Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr

by Holly Bell

  ‘No. But ... I did just wonder about the children when I heard the story.’

  ‘Arr, you’ve a kind ’eart. Goin’ to such trouble to find out.’

  As Gran Flossie drove them back to Parhayle, she said,

  ‘Good thing you was with me. I wouldn’t have known to ask all of that.’

  ‘Thank you very much for bringin’ me along.’ Amanda replied. She then sat quietly cogitating. So, a number of treasures were taken from Growan House. Some at least from the lab in the crypt. Grimoires? A mirror? A chalice? And an interesting combination: bell, book and candle ....

  Chapter 39

  The Missing Pieces

  As Hogarth had run out of story, Amanda was able to launch into her report as soon as they arrived for dinner. She relayed all she had learned from the caretaker — whom she characterised simply as someone she had met on the Moor — that day, while Hogarth washed out his roller after having emulsioned the dining-room ceiling.

  ‘Fascinating,’ he remarked when she drew breath.

  ‘I have something to add to that,’ offered Trelawney.

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘Shall I stir the chilli?’ suggested Amanda, going over and moving the wooden spoon around by hand.

  ‘Please, and get the rice on too, if you will. Thomas, tell us what you got today at Flamgoyne.’

  Having heard the inspector’s report on his visit to the family pile that morning, she summarized,

  ‘So, the Flamgoynes were out in force that night and took some damage, but they seem to have succeeded in their objective if your estate manager heard correctly.’

  ‘Hm. They came home with a book or box and something shiny,’ commented Hogarth. He looked at Thomas. ‘So that was how your dear Aunt Agacine met her end. Interesting.’

  ‘Indeed. I didn’t know I had an Aunt Agacine. Then again, some things are best forgotten! Anyway, I’d have put her near the top of the list of suspects if she hadn’t been struck down before the Mordren explosion. However, as least we can identify some of the fallen.’

  ‘It’s clear though, that another merry band was present at the attack on Growan House,’ concluded Amanda. ‘And I’d have bet my best tea-pot that they were Cardiubarns. Because I can tell you what would be totally in character: if they knew about the research and happily let the Dowrkampyers get on with it, while they, the Cardiubarns intended to go in and swipe the results when it was done. In fact, they may even have felt some sort of warped entitlement to it.’

  ‘But,’ said Thomas, ‘it sounds like the Flamgoynes could have come home with the ultimate swag: The Grimoire, the compilation of the research that was going on at Growan House.’

  ‘Then how did that grimoire end up in the Cardiubarn crypt, all nice and ready to be used on me a few years later?’ Amanda asked rhetorically.

  ‘How, indeed,’ pondered Hogarth.

  ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘it seems there was only one Flamgoyne fatality that night: Agacine. We know Lucy saw a woman in black lying on the stairs who looked dead.’

  ‘Alright,’ agreed Trelawney. ‘It is reasonable to assume then, that the body on the stairs was that of Agacine Flamgoyne.’

  Amanda looked optimistically from one to the other of the men.

  ‘That’s at least some progress, isn’t it?’ Anyway, so we know for certain the Flamgoynes and the Cardiubarns were there. We know the Flamgoynes went off with spoils, but what about the Cardiubarns?’

  ‘And did the Flamgoynes make off with books or boxes?’ asked Trelawney. ‘If boxes, what was in them?’

  ‘And if books, was one of them the book?’ added Amanda.

  ‘If not, were they still spellbooks?’ pondered Thomas.

  ‘More questions then,’ commented Hogarth, taking a peek at the rice. ‘Almost ready. Plates out of the oven and cutlery, you two.’

  Once they were all seated and tucking in with relish, Hogarth looked up from his plate at Amanda, and asked as if by-the-way,

  ‘Thomas says you still have photos of family?’

  ‘The Cardiubarns? Yes, Granny used to have the album on the sitting-room shelves, but I stuck it in a trunk in the attic ages ago. Why? Do you need them?’

  ‘Hmm, they could be useful.’

  ‘Is that policeman-speak for “yes”?’ she enquired impishly.

  Hogarth grinned.

  ‘Busted, as they say. Do they still say that?’ he wondered.

  ‘Do you need them now?’

