After twenty minutes, the show was over. We all filed out… except for Angelica and my mother, who stayed to chat with Francesco. The rest of us perused the shop, and I pulled out my camera to take photos of the cute glass art. I wouldn’t mind getting a couple more things for myself before we left Venice, and I also wanted to grab a present for Millicent and my gorgeous niece. There were plenty of shops that sold this stuff near where we were staying, so I could always go there later. The photos would also help me compare prices because who wanted to pay top dollar?
The most gorgeous, life-size chubby sparrow sat on a shelf. I bent forward and peered closer. It was so detailed. Surely they’d done this one with magic. How else could they render each feather so precisely? It was three hundred and forty-nine euros—worth every euro cent, but too expensive for me. I’d have to console myself with a photo. I lifted my phone and snapped a shot, then froze. I blinked. That couldn’t be right. I lifted my phone again. Through the viewfinder was the glass sculpture, but when I clicked and captured the shot, there was a real sparrow. Liv was standing nearby, checking out a cat-sized dolphin. “Hey, tell me what you see.” I handed her the phone.
“Looks like a sparrow to me.”
“A real one, or a glass one?”
She wrinkled her forehead. “A real one.” She zoomed into the shot. “Yes, definitely real.”
“That’s what I thought. It’s a picture of that.” I took my phone back and nodded at the clear, blue, and brown glass sparrow on the shelf. It was kind of like that man today. Not that I’d taken a photo of him, but it was a real bird turned to glass, which was why it probably looked so real. That poor bird. I frowned.
Liv sucked in a breath and gently picked it up. She turned it around, studying it. “You’d never know. Do you think they killed it first or spelled it alive?”
Poor birdie. “I have no idea. Hopefully they stopped its heart before they performed the spell. How horrific if it suffocated to death.”
“What are you two going on about?” Beren stood next to Liv. She explained and handed the bird to him. He checked it out, then looked at me. “Show me the photo.” I held the phone up for him to see. He pressed his lips together and looked back and forth between the real bird and the photo. “Right.” He turned and took the bird to the counter.
The blood drained from my face, and dizziness hit me. “He’s not going to say something, is he? He can’t out my secret.”
I ran after him. As he reached the register, I grabbed his arm. “B, you can’t say anything.”
He looked at me, his expression calm. “Don’t worry. I’m not that stupid, Lily. I’m going to buy it. We can study it back at the hotel.”
Cool relief doused my panic. “Oh, okay. Just making sure.”
He gave me a lopsided smile. “Your secret is always going to be safe with me.” Of course it was. I was stupid for thinking otherwise.
“Thanks. Um… you’re going to spend that much money?”
“Yep. Don’t worry. I can afford it, and if it ties into the case, the PIB will reimburse me.” I should’ve known he had it all figured out.
Magic I didn’t recognise feathered my scalp. Beren and I looked at each other before gazing around the shop. No one was glowing. I turned back to B. “Must be in the workshop. Come to think of it, Mum and Angelica are still in there.” I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t think they’re investigating, do you?”
“I wondered why Angelica picked this particular factory.”
A young lady approached the register. “Can I help you?”
Beren handed her the sparrow. “I’d like to buy this, please.” While she rang up the sale, I watched the door to the glass-blowing area. After a few seconds, Mum and Angelica walked through. What had they been up to? Angelica’s poker face gave nothing away, and my mother’s face was relaxed, as if she were on holiday. Looked like she was poker-facing in a different way. They were all such professionals. Me, on the other hand….
Angelica smiled at me. “What’s wrong, dear?” Exhibit A for crap poker face.
“Ah, nothing. Just wondering what happened to you two.”
Angelica’s serene face bugged me. I would bet she was hiding something. Oh, hang on… I did bet, but because of her poker face and secrecy, I was going to lose. I only had myself to blame. No one forced me to bet. Let’s hope I learned my lesson. “I’ve always been fascinated about the art, and Francesco was only too happy to tell us more about it.”
“You haven’t taken over the case, have you?” I checked the time on my phone. I had about thirty minutes left before I lost. Could I get her to admit she was leading the investigation?
