by Adele Abbott
Maxwell glanced at Sushi and then at me.
“Susan. Would you mind leaving me and Ms Gooder alone for a few minutes?”
“But, Jack—” she began.
“Please. Just for a few minutes.”
She stared at him for a moment, and then glared at me. “Fine. I’ll be in the office.”
“Thanks, Susan,” Maxwell said.
“Thanks, Susan,” I mocked, once she was out of the door.
“What was that all about?” he said.
“Your stupid girlfriend is giving me grief. I thought we’d agreed we’d try to work together.”
“We did.”
“Then why, when I’m trying to bring you information, do you send out Sushi to block me?”
He laughed. “Sushi?”
“The woman is a nightmare.”
“Susan is a first rate detective.”
“Who has the hots for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Ours is a purely professional relationship.”
“Tell me again. How did you make detective? If you can’t see that she wants to get into your pants, then—”
“That’s enough. What information did you want to give to me?”
I told Maxwell that I’d discovered the victim was Jason Allan’s father. I’d recognised him in the photograph which Jason’s sister had shown me. I also told Maxwell about the rent payments.
“And Jason Allan claims he didn’t know?”
“I believe him. I saw the look on his face when I told him the murdered man was his father. He wasn’t lying.”
“Okay.” Maxwell checked his watch. “I have to get going, but thanks for bringing this to me.”
“I’m not going to keep doing this if Sushi sticks her oar in every time.”
“I’ll have a word with Susan.”
“Make it two: butt and out!”
Chapter 17
“Morning,” I said, as I walked into Cuppy C.
“Morning.” Amber smiled nervously. “If it’s about the microwave. It was Pearl’s fault.”
“It wasn’t my fault.” Pearl had seen me arrive, and had walked through from the cake counter. “You were the one who wanted bread for a sandwich!”
“You forgot it was in there!”
“I wasn’t the one who wanted a sandwich.”
“Girls, girls! Forget about it. It’s all sorted now.”
I hadn’t been quite so relaxed about it when I’d got home to discover that my kitchen smelled of charcoal. The twins had put bread from my freezer in the microwave to thaw it, but had then forgotten all about it. It had taken two cans of air freshener to get rid of the smell, and I’d had to throw out the old microwave. I might have been more annoyed, but it had been on its last legs anyway.
“We’re sorry about that other thing too.” Pearl handed me the coffee. “At the club.”
“Yeah, we’re really sorry.” Amber refused my payment. “This is on the house. It’s the least we can do.”
The three of us sat at our usual window table. “It’s no excuse,” Amber said. “But we were a little drunk.”
“No kidding.” I laughed. “Still, it was your birthday.”
“Even so, we shouldn’t have used magic like that. We could be in real trouble if anyone ever finds out.”
“They won’t hear it from me, and I don’t think you have to worry about the other people in the club. Most of them were drunk too. By the next morning, they probably thought it had all been some drunken dream.”
Cuppy C was quieter than usual. The only other customers were two vampires who were tucking into chocolate muffins.
“It’s quiet in here this morning,” I remarked.
“It was busier earlier,” Pearl said. “The morning rush is over now. It’ll pick up again in an hour or two.”
“It will if you haven’t scared them all off.” Amber glared at her sister.
“Don’t start that again!” Pearl glared back.
Here we go again.
“She tried to poison the customers.” Amber pointed an accusing finger at Pearl.
“Don’t listen to her. There was nothing wrong with those cupcakes.”
Amber began to laugh hysterically. “Nothing wrong? Apart from the shape, colour and taste you mean?” She took her phone out of her pocket, pulled up an image, and handed the phone to me. “Have you ever seen anything quite like that?”
I hadn’t. If it was a cupcake, it was like none I’d ever seen before. It was kind of cube shaped and sort of dark blue with grey specks.
“See what I mean?” Amber wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “And it tasted like—”
“At least I tried.” Pearl’s face was red with rage. “What do you ever do?”
“Not poison the customers, for a start.”
“I didn’t poison anyone.”
“Jimmy Logan bought one. I haven’t seen him since. Mrs Perry bought one. I haven’t seen her since either.”
“That’s just a coincidence,” Pearl said, with very little conviction.
“How come you baked cakes for the shop? I thought you always bought them in.”
Pearl was still looking daggers at her sister. “With the problem we’re having with Christy’s, I thought it would be better if we weren’t so dependent on outside suppliers. I thought if we could bake our own—”
“That you could kill off all our customers!” Amber laughed and then ducked just in time to avoid the muffin which Pearl had launched at her head. My muffin.
“Sorry, Jill. I’ll get you another one,” Pearl said. “She just makes me so angry.”
“It’s okay. I probably shouldn’t have ordered it anyway.” I took hold of their hands. “Look you two. This business will only succeed if you work together.”
“It’s her!” Pearl said.
“I’m not the one poisoning the customers!”
“Enough! One more word and I’ll tell everyone what happened in the club.”
Suddenly they were both focussed on me.