  ‘I’d like them now.’

  ‘Well,’ replied Amanda, wanting to be helpful, ‘there might be a way to get them without driving all the way to and from Sunken Madley. Aunt Amelia has a key to the cottage, and she knows her way around it.’

  Hogarth had picked up his phone and was already dialling.

  ‘Amelia, my dear.’ He put it on speaker.

  ‘Mikey, how nice!’

  ‘And to hear your voice too. Are you at home?’

  ‘Where else would a single woman of my age be on a Friday night?’

  ‘So, you’re going out then,’ Mike replied saucily.

  ‘A soirée,’ she replied, with an air of innocence.

  ‘Do I know him?’

  ‘No, sweetie, but I’m sure you’d approve.’

  ‘Now that is worrying. Amelia, darling, I need a favour, and it may involve you changing out of your glad rags.’

  She sighed. 'If you want me to bury another body, can it wait until tomorrow?’

  He laughed.

  'It’s more a resurrection that we need.’

  ‘We?’ enquired Amelia.

  ‘Yes, the young people are here.’

  ‘Hello, Aunt Amelia,’ called Amanda and Thomas.

  ‘Hello, my dears! Right. Down to business. What can I do for you all?’

  ‘I need the photographs of any Cardiubarns,’ Hogarth explained, ‘from an album in the attic of the Cadabra’s cottage.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Let me hand you over to Amanda.’

  ‘Sweetie, are you all right? Don’t let your Uncle Mike bully you into anything you don’t like, now.’

  ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t, Aunt Amelia,’ replied Amanda. ‘And you do know we’re on speakerphone?’

  ‘Yes, my dear, which is why I said it! Now. Tell me how I find it.’

  ‘Attic, brown trunk with three straps. It’s got stuff on top of it, but just shove it off, and I’ll put everything back when I come home.’

  ‘The dark tan album with the black edges?’

  ‘That’s the one,' Amanda confirmed.

  'Shall I use the scanner in the dining room? Put them on a USB stick and email them?’

  ‘Ah no,’ intervened Hogarth. ‘Amelia, could you print them out — Amanda, I’ll replace your ink — and send them by courier?’

  ‘Shall I use Broughams Express?’

  ‘Please.’

  ‘Will do. You should have them by midnight,' Amelia assured him.

  ‘Thank you, you’re a treasure.'

  ‘You’ll still be up, Mike?’

  ‘I will indeed. Thank you again and sorry about your date.’

  ‘Oh, I’m still going out, just later. And yes, he’ll wait.’ Amelia added with the suggestion of a wink in her voice.

  ‘I’m sure he will!’

  ‘Right. I’m on the case. Bye-bye, sweeties.’

  Hogarth hung up and put his phone aside.

  ‘Good. That’s settled. Thomas, I would like you to take Amanda out for lunch at the Smuggler’s Coast tomorrow, to celebrate our remarkable progress so far. Then both of you come here.’

  ‘That sounds nice,’ Amanda responded with pleasure.

  ‘Really?’ queried Thomas, ‘But —’

  ‘No questions, now. Time for you both to be off. I have the dining-room walls to do.’

  ‘Oh ... er, shall I move the furniture away from the walls,’ she offered. ‘If you don’t mind the smell of magic for a bit?’

  ‘My favourite scent. Most ki
nd. Would you take the dishes out to the kitchen on the way?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Once she was out of earshot, Hogarth leaned towards Trelawney.

  ‘Thomas, I need Amanda to have a heavy lunch, with at least one glass of wine.’ He got up and tucked five 20-pound notes into Trelawney’s top pocket. ‘Expenses. You have the steak; it’s excellent.’

  Trelawney raised his eyebrows but nodded.

  ‘All right, Mike. Well, thank you. I gather you want Miss Cadabra to be … relaxed when I bring her here?’

  ‘Indeed.’ Hogarth chuckled. ‘I appreciate your protective instinct, Sir Galahad, but I promise you I intend nothing untoward. And I will not press Amanda to do anything she is not happy to do. But I believe she will be willing, wine or no.’

  Thomas was visibly reassured. Amanda returned, overhearing their lowered voices. Later, in the car, she asked,

  ‘Well! What was all that about?’

