by Katie Penryn
“Oh,” I said. “We lost this little fellow. He’s got a GPS collar and this is where he ended up. How he got this far with his little legs, I’ll never know.”
Izzy shook out her long blond hair and gave me a searching look but decided to leave it alone.
“We saw strange flashes of light on the hill and thought we should investigate. Did you see them?”
“A couple of bolts of lightning was all,” I said and diverted attention by asking where she’d been. “We haven’t seen you around.”
“I missed my husband so much, I took a flight to LA ten days ago, but now I’m back.”
“Look, we can’t stand chatting around out here in the dark. We’re having a party some time later this week, probably next weekend. I’ll give you call and you can come incognito again. It’ll only be family and close friends. You won’t need to worry about being mobbed.”
“You don’t want to come back to the château for a drink?”
I thanked her but explained we needed to get Piffle home after his adventure.
We all got back in our cars and drove off to our separate homes.
Piffle had the last word. “I’ve never heard such a lie, Penzi. I’m surprised at you.”
“It was the teeniest white lie. I would have been in terrible trouble with the Guild of White Witches if I’d told Izzy what we were really doing.”
“But you made me out to be a runaway.”
“Not at all, Piffle. Izzy thinks you’re adventurous.”
Piffle stroked his ear with his paw, turned round a few times on Felix’s lap and lay down. “Well, that’s all right then.”
Chapter 39
All day Sunday we worked at The Union Jack. First of all, we had to install the shop fittings and connect up the new freezers which would soon be housing English bacon and Cumberland sausages. Once we had kitted out the shop and the store at the back, we unpacked and sorted the crates of supplies that had arrived during the week to form the stock for the shop.
We still had to price everything and set up the till, but that could wait until later in the week. Audrey’s newfound confidence showed no limit. She even bossed me around a few times and came up with ideas that were better than mine or Felix’s. It was a tired family that returned to Les Dragons at the end of the day for an evening of games and television together.
First thing Monday morning Dubois called me to say that the laboratory had confirmed both that the vomit was Jonny’s and that it contained a dangerous percentage of oxalic acid. He was going ahead with charging Marie and Kiki that morning. A stab of sadness ran through me at the thought of their misguided actions. They loved each other deeply but now, if found guilty, they would be separated for life.
Joliette, Zach and Petey could now go back to the States. If I collected their passports from his office, he would give me the funds provided by the US Consulate for their passage home.
“I’ve spoken to Monsieur Bonhomie and we think it would be best if you organize their repatriation and see them off at Bordeaux airport. The sooner the better.”
“I’ll call round now,” I said.
Dubois wasn’t in when I collected the money and the passports, and so I left a note on his desk telling him to keep his weekend free as we were hoping to have a party. Felix and I went directly to a travel agent and negotiated the return tickets for the three Louisianans. I called them from the agent’s office advising them to pack as we’d be calling for them in an hour to take them to Bordeaux airport.
We collected Joliette, Zach and Petey, drove them to catch their flight and waved them off. Joliette surprised me by turning round at the check-in and running back to give me a big hug.
“Thank you for your support,” she said. “I won’t forget your kindness.”
And then they were gone out of our lives.
As we got back into the car, Felix said to me, “You didn’t say anything to them about the one hundred and seventy-five dollars Jonny gave to Francine, although you know that part of that money was owed to Zach and Petey for their performance at the Blues Festival.”
“It would be so complicated to put things right. Zach and Petey are young, unmarried and have no children. And I have decided what to do about Francine. Would you call her and Natalie while I drive and tell them I’d like to speak to them – together. The Esplanade would be as good a place as any. Make it four o’clock. If we stop for lunch on our way back to Beaucoup-sur-mer, we should make it. They can bring Jonny’s sons. Audrey will look after them if I ask her.”
We arrived back home at four and walked back up the street to the Esplanade with Audrey. We found Natalie and Francine waiting for us. Audrey took the boys aside with Jimbo, Wilfred and Simone.
The two women had heard that Jonny’s murderers had been charged, but they didn’t know the details. Felix and I caught them up to date. When they’d finished expressing their horror, I told them I had something important to discuss with them.
“This is going to come as something of a shock to you, Natalie,” I said looking at her.
Francine immediately dropped her hands on her lap and slid back in her chair.
“As for you, Francine, this is what I’ve decided and I hope you agree with me.”
“What?” asked Natalie. “What is it that concerns both of us?”
“Jonny met Francine by accident while he was here. She will tell you all about it when we leave. She told him Marc was his son. He was overjoyed to meet Marc. So thrilled in fact that he transferred a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars to Francine’s bank account—”
“What?” Natalie gasped and turned to Francine. “He gave you money and so much?”
Francine didn’t answer other than nod her head.
