He grinned, chocolate cake stuck on his tooth so it looked like his tooth was missing. I laughed and pointed at it. “What?”
“Hobo.”
“What?” He laughed.
“You have cake smeared all over your teeth.”
He closed his mouth, then opened it and showed me his teeth. “Better?”
“Yep. You have all your teeth again. Your gran has good taste in cakes. This is delicious.” I ate more.
“She does. And she has great taste in photographers.”
Damn. Why did he have to go and do that? “Ah, thanks.” My cheeks heated again. “I’m sure you don’t mean anything by that except we all have great taste, but I do have a boyfriend, and I’m not comfortable flirting with someone else.” Oh my God. Talk about awkward. Had I just assumed he was flirting? How embarrassing. What if I’d gotten it wrong, and he was just being nice?
“Of course I don’t mean anything by it. You and my gran definitely have great taste in all things, I’m sure.” He winked. “Sorry if I overstepped the line. I’m just used to women flirting with me, and I think it’s like an automatic thing for me to flirt back.” His eyes widened. “Not that I thought you were flirting with me. You’re just so easy to talk to. I feel comfortable around you, which doesn’t happen often. Anyway, I’m not trying anything on. Promise. I think I like that you’re not flirting with me.” He grinned. So disarming. Stupid good-looking man that he was. Okay, so he wasn’t stupid. Is this how he reeled in his victims—all charm and a bit of spice? Hmm.
I pushed my thoughts away and smiled. “Thanks. Sorry for making it uncomfortable. I just didn’t want any misunderstandings.”
“It’s all good.”
Standing a few feet away, scowling at us, was his mother. She narrowed her eyes, obviously trying to tell me something not very nice. Sheesh. She was so overprotective. If she were a magpie, she’d be pecking my eyes out by now.
My phone dinged with a message. Was it finally Will? I placed my plate on the table and fished my phone out of my pocket. It was him. Hi, it’s me. Can we talk?
I swallowed as my stomach free-fell to the ground and splatted. That question had long sparked fear in the hearts of millions. I’m at work. I’m not sure what time I’ll finish. Do you want me to text you when I’m done? I resisted adding, Are you breaking up with me? at the end. If he wasn’t, I’d look way too needy. Bloody relationship politics. Why couldn’t I let my insecurities out? Everyone had them. Why did others think it meant the person was needier? Needier sounded silly. Was it really a word? I thought it was.
“Lily, are you okay?” Jeremy was staring at me.
“Oh, ah, yeah. I was just wondering if needier was a word.”
He drew his brows down momentarily, then burst out laughing.
“I know I’m weird.” I shrugged, and he nodded, but his smile suggested it was far from a bad thing. Gah, not now, cute movie star. Not now. My phone dinged again. “I just have to reply to this message.”
“Jeremy, darling, can you help me with something please?” His mother had closed in, and I was actually happy about it. I could do with some space. What if Will’s message made me cry? Was he still in love with Dana? Was he sick of me already? Surely not sick of me. I snorted in spite of myself. I was awesome. If he didn’t like me anymore, that was his problem. Yep, I knew how to put on a brave face, but I wasn’t fooling anyone, and by anyone, I meant me. Nice try, Lily.
Jeremy excused himself and followed his mother into the kitchen. I looked down at my phone. No, that’s fine. It can wait until tomorrow. I have to be at work early, but text me when you’re up, and I’ll pop in. Right, so I wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.
Yeah, sure. I would’ve put a smiley face on it, but I didn’t feel like pretending, even in messaging. And he hadn’t signed it with “Your Crankypants.” I blinked back the scalding moisture I always seemed to have on tap. I was as efficient as an instantaneous gas hot-water system. Yay me.
A particularly loud cackle reverberated over all other noise. Back to reality. I was supposed to be working and finding clues. Right. I shoved all thoughts of Will aside—okay, not all thoughts, but most of them—and lifted my camera up to focus on the kids who were gleefully enjoying their cake.
I infused my voice with happiness I didn’t feel. “Hey, kids, look this way. And… smile!”
