Witch Is When Stuff Got Serious (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 11) (17 page)

Chapter 20

The next morning, I was still buzzing from the BoundBall match.

“You look very pleased with yourself, Jill.” Mrs V was sorting through a pile of scarves. “What are you so happy about?”

“BoundBall.”

Whoops!

“What’s bound ball?”

What was I thinking? I’d been so carried away that I’d forgotten I was back in the human world.

“No, I didn’t say bound ball, I said—err—round ball. I went to a round ball match.”

“What’s round ball?”

“You know—soccer.”

“I’ve never heard it called round ball before. I didn’t know you liked soccer.”

“Oh yeah. I love it. All that offside and stuff. It’s great.”

“What exactly is offside? I’ve never really understood it.”

“It’s really very complicated. Oh wait. Was that my phone ringing?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“I’m sure it was my phone. I’d better go and check.”

Phew! I’d really let my guard down, but I’d just about got away with it.

There was a sudden chill in the office accompanied by the sound of giggling. That could only mean one thing: The colonel and Priscilla were paying a visit. I hadn’t seen them for a while, and had been wondering if they’d given any more thought to returning to the colonel’s house.

When they appeared, I had my answer, and had to shield my eyes.

“Hi, Jill,” the colonel said. “Are you okay? Do you have something in your eye?”

“No. I don’t. You two do realise you’re naked, don’t you?”

“Whoops! Sorry, Jill.” The colonel laughed.

Priscilla giggled. “Oh, Briggsy, aren’t we silly?”

“I’m so sorry, Jill,” the colonel said. “Really, this is most embarrassing. Would you prefer it if we left?”

“No, it’s okay, but if you don’t mind, I’ll keep my hand in front of my eyes.”

“Yes, of course. I’m so terribly sorry.”

“I take it that you decided to go back to the house, then?”

“Yes, we did. Cilla and I talked about it for ages. We weren’t sure what to do, but in the end we decided we should at least check the old place out. We thought maybe there’d be some rooms where we wouldn’t come into contact with the guests.”

“Hmm? I’m guessing that’s not quite how things worked out.”

“What gave it away?” The colonel grinned. “You’re quite right. Although we did our best to avoid the new owner and his guests, it was practically impossible. They were everywhere. Wherever we went, there were naked people. The strange thing is though, although neither of us has ever considered naturism before, the more time we spent there amongst these people, the more natural it seemed. One evening, Cilla and I were enjoying a glass of elderberry wine when she asked what I thought about us going naked.”

For a moment I forgot myself, and dropped my hand from my eyes. Priscilla was blushing—all over! I quickly put my hand back.

“I have to say, Priscilla, I’m a little surprised.”

“Me too, Jill. If anyone had told me that I would get into naturism, I would have laughed in their face. But the truth is I feel completely liberated. Both Briggsy and I are really into it.”

“So it would seem.”

“I can only apologise again, Jill,” the colonel said. “We wanted to tell you that we’d moved back to the house, but we’ve spent so much time naked recently, that it never occurred to us that we probably ought to pop some clothes on first.”

“Yeah, well, if you don’t mind, perhaps next time you come over—”

“Of course. We won’t make a habit of this.”

“What do you make of the new owner?”

“He’s quite a charming chap, and he’s definitely into the paranormal. Most nights, he wanders the house, and is obviously looking for us. At first, we found it quite amusing, but to be honest, the novelty has worn off now. We tend to stick to the areas of the house where he isn’t likely to show up. Anyway, we won’t keep you any longer. We’d better be getting back. Thanks again for checking out the house. Next time we come around, I promise we’ll be fully clothed.”

After they’d left, Winky said, “Are you running some kind of porn empire, now?”

“No! They’re just friends.”

“Naked friends?”

“They hadn’t realised they were naked.”

“An easy mistake to make.”

***

I needed to get out of the office for a while, so I thought I’d pay a visit to Coffee Triangle, but when I got there I realised it was gong day. Just my luck—I hated the sound of gongs. I was just about to turn tail when I spotted two familiar faces inside. Jack was with none other than my bestie, Miles Best. They were laughing and joking, and clearly having a whale of a time. What on earth was going on?

I needed to find out what was happening, but I had to do it without letting either of them see me. After sneaking in, all secret-agent like, I found a seat on the opposite side of the shop. I didn’t bother with a muffin; I was too angry to eat. It was incredibly noisy. The stupid man at the table opposite seemed to think that his gong was a drum; he was beating it ten to the dozen. Jack and Miles Best were still laughing and chatting away. How did Jack Maxwell even know Miles Best?

After about thirty minutes, Miles stood up and left, so I made my way over to Jack’s table.

“Jill? I didn’t know you were in here.”

“I bet you didn’t!” I took a seat opposite him. “What were you doing with Miles Best?”

“Whoa, steady on. Who trod on your corns?”

“Why were you with him, Jack?”

“He contacted me, and said he wanted to introduce himself as he was just opening a new P.I. business in the town.”

“And what? You said,
‘Yeah, okay. Let’s get a coffee’
? I seem to remember when you first arrived here, you wouldn’t give
me
the time of day.”

“I’m trying to learn from past mistakes, and besides he emphasised that he wanted to work
with
me and not
against
me. To be fair, he seems very professional.”

“Oh? And I’m not?”

