jumped in and shut the door. As soon as it closed, desks, three fixed chairs, keyboards, and several monitors appeared, and the pipes disappeared. The toolbox, however, stayed.

  I started, my hand flying to my chest. “Holy Witchnannigans, Batman! Where did all that come from?”

  “It was here but invisible. It’s a spell that hides the van’s contents for when we’re getting in and out. It’s not much of a surveillance van if passers-by can see all our equipment.”

  “What’s in the toolbox?”

  He gave me a wary look. “Stuff that you can’t touch. It’s for the other agents in the van. There will probably be four of us at any given time.” He pointed at the yellow and black box, and the lid opened, revealing four handguns and ammunition. Holy hell.

  “Ah, yeah. Can you move it out of the way? I’m likely to trip on it and somehow shoot myself.”

  He laughed. “They’re not loaded. We’re not amateurs.”

  “Nice to know. So how does all this work?”

  He sat in front of one of the monitors and indicated I should sit next to him. I conjured a notebook and pen because there was no way I was going to remember everything, and it was a good thing I had. For the rest of the afternoon, he ran me through the systems until I thought my head would explode.

  “That’s it.” He must have noticed the horrified look on my face. He smiled. “Hey, it’s okay. No one expects you to be an expert after one day, or even one week, and that’s why you’ll be observing, more than anything. You’ll just need to be extra watchful. And alert one of the other agents if something’s going down, and Ma’am’s in danger.” He laid his hand on mine and squeezed.

  Was it hot in here? I swear someone had cranked up the heat. His hand was warm. The sensation of his skin against mine had my pulse racing. He cleared his throat and licked his bottom lip; his pupils dilated. At least I wasn’t the only one.

  “Why don’t I take you out for dinner, Lily? It’s been a long day, and tomorrow is going to be even worse.”

  “Oh my God! You don’t think they’ll kill Angelica tomorrow, do you?” The cosiness of moments ago disappeared, and it was as if the van was getting smaller in a claustrophobic, coffin way. I jumped up and hopped out. Then I started for the lift.

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” He hurried after me and stood in front of me, stopping my progress. He put his large hands on my shoulders and looked down into my eyes. “Maybe whatever your magic is trying to tell you isn’t what you think? I won’t believe she’s going to die until the moment it happens and there’s no denying it. We live with the reality every day on the job, to be honest. You just have to block it out and keep going. Everything will be okay. I promise.”

  I shook my head. “You can’t promise that, Will. I appreciate you for trying. I’m not really that hungry, but I could go for some sort of food; otherwise I’ll be hungry later. Stupid stomach.” I gave him a weak smile.

  “That’s my Aussie witch.” He ran the back of his fingers down my cheek, and I inhaled a shaky breath. The things that man could do without even trying. I was in so much trouble. “I’ll just shut the van. Then we’ll go get some food.”

  As good as the company was, and as yummy as dinner tasted, it wasn’t enough to stop the freak out from messing up my brain. Tomorrow, for good or ill, it would start. The beginning of the end for Angelica, and I didn’t know how I would get through it. It brought back terrible memories of when my parents disappeared, the grief of their loss never truly disappearing.

  Angelica was like a favourite aunt to me, and if something happened to her, it would break my heart. And as much as I knew it wasn’t my fault, I would blame myself for not figuring out a way to stop her from going through with her plans. There had to be a better way, surely.

  Will had taken me to a quaint pub for dinner—The Stanhope Arms. It was full, the raucous cheer of happily dining and imbibing patrons making it hard to have a conversation, which was fine with me; I wasn’t much in the mood for talking. He’d taken me there because he knew the coordinates for the church next door. We landed on St Martin’s Church Brasted, hidden by the stone crenellations surrounding the clock-tower rooftop.

  Evening had dimmed the already-grey sky. Will had cast a no-notice spell on himself and peered over. When he was sure the coast was clear, we travelled to the ground behind the church. From there, it was a short distance past the gravestones to the pub.

  After dinner, he paid the bill, and we wandered back to the church. Past the crooked gravestones. Normally, I’d be interested to read them, see how the people died, how old they’d been, but tonight, they just reminded me of death and the fact that Angelica would soon have one of her own.

  Once we were behind the tower, out of sight, Will enveloped me in his arms. I sank into him, breathed in his scent, and took comfort. “It will all work out, Lily. And if it doesn’t, I’m here for you. Okay?”

  When I looked up at him, tears clouded my eyes. He wiped an errant teardrop from my cheek with his thumb. I tried to steady my voice. “Thanks. And I’m here for you too. I know this whole thing hasn’t been easy, with your gran.”

