Witch Is Why Time Stood Still (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 13) (14 page)

Chapter 18

Although I liked the idea of someone doing the cleaning, I
didn’t
like the idea of them having to come into my house to do it. In the end though, I’d agreed that we’d at least look for a cleaner, and see what we came up with. We’d checked the local listings, and found three or four possible candidates. The first one was coming in that morning. Jack and I were going to talk to her together.

But then Jack’s boss called. He had to go into work straightaway—no questions asked.

“What about the cleaner? We’re meant to be interviewing her in ten minutes.”

“I’m sorry, Jill. You heard the phone call; I don’t have any choice.”

“This is getting to be a habit. Are you sure you aren’t paying somebody to make these calls just to get you out of this stuff?”

He laughed.

“I wouldn’t put anything past you.”

“You’re perfectly capable of deciding whether this woman will be any good or not. If you’re happy with her, then set her on. Look, I’ve got to go. See you later, bye.”

Great! That was the only drawback of working for myself. I could hardly pretend that someone had phoned to ask
me
to go in early. I didn’t know anything about this woman, only that she worked under the name of Mopp Cleaning Services. Hopefully her cleaning was better than her spelling: Mop with two ‘p’s? Dearie me!

Jack had only been gone a few minutes when there was a knock at the door. It was so loud I thought the door was about to cave in.

“Just a minute! I’m coming!”

There was another knock—even louder this time. How impatient!

“Is this the Gooder residence?”

“Yeah, I’m Jill Gooder.”

“I’m Miriam Mopp. I believe you’re expecting me.”

“Mopp’s your name?”

“Of course it’s my name. Why else would I call the company Mopp Cleaning Services?”

“Oh? I thought that was mop as in the kind you clean the floor with.”

“No, dear, that would be mop, my name is Mopp with two ‘p’s, M-O-P-P.”

“Right, sorry for the confusion.”

“Can I come in? It’s rather chilly out here.”

“Yes, of course. Come in. Let me take your coat, Mrs Mopp.”

Mrs Mopp? How did I not laugh?

“Let’s go through into the living room. Please have a seat over there.”

“Right then, we’d better start the interview,” Mrs Mopp said.

“Quite right, we should. Can I—”

But before I could get the words out, she jumped right in. “Have you had a cleaner before?”

“No.”

“Oh dear.” She tutted and gave me a disapproving look. “I do hate working for newbies. Their expectations are often unrealistic. Still I’m here now. Do you have any children?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s a plus at least. Pets?”

“No pets either.”

“How often would you want someone to come in and clean?”

“We hadn’t really thought—”

“For a house this size, with just the two of you, no children and no pets, once a week is more than enough. I’ll need to take a proper look around, but I would guess it will require three hours, maybe only two and a half.”

“Right, yeah okay, I was just going to ask—”

“If I’m going to do this, it will have to be on Wednesdays at eight o’clock in the morning.”

“That’s a little early—”

“I’m afraid that’s the only spot I have available. Take it or leave it.”

“What would it cost?”

“Twenty pounds an hour plus materials.”

“Materials? I have my own cleaning—”

“Sorry, but a professional has to have the right equipment and materials. I insist on providing my own.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Right, well I think that’s probably everything. You can show me around the house now, and I can make a start next Wednesday.”

“
Next
Wednesday?”

“Yes. At eight o’clock sharp. And please make sure you’re both dressed by then.”

“Right. Okay. Will do.”

Ten minutes after she left, I was still trying to figure out what had happened. Who exactly had interviewed who?

***

Danny Day had given me the names of two of Mandy’s friends. If she
was
still alive, then maybe she’d been in contact with one of them. And even if she hadn’t, they might still be able to throw some light on Mandy’s death. Had it been suicide?

Judy Brown had been surprised that someone wanted to talk to her about Mandy after all that time, but she readily agreed to see me.

