Witchnapped in Westerham (Paranormal Investigation Bureau Book 1)

by Dionne Lister

  William shrugged. “He said the same to me a couple of times, but we laughed it off. It all seemed harmless. Are you suggesting Snezana is trying to frame Millicent to get her out of the way?” Bingo! The man’s a genius.

  She’d called her a bitch, but I couldn’t say that either. Damn that choking spell.

  Angelica shook her head. “I’m sorry to say, but that’s not enough to convict anyone, and to be honest, it draws unwanted attention to the Bureau. We don’t need a scandal like that.”

  “How is that a scandal? It’s not like he harassed her.”

  Angelica’s voice was kind, at least. “I’m sorry, Lily, but it’s hearsay; James isn’t here to verify it. There’s no proof it even happened, let alone evidence she planted any evidence.”

  “Well, find some. That’s what we might have done if we hadn’t been arrested this morning. And who ordered the arrest? Don’t tell me you found this Skype conversation at the last minute. You know what? I have no idea if she was spying on us, but I want my phone examined for a tracking or spying device, witchy or otherwise.” I had no idea if they even existed, but stuff it. I was going there. I had nothing to lose. “How else were we conveniently located at just the right time this morning? Who sent you to get us?”

  Angelica turned a stern eye on William. “I was wondering the same thing about the speed at which you turned up this morning. Who sent the order through to tail us?” She jerked her chin up and stared down her nose at him.

  “Michael from dispatch called it through late last night, around 10:00 p.m. He said new evidence had come in, and we were to keep an eye on Lily. When you slipped out the back this morning, we were sitting down the road. Michael called through again and gave us the heads-up.”

  I slid my phone back across the table to Angelica. “Think you can check it out?”

  “It would be my pleasure, Lily. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go back to your cell until we can sort this mess out.”

  Ever the joyful one, William said, “If we can sort it out.”

  My stomach fell. The person who wanted Millicent out of the way was in a position of power in this investigation, and who knew who else she had in her pocket. And through all this, where was James? Was he even alive? We were no closer to catching the kidnapper. Or were we? Why would Snezana set up Millicent but steer the investigation away from finding the man she coveted. Unless she knew where my brother was. Oh, crap.

  “What happens if this doesn’t get sorted out? Will I be in here forever?”

  William stood and straightened his black tie. “Not forever, but if this goes to trial and you’re convicted, you could get ten to twenty years.”

  My mouth dropped open. Ten to twenty years for nothing? My stomach roiled, and my head spun. I rested my head on my cuffed hands on the table. This couldn’t happen. There had to be a way around it. I just had to think, and God knew I had plenty of time for that now.

  Angelica patted my back. “Don’t lose hope, Lily. We’ll get your phone checked out and see what we come up with. When a witch uses their power on something, they leave behind a signature, like a fingerprint, but it fades after a few days.”

  I sat up. “I’m pretty sure that whoever did this would have set it up yesterday afternoon and made it look like the message was sent last week. Check Millicent’s stuff for tampering as well.”

  “How can you know?” William stood behind his chair, his hands gripping the top of it.

  Could I mention she’d asked about my phone or touched it? Yes, I could! She’d done that before she gagged me. I smiled, sparks of satisfaction bursting through me. “Because only one person’s touched my phone, other than me, the whole time I’ve been here, and it just happened to be yesterday, around two or two thirty.”

  Angelica’s eyes were bright. I wondered if she suspected.

  “Snezana, James’s assistant, the same one he must have been complaining about a couple of months ago.” My smile was all satisfaction. Take that, you crazy witch.

  Angelica smiled. “We have a long way to go to get this sorted, but thank you, Lily. I’ll let you know as soon as we have some answers.”

  “Thanks. Oh, and since I can’t redo my thought-cloaking spell, can you promise not to read my mind. I really, really don’t want to die. Is there any way you can stop others from reading my mind?”

  “I can ask, but there’s no guarantees. I’ll redo it for you now, and hopefully it will be good until tomorrow morning. We can figure something else out then, if you’re still in here.”

