Witches' Magic

by Morgana Best

  I took a shower, staying in there longer than necessary, finding the hot water on the back of my neck somehow comforting. I threw some clothes and make-up into a bag, and then looked out the window. Lucas was nowhere in sight. I grabbed my laptop and shoved it in my bag, too, and then cautiously walked out my door, keeping an eye out for Lucas.

  I opened the cottage gate for Hecate, who promptly ran off to chase a butterfly. I was halfway back to the manor when Lucas appeared beside me. I adjusted the bag over my shoulder and turned to face him.

  “I’m glad to see you’ve decided to stay at the manor.”

  I glared at him. “Yes, that’s more convenient for you.”

  I only had time to see his face register surprise, before I took off in large strides to the manor. I was embarrassed—I had acted childishly, but then, my heart was breaking.

  I didn’t have much time to think that morning, because it took the locksmith some time to change the locks. The Bed and Breakfast’s website was down, so I spent over an hour on the phone to the technician. In fact, it proved to be such a hectic day that I didn’t have time for lunch, let alone to dwell on Lucas.

  The aunts had been in their altar room all day, casting protective spells. They finally emerged late afternoon, just when I was making myself a vegemite sandwich.

  Aunt Agnes looked aghast. “My goodness, Valkyrie, is that the first thing you’ve eaten all day?”

  I had to admit that it was. “Unless you count coffee, of course,” I added.

  Aunt Agnes muttered to herself. “I’ll make you something decent to eat,” she said finally, “but it will take a while.”

  I was on my second vegemite sandwich when Aunt Dorothy showed Detectives Oakes and Mason into the kitchen. I hadn’t even heard the knock at the door.

  “Ladies, I have some news for you,” Oakes said.

  Aunt Agnes gestured to seats at the kitchen table.

  “Your water was, in fact, poisoned,” Mason said.

  “What with?” I asked him.

  “Sodium monofluoroacetate.”

  “I’ve never heard of it,” Aunt Agnes said. “Is it common?”

  Oakes shook his head. “That’s just a fancy name for 1080.”

  “Is it common?” Aunt Agnes asked again.

  “It’s banned worldwide, apart from in Australia and New Zealand,” Oakes said. “I checked into it, and there’s no evidence of it being used in a homicide case, or attempted homicide case, before.”

  I wondered why that was, and said so. “Is it deadly?” I asked him.

  Oakes nodded vigorously. “Yes, it’s deadly, all right, and it doesn’t take much to kill someone. One milligram will do the job. Also, there is no known antidote.”

  “Is there a register of people who buy it?” Aunt Agnes asked him.

  Mason shook his head. “Not as such, but it’s a Schedule Seven poison. Only licensed people can buy it, such as pest control firms, accredited chemical retailers and the like. Someone needs to have an Agricultural Chemical Users Permit with an endorsement to use 1080.”

  I frowned. “That’s good, isn’t it? Surely that narrows it down.”

  Mason was still shaking his head. “The local helicopter pilot does regular aerial baiting runs in the nearby mountains. His office was broken into last week. At the time, he thought nothing was stolen, but after getting these results back this afternoon, we went to see him. The lock on the storage container for 1080 had been broken, and it now seems as if a small amount of poison had been removed.”

  I was discouraged. “So that means it could be anyone.”

  Both detectives nodded.

  All of a sudden, Aunt Agnes stood up. “The local helicopter pilot, Sam Mason, right?”

  Detective Oakes looked up sharply. “That’s right. What of it?”

  “My cleaning lady, Bella Barker, cleans his office weekly.”

  Oakes scribbled in his notepad, but did not comment. “I take it you’ve had the locks changed?”

  Aunt Agnes hurried to assure him that she had.

  After both detectives left, the four of us sat around the kitchen table, sipping Witches’ Brew from exquisite goblets. “I still can’t believe it’s Bella,” Dorothy said.

  Aunt Agnes waved one finger at her. “We don’t know that it is. Bella cleans many places in town. It could be a coincidence, what the police would call circumstantial evidence.”

  “She was the first one on the scene,” I reminded them, “after me, that is. Maybe she was on the porch the whole time. I did stub my toe and call out a rude word or two just before I came around the corner. That would have warned her.”