“Come in. I’m Judy, nice to meet you. How is Danny? I haven’t seen him since Mandy’s funeral.”

“He seems fine. He told me that you were one of Mandy’s best friends.”

“I suppose I was, but then Mandy didn’t have many. She was a bit of a loner. So different from her sister.”

“I realise this may sound like a strange question, but have you heard from Mandy since the funeral?”

“Huh? You’re right. That is a weird question. Do you mean like a séance or something?”

“No. I meant a phone call.”

“She’s dead. How could I have had a phone call from her?”

“It’s just that her sister says Mandy contacted her by phone recently.”

“That’s ridiculous. Is Lacey okay?”

“I think so. Did you see Mandy in the days leading up to the car crash?”

“
Yes, we were in regular contact. We used to go for coffee at least once a week. Sometimes we’d go swimming together.”

“How did she seem? Could she have been depressed? There’s been some suggestion that the crash might have been suicide.”

“I don’t believe that for one moment. Mandy hadn’t always been happy, but right then, just before her death, she was the happiest she’d ever been. She’d started seeing someone.”

“A man, you mean?”

“Yeah, she was really excited about it.”

“Her brother didn’t mention a boyfriend. What was his name? Do you know where I can contact him?”

“That’s the thing. Mandy wouldn’t say who it was. She was very secretive about it. I never did understand why.”

***

Mandy Day’s other friend, who Danny had mentioned, was a woman called Beverly Timpson. She lived outside of Washbridge—ten miles to the west.

“You must be Jill; come on in. Call me Bev; everyone does. It’s quite a while since I heard Mandy’s name. Your call took me by surprise.”

“I hope I didn’t upset you.”

“A little maybe, but it’s all a long time ago now.”

“I’ve just been to see Judy Brown.”

“The three of us were quite close at one time, but after Mandy died, I lost touch with Judy. How is she keeping?”

“She seems fine. Look, I’ll get straight to the point. I’d like to ask you the same question that I asked Judy. I know this is going to sound really strange, but have you heard from Mandy recently?”

She looked at me nonplussed. “I don’t understand.”

“Since the funeral.”

“Is this some sort of sick joke?”

“No, nothing like that. Look, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, but the reason I’m here, is that Mandy’s twin sister, Lacey, contacted me. She received a phone call the other day warning her to be careful. According to her, the person who called was Mandy.”

“But that’s impossible. Mandy’s dead. She died in a horrible car crash.”

“All the evidence suggests that’s true, and yet Lacey is convinced that it was her sister she spoke to.”

“She must have been mistaken.”

“Quite possibly, but I need to cover all the bases. So, I take it that you’ve never seen or heard from Mandy since the funeral?”

“No. Definitely not.”

“What was Mandy like? Were she and her sister alike?”

“I’d known Mandy and Lacey since we were kids. They were very different; it was hard to believe they were twins. Lacey was outgoing, and had a large circle of friends. Mandy was much quieter; kind of shy and insecure. She had very few friends. It was just me, Judy, and maybe a couple of others. Mandy wasn’t obsessed with her looks like Lacey. I mean, Lacey used to spend a small fortune just on having her nails done.”

“Were you aware of any problems that Mandy was having just prior to her death?
”

“No. I know there was some suggestion the crash may have been suicide, but I don’t believe that. She may not have been as happy-go-lucky as Lacey, but she would never have taken her own life. In fact, just before her death, she seemed happier than I’d seen her for a long time.”

“Judy said a similar thing. She thought Mandy was seeing a man, but she didn’t know who.”

“I’d noticed a change in Mandy too. She’d hinted that she was with someone, but she wouldn’t say who he was, or tell me anything about him. I wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. She could be a bit of a dreamer sometimes.”

***

I popped into Ever A Wool Moment because I wanted to speak to Grandma about the approach I’d had from the Combined Sup Council. When I opened the door to the back office, she jumped.

“Were you asleep, Grandma?”

“Of course not.”