  “Okay.” That was better than nothing. She redid the protection, then they both left. The same woman from before came in to take me back to my cell.

  I laid on the bed and shut my eyes: I didn’t need to see the two-metre-by-two-metre room with a toilet in the open and be reminded where I was. This place had video security. Great. They could see me going to the toilet. How long could I hold on until I wet myself? This was a nightmare. It didn’t get any worse.

  Was Snezana somewhere in this building watching Millicent and me in our cells and laughing? She was going to be so pissed when she found out I’d pointed the finger at her. I just hoped they’d find evidence of her tampering with my phone before she figured out how to make my life worse. She’d likely have some excuse for why she’d tampered with the electronics, but at least she’d get on Angelica’s bad side. I imagined Angelica wouldn’t take kindly to being spied on. And it would show stupid crapface policeman he was wrong about me. I’d enjoy rubbing his smug face in it.

  It was frustrating to not know if my hunch was correct, but there must be something left to find out at the park, because assuming Snezana was trying to stop me from spending any time there—it seemed obvious to me at this point that’s what she was doing—there must be evidence that could lead to her. Worst-case scenario, nothing would be found connecting the messages on my phone to Snezana, and my already dubious reputation would be unsalvageable. I might as well get used to peeing in public. And poor Tracy. She may have been the bride from hell, but she’d lost her father, and now I wasn’t going to be able to get her photos to her anytime soon.

  This was all because the stupid PIB had a shitty employee-screening process. How did a psychopathic bad speller make it in? Who spells “what” “wot”? Clearly someone who developed an inappropriate crush on their boss, kidnapped him, and then framed his wife and sister.

  Maybe an hour had passed when I decided to stop worrying and waiting for news and have a nap. Things always looked better when you first woke up, unless you’d just had a nightmare. Sigh. Let’s not go there, Lily. I needed a time out, and sleep was the only way I was going to get it.

  So I thought about the last summer holiday I’d shared with James and my parents. We’d gone up the coast to Crescent Head—an awesome surf spot with cabins overlooking the waves. We’d spend all day surfing and swimming, and night-time brought barbeques with other families.

  As I drifted off to sleep, I swore I could hear my mother’s laughter and smell the salty spray. If I replayed these memories enough, they’d stay in my heart forever.

  No matter how long I was imprisoned here, no one could ever take them away from me.

  Chapter 10

  Iwoke to a female guard putting a tray of dinner on the floor, another guard standing outside, just in case I attacked. This was ridiculous.

  I sat up. There were no windows, so I had no idea what time it was. “Excuse me. What time is it?”

  “5.15 p.m.”

  “And can you tell—” She stepped outside, clanged the door shut, and walked off. “…me when I might have some news,” I finished quietly then sighed.

  Dinner didn’t smell like much. I knelt down and picked up the tray then placed it at the foot of my bed—if I spilled any dinner, I didn’t want to have to sleep in it later. I removed the foil. Boiled broccoli, sporting a less than appetizing grey tinge, plain rice, fish fingers, and a cup of lukewarm tea, not coffee. For someone who wasn’t in the mood to eat, t
his was not helping. My traitorous stomach grumbled nevertheless, as I hadn’t eaten since last night.

  I picked up the plastic fork and started eating—there was no telling when I’d get my next meal. After finishing dinner, I tried to ignore my bladder. It was screaming, “Please pee. Please pee. Please pee.” I stared at the porcelain shrine to embarrassment against the wall. What if the guards came back when I was using it? Maybe they watched on a monitor in an office and waited till you went and came to watch on purpose. Those bastards! Okay, so this was all assumption right now, but I wouldn’t put it past them.

  I lay on my back, hoping it would quiet my screaming bladder. Some relief, but it wouldn’t last long. I shouldn’t have drunk the tea. I crossed one leg over the other and squeezed my pelvic floor. Then I shut my eyes and squeezed them too, because, you know, it might help.

  Damn it!

