“Please, can’t you give me a hint.” Emily let the exhaustion and excitement of the day before wash over her until a tear slipped out from beneath her lashes. “I’m not going to do anything bad with the information. I just really need to find that book.”
Sean took another step back, fidgeting and throwing a longing glance towards the back door of the auction building. “I’m sorry,” he said after a minute of silence. “I really can’t tell you that the same man who originally won the bid on that item”—he jerked his chin toward the puzzle box—“also won the leather book you’re after.”
He strode away, not looking back. Emily was so surprised, he’d gone before she could thank him.
“What’s happening?” Wanda asked. “Do you know what he meant?”
As Sean let himself into the back door, Emily turned to the ghost. “Yes. I know. Now, it’s just a matter of finding him.”
Chapter Nine
Cynthia leaned forward from the back seat, perching her chin somewhere above Emily’s shoulder. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” she said in a sing-song tone. “You’re going to drive around town until you see the person you’re looking for?”
“He’s very distinctive.” Emily jerked her arm as though Cynthia was a physical thing she could shake off. “I’m sure he’ll stand out.”
“Is he so distinctive he can be seen even when he’s inside another car or a house?” She sighed. “You might want to think this through, Scarface.”
Wanda threw a dirty look in Cynthia’s direction. “Leave her alone. Unless you have a better idea, you’re adding nothing to the conversation.”
“My better idea would involve finding someone to give you a name, then getting his address from the white pages. Like a normal person.”
Emily turned a corner, slowing as she saw a sign indicating children were around the place. The back alleyway on her right-hand side must lead through to the primary school. Even though they wouldn’t be around on a weekend, she still slowed the car down to a crawl.
“It’s the first part of your plan I have a problem with,” Emily said once her driving no longer needed her full attention. “Where are we meant to find this person who knows the name of the man we’re looking for? Once you’ve got that sorted, try me again.”
Wanda laughed in glee and pulled a face. Cynthia turned her attention to the passenger window.
“Hey,” she said after a minute. “Isn’t that one of Gregory’s teammates?”
Emily glanced around, spying Terrence walking with slumped shoulders on the side of the road. She pulled up next to him, lowering the window as the car slowed and leaning over to call out through the passenger side, “Do you need a lift?”
The suspicious expression that resulted indicated Terrence had seen more than his fair share of ‘stranger danger’ lectures. He shifted from one foot to another while staring in the open window.
“It’s Emily Curtis. I came to watch you skate yesterday, remember?”
Terrence nodded, a smile gradually dawning on his face. “Sure. Do you live nearby?”
Emily gave him her address but shrugged. “I’m not headed that way at the moment, so I can take you anywhere.”
Terrence let himself be cajoled into the passenger seat, then buckled up securely. “I live down on Mapleton Terrace,” he said. “The pink stone house with the dark green roof.”
Emily remembered the street and found her way there soon enough. “By the way,” she asked, trying to sound casual over the pounding of her heart, “do you know anyone around here with tattoos up their arm?” She turned into Terrence’s driveway, the neatly kept garden making her smile. “He has burn scars, as well.”
“You mean Jake the Snake?” Terrence’s face clouded over. “If I were you, I’d stay well away from that man. Every time I walk past his front lawn, he runs out and hurls abuse at me.”
Emily coloured in reflected shame. “How dreadful! Believe me, I wouldn’t be stopping by his place unless I needed to. Once our business is finished, I won’t be hanging around a second longer.”
When Terrence didn’t offer the location, Emily prompted, “You’d be doing me a huge favour if you could tell me where he lived. My only plan was driving around until I spotted him.”
She laughed, and Cynthia mocked her from the back seat. “I told you it was a dumb plan.”
“He’s on Alberton Lane. It’s a dead end and his house is the last one on the right.”
As Emily gave her thanks and waved goodbye, Cynthia let out a bark of laughter.
“What on earth are you doing, Witchy-Poo?”