She obviously had been.

“Do you have a moment?”

“Not really, but I suppose now you’re here, you’d better grab a seat. What can I do for you, young lady?”

“The other day when I was at Aunt Lucy’s, I had a visit from Tabitha Hathaway.”

“The acting chair of the Combined Sup Council?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“What did she want with you?”

“She’s invited me to join the board.”

“Has she now? How very interesting. Witches have always been underrepresented on the Combined Sup Council. Are you going to accept the offer?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I came to see you—to ask your advice.”

“Always a wise move.”

“What do they do exactly?” I asked.

“That’s a very good question. They don’t have any real power. They don’t actually make laws, but they do have a lot of influence. It’s the only body that combines all the different sup types. It would be a foolish person who ignored their wishes. To be honest though, they haven’t really come up with very much of interest in recent years. They need some new blood on there. I think you should do it, Jill.”

“You do? But, I don’t feel I’m qualified.”

“You can’t keep hiding behind that excuse. You’ve already turned down promotion to level seven. Don’t make matters worse by turning this offer down as well.”

“Okay. I’ll definitely give it serious consideration. Oh, and there’s something else I wanted to mention to you, Grandma, while I’ve got you here.”

“Yes, what is it now? I am rather busy.”

“I haven’t seen Ma Chivers for over a year.”

“Surely you’re not complaining about that? Good gracious woman, I would have thought that was a reason to celebrate.”

“I don’t particularly
want
to see her, but it’s strange that she’s disappeared. And not just her. There’s Alicia, her partner in crime—I haven’t seen her for over a year either. Or Cyril, Alicia’s sidekick.”

“Good riddance to all of them, that’s what I say.”

“But where do you think they’ve gone?”

“Between you and me, quite a few wicked witches have dropped out of sight. I noticed it a while back, and a couple of other level six witches have mentioned it to me. They’ve probably moved to the human world to lie low for a while.”

“Maybe so. It’s just a little disconcerting. Also, the last time I saw Ma Chivers she said something strange. She said that TDO had never really been her boss; that he was just a pretender to the throne. She said The Phoenix was the one I should be worried about. Do you know who that is?”

“The Phoenix? No. I’ve never heard of him. I think she was just trying to scare you. She can’t have been very happy to see TDO defeated in that way. So rather than lose face, she probably conjured up some cock-and-bull story about this Phoenix character. I should just ignore it. Let’s hope Ma Chivers and her cohorts stay away. Good riddance, that’s what I say.”

Chapter 19

The next morning, Jack had just left for work. I was finishing off the last of my Rice Krispies when there was a knock at the door. He’d probably forgotten something again. But if so, why hadn’t he used his key to get back in? Maybe he’d left his keys in the house. It wouldn’t have been the first time. I opened the door fully expecting to see Jack, but it wasn’t him.

The man at my door was a wizard.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re Jill Gooder, aren’t you? I’ve been waiting until you were alone to come over.”

That sounded a bit suspicious, and a whole lot of creepy.

He must have seen my expression because he continued. “I guess that sounds rather bad. It wasn’t meant to come out that way. I should introduce myself. I’m Blake. Blake Lister.”

“You’re a wizard, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I live just across the road.”

“I didn’t realise there were any other sups around here.”

“There aren’t many of us, to be honest. I think it’s just me, you, and a vampire who lives a few streets away. I wondered if I could have a quick word—if you’re not too busy.”

“I have to leave for work soon.”

“This will only take a minute.”

“Okay, come in. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“No, thanks. I don’t want to hold you up.”

“How long have you lived in Smallwash, Blake?”

“Just over four years. I was really pleased to see another sup move in across the road. It can feel a bit isolated out here.”

“Do you go back to Candlefield often?”

“Not as often as I’d like. I’ve still got family over there. It’s not easy though.”

