by Adele Abbott
“Jill?” A tall, slim woman with red, frizzy hair was standing next to my table. She was wearing a pinafore dress covered in a pattern made up of tiny lollipops. “It is you, isn’t it?”
“I’m Jill Gooder.”
“I knew it was you. You haven’t changed a bit.”
I had zero idea who the woman with the squeaky, high-pitched voice was.
“Sorry, I—err—”
“It’s Lolly.”
“Lolly?” And then the penny dropped—with a ginormous clang. “Lolly Jolly?”
“That’s right. It’s so lovely to see you again.” She reached down and gave me a big hug.
Lolly Jolly had been our next-door neighbour when we were kids. Kathy and I used to do our best to avoid her because she was so annoying. I hadn’t seen her in years.
“I didn’t realise you still lived around here, Lolly.”
“I’ve lived in London for the last ten years, but I’ve just moved back.”
“I’d love to stop and chat, but there’s somewhere I have to be.” I stood up.
“What about your muffin?”
“I’m not as hungry as I thought. Anyway, lovely to see you.”
“Does Kathy still live in Washbridge?”
“Yes. She’s married now with two kids.”
“What about you?”
“I’m with someone, too.”
“Kids?”
“Me? No.” I checked my watch. “Sorry, I must rush.”
“Okay. Nice to see you again, Jill. I’ll make sure to look you and Kathy up.”
Great!
Chapter 8
On the day that Robbie Riddle had gone missing, he’d told his fiancée that he was meeting Lionel Longfellow. I’d arranged to meet with Lionel at Pixie Beans—the same coffee shop where I’d spoken with Maddy May. Once again, I’d had to shrink myself in order to get inside.
“I understand that you and Robbie were good friends?”
“Best friends, I’d say. I’ve known Robbie since I was a kid. Did you know that he’d asked me to be his best man?”
“Yeah, Maddy mentioned it. I assume you know that Robbie told Maddy that he was meeting you on the day he disappeared?”
“Yes, but I can’t think why he said that.”
“If you’re covering for him, now would be a good time to tell me.”
“I’m not! I honestly have no idea why he would have told her that.”
“Presumably, because he didn’t want Maddy to know what he was really doing, or where he was going.”
“I suppose so.”
“And you have no idea where that might have been?”
“I honestly don’t have a clue. Look, Robbie and I are great friends, but to be completely honest with you, he isn’t the most exciting pixie in the world. He’s only interested in three things: Maddy, PixieBall and the human world.”
“What’s PixieBall?”
“Think soccer, but on a much smaller scale.”
“Maddy did mention his interest in the human world.”
“I’m not surprised. He’s always banging on about it. I don’t see the attraction myself, but Robbie is completely obsessed. He reads and watches everything he can find about it. He really envies the full-sized sups who can travel back and forth between here and the human world without any problems.”
“Do you think it’s possible he might have gone there?”
“No way. Robbie would have loved to, but he isn’t stupid enough to run that risk. How long do you think a six-inch tall pixie would last there before someone noticed? I don’t know where he is, but I’m pretty sure you can rule out the human world.”
***
In order to escape Lolly Jolly, I’d been forced to abandon my muffin in Coffee Triangle, so I felt entitled to take a muffin-break in Cuppy C.
“A cup of tea and one of your finest blueberry muffins please, Pearl.”
“Would that be a mini muffin?”
“What do you think?” I glanced around the shop. “Where’s Amber?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s top secret.”
“Now, I really want to know. Come on, you can tell me.”
“Okay, but we don’t want this to get out until we’re ready to launch. You know what Miles Best is like. He’ll steal our idea.”
“Please tell me you two haven’t come up with another hare-brained scheme. I thought you’d agreed that you should focus on the core services, and not keep getting distracted.”
“We’re not changing anything here in the shop, I promise. Are you sure you want to see?”
“Definitely.”
Pearl called one of her assistants over from the cake shop and then led me to the back door.
“Just wait there, Jill. I won’t be a minute.” She slipped out of the door.
What on earth were the twins up to this time? Despite Pearl’s words of reassurance, I wasn’t optimistic.
“You can come outside now, Jill.” Pearl’s voice sounded slightly muffled.
I stepped out into the narrow alleyway that ran behind the shop. Standing in front of me were two figures dressed in leathers—one yellow and the other pink. They were both wearing crash helmets with the visors down. Next to them, was a pair of motor scooters—again one yellow, the other pink.
“What do you think?” the yellow biker said. She sounded an awful lot like Amber.
“I like the colours, but what’s this all about?”
“Deliveries, of course,” Pearl, the pink biker, said.
“You’re going to start a delivery service for Cuppy C?”
“Come on, Jill.” Amber raised the visor on her helmet. “Even you have to admit that this is pure genius.”
“No other tea room or cake shop offers this service.” Pearl removed her helmet, and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Did it ever occur to either of you that there might be a reason for that?”
