Raven (A Very British Witch Book 4)

by Isobella Crowley

  Placing her hand on Raven’s head, a thought turned Scarlett’s expression solemn. “Okay, joking aside, there’s a serious point to be considered here.”

  Tarquin looked at her quizzically. “What’s that?”

  “I just think there’s a bit of a moral dilemma here. Is it right to forge some paperwork and have her subjected to a whole load of depraved acts, just because it suits us?”

  Raven stood up. “Well, I have no problem with that. Suits me fine.”

  Tarquin echoed Scarlett’s words. “I think Scarlett has a point here. Even though we all know she’s guilty, is it right to put her through all this? Even criminals have rights.” He paused for moment and sighed. “Although it is unfortunate for Vixen, ultimately, I don’t think we have much choice. She is a murderer after all and this is a small injustice compared to having Raven be punished for something she didn’t do.”

  She shook her head. “I disagree. I won’t allow it to happen.” Though Scarlett valued her friends more than anything, she felt a sense of justice burn brightly inside her. Something told her that if they went ahead with this, and she didn’t do her utmost to stop them, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself for a long time.

  On the other hand, she’d come to think of Raven as a close friend and she’d done everything within her powers to convince people of her innocence. She’d stood by her, despite the mountain of evidence that had stacked up against her. She’d maintained her faith in her friend, even when everyone else had begun to doubt her. If she didn’t stand by her now, then what was it all for? Would a true friend go to such lengths to prove someone’s innocence, only to back out when the going got tough?

  It was a face-off between her loyalty to her friends and her belief that justice should be served no matter what. The question was, which of these underlying beliefs meant the most to her?

  Raven brushed against the side of Scarlett’s leg. “Come on Scarlett, don’t back out now. Not after everything you went through to prove my innocence.”

  Scarlett continued to stare at the floor, deep in thought.

  Raven persisted. “You know me, Scarlett. You know that I’m fundamentally a good person. Can you say the same about Vixen?”

  “Justice doesn’t care about who is the nicest person. First impressions can be deceptive,” Scarlett said matter-of-factly.

  Tim nodded. “First impressions are usually deceptive.”

  Raven scampered back to the other side of the room. “This is a conspiracy, that’s what this is.”

  Tarquin spoke up. “I think Raven’s right. I think we should let Tim take care of it.”

  Scarlett gasped. “Well, I‘m surprised at you, Tarquin. And here’s me thinking you were a man of principle.”

  “I am a man of principle, Scarlett, but… ”

  Scarlett submerged herself into her own internal battle. Her friends were all certain that they should turn Vixen in, and she really didn’t want to go against them. Nor did she want to be the one that would be, ultimately, responsible for sending Raven to prison.

  Loyalty was a big part of her, something she’d always prided herself in. If she went against Raven now, something about her would be forever different. She might even end up an outcast, without any friends at all.

  The trouble was, her sense of justice was just as important to her. If she pushed it conveniently to one side, she might still have her friends, but she wouldn’t be the same person. She might end up hating herself.

  It was obvious that something had to give. The question was, which of the two alternatives was going to be the least damaging?

  The talking stopped, allowing Tabitha to make another contribution. “There is something else that no one’s thought of. Something that’s been overlooked.”

  Tarquin leaned forward. “What’s that?”

  “Vixen is a witch. A pretty powerful one too, by all accounts. So even if you were to lock her up, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to contain her. And when she gets out, she’ll be after her revenge. On us all.”

  Tim looked at her. “But she’ll be in a secure cage, designed for people like her. Surely it will be able to hold her.”

  Tabitha shook her head dismissively. “No, I don’t think you’ll be able to stop her breaking out, no matter how secure the cage is. Not long term.”

  Another round of intense thought followed, while everyone tried to think of yet another solution to their problem. Scarlett, however, had her own agenda to sort out first. Vixen was a witch. A nasty, twisted one, at that. She could do all kinds of damage to a whole bunch of people. She might even be practicing black magic.

  If Vixen was behind bars they’d be eliminating a risk to the public at large, but Scarlett remained unconvinced that any cage would even hold her. If she was going to succeed in persuading the others though, she was going to have to come up with a credible alternative of her own.

  With the issue finally sorted in her mind, Scarlett moved on to the question of how best to contain her. “Can’t we use another spell? To stop her running off and making a nuisance of herself?”

  Tabitha looked up, then smiled wearily at Tarquin. “A spell? Another one? Well, I suppose we could give it a try.” She shot another glance at Tarquin who placed his hand on her arm. She smiled at him. “Tarquin, what do you think? Do you have the strength for one more?”

  Tarquin nodded. “I’ll need some time, I’m rather drained.”

  Tabitha sighed. “Me too, old friend, let’s give it a go in a little while.”

  For a moment there was silence. Noticing the way everyone appeared to be deep in thought, Scarlett observed that Tim looked like he had something a bit more specific on his mind. “Tim, you okay?”

  “What? Me? Oh yes, you know—just thinking things through.”

  She nodded. “I think we all were. You look like there’s something specific on your mind, though.”

  “Do I?”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “Oh, well, there’s no pulling the wool over your eyes, Scarlett Slater, is there?”

