by Katie Penryn
“It’s not too serious,” she said at last as she stood up and addressed us arms akimbo. “Penzi has le cafard!”
That got my attention. Le cafard? I thought I knew what that meant, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself as I was supposed to be the best French speaker in the family.
I stretched out my hand to Jimbo. “Pass me the dictionary, please.”
“Is it a disease?” he asked me as he drew the book from the shelf of cookbooks to the side of the Aga range.
As far as I knew le cafard was the French for cockroach. Why would Martine say I had a cockroach?
I flicked through the pages and found le cafard. I was right. It did mean cockroach. But there was a colloquial meaning mentioned.
I slammed the book shut and looked up at everyone. “Martine says I’ve got the blues.”
“Mais oui,” Martine said beaming at me. “That’s how we say it in France. You’ve got the cockroach, my poor Penzi. The blues.”
Jimbo edged up against me again. “Penzi. Are you sick?”
“Of course she’s not,” said Martine picking him up and sitting him on the table. “But she soon will be, if your family don’t take this seriously.”
“What do you mean?” asked Felix.
Martine put her hands on her hips again.
“Your Penzi is exhausted. She does everything for your family. She organized your move to Beaucoup-sur-mer, she dealt with all the paperwork, she pays all your bills and she was kind to Audrey and Gwinny and took them into your family.” She paused to look round at us. “And on top of that she has solved two murders in under three weeks. And that’s not even her métier.”
“What’s that?” asked Jimbo, who couldn’t speak French yet.
I pulled him off the table onto my lap. “Martine means it’s not my profession. I haven’t been trained to solve crimes.”
“You’re very good at it, though,” said Jimbo.
“That’s the problem,” said Sam giving me a hug. “Sis, you’ve been working too hard. Martine is right. Sometimes it takes someone outside the family to see things clearly. I’ve always said you’re too serious.”
Felix took the cognac out of the cupboard. Audrey fetched the glasses down.
“What you need, boss, is a good stiff drink and lots of fun,” Felix said holding a glass out to me.
That made me smile. “At ten o’clock in the morning?” I asked.
Felix clinked his glass against mine. “Who’s looking?”
“I am,” said a soft voice from the kitchen doorway. “What are you doing drinking so early in the morning, or did you never stop last night?”
“Emmanuelle,” Sam called out. “We weren’t expecting you this morning.”
“I thought I’d pop round and see if you were going to start work on the brocante today.”
Martine pushed a chair towards her. “Not a good idea ma petite. Penzi is épuisée, exhausted. She must take it easy for a few days.”
“Quite right,” said my mother to my amazement. “Penzi is to do nothing. Nothing. We will all muck in and take care of everything for a week. Anything we can’t handle we’ll leave to be dealt with later when Penzi’s back to the girl we know and love.”
Felix nodded but added, “I can’t see Penzi doing nothing for a week, but we’ll start out with that target in mind. Now what does everyone suggest for today?”
Jimbo leaned against me and peered into my face. “Do you think you would like a picnic, Penzi?”
I stared down at the eggs congealing in the bacon grease on my plate. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t make decisions.
“That’s settled then,” said Gwinny taking charge again. “A picnic it is. Audrey and I will prepare everything while you eat.”
She took the plate of cold food away. She gave everyone their orders, and the kitchen emptied. A couple of minutes later Gwinny put a plate of hot porridge and cream in front of me and began to spoon it into my mouth.
That I couldn’t allow. She’d be playing airplanes next. I snatched the spoon from her and before I knew what had happened, I’d cleared the bowl. The oats warmed my belly, and I began to feel a little better. I sat up and took notice of the buzz of industry going on about me.
Martine gave me a bear hug. “You look more lively already, Penzi. I leave you to the good care of your family. Now you chase that horrible cockroach away. I must finish my mail round.”
Time passed as I sat like a lump of suet in my chair in the kitchen.
The car trunk slammed. The dogs barked in excitement as they were put on their leashes and taken out to the two cars.
Felix came back into the kitchen. “We’re ready to go now, Penzi.”
He took my arm and hauled me out of the chair and walked with me out of the house into the bright sunshine of a glorious summer’s day in Beaucoup-sur-mer. A small voice inside me asked how I could be blue on such a glorious day, but I didn’t have the answer.
*
Gwinny drove her car with the dogs, Jimbo, and Audrey and her two children, while Sam drove my car with Emmanuelle, Felix, me and all the picnic paraphernalia. I sank back in the passenger seat and gave myself up to the joy of being driven, of handing over responsibility for the trip to Sam. As we turned the corner out of our cobbled street to cross the Esplanade and journey up the hill out of the town, the strain I’d been under for the past few weeks began to ease. I can’t say I was blue one minute and all right the next, but I could see a glimmer of hope that my state of mind would pass.
Sam led our caravan up the coast to a small private cove with a sandy beach. We parked. I sat on the grass at the top of the cliff watching my family ferry our stuff down rickety wooden steps to the beach below. I must have been in a daze because when Felix appeared beside me he startled me.
“Come along, boss,” he said scooping me up into his arms. “Hold on round my neck,” he instructed.