Chapter 6
After tossing and turning and agonising all night, I finally fell asleep at around 4:00 a.m. When I awoke at nine, I groaned. I wasn’t ready to get up. Hmm, maybe I could sleep in another hour—I wasn’t due at Marcia’s family lunch until twelve. But there was no way I could go back to sleep. If I didn’t get up and face Will now, I’d have to wait until tonight, or possibly tomorrow, and I didn’t want another day of stressing about what ifs. There was a chance he wouldn’t dump me, small as it might be.
Clinging onto that tiny lifebuoy called chance, I made it out of bed. Normally, I dressed the human way, but today I didn’t have the energy, so I magicked my PJs off, then my clothes on. I was back in black—black straight-leg jeans, long-sleeve black shirt, black knee-length boots, and black fitted jacket. Why didn’t I dress with magic every day? It was so much easier, especially when it was cold. There was no racing to get covered while freezing. I needed to more fully embrace my witchiness.
I used the toilet—because, let’s face it, who didn’t wake up busting to go—then reluctantly grabbed my iPhone off my bedside table and went downstairs to have my coffee and message Will. As I haltingly traversed one step after the other, I imagined someone yelling, “Dead woman walking!” When you died, others mourned, but when only part of you died, you were the sole person grieving, and no one could really share your pain. Life sucked.
Or maybe I was overreacting.
As I approached the kitchen, I magicked a cappuccino into life, so it was waiting for me by the time I sat at the table. It was just me and the coffee. As much as I loved coffee, it wasn’t as much of a comfort as it normally was. I could’ve done with my bestie sitting here, but her chair was empty. I breathed in the melancholy until I was drowning in it. What would my mother have said if she were here? Probably to stop wallowing and just message Will. That I was worrying for most likely nothing, but even if the thing I feared the most happened, I would get through it. I always had, and I always would.
“You’d be right, Mum,” I said quietly. “Miss you.” I sniffed back my tears and texted Will. I’m in the kitchen having my coffee if you want to come over. I pressed Send and sighed. Whatever was about to happen would not be worse than losing my parents. I might cry and have weeks or months of crappy days, but I would, eventually, be happy again.
I’ll be there soon. At least I hadn’t had to wait all day for an answer.
I sipped my coffee and ignored my roiling stomach.
“Hey.”
I jumped and sloshed coffee over the sides of my cup. Damn quiet witches. It dribbled onto my hand, and I licked it off before turning around. My breath caught. His grey-blue eyes were serious but as sexy as ever, and the dimple when he smiled almost made me sigh. Hang on… he was smiling.
“Hey, yourself. What’s going on?” My light, casual tone gave nothing away. He looked happy to see me, which had to mean he wasn’t here to declare he could never get over Piranha. But I’d reserve my right to breathe when I knew for sure.
He cocked his head to the side and opened his arms. “Is that any kind of greeting for the man of your dreams?” He smirked.
I so wanted to punch him right now, but my hormones won, and I jumped up and into his embrace. I breathed in the clean-shirt scent he was currently sporting and revelled in the relief that cascaded over me. His arms tightened around me, and he rested his cheek on my head. “I missed you, Lily. Sorry I couldn’t talk to you about this earlier. I’ve just had a lot of thinking to do.”
“I’ve missed you too.” I didn’t want to go into my own insecurities right now. He didn’t need to know the depressing
depths to which my imagination dragged me. Plus, he had his own real stuff to work through. I looked up at him. “So….”
He smiled. “I would like a kiss first. Then we can talk.”
“It’s like that, is it?”
“Yep.” He lowered his lips to mine. Mmm….
When we were done, we sat at the table. “Coffee or tea?” I asked.
“I just had a coffee, so, no thanks.” He grabbed my hand and held it. This was so much better than what I thought was going to happen today. “Anyway, I was shocked when I saw the photos, partly because I wasn’t expecting to see Dana again, and also because it brought so many questions to mind.”
“Other than what the hell do her parents have to do with everything and why were they eating with my parents, what questions did you have?”
