“Glad to hear it,” Luca said with a big smile. Dimples appeared in his cheeks and he looked far too handsome. “If you get too tired, the offer still stands.”
We left the apartment and made our way through the town. Many residents were out taking an evening stroll and they greeted us in a jovial manner. I forgot for a while that I was dealing with a murder investigation.
As we walked, I felt an awkwardness between Luca and me. The subject of Astrid was hovering in my mind and I was so tempted to mention her. I had a feeling he was thinking about her too.
Stanley must have picked up on the atmosphere because he started to tell Luca about his adventures back in our world. He told him about all the fun times he’d had as a kitten in Gran’s house, and how his brother, Oliver, had looked out for him.
Luca was soon laughing at his antics and I was amazed that Stanley had remembered so much from his earlier years. I was glad he had, though, as it made our walk a pleasant one.
“The pub is along this next lane,” Luca said.
We rounded the corner and a pub came into view. It was made of brick and looked rundown. Tiles were missing from the roof and the windows were filthy. A few goblins were sitting outside on benches and smoking pipes.
I sniffed in disgust and said, “Even if I was allowed to go in, I wouldn’t want to. It’s not at all welcoming.”
“That’s how the goblins like it,” Luca said. “Hang on, isn’t that Ulx standing at the side over there? I recognise his ears. Who’s he talking to?”
“It’s Ovrid. He’s the other bed warmer at the hotel,” I explained. “I’d forgotten you hadn’t met him yet. He’s still wearing his pyjamas and dressing gown.”
Luca squinted. “Oh, yeah. I wonder what those two are talking about? It seems like they’re having an argument.”
I gave him a shove. “Don’t just stand there. Change into your rabbit form and go and eavesdrop. There are some bushes near to them. You can hide in there.”
“Okay. There’s no need to be so bossy.” Luca quickly changed into his rabbit self and scampered away.
Stanley said to me, “ I could have hidden in the bushes and listened to them.”
“I know, but I wanted to ask you something without Luca here.” I glanced to my right and then my left. “Do you feel as if we’re being watched again? I can feel it quite strongly.”
Stanley nodded. “I’ve been aware of it since the moment we left the apartment. I’m not picking up on any immediate danger, so I think we’re safe enough at the moment.”
“This is beginning to annoy me. If Astrid is following us, I wish she’d confront us instead of spying on us.”
“She might be doing it to unnerve you.”
“It’s working. I feel on edge all the time.”
We looked back to where Ovrid and Ulx were standing. Ovrid had his arms folded and Ulx was jabbing his finger violently at him. A few seconds later, Ovrid turned on his slippered heel and walked away. Ulx shook his head at his retreating back and then went into the pub.
Luca appeared in his human self at our side. “I only caught the back end of their conversation but I heard Ovrid saying he wants Ulx to pay him as much as he paid Augustus. Ulx refused and said he wasn’t going to pay such extortionate prices ever again, and that if Ovrid had a problem with it, he could talk to the manager. Ovrid argued and said he needed extra money urgently. Ulx replied he’d had enough of others taking advantage of him and that it wasn’t going to happen again. He said he’d got rid of one problem and he wasn’t about to have another. Ovrid pleaded with him again, but Ulx told him no. Then Ovrid walked away.”
I nodded. “It sounds like Augustus was blackmailing Ulx. But over what?”
“I can find out,” Luca said. “I’ll go into the pub and talk to him.”
Stanley said, “There’s no need. He’s coming back out. He doesn’t look very happy.”
We watched Ulx as he stormed out of the pub. One of the pipe-smoking goblins sitting outside asked why he was leaving so early.
“I’m not in the mood for drinking,” Ulx scowled in reply. “I need some fresh air.”
Ulx turned left at the end of the lane and headed towards an open field.
I said, “I think it’s time I confronted Ulx and got the truth out of him.”
Luca and Stanley followed me as I went after Ulx.
I thought I was doing a good job of silently following the goblin until he suddenly whirled around and yelled, “Clear off!”
