by Adele Abbott
***
I was on the outskirts of Washbridge when a voice from the back seat almost caused me to crash the car. What on earth was going on? I pulled into the side of the road and looked around, to find a ferret sitting there.
“What are you doing in here?”
“I fancied a ride out. It’s boring being stuck in that house all the time.”
“I assume you’re Freddy?”
“That’s me. Where are we going?”
“I’m going to work, but you need to go back home.”
“Please don’t take me back. Those two are so boring. They never do anything.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“If you send me back, I’ll only escape again.”
“Okay, but if I let you come to work with me, do you promise to let me take you home tonight, and not to run away again?”
“Yeah, I promise. Where are we going?”
“To my office in Washbridge, but I should warn you that I have a cat there.”
“Cool, I love cats.”
I was undecided if I should call the Normals, to let them know I’d found Freddy. In the end, I decided against it. They’d no doubt want to come and get him, and if they did that, he’d just run away again. Better to let him spend the day with me, and reunite him with the Normals tonight. I would tell them that I’d just found him in the back garden.
I parked the car, and said to Freddy, “Get in this bag and don’t make a sound. And, whatever you do, don’t show yourself until I give you the word.”
“It looks a bit grotty in there.”
“Never mind that. Just get in. Otherwise you’ll have to stay in this car all day.”
Somewhat reluctantly, he climbed into the bag. “It smells of old socks in here.”
“No, it doesn’t. Keep quiet and don’t move. I don’t want you to scare Mrs V.”
“Who’s Mrs V?”
“She works for me and if she sees that I have a ferret in my bag, she’ll probably have a heart attack.”
“Okay. I’ll be quiet.”
“And keep still.”
“Yes, I promise.”
I’d just walked into the office building when who should follow me in but Jimmy and Kimmy.
“Hi, Jill.” The two of them were all smiles now.
“Morning.”
“Did you get the flowers we sent you?”
“I did. They were very nice.”
“And you read our apology?”
“Yes, I did.” I had no intention of making this easy for them.
“We should never have said the things we did. We’ve told our solicitor to drop the case obviously, and you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve decided not to bother with a sign at all.”
“Oh?”
“We figured that people will be able to work out where we are. And, like you said, we should have taken your views into consideration.”
“Right, thanks.”
“Are we good now? Friends again?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What was that?” Kimmy glanced at my bag.
“What?”
“I thought I saw something move in your bag.”
“You must be mistaken.”
“I could’ve sworn I saw something.”
“I’d better get going.” I started up the stairs. “Lots to do.”
Before going into the office, I warned Freddy, “Don’t move a muscle or you’ll be sorry.”
“I have an itch.”
“I don’t care. Don’t move.”
I planned to say a quick hello to Mrs V and then hurry through to my office, but she collared me.
“Jill, I told Hattie that you liked that hat.”
“Okay, great.”
“She asked me to give you this.” She passed me an envelope. “That’s the bill for it. Hattie asked if you’d let her have the money within a few days.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Are you okay Jill? You seem a bit flustered this morning.”
“I’m fine. I just need to make some calls.”
Once I was in my office, I said to Freddy, “You can come out of there now.”
“Thanks.” He stretched. “There wasn’t much room in there.”
“What’s that thing?” Winky was glaring at the ferret.
“This is Freddy.”
“Yes, but what is he?”
“A ferret.”
“Why have you brought a ferret into work?”
“He’s only come for the day.”
“Hi.” Freddy waved to Winky.
“Don’t ‘hi’ me. This is my domain. You’d better stay over that side of the room or there’ll be trouble. And don’t even think about coming anywhere near my salmon.”
“Stop it, you two, I have enough on my plate today. I don’t need any aggro from either of you.”
“How much?” I double-checked the bill, thinking I must have misread it.
“What’s up with you?” Winky said.
“Do you remember that hat I tried on yesterday?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“This bill is for one-hundred and fifty pounds. That’s insane.”
“I should go into the millinery business.” Winky grinned. “I could make a killing.”
“Why would I pay that kind of money for a hat that I’ll probably only ever wear once?”
“You could wear it at your desk. It would be a talking point. People would say, ‘Why is that nutter wearing a hat at her desk’.”
Before I could give Winky a piece of my mind, Mrs V came through the door. It was only my quick thinking—grabbing Freddy and dropping him into the bottom drawer of my desk—that prevented her from seeing him.
“Have you seen how much your friend, Hattie, wants to charge me for this hat?”
“Hattie’s hats don’t come cheap, dear. I should’ve warned you about that.”
“It’s daylight robbery.”
“I have Amber and Pearl out here. They wondered if you could spare them a few minutes.”
It was very unusual for the twins to pop in unannounced. Who was running the tea room, I wondered?
“Just give me a minute, then send them through, would you?”
As soon as Mrs V was out of the door, I opened the drawer.
