by Adele Abbott
He parked on the road close to Washbridge Park. Fortunately, there were plenty of free spaces, so I was able to park further down the road without him noticing. I followed him into the park; he was obviously a man on a mission. He made his way over to the small café, which was close to the children’s play area. He didn’t bother to buy a drink or anything to eat. Instead, he joined a young woman who was sitting alone at a table. I kept my distance, and hid behind a tree from where I could watch them. They were very animated. He was waving his arms about; she was shaking her head. I needed to hear what was being said, so I used the ‘listen’ spell.
“You can’t do this, Joe!” The woman was close to tears.
“I’m sorry.”
“You said you were going to leave her at the end of the month. Why did you lie to me?”
“I didn’t. It’s just that Lacey and me are going to give it another go.”
“You said you couldn’t bear to be in the same room as that woman!”
“Things change. I’m sorry.” He stood up, and walked away.
This time I didn’t follow him. Instead, I made my way over to the woman.
“Are you all right? I couldn’t help but notice you were crying.”
“I’m okay.” She took a tissue from her pocket, and wiped her eyes.
“Are you sure? Is there anything I can do to help? Did that man do something to upset you?”
“No, it’s okay. I’m fine. It’s my own stupid fault. I should have known better than to get involved with a married man. They’re all the same. He said he was going to leave his wife, but now he’s called it off.” The woman stood up. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this. Sorry. I have to go.”
So, Joe Ball had been having an affair, and had promised to leave Lacey at the end of the month. Why the sudden change of heart? Why call it off immediately after my visit?
***
When I’d suggested meeting at lunchtime for a drink, Kathy had insisted that we go to Bar Piranha. I hadn’t been in there for some time. When it first opened, as Bar Fish, the place had been delightful. It had been full of beautiful, tropical fish, and even though it could feel a bit creepy at times with all those eyes on you, it had been quite relaxing. When the original owner, Stuart Steele, had been sent to prison for the murder of Starr Fish, the business had gone into administration. Its new owners had rebranded it to Bar Piranha. They’d got rid of the tropical fish, and replaced them with piranhas. They totally freaked me out. The fish were in tanks that ran under your feet, along the walls and even behind the bar. Although I knew the glass was too thick for them to be able to get out, I still found them really scary. Thankfully, they were only fed when the bar was closed. I had no desire to see them ripping some animal carcass to pieces. Yuk!
We took a seat near to the window.
“Why did we have to come here, Kathy? Look at those horrible things. Look at their teeth!”
“I think they’re cute.”
“Cute? Piranhas aren’t cute. If you put your hand in there, they’d tear it to the bone within seconds.”
“I still think they’re cute. So, how’s everything going with the party preparations?”
“Okay, I guess.”
“You haven’t managed to talk Jack out of it, then?” She laughed.
“Why would I? I’m looking forward to it.”
“Liar. You hate parties.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’ve never liked them. When we were kids, and Mum and Dad gave us the option of a party or a day out on our birthday; you always chose the day out.”
“I like to visit places.”
“I always chose the party,” Kathy said. “Parties are fun.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“See, that’s what I mean; you’re a killjoy. Who else is going to be there?”
“Some of Jack’s friends from Washbridge police station, Mrs V and Jules, some of the neighbours, and my birth family.”
“Aunt Lucy and the twins?”
“Yep.”
“Your grandmother?”
“Yep.”
“Can the kids come?”
“Some of Jack’s friends will be bringing their kids, so I can hardly turn yours away.”
“How will you cope? Your poor new house and all that lovely furniture.”
“Don’t. It makes me want to cry every time I think about it. Let’s talk about something else. What’s going on with all the advertising Grandma’s doing? I’ve seen loads of buses and taxis with Ever A Wool Moment on the side.”
“They’ve only appeared in the last few days; there are dozens of them. It must be costing her a small fortune. I’ve tried to ask her about it, but she’s being really cagey. She said she didn’t want to talk about it.”
Chapter 18
Although I liked the idea of someone doing the cleaning, I didn’t like the idea of them having to come into my house to do it. In the end though, I’d agreed that we’d at least look for a cleaner, and see what we came up with. We’d checked the local listings, and found three or four possible candidates. The first one was coming in that morning. Jack and I were going to talk to her together.
But then Jack’s boss called. He had to go into work straightaway—no questions asked.
“What about the cleaner? We’re meant to be interviewing her in ten minutes.”
“I’m sorry, Jill. You heard the phone call; I don’t have any choice.”
“This is getting to be a habit. Are you sure you aren’t paying somebody to make these calls just to get you out of this stuff?”
He laughed.
“I wouldn’t put anything past you.”
“You’re perfectly capable of deciding whether this woman will be any good or not. If you’re happy with her, then set her on. Look, I’ve got to go. See you later, bye.”