“Tell me about it. I’m in the same position. I’ve got family in Candlefield too. So far, Jack’s only met my grandmother. I had no idea just how difficult it would be. Before Jack and me moved in together, it wasn’t so bad. But living with somebody full-time? That’s a different kettle of fish altogether. I assume you’re married to a human woman?”

“That’s right. Jennifer. Jen.”

“We’re having a housewarming on Sunday. If you and Jen are not doing anything, you’re welcome to come over.”

“That’s great. I’m sure she’ll be up for that.”

“How do you manage to hide the fact that you’re a wizard from your wife? Have you had any close calls?”

“Not recently. I don’t use magic around Jen at all. Even though there are times when I’d like to. Like when I’m mowing the lawn or doing the dishes.”

“Don’t mention dishes.”

“Why, what happened?”

“It was so stupid. The other day I was really tired, and we had a sink full of washing up. Jack was going bowling, and he’d left me to it. He’d only just gone out the door, when I used a spell on the dishes. It turned out he’d forgotten his keys, and he walked back in.”

“Oh dear. What happened?”

“I had no choice. I had to use the ‘forget’ spell on him. The biggest problem though, is when he asks about my birth family. I was adopted and raised by humans, and I didn’t know I was a witch until quite recently.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you. Aren’t you the witch who turned down the opportunity to go to level seven?”

“That’s me. Anyway, like I said, I grew up in Washbridge, and only recently found out about my other family. Jack doesn’t understand why he can’t visit them. I don’t know what to tell him. I have to keep using the ‘forget’ spell, but I don’t like doing it.”

“I’m the same. I don’t like using magic on Jen. It just doesn’t seem right.”

“My birth family are coming over here for the housewarming, so that could be interesting. “

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Look, I’d better go. I just wanted to say hello.”

“Nice to meet you, Blake. We’ll see you both on Sunday, I hope.”

“Yeah. We’ll be there.”

***

My phone rang.

“Jill? It’s Lacey Ball.”

“Hi, Lacey. I’d planned on giving you a call later to bring you up to speed.”

“There’s no need. I’d like you to stop the investigation. Obviously I’ll pay you for the time you’ve spent on it up until now.”

“But why? I think I might actually be making some progress.”

“Joe was right. I’m sure it was all in my imagination. I’ve been under a lot of stress. I must have dreamed the phone call. I’ve been having a lot of nightmares recently.”

“You haven’t been pressured into this change of heart, have you? Would you like to meet somewhere away from your house to talk about this?”

“No. No one has pressured me. I’ve just come to my senses. We buried Mandy three years ago. I must have imagined the phone call.”

“But, Lacey—”

“Just send me your bill would you, please?”

And with that, she hung up.

Why the sudden change of heart? I couldn’t help but feel it was related to Joe Ball’s liaison with the woman in the park. I’d obviously spooked him, but why would that have caused him to call off his affair? And more importantly, why was Lacey trying to shut down the investigation?

If I’d had any sense, I would have left it at that. But I didn’t, so that was never going to happen. I needed to find out exactly what the police knew about the Lacey Ball case. According to her, she’d told the police that she’d had a phone call from her sister, but that they hadn’t been interested.

Even though I wasn’t Washbridge Police’s biggest fan, I doubted they would have simply dismissed her call for help out of hand. I needed to find out what, if anything, they’d done.

Getting in and out of the police station was child’s play for me now. I had any number of spells that could get me inside: I could use the ‘shrink’ spell, or the ‘doppelganger’ spell, or even the ‘invisibility’ spell. This time, I opted for invisibility, and made my way to what had once been Jack’s office. It didn’t take me long to find the records I was looking for. I found a file on Mandy Day which was from three years earlier. It concerned the car crash, and concluded that it had been an accident, which had probably been caused by the driver falling asleep at the wheel. I continued to look for other records held under either Mandy’s or Lacey’s name, but there was nothing at all. There was no record of Lacey’s recent request for help, which I found very strange. The one place that would tell me for sure was the telephone log. The police recorded every incoming call that they received.