“Why did you put me in here?” Freddy popped his head out. “It’s dark and it smells even worse than your bag.”
“Sorry, you can come out now.”
“Why have you got a weasel in your office, Jill?” Amber said.
“It’s not a weasel; it’s a ferret.”
“Okay.” Pearl rolled her eyes. “Why do you have a ferret in your office?”
“He’s only here for a day.”
“But why is he here at all?”
“He’s doing work experience. Does it really matter?”
“There’s no need to snap,” Amber said. “We only popped in to say hello.”
“Sorry, girls. I’m having a really bad day. Would you like a drink?”
“No thanks,” Pearl said. “We’re not stopping. We came over to do a little shopping, and we thought we’d see if you wanted to join us.”
“Thanks, but I’m snowed under at the moment. Who’s looking after Cuppy C?”
“Mum’s got the little ones and the guys are running the shop.”
“Will they be okay?”
“Probably not. We’ll just have to pick up the pieces tomorrow.”
“How’s Aunt Lucy?”
“She’s a lot happier since Lester abandoned the idea of becoming a dragon slayer.”
“Has he? I had no idea.”
“Yeah. Apparently, he found the work too boring.”
“That’s what he told your mum, is it?”
“Yeah. He said it was tedious.”
“What’s he going to do now?”
“We don’t know. He reckons he’s got another job, but he’s being very secretive about it. He won’t even tell Mum what it is.”
>
“That sounds a bit fishy. Still, it can’t be any worse than being a grim reaper or a dragon slayer.”
“Hey, Jill,” Amber said. “When is that waxwork of yours going to be ready?”
“It’ll be ages yet. Probably six months or so.”
“I’m sure you said it would be a couple of weeks.”
“You must have misheard. Six months at the very least. Maybe even a year.”
“We can’t wait to see it, can we, Pearl?”
“No. We’ve told everyone who comes into the shop about it. As soon as it’s on display, they’ll all be there to see it.”
“That’s great, but like I said, it’ll be ages yet. They might even decide not to bother making it. I’ve heard they sometimes change their minds.”
***
Not long after the twins had left, I received a phone call from Constance Bowler over in Ghost Town.
“Jill, do you have a minute for a quick chat about Selena Mowbray?”
“Sure. I’ll pop over to the police station now, shall I?”
“Would you meet me in Cakey C instead?”
“Okay, I’ll be with you in a couple of minutes.”
“Shall I get you a drink and something to eat?”
“Just a coffee for me, please. A caramel latte.”
I turned to Winky and Freddy. “While I’m gone, there’s to be no funny business from you two.”
“I can’t help being funny,” Winky said. “It just comes naturally to me.”
“You know what I mean. Stay in that half of the room. And, Freddy, you stay in your half.”
“That’s fine by me,” Freddy said. “I enjoy looking out of this window. There’s lots of stuff happening out there. Do you think I could stay here for another day?”
“No, you can’t. You have to go back home.”
“But it’s really boring there. Will you let me come with you again next week?”
“Okay, but only if you behave yourself while you’re with the Normals.”
“I will. I promise.”
“And when I get back, I expect this office to look just like it does now.”
“Like a tip, you mean?” Winky said.
Ignoring his snide remark, I magicked myself over to Cakey C where Constance had a drink waiting for me.
“Thanks for popping over, Jill. I hope you don’t mind meeting me here, but I was out and about anyway, and I was gasping for a coffee.”
“No problem.”
“I just wanted to bring you up to speed with what happened yesterday.”
“Did Selena Mowbray confess?”
“She did. Not only that, she also gave up her accomplice.”
“Who was it?”
“Her gentleman friend.”
“Is he some kind of cat burglar?”
“No, but then he didn’t need to be. Selena lifted the house keys from the coats and bags of the women while they were playing bridge, then passed them to her accomplice. He let himself into the houses, took whatever jewellery he could find, along with details of their loved ones who were still alive. He always returned the keys before the end of the bridge session, so no one was any the wiser. They might have got away with it too if it hadn’t been for Madge being so observant. We’re now in the process of trying to identify who all the jewellery that was recovered belongs to.”
“That sounds like a result.”
“Definitely, and we have you to thank for that.”
Chapter 23
Constance had taken a phone call from the station, and she’d had to rush off. I was just finishing my coffee when Yvonne came from behind the counter to join me.
“Do you have a minute, Jill?”
“Yes, of course. Is everything okay?”
“Fine, yeah. Roy and I had a really long talk last night.”
“How did it go?”
“Not very well at first, to be perfectly honest. In fact, we had a blazing row.”
“Oh dear.”
“He asked me again why I was working here, and if I was seeing anyone. I took it for so long, but then I saw red, and I let him have both barrels. We were shouting at one another for the best part of five minutes, but eventually, after we both realised how stupid we were being, we calmed down. We’re really lucky that we’re able to have contact with one another; so many couples in our position don’t. And as Roy pointed out, we never used to argue like that when I was alive, so it’s ridiculous to do it now.”