His rage startled me and I stumbled to the ground. Luca was at my side in a second. I was aware of Stanley rushing towards the goblin.
Ulx roared with rage and raced towards Stanley. He grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and flung him into the air.
Even though my heart missed a beat, my good sense stayed with me and I quickly cast my immobilising spell on Stanley. He froze in mid-air and Luca ran forwards and safely scooped Stanley into his arms. I waved my hands over Stanley to remove the spell.
I turned my anger on Ulx. “How dare you! You could have hurt him!”
Ulx snarled, “It’s your fault for creeping up on me. Why can’t everyone leave me alone? Why does everyone have to poke their noses where they’re not wanted?” His fists clenched at his side. “I’ve had enough!”
He lowered his head and zoomed towards me like a goblin cannon ball. My spell casting was quicker than his little legs and he was soon suspended in the air.
From his safe place in Luca’s arms, Stanley said, “Nice work.”
Luca warned, “Cassia, don’t go near him. Let me deal with him.”
“No. I’ll deal with him.” I stepped closer to the unmoving goblin and waved my hand in front of his mouth and cleared the magic there. “That will allow you to talk. If you start shouting or saying anything I don’t like, I’ll close your mouth again. Understand?”
All I got in reply was an angry hiss and a curse, so I closed his mouth again.
I was feeling quite confident about my magic skills until Stanley said, “Erm, Cassia, I think you’ve done something to his right ear.”
My glance went there and I was horrified to see Ulx’s ear hanging off. My hand flew to my mouth as I stared at it. Just a minute. I looked closer. Shouldn’t there be some blood or something? I moved closer to it. Something wasn’t right here. I reached out and gently wiggled the ear. It moved easily. A bit more wiggling and the ear came off in my hand.
I heard Stanley gasp in horror and then Luca said, “Stanley’s passed out.”
I held the large ear up and said to Luca, “It’s not real. It’s a false one.”
Luca came closer to examine it. “Why would he wear false ears?”
I turned the ear over in my hands. It was hollow inside. A sparkle at the bottom caught my eye. I showed it to Luca. “Is that shadowstone?”
Luca’s eyes widened. “It is. It’s only a small bit. There’s some residual shadowstone dust too.” He looked away from the ear and at me. “He’s been smuggling shadowstone out of the mine in his false ear. Check the other one.”
Stanley stirred in Luca’s arms. He came round just in time to see me whipping Ulx’s other ear off. He passed out again.
A quick examination showed that shadowstone had been inside the left ear recently.
I said to Luca, “It’s all making sense now. Augustus must have known what Ulx was doing.” I tucked the false ears under my arm, turned to Ulx and cleared the magic from his ears. His own ears were small, pointy and not at all remarkable. I then cleaned the magic from his eyes. I wanted him to see me.
I stood in front of the suspended goblin and held up his ears. His eyes widened in shock. I said, “I’ve discovered your secret. Did Augustus discover it too? Was he blackmailing you? You told other goblins you were going to get rid of something. Were you referring to Augustus? Did you kill him?”
I put the ears on the ground and then cleared Ulx’s mouth.
He spluttered, “No, I didn’t kill him! I felt like i
t many a time, though. Yes, he discovered my secret. He found traces of the shadowstone on my pillow one night and hid under my bed. He saw me take my ears off and the stones fell out. He said he wouldn’t tell anyone if I paid him well. But he got greedy. He demanded more and more. I decided to give him one last payment, a huge one, to get rid of him forever. He agreed to it. I was going to pay him this morning. I don’t need to now with him being dead.”
I studied the goblin. I couldn’t tell if he was being truthful or not. I said, “How long have you been smuggling stones out of the mine?”
“A while. We all do it. The owner of the mine knows about it. We give him a cut of our profits to keep him quiet. I don’t see the problem with it.”
Luca said sternly, “I do. It’s illegal. The shadowstone belongs to the town. I’ll make sure charges are brought against you for this.”
Ulx’s gaze slid away from Luca and he mumbled, “I didn’t see you there.”
I continued, “We saw you talking to Ovrid just now. Does he know about the smuggling? Is he trying to blackmail you too?”