I did what he said without argument. He carried me all the way down to the beach, down that steep incline and never for a second did I fear he would drop me. His muscles bulged with the effort and he paused to catch his breath halfway down, but the frame within which he held me stayed solid.
The tide was on its way out when we arrived, but the water was still deep enough for everyone to swim before lunch. I don’t remember anything about the lunch. Food didn’t interest me. It was all I could do to swallow a few mouthfuls of something or other. But even through my dismay the family’s enjoyment of the day reached me.
As the tide receded, a layer of rocks appeared around the sides of the bay. Felix pulled me to my feet.
“Come along, boss. Let’s take a walk around the point.”
For the first few yards I stumbled on the uneven and slippery surface of the rocks and would have fallen into the sea if Felix hadn’t been holding onto me, but to my surprise muscle memory came to my aid and my performance improved before we reached the head of the cove and rounded it into the next bay.
A tiny stretch of sand lay at the head of this cove, hardly worthy of being called a beach, but it proved large enough for us to collapse upon.
We both sat looking out to sea searching for answers to life’s great questions as men have done for thousands of years. Gazing out over the ocean had a calming effect. Felix felt it, too. He took my hand. “Boss, do you think it would help if you talked about how you’re feeling?”
Even in my detachment I understood how lucky I was that my family were treating my sudden change of mood seriously. No one had said, “Snap out of it.” But I wasn’t sure I could put my finger on why I felt the way I did.
“I’ll try, Felix. I owe you that. I am tired as Martine said. And I’ve only recently found out I’m a witch. That shook me. Learning the spells takes so much energy. Then there’s the evil we’ve encountered since we arrived.”
“But you conquered that. We found the murderers and brought them to justice.”
“But can I keep doing it? This is the first time I�
��ve personally come across people who think there is nothing wrong in taking another’s life. I met these people, saw them go about their daily business, shook their hands, but my instinct didn’t tell me they were capable of killing. It frightens me.”
“Penzi, you’re the one who said that murder was statistically improbable in Beaucoup-sur-mer.”
“Improbable but not impossible as circumstances have proved.”
Felix sighed long and deep but said nothing.
I remained silent but I studied my bodyguard’s face. A slight frown crinkled up the skin between his brows and his breathing quickened. His thoughts were miles away. His eyes flickered from side to side as if he was watching a film on a wide screen. Still, he didn’t move or speak. I grew alarmed and clutched at his arm to jolt him out of his trance. He gasped. A giant shudder passed through his body. And suddenly he was back with me on the beach in holidayland.
He rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Penzi. I was thinking of evil. You wouldn’t believe the wickedness I’ve seen and lived to tell the tale.”
“In Africa — when you were growing up?”
Felix nodded. “If it hadn’t been for your father—”
“What did he do? What happened to you?”
“As I’ve mentioned before, witchcraft is a powerful force in Africa … and not always for the good. I told you Sir Archibald rescued me from hunters when they killed my mother?”
“Yes.”
“When I’m in my leopard mode, I’m a real leopard. When I’m a cat, I’m a hundred per cent cat. Now as a man, I’m a real man, one who has the capability to shape shift.”
“Yes, I know you’re real in all your modes.”
“So you understand when I’m a real leopard I am the actual animal?”
I nodded.
“Not some man dressed up in a leopard skin?”
I nodded again, not sure where all this was leading.
“The hunters who killed my mother were Leopardmen, not real leopards like me. They hunted her down so they could skin her and use her pelt and particularly her claws for their hideous rites.”
“I thought leopards were hunted for the fashion value of their skins.”
“Not where I come from. The Wazini are a tribe of Leopardmen. They hold sway over the Middle Congo terrorizing both leopard and man, hunting one as a means to slaughtering the other.”
“And my father?”
“He spent years researching them, trying to get them stopped, but their cult is so secret, their members so fearful of retribution if they give those secrets away, it was a losing battle.”
“And it cost him his life in the end?”
Felix squeezed my hand. “So it would seem. I’m sorry, Penzi. He was a great and courageous man. He fought evil and he never gave up.”
I fell silent again and watched a sailboat way out to sea. So, my mother’s genes made me a witch, but my father’s genes? Shouldn’t they predispose me to fight wickedness and be courageous?
I glanced at Felix. He smiled at me. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“A bit. We can’t wish evil away, can we? We all have to do what we can to prevent it from taking over the world. I see that. I mustn’t let it get me down. But I am tired. Physically and spiritually. As you all said, we need some fun.”
“Exactly. You need to recharge your batteries. That’s all.” And he hugged me to him and drew me back down onto the sand cradling my head in the crook of his arm.
We must have fallen asleep. We both sat up with a jump when a voice called out, “Hey, you two.”
It was Sam with Emmanuelle.
She broke away from Sam as soon as they set foot on our miniature strand of beach, rushed up to me and pulled me to my feet. “The tide’s coming in. We must go or we won’t get back around the headland.”
She was right. The water had crept up the beach and lapped only inches away from our bare feet. On the traipse back to the rest of the family, we paddled through water half way up our shins as we made our way over the newly submerged rocks, which like wickedness would be hidden from sight once the tide was all the way in but still there for all that.