  She smiled, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

  “Whatever we tell them, the police are going to take a lot of convincing to take our story seriously. I was just trying to work out how I was going to present our case.”

  Scarlett liked the way he said our case, like he’d been fully amalgamated into the group. “I’m sure you’ll find a way. You always do.”

  Tim got to his feet. “I’ve just got to go back to my car and make an important phone call. You don’t need me here right now anyway, do you?”

  Tabitha shook her head. “No, you go on, Tim. Make your call.”

  Tim left the flat and hurried down the stairs to the main door. For some reason, despite everything he’d seen and done over the course of his work, he found this building creepy. The dark, humid air clung to his face as he raced down towards the exit.

  The door swung open and the cold air engulfed him. In no time at all, the humidity was but a distant memory. Walking across to his car, he felt the need to rub his shoulders several times.

  The thud of the car door was still reverberating when he extracted his phone from his inside pocket. Phone in hand, and without any external pressure, he gave the matter a moment’s thought.

  He was about to phone his superiors and tell them a story for which he had absolutely no concrete evidence. At least nothing he could show them. The only thing he had to go on was his gut instinct, which, despite everything he’d learned, was telling him that Raven was innocent. The problem was, his superiors wouldn’t see it like that. If he just spun them a yarn, which, essentially, was what he was about to do, in the end, it would resurface. He’d have to be at his very best to pull this one off. Perhaps the best he’d ever been.

  The question for Tim, therefore, was could he make a convincing case relying on his charm and powers of persuasion alone? Because if he couldn’t, there was no point in making the call. He’d have to pull off a flawles
s performance.

  He looked through the side window at the outline of the moon and the sinking sun. By the time the moon had won the battle for supremacy, he would be back in the flat, waiting for the police or even pitching his case to them, hoping he could convince them to take the theory seriously.

  Of course, if he had the civilian police handle this, that would mean one less creature in the Moseley torture chambers of the special facility. He’d have to take his chances. And who knows, maybe Tabitha and Tarquin can do some kind of binding spell to keep her behind bars.

  Hi hit send on his phone. It rang a few times before someone responded.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, this is Flight Lieutenant Clarke.”

  “Good evening, sir.”

  “Could you put me through to Wing Commander Gregory’s office please?”

  “One moment.”

  The line crackled then started to ring. “Hello, Gregory here.”

  “It’s Tim.”

  “Tim, good to hear from you at last. Was just about to start filing a missing persons report.” He chuckled.

  “No, no. I’ve been following a line of investigation, sir. I could do with some police presence.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, I don’t suppose there’ll be a problem there.”

  “It’s very imp—”

  “No, no, I’ll take your word for it.”

  Tim felt a rush of self-confidence.

  “Give me the address and I’ll send some of the boys ‘round straight away.”

  “Very good, sir. Got a pen?”

  “Yes. Go on, fire away.”

  Tim gave him the address.

  “Right, you stay put. I’ll get them to come out right away. Should be no more than ten minutes, tops.”

  “Very good, sir. Thank you.”

  “Not a problem, Clarke. Not a problem.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  McMillan’s Flat, Market Square, Bicester

  They all sat in silence for a minute, listening to Tim’s footsteps descend the stairs. Tarquin was the first to speak. “So, what does everyone make of that? It looks like, finally, the situation could be drawing to a close.”

  Tabitha looked at him, smiling. “And not a moment too soon.”

  Something was bothering Scarlett. She felt like they’d uncovered the surface of the crime, but the foundations were still unresolved. If they didn’t go about this properly, it might come back to bite them in the end. “Just one thing,” she said, glancing at each of them in turn. “How did the military get hold of Raven in the first place?”

  Tarquin stroked his chin. “Good point. I think everyone had overlooked that little mystery.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement. All except Raven, who shook her head and said, “That’s a mystery to me too.”

  Scarlett rose to her feet. “I’ve had an idea.”

  Everyone focused on her, waiting to be enlightened.

  “Let’s get Vixen in here. See what she knows.”

  Raven grinned and sprung to life. “Great idea.” She headed towards the door.

  Cliff stood up to follow her. “No, Raven. Come back. I’ll go. I think you’re a bit too—involved and besides, she looks like she has a nasty streak in her.”

  Raven turned around and returned to the living room. “You can say that again, Cliff.”

  Scarlett tried to picture the scene as she waited, just in case things turned nasty. She tried to get into Cliff’s mind to work out what he would do to defend himself, how he would react if Vixen flew at him, scratching, biting, hissing, and digging her nails into his face. He would most likely fend her off, letting her cut his hands to ribbons as he pushed her onto the bed. But then he might turn his back on her and—

  The bedroom door flew open and they all turned toward the source of the commotion. In no time at all, Cliff appeared at the doorway dragging Vixen along with him. “Come on, get in here.” He looked about as close to losing his temper as Scarlett had ever seen him.

  Cliff led Vixen to the center of the room, told her to sit and urged everyone to move their chairs around her.

  Raven was the first to let loose. “How could you do it?”

  Vixen shrugged. “He deserved it.”

  Raven shook her head. “How can you say that?”

