A Very British Witch Boxed Set

by Isobella Crowley

  “Okay, well that’s true, but still doesn’t explain where he has been?”

  Scarlett took over. “Tim was out on an investigation and spotted him lying on the ground. So, he put him in his car and took him to the base.”

  “He didn’t think to bring him here, isn’t that strange?”

  “Well no, he was busy with his work. Nothing gets in his way, you know what he’s like.”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  Tarquin continued with his yarn. “But no one knew who he was until he woke up.”

  Scarlett smiled at Amanda. “He was in a really bad way, by all accounts. That fever had really taken its toll. Tim wanted to get him to a doctor and the base was the easiest place to do that.”

  “I can see how that could have made sense to Tim.”

  “And then they called us, and we went to pick him up.”

  “And that’s all there to it?”

  “That’s all there is to it.”

  Amanda took another sip of coffee. “I’ve been worried sick.”

  Scarlett frowned. “For no reason. I told you earlier, no need to worry, didn’t I?”

  Amanda blinked, screwing her eyes as tight as they would go. “Thank, God,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

  Raven brushed against Amanda’s leg. “What is this cat doing here?”

  Scarlett, and everyone else, laughed. “Oh, Ronnie got to know her at the base.”

  “And, what, it followed him home?”

  “Well no, not exactly.” Scarlett lowered her voice. “He insisted we bring her home with us.”

  Amanda looked perplexed. “What? That doesn’t sound like Ronnie. Not at all. Thought I knew everything about him.”

  “Well, do we ever know everything about anyone?”

  Amanda shrugged. “Suppose not. I had no idea you were thinking of going off on your travels until the other day.”

  Raven tickled Scarlett’s leg with her paw.

  Scarlett bent down to pat Raven’s head. “Ahh, poor cat.”

  Raven meowed.

  “Think she’s hungry.”

  Scarlett bent right down to pull Raven into a hug. Resting her chin on top of her head, she whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix you something to eat as soon as I get a chance.”

  Tabitha glared at Amanda. “Now come on, that’s not fair. Scarlett obviously cares a great deal about you and Ronnie or else she’d never have been so concerned.”

  Amanda looked at Scarlett. “Were you? Concerned?”

  “I was worried sick.”

  Amanda smiled. “Well, I suppose that’s all that matters. Thank you all ever so much for going to pick him up. I was going spare here, all on my own, imagining all sorts. My boyfriend ran off and left me and my best friend’s thinking of doing the same. Why can’t people ever appreciate the things around them?”

  They all nodded.

  Leaning across, Tabitha patted Amanda’s leg. “If only more people had that kind of attitude, the world would be a much better place.”

  Raven gave Scarlett another tickle with her paw.

  “Right, come on then Raven. Let’s see what there is for you to eat.” Scarlett got to her feet.

  Tabitha pushed herself up off the couch and sniffed the stale air. “I’ll come with you.”

  Tabitha, Tarquin and Karl followed Scarlett into the kitchen. They stood in the center of the room, around a worn-out table, watching her root through the cupboards for something that Raven might find tasty.

  Amanda poked her head around. “I’ll just go upstairs and see if Ronnie needs any help.”

  +++

  Base Commander’s Office, RAF Bicester, Launton

  Moseley knocked twice, staring at the label on the back of the door that read, Group Captain Brian Lefton

  “Yes, yes, come on.”

  “Good morning, Captain. I’ve just come to give you a report on last night’s events.”

  “Last night’s events? What the devil are you talking about?”

  Moseley smiled.

  “Well, come on, take a seat. Don’t stand there at the door, you’ll catch a chill.”

  Making himself comfortable on the leather office chair, Moseley extended his legs until his toes collided with Lefton’s under the table. “Sorry, sir, force of habit.”

  “Not a problem. Now, what is it that you wanted to report?”

  “Last night, sir. I was working late at my desk, when the alarm went off.”

