Witch Is Why Time Stood Still (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 13) (18 page)
Read Witch Is Why Time Stood Still (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 13) Online
Authors: Adele Abbott
“Okay, Jill. I understand. Thank you for everything you’ve done this year.”
“It’s been my absolute pleasure.”
***
I caught up with Tabitha Hathaway at the offices of the Combined Sup Council.
“Jill, nice to see you again. I assume you’ve come to a decision?”
“If the offer’s still open, I’d very much like to join the board of the Combined Sup Council.”
“That’s excellent news, I’m delighted. When will you be able to take up your post?”
“Pretty much immediately. When’s the next meeting?”
“In a week’s time. If you give me your number, I’ll send you a text with all the details: time, place, that sort of thing. I’ll be able to introduce you to the rest of the council at the meeting.”
“That’s fine, I’m looking forward to it.”
I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision, but Grandma was right. I had to put my new powers to good use. I owed it to the Candlefield community to use those powers for good. And what better way to do that than to represent the witches on the Combined Sup Council? Now that I’d given up teaching for a year, I figured I’d be able to serve at least twelve months on the council. That should be enough time to see whether I could make a contribution or not. Of course, the real reason I’d agreed was that I was scared to tell Grandma I’d said no.
***
It was late afternoon, and I was amusing myself by flicking paperclips at Winky.
What? I didn’t actually hit him. Sheesh, can’t a girl have any fun?
Kathy arrived unannounced; she was crying with laughter.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay in a minute.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Just give me a moment to recover.” She grabbed a seat.
“What on earth is tickling you?”
“Jill, you are an absolute star. I don’t know how you manage it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Have you been at the bottle again?”
“No, I haven’t. It’s that new sign of yours.”
“My sign? What’s funny about it?”
“It’s brilliant. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.”
I had no idea what she was talking about—it had looked fine to me. Was there a spelling error that I’d missed? It was easy to see what you expected to see. Don’t tell me they’d misspelled my name, and I hadn’t realised it.
“Stay here.” I dashed out of the office, down the stairs and across the road to get a better view.
“What the—?”
When I’d seen the sign earlier, mine was the only one on the building. Since then Sid had installed another immediately below mine. The second sign was in exactly the same font and colours, and read: ‘I-Sweat’.
The two signs were so similar, and so close together that they gave the impression of a single sign that read:
Jill Gooder
Private Investigator
I-Sweat
Sid had never mentioned that he intended to give me a sign in the same font and colours as the I-Sweat guys. What had he been thinking? He probably hadn’t been thinking—he’d been too busy singing.
I hurried back to the office.
“You can stop laughing, Kathy. It’s not funny.”
“Oh, come on, Jill. You have to see the funny side.
Jill Gooder - Private Investigator - I Sweat
.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Winky rolling around the floor in hysterics.
“Why did you put ‘I-Sweat’ on the sign?” Kathy spluttered.
“I didn’t. The ‘I-Sweat’ bit doesn’t belong to me. That’s the name of the new business which is moving in next door. It’s a gym or a health club or something.”
“Not a tanning salon, then?”
“I’m not in the mood. I’ve had it up to here with signs. I should have just left my dad’s old one up.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Kill somebody. And sing while I do it.”
“You should be grateful to whoever fitted the sign.”
“Grateful? Why would I be grateful?”
“I actually came here to pick a bone with you, but after I’d seen the sign, I couldn’t hold it together.”
“What have I done now?”
“Guess who rang Pete last night?”
“Santa Claus. I don’t know. Who?”
“Your bimbo of a next door neighbour.”
“Megan?”
“None other. Did you give her Pete’s number?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Are you sure.”
“I’m positive.”
“What about Jack?”
“I don’t know. I suppose he could have.”
“Well, you can tell Jack that when I see him again, he and I are going to have words.”
“So, is Peter going to see Megan?”
“Oh, yes. He’s only gone and invited her over to our house, so they can go through her business plan together.”
“That will be cosy.” I couldn’t hold back a smirk.
“You can wipe that stupid smile off your face.”
***
When Jen came around at seven o’clock, she had two huge cupcakes with her.
“I thought we could have these with a drink.”
“Thanks.” I took them from her. “I’d bought some custard creams, but these look lovely.”
“I don’t actually like custard creams. I think they’re horrible.”
What? It was a good thing she hadn’t told me that before I’d asked her over. What kind of person didn’t like custard creams? Still, the cupcakes did look lovely.
It turned out that she was a nurse, based in Washbridge Hospital.
“That must be very satisfying work.”
“It is. Probably not as interesting as what you do though. If it hadn’t been for my job, I would never have met Blake. I came up here to do a nursing course, and that’s when we met. I transferred up here to finish my studies at Washbridge Hospital, and I’ve been there ever since.”
“Do you see yourself staying in Washbridge, and in that job?”
“For the time being, yeah. Although Blake and I would like to have children some time. Not for a few years yet though.” She hesitated.
“What’s the matter, Jen?”
“It’s nothing, it’s just that—I don’t know. Perhaps everyone feels this way.”
“What way?”
“I know Blake loves me, but ever since we’ve been together, I’ve felt like he doesn’t open up to me completely. It’s like there’s a part of his life that I don’t even know about. Do you know what I mean?”
“Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean.”
More mystery, magic and mayhem from Jill Gooder
and a cast of thousands (okay, tens) in the next book:
Witch Is Why The Laughter Stopped
(Witch P.I. Mysteries #14)
More mysteries and even more crazy await you!
Web Site:
http:www.AdeleAbbott.com
WHOOPS!
OUR NEW FLATMATE IS A HUMAN!
Charlie (a werewolf), Dorothy (a vampire) and Neil (a wizard) share a huge loft in Washbridge, but they can no longer make rent. They’ve been trying to find another supernatural (sup) to take the fourth bedroom for months now, but with no success. Their landlord is tired of waiting for his money, so takes matters into his own hands, and finds them a new flatmate.
Susan Hall is an investigative reporter who has just joined The Bugle. She is ambitious, and determined to clean up the paper’s sleazy image with hard hitting stories. She’s been living out of a suitcase in a crummy hotel for weeks, so is delighted to be offered a flat share in a beautiful loft space.
The three original flatmates are horrified. It’s bad enough that their new flatmate is a reporter, but what’s even worse: she’s human.
Please see web site for more details/availability