“Francine’s right to the money is questionable as a large proportion of it did not belong to Jonny. It would take forever to sort all that out so this is what’s going to happen.”
I looked Francine in the eye and continued. “Francine will give up half the money to you Natalie, for Pierre. That’s only fair as Pierre is also Jonny’s son. There may be some tax complications but we’ll sort all that out. Now, do you both agree?”
Francine smiled and held her hand out to Natalie who accepted the handshake.
“I’ll leave you to discuss it,” I said. “But I want to see the deposit slip when you’ve made the transfer to Natalie, Francine.”
“Naturellement,” Francine answered.
Felix and I rose to our feet and left the table cutting off the exuberant thanks of the two mothers. I hoped they would stay friends and bring their sons up to know they were brothers.
Chapter 40
Saturday evening came round at last. The week had seen five days of hard work preparing The Union Jack for its grand opening on the following Monday. We had moved across all Audrey’s and her kids’ belongings from Les Dragons to the flat above the shop. They were to spend their first night in their new flat together with Piffle, Brutus and Naomi.
Invitations had been issued to our close friends and the local people whose lives had been touched by Jonny Sauvage and his band. Audrey and Gwinny had set up a barbecue in the backyard of the shop. Now that transmogrificus had changed all the rats into bees who were living happily with their new queens in our garden at Les Dragons, we had tidied up Audrey’s new yard, cut the grass and pruned the flowering shrubs making a pleasant sitting and playing area shaded by the existing fruit trees.
Izzy arrived early in Garth’s little runabout true to her desire to keep a low profile. We spent the half an hour before the party began catching up. Monsieur Bonhomie and his wife, Tina, accompanied by an Emmanuelle restored to her former lighthearted teenage self, arrived next. Sam swooped in and took Emmanuelle off for a private talk. Monsieur Bonhomie declared himself an expert barbecue cook. He had come prepared with a voluminous red striped apron which he tied around his middle and took over from Felix, freeing him up to greet our guests with me.
Monsieur Brioche brought
us an enormous sponge cake filled with chocolate and chestnut cream. He thanked me all over again for the bargain batch of flour I had facilitated for his bakery. Monsieur Faux-Filet the butcher brought us several dozen merguez sausages, the long thin highly spiced favorites of the region. Father Pedro’s housewarming gift was a half barrel of mead. I determined to keep well away from that. Martine’s large family burst into the garden and livened up the children’s games.
Francine and Natalie and their sons arrived together in the same car. They took me aside and told me they had decided to find and share a house in a good area with a garden for the boys. Both women looked years younger. It wouldn’t be long before the two boys had stepdads. I had invited Janine Desert but hadn’t expected her to turn up. She surprised me by putting in an appearance with her married boyfriend from Bordeaux, the lawyer Alain Toussaint.
“I know you meant everything for the best,” she said to me. “I don’t hold your suspicions of me against you. And you and Audrey have done a wonderful job with this place. I wish all my tenants were like you.”
I pulled Toussaint aside and told him how much his hint to follow the money had helped us in our investigation.
“Always glad to help a colleague,” he said.
While we waited for the food to be cooked, we made use of the terrace at the back of the shop for an impromptu dance — to recorded music, alas — but great fun was had by all. Gwinny and I introduced everyone to the Paul Jones which gave rise to some strange couples: the mayor dancing with Martine, both so chubby they could only hold hands, Father Pedro with Izzy who it turned out could speak excellent Spanish like so many Americans and Natalie with Garth. Sam cheated, of course, and danced with Emmanuelle no matter who the dance threw up as his partner.
Dubois hadn’t turned up by the time the food was served. I wondered if he was going to give the party a miss. Felix noticed me checking the doorway from time to time.
“Worried about Dubois, boss?” he asked me.
I nodded. “He was co-operative this time, wasn’t he? I’d have liked him to be here to help celebrate.”
“Maybe Madame Fer-de-Lance has got her coils around him.”
Felix must have been psychic because Dubois came hurrying in at that moment full of apologies for being late.
“So sorry, Penzi,” he said. “Madame Fer-de-Lance called me in to the office, on a Saturday. She’d read my report on the Jonny Sauvage case and had a string of questions to ask me.”
“Any warnings for Penzi this time?” Felix asked.
Dubois whispered, “Shush. She doesn’t know anything about how you both helped to break the case. Let’s leave it that way. She even hinted about a recommendation for a possible promotion for me.”
I led him down to the buffet and made sure he loaded his plate before introducing him to Francine.
Once everyone had something to eat and somewhere to sit, Felix and I had a chance to leave the party for a while and take a stroll along the Esplanade. I tucked my arm in his and relaxed against him. When we reached the end and were turning to walk back, I stopped him and looked up into his peridot colored eyes.
“You never told me why you’re … wary was the word you used … of bees. The little old harmless honeybee.”