“Okay. Why don’t we start there? But hang on a sec.” He waggled the fingers of his free hand. “Bubble of silence activated.” He grinned. It really was crazy and reminded me of the old TV show Get Smart. My parents used to watch the reruns on TV. “What conclusions did you come to, Lily?”
“Well, either my parents are part of this crazy snake group, or they were trying to infiltrate it and take it down. Or, maybe her parents were with the PIB, and my parents happened to be their friends and had no idea of any rogue group. My money is on the last two choices. I can’t imagine they’d do anything illegal, and I know they weren’t power hungry.” The need to discuss this with James tugged at me. “Should we organise a meeting for tomorrow? I’ve got this photography job on from lunchtime to whenever. I’d really like to get James and Angelica’s takes on it.”
“You’ve come to the three conclusions I’d come to. I never actually met her parents in all the time we dated. She told me they didn’t get along, and she didn’t want to see them, so I left it alone. I’ve done some preliminary investigation, but very quietly because we’ve found two agents we think are connected to Dana and her group.” I must have pulled a face… okay, I had pulled a face, because he said, “I want you to know that I have no pleasant feelings towards her whatsoever. We’re definitely history. She’s not the person I thought she was, and even if she was a little bit who I thought she was, she doesn’t hold a candle to you, Lily.”
The way he gazed at me. Sigh. My cheeks heated, and my skin tingled. No one had ever had this effect on me. He leaned in and kissed me again. Eventually I leaned back, a goofy grin in place. “I needed to hear that. And no one has ever made me feel the way you do, Will. I like you… a lot.” Gah, I hated being sappy, but the words wanted out—I had no choice.
“The feeling is mutual.” He rubbed the top of my hand with his thumb. If he didn’t stop being so lovable, I was going to do something I may or may not regret—we were home alone, after all.
I cleared my throat. “Um, maybe we should get back to talking? You’re dressed for work, and I’m assuming we don’t have that long?”
He laughed. “You would assume correctly. Maybe next weekend you can come stay at my place?”
My mouth formed a medium-sized O. That was something I had not expected.
“No pressure, Lily. I mean, we don’t have to do anything if you’re not ready. I just thought it would be awesome to spend the whole weekend together. What do you think?”
I laughed. “Um, no, I wasn’t worried about that. I just wasn’t expecting it. I would love to accept your invitation.” He grinned. We were good. Thank God. “Now that’s sorted, can you tell me if you know for sure those two PIB agents are working for Dana and her crew?”
“We haven’t gotten hard evidence—proof that they’ve spoken to or met with her lately, but they were both in close contact with her when she worked for us, and one of them has the same tattoo. Beren saw it the other day when they were on an undercover assignment. The other guy may have a similar tattoo, but we haven’t had the opportunity to see him without full PIB gear on. Both agents don’t spend much time together at work, but we’ve discovered their Facebook aliases, and they’re friends on there and often comment on each other’s posts.”
“You’re relying on Facebook statuses to confirm they’re friends? Wow, talk about desperate.” I sniggered.
“That’s what you do if you don’t want to be caught snooping. We don’t know what they’re tracking at the bureau—phones, computers, whether they’ve bugged offices. Dana’s probably infiltrated PIB systems somewhere. They may know what we search online and what we don’t. We bought burner phones to search. Those guys catch up at least once a week outside of work. We’ve put a tail on them, but it’s not easy since they’re agents. It’s a rather delicate operation. We’re keeping tabs on everyone they meet with.”
“Fair enough. Sorry. Just… Facebook and real spying seems funny. I guess Facebook spies on us for marketing purposes anyway; what’s the difference if the PIB is using it to find stuff out? Other government departments probably do too. They’re always listening in. Bastards. Does the bubble of silence encompass mobile phones? Our phones are in the bubble.” Oh, crap. How had I never considered that before?
He half laughed. “Don’t worry. Our phones are in the bubble, but they can only transmit as far as the bubble, so nothing actually gets through to anyone else. As if we wouldn’t have thought of that, Lily. We’re not idiots, and this is definitely not Get Smart.”