Chapter 3
We were a tired and happy family when we tumbled out of the cars on reaching home at Les Dragons. Everyone rushed inside to shower off the salt and the sand. Audrey had to call Jimbo and Sam back to help unload the cars. She brushed my hands away and told me to leave everything to them. I was happy to do so. Lying on the beach in the sun all afternoon had turned my redhead’s pale skin bright red, and I knew I would suffer for the next few days. I had a soothing cool shower and swabbed my skin with vinegar to take away the sting. I lay on my bed in the cool of the evening listening to the sound of the family rushing about: bare feet padding on the stairs and in the corridor outside my room, excited shrieks from the children and the woofing from the dogs – all the signs of an overexcited family after a day at the beach.
I smiled to myself. Any minute now the squabbles would break out. Wow, I actually smiled. I looked around my room. Even in the dusk the colors were brighter.
I waited until the noises upstairs had died down before making my way to the kitchen. The adults sat at one end of the table drinking pineau while the three children ate their supper under Audrey’s supervision at the other. Everyone glanced at me and returned to their conversation. I pulled out a chair and sat down saying, “Have you got one of those for me?”
Felix leapt to his feet and reached for a glass out of the cupboard, poured me a tot and set it down in front of me knocking my shoulder.
“Ouch,” I flinched. “Sunburn.”
“Me, too,” said Sam holding out his arms for everyone to see.
Emmanuelle skimmed her fingers up his arm making him pull away. “You poor Anglo-Saxons,” she said, turning her arm over to show us her tan before pushing back her chair. “I must go home now. Papa will be wondering where I am.”
A flash of disappointment crossed Sam’s face. He really liked this girl as I did.
“Stay for supper, Emmanuelle,” I said. “Give Monsieur Bonhomie a ring and let him know.”
“You sure?”
We all nodded. She went out into the hall to make the call. When she returned she waited for a lull in the conversation and said, “You said you wanted some fun, to cheer Penzi up?”
“Go on,” said Sam. “What do you suggest?”
“Not the children, you understand,” she answered pulling a French moue. “Just Felix, Penzi, you and me … and Audrey if she wants to come?”
“What about me?” asked Gwinny.
“Of course, it’s open to anyone over eighteen. I’ve always wanted to go, but my father won’t allow it. Maybe if I go with you, he will say yes.”
“Go where?” I asked.
Emmanuelle gave us a classic teenage eye roll. “To the night club. Palais des Blues. I’ve never been. My friends say it’s wonderful, exciting, sophisticated. We could go tonight.”
She waited for us to jump in and say yes. Sam did. Felix looked at me for my reaction. Gwinny declined. Audrey said she’d love to go if Gwinny was available to babysit. That left me.
I was tired after the day at the beach, and sun burnt. They would be so disappointed if I said no. Then I realized we couldn’t go that evening and for a very good reason, nothing to do with my fatigue.
“I’m sorry, guys, not tonight. I have a good reason, trust me. Plus if we go tomorrow, Emmanuelle will have the chance to soften up her dad. He may want to phone me to check that I’ll be keeping an eye on her.”
A general groan greeted my announcement.
“Come on, guys. You know I love the blues … but tomorrow. Okay?”
It was settled that we would go as a party to the Palais des Blues the following night at ten thirty.
*
I had to wait for Sam to take Emmanuelle home and return, and for Audrey to go to bed before I could explain to the others why we couldn’t go that evening and to ask them what they sugge
sted we could do about our problem.
“What’s the problem?” asked Sam.
“Felix is the problem.”
“Me, how?” asked Felix. “If you’re thinking about my human form. It’s stable. I won’t shift into a cat or a leopard while we’re there. Unless I have to frighten someone to death, of course,” he added with a chuckle.
“Don’t even think of it,” I said giving him a push.
“So?” Sam asked.
“Have you forgotten we’ll have to produce ID to get into the club and Felix doesn’t have any? What can we do? It’s only a matter of time before he has to produce ID sometime apart from gaining access to the blues club.”
The pair of them looked at me blankly. Then Sam asked if we could buy Felix ID.
“I’m sure it’s possible, but it’s illegal.”
Sam tutted. “Don’t be such a lawyer, Penzi.”
We stared at each other while we racked our brains for any connection we had to the underworld of forged papers. We didn’t know of anyone. We were too law abiding.
“Got it,” said Felix slamming his hand down on the table. “It’s a doddle. I’ll hack into the UK system and get myself a passport.”
“You can do that?” asked Sam his eyes popping out of his head. “You’re a hacker?”
Felix stroked imaginary whiskers. “Of course. Grade A. That’s how I earn my living. You didn’t think I was a hanger-on, did you?”
“I hadn’t even thought about it. Things have been moving so fast around here since we arrived I haven’t had time to think about anything much.”
“Except Emmanuelle,” I teased.
Sam grinned. “If you were a guy, Penzi, you would understand. She’s off the heat scale.”
“That’s settled then, Felix.” I said. “I’ll take a photo of you tomorrow morning and you can get busy on the passport, and tomorrow we’ll go out on the town. I have to admit it sounds like heaven.”