“You wouldn’t?”
“You promised.”
“If you don’t stop all this silly squabbling and start to work together, I will tell. Understand?”
They both nodded.
“Do you promise?”
They were still glaring at one another, but nodded.
“I need to hear you say it. Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Me too.”
“Good. That’s settled then.”
I brought the twins up-to-date on my investigation into the Christy Bakery. Not that there was much to tell. My only lead was Eddie Lingard. Something about his dismissal still didn’t ring true.
“Hello you two!” a male voice from behind me said.
The look of horror on the twins’ faces should have tipped me off, but I didn’t recognise the voice at first.
“Miles?” Amber said.
“Miles?” Pearl echoed.
“Hello, Miles.” I was the only one to greet him with a smile. “You probably don’t remember me. We met outside the school reunion.”
“Err—oh yes.”
He obviously had no idea who I was, and had eyes only for the twins.
“I thought I’d find you here,” he said. “It’s a pity you both had to rush off the other night.”
“That was a pity,” I said, as I stood up. “I have to be going. Miles, why don’t you take my seat. I’m sure you and the girls have lots to catch up on.”
Amber and Pearl glared at me. If looks could kill.
I was still sniggering to myself five minutes after leaving Cuppy C. The look on the twins’ faces when they saw Miles had been priceless.
“What are you looking so pleased with yourself about?”
The sound of her voice instantly pulled me out of my good mood.
“Grandma? I didn’t see you there.”
“Hardly surprising if you walk around with your head in the clouds. What’s amusing you?”
&nb
sp; “Oh, nothing.”
“Do you usually laugh at nothing?”
“All the time.”
“Sometimes I worry about you, young lady.”
Somehow I doubted that.
“I trust you are putting in plenty of practice for the Levels?”
“Every spare minute.”
“My reputation is at stake. I won’t be pleased if you let me down.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Hmm. I suppose that will have to do.”
“I’d better make tracks.”
“Wait. You’re supposed to be a private investigator aren’t you?”
“I’m not supposed to be. I am.”
“Well then. What’s wrong with Lucy?”
“What do you mean?”
“She doesn’t seem herself. I’m not sure what it is. Like this morning, I insulted her porridge, and she just let it go. Normally, she’d have given as good as she got.”
I knew what Grandma meant. Aunt Lucy had seemed a little subdued recently, and I thought I knew why, but I wasn’t about to tell Grandma.
“So, it’s Fester,” Grandma said.
When would I learn she could read my mind at will?
“His name is Lester.”
“Fester, that’s what I said. Has he done something to upset her? If he has, I’ll turn him into the rat he is.”
“No! No need for that. I don’t think he’s done anything, he just hasn’t been around. I’m not sure even Aunt Lucy knows why.”
“Or a cockroach.”
“You mustn’t turn him into anything. At least not until we know what’s going on.”
“Well then, Miss Investigator, you’d better go do some investigating. And if you find out he’s been messing Lucy around, just you let me know. Got it?”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
She gave me a look.
“I mean. Yes, Grandma. I’ll get straight on it.”
Well maybe not straight on it. First I had an appointment with Annie Christy, the bakery owner’s daughter. She’d called me the day before to ask if I’d meet with her away from the bakery, and had specifically requested that I didn’t mention our meeting to her mother.
We met at ‘In a Jam’, a small tea room close to the bakery. The tea room, which was obviously a competitor of Cuppy C, was even quieter than the twins’ shop. Annie Christy and I were the only customers. I’d met Annie before at her mother’s house, but only briefly. She had the air of a young professional.
“I work for SupAid,” she said. “It’s a charity. We provide financial and other aid to sups that have lost their powers.”
“Does that happen?”
“Not often, fortunately, but yes. Witches can lose their magical powers. Werewolves can lose the power to transform into wolves.”
“What about vampires?”
“They can lose their teeth.”
I must have looked puzzled because she laughed.
“I’m joking. With vampires, the issue is usually that they can no longer get the nutrients they need from blood. Whatever the problem, SupAid steps in to help.”
“And what’s your role?”
“I’m their official spokesperson. So mainly PR.”
I took a bite of my blueberry muffin. What? Why shouldn’t I have another? The one I had in Cuppy C had been thrown across the shop after I’d taken only one bite out of it. “This tastes like one of your mother’s.”
Annie smiled. “She’d be pleased you can tell. Yes, Mum’s bakery supplies most of the cake shops and tea rooms in this part of Candlefield.”
“It’s delicious,” I said through a mouthful of muffin. “Why did you want to see me?”
“I’m a little worried about the recent incidents. I wondered how your investigation was coming along.”
“Why not ask your mother?”
“I’ve tried, but she gets awfully upset every time the subject is raised.”
“I haven’t made much progress to be honest, but there are still a few leads I need to follow up on.”
“My main concern is that it may affect the sale of the business.”
“It’s for sale?”
“Didn’t Mum tell you? I’ve already found a potential buyer, but I’m worried the recent incidents might put him off.”
