Witch Is Why Time Stood Still (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 13)

by Adele Abbott

  “No. You won’t be seeing him again.”

  “Yes!” I shouted, and gave a fist pump.

  Jen gave me a puzzled look.

  ***

  When I arrived at the office building, I was delighted to see that my new sign had been installed. Despite his stupid singing habit, Sid Song had come through. He’d given me a good price, and had been able to complete the job in record time. He’d said something about being able to give me a good deal because he was doing a similar job in the area. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t have been happier. The new sign was just what I’d asked for, and was in a font and colour that would leave no one in any doubt that mine was a serious business.

  Jill Gooder

  Private Investigator

  Sid Song’s van was still parked outside the building, but there was no sign of him. Maybe he was in my office waiting to be paid.

  Jules was behind the desk; she was knitting.

  “It looks like you’ve caught the bug.”

  “I love it, Jill. I never thought I’d enjoy knitting, but it’s really good fun. Look at this.”

  “What is it, exactly, Jules?”

  “A scarf.”

  “Oh yeah. Is it meant to be wider in some places than others?”

  “I don’t know why it’s gone like that. Do you have any idea?”

  “No, sorry. It’s an interesting design though. Has the sign man been in?”

  “Yes. He left you this.” She handed me an invoice.

  “Where is he now?”

  “He just dropped the invoice off, and then left.” She shrugged. “Oh, by the way, Jill, I’ve dumped Gilbert.”

  “Really? After you brought him to the party?”

  “That’s what made my mind up. He was squeezing his spots all night. It was embarrassing. I didn’t know where to put myself. So anyway, I’m young, free and single again now.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Who were those two gorgeous guys at the party?”

  “You don’t mean William and Alan, the twins’ husbands, do you?”

  “No. The really buff guys. I think they came with your brother-in-law.”

  “Oh, you mean Jethro and Sebastian.”

  “Nice names. Do you know them well?”

  “Not well. They used to work for my aunt Lucy as gardeners, and now they work for Peter.”

  “Do you know if they have girlfriends?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Jules, but I can ask Peter if you’d like me to.”

  “Would you, please?”

  “Yeah, of course. I’ll find out for you.”

  ***

  I was more nervous than I’d been for a long time. It was almost exactly a year since I’d started teaching my class of new wizards and witches. At the beginning, I’d been really nervous. Grandma had dropped me in it, and I hadn’t been sure how I’d cope. For a while, I’d found it very difficult, but the longer it had gone on, the more I’d got into it, and the more confident I’d become.

  The kids had been really great; they were all so enthusiastic. I loved to see their faces when they came across a spell for the first time. To be involved with magic at that age was fantastic, and once again I realised what I’d missed out on as a child. Most of the kids had taken to it like a duck to water. I barely needed to coach them at all. But two or three of them had struggled, and found it much more difficult. It was those kids that I’d spent the most time with. I’d even given some of them one-to-one tuition.

  Today was the culmination of the year’s teaching. Today they were all to take their level one test. I’d never had to go through this because my move up the levels had been very informal. Grandma had been my teacher. She’d been the one who decided when I could move to the next level, but for most kids in Candlefield there was a proper procedure. They studied a level for a year, and then at the end of that year they sat their level test. If they passed, they moved up to the next level. If they didn’t, they stayed behind, and had to study the same level for another year.

  The twins had never progressed beyond level two, something which apparently wasn’t uncommon. According to what I’ve been told, the average pass rate from beginner to level one was about eighty percent, which was fairly high. There was a much lower pass rate from level one to two, and it got progressively lower as you went up the levels. I couldn’t bear the thought that any of my kids might fail, but it was out of my hands now. Although I had to be there, I wasn’t allowed to help them. I just had to sit and watch. It was going to be one of the hardest things I’d ever done.

  At least I got to talk to them before the test started.

  “Okay, you lot. Gather around. How are you all feeling?”

  “Really scared, Miss,” Tim said.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  “I’m excited,” Celine said. She was probably the most naturally gifted witch in the class.

  “As long as you do your best, that’s all that matters. Some of you may not pass. It’s okay as long as you’ve tried your best. There’s no shame in having to take level one for more than one year. Some people go up the levels quickly. Others take longer. It’s all good.”

  “Miss Gooder.” A voice came from my right. It was an elderly woman with a very serious expression. “It’s time for the test to begin. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave your class now. You can go and sit over there with the others.”

  I joined the four other teachers who were also waiting for their classes to take the level one test.

  “Nerve-racking isn’t it?” The young woman next to me said.