Wanda flapped her hand. “I’m staying out of sight, what does it look like?”
Emily glanced behind her, giggling as she saw Wanda bent so low, she was half crouching in the footwell. “You remember you’re a ghost? There’s no one out here able to see you.”
“You can see me.”
“Scarface is special. I haven’t found anyone else in town who can do what she does.” Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Despite the claims of various mediums. Get up. You’re making me nervous doing that!”
“I’ll just stay put to keep safe.”
“Who are you trying to avoid?” Emily eased the car back onto the road and spoke the address into her smartphone. A moment later Google Maps began to lecture her on the correct route to follow.
“I’ve met Terrence before and he’s a lovely chap, but his elder sister is the Supreme.”
Emily nearly slammed her foot on the brakes. “For your coven?”
“Yeah.” Wanda risked a quick glance out the window, then breathed out a relieved sigh as the house receded out of view. “It’s best I stay out of her way.”
“Being dead is a good start,” Cynthia said with a snort. “Or does your coven possess magic powers that let them see the dead?”
“If anyone could, it’d be the Supreme. Agnetha can probably hear me talking right now.” Wanda didn’t sound enthralled with the idea.
“If she’s so powerful,” Emily said, “won’t she know a spell to free your sister?”
“She probably knows a spell all right, but she’d never use it to free Sheryl in a million years. Agnetha barely tolerates me but she hates my sister’s guts.”
Emily exchanged a glance with Cynthia, both of their eyebrows raised.
“What’d Sheryl do to hack off your dear leader?” Cynthia asked, her skin being thicker. She dropped her voice into a mocking whisper. “Did she steal Agnetha’s man?”
“It’s another of those things that’s hazy and I don’t care enough to find out, now.” Wanda brushed herself down. “Isn’t that the turnoff?”
The GPS on Emily’s phone agreed, and she started to search for a house matching Terrence’s description. It didn’t take long to spot the one with rusting pieces of scrap metal, an overgrown lawn, and a roll of barbed wire topping the rotting wooden fence.
“Since this street’s a dead end,” Cynthia mused, “why would Terrence be walking past this guy’s front lawn, to begin with?”
Emily’s throat was a desert as she knocked on the door. She cast a longing look back at the car, wishing she was safely inside it. Wishing she was anywhere except standing on the front stoop of a man who thought it was fun to throw insults at a man with Down’s Syndrome. Or pound on her window when she bought an auction item out from under him, fair and square.
“Who’re you?”
The call came from a window, the door remaining shut tight. Emily took a step back, then had to throw her arms out to both sides to steady herself as her shoe landed on a broom handle.
“Watch it! Some of that stuff’s expensive.”
Which is why you threw it on your lawn?
Emily bit her lip shut against the instant retort and regained her footing. “I’m here about an item I think you might have brought at auction,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s an—”
“I know you!”
The window slammed shut and a second later foots
teps pounded towards the door. When the young man threw it open, the pebbled glass shook in its frame.
“You’re the one who stole the puzzle box. I’ve got the money.” He dug into his back pocket, pulling out a tight curl of notes. “How much d’you want for it?”
Emily held up her hands. “No, I don’t want to sell. I’m looking for another item. A book.”
“Eh?” Jake tilted his head to one side, frowning at her as though she spoke a different language. “You want to swap?”
“No. I just want the book. It’s important.”
He looked over his shoulder, along the hallway. “I can’t give you the book. It’s the only way—”
Jake bit off the sentence, snapping his head around to face Emily. “Who sent you here? What do you know about a book?”
“Well, this is going great, Scarface. You have such a way with people.”
Emily resisted the urge to cast a foul expression Cynthia’s way and kept her gaze glued to Jake’s face. There was something happening that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“You do have the book, don’t you?”
“Do you have the puzzle?”
They stared at each other for a tense moment, then Jake sighed and stepped back. His face was cast into the gloom of the unlit hallway. He shut the door.