“How did you leave things?”
“I’m sure he still doesn’t like the idea of me working, but he’s accepted that it’s something I need to do. Something I want to do.”
“What about the other issue?”
“That’s much more difficult. It’s a weird position that we find ourselves in. Ideally, we’d like to be together, and maybe in time we will be, but for now, we both have to be free to live our own lives.”
“And does Roy see it that way?”
“I think so. It’s not been easy for either of us.”
“But you’ll keep in touch?”
“Of course we will. Although the conversation was quite fraught at times, it ended on a happy note.”
“That’s great to hear. Jack will be delighted.”
“That’s really why I wanted to talk to you, Jill. I figured you would probably have told Jack about our problems.”
“I—err—”
“It’s okay, but will you tell him there’s no need to worry about us? We’re okay now, honestly.”
“Of course I will. I’ll tell him tonight.”
***
I was a little nervous about what might be waiting for me back at the office. When I’d left, there’d been a certain amount of tension between Winky and Freddy, particularly on Winky’s part. I just hoped the two of them hadn’t come to blows and wrecked my office while I’d been out.
When I got there, I couldn’t see either of them. If Winky had chased Freddy outside and something had happened to the ferret, I’d never forgive myself.
But then I heard laughter coming from behind the screen: Freddy and Winky were playing cards.
“Hello, you two.”
“Do you want me to deal you in?” Winky offered.
“No thanks. I’ve got a lot of work to do. You two seem to be getting on much better.”
“Yeah, you should’ve told me that Freddy fancies himself as a bit of a card sharp.”
“What do you mean, fancies himself?” Freddy laughed. “I could beat you with my eyes closed, brother.”
“Dream on.”
The two of them were clearly having a great time. I’d obviously been worrying over nothing. Who knew a cat and a ferret could be such good friends?
A little while later, I had a visit from Rebecca, and I could tell as soon as she walked through the door that all was not well.
“Whatever’s wrong? Isn’t it the full moon tonight? Should you still be here in Washbridge?”
“It’s okay as long as I leave before the moon rises. That’s not why I’m here, though.”
“What is it, Rebecca? Sit down, catch your breath, and then tell me all about it.”
“I could be wrong about this, but I think there’s trouble brewing. Do you remember I told you about my new neighbours who had been causing a few problems?”
“Yeah. What have they done now?”
“Last night when I came home from work, I was walking up the stairs, and they were a flight above me. They had no idea I was there, and that I could hear every word they said. They were laughing and joking. At first, I thought it was just the usual stupid male banter, but then one of them mentioned that it would be a full moon tonight. The other one said that would give them a clear run at the humans, and that he couldn’t wait to tear a few of them apart. It made me sick to my stomach, Jill.”
“Could they just have been joking around?”
“It’s possible, I guess, but it honestly didn’t sound like it. I wasn’t sure what to do. If it does tu
rn out to be a joke, I’m going to look really stupid.”
“You did the right thing by coming to talk to me. Do you remember when you came to see me before, I told you that I occasionally work with the rogue retrievers?”
“Yes. That’s why I came to see you.”
“I was talking to Daze and Blaze recently. They told me that a couple of werewolves had been released from prison. Apparently, they should have been tagged to prevent them coming back to the human world, but there was a mix up, and it didn’t happen. Daze and Blaze have been trying to track them down.”
“Do you think they could be my new neighbours?”
“I’ve no idea, but if there’s even a chance that it’s them, it needs investigating. I’ll let Daze know just in case.”
“You won’t say that you got this information from me, will you? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Of course not. I won’t mention your name, I promise. If it does turn out that they were just joking, and they’re not the ex-cons, then no one need ever know this conversation took place.”
“Thanks very much, Jill.”
“No problem. Will you and Luther still be able to make dinner next week?”
“Definitely. I’m looking forward to it.”
As soon as Rebecca had left, I gave Daze a call.
“Hey, Jill. What’s up?”
“I may or may not have some information for you. You know those two werewolves you mentioned the other day; the ones who had been released from prison?”
“What about them?”
“Have you caught them yet?”
“No, they’re still on the loose. Why? Do you know something about them?”
“Possibly. I’m not sure. A friend of mine just came to see me. She lives in that apartment block near the cinema. Do you know the one?”
“Yeah, I know where you mean.”
“Apparently, some new neighbours moved in a few days ago, and they’ve been rather disruptive. Last night, she overheard them talking about today’s full moon. They said they were looking forward to tearing a few humans apart.”
“Who was it who told you this, Jill?”
“Sorry, Daze, but I promised I wouldn’t reveal her name. She’s new to the human world, and she’s terrified, but I trust her. It’s entirely possible that she misunderstood, and that it’s just a joke, but I thought you might want to check it out.”
