Witch Is When I Said Goodbye (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 10)

by Adele Abbott

  I walked around to the back of the house, and took a look through one of the windows. The kitchen looked very new, but I doubted Amber would be doing much cooking. On a whim, I tried the back door, and to my surprise, it opened. I knew the house wasn’t occupied because Amber had told me that it was vacant possession. The previous owner had moved to the human world. So, why was the door unlocked?

  It couldn’t do any harm to take a quick look inside.

  I walked through the kitchen into a small hallway. The carpet was horrible; a swirl of red, brown and green—not exactly easy on the eye. But that could easily be replaced. Amber had mentioned that the previous owner had left some furniture in the living room, which was going to be included in the sale. No wonder they were leaving it behind; it was ghastly.

  Just then, I heard footsteps and voices coming from upstairs. Whoops! It hadn’t occurred to me that someone else might be looking around the house. That would explain the unlocked door. Then I heard footsteps on the stairs. I had to get out before they saw me. I was almost at the back door when I heard a familiar voice.

  “Jill? Is that you?”

  I turned around to see Pearl and Alan; they both looked rather puzzled.

  “What are you doing here?” Pearl said. “How did you know we were here?”

  “Err—I—”

  “Does Amber know we’re here?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You mustn’t tell her.”

  “Okay.”

  “So how did you know we were here?”

  “I didn’t. I was just viewing houses.”

  “Are you looking for a house in Candlefield too?”

  “Not seriously. Not at the moment, anyway. I’m quite happy with the flat above Cuppy C, but I was at a bit of a loose end, so I thought I’d check out the local housing market. Just in case I do decide to buy one day.”

  “Well, you can’t have this house.” Pearl grinned. “We love it. Don’t we, Alan?”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “Hi, Alan,” I said. “I haven’t seen you for a while.”

  “I’ve been busy working lots of overtime.”

  “We’ve been saving up.” Pearl put her arm through Alan’s. “We’ve been planning to get our own house for ages. I can’t wait to get away from Amber. She drives me insane. You know what she’s like, Jill.”

  I smiled. The irony.

  “You mustn’t say anything to her. We don’t want her to know that we’ve bought the house until it’s all sorted. You won’t say anything, will you?”

  “Of course not. Are you going to put in an offer for this place?”

  “Yes, it’s the best one we’ve seen by a long chalk, isn’t it Alan?”

  “Yes. Best by far.”

  “You’re not thinking of putting in an offer too, are you, Jill?” Pearl looked a little worried.

  “No. Definitely not.”

  “That’s good. We’d hate to lose out to someone else.”

  “That would be horrible,” I agreed. “Look, I’ve got to dash. Things to do. I promised Barry I’d take him for a walk. I’ll see you both soon.”

  “Okay, and please don’t tell Amber, will you? Or Mum. Don’t tell anyone.”

  “My lips are sealed.” I ran my fingers across my lips and zipped them closed.

  Oh dear. This wasn’t going to end well.

  Chapter 16

  I had a hunch, but it was a long shot; a really long shot. And, I didn’t want to show my hand until I was sure. I still had the list of names and contact details for all the people who had been in Coffee Triangle that day. The police had spoken to everyone on the list, but most of them hadn’t been able to help because they weren’t anywhere near the incident.

  It took me the best part of three hours to call everyone on the list—I had just one question for them all. Even though there were a few people I didn’t manage to get hold of, it didn’t matter because I was able to identify thirty people who’d had a drum at the moment when the murder victim was found. The assistant manager at Coffee Triangle had told me there were thirty of each of the instruments, which meant that at the moment the murder victim was found, every drum in the shop was accounted for. So, if thirty customers had drums, where had the manager got his from? And where was he when the victim was discovered? According to the assistant manager, his boss had been on the shop floor, playing his drum for most of the day. And yet, when the body was discovered, the assistant manager was forced to step in because the manager couldn’t be found.

  Where had he gone?

  Tony Tuck owed money to the murdered man, and payment was long overdue. From all accounts, Joe Snow wasn’t the kind of man you wanted to cross. So, why had Joe Snow been in Coffee Triangle that day? Was he there to collect his money? Was he there to intimidate Tuck? Or had the situation moved beyond intimidation? Was Snow there to deal out some kind of punishment? It was unlikely to have been a social call.

  Maybe the manager had feared for his life, and decided to get in first. He certainly had the motive, but if he was the killer, the big question was how did he do it? No one had seen or heard the gunshot, and although the police had searched the premises, no murder weapon had been found. All my instincts told me that if I could find the weapon, everything else would fall into place.

  Easier said than done.

  ***

  I needed to clear my head and stop obsessing over the Coffee Triangle case, so I magicked myself over to Candlefield.

  Amber had gone out to visit one of the cake suppliers.

  “Hey, Jill.” Pearl greeted me. “I have news.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You won’t tell Amber, will you?”

  “No. I promise.”

  “You know we were looking around that house the other day?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you know we said we might make an offer on it?”

