by Mark Hayden
‘This gentleman is from the security services,’ said Hannah.
‘Hi, John,’ I said.
‘Clarke,’ he responded in a clipped voice.
‘You two…?’ said Hannah.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Lake.
John Lake is a security liaison officer. He acts as a multi-purpose hinge when different agencies need to co-operate. I’d come across him during my debriefing after the Operation Jigsaw affair.
Hannah was still in her uniform, as was I. Hers was now rather creased, but at least it didn’t have burnt bits. Her first instinct is for her team, and her first priority when Maxine had dragged her out of the CobroM meeting had been to make sure that we were all okay. She didn’t need any further updates on our health, so I got straight down to business.
‘Since we spoke, ma’am,’ I said, ‘the bomber’s vehicle has turned up. I took the liberty of moving it to Elvenham House.’
Hannah cringed. She’s still more a copper than anything, and I’d just ordered all sorts of forensic evidence to be compromised. Doesn’t matter – there won’t be a trial under mundane law.
Lake leaned forwards, edging Hannah off centre. ‘Are you 100% sure that this man is the bomber?’
‘Yes. He had a radio trigger in his pocket, and we improvised a test for nitroglycerin compounds. They were all over the vehicle.’
Hannah subtly elbowed Lake back to his place. ‘Have you IDed him?’
‘As I’ve said before, ma’am, we don’t have always-on access to the PNC. I was hoping that this time we’d have support from other agencies. We can’t do this on our own.’
Hannah went slightly red. She has very pale skin, and you’d have to say that she wears her heart function on her sleeve. ‘Not yet. Maybe as a result of this incident, but not yet. Not without Council approval.’
She meant the Occult Council. This video conference was rather strained because John Lake was mundane, and because Hannah had been ordered to keep magick right off the agenda. The poor bloke must have thought we were all bananas.
Lake glanced at her. ‘While we’re still here, perhaps you could email a short report with any information. We can access the PNC and other resources,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said Hannah. ‘And I’m afraid we have no leads on the other suspect.’
‘I would have thought he would have been a lot easier to track down.’
‘Not the bomber. The Countess.’
We were clearly suffering from a breakdown in communication. ‘Yes. That’s who I meant.’
‘You said, “he”.’
Now everyone thought I was bananas. Not unusual. I coughed. ‘The Warden clearly referred to the other suspect as a male. Perhaps he was being snide, ma’am.’
Hannah’s red face went white. ‘We’ll deal with that later.’
John Lake thought we’d all lost the plot, big time. He picked up a piece of paper to give himself a moment.
The soundproofing in Elvenham House is excellent, mostly because of the thick walls. Even so, I knew that there was a commotion going on outside the library door. I heard a voice, then a knock, then Mina slipped in. Something must be very wrong. She tiptoed forward and glanced first at me, then at the screen.
‘Oh,’ she said.
‘Good evening Mrs Finch,’ said Lake.
‘It’s Miss Desai now,’ said Mina.
‘Oy vey ist mir,’ said Hannah, throwing up her arms and knocking Lake off balance. ‘This I cannot cope with.’ She pointed a finger at the camera. I think she was pointing at her image of Mina. ‘What are you doing here?’
Mina drew herself up to her full height of 5’2” and shook her hair back.
‘What is it?’ I said quickly.
Mina sniffed and looked away from the screen. ‘The police are here. Apparently someone heard the “lightning strike” and turned their telescope on the churchyard. They saw some suspicious activity, but not the actual removal of the body.’
‘And you know about that, I suppose,’ said Hannah.
Mina shot a withering look at the screen. ‘Who do you think searched his pockets and found the car keys? Who found the car and drove it here?’
‘Bloody peeping Toms,’ I said, to change the subject. ‘Who has a telescope out when it’s raining?’
Lake stepped in. ‘What are the police doing?’
‘Drinking tea,’ said Mina. ‘One of them said they knew you, Conrad, so they were happy to wait, but if I don’t come back in a few seconds, Myfanwy will put fentanyl in their tea and knock them out.’
It was Lake’s turn to go pale. ‘Tell them to radio the control room and ask for operation Delta November clearance, and try not to poison them.’
