by Adele Abbott
“The dishes can wait.” Kathy opened the fridge. “We’re having a glass of wine. We’ve earned it.”
“Cheers!” I joined Kathy at the kitchen table. “How much longer will the party go on for?”
“Don’t worry. The parents will be here in another hour to pick up their little darlings.”
“I’m glad I came.”
“Liar!” Kathy laughed. “You had me going for a minute there with the chemistry set.”
“I still think it would have been a better present.”
Kathy downed the wine, and poured herself another. “Top-up?”
“No thanks.”
The noise from the next room was unbelievable—even with the door closed.
“They’re playing pass the parcel,” Kathy said.
“How can you tell?”
“When you’ve been to as many birthday parties as I have, you get to know. Anyway, enough of the kids. I need some grown-up conversation. What’s happening with the murder case?”
“Not much so far. The police may be coming around to the idea of a serial killer.”
“Did Jack Maxwell tell you that?”
“Are you kidding? He won’t even give me the time of day. Arrogant sod.”
“So how do you know?”
“I have my sources.”
The door flew open, and a red-faced Peter said, “Where’s the donkey?”
“Under the sideboard,” Kathy said.
“Donkey?” I asked, once Peter had closed the door.
“’Pin the tail on the donkey.’ Don’t you remember anything about kids’ parties?”
I shrugged. I remembered that I hated them—especially the games. Mum and Dad had given us the choice of a day out or a party for our birthdays. I’d always gone for the day out, but Kathy had always had a party. And she’d always forced me to be there.
“Have you heard any more from your new family?” Kathy was once again topping up her glass. Now I knew her secret for getting through the party.
“No, nothing.” I was hardly going to tell her that I’d had a conversation with my mother’s ghost or that Aunt Lucy had saved me from the Followers. And I certainly couldn’t tell her that I was a witch with magical powers. Not unless I wanted her to have me committed.
Kathy gave me that look. The one she always gave me when she knew I was lying. Luckily, before she had a chance to call me on it, the door flew open again.
“Auntie Jill,” Lizzie screamed. “Come and look.”
She grabbed my hand, and led me through to the next room where Peter was trying to separate two boys who seemed to be having a dispute over a pirate’s hat.
“Why aren’t you playing the party games?” I asked Lizzie as she dragged me towards her bedroom.
“I don’t like blind man’s buff. It’s scary,” she said almost matter-of-factly. “Look!” She pulled me into her bedroom. There on the floor was the fire station, now fully assembled.
“That’s great. It didn’t take you long to put it together.”
She smiled—her face full of pride. “It was easy.”
“Wow!” I caught sight of a huge Lego hotel on the dressing table. “Did you make that too?”
“No, silly.” She laughed. “Daddy made that one. It took him ages and ages.”
I’d no idea that it was possible to create such an elaborate building from Lego. It was enormous.
“Your daddy is very clever. Can I take a closer look?”
“You have to be careful,” she warned.
I nodded, and began to walk across the room.
Now in my own defence, I should say that the room was dimly lit. The only light came from a small bedside lamp. Plus, the fire-engine was the same red as the carpet, so I didn’t spot it until I’d stepped on it. Once I’d lost my footing, my survival instincts kicked in. Naturally, I put my arms out in an attempt to stop my fall.
“No!” Lizzie screamed. “You broke it!”
I’d managed to break my fall, but in the process had knocked the hotel off the dressing table. It was now in a million pieces on the floor.
“Lizzie, wait!” I called after her, but she’d already fled the scene of devastation. “Daddy! Mummy! Auntie Jill has broken my hotel!”
Now I was really in for it. Peter would kill me—it must have taken him days to build it.
“What’s wrong, poppet?” Peter said.
“What’s going on?” Kathy sounded concerned.
Concentrate. I had to concentrate.
“Jill?” Kathy pushed open the door. “What’s—?” She stared past me at the dressing table.
I flashed my best, nonchalant smile.
Lizzie, her eyes red, appeared at her mum’s side. Peter was standing behind the two of them.
“I thought you said it was broken?” Kathy crouched down next to her daughter.
“It was, Mummy. She broke it.”
“It looks okay to me, poppet.” Peter put a hand on his daughter’s head.
“I tripped on the fire engine.” I pointed to the toy. “But I managed to catch myself. Lizzie must have thought I was going to knock the hotel over.” I smiled at Lizzie. She didn’t smile back. Instead, she eyed me suspiciously.
Chapter 16
“Thanks for coming Jill,” Kathy said when I was ready to leave. The kids had all been collected by their parents and Peter was putting Lizzie and Mikey to bed.
“No problem. I enjoyed it.”
“Liar.” Kathy grinned.
“I'll call you.”
As I made my way to the car, I looked back at the house, and saw a little face at one of the windows. What kind of aunt was I? My poor niece would probably have nightmares because of me. But what was I supposed to do? Tell them I'd used a 'take it back' spell? Lizzie was looking at me like I was some kind of witch.