  “Good Lord. I had no idea. Where?”

  “In the basement sir, you know, the research facility.”

  “Of course, where else? What caused it?”

  “We don’t know sir, that’s just the thing. I walked up and down half the night trying to find something, but in the end, I had to give up.”

  Someone knocked.

  Lefton looked at the door. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me, sir, Gregory.”

  “Gregory? Gregory who? I don’t know any Gregorys.” Haha, he chuckled.

  “Daniel Gregory, sir. Your assistant.”

  “Oh, just the man. In that case, come on, do come in.”

  Gregory entered and, finding his seat occupied, stood loitering by the door.

  “Oh, there’s a seat over there, look—by the window. Come on, do join us.”

  “Yes, sir. By all means.”

  Gregory placed the chair in front of Lefton’s desk, leaving a good three feet between himself and Moseley.

  “Now then Gregory, Moseley here informs me there was some kind of incident at the base last night. He tells me that the alarm went off and no one has much of an idea why. Do you have anything to add to that, Gregory?”

  “Well, yes, sir, I believe I might be able to shed a bit more light on the situation.”

  “Well, come on then, don’t keep us all guessing, for heaven’s sake.”

  “Very well, sir. It’s the personnel, sir, the people that were around last night.”

  “What about them? Can they shed any light on the matter?”

  Gregory shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense. If they were at the scene, that would surely make them the best people to ask.”

  “In theory, sir.”

  “In theory? What do you mean by that?”

  “Well a good few of them are suffering from some kind of amnesia problems.”

  “Amnesia problems? What kind of amnesia problems?”

  “The kind where your memory goes blank, sir. Not only that, they’re suffering from some kind of… disorientation.”

  “You mean half the personnel don’t know where they are and can’t remember a thing about last night?”

  “Something along those lines, sir, yes.”

  “Have they been drinking? Was there some kind of party in the ranks that we were not aware of?”

  “Not that I know of, sir. But it’s a possibility.”

  “Well, there you are then. Mystery solved.” Lefton sat back and folded his arms.

  “It would be a possibility sir, but…”

  “But what, Gregory? Do spit it out.”

  “But if people were hungover, as you’re suggesting, the doctor would surely have made the diagnosis.”

  “The doctor knows about it?”

  “Yes, sir. Sick bay’s been over run.”

  “Mmm, well that does kind of scupper that theory.”

  Gregory nodded. “Afraid it does, sir.”

  “Well, what else do we know? What has the doctor found out?”

  “Not much, sir.”

  “Not much, but he must have found something, for heaven’s sake.”

  “No, sir, but we do know that there are no toxins or pathogens involved. Meaning—”

  “We can rule out poisoning.”

  “Precisely, sir. And also, correct me if I’m wrong, inebriation.”

  “Yes. So, we know drink isn’t to blame. Anything else?”

  “Oh yes, and tests for radiation
levels have shown everything to be perfectly normal.”

  “How extraordinary.”

  “Indeed, sir. I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it in due course.”

  “Yes, but let’s hope it isn’t too late. We’ll just have to put a lid on things for now, stop it leaking out to the press.”

  “Most definitely, sir. Good idea.”

  “So, what now?”

  “Not quite with you, sir.”

  “Well, with half the personnel neither here nor there, who’s going to run the place?”

  “I’m already on to that, sir. There’s a new shift arriving from RAF Weston-on-the-Green.”

  “Splendid.”

  “Yes, they should help to stabilize things until we get to the bottom of the issue, sir.”

  “Absolutely. I’ve had prior dealings with Weston-on-the-Green. First-rate fellows, the lot of them.”

  “That’s good to know, sir. Really it is.”

  “Anything else, Gregory?”

  “No, sir. Think that’s about all I have to say on the matter.”

  Lefton turned to look at Moseley. “You’ve been quiet, Moseley. Had the cogs whirring no doubt.”

  “Yes sir, I have been listening to everything the wing commander’s had to say, giving things a lot of thought, sir.”