Emily leapt forward and stuck her foot in the gap just before it closed. “Please, wait! It’s vitally urgent I get hold of a book. It’s leather-bound with a chain holding it closed. Do you have it?”
Jake put his eye up to the slit. “I’m not answering any of your questions until you answer mine. Who told you about the book?”
“Just let him know the truth,” Cynthia urged. “What’s he going to do? Shut the door in your face?”
“Please,” Wanda begged, joining them on the step. “If we can’t get the book, my sister might as well be dead.”
“Wanda Hawthorne,” Emily said, straightening her back against the anticipated ridicule. “It’s a spell book to rejoin her sister’s mind with her body and it’s vitally important I get hold of it and perform the ritual soon, or Sheryl will die.”
Jake stared at her through the thin gap, chewing on his bottom lip and scanning Emily from head to toe as though assessing her level of crazy.
“You’d better come in, then,” he said finally, pulling the door open and stepping back to let her pass.
After the first flush of relief faded, Emily’s nerves reasserted themselves. All the while she followed Jake through to the kitchen and sat in the chair indicated, her body began to beat a tattoo—get out, get out.
“How did you know Wanda?” Jake asked as he flipped the kettle on to boil. “Were you friends?”
“Not really.” Emily flicked a glance at the ghost witch, then stared at her hands. “But it’s a small town, isn’t it?”
“You can say that again.” Jake crossed to the cupboard and took down some cups, banging them onto the bench. “Every time I try to turn around, someone’s in my business. You should hear the lies they tell about me, down at the pub.”
“I can imagine.” She raised her arm up to run her fingers through her hair, then groaned as the muscle spasmed, still not forgiving her for the day before. Emily coughed to disguise the sound. “I met somebody earlier today, said you chase him off whenever he walks by.”
“Terrence Salem, right?” Jake gave a snort. “For some reason, his sister made it my business to ensure he doesn’t get hurt around here. I like to keep a lot of spare parts out front and he always used to dig through them.”
“To steal?” Emily felt horrified.
“Nah. He just likes to tinker with stuff. We’ve got that in common.” Jake sniffed and spooned loose tealeaves into a pot. “You okay with black tea? I’ve got some chamomile in the cupboard if you prefer. Sheryl used to drink it.”
“Black’s fine.” She chewed on a fingernail while sorting through what he’d just said. There were two juicy items to follow up on and Emily couldn’t work out which to pursue first. “You knew Sheryl quite well, did you?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Jake said simply, then shrugged. “Or was, I suppose is the right term now.”
“I saw you visiting her in hospital,” Emily admitted. “I wondered what you were doing there.”
Jake smiled. It was amazing how the expression lifted him from the dangerous tattooed creep category and placed him into eligible bachelor land. “Didn’t the town gossips fill you in on that bit, then?”
“No, they didn’t.” Emily returned his smile, finding it infectious. “I’ve a good mind to take them to task over it.”
He laughed and poured out a cup of tea. “Milk?”
Emily nodded. “Why did Terrence’s sister think he’d get hurt around here?”
Jake pulled up a chair, the wooden legs squeaking on the linoleum tiles. “I’m a bit of a packrat and sometimes the stuff I bring home just gets piled up a bit haphazardly. Terrence managed to pull on a car bumper and brought an avalanche of rusty metal down on his own head.”
“Ouch.”
“Nah, he wasn’t hurt more than a scratch but his sister Agnetha had to take him down to the doctor’s office to update his tetanus shot. Apparently, he doesn’t like needles, and it turned into a big thing. She told me if she ever caught him ‘round here again, she’d report me to the council.”
“What business is it of theirs?”
“Exactly. But I don’t need the hassle. I’m just trying to get by like everyone else. I asked Terrence to stay away, but the message didn’t get through, so I yelled and chased him off the next time I saw him. That did the trick.”
