“But, you don’t deny it?”
“It’s irrelevant.”
“We found out from your brother that the business transaction you conducted at the courthouse was for a shipment of garden variety hematite. Why didn’t you tell us this? Why would you want to conceal something like that?”
“How is the aesthetics of my garden of any importance to anything at all, Ms. Jenkins?”
“I’m merely wondering why you’d --”
“Hematite is a status symbol. Nothing more. I am, as you’re snooping has no doubt told you, from a family with status. As was my husband. If I wish to represent my families, my flesh and blood, by way of garden ornamentation, then that is my prerogative.”
“Yes, absolutely. And, I meant no harm in asking. So, you and Ulrich … you’re both from the Bloodstag family?”
“What of it?”
“A very powerful family. Perhaps more so than the Kramp’s even? Certainly up there with the Shields’ though, right?”
“Do you have a point, Ms. Jenkins?”
Interesting question. Did I? Did I have a point?
I did, as it happened, but I couldn’t very well wade in with: ‘powerful enough family to know about the possible movement of large quantities of Warlock munitions?’ It would come across as somewhat rude, I think.
I changed course. “Could you tell me why you didn’t visit your husband for his last two days at GIPPD before he stood trial?”
Zinnie glared at me.
“My husband’s behavior became intolerable, and I could no longer stomach his endless complaining.”
“Complaining? What was Mr. Kramp complaining about?”
“Oh, everything. The cell was too small, the wifi was weak, the warden was stealing from him.”
“The warden? Do you mean Eve Fernacre? The woman who cared for Barnabus while he stayed?”
“Yes. As I said: The warden,” Zinnie sniped. “Barny said she was stealing from him.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing here.
“What did she steal? Or what did Barny say she stole?”
“Everything. Money, food, his medication. Even, if you believe it, his underwear.”
“His medication?” I said.
“That’s what Barny said,” Zinnie replied, her lips pressed together. She was running out of patience.
“Did you believe him? That Eve was stealing from him?”
She shot a deathly look at me. “Certainly not!” She said, her cheeks flushed with indignation. “The woman likely didn’t steal a damned thing. Barnabus was an adept when it came to paranoia. He’d accused many people of many things in the past, and not one of his accusations turned out to be true.” Mrs. Kramp rubbed her arms. “Anyway, I can’t stand him when he gets like that. Blaming, afraid, not in his right mind. So, yes, I stayed away.”
My shoulders fell in relief. Eve’s promotion was still possible, at least.
Zinnie interrupted my thoughts. “If that’s all, I think I’d like to call this impromptu interrogation to an end.”
“I’m sorry you feel like you’re being interrogated. Seriously, not my intention,” I said, raising my hands again. “If I could just ask you one more thing, and then we’ll be on our way?” The cats nodded, but I don’t think Zinnie noticed.
Zinnie scraped her nose in the air. The constricted woman’s ‘go-ahead.’
“Do you happen to know what city or town Deevy Greenfield lived in before she took her life?”
Zinnie stared at me, then sighed. “I'm not sure if it was the last city she lived in, but I do know that she and Summer used to live in the shanties of Galedoom.”
Fraidy shuddered against my ankle.
The shanties of Galedoom were a collection of depressingly hostile slums on the outskirts of North Illwind’s capital. My heart ached instantly, as I pictured the mother and daughter trying to eke out a living there, among the crime, thuggery, and eye watering poverty.
“Mrs. Kramp thanks so much for your time,” I said, extending a hand to my host. “You’ve been most helpful.”
Zinnie stared at my outstretched hand. “Good day to you, Ms. Jenkins,” she said and walked past me to attend to affairs of the house.
“G-galedoom? Uhuh, no way I’m g-going there,” Fraidy huffed as we walked out of the estate. “Well, sweetie, nobody’s making you do anything you don’t want,” I said, smiling down at my spooked kitty.
“Thought you’d made an oath, bro. That you’d protect Hattie wherever she goes?” Carbon said.
