Murder Most Fowl

by Elle Adams

  “I will not speak ill of the dead,” said Jarvis.

  “That means it’s true.” I turned to Ramsey. “Aunt Shannon and Vanessa got some of it right after all, but does that make Anne and Malcolm conspirators in murder as well?”

  Minty made an indistinct squeaking noise. “No, no! She never harmed anyone!”

  “If you want to find out who killed her, then I need you to tell me what you know.” I kept my gaze on Minty, who seemed a little steadier now that the effects of the spell had worn off. “Did you see her killer?”

  “Maybe—I don’t know.”

  “Who?” Ramsey asked. “What does that mean? You saw the person who gave her the pen?”

  “I think so.” The chicken whimpered again. “Anne—she ran into someone when we first arrived in town. I didn’t hear what he said to her, but she looked scared, and I think he gave her that pen!”

  “Who was he, though?” I asked. “One of the contenders?”

  “No. I don’t know.” She began to rock back and forth on the desk.

  Ramsey approached her. “What did he look like? Tell me everything you saw.”

  She gasped. “He had blond hair, and he was wearing these odd clothes that were far too big for him. If he killed her… you have to find him, Head Witch.”

  “He’s not a contender,” I murmured. “Then who?”

  “Whoever it is, we’ll have to find him later,” Ramsey said. “The ceremony starts in five minutes.”

  “You think that’s my priority? Really?”

  “The contenders will all be there,” he said. “So will half the town. I can ask my team to keep an eye out for trouble, but you need to attend the ceremony yourself.”

  I swallowed my annoyance, recalling my earlier plan to expose the intruder. “Tansy, do you think you can turn the lights off in the town hall without anyone seeing you?”

  “It’d be my pleasure.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” asked Ramsey.

  “The mysterious person who gave Anne the pen might not be there, but if they had an accomplice who broke into my office, the glow-in-the-dark ink will give them away pretty quickly.”

  I beckoned to Tansy to follow me out of his office, ignoring his exasperated sigh. Mum wouldn’t approve of my plan either, but she’d be angrier that I’d showed up for the trophy ceremony dressed in the same clothes I’d worn to the contest earlier. Ah, well. If I was going to end up chasing a killer, there was no sense in dressing my best.

  I neared the town hall, doing my best to push down my apprehension. There was a good chance the killer would be waiting somewhere among the crowd, and given the number of pens we’d found in the forest, they hadn’t wanted to leave anything to chance. That suggested to me that they wouldn’t leave town until I was dead or they were locked up for their crimes.

  Chloe met me in the entryway. “Head Witch! I brought you a dress.”

  “You brought me what?” I asked, nonplussed.

  She handed me a bundle of fabric. “Quick, go and change. You still have time.”

  “I—thank you.” I tucked the dress under my arm. “You might have saved me a lecture.”

  She gave me a shy smile. “You have enough to worry about without Lady Wildwood disapproving of your choice in clothes.”

  I might not have asked for an assistant, but she’d gone above and beyond what I might have expected, and I owed her one for this. I took the dress into the ladies’ toilets to change before approaching the twin oak doors leading into the main hall.

  When I entered, I found the hall had been newly decorated with bright banners and clusters of balloons. A buffet table stood on one side of the hall, and a band played on the stage at the front. This was all Mum’s work, I thought with a pang of guilt. She might have spoken harshly to me, but considering she’d spent weeks putting together the contest only for the killer to attempt to derail everything, the least I could do was help bring the event to a satisfying end.

  Even if it did mean being nice to Vanessa.

  I caught Mum’s eye and approached her. “This looks nice.”

  “Thank you for your approval, Head Witch.” The slightest edge to her words squashed the guilt I’d felt at ruining her day. “We need to have a talk later.”

  “Yes, we do.” No doubt she wanted to give me a long lecture, but that could wait until after I’d thwarted the killer. “Before that, though, I have a murderer to expose.”

  Mum’s expression stilled. “You know who did it?”