I'd had my phone switched off during the party—Kathy had insisted. She'd said she didn't trust me, and even suggested I might have arranged for Mrs V to call and say I was needed on urgent business. As if I would have stooped so low. Sure enough, when I switched it back on, there were nine missed calls. The log showed they were all from my office. I'd told Mrs V to call me thirty minutes after the party started to get me out of there. Seven of the calls were within a few minutes of each other, but the last two were only a few minutes ago.
I called the office. “Mrs V?”
“Where were you?” She sounded annoyed. Had Winky managed to open the linen basket?
“Kathy made me switch my phone off. What's up?” I knew something must have happened because normally Mrs V would have left the office by now.
“Have you seen the news?”
“No. Why?”
“There's been an arrest in the Fox case.”
“What? Okay, thanks. I'll take a look. You can get off home now. Thanks for staying.”
I fired up the news app on my phone and checked the local stories. Sure enough the main headline was ‘Serial killer arrested’.
The story was obviously still developing, so there were practically no details other than the fact that an arrest had been made. I doubted the police would have used the term 'serial killer'. That was more likely to have come from the news desk. A man had been arrested, but it wasn't clear if he had been charged with one or all of the murders.
My phone rang.
“Have you seen it?” Danny Peterson said.
“Yes. Have the police been in touch with you?”
“No. I rang them but they won't tell me anything. Is it Caroline's killer?”
“I don't know, Danny. Leave it with me and I'll see what I can find out. I'll call you as soon as I know anything.”
I called the police station and used the name of one of my press contacts rather than my own.
“There's a press conference scheduled for nine-thirty in the morning,” the bored voice said.
“Can you tell me if the suspect has been charged with all three murders?”
“There's a press conference scheduled f
or nine-thirty in the morning.”
I wasn't going to get anything out of him. I was tempted to pay another invisible visit to the police station, but that seemed unnecessarily risky. For once in my life, I'd have to be patient and see what the morning press conference revealed.
Back at the flat, I was still feeling a tinge of guilt over the Lego hotel incident. I could still see the look on Lizzie's face. To take my mind off it, I decided to practise and memorise some more spells. I was slowly building up quite an arsenal of them. It was all still very exciting, but would have been even better if I could have shared it with someone. I'd have loved to shown off my 'powers' to Kathy. Her face would have been a picture.
I came across one spell which looked particularly fascinating. As soon as I spotted the ‘mind read’ spell, I knew it was one I wanted to master. As its name suggested, it would allow me to read another person's thoughts. As always, the spell came with all kinds of conditions and restrictions. It wouldn't work on sups or on any human under the age of eighteen. And, it would only work on someone standing directly in front of me—I had to be looking them in the eye. It lasted for only thirty seconds, which didn't sound like very long. The worst restriction of all was that I could only use that spell once a year. Who knew magic came with so much red tape?
The next morning, it was raining and blowing a gale. The press conference had been scheduled for nine-thirty, and I'd arrived at police HQ fifteen minutes early. I needn't have bothered because a notice on the door said the press conference had been put back to ten o'clock. There was a huge crowd of reporters and TV crews—not surprising—this was Washbridge’s first serial killer. I wasn't sure if I'd get inside because I didn't have any press credentials. I planned on walking in with one of the TV crews—I doubted they'd bother checking everyone. If that didn't work, I had other less conventional options open to me.
“Have they caught the 'Animal'?” a voice to my right said.
The man was wearing a press badge, and I could see he was from the Bugle. His question didn't appear to be directed at anyone in particular.
“No idea, Jimmy.” The reply came from a young woman, who was holding a microphone. “They're keeping tight-lipped on this one.”
The doors opened, and the crowd poured inside. As I'd hoped, no one asked for my ID. The small conference room was full to bursting, but I managed to manoeuvre my way towards the front. Once the doors had been closed behind us, Jack Maxwell, flanked by two other plain clothes officers, appeared through a door to our right. Even before he could speak, numerous voices hurled questions his way. Inscrutable as ever, he stood in silence at the front of the room—waiting.
Only when the room fell silent again, did he speak, “Yesterday, at four-fifteen Martin Kilburn was arrested and charged with the murders of Pauline Lyon, Trisha Lamb and Caroline Fox. He'll appear in court this afternoon.”
“So, Kilburn is the 'Animal'?” A male voice came from somewhere behind me.
“I'm not sure I understand the question,” Maxwell answered—deadpan.
“Was the murderer known to the victims?”
“It doesn't appear so.”
“Is Kilburn local?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you said that Caroline Fox's murder had a different MO from the first two murders?” I shouted above the other voices.
Maxwell's gaze met mine. I wondered for a moment if he'd have me thrown out because he knew I wasn't press. “That's correct. The MO for Caroline Fox's murder was different.”
“But you've charged Kilburn with all three murders,” I pressed.
“That's what I said.”
Shortly afterwards, Maxwell called an end to the press conference, and cleared the room. I was almost out of the door when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Can I have a word?” Maxwell said. It wasn't a question.
He waited until the last of the reporters left, and then got in my face, “Since when are you press?”
I shrugged. If he expected an apology, he was going to be disappointed.