Mina nodded quickly and looked at Hannah. ‘Nice to meet you, Constable. I’ve heard such a lot about you.’ She was gone before Hannah could explode. And talking of explosives…
I’d guessed that there were others eavesdropping, and that guess was confirmed when and off-screen voice murmured to Lake.
‘Clarke,’ he said. ‘Why did you test for nitroglycerin? That can’t have been the bomb.’
‘It was. I saw it. A full bottle, and yes I know how unstable it is. Also, I know how it was placed.’
‘How?’ said Hannah, grasping at something she could hang on to.
I held up the empty, red ID badge to the camera. We’d found it on the Pyromancer’s body. ‘Ask Maxine how many people set up the catering. I’ll bet there were three. Our bomber would have been the lorry driver. He unloads the tables, waits until Maxine has covered them with flags, then slips the bomb underneath. I’ll let the Constable explain why it didn’t go off, and why we didn’t detect it. He came back later, in disguise, to trigger it. He must have panicked when I found it and set it off to cover his escape.’
‘That would work,’ said Hannah. ‘Anything else?’
‘Not yet, ma’am. We’ll prepare the report.’
Hannah looked at her fingers, then at Lake, who shook his head. ‘Well done, Conrad, Rick. And Vicky. Now that the bomber has been removed, CobroM have decided to let the King’s Watch lead on the investigation. I’ve also been to see the Dean.’
‘How is she?’
‘Cora is Cora. She’s not going to let a hole in her abdomen slow her down. We’ve discussed it and we’ve agreed that this has to do with Project Talpa, and that pursuing the First Rusticant is a top priority.’
‘About the First Rusticant, ma’am…’
‘Going ahead as planned.’
‘But Francesca…’
‘She wants to be there when you question the Rusticant, and her brother’s funeral won’t be for a while.’
Oh. That’s what Vicky meant: the Warden was her brother.
‘I’d be there myself,’ continued Hannah, ‘but that new information about the Countess needs to be pursued. Stay safe, be careful, and … just be careful. All of you, OK?’
Lake looked away and cupped his ear to hear someone else. He turned back. ‘That’s Gloucester control room on the line.’ He smiled. ‘Are we done?’
‘Yes.’
I stood up and saluted. We were both in uniform. Of sorts. Out of solidarity, Vicky joined in. Hannah returned the salute and reached forwards to disconnect.
Rick looked at us as if we were mad. ‘What’s with all the saluting and “ma’ams”?’ he said. ‘Since when has that been a thing?’
‘Since eighteen years, for me. Since I joined the RAF. Bro.’
Vicky snorted. ‘And for me, since I met him. He really believes in all that stuff. It’s sort of infectious.’
Rick shook his head. ‘I’m still trying to process what’s happened today. Is it always this mad around you?’
‘You don’t know the half of it, man,’ said Vicky with a wistful air, as if telling him about an especially fine restaurant that was now closed.
‘I’d better go see the boys or girls in blue,’ I said.
‘I’ll get cracking with that report,’ said Vicky.
‘And then I definitely need a shower. Are you staying tonight, Rick?’
‘Nah. For once, my ex has come through. She’s on her way to collect me, but that could be because it’s my turn with the kids this weekend.’
Right on cue, his phone rang, and he answered it. A few seconds later he said to his ex, ‘Oh man, I forgot about the tree blocking the road. Did you pass the pub? … Go back and wait there. I won’t be five minutes. Promise.’
We left the library, and I gave him my profound thanks.
‘No worries, Conrad. It’s all good. Well, it’s not, is it? You keep safe, yeah? And I’ll tell you this: if you start calling me Major James, it’ll be pistols at dawn. Okay?’
‘I wouldn’t,’ said Vicky. ‘Look over there.’ She pointed to an old framed certificate in a gloomy corner of the corridor.
Rick peered at it. ‘South West Junior Modern Pentathlon. Pistol shooting: First Place. Fencing: Second Place. Bro, you can call me what you like.’