“Of course not. I’m enjoying my holiday. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to peruse the wares.” Angelica wandered off, but my mother stayed.
“That was fascinating, wasn’t it?”
I smiled. “It sure was. Totally worth the wait. Are you going to buy anything?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe not here. I might look around when we get back to the main island.” She turned her head to the left and right, surveying the room.
“What’s wrong?”
She gave me a fake smile. I’d had so many years without her, but I still remembered what that looked like. “Nothing, sweetie. I’m fine. Let’s look around.” She linked her arm through mine and pulled me towards the displays.
She wasn’t fooling me that easily. “We’re safe here. Dana and her dad are both dead.”
Mum didn’t look at me, but she nodded. “Oh, look. Isn’t this a gorgeous fish?”
Changing the subject. I guessed she didn’t want to talk about it, and that was okay. She’d pushed through her fears and probably PTSD and come on holiday with us. The least I could do was accept that she was going to be jumpy and overly cautious. Even I couldn’t avoid looking around and behind me constantly when I was in Westerham. “Yes, it’s lovely.”
We’d heal eventually—it was just going to take time. And, thankfully, we finally had plenty of that.
Chapter 4
I breathed in through my nose and shut my eyes. Oh my God, it was so good. The garlic aroma sent my tastebuds into overdrive, and they drenched my mouth. We’d ordered our food at a pizza place near our hotel, and waiting was torture. We sat around the table in the noisy restaurant. It was hard to talk to anyone who wasn’t right next to you, which meant I could only chat to Will and Imani. My mum sat across from me, in between Angelica and Liv. Beren sat next to Liv, and Sarah and Lavender sat on each table end, Sarah closest to her brother and Lav on the end near Imani. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, laughing and talking, even my mum. Suck it, Piranha. I got my mother back, and you’re dead, so there. I was going to have to stop thinking about the evil witch eventually, but I figured I was allowed to have a few months of gloating quietly.
Imani leaned close to me. “How does it feel to lose?”
My twelve hours had come and gone, and if we couldn’t prove Angelica was heading up the investigation in the next few hours, Will would lose too. “Whatever. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d actually won. If Angelica doesn’t give herself up, how will we ever know?”
“Are you saying we were stupid for betting on it?”
“Possibly. So, has she been telling you anything about the case? Did you get the results on those magic signatures?” I wasn’t that worried about solving the crime because I didn’t think it was a serial-killer sort of thing. The guy had probably been targeted because he’d upset someone.
“Two of them aren’t in the system, but one was. A man with links to the mafia. He’s done time, but he’s been out of trouble for the past seven years.”
“He wouldn’t happen to work at the glass-blowing factory we visited today.”
Imani pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. I wasn’t given that information.”
“I bet he does, otherwise, why did we visit that particular one? Plus, Angelica and my mother stayed back in the demonstration room for quite a whil
e after we came out.”
Angelica’s magic feathered my scalp, and she stared at me. “What did I do?” She used a small amount of magic to project her voice to Imani and me. Of course she’d heard me even though I’d been speaking as quietly as possible close to Imani’s ear.
“Just wondering why we went to that particular glass-blowing factory. Does one of the suspects work there?” There was no point pretending I didn’t say anything. She always knew what was going on.
“Yes, he does. But he had an alibi that checks out. Now, no more work talk. We’re on holidays.” She looked to her left as a waiter arrived with garlic bread. He placed one of the breadbaskets in the middle and then set one near each end of the table. “Looks like it’s time to eat.” She smiled. Whether she was happy about not having to tell me anything else or about the food being here, who could say?
I couldn’t believe they would just take the alibi as gold. Most people had someone who would be happy to lie for them, and unless Angelica had cast a truth spell—which was illegal except in certain circumstances which didn’t apply here—she couldn’t know for sure. If James was here, he’d be able to tell. Had Angelica checked whether the guy had motive?
Will nudged my arm with his. “Here, have some garlic bread, and stop thinking about the case.”
I took two pieces from the basket and passed it to Imani. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”
He grinned. “Are you sure you don’t want to become an agent?”