  Aunt Maude nodded. “Good point, Valkyrie. Did anyone see Bella in the house before it happened?”

  Dorothy and Agnes said that they hadn’t seen Bella for a while. “That doesn’t mean that she did it,” Aunt Agnes pointed out.

  “But it does mean she had the opportunity,” I said.

  “There’s only one thing for it,” Aunt Agnes said. “We have to question Sam Mason.”

  CHAPTER 10

  J ust after nine the following morning, the aunts and I arrived at the small local airport. It had several crop dusting planes, as well as one helicopter that sold joy rides around the area, and apparently also dropped poisonous baits in the nearby National Park.

  To say Sam Mason’s office was a mess was somewhat of an understatement. The place smelt of engine oils. I couldn’t imagine that Bella had cleaned it at all, but when I pointed this out to Aunt Agnes, she disagreed. “To the contrary, Valkyrie, look how clean the floor is, and that little kitchen over there. This place is messy, but you wouldn’t call it dirty.”

  I looked around the room and saw that she was right. Papers were strewn all over the desk, and dirty coffee cups sat on the sink, a sink that had clearly been cleaned on a regular basis. The floor was spotless, except for a trail of dirt from the front door to behind the desk and into the adjoining room. The visitors’ chairs were well dusted.

  Aunt Agnes turned her attention towards me. “Valkyrie, why aren’t you speaking to Lucas at the moment? I mean, why are you asking me to relay all the information to him?”

  I muttered something incomprehensible, and was about to ask Aunt Agnes how long she thought Sam would be, when the door opened, and a man walked in. He looked like the type of man who would engage in pub brawls—bulked up, buzz cut hair, and covered in plenty of ink. His posture was menacing, but when he spoke, his soft voice dispelled that notion.

  “The Jasper sisters! I haven’t seen you for some time, not since I got rid of my aerobatic plane. I miss that Pitts Special.”

  “So do we,” Aunt Agnes said. “If you ever get another one, call me. I miss those wonderful flights we had.”

  Sam chuckled. “You ladies have nerves of steel, I’ll give you that. What can I do for you? Surely a helicopter joy flight would be too tame for you.”

  Aunt Agnes waved one hand in dismissal. “We’re here on a serious matter.”

  Sam frowned. “Well, by all means, have a seat.” He gestured to a row of plastic chairs lined up in front of his desk. “Would anyone like coffee?”

  I looked at the dirty coffee cups on the sink, and the drip filter coffee that looked like a hazardous substance. “No, thanks,” I said, doing my best not to wrinkle my nose at the sludge. The aunts also declined.

  Sam took his seat and leant forward slightly. “What’s this all about?”

  “Can we keep this just between ourselves?” Agnes asked him.

  He nodded. “Sure. Strictly confidential.”

  “I suppose you heard that there was a dead body on our front porch the other day?” Aunt Agnes asked him.

  He nodded. “Yes, it’s all over town. I believe there was a note on the body threatening you, Agnes?”

  Once more, I was surprised just how easily information travels in small country towns. No wonder the swift spreading of gossip is known as the Bush Telegraph.

  “That’s right,” Aunt A
gnes said. “And like I said, this is confidential, but someone tried to poison me that very day.”

  Sam tapped the pen on the desk. “Aha! 1080! So that’s why the cops were around yesterday afternoon.”

  Aunt Agnes nodded. “Yes, the detectives told us last night that the poison in my water was 1080.”

  Sam looked shocked. “Just as well you didn’t drink any of it. You didn’t, did you, not even a tiny bit?”

  “Oh no, I didn’t,” Aunt Agnes said hurriedly.

  “Just as well you didn’t!” Sam’s tone was filled with horror. “It’s a real nasty poison, that one. You know, I didn’t put two and two together after the break-in—the cops didn’t, either. The container was still there, and I didn’t notice any missing. Still, it only takes one fifth of a teaspoon to kill someone.”

  I shuddered.

  “Now that’s where this matter gets real delicate,” Aunt Agnes said. “The only people who had access to the manor, as far as we know, were my cleaning lady, Bella Barker, and one of our guests. Obviously, Bella had much better access than the guest, unless he sneaked into the house at some point and stole the keys to have a copy made.”