“Yeah, b-but, not to places with names like ‘doom’ in their title. I specifically remember saying that. You remember, right, Hattie?” He looked up at me, his small black face pleading.
“Buddy, we’re going to drop you off at The Angel, don’t worry. Now, I wonder if your brothers are done snooping the grounds?” I asked, scanning the area as we stepped through the mighty gates to the street.
Shade and Eclipse trotted toward me, hugging the wall all the way. I walked over to them, my broom in hand. “Come on guys, tell me what you found while we ride. We’re going back to The Angel to drop Fraidy off, and then to North Illwind. Who’s in?” I asked mounting my chariot.
“Boss, ‘Clipsy and I were thinking that a trip to Phlange might be in order,” Shade said.
“Phlange? What for?”
Eclipse elbowed his brother out of the way. “Ulrich Darkmore’s on his way here, to see Zinnie. This presents an excellent opportunity to snoop around Shadow Supplies while the boss is out, know what I mean?”
“I don’t imagine it would be terribly difficult to locate the man’s ledgers,” Onyx said stepping forward. “And, I’m confident that if we asked Ulrich to his face, he wouldn’t let us see those accounts,” my sage cat concluded.
“True,” I said, warming to the idea. Ulrich definitely wouldn’t let us look at his business affairs if we just asked, so perhaps this was the time to drop in on Shadow Supplies and see if we could find out how things were run there.
Without Ulrich around, maybe we could find something linking weapons sales and Ulrich’s hematite trade?
“Let’s do it,” I said, coming to a decision. North Illwind was a ‘backstory’ right now, and the history of Deevie and Summer, no matter how heartbreaking, could wait one more day. “As long as Fraidy doesn’t count the word ‘Shadow’ as one of the banned titles he won’t travel to,” Gloom said, shaking her head at Fraidy as she mounted the broom.
“It’s borderline,” Fraidy grumbled, taking his position between Gloom and Onyx.
“We all on?” I said, casting a glance back at my furry crew. My cat detectives.
The Infiniti were all present and ready for action, so we began our flight to Phlange, to break into, and possibly steal from, Ulrich Darkmore’s Shadow Supplies.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We set the broom down behind a row of unhealthy looking shrubs bordering the parking lot of Shadow Supplies massive hangar. Crouched down behind the hedgerow, we watched the building for any sign of life. We had fully expected the garage to be hopping with regular trade, and busy workers, but the place looked empty. There were no cars in the lot, the steel roll-doors were closed shut, and there wasn’t a Shadow Supplies employee in sight. I glanced at my watch. Three p.m. Weird. Not the regular closing time for most businesses on a Thursday afternoon.
I looked down at Shade and Eclipse. “So, you guys gonna tell us what you found while you were patrolling around Zinnie’s gardens?” The kitties had been too busy bickering on the ride over for ‘Clipsy and Shade to share their adventure.
“Something that makes our visit here relevant,” Eclipse said.
“Expand, ‘Clipsy.”
“Well, the walled garden flower beds were filled with hematite, that’s the first thing,” he said.
I nodded. “Okay, so Darkmore’s and Zinnie’s stories about what the stones were for checks out then. What else?” One look at Shade’s face told me there was something else.
> “There was a factory or something. A small warehouse, tucked behind the trees at the back of the Kramp property,” Eclipse said. “The place was locked down like a bank vault, and there were loads of dudes in overalls, writing things on clipboards and using dollies to load unmarked boxes on and stuff like that.”
“Yeah,” Shade confirmed. “There was lots of ‘stuff’ going on.”
“Did anyone see you?” I hissed.
“No, boss, we were careful,” Shade replied. “So we mosey into this factory, or whatever, and--”
“I thought you said you were careful? You moseyed in?”
“Yeah, well we kept a low profile, and we just kinda weaved in between all the ankles and, like, got in,” he said, his face asking the question: ‘what’s the big deal?’
I rolled my eyes. “Go on.”