  “You’re not kidding. Have you done this before?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve taken level one students for the last seven years.”

  “Does it get any easier?”

  “No. If anything it gets worse. Last year, only seventy-seven percent of mine got through. I felt like I’d let them down, but they always bounce back because they’re very resilient.”

  “I have no idea how mine are going to do.”

  “I’m sure if you’ve taught them, Jill, they’ll be fine.”

  The test lasted just under an hour. The examiner chose a number of spells at random, and had each of the kids perform them. They were judged on how quickly the spell was cast, how effective the spell was, and also how well they coped when something went wrong. Did they recover quickly, or did they panic?

  When it was over, the kids were sent to play in the far corner of the Range while the examiners conferred and marked the tests. An hour later, the kids were called back. By then I was a complete nervous wreck. The examiner called each of the kids up to the front by their name, in alphabetical order. I’d expected them to say out loud whether each child had passed or failed, but instead the kids were handed a slip of paper. Even so, it was easy to tell the result by looking at the child’s face when they came away. Some beamed with delight—others were in tears.

  I watched as each of my students’ names was called: A smile, another smile, another smile. All passes so far.

  There were only three of them left. So far everyone had passed. Now it was Tim’s turn. I was more worried about him than any of the others. He was obviously hesitant as he looked at his result, but then his face lit up, and he came rushing over.

  “I passed, Miss! I passed! I’m level one!”

  The last two were the same. Every one of my kids had passed. They were now all on level one. I was so excited for them.

  “Miss!” Celine said. “We’ve got something for you. We put our pocket money together and bought you these.” She passed me a small, gift-wrapped package. I opened it to find a box of chocolates.

  “We asked your cousins if we should get you flowers or chocolates. They said you’d rather have chocolates. We just wanted to say thank you for teaching us.”

  I was so choked I could barely speak. A tear trickled down my cheek.

  “Thank you.”

  After all the kids had gone, and the Range was almost empty, I fou
nd the head teacher who looked after all the teaching staff.

  “Well done, Jill,” she said.

  “Thanks, Miranda. I’m so delighted for the kids.”

  “You’ve done an excellent job. It’s the best result we’ve ever had.”

  “Thanks, but that’s not really down to me. That’s down to the children themselves. Look, Miranda, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m going to have to drop my teaching duties.”

  “You can’t do that. Look how well you’ve done.”

  “I know, but I’ve recently moved into a new house in the human world, and even though time stands still when I’m over here, I find the effort of teaching drains me. Also, I’m getting more and more demands on my time here in Candlefield. Then of course, I have my own business in the human world.”

  “What are you saying? Don’t you want to teach ever again?”

  “I need a break for at least a year. Then I’ll review it again. I wouldn’t want to do it unless I’m able to put my whole heart and soul into it.”

  “Okay, Jill. I understand. Thank you for everything you’ve done this year.”

  “It’s been my absolute pleasure.”

  ***

  I caught up with Tabitha Hathaway at the offices of the Combined Sup Council.

  “Jill, nice to see you again. I assume you’ve come to a decision?”

  “If the offer’s still open, I’d very much like to join the board of the Combined Sup Council.”

  “That’s excellent news, I’m delighted. When will you be able to take up your post?”

  “Pretty much immediately. When’s the next meeting?”

  “In a week’s time. If you give me your number, I’ll send you a text with all the details: time, place, that sort of thing. I’ll be able to introduce you to the rest of the council at the meeting.”

  “That’s fine, I’m looking forward to it.”

  I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision, but Grandma was right. I had to put my new powers to good use. I owed it to the Candlefield community to use those powers for good. And what better way to do that than to represent the witches on the Combined Sup Council? Now that I’d given up teaching for a year, I figured I’d be able to serve at least twelve months on the council. That should be enough time to see whether I could make a contribution or not. Of course, the real reason I’d agreed was that I was scared to tell Grandma I’d said no.

  ***

  It was late afternoon, and I was amusing myself by flicking paperclips at Winky.

  What? I didn’t actually hit him. Sheesh, can’t a girl have any fun?

  Kathy arrived unannounced; she was crying with laughter.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be okay in a minute.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Just give me a moment to recover.” She grabbed a seat.

  “What on earth is tickling you?”

  “Jill, you are an absolute star. I don’t know how you manage it.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Have you been at the bottle again?”

  “No, I haven’t. It’s that new sign of yours.”

  “My sign? What’s funny about it?”

  “It’s brilliant. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about—it had looked fine to me. Was there a spelling error that I’d missed? It was easy to see what you expected to see. Don’t tell me they’d misspelled my name, and I hadn’t realised it.

