by Adele Abbott
As for the other missing person case, I had so far drawn a blank. When I’d first discovered that Brendan Bowlings was having an affair with his secretary, I’d thought I was onto something, but having spoken to Sarah Weller, I was convinced she was as much in the dark about what had happened to Brendan as everyone else. The only other lead I had on that case was from the fisherman who had said he’d seen Bowlings that day. According to Tommy Brakes, Brendan had said he was going to try to get to his old fishing spot—inside the fenced off area. It was time to get out my wellingtons, and take a closer look at the fence around the anonymous factory at Wash Point.
I planned to start where the fence cut across the river, and work my way all around the perimeter. Brendan had told Tommy Brakes he knew of a way to get through the fence, so maybe there was a gap somewhere.
After thirty minutes, I hadn’t found any gaps or holes in the fence, but I had found a section that looked to have been recently repaired. Could Bowlings have got through the fence there? It was possible, but that didn’t explain what had happened to him. I needed to get inside to take a look around.
While I was still considering which spell to use, I took out my phone to check the time. It was switched off. I’d forgotten to switch it back on when I’d left BeHuman. As soon as it powered up, it began to beep. I had twelve missed calls: Nine from a number I didn’t recognise, and three from Kathy. What was going on?
“Kathy? You’ve been trying to get hold of me?”
“Jill. Thank goodness. Is Jack okay?”
“Jack? Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Haven’t you seen the news? There’s been some kind of shooting incident at a jewellery shop in West Chipping. It said that there had been at least one fatality. It’s probably nothing to worry about, but I thought I should—”
I ended the call, and immediately rang the other number that had been trying to get hold of me. It was West Chipping police station, but I didn’t get a human being—I was in a queue. My hands were shaking, but I managed to end the call, and bring up the local news on my news app. The headline was stark: ‘Shootout at Jewellers. At least one dead—several injured’.
I quickly skimmed the article. Police had been called to a robbery gone wrong at a jeweller in West Chipping. Shots had been fired. Three people, including at least one police officer, had been taken to West Chipping Hospital. There was thought to be at least one fatality.
It would take me at least thirty minutes to drive there, and I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to manage it because my hands were shaking. I would have to magic myself over there.
***
Please let him be okay. Please.
I rushed to the reception desk. “Where are the people who were brought in after the shooting?”
“No one is allowed to go through—”
I didn’t have time to waste, arguing. Fortunately, I spotted a familiar figure. Dougal Andrews, a reporter at The Bugle, was remonstrating with a police officer in the corridor to my right. Andrews was trying to get past, but the officer wasn’t having any of it. I slipped into the loo, cast the ‘invisible’ spell, and then hurried towards the corridor. Dougal was still arguing as I made my way past him and the police officer.
“Jack?” I’d reversed the ‘invisible’ spell, and was checking each of the curtained cubicles.
“You can’t come in here.” A nurse blocked my way.
The man on the bed was surrounded by medical staff. The doctor was working frantically to save him. I managed to get a look at his face. It wasn’t Jack.
The next cubicle was empty.
“Jack?”
The third cubicle contained a similar scene to the first. Doctors and nurses were working on another man. I tried to get a look at his face, but this time my view was blocked.
“Jill?” A hand touched my shoulder.
I spun around to find Jack standing behind me.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
I threw my arms around his neck, and broke down in tears.
“Let’s get out of their way.” He led me back along the corridor, past Dougal Andrews who was still arguing with the police officer, and out of the building.
“I thought you were dead,” I blubbered. “Why didn’t you call to tell me you were okay?” I thumped his arm.
“Sorry, I should have, but I was too busy worrying about Craig.”
“Who’s Craig?”
“My partner. He took a bullet, but they said he’s going to be okay.”
“The news report said there had been a fatality?”
“That was the perp. He turned the gun on himself.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m positive. What about you. Are you alright to drive?”
“I didn’t drive here. I—err—Kathy gave me a lift. Yeah, I’ll be fine. You get back to Craig.”
After Jack had gone back inside, I found a quiet corner, and broke down in tears again. I cried for what felt like forever.
My phone rang. It was Kathy.
“He’s okay,” I managed. “He wasn’t injured.”
“Thank goodness. What about you?”
“I’m okay. Now.”
***
Jack and I had only been together for a relatively short time, but I now couldn’t imagine my life without him. For a while there, I’d been terrified that I might have lost him. I was always quick to ridicule Jack for worrying about me, but I’d just been given a taste of how it felt. And I didn’t like it.
It was still early, but the last hour had left me physically and mentally drained, so I decided to call it a day. I magicked myself back to the car, and then drove to Smallwash.
There was a car parked on the driveway next door. A couple, probably in their early thirties, were just emerging from the front door. I wasn’t really in the mood for small talk, but the woman spotted me, and waved.