“It’s because no one else has our vision,” Amber said, proudly.
“Yeah.” Pearl nodded. “We’re breaking new ground.”
“Or, just maybe—” I glanced again at the scooters. “Everyone else has realised that it’s not cost-effective to offer a delivery service for a tea room. Or a cake shop.”
“Rubbish! People will love it.” Pearl opened the lid of the plastic box which was directly behind the seat. “We’ve had special takeaway menus printed.” She handed me one of the tri-folds.
“Cuppy C U Soon?”
“Catchy, isn’t it?” Amber said. “I thought of that.”
I studied the menu. “The prices are exactly the same as in the shop.”
“That’s only fair,” Pearl said. “We didn’t think it was right to charge more.”
“I assume you’ll levy a separate delivery charge?”
“We can’t do that.” Amber shook her head. “That wouldn’t be fair either.”
“I don’t see any mention of a minimum order on here.”
“That’s because there isn’t one.”
“What if someone orders a single cup of tea, or just one cupcake?”
“No one is going to do that.” Pearl sounded exasperated at my questioning.
“Yeah,” Amber said. “We’re going to open up a whole new market with this venture. We’ll probably double our takings.”
“What do you think, Jill?” Pearl asked. “Be honest.”
Although she’d said I should be honest, I knew the twins well enough to know that’s not what they really wanted. They wanted me to tell them that I thought it was a brilliant idea, but I had my integrity to think of. I wasn’t going to say something if I didn’t mean it.
“I think it’s great. I’m sure it will do really well.”
What? Who are you calling a hypocrite?
***
Back at my office, Mrs V was still engrossed in her knitting.
“Any messages, Mrs V?”
“Nothing for you, but Jules did call with some news.”
“Oh?”
“Apparently, that young man of hers—what’s his name?”
“Gilbert.”
“Of course. He’s got himself a new job. Jules sounded delighted.”
“That’s great news. What will he be doing?”
“She did tell me, but I didn’t really understand it. Something about testing soft hair, I think.”
“Soft hair?”
“That’s what she said.”
“Whatever it is, it must be better than peddling that awful Magical Skincare.”
“Winky! What’s going on?”
He was sitting on the sofa. In front of him, snaking across my office, was a line of cats.
He obviously hadn’t heard me, so I started towards the sofa.
“Hey, you!” A Siamese cat called out. “There’s a queue here, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Sorry, I just need a word with Winky.”
“Next!” Winky said, without looking up.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded.
“You’re holding up the queue.”
“And I’ll keep holding it up until I know what this is all about.”
“They’re here to sign up for a subscription to Moonlight Gym. Now, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“I do mind, actually. I mind very much. I told you that you can’t use my office as a gym.”
“And I told you that I have no intention of doing that. You have my solemn word that I won’t be using this office.”
“I’m supposed to take your word for that, am I?”
“If I’m lying, then you need never buy me salmon again.”
“Oh?” That took me by surprise. There was no way Winky would make that promise unless he was actually telling the truth. Maybe he was renting premises elsewhere?
“Come on, lady!” A Persian cat yelled. “Get out of the way!”
While Winky was processing all the membership subscriptions, I busied myself researching the death at Rice Brothers. The cold storage business had been founded in the 1970s by Ronald Rice. After his death, the business had passed to his three sons: Douglas, Gordon and Jordan. Douglas Rice had been found dead in the freezer by his brother Gordon. According to the news articles I’d read, it had apparently been a tragic accident. It seemed that Douglas had fallen, banged his head, rendering himself unconscious, and had frozen to death. Amy Rice, however, was adamant that this had been no accident.
I would need to take a look around the cold storage unit, and speak to the other two brothers.
My phone rang.
“Kathy?”
“Your grandmother said you called in to see me?”
“I’m amazed she passed the message on. Are you on a break?”
“No. I finished an hour early.”
“Grandma said you could go early?”
“I’ve barely stopped all day, but things started to slow down about half an hour ago, so I told her that unless she let me finish early today, she wouldn’t see me tomorrow.”
“That was brave of you.”
“I know, but it worked. What was it you wanted?”
“Are you on your way home?”
“I’m already back.”
“I’ve had enough for today, too. Why don’t I pop over there now?”
“Okay. I’ll get the kettle on.”
“And break out the custard creams. Preferably not soggy ones, this time.”
I’d no sooner finished on the call than the room suddenly became colder, and I could sense a ghost was about to appear. Could it be Lenny again? Probably not because he was so small that he didn’t usually have a noticeable effect on the temperature.
“Colonel? Nice to see you. Where’s Priscilla?”
“Visiting her sister. She recently passed over, so Cilla is showing her the ropes.”
“I was actually just on my way out.”
“Sorry. This won’t take a minute. I have problems with the house again, I’m afraid.”
“What’s Murray Murray up to now?”
“Nothing. The new owner is a delight. He hasn’t given us a moment’s trouble since you carried out the ‘exorcism’.”