“I didn’t say that, Jill. Anyway, I only saw him in the first place because he said he was a friend of yours.”

“A
friend of mine
?”

“Yes. Why? Isn’t he?”

“Not exactly, no.”

I was going to kill Miles Best.

***

I must have walked past the building known as The Central on numerous occasions, but I’d never really noticed it before. Its façade was overgrown, and the building was practically derelict. According to Daze, this was where my father had disappeared on two occasions. She’d been adamant that he hadn’t made himself invisible because she would have been able to detect that. So, if he hadn’t made himself invisible, where had he gone and how had he done it?

Daze had checked the exterior of the building, but couldn’t see any way to get inside. The windows and door on the front were boarded up. A narrow path, overgrown with weeds, led around the back. There were no windows at ground level on the side of the building. The doors and windows on the back had also been boarded up. As far as I could make out, the boarding seemed to be intact; there was no obvious sign that anyone had tried to force their way inside.

I was well and truly stumped.

“What are you doing here, Jill?” I almost jumped out of my skin.

“Grandma? What are
you
doing here?”

“I asked first!” she snapped.

“I was just taking a walk when I happened to notice this old building.”

“Surely by now, you must know I can tell when you’re lying. I’ll ask again: What are you doing here?”

It was pointless trying to pull the wool over Grandma’s eyes.

“I asked Daze to follow my father.”

“Why are you still wasting time on him? And what’s he got to do with The Central?”

“I just wanted to know why he’d come back to Candlefield, so I asked Daze if she’d follow him for a few days. Most days he simply walks a circular route which takes him back to his flat. But on two occasions, he reached this point, and then disappeared.”

“And you care why?”

“I don’t. I was just curious about where he’d gone. I wanted to know how he could disappear like that.”

“Do you know the history of this building?”

“Not really. Only what Daze told me. She said it used to be a meeting place for sups.”

“That’s only a small part of its history. The ground floor and first floor were hired out for all manner of events, but the top floor was empty for decades until Braxmore moved in. He made it his HQ.”

“Who?”

“Braxmore. Probably the most evil sup there has ever been.”

“I’ve never heard his name before.”

“You won’t have. These days, people are so focussed on TDO that they forget who his mentor was.”

“Braxmore was TDO’s mentor?”

“So the story goes, although no one knows for sure.”

“What happened to Braxmore?”

“No one knows that either. He disappeared around the time that TDO came to prominence. The rumours which circulated at the time, suggested that TDO had turned on his mentor. Braxmore was never seen again.”

“TDO killed him?”

“That’s what we’re supposed to think.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I prefer to rely on proof rather than speculation.”

“Did you know Braxmore?”

“That depends what you mean by ‘know’. Just like TDO, very few people actually knew him. I knew
of
him, and what I knew, I didn’t care for.”

“So why was The Central closed down?”

“When Braxmore disappeared, the powers-that-be took the opportunity to shut the building before a successor could take up residence. It was just the kind of cowardly decision I’ve come to expect from them. Instead of tackling the problem head-on, they brushed it under the carpet, and hoped it would disappear.”

“That strategy doesn’t appear to have worked with TDO, does it?”

“Precisely. The only way to deal with evil is to confront it.”

“Why haven’t they demolished the building?”

“That’s a very good question. I didn’t agree with its closure, but once that decision had been made, it made no sense to leave the building standing. Unless—” She hesitated.

“Unless what?”

“Never mind. Come on. It’s time we were leaving.”

“Hold on. What were you going to say? Unless what?”

“Unless someone gave orders to leave it standing.”

“Who?”

“You ask too many questions. I don’t have the time to hang around here all day.”

“Why would my father come here?”

“More questions! I’ve no idea, but I’ll wager he was up to no good.”

“Do you think he found a way inside?”

“You don’t actually know he went inside. You only have Daisy’s word that he disappeared. He probably knew she was following him and deliberately lost her.”

“But Daze is really smart!”

“So she says. Look, it’s time we both got going. The less time you spend around this place, the better.” She looked up at the forbidding building. “I have bad memories of this building—very bad memories.”

***

I’d tried to get Grandma to elaborate on her ‘bad memories’ comment, but she brushed me off. She insisted I leave with her even though I’d wanted to stay and look around The Central some more. That would just have to wait for another day.

Back at my flat, I had the whole evening to myself. This was my opportunity to really study Magna’s book. It took me ages to read through it, but even longer to actually understand the concepts behind it. It was way more complicated than I’d expected, but slowly and surely it all started to make sense. It was nothing like the magic that I’d been practising up until now. They were basically the same spells, but the added power and the ability to mix and match meant the possibilities were endless. It was a scary thought to have such power at my fingertips. Maybe too scary—I wasn’t sure I wanted such responsibility.

I now understood why Magna had felt the need to hide the book. She’d known she was dying, and feared that, in the wrong hands, this blend of magic could do irreparable harm. What I didn’t understand was why she hadn’t simply destroyed the book so it would die with her. She must have hoped that one day someone would take up her mantle. She surely wouldn’t have expected that someone to be a level three witch who hadn’t even known she was a witch for most of her life. I didn’t feel worthy to be her successor, but what choice did I have? I’d entered the sealed room, and read her book. There was no undoing that.

And why had Grandma orchestrated the whole thing so that I’d find the book? What had made her believe I would be able to get into that room? So many other witches—much more powerful than me—had tried and failed.