“Sounds like his sister shouldn’t have put that burden on you in the first place,” Emily said, feeling indignant on his behalf. “If she wants to protect him, it’d be a lot better to talk it through with him than place it on your shoulders.”
Jake took a long sip of his tea. “Do you mind if I completely change the subject and ask if you’ve kept the puzzle box safe?”
“It’s here,” Emily said, patting her handbag. “Don’t worry. Until it goes back in the body it’s meant for, I’m not letting it out of my sight.”
“I’m sorry if I gave you a scare at the auction.”
Emily nodded. “You did, but it’s understandable, considering what’s at stake.” She shifted on her seat. “How did you find out about the items?”
“Eavesdropping.”
The guilty expression crossing Jake’s face convinced Emily he was telling the truth.
“If you’ve hung around any members of the local coven for long, you’ll know they keep their cards close to their chests. When I couldn’t get any answers by asking directly, I tried a bit of stealth.”
“In normal circumstances, I’d find that abhorrent,” Emily began, and Jake took over from her.
“But these circumstances are anything but normal.”
They laughed together, Emily still holding a part of herself back, so it was polite despite being genuine. “I don’t want to hurry you, but if I could take a look at that book now, I’d be very grateful. I’m not sure how or where we’re meant to perform the ceremony but just knowing we have the means to do it at all will ease my mind.”
“Sure thing.” Jake slid off his stool and put their mugs into the sink. “I put it up in the attic for safekeeping. You have to be a determined thief to steal anything from up there.”
Although Emily shook her legs out, she couldn’t lose the numbness. When Jake grabbed hold of the pull-down attic stairs, she declined to follow.
“Just a moment,” he said, reaching the top. “It looks like the light’s out.”
“I’ve got a torch app on my cell if you need it.”
Jake waggled his own phone. “Already ahead of you!”
He shone the bright LED in a semi-circle, frowning as he reversed the gesture.
“Is something wrong?” Emily called out, fighting to keep her voice steady despite the plunging fear in her belly.
> “It’s not here.” Jake slammed his palm flat on the attic floor, causing a small cloud of dust motes to dance through the air. He breathed hard for a minute, then jumped off the stairs and flicked the lever to reverse them into their trapdoor. “I’ve been burgled. The book is gone.”
Chapter Ten
“Is anything else missing?” Emily asked.
“Nothing I could see,” Jake replied, running a tattooed hand through his hair until it stood up in spikes. He ran through into the kitchen and pulled open several drawers, clinking cutlery. “I’ve got valuables in here that haven’t been touched. I can’t believe this!”
“If the burglar only stole the book, then we can probably narrow down the list of potential suspects,” Emily said, trying to make her voice soothing. “Who else would know what use it was? Who else cared enough about Sheryl to make it worth the risk to break in here?”
“The puzzle.” Jake stared into her face with wild eyes for a second, then grabbed Emily’s bag off her. While she gasped in protest, he rifled through the contents, closing his eyes in relief as he pulled the wooden box free. “I should probably put this somewhere safe.”
“It’s already somewhere safe,” Emily protested, grabbing it out of his hand and taking back her handbag. “You’re the one who wasn’t able to hold on to your treasure. I think this is far better off staying with me.”
He gave a reluctant nod, then groaned again and sat heavily on a kitchen chair. “I can’t believe somebody broke in and found it without me even suspecting a thing.”
“Do you want me to call the police?”
“No!” The vehemence of the response startled Emily and Jake seemed to notice, shaking his head in despair. “I mean, what would I tell them? The local station already has me on its radar because of a few innocent scuffles at the pub. They’re not going to take me seriously when I say someone broke into my house to steal a book!”
“They might believe the two of us,” Emily said, then flushed. Sometimes she found the police helpful. Sometimes they laughed in her face. Considering she’d been sitting in the station under arrest just the day before, she didn’t rate her chances for the former.
Charity Shop Haunted Mysteries Page 42
