by Adele Abbott
“We’re fairly certain we’ve identified the new Mr Big who’s now in charge of the operation, but there isn’t any evidence for the rogue retrievers to act against him. That’s where you come in.”
“Okay?”
“I have his details, and I was hoping that you could check your records to see if by any chance you provide your services to him.”
“Sure. No problem.”
I gave him the vampire’s name and address, and waited while he checked his computer.
“Storey, Rory. Yes, we do.”
“That’s fantastic. Would you be willing to help put him away?”
“I wouldn’t normally entertain the idea of acting against one of our clients, but from what you’ve just told me, this man’s actions could well be responsible for killing off even more of our customers. I’m in.”
“Great. What about the bigxies assigned to him? Will they co-operate?”
“They will after I’ve explained the situation. How do you want to play this, Jill?”
I told Bob what I had in mind, and he said he’d put the wheels in motion.
***
I was about to magic myself back to Washbridge when I got a call from Aunt Lucy.
“Pearl said you were over here. Can I ask a favour?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Is there any chance you could take Barry for a walk? Dot was supposed to be coming to collect him, but she called a few minutes ago to say her verruca is playing up, so she can’t make it today. I’d take him myself, but I’ve just got Lily settled.”
“No problem. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
How could I say no? After all, Barry was supposed to be my dog, and I didn’t walk him half as often as I should have done.
“Can we go for a walk, Jill?” Barry had me pinned to the door.
“Yes, but only if you get down.”
“Sorry, but I love going for walks.”
“I kind of gathered that.”
“Rhymes says he doesn’t like walks. I think that’s daft.”
“He is a lot slower than you.”
“That’s what I thought, but he always says that I’m a bit on the slow side.”
“Hmm, come on. Let’s go to the park.”
“I love the park!”
***
It was a warm day, and by the time we got there, I was ready for a sit down, but the benches were all occupied. As soon as I let Barry off his lead he ran off, and was soon out of sight. I didn’t worry about that as much as I used to because I knew he would eventually come charging back to me.
As I got a little further into the park, I noticed that dozens of deckchairs had been set up on some of the large expanses of grass. What a brilliant idea, and just what I needed while Barry ran off his excess energy. As all the benches were full, I was rather surprised that no one seemed to have taken advantage of the deckchairs.
A relaxing hour spent sunbathing in a deckchair was just what the doctor ordered.
Hold on a minute! What the—?
I’d only just spotted the sign, propped against a tree, which read:
Deckchair hire - £10 per day.
Were they having a laugh?
“It’s a joke, isn’t it?” The old man standing close to me shook his head. “Who’s going to pay ten pounds to sit in a deckchair?”
“Not me, that’s for sure. Anyway, how are they going to know if you’ve paid or not?” I grinned. “I’ve a good mind to sit in one.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. They’ve employed a warden to collect the charges, and she’s a real ogre. I just saw her down the other end of the park.”
“Right. Thanks for the tip-off.”
There was no way I was going to pay for a deckchair, but I really did need to rest my feet for a while. I checked the benches again; they were all still occupied, but on one of them was a woman seated all by herself. That should have left room for at least another two people if she hadn’t decided to put her shopping bags on there too.
“Excuse me. Is anyone sitting here?”
“I am.”
“I can see that. I meant is anyone else sitting here?”
The smartass then proceeded to look left and right before saying, “I don’t see anyone.”
“In that case, perhaps you wouldn’t mind moving your bags, so I can sit down?”
She grumbled under her breath, but she did at least put one of the bags on the floor, so I could squeeze on beside her.
In an attempt to forge a truce, I tried to make small talk.
“Beautiful day isn’t it?”
Grunt.
“I’m here with my dog, Barry.”
“I hate dogs.”
“Do you come to the park often?”
“No because whenever I do, some stranger thinks I want to talk to them.”
Now, in my defence, I was hot, tired and worried about Myrtle’s case. That is still no excuse for doing what I did, but it has to be said, she made a much better toad than she had a human.
Obviously, I reversed the spell after a couple of minutes, and cast the ‘forget’ spell so she wouldn’t remember her ordeal.
What? Come on—I was totally provoked.
I was starting to get a little worried about Barry when he came charging up to me, and planted his paws in my lap.
“Did you enjoy that, boy?”
“I did. I love the park, but I’m hungry now.”
“In that case, we’d better get you back home.” I clipped on his lead, bid farewell to my new friend (who didn’t even manage a croak in response), and then headed for the gates.
“Excuse me.” A large woman stepped out in front of us; she was wearing a blue uniform: Her blazer was several sizes too large; her trousers were at least three inches too short. “You haven’t paid yet.”
“Paid for what?”
“The deckchair hire.”
“I didn’t sit in a deckchair. I’ve been sitting on that bench over there.”
“I didn’t mean you.”
“Sorry? If you didn’t mean me, then why have you stopped me?”
