Witch War in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  I leaned against the wall and magicked my phone to myself. While dialling Will, I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Abby sat next to me and pressed against my side. How could anyone do what she just did? She was truly psychopathic and the worst type of person that could ever exist.

  Will’s phone rang and rang. Please don’t go to voicemail. Just as I expected it to click over, he answered. “Hey, Lily.”

  “Hey.” My voice cracked. Gah. Damn my inability to push my emotions out of the way.

  The concern in his voice came through loud and clear. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  It was an effort not to cry. “Um, yes but no.”

  “Hang on. I’ll be there in a minute.” The true champion he was, in less than a minute, he was unlocking the reception-room door. When he saw me on the floor, he rushed over and knelt in front of me. “What happened?” He reached out and checked me over.

  “I’m okay, but something happened.” I told him about the interruption to the usual programming. When I finished, he stared at me blankly for a moment—likely taking it all in—then the thunderclouds moved in.

  He sprung to his feet, opened the TV room door, and strode in. His magic tingled my scalp. I had no idea what he was doing—maybe making sure it was safe?—and I was too upset to care. The worst was over for now, at least for me—she’d made her point. And there was nothing we could do. It would be impossible to protect every family member and friend of the people we’d saved.

  His voice drifted out to the hallway. “Hey, it’s me…. Yeah. Can you get over here now? There’s an emergency. No, she’s okay. Bye.” He came out into the hallway and crouched in front of me. “Let’s move this into the family room. It’s cold out here, and I know how much you hate that.” He gave me a gentle smile and held out his hand. I took it and stood.

  As we made our way to the living room, there was a knock on the reception-room door. “I called your brother.” Will saw me to a Chesterfield and went to answer the door. Abby and Ted had followed us in. Abby hopped into my lap, and Ted lay at my feet. I was so lucky to have them. I ran my hand over Abby’s soft fur. I let her warmth comfort me.

  Will had lowered his voice to talk to James in the hallway. It was a couple of minutes before they came in. Will must’ve taken that time to explain the situation. James’s concerned expression when he came in confirmed it. He hurried over to me. “Are you okay?” He sat on the low coffee table in front of me.

  I gave him a wan smile. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just a shock, that’s all. That poor woman.” I shook my head. “How did that witch break into our television? I know she wasn’t actually in there, but you get what I’m saying. How could she see me? Are we safe here?”

  James grabbed my hand in both of his. “If she could get in here, I’m sure she would’ve attacked you. Anyone with the know-how can hack into a smart TV and see the person on the other side. I imagine she’s done it all with a spell. Not easy, but doable. You’re safe here, Lily. I promise.” He turned his head to look at Will, who stood next to the lounge. “If you guys are worried, you can come stay with Mill and me.”

  I shook my head emphatically. “No! I’m not going to bring more danger to Annabelle. No way. No how. As you said, we’ll be fine here. She just took me off guard. That’s all.” Stupid Piranha was not going to intimidate me. We were obviously close, or she wouldn’t have done something like that. Maybe she was scared too? And so she should be. I sat up straighter and lifted my chin. “I’m totally fine. Nothing a cappuccino and double-chocolate muffin won’t fix. In fact, I’ll order delivery from Witcheroo. Do you guys want anything?”

  James looked at his watch. “Ah, no. Millicent’s expecting me home for dinner soon.” He stared into my eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Positive. She’s not going to get the better of me now. If she wasn’t just a little bit worried, she wouldn’t have done that. We’re so close. I know we are.”

  He squeezed my hand, then released it and stood. He turned to Will. “I’ll call off the interviews for tomorrow. We won’t give up on them, but we need to devise a different strategy.”

  Will placed his hands on his hips. “Agreed. Do you want to meet at your place, or do we involve Chad?”

  “My place at eight. We have a lot to discuss. Chad, despite wanting to micromanage everything, doesn’t need to know all this. He has his hands full with the French guys, to be honest, and he’ll soon find out RP’s murdered the woman you questioned today. That’s enough of a warning. I’ll let him call me about it. I need to fill everyone in on what B and I found out today, and hopefully, Cardinal’s had a chance to get started as well.”

  “Okay. Lily and I will be there tomorrow at eight. See you then.”

  I gave James a wave as he made his doorway in the empty space between the couches and the door. And then he was gone.

  Will sat next to me and slid an arm around me. We sat like that for a while before he said, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Definitely. What about you?” He hadn’t seen what I’d seen, but he’d met that woman, and I’d bet that even though he knew it wasn’t his fault, he’d feel somehow responsible because he didn’t see it coming and couldn’t stop it.

  “It is what it is. We have to put it behind us and focus on what’s to come, but never for a moment will I forget. I’m keeping note of everything she owes—every injury, every lie, every death. Her reckoning is coming.” He sat up straighter and turned to me. “Now, how about we order that food?”

  Here we were again, sitting around James’s dining table, in the same seats as last time. I sipped my cappuccino—Millicent had decided to make it a breakfast meeting, which I was totally on board with. A selection of pastries sat in the middle of the table, and she’d magicked up bacon, eggs, cooked tomato, mushrooms, and toast for anyone who wanted them.