  “I know how to expose their accomplices,” I said. “Aunt Shannon won’t be thrilled if I deprive Vanessa of her glory, but this ceremony is the last time all the contenders will be in the same room.”

  “I will handle my sister,” she said to my surprise. “As for exposing the killer, I would appreciate it if you gave me more information.”

  “I want to be honest with everyone to the best of my ability,” I said. “They won’t expect me to outright state that there’s a killer after me.”

  If that didn’t coax the killer out of hiding, then exposing the accomplice was the next best thing.

  Her eyes clouded with what might have been concern. “That plan might backfire on you, Robin.”

  “It’s a gamble,” I acknowledged, “but the killer must know we’re getting close. They’ve spent all this time sneaking around in the shadows, and I think it’s past time we put the spotlight on them.”

  “It’s your choice,” she said, “but remember that all eyes are on you.”

  “Hard to forget.” In a way, being the Head Witch’s granddaughter had prepared me for taking on the position, if not in the way most people might have expected.

  I can handle this. I have to.

  Sceptre in hand, I waited for the contenders to enter the hall. They arrived in groups, dressed in their finest, admiring the band and the decorations. All the contenders, winners and losers, were invited to the ceremony… and if the killer was among them, we’d expose them for everyone to see.

  “This time, we’ll get them,” I muttered.

  “Yes, we will,” Tansy said. “If you don’t keep talking to yourself when everyone can hear you, that is.”

  “I’m not holding a microphone yet,” I pointed out. “When I give you the signal, that’s your cue to turn out the lights.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Neither could I. Waiting wasn’t my style, but I stood as patiently as I could muster until the hall was full and Vanessa stood expectantly in front of the stage where I would present her with her trophy. She must have used a quick spell to curl her blond hair and had put on a pretty red dress. Yet all eyes were on me instead when I held up the sceptre and climbed onto the stage.

  “Welcome,” I said to the crowd. “And congratulations again to the finalists of the Familiar Contest. All three of those who made it to the final round will be getting a prize tonight.”

  Cheering and applause ensued, petering out when I raised the sceptre again. “Before I give the awards out, however, I want to offer my apologies for disappearing during the final round of the contest.”

  A scattering of laughter rose from some of the people who’d seen me chasing the chicken, but Vanessa merely looked annoyed at having her big moment delayed.

  “The truth is, I was targeted by an assassination attempt,” I went on. “Someone used the contest as an opportunity to try to kill the Head Witch.”

  Shocked whispers rose among the crowd.

  “What’s more…” I raised my voice a little. “I believe the person responsible is within this very room.”

  More gasps echoed throughout the hall, at which point I caught sight of Tansy’s bright-red tail and gave the slightest nod.

  A moment later, the lights went out, plunging the entire hall into darkness. The gasps among the crowd rose in volume, while a bright glow drew my gaze downward. Oops. I’d accidentally gotten some of the ink on my own hands—but another equally bright glow came from within the audience. A small
patch of brightness against the dark.

  Purple light ignited the sceptre, signalling to Tansy. An instant later, the lights came back on, but I kept my attention trained on the place I’d seen the glow coming from. Nolan… or rather, the rat sitting at his feet. The instant the rat saw me looking, he bolted, his small, furry form streaking through the crowd.

  “Someone catch that rat!” I shouted.

  Pandemonium broke out as humans and familiars looked around for the source of the ruckus, but the rat moved far too fast for me to track. By the time I caught up to Tansy near the door, she said, “He got outside!”

  I spun around to look for his owner, seeing that Nolan had been surrounded, packed in by the crowd. “Don’t let him get away!”

  “Robin.” Ramsey entered the hall, breathless. “What—?”

  “Nolan’s rat got away,” I said. “Don’t let him escape too.”

  “His rat?”

  “He had glow-in-the-dark ink all over his little feet, Ramsey,” I said. “Nolan is in there, but I bet he’ll try to join him.”

  “Right.” Ramsey moved into the hall, raising his voice. “Step aside, everyone. Let me through.”