  He said nothing, leant his face close to mine, and placed a sweet kiss on my lips. Adrenaline shot through my system, warming my stomach. His lips were so soft and warm. I barely registered the croak of frogs that surrounded us as his tongue parted my lips. Oh, dear God. So this was our first kiss. Next to a graveyard, or were we actually in one? Funnily enough, that didn’t bother me. I was too busy. And it didn’t make it any less enjoyable. Did that make me a weirdo? Probably, but I didn’t care.

  He finally pulled back, both of us breathing harder than was normal. He grinned, and I couldn’t help returning it. “Bye, Lily. See you tomorrow. You go first.”

  He obviously meant travel home first. That was the equivalent of a guy dropping you home and waiting till you went inside before he drove away. “Night.” I made my doorway and stepped into Angelica’s reception room, my head still floating from that kiss. Guilt bopped me on the head, bringing me back to Earth a bit. How could the most wonderful thing and the most horrible thing be happening at the same time? I mean, Angelica wasn’t dead yet—that I knew—but the impending event cast darkness over everything. As much as I wanted to not worry till it happened, I knew my magic was never wrong. Stressing about a foregone conclusion was unavoidable.

  I showered, set my phone alarm, and went to bed, the dread of tomorrow ensuring I didn’t sleep much, so when I got up at 7:30 a.m. the next morning, my eyes were grainy, and I wanted to curl up on the floor and go back to sleep.

  Angelica and Olivia were already at the table having breakfast when I walked into the kitchen. “Coffee, dear? You look rather tired.” A full mug appeared at my usual spot at the table.

  I sat and inhaled before taking a sip. I enjoyed the sensation as it slid down to warm my tummy. “Thanks, Angelica. What time do you go in?”

  She looked at her watch. “At nine. Beren’s coming to pick me up, and we’re going in the normal way because of the anti-magic shield on the care home.”

  “Is all your surveillance stuff ready?”

  She nodded and pointed to her diamante earrings—a solitary diamond glinting out of each setting. Although they could have been crystal. It didn’t really matter. “These transmit video, and the teddy will transmit video and audio. We did away with the hearing aids because getting video is more important.” She held out her hands, and the teddy appeared between them.

  Olivia finished her mouthful of cereal and said, “I hear you had dinner with Will last night. How did it go?” Her smile was mischievous.

  “How did you know? Word travels fast around here.”

  “Beren told me. I was wondering where you’d got to. Angelica and I ended up getting delive
ry at the office.”

  “Delivery of what? Isn’t the organisation supposed to be fairly secret?”

  “Chinese.” She grinned. “It was so yummy. There’s a restaurant run by witches about twenty minutes away. They pop in and out via the normal PIB reception room.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. Is there a list of witch-run businesses? You never know when that would come in handy.”

  A notebook appeared on the table. “There you go, dear,” Angelica said. “That’s just for businesses between here and London.”

  I flipped through the pages. “There’s a lot more than I thought. Are there any clubs for witches to get together? What about dating sites?”

  “No.” Angelica drained her teacup of the last two sips. “It would draw attention to us. Also, non-witches might like to join since we can’t say it’s a club for witches, and they would be refused for no good reason. It would just create trouble.”

  “Bummer.” I had another sip of coffee. “Have you got any last-minute instructions? Or maybe you’ve changed your mind about going undercover?” I tensed, waiting for her rebuke.

  She shook her head. “What am I going to do with you, Lily? I have to do my job, and what kind of leader would I be if I sent my agents where I feared to tread? We know the risks of our job, and we face them willingly. Now, no more questions. James can fill you in on anything we haven’t covered. I have to rehearse my Alzheimer’s performance. I’ve spent the last two days reading everything I can and becoming acquainted with the person I need to be.”

  While Angelica zoned out, I poured myself some cereal and milk. I’d only half finished, but I couldn’t force down another bite. I sighed. Olivia shook her head at me. “Hey, Lily, why don’t you go get dressed? Will is expecting you in the surveillance van by eight thirty. Here are the coordinates.” She pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and handed it to me.

  “Thanks, Liv. What are you doing today?”

  “I’m backup at headquarters, and I’m still gathering all the info on everyone who works there. Tim’s got stuff left to get too. When we’re done, we’ll send you everything. Once we’ve all had time to think about it, James is going to call a meeting.” She patted my arm. “We’re all doing everything we can. We’re going to catch this killer, and Ma’am’s going to be fine.”