  Once we’d finished the hot food, we magicked the plates clean and away, and we were left with the pastries and James’s rundown of where we were at. “Okay, so yesterday was both a success and a failure. Beren and I saw Toussaint leaving for work at eight thirty, but we left before he returned. Whether he returned or not, we don’t know, but we’ll be visiting again tomorrow morning, and we plan to stay until late. In the meantime, Cardinal will keep trying to access what we need. He’s coming in soon to let us know what he’s doing.” James had a sip of coffee. “Based on what he finds, we’re still a few days to at least a week away from pulling the trigger on visiting his country house. Next up, our favourite ex-agent’s stunt yesterday.”

  Imani gave me a sympathetic look. “When I get my hands on her….”

  Will’s calm voice had a distinctly heavy undertone. “I’m afraid you’ll have to get in line, and this is a case where I won’t be the gentleman and say ladies first.”

  I barked a short laugh. “Ha! I think it’s whoever gets to her first won’t be able to contain themselves. I’m not passing up my chance of cleaning her off the face of the earth, and I wouldn’t begrudge anyone else the honour. As long as she’s vaporised, I don’t care who does it. I at least want to watch though.”

  Beren’s eyes widened slightly. “Ah, Lily, since when did you become so bloodthirsty?”

  “Since Piranha came into my life. She needs to die, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.” I didn’t have to remind everyone what she’d done in the past, let alone yesterday. How many people had she killed in her life? How many crimes had she committed? How many more people would she kill if we didn’t stop her?

  James cleared his throat. “We’re getting off track. Back to matters at hand. Because of Dana’s threat, we’ve postponed all of today’s scheduled interviews.”

  Imani leaned forward, determination on her face. “Surely we need to continue those as soon as possible. We can’t let her intimidate us and compromise our investigation. That’s not how we operate.”

  James put his hand up in a placating gesture. “You’re right—it’s not.
In light of that, our option to back off for good is out. That leaves us with a few other options. One: interview people and leave a trail of death behind us. Two: gather those we want to interview and keep them in a protected place until this whole thing is over. Three: interview them and keep agents there for protection. One is obviously not an option either, and out of the last two choices, I don’t think three will be good enough. So that leaves us with option two.”

  Millicent gave an almost imperceptible head shake. “That would cost a fortune. Chad will never go for that. The scale of that is beyond what we’re capable of. There are so many people.”

  “What if we choose a handful of people to interview and keep them somewhere secret and safe. We could manage that. Even if it’s in the cells at headquarters.”

  I gave my brother an incredulous look. “That’s hardly fair. You can’t lock them up as if they’re the criminals. And what about the RP ring-ins? They could get to them there. It’s not safe.”

  Imani looked at me. “RP whats?”

  I smiled. “Double agents, ones who are pretending to work for the PIB but are working for RP.”

  “Ah. You and your Aussie speak.” She shook her head.

  I turned back to James. “Just how important are these interviews? Will they help us find out what happened to Mum and Dad? Will they help us find answers we can’t find ourselves? Maybe we should wait until I’ve visited the chateau. Maybe there’s better ways to gather the evidence. I’d say some of the victims will provide more thorough information than others because they’ve been caught up in it longer. And if I can get some specific clues, we can at least target where to go more specifically, put fewer people at risk.”

  “Good point,” said Beren.

  James took a deep breath. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Lily. I’m not sure how long we can hold Chad off for. You know what he’s like—a bull in a china shop. If he thinks they should all be questioned, then, goddammit, he’s going to question them, whether he’s sentencing them to death or not.”

  Liv frowned. “That won’t leave any witnesses for the trials.”

  “No, it won’t.” James rubbed his forehead. “In any case, I’ll see what I can do in holding him off for at least the rest of this week. I might have to go and visit our French counterparts. I’m sure Chad’s handling of things and lack of passing on information hasn’t made him their favourite person. We can get them to help us and back us up in meetings. I don’t know if it will help, but we can try.”

  The reception-room doorbell rang, and Will stood. “That must be Cardinal. I’ll let him in.”

  He returned shortly with the redhead. Cardinal wore street clothes. He didn’t look so serious or aloof out of uniform. He just looked like a regular young man. He gave a quick wave. “Hi, all. Great to see you again.”

  “Likewise.” Beren stood. Cardinal came up to him, and they shook hands.

  James smiled. “Thanks for coming, mate. I appreciate it.”

  Cardinal gave a small smile. “Happy to help.” Beren gestured to the empty seat to his right, and Cardinal sat. “Thanks.” He looked at my brother. “So, what do you want to know?”

  “Whatever you can tell us. Have you managed to access any of their systems? Is there even a diary?”

  “I was working on it last night, but I’m not quite there yet. They’ve got a couple of magical alarm systems on there. Once I work out how to disable those, I can tell you what you want to know. Do you want me to download anything else other than his diary?”

  “If you can get access to bank records and employment records, it would help enormously. And emails. You never know what you can find in those.”

  “Okay. Consider it done. I’m off to work this morning, but I’ll be home about six, and I’ll get back to it then. I’ll text you when I know something.”

  James nodded. “Hugely appreciated. So, how’s the new gig going?”