  I hovered near the door, ready to use the sceptre if necessary, but Ramsey had Nolan secured in handcuffs impressively fast and across the hall just as quickly. Mum was trying to restore order, but everyone seemed to have forgotten the contest entirely. It wasn’t until I climbed onto the stage and held up the large silver trophy that eyes began to turn in my direction again.

  I reached out to Mum for the microphone. “My apologies for the interruption. It’s now time for me to present the winners with their prizes. Congratulations to the first-place winner of the Familiar Contest, Vanessa Wildwood.”

  Hardly anyone clapped. They were too busy trying to see what was happening outside the door or whispering to one another. Meanwhile, Vanessa snatched the trophy from my hands in mute anger and stood rigidly on the stage while I offered the second- and third-place winners their own prizes. Once Roxy and Patrick had their trophies in hand, I climbed off the stage and handed the microphone back to Mum. “Can you keep everyone in here while I find our missing rat?”

  “Isn’t your brother looking for him?” she asked. “There are a lot of hiding places for a familiar.”

  “He wants me dead,” I said. “I bet I can draw him out of hiding.”

  Mum worked her jaw, as if chewing on the words she wanted to say. In the end, all she said was, “Be careful.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Aunt Shannon barred my way when I tried to leave the hall. “Where are you going this time?”

  “To find the killer,” I said. “It’s not becoming of a Head Witch to allow others to take the hit for me.”

  “You made a fool of my daughter.”

  “I handed her the trophy, didn’t I?” I pointed out. “If she wants to lend her help to find our missing contender, then it’d be welcome.”

  “What contender?” Aunt Shannon’s face was bright red, but she couldn’t dispute the fact that I’d done my job. “You can’t expect us to believe the murderer was a mere rodent.”

  “The intruder certainly was,” I said. “We’ll see what happens when I catch him.”

  I sidestepped her and left the hall, going in search of my would-be killer.

  15

  Outside the town hall, I found Ramsey hurrying back from the police station.

  “Where’s the rat?” I asked.

  “Lost sight of him,” he replied. “Nolan is in custody, but he’s not talking.”

  “Maybe he’ll talk to me.” I hadn’t a hope of spotting a rat in the near darkness, but I found it hard to believe Nolan hadn’t known what his familiar was up to. “He might know where his rat ran off to.”

  Ramsey glanced over his shoulder at me. “I shouldn’t, but—fine. Come with me.”

  Fine minutes later, Ramsey and I sat on one side of a table in one of the police station’s interrogation rooms, while Nolan sat opposite us, his hands in cuffs and a resigned expression on his face. “What do you want, Head Witch?”

  “That’s not very polite,” I said. “Why did you enter the contest? Tell me the truth.”

  Nolan said nothing in response.

  “You can stay quiet if you like,” Ramsey said, “but unless you speak in your own defence, we can only assume you’re as guilty of murder as your familiar is.”

  He blanched. “Murder? No.”

  “Then tell me the truth,” I said. “Were you aware that prior to their deaths, Malcolm and Anne were running a scheme to make money from these contests by rigging the results and helping the contenders cheat?”

  His face flushed. “Yes, but I didn’t kill them.”

  “I find it hard to believe your rat carried those pens to town single-handedly,” I said. “Why did you enter the contest?”

  “To expose their cheating,” he said. “I didn’t expect them to die.”

  “And why was your familiar in my office?” It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he’d sneaked into the office more than once, but had Nolan told him to do it? If not, who was the rat?

  Nolan didn’t answer, but Ramsey rose to his feet and beckoned me to follow him out of the room.

  I waited for a moment before joining him. “If his rat is the one who engineered this, can you lock up a familiar but not his owner?”

  Ramsey shook his head. “I’ll have to look up the rules on familiars. They certainly have a will of their own.”

  “Yes, we do,” said Tansy. “But he’s no familiar.”

  A shiver ran over my arms, though I’d suspected the same deep down.