  ‘He seems to think we’ve made significant headway and wants us to party a little. Your Uncle Mike’s treat. Look.’

  Keeping his eyes on the road, he passed the notes to her.

  ‘For lunch? Wow! That’s nice.’

  ‘Pick you up at 12.30?’

  ‘I’ll be ready!’

  Chapter 40

  Hogarth’s Plan

  Amanda’s curiosity got the better of her, and she sought counsel as soon as she and Tempest were settled back at Gwel an Donn Cottage.

  ‘Granny! Grandpa!’ They solidified either side of her on the sofa. Granny’s lap seemed to be full of white string on top of a small stick.

  ‘Yes, dear?’

  ‘What is it, bian?’

  ‘Do you know why Uncle Mike wants photos of my parents and the rest of the Cardiubarns?’

  ‘I can make a shrewd guess,’ replied Senara, ‘but you’ll find out.’

  Grandpa sighed. ‘It was our children’s own choice to throw their lot in with the Cardiubarns, but it’s a pity when your offspring don’t turn out as you hope they will.’

  ‘I expect all parents of homicidal maniacs say the same thing,’ observed Granny matter-of-factly. ‘I shouldn’t have been surprised when your mother married her cousin Ughel. To this day, they still don’t know where he buried his sister. Then again, if she’d got to him first, you never would have been born,’ she added brightly. ‘So there you are, dear. Everything always works out for the best in the end.’ She looked down at her lap. ‘You know, I don’t think macramé is for me.’

  ‘You’ll get the hang of it,’ Grandpa encouraged her. ‘But we must be off now.’

  ‘Having another archery lesson from that nice Wilhelm,’ explained Granny. ‘Switzerland is so pleasant this time of year.’

  Amanda looked at her in surprise.

  ‘You mean William Te—?’

  But with a wave and a smile, they were gone.

  The next day, feeling it was an occasion, Amanda wore the best clothes she’d brought with her: an orange bandage skater dress over burnt sienna tights with tan heeled boots.

  Tempest watched with sleepy-eyed ennui from the bed.

  ‘Earrings and necklace too much?’ Amanda asked him.

  He stared at her pendant with distaste, as though the modest amber cabochon in a delicate gold setting on a matching chain was the very height of vulgarity.

  ‘All right, all right. For goodness sake, I’m taking it off. Just the earrings, then.’ She turned to face him. ‘Yes?’

  It was sweet the way humans made an effort to distract from their deplorable lack of feline physical attributes. His human did better than most. On a good day. At least … she tried.

  With suppressed excitement, Amanda proceeded to the entrance of the Smuggler’s Coast. Trelawney held the door open for her and Amanda thanked him as she passed through into the warm, inviting, fifteenth-century interior. She smiled with delight at the stained-glass window of a ship with billowing sails, and the copper pans hanging over one of the fireplaces. He had reserved the corner table under the oak-beamed ceiling.

  ‘Remind you of home?’ Trelawney asked, as they sat down.

  ‘It does indeed have a flavour of the Sinner’s Rue, of course with added nautical paraphernalia. Charming. Was it really used by smugglers?’

  ‘There’s a tunnel leading from the cellar to the quay. You may draw your own conclusions!’ he replied significantly.

  ‘Aha.’

  Under Trelawney’s careful encouragement, Amanda chose both a starter and main course. Together with the waiter, they selected a bottle of red wine for her.

  ‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘A whole bottle for me? Seems rather ambitious.’

  ‘You don’t have to drink it all. You can take home what you leave, or take it to your Uncle Mike’s this evening. I’m sure he won’t say no.’

  Some time later, Trelawney asked for the pudding menu.

  ‘I’m not sure I can manage pudding,’ Amanda demurred, ‘but the orange Cointreau chocolate pots do look good’

  ‘We have plenty of time.’ Thomas leaned back, at his ease. ‘Let’s rest for a bit, then maybe you’d like to have a pudding wine to help it go down?’

  ‘Oo! Wouldn’t that be a bit extravagant?’

  ‘We have an ample budget, remember,’ he reminded her with a smile.

  ‘Hmm ... all right then. Thank you.’