  “What kind of pathetic man chooses to live alone? After his girlfriend has gone and turned herself into a cat?” She cackled.

  Raven arched her back, fur standing on edge, ready to strike.

  Scarlett reached across to soothe Raven. “Easy now. You won’t achieve anything by losing your temper with her, however much you’re provoked.”

  Raven eased back and slumped down, sulking and muttering to herself.

  Vixen appeared to be reveling in the attention. “He told me over and over how much he loved me.” She glanced at Raven. “Oh, he couldn’t stand the sight of you. He was using you, love. I was the one he–”

  Raven got to her feet. “Right, that’s it. Let’s have this out here and now, just you and me.” She took a step towards Vixen, arched her back and hissed in her face.

  Tabitha rose and reached down to grab Raven by the scruff before she did something to complicate the situation even further. She went instantly limp, but it didn’t stop her from yowling angrily. “Come on. With me.”

  “What?! Where are we going?”

  “To the other room. Cliff was right, you’re too involved.”

  “Fine! Let go of me first.” Tabitha did, and after turning to glare at Vixen, Raven trotted behind Tabitha towards the bedroom.

  Scarlett coughed to clear her throat. “Now then… Vixen.”

  Vixen fixed her with a steely gaze. “What?”

  “What I don’t understand is, how Raven got caught to begin with?”

  Vixen shrugged. “What makes you think I know?”

  “Call it a hunch.”

  “Well, I don’t know a thing. And if I did, what makes you think I’d tell you?”

  Cliff leaned forward, clearly exasperated with her. “Come on, just tell us what we want to know and be done with it, will you? We haven’t got all day.” He crept even closer and put this arm around her shoulder. “Come on, it’ll be okay. You’ll feel much better for it, once it’s out in the open.”

  She looked at Cliff. “You think so?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Well, okay then.”

  Cliff looked at Scarlett. “It’s over to you.”

  She put on the face she wore when haggling over the price of wine with suppliers. “So, Vixen, I’ll ask you again. Are you going to tell us about how Raven got caught?”

  Vixen sat up straight and grinned. “Well, here’s something that will come as a shock to you all… ”

  They all leaned in. “What?”

  “I killed McMillan.” She looked at Scarlett. “You got the spell right, love. Well done.” She held out her arms, wrists together as if bound. “It’s a fair cop.”

  She smiled through gritted teeth and muttered, “Well, thank you, Abel Magwitch.” She watched Vixen struggling to comprehend the Great Expectations reference, with a certain amount of smugness. “Tell us something we didn’t know.”

  “So, here’s something your little spell overlooked. When I’d done it, I took the dagger with me to plant it on Raven.” Vixen scowled at the floor. “Bitch.”

  Scarlett shook her head and pretended she hadn’t heard Vixen’s mutterings. “And just how did you know where she lived?”

  Vixen sighed. “Talk about a dog with a bone. I followed her one day. I waited outside until she left Robert’s, then I followed her home. That’s how I knew where she lived.”

  Scarlett looked at the floor. “Obviously,” she whispered to herself.

  Vixen grinned. “Yes, it was obvious, wasn’t it? To anyone with half a brain, anyway. Honestly, call yourself a witch? You do us all down.”

  She refused to take the bait. “So, you were stalking her, is that what you’re saying?”

>   “Well… stalking, that’s one way of putting it, I suppose.” She cheered and started clapping. “Well done, you got there in the end. It was on my way there that I had the idea.”

  Scarlett felt her blanket of patience slipping away. “What idea?”

  “To solve my problems, well two of them to be precise.”

  Scarlett took another deep breath. “We’re waiting.”

  “I always knew the military was on my trail, right from the start. Then, I discovered they put something in my drink. That was how they managed to trace me,” Vixen cackled, “and they told me as much afterward, thinking I was too helpless to do anything about it, idiots.”

  “But I knew that it was radiation, because I am smart,” she tapped her temple, “I managed to get my hands on a Geiger counter from one of the labs in Oxford and used it to find out what type of radiation it was.” She glanced at Scarlett. “Yes, radiation comes in many different forms, you know.”

  Scarlett smiled through gritted teeth, but managed to bite her tongue.

  Vixen continued. “So I did some research and stole some from a lab that’s local to me. Had it ready for when I found me a fall person.” She laughed.

  “So when I decided to frame Raven for murder, I realized I could take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.”

  Scarlett knitted her brow. “How so?”

  “I knew that some time or other, Raven would come back and have a drink. So I dosed everything. All the drinks in her flat. Because then, once she’d quenched her thirst, the unsuspecting cow would be emitting an even stronger signal than the one I was emitting, and all their equipment would lead them to her instead of me.” She grinned at each of them in turn. “Genius or what?”

  “So I left the dagger, stole the handwriting samples and went on my way. But from that moment on, I managed to maintain a pretty constant watch on the flat. Nothing escaped my attention.

  “When Raven showed up, she was in cat form like she is now. As soon as I saw her, I knew something wasn’t right. I couldn’t work out why she wouldn’t just continue living her pathetic life in human form. Unless—she was trying to avoid being banged up for her boyfriend’s death.