Killer Witch in Westerham
Page 13
“Right. Well, I want to ask you a couple more questions before we finish up, and please be honest with me. Okay?” I didn’t want to go off on a wild goose chase.
“I promise I won’t lie, Lily. Only the truth for you.” His blue eyes bored into mine. Imploring me to believe him or trying to convey something more, I didn’t know. I’d just have to take him at his word for now and not read other stuff into his gazes. I didn’t want this to become awkward because of my overactive imagination. I wondered what Will was doing right at that moment. Was he in the building? Might I run into him in the corridor? I could hope.
Might as well cut to the chase. “Did you kill Trudie?”
He shook his head vehemently. “No.”
“But you told me you hadn’t seen her for years, and there was a photo of the two of you on the red carpet together two years ago.”
He pressed his lips together. “Yes, well, that wasn’t what it looked like. We’d both gone to the same event. She caught up to me—on purpose, of course—on the red carpet. There wasn’t much I could do without looking like an arsehole in front of all the cameras, so I had to grin and bear it… literally. As soon as we went inside, I pushed her away and told her never to come near me again. I’m willing to swear my magic on it.” Well, that was telling. I was betting that the vehemence in his voice was real and not put-on. That answered that question.
“Okay. And sorry for the next question, but I have to ask. Did you kill Amanda?”
He firmly shook his head. “No. I haven’t killed anyone. Not. One. Person.”
It hit me then. The reason I was helping him had been there all along, and I was too slow to see it. Talk about dense. I’d been falsely accused, and no one had believed me. Everyone was only too happy to treat me like a criminal before anything had been proven. I’d almost gone to jail for a very long time for something I hadn’t done. I knew exactly what it was like to be in Jeremy’s position. It was the worst. And I never wanted that happening to anyone else.
“Did you leave your gran’s house after Trudie left?”
“No.”
“Do you know anyone who has it in for you? Is there someone who wanted you out of the way or wanted to destroy you?” Destroy sounded rather melodramatic, but no one ruined a person’s life because they’d been cut off in traffic. Whoever was out to get him wanted blood, and lots of it. What had he done to attract that kind of attention?
He chewed his top lip while he thought. “There’s another actor, Aaron Hayze. Do you know him?”
“Yeah. He was in Call to Mrs Valentine and that stupid American comedy Copping a Feel.” I rolled my eyes. It was such a stupid play on words. It was about a police officer who was a womaniser, but of course his one true love turned him around, and the “feels” he was going for turned into feelings. So original.
“Yeah, that’s him. He was upset when I won Sexiest Man of the Year in GQ Magazine, and then when I won that Oscar, he went nuts. He took a drunken swing at me at one of the afterparties, threatened to do something to get me out of the way.”
“Oh my God. That’s crazy. What’s wrong with people?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea. He’s the only one I can think of right now who hates me.”
“Well, only one person hating you is a good thing. Does he live in the US?”
“Yeah. California. He could be on set anywhere in the world right now though. He landed a spy movie. I heard they’re filming some of it in Europe.”
“Nice work if you can get it. Is he a witch?”
“Yes.”
“Cool. I just need to know what I’m dealing with. Hmm….” I tapped my pen on my nose. “There was one other thing. Who was that guy who spat on you when you were arrested? He was yelling out some pretty hateful stuff.”
Jeremy shook his head. “Just an idiot I went to school with—Douglas Marsh. He never liked me. We’d exchange words now and then, but I pretty much ignored him. He was a dweeb. I don’t know… he hated me. I didn’t like him but only because he wouldn’t leave me alone. He was always hassling me for something. He had a massive crush on Amanda. He’s sent me a couple of hateful letters since school. I used to think he was harmless, but now that I think of it, he threatened Amanda and I after we got together, said we’d regret it.” His face tensed in a pained expression.
“You didn’t bully him or anything? As in, he didn’t have any other reason to hate you, did he?”
He half laughed. “No. I was too busy concentrating on my acting, even back then. I didn’t have time to worry about whether some idiot liked or didn’t like me. Especially the last three years of high school. I landed a few bit parts on TV, and when I was sixteen, I had six months shooting Don’t Look Now. I had a tutor on set, but when it was done, I went back to my regular school to finish up. If anything, this has to do with Amanda.” He sat up straight, alert. “Actually… Douglas’s brother is a Kent police officer. He joined the force as soon as he left school, and he still was one a couple of years ago. I had to deal with him for a night-club opening I attended.”
“Is he the kind of guy who would cover things up for his brother?”
He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. He and Douglas are close, but whether he’d jeopardise his career…?”
“Okay. Well, out of everyone, he seems like the most likely suspect.” I left the “other than you” off the end. “Keep thinking on it. If you remember anything unusual about after Trudie left, or if you can think of anyone else who might want you out of the picture, let me know. If I can get some evidence on Douglas, maybe the PIB will question him.”
“Thanks, and I’ll think about it. If I remember anything else, I’ll call you.” His smile was wan, but at least it was there. “Thank you for believing in me, Lily. You have no idea what it means.”