I left Vicky to show him out and say their own goodbyes. There was quite a drama going on in the kitchen – a totally unspoken, intense and desperate drama, but a drama nonetheless.
Elvenham House has a big, warm, family kitchen with a four oven Aga. The Aga was Grandpa Enderby’s wedding present to my parents, and Mother would have taken it with her to Spain if she could. The other striking feature is the ten-seater, battle-scarred farmhouse kitchen table. Dad likes to pretend it was from the original farm that pre-dated Elvenham House. Rubbish. He bought it in a clearance sale in the eighties. A female police sergeant and a male constable were seated on either side of the table, nursing large mugs of tea, but that wasn’t where the drama was happening.
Mina and Myfanwy bookended the Aga like they were models at an ideal home exhibition, both trying to project ownership of a house that neither of them had stepped in before today. I felt myself go cold at the thought of a power struggle.
I spoke to the sergeant. ‘Have you had word?’
She finished her tea. ‘We have. I get it that we’ve been warned off, that’s fine. We’ll go, and nothing will be written down, but should I be worried?’
‘No. Not in the least. I promise you that.’
She stood up. ‘You also promised to call me.’
Mina’s mouth dropped open, and Myfanwy’s eyes widened. Even the constable looked interested.
‘I did call you, and if you hadn’t given me a false name and number, I’d have grovelled and asked you out on a date. The Chinese takeaway were not impressed when I asked if Gloria worked there.’
‘No way,’ said Myfanwy.
‘Oh yes,’ said Mina. ‘That is entirely within his character.’ She turned to the sergeant. ‘What did you arrest him for?’
‘I didn’t arrest him. I was a young plod on my first beat, and here’s this cricket team out celebrating and causing a riot in Tewkesbury.’
‘We had just won promotion.’
‘Hmph. The laughing lamppost here said that he was an officer and a gentleman.’
‘Technically true,’ said Mina. ‘Go on.’
The sergeant motioned for her colleague to get a move on. ‘Mr Clarke gave me his details and said that he’d get the others out of the fountain and back on the minibus if I gave him my name and number.’
‘No. Seriously?’ said Myfanwy.
“Gloria” gave me an enigmatic smile and moved towards the door.
‘Would you mind showing them out,’ said Mina. ‘I need a word with Conrad.’
And there it was. With a stroke, Mina had set the boundaries very firmly. Myfanwy jumped to it quite happily.
When we were alone, we kissed. Very carefully, but we kissed. I love the taste of her lips, and I was hungry for more. She pushed me gently away.
‘That was so hard.’
‘Dealing with the police or the encounter with Hannah?’
‘Neither. Those were easy, but kissing a man who stinks like you do was above and beyond the call of duty. I deserve a medal and you need a shower.’
‘Fair comment. Where’s Desi?’
‘As far away as she can get in this house, which probably means she’s in Delhi. She is very, very very angry. With you, with Vicky, with Myvvy, with your boss and with God. Especially God. She wasn’t angry with me until I said that Ganesha took a more relaxed view of things. Now there is only Rick. Give him time and he’ll upset her, too.’
‘He’s gone. I’ll let Vicky deal with Desirée. Coming for a shower?’
‘I’ve bathed once today, and I’ve seen that shower. I bet the water’s freezing. I will come with you though. I want us to sneak out when you’re clean.’
‘Where to?’
We heard voices and the thump of Vicky’s crutch in the hall. ‘Damn,’ said Mina.
‘Quick. This way.’
I led her to a narrow door in the passage. Beyond it, the servants’ staircase let us get away.
As I peeled off my ruined uniform, I heard her on the phone. I think it was to Kelly Kirkham, and I think she said something about he has two staircases. Two! I might be wrong, though.
We had a much longer kiss when I got out of the shower, after Mina had checked a couple of sore places for serious damage. My back might blister, but there was nothing needing medical attention.
When I shivered, Mina pulled away from the kiss and said, ‘You need to get dressed before you catch your death of cold. Put something warm on. We’re going for a walk.’
Mina’s case was open but unpacked next to the small settee. I started grabbing clothes and pointed to the empty cupboard space I’d prepared for her.