“I’m sure.” He had a good point though. If I didn’t want to be an agent, why did I care? I wanted to be a photographer, so I should be out there taking photos. Fine. Tomorrow morning, I was going to get up early, at sunrise, and go take some early morning pictures when the light was magical.
The rest of our dinner arrived. I shut my eyes and savoured the delicious scent of my anchovy pizza. I opened my eyes to Will and Imani pulling disgusted faces at me. “What?”
Imani shook her head. “I don’t know how you can eat that stinking fish.”
Will shuddered. “No kissing me until you’ve brushed your teeth.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tease me all you want. At least I never have to share.” I grinned. “Yum!” I took a bite and groaned. Talk about heaven. “Mmmmmmm.” Will and Imani shared a “vomit” look. I didn’t really want to give away even one anchovy, but I couldn’t resist. Imani had twisted her spaghetti bolognaise onto her fork and lifted it to her mouth. Just as she was about to put it in, I drew a smidge of magic and transferred one of the anchovies from my pizza onto her fork. In her mouth it went. She started chewing, then stopped. Her eyes widened. She grabbed her napkin, lifted it to her mouth, and spat her food into it. I laughed.
Angelica’s voice carried across the table… without magic. “What inappropriate public behaviour, Imani. Are you trying to embarrass me?”
I snorted. Imani pinched her lips together and turned to me. “You!”
I grinned and shrugged. I wasn’t going to admit to anything. Besides, Will was only watching and didn’t know what had happened. I was going to get him too. “Me? I didn’t do anything.”
Angelica shook her head and went back to her food and whatever my mother was saying.
Imani leaned towards me. “I felt your magic.”
“I was removing some food I’d dropped on my shirt. You know how clumsy I am.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, then peered at the masticated food in her napkin.
I wrinkled my brow. My acting game needed to be on point. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for that damn anchovy.”
I activated my best surprised face. “Did they accidentally put one in your food?”
She puckered her lips. “It wasn’t a they; it was a you.” The urge to giggle was strong, so I shoved my pizza into my mouth and took a bite. When I was done with that mouthful, I subtly looked at Will. He was eating a pepperoni pizza. The flavour was pretty strong, so he’d be less likely to notice any anchovies. I’d have to wait until he had more of his garlic bread. Luckily, I didn’t have long to wait. As it was about to go in his mouth, I plonked two of my anchovy pieces onto it. In it went.
His face twisted in horror, and he slammed his napkin over his mouth and coughed. Angelica stared at him and raised a brow as if to say, not you too. “I can’t take you lot anywhere.” She pinned her school-teacher gaze on me. “Lily, stop behaving like an adolescent.”
I burst out laughing. Revenge was sweet. “They started it.”
My mother shook her head and laughed. “That’s the Lily I remember. Always so cheeky.”
I smiled at her. “I try.”
Angelica turned to my mother. “How am I supposed to keep her in line if you don’t back me up?”
“Good luck with that. I tried for fourteen years, and she’s still the same three-year-old who put a dead lizard in her brother’s sandwich after he broke one of her dolls, and still the same twelve-year-old who hid her father’s car keys after he punished her for something her brother did. He couldn’t find them for two days.” She shook her head. “He was so angry. She didn’t admit to taking them until he apologised for wrongly punishing her, but he still grounded her afterwards for hiding his keys. Those were good times.”
“Getting grounded was not good times, Mum. But having Dad around was.” I gave her a sad smile, which she returned. “Sorry I gave you grief as a kid.”
“You weren’t any worse than any other child. I’m glad you had some fight in you, Lily. From what Angelica says, it’s helped get you through everything.”
I didn’t hear it, but Angelica’s phone must have rung because she pulled it out of her bag and answered it. “Hello, Angelica DuPree speaking.” She listened for a moment, then said something in Italian. Hmm, interesting.
I turned to Will. “Do you think that’s the Italian PIB guy?”
“I have no idea. And for the record, when you least expect it, expect it.”
“You were mean to me first.”
“We were just teasing.”
“So was I.”
“But it was anchovy.” He shuddered again.
“Poor baby. Did you have a drink to wash out the taste?”
“Yes.”