“So, it’s pretty big, this place. Like, I wanna say, the size of Dilwyn’s barn,” Shade said. “Anyway, ‘Clipsy took the left, and I took the right. The walls were lined with metal shelves full of these unmarked boxes. A small, office, glass walls, and door lay at the end of the shelves in the middle of the room. We couldn’t really open any of the boxes to have a peek, because, well, they was all sealed, you know?”
Eclipse cleared his throat, and Shade dipped his head in respect, and my mind-wiping cat took up the torch to continue the story. “So, as Shade said, he took right, I took left. We were trying to get to the office, to see if we could find anything incriminating, when one of the over-all guys comes into the room. I was prepared to wipe his memory if he spotted us, but luckily we were fast enough to hide.”
“Yeah, so this dude pulls out a black-light doo-hickey thing, and points it at a row of them unmarked containers,” Shade said.
“The ultraviolet light that beamed from this gadget that the overall guy had shown the hidden markings on the sides of the boxes. Numbers, and names.” Eclipse said.
“Wow,” I said. “Did you make it into the office? Did you find anything to correspond with those numbers?”
“No, we didn’t make it into the office, boss,” Shade confessed. “Because we knew you were leaving and we didn’t want you to wait and worry. But, we did get hold of one of those black-light thingy’s that one of the overall’s had left on a box.”
Eclipse butted in. “Once the coast was clear we scanned all the boxes. They all had the same elements: Names and numbers.”
“What names?” I gasped.
“All powerful Warlock family names,” Shade said, his voice grave.
Fraidy groaned beside me.
“Krakplain, Beastell, Whitekill, Snothatch--”
“Shields?”
Shade shook his head. “Didn’t see his name.”
Another groan, bordering a wail, escaped Fraidy’s throat.
“Anything else? What about the numbers?”
“Every box had a different number. It looked sequential, going from low to high along the shelves. But, there were three letters that appeared on all of the boxes we looked at. H.E.M.” Eclipse said.
“Hem. Hematite,”I said, slapping my thigh. “Interesting.”
“I know, right?” Shade chuckled. “Kinda fascinating that Zinnie has a warehouse of the stones all labeled, military style, all sitting on row upon row of shelves. A little curious that she’d have enough hematite to build a small city, even though she claims she wanted it only for her rose gardens.”
I grinned at my kitty and then turned my attention back to the building in front of us. Still no sign of anyone.
“Come on, let’s check this place out,” I said, standing from my squatting position, and turning toward the hangar. “Middie, Onyx, Gloom and Carbon, you take the back of the building, snoop around, see if you can find a discreet way into the hangar.” I turned to Fraidy, Jet, Eclipse, and Shade. “You guys follow me. And act natural,” I said, already sauntering across the lot toward the front doors of the warehouse. My other cats slinked off toward the rear of the building.
We reached the front door, and I pulled on the handle.
“Locked,” I said.
“That’s because it’s closed,” Eclipse opined.
“Yeah, I know it’s closed, buddy, I just tried it,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“No, I mean, it’s closed for the rest of the day, look.” Clipsy pointed his paw to a sign in the middle of the door. The opening and closing hours.
‘Thursday: close at 2 pm.’
“Ah, well, then … I guess we join those guys around the back,” I said, pushing away from the door.
“Yep, we have a visitor, sure, yep, sure,” Jet jabbered.
I followed my zippy cat’s maniac stare and saw a short, redheaded man striding toward us, a stack of file folders under his arm. “May I help you?” His voice seemed incredibly big for his diminutive frame.
“Yes, actually, I was looking for Ulrich Darkmoore,” I said, approaching the man. “My name is Hattie Jenkins. Ulrich had proposed a business relationship a short while ago.” I explained. Not lying was the best tactic here. “I was hoping to ask him some further questions on the matter.”
“We close early on Thursdays,” he said, still bounding toward me. “Ulrich’s long gone.”
“Do you work here?” I tried.
“Not here, no,” he said. “I’m Mr. Darkmore’s accountant. I take my work home.”
Just the man we’re looking for.
But, there wasn’t much else I could do here. It seemed like the numbers guy had the whole of Ulrich’s arsenal of accounts tucked under his arm too. Argh, so close.