“Because your dog has been sitting in a deckchair for the last fifteen minutes.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Barry wouldn’t even be able to get into a deckchair.”
“Really?” She held out her phone for me to see, and sure enough, there was a photo of Barry, relaxing in a deckchair. “That’ll be ten pounds, please.”
“You can’t charge me for a dog.”
“I think you’ll find I can. It’s right there in the small print. The charge is the same regardless of who occupies the chair. Ten pounds, please.”
I seriously considered turning her into a toad too, but there were too many witnesses around. Instead, I was forced to hand over the cash.
“I like the park,” Barry said, as we made our way home. “Those new chairs are really nice.”
***
After dropping Barry back at Aunt Lucy’s house, I magicked myself back to the office.
I toyed with the idea of sorting out my invoices, but couldn’t be bothered, so instead, I tidied my desk drawers. I never failed to be amazed at some of the stuff I found in there. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember buying that fitness DVD.
Winky, who until now had been lazing on the sofa, suddenly jumped to his feet. The fur on his back was standing on end, and there was an unmistakeable look of terror on his face. When I glanced over at the window, I understood why.
“Bruiser, I can explain.” Winky hadn’t donned his disguise that day—not that it would have done much good. “It wasn’t my fault. Please don’t hurt me.”
“Don’t worry about it, mate.” Bruiser jumped down from the window sill. “No hard feelings.”
“Are you sure? I thought you’d be mad about the—err—”
“Tattoo? It’s still a bit inflamed, but I’ve had worse.”
“That’s very understanding of you, Bruiser.”
“We
felines have to be understanding of one another, don’t we, Winky?”
“Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more.”
“I’m pleased you feel that way.” He turned around and called out, “Crystal, come on in.”
Moments later, she appeared in the window, and then jumped down to join Bruiser.
“Crystal?” Winky stared at her. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s with me now,” Bruiser said. “I know you must be disappointed, but like you said, we all have to be understanding of one another, don’t we?”
“I—err—but why, Crystal?”
“Sorry, Winky.” She didn’t sound it. “What can I say? Bruiser is a great guy, and the flat where he lives puts this place to shame. It has the most gorgeous sofa.”
“But Crystal,” Winky pleaded.
“Time to man up and accept you’ve lost out, Winky.” Bruiser put his paw around Crystal.
After they’d left, Winky looked so desolate that I felt I had to try and cheer him up.
“She was never right for you, Winky. There are plenty more fish—”
“This is all your fault! If you’d spent some money on this place instead of buying fitness DVDs, she never would have left me.”
Chapter 22
When I got up the next morning, I expected to find Alicia in the kitchen, but she was nowhere to be seen. On the assumption she must still be asleep, I went through to the lounge.
Oh no!
She was lying on the floor with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. The empty jam jar, which had contained the potion, was on the coffee table. This was terrible. Grandma must have got the potion wrong, and now Alicia was dead.
I crouched down next to her. What had I done? This was all my fault.
“Boo!” She sat up, sending me tumbling backwards.
“Are you insane? I could have had a heart attack.”
“Sorry, Jill.” She put her hand on my arm. “Being stuck in this house for so long has sent me stir-crazy. I had to do something to entertain myself.”
“I see that you managed to drink all of the potion last night, then?” I hadn’t been able to bring myself to watch her drink the foul concoction.
“Only just, but it did make me retch a few times.”
“I guess you’ll be leaving us now?”
“Yeah, and I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Do you know where you’ll go?”
“I’m not sure, but I need to get far away from Washbridge.”
“What about your house next door to my Aunt Lucy? And what about Glen?”
“Glen and I split up a while ago. It was probably my fault. With all this business with Ma Chivers, I haven’t been myself. We’d only rented the house, anyway, so that won’t be a problem. I have to get away from here; I need a new start somewhere else.”
***
Bob Bobb had been as good as his word. He’d arranged for me to meet with Simon Simons, one of the bigxies who provided Rory Storey with a mirror image service.
We met in Coffee and Socks, a small coffee shop close to the town hall. It was my first visit to that particular establishment, and I have to confess that the name of the shop had me puzzled.
“A caramel latte, please.”
“Anything to eat with that?”
I was tempted by the muffins, but I hadn’t long since had breakfast. “No, thanks. Do I get socks with this?”
“I’m afraid not. Just coffee.”
“I take it you get asked that a lot?”
“You wouldn’t believe how often. The owner changed the name of the shop recently, but I have no idea why he chose it. I really wish he’d come up with a better name, or at least explained why he’d chosen to call it socks.”
“Didn’t you ask him?”
“Yeah. He said it was none of my business. Between you and me, he’s a bit of an idiot.”
Just then, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
“Jill?”
“Simon?”
“Yes. Pleased to meet you.”
Unlike their close relatives, the pixies, the bigxies were tall enough that they could pass amongst humans unnoticed.