  Ramsey simply looked bewildered. “If he’s not a familiar, what is he, then?”

  “A rat shifter.” I looked over at Nolan, not bothering to lower my voice, and he averted his gaze. “I should have known something was wrong with him when he wouldn’t talk to me. Shifters don’t count as animals, so my ability doesn’t work on them.”

  Ramsey ducked back into the room. “Did you know?”

  Nolan kept his attention on the table. “Know what?”

  I returned to my seat. “That your familiar was a shifter in disguise. You must have.”

  “I did.” He spoke haltingly. “I don’t have a familiar of my own, so it was the only way I could enter the contest. He volunteered to help me for a cut of the prize money if we won.”

  “So you think cheating is okay if you have the right intentions?” That was beside the point, though. “I’m guessing he tried to break into my office several times as a human before deciding to sneak in as a rat instead.”

  No doubt when we searched behind those cabinets, we’d find a rat-shaped hole in the wall. The sage might have been Aunt Shannon’s doing, but it was the rat who’d smuggled the lethal pens into my office.

  “I’ll conduct another search of your office,” said Ramsey as if he’d sensed my thoughts. “The rat has never been seen as a human?”

  “I bet it was him who ran into Anne before the contest started,” I said. “He slipped the pen into her pocket during their altercation. She and Minty didn’t recognise him as a contender because he wasn’t one, not really.”

  “Is that true?” Ramsey asked Nolan. “Did you know?”

  “I didn’t know the pens would kill the person who touched them,” he said. “That’s the truth.”

  “You can’t accidentally commission someone to cast an illegal curse,” I said. “Where’d you get them from? Was that the rat too?”

  If his rat was guilty of both crimes, it didn’t surprise me that he’d bolted as soon as he’d been caught, but he wouldn’t shift back into human form until he found a safe place to hide. Most shifters couldn’t use magic, so I didn’t need to fear him sneaking up on me when I had the sceptre… unless he had more of those pens, of course. But he couldn’t touch them with his bare hands without succumbing to the curse himself.

  “We need to find him,” Ramsey said in a low
voice. “If he’s a rat, he doesn’t even have any clothes on his back, let alone a wand.”

  “Precisely my thinking,” I said. “In fact, Minty said the guy Anne ran into when she arrived in town was wearing clothes that looked like they didn’t fit. I bet he borrowed or stole them from someone when he landed.”

  Someone hammered on the door. “Ramsey, can you come out here a second?”

  “Sure.” He opened the door to reveal several officers gathering outside. “What’s going on?”

  “That cat and chicken both tried to escape your office at the same time,” said one of the officers. “Scratched up my ankle in the process too.”

  “Oh no.” I spun around, seeing Tansy darting out of sight through the automatic doors. “Tansy!”

  I heard Ramsey trying to explain, but I was more focused on catching up to my own familiar than explaining that the rat they were looking for wasn’t a familiar at all. Luckily, Tansy’s bright tail was easy to spot even in the darkness.

  The chicken and the cat, though, had vanished. “Did you see where they went?”

  “No,” said Tansy. “I bet I know who they’re looking for, though. Their owners’ murderer.”

  “Yeah.” The streets were dark by now despite the lights shining in the windows of the nearby pubs and houses. “I can cast a light spell.”

  “I’d rather not be blinded, thanks.”

  “Ha ha.” I held up the sceptre’s glowing purple gem to use as a torch, and a thud sounded from nearby.

  I followed the noise to the dark exterior of Were’s My Coffee?, where Carmilla bounded out of the shadows, pinning a rat’s tail under her paw. The glow around his paws gave him away as the murderer. There he is.

  “Don’t eat that rat,” I told her. “He’s human.”

  “Is that why he smells so foul?” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Yes,” I said. “I wonder if he’ll shift into a human when you dig your claws in.”

  The rat wriggled free of her grip, but Tansy pounced on him first. She was around the same size as he was, but she did a valiant job of holding him down for a few seconds before the rat broke free in a wild lunge, streaking across the street.