Westerham Witches and a Venetian Vendetta

by Dionne Lister

  “I need to talk to you about something. Could you come outside for a sec?”

  “Of course!” She turned back to the bartender. “I’m sorry I have to go, but it was lovely chatting with you.”

  He grinned. “Of course. Come and chat with me any time. I would love to have you.” He winked. I suppressed a gag.

  Mum slid off the stool and joined us in the hall. I made a bubble of silence and put on an Italian accent in a deep voice. “I would love to have you?!”

  She giggled. “I know. His flirting game needs some work. He’s harmless though. So, what did you find?”

  I sighed. “Not much, but I took a recording of the end of an argument between Isabella and her daughter.”

  “And I’ve checked most of the rooms with Millicent, and we found nothing.”

  My mother’s face fell. “Oh. That’s not promising.”

  I shook my head. “No. It’s not. And keeping Will’s rule in mind, do you want to come with us to check out the office?”

  “Okay. Lead the way. I might just stand at the door so I’m not underfoot.”

  “That’s okay. Whatever makes you happy.” I smiled.

  We turned and in a few steps were at the office. The door was open, so Imani and I went straight in. Will, Beren, and Agent Tondato were there. Beren was looking through paperwork on the messy desk while Agent Tondato went through drawers of the filing cabinet that sat in front of the door I wanted to check behind. Will stood in the middle of the room, his power glowing around him as his magic tickled my scalp. “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He looked at me, poker face intact. “Just checking for any anomalies that would indicate a hidden room.”

  A pointed at the door behind the filing cabinet. “Don’t look now, but there’s a door.”

  Will rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

  “She hasn’t been in here. I couldn’t sense her earlier, and I can’t now.” I was being subtle, but he would know I meant I hadn’t captured her in my camera. “But I sense Mr Dal Lago was here the day he was murdered.” Will knew I had the photo of him going through that doorway.

  Agent Tondato, who was sitting on an office chair, looked up at me from the drawer he was rifling through. “Do you have a special talent for sensing where people have been?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve heard anyone with that talent is limited to maybe twelve hours after the person was there.” I shrugged, trying to keep the stories to a minimum. The more embellished the lie was, the more likely I’d be caught out. “So, maybe you’re making an educated guess since you saw him come out of this office after arguing with his wife.”

  “While arguing with his wife.” I folded my arms and clenched my teeth. I so wanted to say to Imani, see he hates me, but that was way too childish. “And my statement is not a guess. It’s a fact.” Sticking out my tongue would also be childish, but my tongue managed to make it halfway out of my mouth before I caught it and pretended to be licking my lips. Oh, great; now he’d think I was flirting.

  He looked at Will. “Do you always let your fiancée follow you on investigations?”

  He turned his poker face onto the agent—I guessed he couldn’t look angry, or we might get no more cooperation from him. “She’s very skilled at sensing things. She’s helped the PIB solve many cases. If it wasn’t for Lily, there would be a lot more witch criminals running around out there.” He turned to me and gave a small smile. I gave him a thank-you nod and smile in return.

  Agent Tondato flicked his gaze to Imani, then back to Will. “Women should not be in the field. It is too dangerous, and they’re not as good as male agents. The women miss things.” Oh, dear. He’d just about signed his own death warrant. I looked at Imani and noted sparks of anger shooting from her eyes. It was a miracle the Italian agent didn’t catch fire, or at least complain that his skin was burning.

  Imani opened her mouth to say something, but Will raised a brow. It must be a reminder that we needed to find Angelica, and we could deal with this idiot later. She shut her mouth, but her nostrils flared a few times. She really had some fierce self-control. It was a shame I didn’t.

  I looked down my nose at him. “Considering most men can’t find what’s right in front of their nose in the cupboard or fridge, I think you mean we’re way better than men. When was the last time you had to ask your mother to find something for you?” Imani snorted. I smiled, happy I’d made her feel better. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Will, who gave me a dirty “shut up” look.