“Would you like a drink, Simon?”
“Hot chocolate, please.”
“Okay. Why don’t you find a table, and I’ll bring the drinks over?”
“I’m a little nervous about all this.” Simon took a sip of his drink, leaving a chocolate moustache on his upper lip.
“There’s really nothing to worry about. I’ll be right there with you.”
“But won’t he see you?”
“No. I’ll make myself invisible just before we go into the apartment together. Did Bob Bobb tell you the plan?”
“Yeah. I’m just worried I might mess up.”
“You’ll be fine. Does Rory shave every morning?”
“Yeah, regular as clockwork.”
“What about the blood? The plan will only work if he’s recently had a drink.”
“That won’t be a problem. He always drinks a bottleful of that horrible stuff just before he shaves. I know that because he sometimes brings the bottle into the bathroom with him, and he occasionally has drops of blood on his lips. It’s disgusting.”
“That’s great. Do you have any questions?”
“Just one. I’m not sure what the boils are supposed to look like.”
“I have a photo of one of the victims, but I should warn you that it isn’t pretty.” I took out my phone, and showed him the photo that Daze had send to me.
“Oh dear. That’s much worse than I imagined.”
“You see now why we have to put this guy out of business.”
He nodded. “I won’t let you down.”
Ten minutes later, we were at Rory Storey’s apartment. After I’d made myself invisible, Simon rang the doorbell.
“You’re late!” Rory Storey snapped at Simon.
“Sorry, it’s only a couple of minutes. The traffic was—”
“I’m not interested in your excuses. I have places to go and people to meet. If this happens again, I shall ask the agency for a replacement.”
After Rory Storey had disappeared into his bedroom, Simon and I headed for the bathroom, which was large and very luxurious—no doubt financed by his evil trade in contaminated blood.
When Rory came through to the bathroom, he had a few drops of blood on his lower lip—just as Simon had predicted he would. Remarkably, in the blink of an eye, Simon’s mirror image of Rory had those same drops of blood on his lip. I was still astonished at how easily the bigxies could transform into their client’s mirror image.
Rory was oblivious to the fact that I was standing in the corner of the bathroom. As I’d instructed, Simon waited until Rory began to shave, then, gradually, the green boils began to appear on Simon’s mirror image of Rory. At first there were just two on his forehead. Then several more appeared on his cheeks.
“What’s happening?” Rory took several steps back. “No! No!”
That was my cue to reverse the ‘invisible’ spell. “Oh dear. You don’t look at all well.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your only hope.”
“I don’t understand.” He stared in horror at the mirror where his reflection was now covered in green boils.
“It looks as though someone must have swapped your bottles of blood. I wonder who could have done that.”
“You!” He lashed out at me, but I easily avoided his punch. “You did this to me!”
“And I’m the only one who can save you.”
“What do you mean? There is no cure for this.”
“Actually, there is. Our chemists have analysed the blood of those vampires who died after drinking your contaminated product, and they’ve managed to develop an antidote.”
“Give it to me! Quick!”
“I’m not sure I should.”
“Please, I�
��ll do anything.”
“Anything? Are you sure?”
“Yes, just give me the antidote before it’s too late.”
“Okay. Wait there. I’ll go and get it.”
I hurried back downstairs, and opened the door to the apartment building. As arranged, Daze was waiting outside.
“How did it go?” she said.
“Like a dream. Did you bring the ‘antidote’?”
“You mean this?” She grinned and held out a small bottle containing what I knew to be water.
“Okay. Let’s go and see what this guy has to say for himself.”
“Who’s this?” Rory glared at Daze.
“This is my friend, Daze. And, in case you haven’t already worked it out, she’s a rogue retriever. You’re going to tell her all about the blood distribution network, and then she’ll give you the antidote.”
“No, give me that first!” He made a grab for it, but Daze moved out of his reach.
“No antidote for you until we have a full confession.”
“Okay, okay.” Rory Storey confessed to everything, and gave Daze the names of all of his associates. And he did so in lightning fast time. “Now give me the antidote before it’s too late.”
Daze handed him the bottle and he gulped it down.
“That tasted like water. Are you sure it will work?”
“See for yourself.” I pointed to the mirror where Simon’s mirror image of Rory was now boil-free.
“Thank goodness.” Rory sank to his knees with relief. “I thought I was a goner.”
“Thanks for your help, Jill.” Daze turned to Simon. “Thank you too.” She took out her net, and threw it over Rory, who disappeared in a puff of smoke. “I’d better go and process that lowlife.”
“Bye, Daze.”
Simon had by now reverted to his own image.
“You did brilliantly, Simon.”
“Thanks, Jill. My heart was racing so fast that I thought I was going to pass out.”
“I’m sorry if this has put you and your colleagues out of a job.”
“Don’t give it a second thought. It was worth it to put that monster behind bars, and besides, Bob Bobb has already said he has another job lined up for us.”