  I jumped up and grabbed my pillow. I held one of the short ends in my teeth, so the pillow covered my front, then pulled my jeans down. I sat quickly, holding the pillow as a shield the whole time. There was nothing to see here, folks. I managed to wipe myself and pull my jeans back up undercover. I washed my hands then sat back on my bed, proud of my resourcefulness.

  Over the next couple of hours, I got off my bed and stretched as if I were going for a run, then I lay on the floor and did some push-ups, sit-ups, got up and did a few sets of lunges. I couldn’t sit still for long, and I didn’t want to lose my fitness. As I was jogging on the spot, a voice sounded from outside my cell. “Spending your time wisely, I see.” Agent Crankypants. Had they found something?

  I stopped jogging and turned around. Angelica was there too, standing just behind William, her face serious, but not unduly worried from what I could tell.

  I grabbed my foot and pulled it behind myself to my bum for a quad stretch. I was going to play this as cool as possible. “I always spend my time wisely, but the question is, do you? Have you got some good news?”

  His jaw muscles bulged as he clamped his teeth together. He he. Annoying him was way too easy but still lots of fun.

  Angelica nudged him in his ribs with her elbow. He rubbed his side and looked at her. “Well, are you going to tell her or not, William?” She smiled sweetly at him.

  He turned back to me. “It seems, Lily, that you were right.”

  Oof, that must have hurt to say. I tried not to smile too much. “You don’t say.”

  He ignored my comment and continued. “Traces of magic were found on your phone and Millicent’s desktop computer at home, but the magical fingerprint has been scrambled, so we can’t say who did it. It’s not enough to set you free, though, because we’ve found a magical tracking device on your phone, so the magical footprint could be from that. We can’t prove the messages were magicked there too, at this stage.”

  “But what was magicked on Millicent’s computer if it wasn’t the messages?”

  “We need longer to figure it out. It’s with our second best tech guy, Peter.”

  “Why isn’t it with the best tech guy you have?”

  His cranky-pants mask slipped. The tension in his face slackened to sadness. “Because that’s James. He’s our best guy.”

  “Oh.” Well, that answered that. “I have another question.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “Can you stop being such a crap head for two seconds? Actually, don’t answer that—that wasn’t my question, and I already know the answer.”

  He scowled, and Angelica smirked.

  “If a message was magicked onto my phone, would it also go to my computer too, since that has Skype? I was thinking that if it was put there via magic, it wouldn’t have gone through the normal system of message delivery, which means if I turned on my computer, the message wouldn’t show up.”

  Angelica said, “But can’t you delete Skype messages?”

  “Yes, but then wouldn’t I have deleted the one on my phone too? Supposedly, I’ve had all week to do it. Actually, I haven’t had Skype turned on, on my iPad for about a month. You could turn it on where there’s Wi-Fi and see what updates come through. That would prove it, wouldn’t it?” Hope swelled my chest, fool that I was. It wasn't in my nature to give up.

  Angelica nodded. “Well, then, I’m going home to get it. William can come with me as a witness, as we don’t want any more accusations of tampering or favouritism.” She rolled her eyes. I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened for her to say that. “Where is the iPad, Lily?”

  “In my knapsack on the bed. The passcode is 1920. Good luck. If you can prove the message wasn’t real, can I get out of here tonight?”

  “I don’t want to promise anything, dear. Let’s just go through one step at a time. I’m fighting with Snezana and Mr Pemberton on this. They’re both beyond eager to catch someone.”

  “But what motive could I possibly have for protecting the person who hurt my brother? He’s all I have left.”

  William was all too quick to jump in. “You could be mad at him for moving over here and leaving you. Maybe you think you’ll get some kind of inheritance, or maybe you’ve become so close with Millicent that you wouldn’t miss your brother.”

  “That’s crazy talk! How could I stomach being friends with someone who hurt my brother? What the hell is wrong with you people?”