“Hi!” she called, and they both made their way over.
“Hello there.” I somehow managed a smile. “Checking the place out?”
“Yeah. It’s ideal. We saw it a few days ago, but by the time we called the agent, it had already been let. Then yesterday, I got a phone call to say the tenant had changed his mind after being here only a few days.”
“That’s right.”
“Sorry, we should have introduced ourselves. I’m Clare, and this is Tony.”
“Jill Gooder. I live here with Jack.”
“Is there anything we should know about the house, Jill?” Tony said. “We’re a little concerned that the previous tenant quit so quickly.”
“No. There’s nothing to worry about. It was a student who moved in—I think he decided that he’d prefer to live closer to the college. That’s all.”
“That’s great.” Clare looked delighted. “We do love the house. I guess we’ll soon be neighbours, then.”
Tony and Clare certainly looked normal enough. They were definitely a much better proposition than Worm, and his all-night parties.
“Are you okay, Jill?” My mother’s ghost was waiting for me inside the door.
“Mum! You scared me to death.”
“Sorry, but I heard about the shooting incident, and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine.” I lied. I still felt pretty shaken.
“Is Jack okay?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t injured—thank goodness.”
“I wish you two didn’t have such dangerous jobs.”
“You don’t have to worry about us, Mum. Especially not me. I have magic to fall back on.”
“Magic doesn’t make you invincible or immortal.”
“I know, but like I said, I’m okay.” I could see my mother was upset, so I had to get her off the subject. “I’ve been trying to travel to Ghost Town.”
“That’s not possible, is it?”
“I didn’t think so, but there’s a rumour that Magna Mondale may have done it. I gave it a try the other day with Mad, but it didn’t re
ally work.”
“What happened?”
“Mad called my name from GT, and I tried to cast a spell that would get me to her.”
“I wouldn’t even know how to begin to do that. Your magic certainly has come a long way in a short time. How did it go?”
“Not particularly well. I seemed to get stuck in some kind of void. I’m probably just wasting my time.”
“What about if I was to call you from GT?”
“How do you mean?”
“We’re family. We share the same blood. Maybe, if I called your name, you’d be able to get over to me.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”
“What do you have to lose?”
“I guess we could give it a try.”
“Okay. I’ll go back there now, and then I’ll call your name.”
I wasn’t very optimistic, but I cast the spell and waited. Moments later, I sensed my mother calling to me. I focussed as hard as I could on her voice.
The sensation was beyond weird; I felt as though I’d been caught up in a tornado—everything seemed to be spinning.
And then I landed with a bump.
“Jill? You did it!”
“Mum?” I appeared to be standing in a kitchen.
“Well done, Jill! That was incredible!”
“Whose house is this?”
“It’s mine. Whose do you think it is?”
“And you?” I stared at her. “You look different. You look—”
“Alive?”
“Yeah. I suppose so.”
“I only look like a ghost when I make an appearance in the human world. Here in GT, I look—err—normal, I guess.”
As I walked over to the window, I still felt a little unsteady on my feet. “It looks just like the human world.”
“What were you expecting?”
It was a good question. “I don’t know. Something more—err—ghostly.”
“How do you feel?”
“Okay, I think. Can I go outside?”
“I don’t see why not.” She led the way to the front door.
I couldn’t get over how normal everything looked. The row of houses opposite wouldn’t have looked out of place in Washbridge. “That must be Dad’s house.”
“See what I mean about the colour? It lowers the whole tone of the neighbourhood. Do you want to go over and say hello?”
“Not just now. Getting here took its toll, and I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be to get back.”
“Okay, but now you know you can do it, you have no excuse for not visiting regularly.”
“I will. I promise.”
We made our way back inside, and I set out trying to get back to the human world. My first two attempts failed miserably, but on the third try, I landed with a bump back in the hallway of my house.
I’d just about composed myself when Jack walked through the door.
“How is Craig?” I said.
“He’s fine. Just a flesh wound. They’re keeping him in overnight for observation, but he should be home tomorrow.”
“That’s good news.” I gave him a kiss. “Now, you and I are going to bed.”
Chapter 24
Jack feigned shock when he walked into the kitchen, the next morning. I’d been slaving away for thirty minutes, making a full English breakfast for both of us, and although I say it myself, it looked and smelled pretty darn good.
“Are you feeling okay, Jill?”
“Just don’t get used to it.”
“I’ll have to get shot at more often if this is what I get.”
“Don’t you dare. My heart can’t stand another shock like yesterday.”
“This doesn’t look bad at all.” He smirked. “Considering you made it.”
“Cheek. I expect you to eat all of that. By the way, I saw our new neighbours yesterday.”
“Already? That was quick.”