“What’s wrong, then?”
“We have ghost problems.”
Huh? “Sorry, I don’t follow.”
“Another ghost has moved in. Without being invited, I might add.”
“Is it someone you know?”
“No. The bounder just turned up out of the blue. He seems to think that it’s acceptable to steal valuables from the house, and take them back to Ghost Town.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
“Me neither, but he seems to have found a way to do it.”
“What’s he doing with the stuff he’s stolen?”
“I don’t know. I assume he will sell it. The problem is that the new owner has noticed that a few things have gone missing, and I can tell he’s getting frustrated by it. I get the impression he’s having second thoughts about the house.”
“Do you think he might sell?”
“That’s the worry. I’m concerned that if he does, that same property developer might show an interest again.”
“I have to confess that I’m not too well up on ghost theft from the human world, but I have a friend who might be able to help. I’ll speak to her.”
“Thanks, Jill. Once again, I’m indebted to you.”
After the colonel had disappeared, I called Mad to ask if she had any advice on how to handle his situation, but there was no answer, so I left a message on her voicemail.
When I went through to the outer office, Jules had popped in, with Gilbert.
“Hello, young man. I hear you’ve got a new job, testing hair.”
Both he and Jules gave me a puzzled look.
“I’m going to be working as a software tester,” he said.
I glanced at Mrs V who just shrugged.
“Of course, that makes much more sense.” I turned to Jules. “What brings you in on your day off? Can’t you stay away?”
“Last night, I worked out how to get Chameleon Wool to ‘lock’ on a colour. As we were in town anyway, I thought I’d drop in and show Annabel.”
“Watch, Jill.” Mrs V picked up the ball of Chameleon Wool, pressed her thumb into the centre, and then tapped it on the desk. “See, it’s locked.” To prove it, she placed it against her red top. This time the ball of wool did not change colour. “And then you do the same thing to unlock it.”
“You should buy some of this wool, Jill,” Jules said. “It’s the best thing since sliced bread.”
I considered putting her right on that particular claim, but my thoughts on that subject had already fallen on stony ground, so I let it pass.
Chapter 9
Kathy had a cup of tea waiting for me when I arrived at her place, but she didn’t have any custard creams.
“Why not?”
“I haven’t had the time to buy any more, and you said you didn’t like the soft ones, so I threw them out.”
“You did what? A soggy custard cream is better than no custard cream at all.”
“They’re still in the bin, if you want to dig them out.”
“Don’t be disgusting.”
What? Yes, alright, I admit it—I did consider it.
“The Chameleon Wool seems to be a success,” I said, once we’d made ourselves comfortable in the lounge. “Mrs V and Jules think it’s—”
“The best thing since sliced bread?”
“I was going to say that they think it’s great.”
“Everyone does. Your grandmother might be a pain in the rear, but her inventions are incredible. I don’t know how she does it.”
“I do,” I said, under my breath, and then out loud I said, “It’s a mystery.”
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“It’s Jack’s parents’ golden wedding anniversary next weekend, and they’re having a party.”
“You still haven’t met them yet, have you?”
/> “No. I’ve always been too busy.”
“You can’t duck out of this one.”
“I know. I’ve already said that I’ll go, but the invitation extends to all my family.”
“Including us?”
“Last time I checked, you were my family.”
“Great. I’ll ask Pete’s Mum to have the kids.”
“They’re invited too.”
“I want to be able to let my hair down. I can’t do that if I’ve got to keep an eye on the kids. I’ll get Pete’s Mum to take them to Bug World. They’ve been bugging me forever to take them there. Bugging? Get it?”
“Hey, I’m the comedian in this family.”
“I can’t say I’ve noticed.” She drank the last of her tea. “I’ll have to buy a new outfit, obviously. We could go shopping together.”
“No, thanks. This thing is going to be painful enough as it is, without having to endure a shopping trip with you.”
“Please yourself. I’ll get Pete to come with me.”
“I don’t know what to do about Grandma.”
“How do you mean?”
“She’s been invited too. She’s my family, remember?”
Kathy’s face fell. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’ve thought about nothing else.”
“You could always forget to tell her.”
“Oh, yeah. Because that would work. You know Grandma. She doesn’t miss a thing. I’ll have to invite her. My only hope is that I can paint a picture so bleak, she won’t want to come.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I could say that Jack’s parents are teetotal. That might put her off.”
“Good idea. It’s worth a try. What about your Aunt Lucy, and the twins?”
“They’re invited too. In fact, I’m going to talk to Aunt Lucy, to see what she thinks about Grandma going to the party.”
“Well, even if your grandmother does go, you can still count Pete and me in. It’s been ages since I went to a party.”
“Just don’t show me up.”
“When did I ever?”
Before I could list all such occasions, my phone rang. It was Mad, returning my call.
“You rang?”
“Yeah. I need your advice.”
“Fire away.”
“I’m at Kathy’s, at the moment.”