  “Stay here.” I dashed out of the office, down the stairs and across the road to get a better view.

  “What the—?”

  When I’d seen the sign earlier, mine was the only one on the building. Since then Sid had installed another immediately below mine. The second sign was in exactly the same font and colours, and read: ‘I-Sweat’.

  The two signs were so similar, and so close together that they gave the impression of a single sign that read:

  Jill Gooder

  Private Investigator

  I-Sweat

  Sid had never mentioned that he intended to give me a sign in the same font and colours as the I-Sweat guys. What had he been thinking? He probably hadn’t been thinking—he’d been too busy singing.

  I hurried back to the office.

  “You can stop laughing, Kathy. It’s not funny.”

  “Oh, come on, Jill. You have to see the funny side. Jill Gooder - Private Investigator - I Sweat.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Winky rolling around the floor in hysterics.

  “Why did you put ‘I-Sweat’ on the sign?” Kathy spluttered.

  “I didn’t. The ‘I-Sweat’ bit doesn’t belong to me. That’s the name of the new business which is moving in next door. It’s a gym or a health club or something.”

  “Not a tanning salon, then?”

  “I’m not in the mood. I’ve had it up to here with signs. I should have just left my dad’s old one up.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Kill somebody. And sing while I do it.”

  “You should be grateful to whoever fitted the sign.”

  “Grateful? Why would I be grateful?”

  “I actually came here to pick a bone with you, but after I’d seen the sign, I couldn’t hold it together.”

  “What have I done now?”

  “Guess who rang Pete last night?”

  “Santa Claus. I don’t know. Who?”

  “Your bimbo of a next door neighbour.”

  “Megan?”

  “None other. Did you give her Pete’s number?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Are you sure.”

  “I’m positive.”

  “What about Jack?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose he could have.”

  “Well, you can tell Jack that when I see him again, he and I are going to have words.”

  “So, is Peter going to see Megan?”

  “Oh, yes. He’s only gone and invited her over to our house, so they can go through her business plan together.”

  “That will be cosy.” I couldn’t hold back a smirk.

  “You can wipe that stupid smile off your face.”

  ***

  When Jen came around at seven o’clock, she had two huge cupcakes with her.

  “I thought we could have these with a drink.”

  “Thanks.” I took them from her. “I’d bought some custard creams, but these look lovely.”

  “I don’t actually like custard creams. I think they’re horrible.”

  What? It was a good thing she hadn’t told me that before I’d asked her over. What kind of person didn’t like custard creams? Still, the cupcakes did look lovely.

  It turned out that she was a nurse, based in Washbridge Hospital.

  “That must be very satisfying work.”

  “It is. Probably not as interesting as what you do though. If it hadn’t been for my job, I would never have met Blake. I came up here to do a nursing course, and that’s when we met. I transferred up here to finish my studies at Washbridge Hospital, and I’ve been there ever since.”

  “Do you see yourself staying in Washbridge, and in that job?”

  “For the time being, yeah. Although Blake and I would like to have children some time. Not for a few years yet though.” She hesitated.

  “What’s the matter, Jen?”

  “It’s nothing, it’s just that—I don’t know. Perhaps everyone feels this way.”

  “What way?”

  “I know Blake loves me, but ever since we’ve been together, I’ve felt like he doesn’t open up to me completely. It’s like there’s a part of his life that I don’t even know about. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean.”

  More mystery, magic and mayhem from Jill Gooder

  and a cast of thousands (okay, tens) in the next book:

&n
bsp; Witch Is Why The Laughter Stopped

  (Witch P.I. Mysteries #14)

  More mysteries and even more crazy await you!

  Web Site: http:www.AdeleAbbott.com

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AdeleAbbottAuthor

  Also from Adele Abbott

  WHOOPS!

  OUR NEW FLATMATE IS A HUMAN!

  Charlie (a werewolf), Dorothy (a vampire) and Neil (a wizard) share a huge loft in Washbridge, but they can no longer make rent. They’ve been trying to find another supernatural (sup) to take the fourth bedroom for months now, but with no success. Their landlord is tired of waiting for his money, so takes matters into his own hands, and finds them a new flatmate.

  Susan Hall is an investigative reporter who has just joined The Bugle. She is ambitious, and determined to clean up the paper’s sleazy image with hard hitting stories. She’s been living out of a suitcase in a crummy hotel for weeks, so is delighted to be offered a flat share in a beautiful loft space.

  The three original flatmates are horrified. It’s bad enough that their new flatmate is a reporter, but what’s even worse: she’s human.

  Please see web site for more details/availability