  Sam leant back in his seat and locked his hands behind his head. “Bella,” he said. “Hmm. I don’t really know the woman too well. She cleans the office weekly. Thankfully she doesn’t talk too much and then she goes on her way. She would know where I keep the poisons.”

  “Where do you keep the poisons?” I asked him.

  He pointed to the next room. “In there.”

  “Does Bella clean in there?” Aunt Agnes asked him.

  “She sure does. Anyone would know I had those poisons there, though, because my booking computer’s in that room.”

  I peered through the door and saw an ancient desktop computer. It looked a good twenty years old. “So, do you suspect Bella of poisoning you?” Sam asked Agnes, coming straight to the point.

  She shook her head. “To tell you the truth, I have no idea who tried to poison me or who killed that poor man, Collier Cardon, either.”

  Sam sat bolt upright. “What was that name again?”

  “Collier Cardon. Did you know him?” Aunt Agnes asked eagerly.

  Sam pointed into the other room by way of answer. “I took him for a joy flight last weekend. Him and some other guy. They wanted me to set them down in a clearing in the National Park so they could have a look around.”

  “What clearing was that?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “They didn’t care. They told me to take them somewhere remote, anywhere the helicopter could land safely. It was weird. It was like they just wanted to talk privately, although why they couldn’t talk privately in any old café in town is beyond me.”

  Aunt Agnes clasped her hands. “What was the name of the other man?”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute.” Sam pushed back his chair, got up, and walked into the other room. We all traipsed after him. He tapped away at his keyboard for a minute. “It’s in the computer,” he explained, somewhat unnecessarily.

  After what seemed like an age, he jabbed his finger at the screen. “There it is. Collier Cardon was booked in with Barnabas Butler. He was a strange little man, that one. Do you know him?”

  “He’s one of our guests!” Aunt Agnes said in shock. “Do the police know this?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t tell them. They didn’t mention the victim’s name to me. Do you think I should tell the cops?”

  I could see Aunt Agnes didn’t want him to tell the police, but couldn’t come up with a suitable reason not to do so. “I suppose,” she said after a long interval. “But please don’t tell the police that we were here. Oh Sam, did Barnabas Butler see the container of 1080?”

  “Blind Freddie would have seen the container of 1080,” Sam said, tapping a large wall cabinet adjacent to the computer. It was metal, with peeling white paint, and glass doors. It had a new lock on it, as well as a large padlock. “Anyone who comes to the booking computer would see the poison.”

  “I didn’t see it,” Aunt Dorothy said. Luckily for me, her comment didn’t start a fresh round of bickering, although Agnes and Maude exchanged glances.

  Aunt Agnes shot Sam a wide smile. “Thanks so much for your help, Sam. You’ve been ever so helpful.”

  We hightailed it back to Aunt Agnes’s yellow Ford Fiesta. It was hot inside, so we sat there for a moment with the doors open, while Aunt Agnes cranked up the air-conditioning. She tapped the steering wheel. “The plot thickens.”

  “So, Barnabas Butler knew Collier!” I said. “And they wanted to speak in private.”

  “I suspect he’s Collier’s heir. He’s next in line to Collier for a seat on the Council.” Aunt Agnes looked grim.

  “What do we do now?” I asked the aunts.

  Aunt Agnes started the engine. “Shut the doors, everyone. We need to go back to the manor and think this over carefully. Valkyrie, call Lucas at once and tell him.”

  I didn’t want to call Lucas, but if I didn’t, then I would owe the aunts a lengthy explanation. I sighed and called him. He picked up immediately. “Lucas, the aunts and I have just been to see Sam Mason, the helicopter pilot. The 1080 poison that was in Aunt Agnes’s water was likely from his office which was burgled last week. What’s more, Sam told us that Collier Cardon and Barnabas Butler requested he fly them to a secluded spot in the mountains last weekend.”

  Lucas didn’t speak for a moment, although I heard his sharp intake of breath. “Okay, leave it with me. Pepper…”

  I hung up.

  CHAPTER 11

  “What did Lucas say?” Aunt Agnes asked me, as she swerved violently to miss a rabbit.