Great! That was the only drawback of working for myself. I could hardly pretend that someone had phoned to ask me to go in early. I didn’t know anything about this woman, only that she worked under the name of Mopp Cleaning Services. Hopefully her cleaning was better than her spelling: Mop with two ‘p’s? Dearie me!
Jack had only been gone a few minutes when there was a knock at the door. It was so loud I thought the door was about to cave in.
“Just a minute! I’m coming!”
There was another knock—even louder this time. How impatient!
“Is this the Gooder residence?”
“Yeah, I’m Jill Gooder.”
“I’m Miriam Mopp. I believe you’re expecting me.”
“Mopp’s your name?”
“Of course it’s my name. Why else would I call the company Mopp Cleaning Services?”
“Oh? I thought that was mop as in the kind you clean the floor with.”
“No, dear, that would be mop, my name is Mopp with two ‘p’s, M-O-P-P.”
“Right, sorry for the confusion.”
“Can I come in? It’s rather chilly out here.”
“Yes, of course. Come in. Let me take your coat, Mrs Mopp.”
Mrs Mopp? How did I not laugh?
“Let’s go through into the living room. Please have a seat over there.”
“Right then, we’d better start the interview,” Mrs Mopp said.
“Quite right, we should. Can I—”
But before I could get the words out, she jumped right in. “Have you had a cleaner before?”
“No.”
“Oh dear.” She tutted and gave me a disapproving look. “I do hate working for newbies. Their expectations are often unrealistic. Still I’m here now. Do you have any children?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s a plus at least. Pets?”
“No pets either.”
“How often would you want someone to come in and clean?”
“We hadn’t really thought—”
“For a house this size, with just the two of you, no children and no pets, once a week is more than enough. I�
�ll need to take a proper look around, but I would guess it will require three hours, maybe only two and a half.”
“Right, yeah okay, I was just going to ask—”
“If I’m going to do this, it will have to be on Wednesdays at eight o’clock in the morning.”
“That’s a little early—”
“I’m afraid that’s the only spot I have available. Take it or leave it.”
“What would it cost?”
“Twenty pounds an hour plus materials.”
“Materials? I have my own cleaning—”
“Sorry, but a professional has to have the right equipment and materials. I insist on providing my own.”
“Oh. I see.”
“Right, well I think that’s probably everything. You can show me around the house now, and I can make a start next Wednesday.”
“Next Wednesday?”
“Yes. At eight o’clock sharp. And please make sure you’re both dressed by then.”
“Right. Okay. Will do.”
Ten minutes after she left, I was still trying to figure out what had happened. Who exactly had interviewed who?
***
Danny Day had given me the names of two of Mandy’s friends. If she was still alive, then maybe she’d been in contact with one of them. And even if she hadn’t, they might still be able to throw some light on Mandy’s death. Had it been suicide?
Judy Brown had been surprised that someone wanted to talk to her about Mandy after all that time, but she readily agreed to see me.
“Come in. I’m Judy, nice to meet you. How is Danny? I haven’t seen him since Mandy’s funeral.”
“He seems fine. He told me that you were one of Mandy’s best friends.”
“I suppose I was, but then Mandy didn’t have many. She was a bit of a loner. So different from her sister.”
“I realise this may sound like a strange question, but have you heard from Mandy since the funeral?”
“Huh? You’re right. That is a weird question. Do you mean like a séance or something?”
“No. I meant a phone call.”
“She’s dead. How could I have had a phone call from her?”
“It’s just that her sister says Mandy contacted her by phone recently.”
“That’s ridiculous. Is Lacey okay?”
“I think so. Did you see Mandy in the days leading up to the car crash?”
“Yes, we were in regular contact. We used to go for coffee at least once a week. Sometimes we’d go swimming together.”
“How did she seem? Could she have been depressed? There’s been some suggestion that the crash might have been suicide.”
“I don’t believe that for one moment. Mandy hadn’t always been happy, but right then, just before her death, she was the happiest she’d ever been. She’d started seeing someone.”
“A man, you mean?”
“Yeah, she was really excited about it.”
“Her brother didn’t mention a boyfriend. What was his name? Do you know where I can contact him?”
“That’s the thing. Mandy wouldn’t say who it was. She was very secretive about it. I never did understand why.”
***
Mandy Day’s other friend, who Danny had mentioned, was a woman called Beverly Timpson. She lived outside of Washbridge—ten miles to the west.
“You must be Jill; come on in. Call me Bev; everyone does. It’s quite a while since I heard Mandy’s name. Your call took me by surprise.”
“I hope I didn’t upset you.”
“A little maybe, but it’s all a long time ago now.”
“I’ve just been to see Judy Brown.”
“The three of us were quite close at one time, but after Mandy died, I lost touch with Judy. How is she keeping?”
“She seems fine. Look, I’ll get straight to the point. I’d like to ask you the same question that I asked Judy. I know this is going to sound really strange, but have you heard from Mandy recently?”