I smiled. “I think I do, and I’m happy to help. But don’t thank me yet. We have a long way to go, unfortunately.” I stood, and so did he.
“Let me know straight away if you find anything.”
“I will. See you soon.” I gave a small wave and exited. One of the two PIB prison guards waiting outside asked if I was done. “Yep. I guess he can go back to his holding cell now.” I looked back over my shoulder as sadness waterlogged my heart. Jeremy sat there staring at the table. With his messy hair, prison garb, and the weight of his conviction wilting him, he looked like a defeated man. There was nothing movie star about him right now. Could I change that for him? And if he wasn’t the killer, who was?
“Lily? What are you doing here?”
What the—? I looked up. Will stood there, the agent he was spying on next to him. My eyes widened. “Ah… um….” I swallowed.
“Yes, indeed, Lily. What are you doing here?” I turned around. Angelica strode down the corridor, bearing down on me like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. I looked from her to Will and back again. Crap.
I couldn’t help my guilty look at Jeremy as the guards led him out of the interview room and down the hall.
“You’re not serious!” My gaze snapped to Will, who had his hands on his hips. He looked over my head at Angelica. “Is she for real?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.” She turned her angry gaze on me. “I’ve just heard that you have agreed to help Mr Frazer clear his name. By the look on your face, I don’t have to ask if it’s true. What in all the magic in the world were you thinking? And you signed a non-disclosure agreement!”
My cheeks heated. I knew she wouldn’t be excited about what I was doing, but to be this angry seemed out of proportion. It wasn’t as if I’d killed anyone.
“How could you?” spat Will. “You’re betraying the PIB by doing this and disrespecting Ma’am. I’m so glad I broke up with you. What you do reflects on all of us. You’re making us look like a bunch of fools.” The agent with Will smirked. All this was totally going to find its way back to Piranha. But how much of Will’s scolding was real and how much was put-on?
As my gaze pinged from one side to
the other, I felt like a tennis ball in a match between Federer and Nadal. Angelica’s arms were crossed now. “Just wait till your brother finds out.” She shook her head. “I’m extremely disappointed in you right now.”
I swallowed. Tears sprang to my eyes, which totally sucked. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was just trying to help someone, and if that meant I was the bad guy, then so be it. I bit my tongue, hard, drawing blood. At least the tears had retreated. I stood straighter and gave them each a scathing glare. “I’m helping an innocent man. I don’t have to explain myself to either of you.” I turned to Will. “And as for you, buddy, you broke up with me. I owe you nothing. Go cry about this to stupid Dana, the evil witch. I’m sure she’ll comfort you.” I spared an extra glare for her lackey; then I made a doorway around myself—dangerous, but it fit with the drama of the moment—and landed straight in Ma’am’s reception room. I threw the door open and stomped up to my room, being sure to try and put my foot through each stair tread as I went.
Anger burnt my veins, turning my blood to steam. How dare they speak to me like that? I mean, Angelica wasn’t even in on the breakup thing—her reaction was real, and if hers was all real, some of Will’s had to be too. I magicked my shoes off and fell back-first onto my bed. I smooshed my pillow over my face and screamed my frustration until my throat was raw.
I sat up, acknowledging the rumble of fear deep in my belly. Was our pretend breakup real? And after seeing their reactions, what was James going to say? Would he be more my brother or more PIB agent? I sighed and wiped an errant tear from my eye. Well, as the saying went, I’d made my bed, but I wasn’t going to lie in it doing nothing. It was time to get to work and prove everyone wrong, prove that Jeremy was innocent.
As I turned my laptop on, ready to research before I made my next move, I ignored the possibility that he was guilty. The repercussions didn’t bear thinking about.
Oh boy, had I made my bed.
Chapter 13
I ate a Vegemite sandwich for lunch—you can take the girl out of Australia, but she’ll still eat Vegemite. Okay, so that wasn’t quite how that saying was supposed to go, but whatever. As soon as I was done, I called Jeremy’s lawyer. I wasn’t sure if he’d take my call, so I was happily surprised when he said, “Hello, Brian here.”
“Hi, Brian. It’s Lily, the person trying to help your client.” I didn’t think a bit of a reminder would go astray. He was supposed to be defending him.
“What do you want?”
Well, that wasn’t very friendly. “I need to see the evidence files on the women Jeremy’s accused of murdering. I want to know when and how they were killed, etcetera.” Even though I’d seen the files at the PIB, I couldn’t remember everything, and I hadn’t seen everything on where and how they were discovered. If I wanted to get photographic evidence, I’d need to visit the places they’d been found. I planned on sneaking to the creek behind Jeremy’s grandmother’s later. I could probably ask her for access, but I didn’t want her twigging about what my talent was. I mean, it would be hard to figure out since I didn’t think anyone else had my type of talent, so why would you think it, but I needed to be careful, nonetheless.
“I don’t think so. You’re not a lawyer. You’re probably working for the PIB. Even though you signed that document today, I don’t trust you.”
I growled under my breath. This was going about as well as I’d thought it would. “Okay, that’s fine, but you won’t mind when I put in a complaint and have you disbarred for not helping your client. Your track record is atrocious. Do you try and lose each case? Maybe someone’s paying you to lose this one too?” Throwing out a few wild accusations couldn’t hurt. Maybe he’d be stupid enough to believe them.