“No, he doesn’t know. I do know Augustus bragged to Ovrid about how much money he was getting from me. Most of it was blackmail money. I’m not going through that again. No one’s going to blackmail me again.”
Luca said, “No, they won’t because you won’t be continuing with your smuggling activities. I’ll see to that.”
“Spoilsport,” Ulx muttered. He looked directly at me. “I didn’t kill Augustus. I was at the mine when he died. You can check. If anyone had a motive to kill Augustus, it’s Ovrid. He’s in desperate need of money. I heard him asking Jeff Collins for more work.”
“Why does he need the money?” I asked.
“Who knows? Ask him. Are you going to let me out of this trap? I haven’t done anything wrong.” His attention went to Luca. “Yeah, apart from the smuggling thing. It’s a perk of the job. Any miner will tell you that.”
“Save your excuses for later,” Luca replied. “Cassia, once you’ve set this criminal free, I’ll take him away, lock him up and start making a record of his smuggling crimes.”
“Thanks.” I waved my hands over Ulx and he dropped to the ground. He indicated with his head towards his false ears. “Can I have them back?”
“No,” Luca replied for me. “They’re evidence.” He said to me, “Here, you’d better have Stanley back before I walk away with him. I’ll catch up with you later.” He put my sleeping friend in my arms.
I cuddled Stanley. I had one more question for Ulx. “Apart from Ovrid, can you think of anyone else who wanted Augustus out of the way?”
Ulx’s face creased in disgust. “Augustus was a lazy, smelly creature who never did a hard day’s work in his life. He annoyed everyone.” His disgust cleared. “But he was good at warming my bed. I’ll miss him.”
On that note, he was led away by Luca. The false ears were tucked firmly under Luca’s arm.
Stanley stirred and he opened his eyes. “I daren’t look at Ulx. Have any other body parts fallen off? Is he a goblin jigsaw scattered on the ground?”
“No. He’s fine. How are you?”
“A bit woozy. I’ll be okay in a minute. What did I miss?”
Chapter 22
It was too late to question anyone else, so Stanley and I headed back to the apartment. Despite us both having naps earlier, we quickly fell into a deep sleep.
I was woken up the next morning by the sound of the vacuum cleaner being moved around the living room. My sleepy brain thought that if a burglar was ransacking the apartment, at least they had the decency to clean up after themselves. I quickly came to my senses and decided, thief or not, I should investigate. I pulled the bedcover back, but then I heard the mumble of voices which I recognised. I returned the cover to its original position over my body and snuggled deeper into my bed.
A few minutes later, the vacuum cleaner stopped and I heard voices talking again. Soon after that, someone came into my bedroom with something that smelled delicious.
I pulled myself into a seated position and smiled at my visitor. “Morning, Brin. Why are you cleaning the apartment? Not that I don’t appreciate it.”
Brin put the tray she was carrying on my lap and pulled a chair close to the bed. She climbed onto it and sat down, her legs dangled halfway down the front of the chair. She said, “I needed to apologise, and cleaning your apartment is my way of doing that. I saw Luca last night. He brought Ulx to Blythe’s house and explained about the smuggling. Luca also told me about your spell locating Augustus’ life force going wrong. He said you almost died. Is that true?” Her eyes glistened with tears.
“It was touch and go for a while,” I admitted. “But everything’s okay now.” I looked down at the tray. “Thank you for this. I love scrambled egg on toast.”
Brin wiped away a tear. “Cassia, don’t make light of it. I’ve spoken to Stanley this morning. He told me what happened to you in Augustus’ bed. I shouldn’t have asked you to do that spell. Or I should have been with you when you did it. I’m sorry, so very sorry.”
I picked up my knife and fork and made a start on the breakfast. “It’s okay. I have to make mistakes. It’s all part of the learning process. I’m sure Blythe and Gran have made many mistakes. Honestly, Brin, it’s okay. You’ve got enough to worry about without adding me to the mixture. Speaking of which, how’s Blythe this morning?” I scooped a concoction of buttery toast and fluffy eggs into my mouth.