“Your mother never mentioned she was intending to sell the bakery.”
“She isn’t getting any younger, and I’m worried that she’ll work herself into an early grave before she has a chance to enjoy her retirement. That’s why I persuaded her to sell.”
“I see.”
I think I managed to satisfy Annie that I was doing all I could to get to the bottom of the damaged cakes mystery, and I promised to keep her, as well as her mother, updated on my investigation. I came away with the impression that she was genuinely concerned for her mother’s well-being, but I was also a little curious as to why Beryl Christy had never once mentioned the potential sale.
***
Back in Washbridge, I was about to cross the road to my offices when I spotted Gordon Armitage standing outside the building next door. He checked his watch and looked left and right along the street as though he was waiting for someone.
The light at the crossing turned green just as I spotted Zak Whiteside, the landlord of my building. I’d only met with him once when I took over the lease after my father’s death. Once seen, never forgotten, Zak Whiteside had the worst fitting toupee I’d ever seen. I could only assume that he’d bought it second-hand, and that it had originally been made for a man with a head three sizes smaller than his. It looked more like a cap resting on the top of his head. Still, it had great comedic value. Armitage had obviously been waiting for the landlord because he greeted him with a warm smile and a firm handshake. Even from this distance, I noticed Armitage’s gaze drift up to Zak’s toupee. Credit to Armitage, he somehow managed to keep a straight face.
I crossed the road, and stood outside the door to my offices. Armitage and Zak Whiteside were walking my way, and it didn’t take a genius to guess why.
Chapter 18
I ran up the stairs as fast as my legs would carry me, and yelled, “Quick!”
Poor old Mrs V almost jumped out of her skin. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to take down this line now.”
“But, I’ve nowhere else to put the socks.”
“Sorry, but the landlord is on his way up. He’s not going to be very impressed if he gets strangled by a washing line full of socks as soon as he walks through the door.”
“Okay.” Mrs V was on her feet. “I’m on it.”
“Hey, what are you doing?” Winky yelled at me when I snatched the remote control from him. “The helicopter will crash.”
“Tough!” I slammed the window closed, grabbed Winky and pushed him under the leather sofa. “Stay there and don’t move!”
“Who do you think you are?” Winky was already back out from under the sofa. “Give me the remote back!”
This was never going to work. The chances of Winky staying hidden were less than zero.
I heard voices in the outer office.
Mrs V opened the door. Standing behind her were Gordon Armitage and Zak Whiteside.
“Hello, gentlemen.” I had to force myself not to look at Zak’s toupee. “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”
Zak led Armitage inside my office. “Nice to see you again, Jill. You know Gordon Armitage?”
“Yes, we’ve met.”
“Mr Armitage has made a report which I felt I had to investigate. I’m sure you understand.”
“What kind of report?” As if I didn’t know.
“Mr Armitage says that you are keeping a cat in the office.”
“A cat?” I looked suitably shocked. “But, surely animals aren’t allowed?”
I glanced at Armitage whose eyes were darting left and right in an attempt to spot Winky.
Meanwhile, the cat in question was scratching the back of my legs. I’d cast t
he ‘hide’ spell on him just before the two men walked into my office, so they couldn’t see him. He was one angry cat, not least because his precious helicopter had almost certainly plunged to its destruction. I shook my leg to knock him off.
“Are you okay?” Zak said when he saw my leg twitch.
“Fine. Just a bit of cramp.”
Armitage was still surveying the room, trying to find any trace of the cat. Fortunately, Winky’s bowls were out of sight in the bottom drawer of my desk.
“He’s only got one eye,” Armitage said.
“Who has?” Zak looked confused.
“Her cat. The ugly brute has only got one eye.”
I felt Winky flinch at the words ‘ugly brute’. If he launched an attack on Armitage, it would be game over. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, he was still way more annoyed with me, so he continued to claw at my leg.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Jill?” Zak asked. “You look in some discomfort.”
“I’m fine thanks. I just had a little too much curry last night, I think.”
That seemed to have the desired effect.
“I think we’re done here.” Zak moved back to the door.
“She has a cat,” Armitage protested. “I saw him with my own eyes.”
“Why would I keep a cat in the office?” I smiled sweetly at Armitage.
“Thanks again for your time.” Zak led the way out.
Armitage turned to me. “This isn’t over.”
I waited until I’d heard them leave, and then reversed the ‘hide’ spell. Winky was attached to my legs with his claws.
“Get off!” I shook him off, sending him sliding across the floor. “Look what you’ve done!” I pointed to the scratch marks on the back of my legs. “I could have you arrested and thrown in cat jail for that.”
“Never mind your legs. What about my helicopter. Give me the remote.”
I threw the control at his head, but somehow he managed to catch it. He had good hands for a cat. Moments later he’d opened the window and was surveying the road for signs of wreckage.
“Lucky for you,” he said.
“I don’t feel very lucky,” I said, as I patted my poor legs with a tissue.