  Agent Tondato pressed his lips together and lifted his chin. “My mumma is excellent at finding things in the house, yes, but that is all. A man’s intellect is more suited to important things.”

  My mouth dropped open, but before anything could come flying out, Will stepped between Agent Tondato and me. He was looking at the Italian agent. “Do you think you could avoid insulting my colleagues? You may do things differently here, but I can assure you that our female agents do as good a job as our male agents. If we can just stick to the case and find Angelica and the murderer, I would very much appreciate it. I wouldn’t want to have to involve UK headquarters—Angelica is one of their top agents. If they think you’ve botched things up, they might just convince the powers that be to take away funding for your branch.”

  Wow, Will was getting serious. He wasn’t usually into threats… well, at least not that I’d seen. And how did that work anyway, with the international agencies? I knew funding for the UK arm was being squeezed, but did funding for other countries’ agencies come from different sources?

  Agent Tondato didn’t say anything, but he gave a nod, his face pinched. Right, hopefully we’d be on track to get this place searched. The worry worm in my stomach kept burrowing. We needed to find Angelica today. “Can we move that cabinet and search in there?”

  Will turned and looked at me. “Of course.” He turned back to the filing cabinet, and his magic tickled my skull. The cabinet disappeared, then reappeared in the opposite corner of the office. Agent Tondato gave Will an annoyed look—he’d been going through that filing cabinet. The Italian agent stood and pushed his wheeled chair to the other side of the room to continue exploring the cabinet’s contents.

  I smiled at Will. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” Will placed his hand on his stomach and half bowed. He turned, went to the door, and tried the knob. It was locked. Another tingle of his magic, and the knob turned. My heart thudded, the beat playing in my ears. Was Angelica behind there? He donned a return to sender and opened the door, all of us staring at it… waiting. The urge to bite my fingernails was strong.

  Darkness filled the doorframe. Will felt around on the other side of the wall, then click. Light shone from the room. Agent Tondato, maybe satisfied that nothing was going to come through that door, turned back to the drawer he was going through. That suited me—now I could join Will in the other room and take some photos.

  Will slipped into the room. Imani and I followed. Once we were away from Tondato’s critical gaze, I slid my phone out and brought up the camera app. Before I asked anything, I gazed around the windowless space. The floor was the same orangey-brown terrazzo as the rest of the hotel. Another filing cabinet sat in one corner, next to a row of boxes piled two high that ran the length of one wall. The musty and slightly pungent odour of damp thickened the air.

  Will turned to Imani. “If you can look for any magic signatures, that would be great. I’m going to look for any physical signs, and our little Aussie can do her thing.”

  I saluted. “Yes, sir!” He rolled his eyes. I smirked. He hated when I pretended to obey him. Time to get to work. I lifted my phone and drew magic. “Show me Angelica,” I whispered. Might as well get straight to the point.

  I sucked in a breath. My stomach plunged. She lay on a dirty mattress in front of the boxes, eyes closed, hands and feet bound. Was she still alive? I walked closer and snapped off two shots. Her lips were pink, not blue, and there was no
blood that I could see. Hopefully that boded well. I swallowed and lowered the phone before raising it again. “Show me who brought Angelica here.” Nothing. What the hell? “Argh!”

  Imani jerked her gaze towards me. “What’s wrong?” Concern laced her voice.

  I showed her the photos. “When I asked who did it, no one showed up.”

  Will stood behind Imani and looked over her shoulder. He ran a hand through his hair, and his poker face slipped for a moment, revealing the worry underneath. “So, they magicked her here?”

  “I guess. Hang on. Let me try something else. If they put her here, they might have also put Mr D here physically rather than magically.” I lifted the camera and whispered, “Show me the last time Mr Dal Lago was here and who he was here with.”

  Just like with Angelica, or not quite, he was unconscious or already dead, hands and feet bound, but he was lying on the hard floor rather than a mattress. Whoever killed him, really didn’t like him. Although, if he were already dead, he wouldn’t feel the discomfort of being on the concrete. I took a photo and showed Will and Imani.