“They seem pretty normal. I don’t think we’ll have any all-night parties with those two.”
“Oh, I just remembered.” He stood up, and began to walk towards the door.
“You haven’t finished your breakfast.”
“I’ll only be a minute.” I heard him go outside, and then open and close the car boot. “Look what I’ve got.” He opened the small white box.
“A gold condiment set? Nice.”
“Do you like them?”
“They’re shaped like parrots.”
“I know. Great, aren’t they?”
“Gold parrots?”
“You don’t like them, do you?”
“They’re—err—great. I’m sure your parents will love them.” Always assuming they have no taste whatsoever.
***
Mrs V was manning the office by herself.
“Jill. Did you give any more thought to the ‘G’ situation?”
“Sorry, Mrs V, I’ve been really busy. When is she coming over?”
“Later today. I don’t know what I’m going to do if she says she wants to move in.”
“Don’t panic just yet. I still might be able to sort something out.”
“I’d be eternally grateful, if you could, Jill.”
The good news was that all the small origami models had been removed from my office. The bad news was that they had been replaced with a number of giant ones: three swans, a rose and something that looked like a snail.
“There’s hardly room to swing a cat in here, Winky.”
“Just as well.”
“Where did you get the giant sheets of paper from?”
“Origami Paper Supplies.”
“I hope you didn’t pay for it with any of my cards.”
“Fret thee not. I used some of the money I’ve made on gym membership subscriptions.”
“Just don’t make any more, or my clients won’t be able to get through the door.”
“Clients?” He laughed. “Good one.”
Twenty minutes later, Mad called into the office.
“What’s with the paper swans and flowers?” She weaved her way around them, to my desk.
“The cat has taken up origami.”
Mad knew me well enough by now not to be surprised by that revelation.
“I have good news,” she said. “I’ve tracked down the items that were stolen from the colonel.”
“That’s great.”
“What do you want me to do with them? Shall I bring them here, so you can return them to him?”
“Actually, I have something to tell you first.”
“Oh?”
“I managed to transport myself to GT, yesterday.”
“How did you manage that?”
“I used the same spell as I did with you, but this time my mother called my name. Somehow, that seemed to do the trick.”
“Wow! That’s great!”
“I was surprised by just how normal GT is. Even my mother looked normal.”
“I had the same reaction the first time I went over there.”
“I need to keep doing it. Hopefully, with practice, it’ll get easier like it did with magicking myself to Candlefield. The first few times I did that, I thought it was going to kill me. Nowadays, I don’t give it a second thought.”
“Why don’t you give it a go now? If it works, we can pay a visit to the thief together.”
“Haven’t you done that already?”
“No. I was waiting to see what you wanted to do.”
“Okay. You go first, and I’ll try to follow.”
This time, it was so much easier.
“That’s brilliant!” Mad said. “This is going to be great.”
“Shall we go and get the colonel’s property back?”
“First, why don’t I introduce you to my contact at the police station?”
“Isn’t that Aubrey?”
“No. He’s in overall control. I’m talking about Constance Bowler. She’s the detective I liaise with most of the time.”
“Is that a good idea? I don’t have a v
ery good track record with the police. Maxine Jewell isn’t my biggest fan, and Leo Riley—well, the least said about him, the better.”
“Connie is different. The two of you will get on like a house on fire.”
Mad led the way to the police station. I was fascinated by GT. It could have been any town in the human world, but I was still finding it hard to come to terms with the idea that all of its residents were ghosts.
We only had to wait a matter of minutes at reception before we were joined by a woman who looked to be about forty years of age. Although, to be truthful, I wasn’t sure how meaningful age was when it came to ghosts.
“Hi. I’m Connie Bowler.”
“Jill Gooder.”
“Sorry if I’m staring. I can’t quite get my head around the idea that you’re actually here in GT.”
“That makes two of us.”
We went through to Connie’s office where tea and biscuits were served. The tea tasted just the same as it did in the human world, but I was disappointed to see that there were no custard creams on offer.
“This could be really big,” Connie said. “There’s been a lot of inter-world crime between the human world and GT. Until now, it’s been difficult to stamp out, but if you’re willing to work with us, I’m sure we could make an impact.”
“If I can help, I’ll be delighted to, but I have to be honest. I’m not used to getting such co-operation from the police. I’m persona non grata with your counterparts in both the human and sup worlds.”
“That definitely isn’t the case here. I hope that we’ll be able to help one another.”
“Funny you should say that,” Mad chimed in, and then brought Connie up to speed with the theft of the colonel’s property.
“Glad to help,” Connie said. “This can be our first case working together.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, we were in what was no doubt the less salubrious part of GT city centre. The block of flats was run down, and smelly.
“Ready?” Connie said, in a whisper.