I logged onto the system, using the password I’d set up for myself when Jack was still working there. After I’d done that, it was a trivial matter for me to get into the phone log, and even easier to sort it by name. There was no record of a recent telephone call from Lacey Ball.

What did that mean? It seemed to suggest that Lacey had never even reported the call to the police. So why had she told me that she had? It didn’t make any sense.

***

I was on my way back into the office when I literally bumped into two enormous young men. These guys had muscles—everywhere.

“Sorry,” I said, trying to get out of the way.

“Our fault.” They stepped aside.

“Do you have the office at the top of the stairs?” One of them asked.

“Yeah, that’s me. I’m Jill Gooder. Were you on your way to see me?”

“No. We’re going to be taking over the rest of the building.”

“You’re I-Sweat?”

“That’s us. How did you know?”

“I bumped into Zac, the landlord, the other day. He said that you’d signed the lease.”

“I’m George and this is Brent.”

We shook hands. My hand felt small and pathetic in theirs.

“When are you planning to open?”

“We’ve got a fair number of structural alterations to complete. Then we’ve got to fit it all out. It’ll be a while yet. You’ll have to come along and give it a try when we’re open.”

“I might do that. Where have you been based until now?”

“We had a small gym on the other side of town, but we’ve outgrown it. The membership has increased, and we need something better—something more modern. We’ve been looking for somewhere for ages. Finding the right building in the right part of Washbridge, has proven to be much more difficult than we thought. To be honest, when we saw the ‘To Let’ sign, we assumed it was for the whole building. We hadn’t appreciated that someone else was in here. I don’t suppose we could persuade you to move out, could we? We could really do with your office too, so that we have the whole building.”

Oh, no. Deja vu.

“I’m afraid not. I’ve been here for quite a while, and I’ve no plans to move.”

“What is it that you do exactly?” Brent said. “Is it a tanning salon or something?”

After I’d finished talking to the two I-Sweat guys, I made my way upstairs into the outer office. Mrs V was behind the desk. There were two young women sitting in the chairs opposite her.

“Are these two young ladies here to see me, Mrs V?”

“They said that they’re here for the quick tan.”

“Sorry, ladies. I think you must have the wrong address.”

“Aren’t you a tanning salon, then?” the one wearing purple lipstick said.

“No, we’re not.”

“But you’ve got an orange and white sign.”

“Didn’t you see the letters after my name? Jill Gooder P.I.”

“We thought that was like some kind of tanning qualification.”

“I’m a private investigator.”

“So you don’t do tans, then?”

“No, sorry. But there is going to be a health club opening next door soon. They might have sunbeds.”

“Oh, okay. We’ll probably give them a try when they’re open. Thanks.”

“Why didn’t you just tell them we didn’t do tanning, Mrs V?” I asked, after they’d left.

“I would have, but I’d already seen the men delivering the sunbed, so I thought maybe you’d decided to branch out.”

“What sun bed?”

“Two men took it through to your office. I didn’t know what to think.”

That made two of us.

Winky was lying on the sunbed in the middle of my office. He was wearing goggles.

“Hey! You!”

“What?”

“What is this doing here, Winky?”

“Giving me a tan. What do you think? Do I look good?”

“You’re a cat. Cats don’t have tans.”

“Only because they don’t have easy access to sunbeds.”

“What’s this thing doing in here anyway? I hope you haven’t paid for it on my credit card.”

“No, of course not.”

“Or debit card?”

“No. What do you think I am?”

“How did you get it here, then?”

“A guy rang up. He’d driven past, seen the sign, and thought it was a tanning salon. He’s in the business of renting and selling sunbeds. He left a message on your answerphone to see if he could interest you in one. I called him back to say that we’d take one on a free trial, and see what we thought of it.”

“If he was a human, how did you even speak to him?”

“Haven’t you heard of text-to-voice?”

“Heard of what?”