  “I remember.”

  “Well, we did. And we should hear back sometime today. With a bit of luck, Alan and I could soon have our very own house. I’ll be able to move out and leave Amber behind.”

  “Did the estate agent say that you were in with a good chance?”

  “They were being a bit cagey, but we think so. They said at least two other couples had shown an interest, but we were the first to put in an offer. So now we’re just waiting to hear if the seller has accepted it. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to have our own place. I know exactly how we’ll decorate it. We’re going to paint it yellow throughout.”

  “Every room?”

  “Yeah, I like yellow. And we’ll have a nice blue carpet in the living room, and a yellow and blue corner sofa.”

  “Hmm? A lot of yellow and blue then?”

  “Yeah. We might have to wait a while for the rest of the furniture because we won’t have a lot of money left after we’ve paid the deposit for the house.”

  Later, when Amber got back, she joined me behind the counter while Pearl went on her break.

  “Hey, Jill. I have something to tell you, but you mustn’t tell anyone; particularly not Pearl.”

  I had a horrible feeling I knew what was coming.

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “You know the house that William and me have been looking at?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, we decided to put in an offer.”

  “You did? Have you heard back yet?”

  “No, but the estate agent said they’d contact us today. I’m expecting a phone call anytime, so fingers crossed. I can’t wait to get out of this place, and away from Pearl. We already know exactly how we’ll decorate it.”

  “Let me guess. You’re going to paint it yellow throughout?”

  “No. Why would we do that? We’re going to paint it blue throughout.”

  “Blue? Right.”

  “And we’re going to have a yellow carpet in the living room.”

  “And a yellow and blue sofa?”

  “How did you know?”

/>   “Just a lucky guess.”

  “That’s all the furniture we’ll be able to afford to begin with because we won’t have much money left after we’ve paid the deposit for the house.”

  About an hour later, Pearl, Amber and I were sitting at a window table. Somebody had forced me to have a blueberry muffin. We hadn’t been there for more than a few minutes when a phone rang, and then another phone rang. Pearl and Amber both jumped up from their seats, and dashed to opposite sides of the room. I glanced back and forth between the two of them, wondering which one of them had got the house. But when they’d finished on their calls, and returned to the table, they both had long faces.

  “Everything okay?” I said.

  “Fine.” Amber sighed.

  “Just great.” Pearl frowned.

  Later on, I caught up with Amber when she was by herself. “I guess that was bad news on the house front?”

  “Yeah, somebody put in a better offer. It’s been sold.”

  “Oh well, never mind. There’ll be plenty more.”

  “I guess so. But we had our heart set on that one.”

  I had the same conversation with Pearl ten minutes later. Little did they know, they’d both put in a bid for the same house. In a way, this was the best possible outcome. Someone else had bought the house. If Amber had got it, Pearl would have gone ballistic. If Pearl had got it, Amber would have killed her. And I would have been stuck in the middle of it all.

  The atmosphere in the shop over the next couple of hours wasn’t great. Neither Amber nor Pearl was in the mood for talking. Ironically, I was the only one who knew why both of them were so downcast. Amber had a go at Pearl for being moody. Pearl accused Amber of being a misery guts.

  “What are those two up to over there?” Pearl said.

  Amber and I both followed her gaze.

  “What on earth are they doing?” Amber had her nose pressed to the window.

  It was Miles Best and Mindy Lowe.

  “It looks like they’re dancing.” Pearl shook her head. “Knowing their luck, they’ve probably won the lottery.”

  I was intrigued. So much so, that I volunteered to go over the road to find out what was happening.

  “Hello, Jill!” Miles shouted when he saw me.

  “What’s going on? Have you managed to shut down another cake shop with your rats?”

  “That was only a bit of fun. You and the twins really shouldn’t take things so seriously.”

  I was so tempted to slap the smile off his face.

  “So why are you dancing in the street?”

  He couldn’t wait to tell me.

  “So?” Amber said when I walked back into Cuppy C. “What are they up to?”

  “Have they won the lottery?” Pearl was still staring at the crazy, dancing couple.

  “It’s nothing.” I shrugged.

  “It must be something.” Amber insisted. “They wouldn’t be dancing in the street like lunatics for no reason.”

  “Honestly, it’s nothing.”

  “Jill!” Pearl glared at me. “Tell us.”

  “Well if you must know. They’ve just found out that the offer they put in on a house has been accepted.”

  All three of us knew which house it was.

  ***

  There was nothing I could say which would make the twins feel any better, so I waited until the shop was quiet, said my goodbyes, and headed back to Washbridge.

  When I got to the office, Mrs V was standing behind her desk. There was a large box in front of her, and she appeared to be emptying her drawers.

  “Mrs V, what’s going on?”

  “As if you care.”

  Her reaction completely floored me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I resign.”

  “Resign? But why?”

  “I thought I could trust you, Jill. I thought you were my friend.”

  “I am your friend. And, of course you can trust me. What’s happened?”