  “Well, that’s good,” said Imani. “They had a beef with him, but she’s just getting in the way. Maybe she found a clue where they found the old-lady victim?”

  I shook my head. “But how would the killer even know what Angelica found? It’s not like she would’ve called or texted anyone.”

  Will shrugged. “Maybe Angelica asked our killer a question that made them balk, or maybe the killer was at the scene of the crime, watching the investigators?”

  I sighed. “Well, whatever it is, Angelica’s no longer here, so that sucks. Now what?”

  Will straightened his shoulders. “We keep looking.”

  We left Agent Tondato in the office. Beren got Liv to come down from their room. She and my mother joined us as we went from room to room, until we’d covered all the guest accommodation—for the second time—storage rooms, and offices. But no luck. We reconvened in the hallway outside the office. By then, Agent Tondato had already left, but he hadn’t bothered texting Will to let him know. Had he found anything worthwhile?

  Will turned to my mother. “Did you get any info from your chat with the bartender?”

  “I don’t know. I just need to ruminate on my conversation with Mrs D’s boyfriend. Most of it was him complaining that even though Mr D is dead, Mrs D won’t commit to being exclusive with him. I asked if she ever promised to leave her husband for him, and he said no.”

  “What’s his alibi?” I asked because, surely the dead man’s wife’s lover was a suspect.

  “He was here working.” Will nodded towards the bar. “Security footage confirms he was there until closing at midnight. He has an apartment nearby. We have footage of him leaving here and then not returning.”

  “The Italian agents have pretty much cleared him,” said Beren. Oh, great, so all that cloak and daggers stuff, getting my mum to flirt with him, was all for nothing. “Turns out that Mrs Dal Lago’s magic signature was one of the two on her husband we couldn’t identify, but she claims it was from restraining him in the bedroom that morning, and it was consensual.”

  “How are you supposed to prove that?” Seemed like Mrs D had all her bases covered. “She sure had an active sex life. Maybe she has one of those sex disorders?”

  Imani raised her brows. “How many sex disorders are there, love?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know? Probably thousands, but I mean the one where you just can’t get enough. Maybe she wasn’t trying to hurt her husband—maybe he just couldn’t perform as much as she needed him to? It’s still no excuse, but it takes away her motive. Have you had her assessed by a psychologist?”

  Will stared at me as if I’d lost the plot. “Lily, you know we haven’t. We’ve barely been able to get a search warrant on this place. And just because she enjoys lots of sex, doesn’t mean she has a disorder… necessarily.”

  “Yes, but it was her idea to have an open marriage, and from what I saw, he was upset about it, and if she truly loved him, she’d keep it on the down-low, but she didn’t. I figure it’s because she just can’t help herself when the urge strikes.”

  “Or she’s a bi—”

  “Now, now, Imani, let’s not use that language here.” Beren looked around, his gaze hitting Isabella, who’d apparently been listening from the doorway to the restaurant. Gah, why hadn’t we used a BOS? Being on holiday had turned us into a bunch of amateurs.

  Isabella’s gaze met mine, and I gave her an “I’m sorry” look. She blinked, her eyes watering, and her head slowly fell forward. She turned and slunk back into the restaurant. I wanted to run after her, but it wasn’t the time—she might have been upset, but so were we. “I think we just made a mess of that.”

  My mother sighed. “You lot should know better than that. If Angelica were here, she’d be ropable.”

  My cheeks heated. There were only two people who could make me feel such mortifying guilt—Angelica and my mother. It was like being ten again. Will kept his gaze on my mother, an apology in his eyes. Imani and I looked at each other. I was betting from the awkward look on her face that her shame matched mine. We totally should’ve known better. Thank God Millicent wasn’t here to see this. Liv and Beren were the only ones who could look at my mother without a thick layer of chagrin clogging their pores.

  “You’re right.” My tone couldn’t have been any more apologetic than it was. “I think we’re all just a bit put out. We’re worried about Angelica… but that’s no excuse. Sorry.”

  “Yes, love, I’m sorry too.”