  “Splendid, I thought as much. So, what conclusions have you come to?”

  “Well, everything leads me to believe it’s some kind of system failure, sir. As far as the alarms are concerned, anyway.”

  “Interesting. What leads you to conclude that?”

  “Well, sir, last night—early this morning to be precise—I was walking about the facility, trying to figure out what went wrong, sir. Then when I came back, I fired up the system, sir—”

  “And?”

  “And, something strange was happening. The files were incomplete, taking an age to load. Showing all kinds of ridiculous numbers.”

  “Mmm, now that is interesting, Moseley. Well done. Not sure how the memory loss fits in with this, though.”

  “We don’t want that to distract us from finding out the truth. The two might be completely unrelated, sir. The amnesia might turn out to be some kind of red herring.”

  “Good point, Moseley.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Moseley replayed the image he’d had of finding the culprit and having a free license to do whatever he liked.

  “You okay, Moseley? Looks like you’ve just lost a pound and found a tenner.” Lefton laughed at his own joke.

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, was miles away.”

  “Well, maybe it’s contagious.” Lefton glanced at both of them in turn. “Do either of you have anything else to add?”

  Moseley nodded. “I suspect, sir, that the alarm was triggered because the system went down and not the other way around.”

  “You don’t think whatever triggered the alarm got inside the system, you mean?”

  “Yes, sir. I mean exactly that.”

  “Mmm. That’s interesting, rules out sabotage at least. Tells us that whatever affected the personnel didn’t manifest itself into the system too.”

  “Exactly, sir.”

  “And what makes you think that, Moseley?”

  “Oh, just the timing of it, sir. When I was going through the records, I noticed that things started to go awry sometime before the alarm was triggered.”

  “That is well-spotted and well-remembered, Moseley. That’s certainly prevented us from going barking up an extremely large wrong tree.”

  “Thank you, sir, glad to be of service.”

  “Okay, well if neither of you have anything more to add, I’m declaring this meeting adjourned. Get back to your posts, give the Weston-on-the-Green mob their instructions and report back to me the minute anything new arises.”

  Gregory scraped back his chair. “Good day, sir.”

  “Yes, yes, good day, Gregory.”

  Moseley loitered for a second, waiting for the door to close before exiting the office himself. Marching along the corridor to the research facility, he smiled to himself. The meeting had gone well, they’d established much, the captain was impressed. Surely his hostiles would like to feel the benefits his high spirits? He grinned and turned towards the facility.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kitchen, Jones’s Residence, Bicester, England

  Scarlett frowned. “Sorry, Raven, doesn’t look like there’s much in for cats to eat.” She glanced at the fridge. “I know, how about some milk? We’ll get you some proper cat food soon, promise.”

  “Thank you. That will do just fine for now.”

  Scarlett sighed. “Glad all that’s over with.”

  Karl was exhausted. "Yes, Scarlett, you’re right about that. It was an ordeal that I, for one, don’t want to go through again any time soon.” He looked at Tabitha. “You feeling better now, Tabitha?”

  For the first time, Scarlett noticed how pale her aunt was looking.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just need to get some sleep soon.”

  Tarquin nodded. “I’m with you there.”

  Scarlett looked across the table at her aunt and screwed her eyes, as people do when they want more information. “You sure you’re okay, Aunt Tabitha? You look a bit pale.”

  “I’m fine, really, just a bit tired is all. That was quite the spell we worked, wasn’t it Tarquin? Been eons since I’ve had that much fun!”

  “I can’t remember the last time we had a reason to do something that took so much power. Good on us Tabitha. Good on us.”

  Scarlett was impressed by her aunt in a big way. She was proud to be of lineage and more excited than ever to be a witch and find out more of what that really meant.

  “You two were amazing. Really, thank you all so much.”

  Karl, still friendlier than his prominent self, actually had a warm smile on his face. “Yes, you should have heard these two. Amazing that I can still hear anything after all that ruckus!”