  She took a deep breath. I could tell she was barely holding back the tears.

  “I’m under investigation by the local chapter of the Yarnies.”

  “Under investigation? Whatever for?”

  “Someone told them—” She had to take a deep breath to get the words out. “Someone told them that I’ve been crocheting.”

  I laughed, but immediately realised that was the wrong reaction. “Sorry, sorry.”

  “It’s not funny. It’s not funny at all. I don’t understand why you would tell someone.”

  “Me? I haven’t told anyone. You asked me not to say anything, and I haven’t.”

  “Who else could it have been?”

  “I don’t know, but it definitely wasn’t me. Please don’t leave, Mrs V. We’ve been together for so long. You have to believe me. I haven’t told anyone. At least let me investigate, and try to get to the bottom of it.”

  She hesitated. “I suppose I owe you that much.”

  “So, you’ll stay?”

  “Yes, but only if you promise to find out who did it.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find out.”

  If Winky was responsible for this, I would kill him. Slowly and very painfully.

  He was on the sofa.

  “How could you do it?”

  He looked confused. “How could I do what?”

  “You told someone about Mrs V crocheting.”

  “Do me a favour. I have much better things to do with my time than worry about the old bag lady, and what kind of needles she’s using.”

  “You said you were going to post it on FelineSocial.”

  “I was only kidding. I wouldn’t waste my time.”

  “I don’t believe you.” I grabbed his phone.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? That’s private.”

  “I don’t care.”

  I soon found the FelineSocial app, and clicked on it.

  “Hey, do you mind? Stop reading my personal stuff.”

  I scrolled all the way down. There was no mention of Mrs V or crocheting.

  “Now do you believe me?” he said, as indignantly as he could.

  “Yeah. Here.” I passed him the phone.

  “No apology then?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “That hardly covers it. Still, there is one way you can make it up to me.”

  “Salmon?”

  “Red not pink, obviously.”

  Chapter 17

  “What exactly is it I’m paying you for?” Grandma had just burst into my office—leaving Mrs V in her wake. “There isn’t much sign of you finding out who the Coffee Triangle murderer is.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Really? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re categorising your rubber bands. How much is that costing me?”

  I opened the top drawer of my desk, and swept the rubber bands inside.

  “They help me to think.”

  “Oh, well that’s okay then. I don’t mind paying you to play with your rubber bands just as long as it helps you to think.”

  “I’ve told you I’m working on the case. I expect to have a result soon.”

  “You’d better have.” And with that she left.

  No pressure then.

  The Coffee Triangle case was really beginning to bug me, and not just because I had Grandma on my back. I was missing something obvious, but what? It was too much of a coincidence that the victim, Joe Snow, just happened to be in the shop. Tony Tuck had owed him money, and my gut feeling was that Snow had been there to collect. Either his money or his pound of flesh. Tuck must have known he was in trouble, and decided to get in first.

  But how had he done it? It was obvious why no one had heard the gunshot, but why had no one seen him with a gun, and where was the murder weapon now? I knew from what his assistant had told me, that the manager had gone AWOL for a few minutes around the time the victim was found. I definitely wasn’t going to find the gun sitting at my desk, so I made my way down to
Coffee Triangle.

  If my hunch about Tuck was correct, he couldn’t have gone far in such a short period of time. At the back of the building was a high wall, but that didn’t pose an obstacle; I simply levitated over it. I was really getting the hang of levitation now.

  There was very little to see in the yard behind Coffee Triangle, but I did notice that the area was shared by three adjoining shops. All of them had back doors which opened onto the yard. Tuck would have had time to come out of Coffee Triangle, and nip into one of those, but which one?

  Then it struck me. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Two doors down from Coffee Triangle was Tom Tom Music—where Mikey had spent an hour playing on their drum kits. Where better to hide a drum than in plain sight in a music shop?

  But I still had to find it.

  I made my way back to the front of the building. The music shop was deserted except for the two men behind the counter.

  “Morning,” I said.

  “Morning.” The taller of the two men flashed me a smile. He had a gold front tooth. “Weren’t you in here the other day?”

  “Yeah. With my young nephew.” I walked over to the counter.

  “That’s right. I remember now. Quite the budding drummer. I’m Tom.”

  “Jill. Pleased to meet you.”

  “I’m Tom two.” The second man had a tattoo of a cow playing a banjo on his upper arm.

  “Tom and Tom? Doesn’t that get confusing?”

  “Not really. He’s Tom, and I’m Tom Number Two.”

  “Ah, right. Tom Two. I thought you said Tom too.”

  They both looked confused now.

  “So, did your nephew find a drum kit he liked?” Tom Two said.

  “He liked them all. He’s hoping to get one for his birthday.”

  “He’s welcome to come down and try them out any time.”

  “Thanks. I’ll tell his mum.” She’ll be so pleased.

  “What brings you here today?” Tom asked. “Are you looking for something in particular?”

  “I’m a private investigator. I assume you heard about the murder at the coffee shop a couple of doors away.”