by Adele Abbott
“Kathy has a summer house in the garden, so although you’d be outside during the daytime, you’d be able to use that at night and whenever Kathy and her family are out. It’s a lovely garden.”
“What do you think, Henrietta?” Henry said.
“I’m not sure. The thought of living outdoors scares me a little, but I do like the idea of having all that space. And the summer house sounds great. Maybe we should give it a try.”
“I’m up for it if you are. Let’s do it.”
“You said there were two catches, Jill.”
“My sister and her family are humans, so you’ll have to take that potion of yours, ElfyStone.”
“It’s Elf-2-Stone.” Henrietta corrected me.
“How long does it take to work?”
“Only a few seconds. When would we be able to move in?”
“If you’re both sure about this, I’ll take you there now.”
“Gosh, this is all very sudden,” Henrietta said.
“It’ll be fine,” Henry assured her. “Just think of all the space we’re going to have after being cooped up in here.”
“You’re right. Let’s do it.”
I pulled up outside Kathy’s house.
“Right, guys, I’m just going to have a quick word with my sister. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Okay, Jill. We’ll take the potion. It should have worked by the time you get back.”
Kathy answered the door in her dressing gown.
“Don’t tell me you’re taking another day off,” I said.
“No, but I don’t have to be in the shop until ten. Anyway, I’m intrigued. You said in your call that you had something for me?”
“Possibly. You know yesterday when you said you’d like some more garden ornaments.”
“I said Pete would.”
“Right, well, I might have some for you.”
“I hope it’s not more gnomes.”
“It isn’t. I have a pair of garden elves.”
“Elves? Aren’t they the same thing as gnomes?”
“No. An elf is nothing like a gnome. Gnomes are big, ugly things like those in your garden. Elves are small and quite attractive.”
“How much do you want for them?”
“Nothing.”
“There has to be a catch.”
“Why so suspicious? One of my clients popped into the office yesterday, to thank me for some work I’d done for him. He owns a garden centre and he asked if there was anything I’d like, so I got these for you.”
“Why didn’t you get something for your own garden?”
“With Florence and Buddy, there’s a limit to what we can put in there. They’re in the car. I’ll just go and get them.”
When I got back to the car, Henry and Henrietta had turned to stone.
“Are you two okay?”
“Yes, but it’s not easy to talk like this,” Henry mumbled.
“That’s probably just as well.”
Kathy studied them for a minute. “You’re right. They’re much more attractive than the gnomes. Why don’t you go and put the kettle on while I put them in the garden?”
“Will do.”
By the time Kathy came back in the house, the tea was ready, so we went through to the conservatory.
“Look, I’ve put them over there by the summer house.”
“Good idea. That’s exactly where I would have put them. By the way, I had a phone call from RiRi yesterday. She suggested that the three of us have a night out next week.”
“Great idea. I’d definitely be up for that. It’s ages since we went out on the town.”
“What days can you do?”
“Any, except for Monday.”
“Shall we make it the middle of the week? Wednesday?”
“That works for me.”
“Okay, I’ll give RiRi a call later. Once I know the details, I’ll get back to you.”
As I was about to drive away, I spotted Lizzie in the upstairs window, which reminded me that I needed to have a word with Mad.
***
In Washbridge, I parked in my usual spot, but instead of going straight to the office, I took a walk down to Vinyl Alley. The place was buzzing. Brad was busy behind the counter, serving a customer, but there was no sign of Mad. I waited to one side until Brad had finished, then I managed to catch his eye.
“Hi, Jill. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
“Business seems to be good.”
“It’s suddenly gone crazy. If it carries on like this, I might have to set on an assistant. You don’t know anyone who’s looking for a job, do you?”
“No, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground and let you know if I hear of anyone. I was hoping to grab a quick word with Mad. Is she around?”
“She had some paperwork to do, so she’s gone down to Coffee Animal. Why don’t you pop down there?”
“I’ll do that. Thanks, Brad. See you later.”
I’d just arrived at Coffee Animal when Mad stepped out of the door.
“Brad said I’d find you here. Are you on your way back already?”
“No, I only got here a couple of minutes ago, but I don’t plan on staying.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“Guess what the animal of the day is.”
“Don’t tell me it’s snakes again.”
“No, even worse than that. They’re handing out skunks! It stinks in there. The owners must be out of their tiny minds.”
“We could go to my office and get a drink there if you like.”
“I’ve got a better idea. Have you seen that new coffee shop at the other end of the high street?”
“I can’t say I have.”
“It’s only been open for a couple of days. It’s called Coffee Rock. Do you want to give it a try?”
“Sure, why not?”
Coffee Rock was only half the size of Coffee Animal. Even from the outside, it was clear that the theme was fifties rock and roll. The interior resembled an American diner with a classic jukebox in one corner of the room. The walls were covered with framed photos of stars from that decade.