She looked at me nonplussed. “I don’t understand.”
“Since the funeral.”
“Is this some sort of sick joke?”
“No, nothing like that. Look, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, but the reason I’m here, is that Mandy’s twin sister, Lacey, contacted me. She received a phone call the other day warning her to be careful. According to her, the person who called was Mandy.”
“But that’s impossible. Mandy’s dead. She died in a horrible car crash.”
“All the evidence suggests that’s true, and yet Lacey is convinced that it was her sister she spoke to.”
“She must have been mistaken.”
“Quite possibly, but I need to cover all the bases. So, I take it that you’ve never seen or heard from Mandy since the funeral?”
“No. Definitely not.”
“What was Mandy like? Were she and her sister alike?”
“I’d known Mandy and Lacey since we were kids. They were very different; it was hard to believe they were twins. Lacey was outgoing, and had a large circle of friends. Mandy was much quieter; kind of shy and insecure. She had very few friends. It was just me, Judy, and maybe a couple of others. Mandy wasn’t obsessed with her looks like Lacey. I mean, Lacey used to spend a small fortune just on having her nails done.”
“Were you aware of any problems that Mandy was having just prior to her death?”
“No. I know there was some suggestion the crash may have been suicide, but I don’t believe that. She may not have been as happy-go-lucky as Lacey, but she would never have taken her own life. In fact, just before her death, she seemed happier than I’d seen her for a long time.”
“Judy said a similar thing. She thought Mandy was seeing a man, but she didn’t know who.”
“I’d noticed a change in Mandy too. She’d hinted that she was with someone, but she wouldn’t say who he was, or tell me anything about him. I wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. She could be a bit of a dreamer sometimes.”
***
I popped into Ever A Wool Moment because I wanted to speak to Grandma about the approach I’d had from the Combined Sup Council. When I opened the door to the back office, she jumped.
“Were you asleep, Grandma?”
“Of course not.”
She obviously had been.
“Do you have a moment?”
“Not really, but I suppose now you’re here, you’d better grab a seat. What can I do for you, young lady?”
“The other day when I was at Aunt Lucy’s, I had a visit from Tabitha Hathaway.”
“The acting chair of the Combined Sup Council?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“What did she want with you?”
“She’s invited me to join the board.”
“Has she now? How very interesting. Witches have always been underrepresented on the Combined Sup Council. Are you going to accept the offer?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I came to see you—to ask your advice.”
“Always a wise move.”
“What do they do exactly?” I asked.
“That’s a very good question. They don’t have any real power. They don’t actually make laws, but they do have a lot of influence. It’s the only body that combines all the different sup types. It would be a foolish person who ignored their wishes. To be honest though, they haven’t really come up with very much of interest in recent years. They need some new blood on there. I think you should do it, Jill.”
“You do? But, I don’t feel I’m qualified.”
“You can’t keep hiding behind that excuse. You’ve already turned down promotion to level seven. Don’t make matters worse by turning this offer down as well.”
“Okay. I’ll definitely give it serious consideration. Oh, and there’s something else I wanted to mention to you, Grandma, while I’ve got you here.”
“Yes, what is it now? I am rather busy.”
“I haven’t seen Ma Chivers for over a year.”
“Surely
you’re not complaining about that? Good gracious woman, I would have thought that was a reason to celebrate.”
“I don’t particularly want to see her, but it’s strange that she’s disappeared. And not just her. There’s Alicia, her partner in crime—I haven’t seen her for over a year either. Or Cyril, Alicia’s sidekick.”
“Good riddance to all of them, that’s what I say.”
“But where do you think they’ve gone?”
“Between you and me, quite a few wicked witches have dropped out of sight. I noticed it a while back, and a couple of other level six witches have mentioned it to me. They’ve probably moved to the human world to lie low for a while.”
“Maybe so. It’s just a little disconcerting. Also, the last time I saw Ma Chivers she said something strange. She said that TDO had never really been her boss; that he was just a pretender to the throne. She said The Phoenix was the one I should be worried about. Do you know who that is?”
“The Phoenix? No. I’ve never heard of him. I think she was just trying to scare you. She can’t have been very happy to see TDO defeated in that way. So rather than lose face, she probably conjured up some cock-and-bull story about this Phoenix character. I should just ignore it. Let’s hope Ma Chivers and her cohorts stay away. Good riddance, that’s what I say.”
Chapter 19
The next morning, Jack had just left for work. I was finishing off the last of my Rice Krispies when there was a knock at the door. He’d probably forgotten something again. But if so, why hadn’t he used his key to get back in? Maybe he’d left his keys in the house. It wouldn’t have been the first time. I opened the door fully expecting to see Jack, but it wasn’t him.
The man at my door was a wizard.
“Can I help you?”
“You’re Jill Gooder, aren’t you? I’ve been waiting until you were alone to come over.”
That sounded a bit suspicious, and a whole lot of creepy.