Brin’s smile was wobbly as she wiped another tear away. “You don’t have to change the subject. And you can’t stop me worrying about you.”
“Tell me about it!” Stanley declared as he padded into the bedroom. He leapt onto the bed and settled at my side. He looked at Brin and added, “I worry about Cassia all the time. Why do you think my fur’s so grey?”
I tried to give him an indignant look, but it was hard to do with my cheeks bulging with food.
Brin said, “Blythe is much better this morning. She’s almost fully recovered. She said she’ll be ready to speak to you later. She kept nagging me to tell her what’s been happening while she’s been sleeping. I did so, and now she knows about the murder. She wants to talk to you about it.”
I swallowed the food and said, “We’ll go and see her later. This breakfast is delicious.”
Brin gave me a tight smile.
I put my knife and fork down. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”
She waved her hand at my tray. “Carry on eating. I met Dilly at the market this morning. We were both there for cleaning supplies. Dilly said she’d seen you and Stanley at the hotel last night.”
Stanley said, “It wasn’t us. We went to see Ulx and then came straight back here. It’s those imposters again. What did they do this time?”
Brin continued, “Dilly knew it wasn’t you and Cassia. She said whoever was pretending to be Cassia had a hard look in their eyes, and your fur, Stanley, was a darker shade of grey. Dilly knew straight away it wasn’t you two.”
I picked up my cup of tea and said, “What were they doing in the hotel?”
“They were both using the spa facilities. The Cassia version of you was in the Jacuzzi drinking wine. Stanley, your version was having their nails painted.”
Stanley spluttered, “Nails painted! I’ve never had my nails painted in my entire life!” He let out a little growl. “Whoever is impersonating me is ruining my reputation. We have to stop them.”
Brin said, “That’s not the worst of it. Brin said the Cassia last night was bragging about being too busy to deal with the murder of a goblin. She said goblins are hideous creatures who should have been run out of Brimstone years ago. She was glad there was one less goblin in the town, and it was time to celebrate. She raised her glass at that. Someone asked if she was going to find out who murdered Augustus. She replied no, but if she did find them, she would congratulate them and ask them to get rid of more goblins.”
I pushed my half-eaten food to one side. I’d lost
my appetite. “Brin, how many guests heard her saying that?”
“Enough.” Brin gave me a grim look. “The news of what this person said has been spreading like wildfire all over town this morning. It’s probably already reached the goblin community and Mrs Stez.”
Stanley stamped his paw on the bedcover. “This isn’t acceptable! It wasn’t Cassia who said those evil things!”
“I know that,” Brin said. “To be fair, most of the town knows that too. You have a lot of support out there. But the residents are worried that you can’t control whoever this person is. They think you should use magic to find them.”
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think you should let them do what they have to. Then you will find out what their motive is. Do you have any idea who it could be?”
I put my hand on Stanley as a warning for him not to say anything. I said, “I have my suspicions, but I’ll keep them to myself for now.”
Brin gave me a long look before saying, “I respect that. Just be careful. If you need my help, just ask for it.”
“I will. Thank you. How was Dilly when you saw her this morning? I’m worried about her. She looked tired when we saw her yesterday.”
Brin nodded. “I’m worried about her too. She always was a hard worker, but she never seems to stop now. She told me she was going to approach the imposters last night and get them to admit the truth. But Jeff Collins came along and ordered her to get back to work. She tried to tell him what was going on, but he wouldn’t listen. She said he was in a terrible mood. I think she’s scared of him.”
“I want to speak to Jeff again,” I said. “I’ll make that a priority. I don’t like the idea of Dilly being frightened.”
Brin pushed herself off the chair. “Luca told me you intend to get Augustus’ body back.”
I nodded.
“Be careful, Cassia. Mrs Stez goes out of control when she loses her temper. If she’s heard what the imposter was saying last night, she’ll be out for blood. You won’t be able to reason with her. Don’t forget that you can use spells to protect yourself.” She patted my hand. “No matter what you say, I do worry about you.”
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