  “Me three,” said Will. I guessed this was his future mother-in-law, and other than being a nice guy, he probably didn’t want to put a dent in their shiny new relationship.

  My mother gave us all a firm parental stare. “Do better next time.” She looked at Beren. “Can you please make a bubble of silence?”

  “I’d be glad to.” Beren’s magic tickled my scalp, and it was done.

  Something I’d wondered but hadn’t had a chance to ask pinged in my brain. “Where’s Sarah and Lavender, and, Mum, can you translate this please?” I brought up the recording on my phone while Will answered my first question.

  “They had to get back straight after the interview. They’re working this evening, but they’ll join us again after dinner.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I looked at Mum. “What are they saying?” I pressed Play on the recording, and Isabella’s and her daughter’s voices filled our bubble.

  When it was done, Mum frowned. “Can you play it again? My Italian’s not the best, and we don’t have the beginning of the conversation.”

  “Okay.” I played it two more times.

  “I think Isabella is telling her daughter the police are stupid for accusing her and not to tell them anything. She also told her to stop sleeping around. Her daughter basically told her to keep her opinions to herself. It wouldn’t hurt to ask Sarah to listen to it. She’ll be able to get more out of it, maybe.”

  “Thanks.” I really needed to get to it on the other languages. I hated not understanding stuff. “In any case, we know someone in this hotel put Angelica in that room.”

  My mother’s face paled. “What are you talking about?”

  Beren’s brow wrinkled. “Yes, what are you talking about?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Mum, you were standing out here when I found it, and B was in the office with Agent Tondato—I couldn’t show him without revealing my secret.”

  Beren gave a nod. “So show me now.”

  “Gladly.” I brought up the photo and handed it to Beren. Liv stood on one side of him, and Mum moved to stand on his other side.

  Liv sucked in a breath. “Is she…?”

  Will cleared his throat. “Dead? No, we don’t think so. She has normal colouring. That either means she was only just killed when she was transported there, or she’s still alive. It’s impossible to know for sure, but we’re betting she’s alive.”

  Mum put her f
ingers to her temples. “You’re right, Lily. Someone from this hotel is the most likely to have done this. Which brings us back to Mrs D.”

  The front door to the hotel opened, and a large man walked through. Oh, boy. This was interesting. “Or someone who knows the place well….”

  Everyone turned to see what I was looking at.

  Lorenzo Zanini halted and stared at us. Beren canned the BOS, and Will spoke. “What are you doing here?”

  “Elena called me.”

  I raised a brow. “Mrs Dal Lago?”

  “Yes.” He folded his arms—so defensive. Was she seeing him too? Sheesh, the plot was thicker than a well-cooked risotto. Mmm, risotto. My stomach gurgled. Must be time to eat. Should we eat out, or should we eat here so we could try and get some more info out of Isabella? She was all for her daughter, but maybe she’d noticed something that didn’t seem like a clue to her but that we could use. Maybe I could frame it as I was trying to clear her daughter? Gah, liar, liar pants on fire. Although, if she was innocent, I did want to prove it. The only way we’d find Angelica was if we figured out who the guilty person was.

  “Why?” asked Will.

  The glass-blower narrowed his eyes. “None of your business. Excuse me.” He let his arms drop to his sides, and he stomped past us to the restaurant.

  I looked at Will. “Can’t you stop him?”

  He shook his head. “No. He hasn’t been arrested, even though he’s still a person of interest.” This was doing my head in.

  “But wasn’t his alibi found to be BS?”

  My mother’s mouth fell open. “Lily! Manners, please.”

  I smirked. “What’s wrong with bullishly shoddy?”

  She shook her head, and Imani snickered. Imani mouthed, Nice save. I grinned.

  Beren made another bubble of silence. “While we’re out here talking rubbish, he’s in there talking to Mrs Dal Lago. Why don’t we see if we can listen in?” Will gave a nod, and Beren dropped the BOS. Will’s magic tickled my scalp, and white noise reached us.

  I scrunched my brow. “What’s that?”