  It was after 2:30 when they rolled up at Hogarth’s, in more ways than one in Amanda’s case.

  The fire was on, and the room was comfortably lit. She was feeling decidedly drowsy.

  ‘Good lunch?’ Mike asked cheerily.

  ‘Amazing,’ Amanda replied emphatically. ‘But I think I could do with some coffee!’

  ‘I have some fresh mint in the garden. Good for an infusion,’ he offered.

  ‘Thank you, that does sound refreshing.’

  Thomas got up. ‘I’ll give you a hand.’

  ‘Oh yes, my old back, bending down,’ jested Hogarth in a croaking voice.

  Once in the garden, having navigated around the old stair carpet, Trelawney asked urgently,

  ‘Look, Mike, can you tell me exactly what you’re planning?’

  ‘All right, lad. The truth is that the story I am telling you both is incomplete. We believe Amanda could give us at least some of the missing pieces. At this stage, her dreams —’

  ‘Nightmares,’ interjected Trelawney with concern.

  ‘Yes, her nightmares — are our best lead. I need her to sleep, and go back to the scene of the crime.’

  ‘Where she was the victim? In the Cardiubarn crypt?’

  ‘Precisely.’

  Trelawney looked appalled. ‘It seems so ... so drastic. Is it really vital?’

  ‘I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know what we’re dealing with. If arcane weapons are in the hands of any surviving members of the witch-clans, that is bad news. As long as there are unanswered questions, unknown quantities, yes, it is vital we get hold of any information we can. Amanda has only to decline, though.’

  ‘Hm. Oh, I’m sure she’ll be all eager beaver about it,’ Thomas replied acerbically. ‘Give her something hazardous to do and she can’t get ready fast enough!’

  Hogarth suppressed a grin, as he bent to pluck some choice leaves from the alpine mint bush beside him.

  ‘And that’s an undesirable trait?’ he asked.

  ‘In someone I’m supposed to attempt to protect, it’s rather an unhelpful one,’ Trelawney pointed out. Hogarth chuckled. ‘But if she is willing …’

  ‘Then let the unfolding of the story run its course.’

  ‘It will be Miss Cadabra’s decision, after all,’ Thomas responded resignedly. ‘I can only support her in whatever that is.’

  ‘Good man. Want to carry these sprigs in for me? Not sure if my aged bones will make it to the kitchen with all that extra weight.’ That drew a laugh from Trelawney, and they went back inside.

  In the sitting-room, Hogarth led the conversation from the pub and lun
ch to the case so far.

  ‘So, we know about the Flamgoynes’ presence: which of them was there,’ he summarized.

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Amanda, ‘but what about which Cardiubarns?’

  ‘Quite.’

  ‘Is that why you wanted the photos? Did they arrive?’

  ‘At dead of night. Just as I’d finished the dining-room walls.’

  ‘Can I see them?’

  ‘Of course. But not quite yet, if you don't mind, Amanda.’

  Chapter 41

  Into the Past

  Amanda looked at Hogarth in surprise.

  ‘You don’t want me to look at the photos yet? Er, ok ... all right.’

  ‘You see,’ he began to explain, ‘the one link we have between the Dowrkampyers and the Cardiubarns is the grimoire. We know it was with the Cardiubarns when you were three. What we need to know is which Cardiubarns were there, that one time you saw it.’

  ‘You need me to remember? But I never see the faces clearly when I dream or flashback, and even then I don’t remember them.’

  ‘But if you could?’

  The light of excitement glowed in Amanda’s eyes.

  ‘Then we’d know who was probably involved in taking it?’

  ‘It would be a step in the right direction,’ Hogarth responded gently. ‘When you remember or dream about the scene in the crypt, do you look at the faces?’

  ‘No ... I .... It’s not something I naturally look at, at any time.’

  ‘Do you think you could?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘I ... Yes, but I don’t see ....’

  ‘If you have a nap right now and if —’

  ‘— I dreamt about them and remembered to look carefully …?' asked Amanda.

  ‘And then looked at the photos as soon as you awoke ....’

  ‘Yes … yes, that would be my best chance. Is that why you wanted me to have a sleepy lunch?’