“The next time you gatecrash a press conference, I'll have you arrested.”
I laughed. “And charged with what, exactly?”
“Obstructing the police.”
“Grow up. Don't you have anything better to worry about than me?”
“You've been warned.” He turned and began to walk away.
“Wait!”
“What now?” He turned back to face me. This was my opportunity. I cast the 'mind read' spell.
“How did you identify and capture the suspect?” I asked.
I knew he wouldn't answer, but I was playing a hunch. If my question stimulated his mind to run through the events leading to the arrest, I'd be able to read his thoughts.
“It's time for you to leave.” He took hold of my arm. As he did, the spell began to work. I could read his thoughts as clearly as if he'd spoken them.
It wasn't what I'd been expecting.
Danny Peterson was waiting for me back at the office. Winky was perched on the window sill, glaring at the young man.
“Is that old lady okay?” Danny said.
“Who, Mrs V? Yeah, she's fine—mostly.”
“She asked me if I wanted a scarf. Or a cat.”
“Take no notice.”
“I just came by to say thanks.”
“There's nothing to thank me for. I didn't really make any headway with your case.”
“You managed to get them to see it was the work of a serial killer.”
“Not really. Detective Maxwell must have worked that out all by himself. I'm the last person on earth that he'd listen to.”
“I don't trust this guy,” Winky said, still glaring at Danny.
“Hush!” I said to Winky.
“Sorry?” Danny looked confused.
“His eyes are too close together,” Winky hissed.
“Quiet.”
Danny looked really confused now—little wonder.
“Not you. I was talking to the cat.”
“Oh.” Danny gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Do you know the man they’ve arrested?” I asked.
Danny shook his head. “I’ve never heard of him, but I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.”
I waited until I heard the outer door close, and then turned on Winky. “Don't do that!”
“What?”
“Talk to me when I'm with someone.”
“Why not?”
“Because—because you're a cat.”
“So?”
“It's off-putting.”
“I still don't trust him. Did you see his eyes? Untrustworthy.”
“You're hardly in a position to judge someone based upon their eyes.” I turned away, and said under my breath, “Or lack of them.”
“I heard that!”
Aunt Lucy was thrilled when I called to say I was going to pay her a visit. I hadn't planned on going to Candlefield so soon, but now that the Fox case was wrapped up, there wasn't really anything to stop me. I wanted to practise my magic in the open, and I assumed there would be more opportunity to do that among my own kind. My own kind? Listen to me. It still felt weird to think of myself as a sup.
The road sign and turn-off were exactly where they should have been. I still couldn't get my head around the idea that humans couldn't see either of them. I was really excited about meeting my cousins and grandma. Maybe they'd give me some pointers to improve my spell-casting technique. I was definitely getting better—way faster than my early attempts. When I'd spoken to Aunt Lucy on the phone, I'd asked her for her address and directions. Cryptically, she'd said, “Don't worry your head about those, dear. The car will find us.”
I'd been a little dubious, but as soon as I arrived in Candlefield, the car did indeed seem to know where it was going. It was as though I had an invisible SatNav, which was guiding me to my destination. The cottage was unmistakeably Aunt Lucy's. Every surface was painted a different pastel colour.
&
nbsp; “Hi, Jill!” She appeared in the doorway.
“Where shall I park the car?”
“It'll be fine right there. Do you have bags?”
“Just this.” I pulled the small case out of the back seat.
“Give me a hug!” She threw her arms around me. “Come inside. I was about to make a pot of tea.”
Never in my entire life had I seen such a colourful cupcake. “That was delicious,” I said, a little guilty at the speed at which I'd devoured it.
“You have the twins to thank for that. Did I tell you they have a cake-shop and tea room?”
“They must do very well if this is anything to go by.”
“You'll have to pay it a visit while you're here.”
“I'd like that. I'm looking forward to meeting them.”
“I've arranged for them and Grandma to come over this evening. They're all really excited about meeting you.” She hesitated. “Well, the twins are. Grandma doesn't really do excited.”
“Will I have time to take a look around the village first?”
“Of course, my dear. Dinner is at six.”
I checked my watch; it had just turned three. “I don't expect it will take long to see everything.”
“You might be surprised.” There was a mischievous glint in her eye.
“What?”
“Candlefield isn't like anywhere you've been before. Not everything is what it appears to be, including the size of the village.”
A few weeks earlier, I might have taken her comment with a pinch of salt, but after my experience with the disappearing road, I was no longer so dismissive. “I'll see you later then.” I turned to walk away, but then hesitated. “Should I worry about the Dark One and his cronies?”
“You should be safe during daylight hours, but it might be best if you don't venture out alone after dark until you know the lie of the land. It's certainly much safer for you to be here than in the human world.”
“Okay, thanks. See you later then.”
Chapter 17
I'd been walking up the same winding road for almost ten minutes, and I still hadn't reached the top of the hill. From Aunt Lucy's house, the hill had looked no more than a couple of minutes’ climb. But then, Aunt Lucy had warned me that not everything was what it appeared to be in Candlefield.