I blinked and checked my mind-shield. Nope, all good—it was up. If I didn’t know better, I would have said he’d been listening to my thoughts, but maybe we were just really in tune? “Thanks for the confirmation. I do wonder sometimes.” I grinned.
He rolled his eyes. “Have I told you lately what a pita you are?”
Huh? “A flat piece of Greek bread?”
Will smirked. “No: a Pain in the Arse.”
“No, but thank you. I do try.” I stuck my tongue out in a show of great maturity. “But seriously, what now? There must be something my camera and I can do to figure out more. I need to know what my parents were really doing. Do you think Angelica knows anything?”
He shrugged. “We’ll have to ask her. Like I said, we’ll get a meeting set up, and everyone can be there to contribute. I think we need to go through your mum’s diary and pick out more places we can go and grab some pictures from. What do you think?”
As much as it hurt to see them through the lens, it hurt even more not knowing what happened to them. The tiny niggle that they may have been voluntarily involved in something underhanded prodded me, but I ignored it: these were my parents we were talking about, and I knew them, knew they weren’t capable of being criminals.
Didn’t I?
Will spoke to Angelica, and they set up a meeting at James’s for the following evening. Then he kissed me goodbye and went to work, leaving me with a couple of hours until I had to be at Marcia’s lunch.
Not wanting to go crazy harping on my parents and Dana, I got back to editing Marcia’s photos. The two hours flew by, and before I knew it, I was driving to Marcia’s lunch. They were having it at an old pub about six miles west of Westerham. In typical English style, it was a quaint two-storey building, whitewashed, and a tad lopsided. The thatched roof reminded me of a bad toupee.
The interior had low ceilings. Thick beams reached across the expanse, hovering mere inches above me. My head didn’t touch the roof, but I ducked anyway, then had to force myself to stand straight. I walked past a bar and to a large, timber-floored dining area brimming with noise: Marcia and her family. Jeremy spied me first and hurried over.
“Hey, photo lady.” He grinned his movie-star smile.
“Hey, movie guy.” I grinned in return.
“Someone’s happy today.”
The stress of not knowing whether Will wanted me or not had floated off into the ether. It was wonderful to have one less thing to worry about. “Yep. I had stuff happening, but it’s all sorted. I feel much better today. How is everyone? Is Marcia still enjoying herself?”
“Always. Come on.” He turned and led the way to his family.
“Lovely to see you too. How does it feel to be eighty?”
“Absolutely marvellous.” She grinned and fist-pumped the air. I giggled. She was such a character. In keeping with that, she wore a fuchsia shirt with angel-style sleeves. At least I think that’s what they were called. They were flowy sleeves that almost touched her knees. Or were they more like priest-robe sleeves? Meh, whatever. They were huge sleeves. Her black trousers toned the look down somewhat, but then she partied things up with mirrorball-style court shoes. I squinted. Yep, there really were tiny little mirrors all over them.
Jeremy’s mother sauntered over. “So… you’re back.”
“That was the plan, Catherine.” Marcia rolled her eyes at her daughter. “Not everyone is trying to take advantage of your son. Leave the poor young lady alone. She’s an incredible photographer. You should see her work.”
Ooh, a compliment. I never said no to one of those. “Thank you, Marcia.”
“Well, it’s true. I looked up so many websites, and your shots were the best. So much atmosphere, and I loved your clean style.”
Catherine folded her arms. “Oh, just wait. She’ll probably sell photos of my Jeremy to the magazines when this is all over. She’ll use it somehow. Just watch.”
Ah, excuse me? I was about to open my mouth and say exactly that when Jeremy stood between his mother and me. “I trust Lily. She’s not here to get famous. Not everyone wants that, Mother.”
“Oh, yes, they do. Don't be so naïve.” Catherine took her two fingers, pointed them at her own eyes and then at me, in the universal sign for “I’m watching you.” Was she kidding? What were we, twelve? Or were we in some C-grade movie? Jeremy shook his head, exasperation permeating from his whole body. I pitied him. He didn’t have it all like I’d initially thought. He had a great career and many adoring fans, but he didn’t have someone who truly loved him, and his mother was a total b—
Killer Witch in Westerham Page 6