He pulled out a chair for me at the nearest empty table and took the seat opposite.
“It was a scorching hot the day the Leopardmen killed my mother, hot as it can only be at a high altitude on the equator in the middle of the dry season. The long grass had turned to dust. That and the scent of desiccated wild sage prickled our nostrils.
“My mother and I hadn’t eaten for days. The drought had killed off our usual prey animals. We leopards don’t usually hunt during the day, but my mother’s strength was ebbing away, so she decided to make one last attempt at catching a gazelle out there on the savannah.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed as he remembered his old life.
“Unlike the cheetah which hunts during the day, leopards hunt by stealth and ambush at night. We’re not built for speed like the cheetah. Our top speed is about thirty miles per hour against the cheetah’s seventy. So when my mother spotted a Tommy gazelle standing on its own apart from its herd and gave chase, she was attempting the impossible, but we had to eat. Gazelles can run almost as fast as a cheetah and they veer from side to side which made it difficult for my mother to catch it.”
Felix stopped talking and searched my face. “Are you sure you want me to continue?”
“You’ve told me so little about yourself. Please, go on.”
Felix gave a slight shrug and went on with his story.
“The gazelle made a mistake. It fell into a dried up drinking hole, one with steep banks, and couldn’t get out. My mother caught it and dragged it back to the shade where I was waiting. I was too young to have noticed the danger around us. As my mother began the task of hauling the carcass up into the thorn tree under which I was sheltering, a shot rang out. It hit her in the head and she tumbled back to the ground and lay still. I scooted backwards as fast as I could into a clump of browned elephant grass. Five Leopardmen ran forwards from the same patch of grass, but they didn’t see me.”
Felix paused and took a deep breath.
“I’ve told you about what happened next. They skinned my mother, chortling as they did so. The witchdoctor stood off to the side directing the four hunters. It was he who took possession of the pelt when they’d finished their gruesome task. He wears my mother’s skin to this day. I recognized her markings when he brought the cobra to your room.”
I put out my hand and Felix gripped it tightly.
“What about the bees?” I asked softly.
“My mother’s body lay in the hot sun. I didn’t know what to do. I had nowhere to go and I was so young. At first one or two bees appeared and circled round her carcass, then flew off. They returned in force drawn by the sweet scent of my mother’s cooling blood. They clustered like bluebottles, their buzzing hovering in the thin air. Of course, they’d been misled, but I was too small to know that. I thought they were feeding on her.”
“Then what happened? Did they attack you?”
“No, but they frightened me. Then the first vulture arrived and scared them all away.”
“Oh Felix, I’m so sorry,” I said.
He looked deep into my eyes. “That’s when your father appeared in his battered old Land Rover. He shooed the vultures away and put my mother in a bag in the back of his vehicle. I couldn’t stop myself from mewling when I saw my mother being taken away. Sir Archibald turned round and hunted about for me. I was so scared I burrowed deeper into the tall grass, but he found me, picked me up and tucked me into his safari jacket. And the rest you know.
“So, I know we need bees to pollinate our crops and give us honey, but I can never hear their buzzing without being taken straight back to that day.”
“I’m so sorry you had to witness your mother’s cruel death, and I’m glad my father was there for you. We must fix up some therapy lessons for you. You’ll have company. Zig is frightened of bees, too.”
“I’m not frightened, Penzi. It’s the memories they stir up.”
“Come,” I said. “Let’s go back to the party and dance our cares away. Next week we start on the brocante.”
Felix laughed as he took my arm. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
END OF BOOK THREE
*****
If you would like to follow along with Penzi and Felix in their next three mystery adventures, the second box set (Books 4 to 6) is on pre-order for release on 9th July 2019. You can pre-order it here:
The Witch Who Mysteries 4 to 6 : Box Set
here are the links:
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You will find the first chapter of Book 4, The Witch who Found a Pearl, after my Author’s Note.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
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To review this Boxset:
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Other books in this series:
Book 1: The Witch who Couldn’t Spell: USA UK
Book 2: The Witch who Loved Éclairs: USA UK
Book 3: The Witch who Got the Blues: USA UK
Book 4: The Witch who Found a Pearl: USA UK
Book 5: The Witch who Saved Christmas: USA UK
Book 6: The Witch who Foiled the Plot: USA UK
Book 7: The Witch who Hated Halloween: USA UK
Book 8: The Witch who Risked the Shot - USA UK
Book 9: The Witch who Tipped the Scales - due end October 2019
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7.vi.19
THE WITCH WHO FOUND A PEARL
Chapter 1
When Felix knocked on my door, I shot awake and called out for him to come in. The sunbeams poured through the chinks in the wooden shutters. It was going to be a glorious autumn day. Felix put my mug of morning tea on my bedside table. He’d brought his with him so we could have a chat.