“Why don’t you grab a table, Mad? I’ll get the drinks. What do you want?”
“I’d love a green tea, please.”
“Are you serious? Since when did you drink green tea?”
“Brad got me into it. I love it now.”
The young woman behind the counter had her hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a cardigan that appeared to be on back to front.
“Hi, welcome to Coffee Rock. Is this your first visit?”
“It is, yeah.”
“In that case, you’re entitled to buy one drink and get one free.”
“Great. I’ll have a caramel latte and a green tea, please.”
“Anything to eat with those?”
“No, just the drinks, thanks.”
“Rather you than me.” I handed the green tea to Mad. “That stuff looks horrible.”
“Your problem is that you have no sense of adventure. You should try new things.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Because you might find something that you like?”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I already know I like caramel latte, so why would I try another five drinks just to find out I don’t like any of them?”
“You might discover that you do like one of them.”
“But then I would still have had four drinks that I didn’t like.”
“You’re a hopeless case.” She sighed.
“I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Brad told me you had some paperwork you needed to sort out.”
“That’s what I told him.” She grinned. “I do have a couple of things I need to do, but mainly I just needed a break. The shop’s been absolutely crazy this last couple of weeks.”
“How about the ghost hunting? Is that still quiet?”
“It has been, but I had a call yesterday from my boss, warning that a big cas
e is going to land on my desk any time now.”
“Did he say what it was about?”
“No. I tried to push him, but he wouldn’t give me any details. If that does happen, I’m going to be rushed off my feet. I think we’re going to need an assistant at the shop. You don’t know anyone who wants a job, do you?”
“Brad asked me the same thing. If I hear of anyone, I’ll let you know. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Lizzie.”
“Kathy’s girl?”
“Yeah. Do you remember a few years ago when she said she could see ghosts?”
“Of course.”
“She hasn’t mentioned it for a while, and I assumed that was because she no longer saw them. When I asked Kathy about it, she said it was a phase and that Lizzie had come through it. But then yesterday, I was over at Kathy’s, and Lizzie was there because she broke her leg playing netball.”
“Oh gosh. Is she all right?”
“She’s fine, but when Kathy was out of the room, Lizzie told me that she still sees ghosts. Apparently, she never stopped seeing them. She just stopped talking to Kathy and Peter about it because they didn’t believe her. She wondered if she could talk to you about it sometime.”
“Of course, I’d be happy to chat with her. When and where?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I could give her your number and she can call you. Perhaps you can arrange something between the two of you. She’s old enough now to come into town by herself.”
“Sure, that’s fine. Tell her to call me anytime.”
***
“I’m going to kill him,” Mrs V said, as soon as I walked into the office.
I was fairly sure I knew who she was talking about, but on the off chance that I was wrong, I thought I’d better ask for clarification.
“Going to kill who?”
“That cat of course. I knew he was up to something when you told me he’d been sitting on the desk next to me.”
“What’s he done?”
“He’s stolen my yarn. That’s what he’s done.”
“But I thought it was locked away in the linen basket?”
“It is.”
“You’re surely not suggesting that he somehow managed to pick the lock?” I laughed. “He’s a cat.”
“You may think it’s funny, Jill, but that yarn cost me a lot of money, and some of it is very rare and will be impossible to replace.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs V, I didn’t mean to laugh. I’m just trying to understand what’s happened.”
“I’ll show you.” She got up and marched across the room to the linen basket. After entering the combination, she threw open the lid. “See?”
The basket was almost full to the top with yarn. “There still seems to be an awful lot of yarn in here.”
“That’s as maybe, but where has all the yellow gone?” She shuffled the wool around. “There’s green. There’s blue. Red, purple, and orange. Every colour under the sun except for yellow.”
“Are you telling me you think Winky somehow managed to unlock the basket, and then steal all of your yellow yarn?”
“That’s precisely what I’m telling you, and I won’t stand for it. The time has come for you to get rid of that cat.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? We don’t know for sure that he’s responsible.”
“Who else could have done it? I expect you to do something about this.”
“Like what?”
“You can start by finding my yellow yarn.”
“Right.”
Winky was sitting on the window ledge, whistling, and enjoying the view.
“Hey, you, I want a word,” I snapped.
He jumped onto my desk. “What can I do for you?”
“You can give Mrs V her yellow yarn back.”
“Sorry, you’ve lost me.”
“Don’t come the innocent with me. It won’t wash.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I should have realised that something was going on yesterday when you were pretending to meditate. You sneaked into Mrs V’s yarn basket while she had her eyes closed, didn’t you?”
“No, I did not. I was just meditating. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“Cobblers!”
“You can’t say that to me.”