She looked round the room. It’s not the biggest in Elvenham, but it is the only one with a proper en-suite bathroom. ‘I like this room. It has a good feeling. Terrible decoration, shoddy furniture and draughty windows, but it has a good feeling. I can see why you chose it over the master bedroom when your parents moved out. I’ve put Vicky in there. I wondered about that blue room for Myvvy.’ It was Mina who started me off with the pet name for our new housekeeper. Welsh is not easy to pronounce when your first language was Gujarati.
‘Rachael’s room. Her old room, anyway. Her stuff is in the attic – I rented the house out for a year, mostly so she couldn’t drop in uninvited.’
‘Oh?’ Mina gave me that sharp look.
I hadn’t told her all the details about Rachael’s issues with my buyout of our childhood home. ‘I’ll tell you later. The blue room is fine for Myfanwy. Where are we going on this walk?’
‘Where else? The well.’
Once upon a time (or so I’m told), Elvenham House was known as Elvenham Grange and was a working farm with nothing more than a generous farmhouse. One of my ancestors sold off the agricultural land, pulled down the farmhouse and built the Gothic pile that’s there today. He kept enough land for extensive gardens and a paddock (which I rent out). He also made sure the Clerk’s Well stayed in the family. There is now a pipe running from the well to the village pub, who brew their own range of excellent beers, and that’s only the beginning of its many features.
To the south east of Clerkswell village, the land rises steeply up to the Cotswolds. At the bottom of that slope is a very old well, the original Clerk’s Well (and not to be confused with the Church Well in the village itself). It was at the Clerk’s Well that Odin, the Allfather, appeared to me and gave me the gift of magick. It is in the well that Spectre Thomas rests and from where we’ll be summoning him. According to Vicky, the well was once a door to the realm of Fae (or Faery, depending on who you talk to). All of these things were very important, but none of them were the reason that Mina wanted to go there.
Last month, a snake woman, a Nāgin, appeared one night at the house. Her name is Pramiti.
We were able to sneak out of the house without being interrupted, and I held Mina’s hand across the lawn until we were out of sight of the kitchen and I could switch on the torch. ‘Will I be able to talk to her?’ said Mina.
&
nbsp; ‘I don’t know, love. My magick isn’t strong enough to detect things like that. She may not even know we’re there, or if she does, she might not have enough Lux to materialise.’
‘Hmmph,’ said Mina.
Pramiti is a centuries old magickal creature from India. She can take the form of a beautiful woman or a giant snake, and probably others, too. She derived her power from a ruby – a mānik – that should sit in the middle of her forehead, where Hindus place the red dot, the bindi. Her mānik was stolen by an English Mage during the British Empire in India, and without it, Pramiti is very, very vulnerable. A small Jack Russell terrier bit her badly and she had to take refuge in the well, which has a small source of Lux in it. Again, this wasn’t directly Mina’s concern.
To get out of a difficult situation in Cairndale Prison, Mina had prayed to her favourite god, Ganesh, not expecting any direct involvement. The elephant headed deity is also the protector of Pramiti, and Ganesh had granted Mina’s prayers – at a price. Although Mina and I can be together, we can’t marry unless Pramiti’s mānik is returned to her.
It was dark, and although no longer raining, the clouds were thick enough to make it pitch black out here. Mina shivered. ‘I feel like we’re in a wilderness, not the English countryside,’ she said. ‘Is it much further?’
I lifted the beam of the torch. The trees, and the well, were only twenty metres away. ‘There.’
There is a stone rim round the well, four feet high, and a plastic cover keeps out leaves, birds and rodents. I heaved off the cover and shone the light down. With it being spring, the level was high, and all we could see was our reflections on the surface of the water.
Mina took off her glove and held my hand. ‘Can you feel anything?’
I closed my eyes and tried to extend my magickal senses. In that recording, Vicky told me a bit about how Sorcerers see Lux. I don’t. I feel it, like heat. I’ve got a bit better since the Allfather first enhanced me here, at the well, but not much.
To me, the well was like a small camp fire in the woods, and that’s it. ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I can’t feel anything important. They could both be gone for all I know.’