  Cardinal shrugged. “It’s a job—I don’t love it or hate it, but I do want back into the bureau ASAP. What’s going on with Ma’am these days? Any news?”

  James shook his head. “None that I can pass on at this stage, but she’s doing all she can to get back there. I’ll be sure to let you know when things have improved.”

  “I appreciate it. Thanks.” He leaned back in his chair. “So, is that everything?”

  James stood. “It is. Thanks for coming in.”

  Cardinal stood, walked around to James, and shook his hand. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”

  “Excellent.” James sat back down as Cardinal made his doorway and left. “Right, well, that about wraps up things for today. There’s not much else w—” His phone rang. He looked at the screen. “I have to take this. Sorry.” He put it to his ear. “Hello, Agent Bianchi speaking.” As he listened, his jaw clenched, the muscles bulging. His firm voice held a note of anger. “Of course. Thanks for the information, Agent Roche…. Yes…. Bye.” He hung up, placed his phone on the table, and stared at it for a moment.

  Millicent’s forehead wrinkled. “What’s up?”

  His mouth pressed together in a thin line. “Chad’s up. That’s what. He’s just called the Paris office and told them we won’t be needing their help. He’s cutting them out of the loop.”

  Will growled. “That imbecile. That’s criminal negligence. He knows we don’t have the resources to wrap this up quickly.”

  I had to look on the bright side. “At least the French agents won’t be asked to condemn their countrymen and women to death.”

  Beren grunted. “Yeah, that honour goes to us.”

  Millicent frowned. “What are you going to do? Can you just avoid Chad’s calls and don’t go into the office? Maybe we should all stay away? You can’t get in trouble for not following orders if he can’t give them to you.”

  “Well, he hasn’t told me they’re not in the loop, and I’m not going to cut them out. We need their help. The crime may have been discovered in the UK, but the victims are from France. We’ll start a diplomatic nightmare if we try and keep them in the dark. They’ll be forced to step in and halt our investigation.”

  Imani shook her head. “That fool is doing this on purpose. What’s his endgame?”

  Great. Something else to worry about. “None of it makes sense. On the one hand, he’ll get you to question people who will get killed, but on the other, he doesn’t want help doing it faster. He’s helping and hindering the investigation at the same time.”

  Will placed both hands palm down on the table. “It doesn’t matter what his endgame is. Let’s not get distracted. What he’s doing is about more than this specific investigation, and we don’t have the time to deal with that right now. We need to plan our next move before this whole thing gets away from us.”

  James sighed. “Agreed. At this stage, we’ll lay low until Cardinal gets back to us.” He looked at Beren. “I think another stakeout today would be good, and I’ll set up a private meeting with Agent Roche. We’ll probably meet offsite, away from prying eyes.” He looked at me. “Be ready to go to the chateau from tomorrow onwards, and stay away from the TV.”

  Crap. Could he narrow my world even further? Gah! I shouldn’t blame him. It was Piranha’s fault. James was just trying to keep me safe, but being stuck inside for the next however many days it took to get clearance to go to the chateau without TV was going to suck. “Can I get online for anything?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, Lily, but—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know.” I just wanted this stupid thing to end. What a nightmare.

  Will grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb over the pad of my palm. “Not much longer. Once this is done, you’ll be free.”

  Yeah, free or dead. But I wasn’t going to say that. There was enough stress in the room, and unless I wanted to bug someone, I wasn’t into escalation. So I nodded and smiled.

  It was going to be a long wait.

  But I could handle it.

  I didn’t have a choice.


  Chapter 11

  Day two of no TV. I’d read a book, done Pilates, practiced walking on my hands, looked up some spells, and yet, I’d been bored enough to rope Abby into helping me pass the time. She’d been reluctant to comply with my request, but in the end, she’d caved when I’d promised her freshly cooked fish for dinner. Which was why I was sitting in front of the fire with a packet of salt-and-vinegar chips… okay crisps, with Abby on my lap and a squirrel on the chair arm.

  “Would you like another one?” I held out another chip. The squirrel flicked its tail and took the chip. I looked down at Abby. “Thanks for being the go-between. You’re the best.” She closed her eyes in a kitty smile. If only I could speak animal. I was sooooo close to having a conversation with a squirrel. I wanted to squee, but I kept it contained because I didn’t want to scare the little cutie. It finished the chip and looked at me, then reached towards me. “Awwwwww. You couldn’t get any cuter. Here you go.” I handed her, him, it—I had no idea—another chip. And I didn’t care how long I’d lived in the UK; I wasn’t calling chips crisps.

  I ate another chip, then spoke to the squirrel again. “Next time you want some chips, feel free to bring some friends. The more the merrier.” It held its paw out again. I handed it a chip. “Maybe I could set up a bed in here for you. Do you like it in here? I’m sure Angelica wouldn’t mind.” I frowned. “It’s not like she’s here anymore anyway.” Gah, now I was sad. Things had changed so much since I’d gotten to London all that time ago. I chuckled when I thought back to our first meeting. She’d come across as a totally crazy person, but then she’d told me about James, and my whole world changed—for better and for worse.