“I just did. Either you return the yellow yarn by end of business on Friday, or you can find yourself a new home.”
“That’s ridiculous! You can’t just throw me out onto the street.”
“Just watch me.”
Chapter 7
It was time to turn my attention to the compass stones. To find the first one I would need to decipher the cryptic clue that Adam Rodenia, the bingo caller, had given to me. The clue simply read:
Find the north compass stone where the rainbows end
People had been searching for the end of a rainbow for years, but to the best of my knowledge, no one had ever found a pot of gold. But what if it was different in the paranormal world? Maybe it would be possible to track down the end of a rainbow in Candlefield. I needed to do some research, and what better place than Candlefield Library.
There was a young wizard behind the information desk, dressed in a long purple robe and a matching purple hat. It was unusual to see someone wearing such formal clothes except at tournaments.
“Good afternoon,” I said.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’ve been sorting out these books all day.”
“That’s okay. I was just admiring your robe and hat. Are you wearing them for a special occasion?”
“No, I wear these most days. I wish more people would do it. It’s a tradition that sadly seems to have fallen by the wayside.”
“Don’t you find it a little uncomfortable, wearing that hat all day?”
“Not at all. I’m Alexander, by the way, but everyone calls me Xela.”
“That’s an unusual name.”
“It’s Alex backwards.”
“Right. Of course.”
“How can I help you?”
“I’m hoping to find a book on rainbows.”
“Did you have a particular book in mind?”
“Not really.”
“I’ll see what I can find.” He sat down and began to tap on the computer. “Rainbows. Let’s see what we have. Okay, we appear to have three. The first one is called Raising Hamsters by Lucy Rainbow. Hmm, that’s no good. What about this one? It’s called How to Make the Perfect Rainbow.”
“That’s a strange title.”
“This other one might be better. It’s called Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Rainbows.”
“That sounds promising. Where can I find it?”
“It appears to be in the children’s section.”
“Oh? It might be worth a look, I guess. Where is the children’s section?”
“Turn around, walk straight down the aisle behind you, to the very end. All the books are in alphabetical order.”
“Thanks. I’ll go and check it out.”
It didn’t take long to locate the book in question, but I knew before I took it from the shelf that it wouldn’t be any use because it was a child’s board book. Its contents were remarkably simple:
Rainbows are very colourful.
Rainbows appear in the sky when it rains while the sun is shining.
Rainbows are very pretty.
At the end of the rainbow, there is a pot of gold.
Despite the beautiful illustrations which accompanied the text, this clearly wasn’t what I was looking for, so I went back to the information desk where Xela was busy sorting out another pile of books.
“Was that book what you were looking for?” he asked.
“I’m afraid not. It’s a young child’s board book. What was the other title you mentioned?”
“How to Make the Perfect Rainbow.”
It doesn’t sound very promising, but I may as well take a look. Which section is that one in?”
He checke
d his screen. “Food and drink. Turn to your left, walk past the first three aisles, and then take the next one on your right. You can’t miss it.”
“Thanks.”
Another bust. It turned out that the full title of the book was actually How to Make the Perfect Rainbow Sponge.
“No good?” Xela said.
“Not really. Are there any more books on rainbows at all?”
He checked his computer again. “The only other titles listed here all relate to rainbow fairies. Sorry.”
***
After my visit to the library, I was feeling a little dispirited, and I needed something to cheer me up. What better than a blueberry muffin?
One of the assistants was behind the counter in Cuppy C, which was incredibly quiet. The twins were seated at a window table, poring over some papers. Whatever it was had them thoroughly engrossed because they hadn’t even noticed me. Once I had my coffee and muffin, I went over to join them.
“Room for a little one?”
“For a little one, yeah, but I’m not sure there’s room for you.” Pearl grinned.
“You’re so funny. Not.” I grabbed a seat and took a look at their scribbled notes on the writing pad.
“Been swimming recently?” Amber said, and the two of them exploded into laughter.
“I take it you’ve heard about my little mishap?”
“It made our day,” Pearl said through tears of laughter. “It’s just a pity Mum didn’t think to take a photo.”
“I’m glad I was able to brighten your day. So, what are you up to, anyway?”
“We’re brainstorming.”
“Oh dear. Not another madcap scheme I hope.”
“What do you mean, another?”
“Do you really want me to list them all?” I glanced around. “It’s very quiet in here today.”
“Don’t we know it.” Pearl sighed. “It’s been like this for a couple of weeks. We’re starting to get a bit worried.”
“Any idea why trade should suddenly have dropped off?”
“Not a clue. I wish we did. That’s why we’re brainstorming. We’re trying to come up with an idea for what to do with the space upstairs. Since we closed the creche, it’s just standing empty.”
“Have you considered reopening the creche?”