He coughed. “How dare you! Look, I don’t have time for this.”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Silence. Was he still there? Ah, there was some breathing. I smiled.
“By—”
“Okay, okay. You can see the police files. And this is no admission of guilt. It’s not my fault I can’t choose my clients well. If they don’t want to do the time, they shouldn’t do the crime.”
My mouth dropped open. Oh. My. God. Why did Catherine hire this idiot? “Great. I’ll come by now. Can you have everything ready?”
“Yes, but none of it leaves my office. Understood?”
“That’s fine.”
“And you only get thirty minutes with the files. I’m going out, but my secretary will show you to my evidence storage room. You can look at it there. Good day, Miss Bianchi.”
And that was that. I would walk up. His office was near Camille’s old office—the woman who’d had an affair with Liv’s ex-fiancé. The same woman who stole millions from unsuspecting retirees. Did Westerham have an unusual number of criminals, or was I just deluded as to the percentage of the world population who were dishonest? It was probably the latter. How depressing.
I magicked my shoes back on and left, camera in my bag. As soon as I had all the info, I was going to visit all the murder sites. There was no use wasting time. The sooner I got the evidence, the better. At least I’d have something to vindicate myself with when James came to tear me a new one… maybe.
Brian’s office was in an old terrace, the white paint flaking off. A tiny sign next to the front door said Attorneys at Law, but his name wasn’t on it. I rang the bell. A tall, lanky woman with curly grey hair and thick glasses opened the door. She didn’t smile. “You must be that Lily woman Brian spoke of. Do that be you?”
Um, dobee dobee do. I choked back a laugh, and she scowled. Did she come from pirate land? “Um, yes, that’s me.”
She looked at her watch, then back at me. “You’ve thirty minutes and not a second more.” Without waiting for my answer, she turned and walked back inside. I followed her, shutting the door behind me.
Fluorescent strip lighting illuminated the hallway, and the carpet was definitely from the 1970s—brown and swirly and stinking of smoke. The walls were yellowed, as were the light fittings. Ew. The realities of time travel were often ignored in movies. A romanticised version was always put forward, but what about this? A time when baby-poo green was fashionable in kitchens, and cigarettes—well, they practically gave them to babies when they popped out in hospital.
She took me to a small office at the back of the building that had a small window, covered by an ugly gauzy curtain, that looked out into the yard. The woman tapped her watch. “Twenty-eight minutes remaining.” She turned and left.
Hmm, so friendly. I rolled my eyes. Okay now to ignore my shabby treatment and find what I needed. An office-type desk pushed up against one wall was covered by piles of paper. I had no idea where to start. Ooh, I remembered an awesome copy spell. I could just send a copy of all these to my bedroom and go through them in non-stinky surroundings. I smiled. “Copy each sheet, and make it neat. Deliver it to my bedroom at Angelica’s, now.” My face warmed as the spell worked. Oh, crap! I put my hand to my mouth. I forgot to buy paper. Had I just stolen it from the local office supply store? Was I now a criminal? I’d have to find out where it came from and pay them what it cost. Damn! When was I going to get used to witching?
The warmth faded away. Hopefully everything had gone to my room. I had a quick squirrel through the stuff on the desk. Some of it was utterly unimportant—receipts for a toaster and microwave that the police must have picked up when they raided his home—but here was one of the files I’d seen part of at the PIB. I took photos of each page with my phone, just in case my spell hadn’t worked properly.
Maybe I should have a look around Jeremy’s place too. If he’d committed any crime there, it would be apparent pretty quickly. I’d just assumed he lived with his grandmother when he was here, but of course, he probably had a flat in London or something. He was a grown man after all, and I couldn’t see him still living with his horrible mother. She’d drive anyone mad. Although, where had he lived when all this started over ten years ago?
“No, of course not! Everything is still here. You can check my bag if you like.” Had I just lied? Well, not technically. I hadn’t removed anything. I’d made new stuff. New stuff was not this stuff. I was letting myself off on a technicality.
“All righty then.” She grabbed my bag and looked inside. What the hell? I know I told her she could, but seriously…. Satisfied, she handed it back. “Be away with ye now.”
And just like that, I’d been dismissed. I couldn’t be bothered walking back home, and since she’d been so rude, I didn’t think it mattered if I left abruptly. “Goodbye,” I said, then made my doorway, and stepped through. It wasn’t until I was standing in my bedroom surrounded by thousands of papers that I thought to ask one important question: Was that woman a witch, or had I just freaked out a “normal” cranky old lady? Oops. I was witching so badly today—first stealing paper, then potentially outing witches to nonwitches, which was a punishable offence. Angelica was already angry with me; now wasn’t the time to give her other stuff to hate me for.
I stopped admonishing myself—I could continue that later—and dug through the mess to find the rest of what I needed. Thankfully, it was all there. I spied some other interesting stuff, but it would have to wait. Maybe my photos at the crime scenes would show me exactly who the killer was.