  “He said to leave it to him.”

  “Oh,” the aunts said in unison.

  I was a little disappointed by that. I had hoped the aunts would investigate. After all, I wasn’t quite sure I trusted Lucas. Maybe now was a good time to tell them Collier’s dying words. “Are you going to leave it to Lucas?” I asked Aunt Agnes.

  “Of course not,” she said. “This isn’t a matter for a Cleaner; this is a matter for the Council.”

  I gripped the seat in front of me as Aunt Agnes went around the corner a little too fast. “Do you think Barnabas is the murderer?”

  “I don’t think we can jump to conclusions, but it doesn’t look good,” Agnes said. “We know he was talking to Collier, so we need to find out if he is going to succeed him to the Council.”

  “What other reason would he have for talking to Collier?” Aunt Maude said.

  “He could be another Cleaner, for all we know. Maybe Scorpius Everyman was replaced. Perhaps Barnabas got word that Collier was in danger.”

  I nodded. “That’s not as crazy as it sounds. Perhaps he did have another reason for speaking to Collier, after all. How will we find out?”

  “We’ll ask him.” Aunt Agnes got too close to the car in front of her, and then applied the brakes a little too hard.

  “Ask him?” I squeaked. “What if Barnabas is the murderer?”

  “And what if he isn’t the murderer?” Aunt Agnes countered. “We’ll ask him straight out what business he had with Collier.”

  Aunt Maude objected. “If he’s the murderer, he is hardly likely to confess.”

  Aunt Agnes was unperturbed. “We can figure this out by process of elimination. If he had a good reason to speak to Collier, then he can tell us. Maybe that’s all we need to hear. If he clams up and doesn’t tell us anything, then we’ll have more reason to be suspicious of him.”

  We had reached the manor. “Valkyrie, you go and invite him to lunch.”

  “Is that safe?” I asked her. “What if he is the killer and we have lunch with him?”

  “Yes, you have a good point.” Aunt Agnes tapped her chin. “We’ll have to make sure we don’t take our eyes off our food in case he slips something into it. And Valkyrie, be careful. You’re not in danger from the murderer—whoever it is targeted Collier and is targeting me—but
that’s no reason to take any chances.”

  “Do you want me to go and ask him right now?”

  Aunt Agnes nodded. “Yes. Dorothy and Maude and I will burn some Solomon’s Seal root and bay leaves to help us make wise decisions, and then we’ll put some calamus and liquorice under his chair to compel him.”

  I was puzzled. “To compel him to do what?”

  “Why, to tell the truth, of course.”

  I shrugged. “You have time to do all that? Shouldn’t I help you first?”

  Aunt Agnes made a shooing motion. “Off you go, Valkyrie. It won’t take us long at all. We’re old hands at this.”

  I decided to walk around the side of the manor rather than walking through the house. I walked past the star jasmine and inhaled the fragrance. The white vine next to it was just as pretty, but had no scent.

  When I reached the gate to the jungle-themed cottage, I took a deep breath and stepped into the little garden. This was my least favourite cottage, given that Linda’s husband, Paul, had been murdered there with solanine, a substance found in green potatoes. I hadn’t been able to look at a potato the same way since. I felt bad for not confiding in Linda, but I hadn’t even relayed Collier’s last words to my aunts.

  I raised my hand to knock, but heard a scuffle inside. It sounded as if someone was thrashing around. Had Barnabas been poisoned, too? Without hesitation, I flung open his door.

  I could not believe the scene unfolding before my eyes.

  There, on the floor, was Barnabas. Lucas was bending over him, his hands around his neck. I screamed, “Lucas, no!”

  Lucas shot me a wild-eyed look. He released Barnabas and then pushed past me roughly. I ran over to Barnabas, who was whimpering. “He tried to kill me,” he squeaked. His hands flew to his throat.

  “Did you have an argument that got out of hand?” I asked him.

  Barnabas whimpered for a while before answering. “No, didn’t you see he was wearing gloves? This was premeditated.”

  “Why would Lucas want to kill you?”

  Barnabas did not respond.

  “We had better go and tell my aunts,” I said. “It’s lucky I came to your door when I did. Anyway, the aunts have invited you for lunch.”