I hoped my other kitties knew what was happening here right now, and they wouldn’t make a noise that would alert the nosy accountant.
A loud clatter from somewhere inside the building ripped the tiny guy’s focus from me.
Spoke too soon.
The beanie huffed an exaggerated breath and rolled his eyes. “Bloody feral cats,” he complained. “I have to go, I’ll tell Ulrich you called,” he said.
I nodded my head and turned to leave, but then the redheaded man did something … wondrous. He put down the file folders on the top step and walked off to scare away the ‘feral’ cats.
I gawped at the back of the departing man, and then at the stack of files.
“Could just be herbal recipes or something, boss lady,” Shade offered.
“Could be,” I said, reaching for the papers. Right on top. RIGHT ON TOP a folder entitled: ‘Hem proj. Shadow Supplies.’
I scrabbled inside my bag for my phone, while the cats lined up the pages so I could take pictures of the written evidence. I snapped two of each and threw my phone back in my purse.
“Let’s go,” I said, dashing across the carpark to my broom.
“What about the others?” Fraidy whined. “You just gonna leave ‘em here to be killed by the demon accountant?”
“Sweetie, Onyx’ll get them all home safe and sound, don’t worry.” I picked my timid cat up and placed him on the broom. I had utter faith in my head cat.
The other kitties hopped up onto the stick.
“Hold on,” I said.
I couldn’t wait to get back to The Angel, so I could call David and let him know what we’d found.
I wasn’t sure if any of this pieced together yet, but I felt some of the bonds of the investigation strengthening as we gathered up the clues.
I guess we’d find out soon enough.
What was this hematite for? It clearly wasn’t just for lawn use, given the large quantities that seemed to be changing hands.
Were the Warlocks planning a huge, blowout ritual of some kind where they could burn through this apparently massive stockpile of their favored ceremonial stones?
Or was there something more threatening behind the shipments of the curious rock?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“How is this even possible?” I said, staring wide-eyed at the four kitties I had only just left behind at Shadow Supplies on Phlange Isle.
We were back a
t The Angel, sitting in the kitchen at the rear of the shop, and Onyx, Gloom, Midnight and Carbon were also seated in the kitchen at the rear of the shop. At the same time.
“There are some secrets to the passage of time that only the Lemniscate knows of,” Onyx said, all straight-faced.
“The most logical creature in the world thrusts a knife in logic,” Gloom quipped. “What Onyx means is: We stole a broom from the warehouse, and Jet drove it home.”
I looked at my grouchy kitty’s wind-blown fur. She looked as if she had purposefully given herself a center part.
“Warp speed?” I guessed.
“Uh huh,” she confirmed, settling down to groom herself back to fabulousness.
“So, yep, what did ya get, boss?” Jet said, jumping up on the table. The rest of the cats hopped up to join their brother while I fished the phone out of my bag.
I pulled the iPad from the stand on the kitchen counter. I’d set it up there because I had had some flight of fancy that I would use it for reading recipes from. I imagined home cooked meals being produced at the flick of a backlit screen, but, the device was sadly left to gather dust along with my expensive copper bottomed pots. I plugged my phone into its larger relation, so we could view the images on a bigger scale, and propped the iPad onto its fancy stand in the middle of the table.
The first photo came up. Rows and columns of numbers and names.
“This looks a lot like what was on those boxes, don’t it, ‘Clipsy?” Shade said.
Eclipse pressed his nose to the screen and enlarged his pupils. “Yeah, I’d say this stuff here is pretty much repeating what was written on those boxes,” my mysterious cat confirmed.
We studied the names and their corresponding numbers. Plenty of names we recognized from Shade and Eclipse’s earlier recon: The Krackplain’s, The Beastells, The Whitekills, and several other prominent Warlock family names. Next to the names was a row of numbers: From low to high, separated by just a dash.
The rows went something like this: Name: Wartington. Se: 23,433 - 32,567.
“Shame Shields’ name isn’t on here,” Eclipse said.
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