  “You’d be surprised at what we see in this job, what motivates people. It’s rather depressing. I wouldn’t put anything past anyone, and I’m sorry if that upsets you, but naiveté gets you nowhere.” He turned and walked away.

  Wow, he was a sorry sack. I could understand that dealing with the evil-doers of the world every day would get you down, but of course there were still nice people who loved their families and their significant others and would never think to do anything horrible to them. If there weren’t, what was the point of punishing the bad people? Why not just let everyone sort each other out and let the most evil one win, since no one deserved justice anyway? Life had really done a number on him.

  “Lily.” Angelica’s voice came through my thoughts. “I’ll come back as soon as I can. If we can get you out tonight, we will. I promise.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled. “Good luck.” I walked to the bars and whispered. “Don’t trust the person the little birdie told you about. Please.”

  She nodded. “I’m way ahead of you. Now get some rest. I’ll be back later.”

  I watched until she was out of sight and the outer door to the cells clanged shut. I felt like a puppy in a shelter. Gah, now I was going to feel sad about the puppies. If I didn’t live in an apartment, I’d save two dogs as soon as I got home. Maybe I could just donate to the RSPCA, our animal protection society. I was so going to do that when I got out of here. But for now, it was back to squats.

  A quiet, metallic tap, tap, tap, made me open my eyes. The lights had been turned off, but the emergency exit signs in the hallway cast a faint glow.

  “Hey, prisoner. How’s it going?”

  I sat up and squinted into the gloom. It didn’t sound like Angelica. Bummer. Unfortunately, I finally recognised who that voice belonged to. “Hey, Snezana. What brings you down this way?” I was livid with her, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me riled up.

  “Thought you’d want the latest information, future sister-in-law.”

  I shuddered. Whatever she had to say couldn’t be good. She was clearly here to gloat. “I’m kind of busy right now. Could you come back later?”

  She laughed. “Nice try, Lily. You don’t fool me for a second. Are you telling me you don’t want to know about the new evidence we found against Millicent?”

  “I’m sure Ma’am will tell me when she gets back.” My hackles rose. It took all my self-control to keep my voice even.

  “Hmm, she might be a while. She’s in getting a dressing down from our boss. He feels she’s not an impartial party. She could compromise this whole investigation.” Her teeth glowed white when she grinned. It was disconcerting.

  “You r
eally think you’re going to get away with this?”

  “Get away with what, my dear Lily? Exposing the truth? We’ll find James soon, but if we don’t, Millicent will still rot in jail forever. I’ll be devastated if I never see him again, but at least I’ll know I brought him justice.”

  “I know you tried to have me kidnapped and you sent those messages, and so does Angelica. Millicent and I will be out of here by tomorrow.” Those words didn’t sound as confident when I was locked in here and she was out there. And I may have assumed Angelica also thought Snezana was behind my kidnapping.

  “Oh, darling, I didn’t send anyone to kidnap you. Having you here is way more fun. Didn’t you hear me when I said there’s new evidence? You need to pay better attention. You’ve missed your chance now. I’ll be back tomorrow. Maybe you’ll be in a better mood for visitors. Good night. Sweet dreams.”

  Again, the outer door clanged shut, leaving me in the dark, alone. How could that witch be getting away with all this when she couldn’t even spell properly? Could someone please wake up and figure this out? If Angelica were running this place, the whole thing would be over by now. This was worse than an episode of Days of Our Lives.

  There was a chance Snezana was exaggerating or making the whole thing up to scare me, but every minute Angelica didn’t show up to get me out, the worse things looked.

  I’d rested too much today to want to lie down again and was irritated from witch-face’s visit, so I sat and leaned against the cold concrete wall. Why was she so hateful? It wasn’t hard to be nice—millions of people did it every day. My goal in life, other than saving my brother, was to prove she was behind everything before she ruined three peoples’ lives.

  Light swept into the hallway. The door clanged shut. Who was it going to be this time? If it were Snezana, I’d do squats while she was watching, just to mess with her. I hopped off the bed as the footsteps tapped closer. They sounded more like flat shoes than heels.