  Everyone laughed together. The night was turning out well after all.

  Tabitha squeezed Scarlett’s hand, and looked around at everyone. “We made a good team, didn’t we?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Looking at each face in turn, Scarlett replayed the night’s events. Everyone had pulled their weight, done their bit. If any one of them hadn’t been present, things might have turned out differently. Ronnie was on his own when the MPs had taken him, maybe that was the difference. Maybe if they all stuck together from now on, they’d be stronger collectively and nothing like this would happen again.

  Tabitha rapped her empty mug down on the table and exhaled. “That feels better.”

  Scarlett placed a hand on Tabitha’s shoulder. “Come on, Auntie, you look done in. I’ll drive you home.”

  Tarquin buttoned his jacket. “No, I’ll take her. I’ll drop her off on my way home.” He glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “You’ll be opening up in a few hours, Karl, you ready to call it a night too?”

  Karl nodded and crossed the room to join Tarquin by the door.

  Scarlett imagined how she was going to feel getting up for work in a few hours and quickly pushed the image to the back of her mind.

  Tabitha stood up, wobbled and steadied herself on the back of the chair. “Good night, Scarlett.”

  “Come on Tabitha, follow me,” Tarquin said, looking over his shoulder.

  Two minutes later, Scarlett sat alone in the kitchen, listening to the sound of the car turn the corner at the end of the street and fade. Glancing at the clock, she decided that if she was going to work in the morning, she’d manage it better not having slept at all.

  As she sat listening to the occasional car drive by outside, she once again replayed the events of the night. It was true. If any of them hadn’t played their part, the operation would have failed. They’d worked as a team to rescue Ronnie, despite the odds being stacked against them.

  Somehow the experience had changed something, brought them all closer together. Even Karl had
revealed a side that she hadn’t previously credited him with. Although, she didn’t doubt for one minute that he’d soon revert back to type once she set foot in the shop.

  She bent over to pat Raven. “Don’t worry, girl. I’ll find you something proper to eat soon.”

  Raven appeared to smile, looking like she didn’t know whether to believe her or not.

  The bedroom door creaked open upstairs. “You okay now, Ronnie? You sure about that?” Ronnie mumbled something back to Amanda and the door banged shut. Footsteps thundered down the stairs, leaving Scarlett with just a matter of seconds to gather her thoughts.

  Amanda entered the kitchen and flickered through the frosty atmosphere. “Hi. You okay?”

  “Yeah. Bit of a wild night, though.”

  “I bet it was.”

  Scarlett looked puzzled. “Why? What makes you say that?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just from the looks on your faces as you came swanning in.” Amanda pulled out a chair and sat opposite Scarlett at the table.

  “Well, we were all tired—exhausted.”

  “Look, I don’t want to hear about it, okay? I don’t care what you got up to.”

  Scarlett peered across the table at Amanda. She looked just the same as she had earlier, but perhaps she’d misjudged the situation. True, she still looked decidedly rough, but maybe it wasn’t just a lack of sleep, although that was clearly a contributing factor. She leaned in and took another whiff of Amanda’s breath.

  “Amanda?”

  “Yes?”

  “Have you been drinking?”

  From the way Amanda was smiling, Scarlett knew she’d touched a raw nerve. “Have I been drinking? Let me see. Oh yes, I may have had a tiny, teeny drop earlier on.” She laughed.

  “A tiny, teeny drop? Pardon me, but I get the impression you’re not being entirely honest with me.” Scarlett laughed, attempting to make light of the situation and thus avoid the possibility of her friend feeling like she was being accused.

  “Okay, well, I might have been telling a half-truth. I did have more than a tiny, teeny drop.”

  “How much have you had, exactly?”

  “Let me see. Well, I had two glasses of white wine earlier and—” She glanced at a couple of empty bottles in front of the recycling bin. "Two bottles when I got back.”