“Can you still taste it?”
“No, but that’s not th—”
“Yes it is. You suffered for approximately five seconds. Time to get over it.” I smiled.
Angelica’s magic tickled my scalp. Her voice easily reached me, and I suspected everyone else at our table. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I have to go. I’ll see you all for a nightcap later at the hotel.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“That’s on a need-to-know basis, dear.” She stood. “Enjoy your dinner.” Angelica slung her handbag over her shoulder and left.
Imani spoke over my head to Will. “I wonder if we should be paying you out the bet.”
“There’s only one way to find out. We should follow her, but I don’t want to. We’ve come here for a holiday, and she knows that. I don’t want to leave in the middle of a meal to maybe win two hundred pounds.” He grabbed my hand. “As much as I hated that mouthful of anchovy, I came here to enjoy my fiancée’s company. We’ve been through a ridiculous amount of pain to finally be able to enjoy ourselves. I’m not missing a minute.”
“Well said.” Sarah smiled from her spot at the end of the table. “We’ll just ask her about it later. She did say she’d be back for a nightcap. Besides, Lav and I have to go to work tomorrow morning. Apparently the forecast has changed, and it’s supposed to be good weather.”
I frowned. “Bummer.”
Lavender nodded. “And I was looking forward to shopping. We’re hoping to be back late tomorrow afternoon. Anyone care to come with?”
I looked at Will. He shook his head. “No thanks. I hate shopping.”
I turned to Imani. “I hate shopping, too, love. I’m sure I have some reading I want to catch up on. I don’t get much time to do that when I’m on ca
ll.”
I shrugged. “I’ll come. It’ll be fun to hang out with you two for a couple of hours.”
With that decided, we chatted about random stuff and finished our meal. When we returned to the hotel, Beren and Liv went upstairs, and the rest of us retired to the quaint bar area. It was a dimly lit room, which contained a grand piano, small bar, and clusters of couches with coffee tables. An ostentatious chandelier hung in the middle of the room. Based on what the small Venetian-glass things cost, that must have been worth in the five figures.
There was only one other couple in the bar area and a young man sitting by himself. It wasn’t easy in the low light, but I recognised that he was the porter who magicked our bags to our rooms when we arrived. He sat slumped on a couch, a drink in one hand and a scowl on his face. Every now and then, his glare flicked to the bartender. Interesting. Looked like someone had a bad day. Had these colleagues had an argument? I shook my head. Stop worrying about other people and relax.
We found Angelica sitting on a couch against the far wall, a glass of what looked like white wine in her hand. As Will, Imani, and I sat on one lounge, Sarah and Lavender sat on another, and my mum plonked next to Angelica. “What does everyone want to drink?” asked Will. We gave him our orders, and he went to the bar.
I leaned forward and looked at Angelica. “What’s the latest on the crime?” At least it wasn’t too loud in here, some jazz music playing softly in the background. So much easier to be heard than the restaurant.
Angelica made a bubble of silence. “Do you really want to know? I thought you were on holiday?”
I couldn’t help asking because I hated not knowing stuff, not to mention, we had a bet riding on it. “I am, but I’m curious. Besides, you took us to that glass-blowing factory for a reason, and I’m sure it was only because it was related to the crime. I’m pretty sure you’re on holiday too.”
“She has you there.” Mum chuckled. It was nice to have someone backing me up against Angelica. My mum was definitely brave.
“Hmm, yes, well.” Angelica glanced towards the bar. “Let’s wait for Will to come back before we start.” Thankfully, he wasn’t long, returning with a large tray of drinks. Once they were distributed, he sat, and Angelica resumed. “We traced one of the magic signatures to a criminal, the glass-blowing artisan from today, Lorenzo. He’s been clean for a few years, as in the police haven’t caught him doing anything. Anyway, he had an alibi that checked out, but the call I got earlier was Matteo from the Italian PIB. They’ve found a motive. The Dal Lago family—the owners of this lovely hotel—owe Lorenzo’s company over two hundred thousand euros. He’s been trying to get his money for the past six months, but they won’t pay.”
Westerham Witches and a Venetian Vendetta Page 4
