SH03 - Whoops! Someone Is On Our Case Read online

  “You said that Jade had nearly dumped you? Are things okay now?”

  “Yeah, but it was a close call. I’m still worried that Amelia might do something else. Something even worse. She’s a psycho.”

  “What sort of thing?”

  “I don’t know. I was at her apartment just now, and she said that she hoped that nothing terrible would happen to Jade.”

  “That’s just talk.”

  “I’m not so sure. I’m worried she might try to harm Jade.”

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Deadly.”

  “You should speak to Neil.”

  “How can he help?”

  “I think you need some kind of magic spell that will protect Jade from Amelia.”

  “Do you think Neil could do something like that?”

  “Not a chance, but he might know someone who can.”

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, Charlie, Neil and Dorothy were in the lounge, discussing Amelia’s threat to harm Jade.

  “Amelia could just be bluffing,” Neil said.

  “Do you really want to take that risk?” Dorothy glanced over at Susan’s bedroom door; they couldn’t afford to have her overhear their conversation. “Look what she’s done already. Who in their right mind would pretend to be someone’s wife?”

  “I saw the look on her face when she said it,” Charlie said. “I think she’s capable of anything.”

  “There isn’t a spell that would offer Jade any kind of meaningful protection,” Neil said. “What you really need is a potion, and the only person I can think of who might be able to help with that is Jill Gooder.”

  “Isn’t she the witch who recommended Dorothy when we were looking for a new flatmate?” Charlie said.

  “I don’t think we can hold that against her.” Neil grinned.

  “Shut up, Neil.” Dorothy shot him a look. “Jill’s okay. She put me onto this flat and the job at the fancy dress shop. I don’t know if she’s able to do potions though.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Charlie said. “I can’t just wait around to see what Amelia does next. I’ll go over to her offices today.”

  “Shush!” Dorothy put her finger to her lips. “I hear the human.”

  Sure enough, a few moments later, Susan came out of her bedroom.

  “I’d better go and get ready for work.” Dorothy stood up and headed for her room.

  “Morning, guys.” Susan went straight to the kitchen, and poured herself a coffee and some cereal. “The way Dorothy disappears every time I walk into the room, anyone would think she didn’t like me.”

  “I shouldn’t take it personally,” Neil said. “She hates everyone in equal measure.”

  “I woke up with a blinding headache.” Susan rubbed her forehead. “Do we have any tablets anywhere?”

  “I saw some in Dorothy’s bag.” Charlie grabbed it from beside the sofa.

  “Shouldn’t I ask her first?” Susan said.

  “She won’t mind.” He threw the packet to Susan, who took two out, and then threw it back. “I didn’t get the chance to ask you last night, Charlie. How did your date go?”

  “We had to postpone it until the weekend.”

  “I’ve had a dinner invitation, too.” Susan washed down the tablets with a glass of water.

  “With Greg?”

  “No. With my parents.”

  “I thought you’d had some kind of falling out with them?”

  “The last time I went over there, my father tried to set me up with a different job, but according to my mother, he’s now come around, and is more accepting of my chosen career.”

  “You don’t sound very convinced.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Susan pulled at the neck of her blouse. “Is it just me or is it remarkably hot in here?”

  “It feels okay to me.”

  “I’m roasting.” She wiped her hand across her brow. “And my heart’s racing. Have we changed the coffee?”

  “No. It’s the same one we always have,” Charlie said.

  Dorothy came back out of the bedroom, and picked up her bag.

  “I hope you don’t mind, Dorothy,” Susan said. “I helped myself to a couple of your tablets. I woke up with a blinding headache this morning.”

  “Where did you get them from?”

  “Your bag. Charlie said you wouldn’t mind.”

  “Err—no, I don’t mind.” Dorothy turned to the others. “Charlie, Neil, can you come and look at that thing we talked about earlier?”

  “What thing?” Charlie looked puzzled.

  “You know. The thing. The thing we talked about earlier.”

  Neither Charlie nor Neil had the first clue what she was talking about, but they followed her into her bedroom. Once inside, Dorothy closed the door.

  “Why did you let her take my tablets?”

  “She had a headache,” Neil said. “You surely can’t begrudge her a couple of headache tablets.”

  “They aren’t headache tablets!”

  “Yes, they are. I saw the packet.”

  “They’re my Stop B-Urge tablets.”

  “What’s that?”

  “They stop me craving human blood.”

  “Why were they in a packet for headache tablets?” Charlie asked.

  “So Susan wouldn’t see them and ask awkward questions.”

  “After she took them, she said she was burning up,” Neil said.

  “And that her heart was racing.” Charlie looked worried now. “Will she be okay?”

  “I don’t know.” Dorothy was trying her best not to panic. “I think so.”

  “You think so?” Neil said. “That’s very reassuring.”

  “Take a peek at her, Charlie.” Dorothy pointed to the door.

  He opened it a fraction, and peered out. “It looks like she’s asleep.”

  “That or she’s dead,” Neil said.

  “This is no laughing matter, Neil.” Dorothy led the way back into the lounge where the three of them stood over Susan.

  “She’s still breathing.”

  “Let’s get her into her bedroom,” Dorothy suggested.

  “Should we call the ambulance?”

  “And tell them what? That we’ve poisoned her?”

  “She might die.”

  “She won’t die. She’ll just be out of it for a couple of hours. That’s what the pharmacist said. Come on. Grab her arms and legs.”

  “What will we say to her when she comes around?”

  “We won’t be here. She’ll just think she dozed off.”

  “And sleepwalked into her bedroom?” Neil grinned.

  “Have either of you got a better suggestion?”

  They hadn’t, so the three of them carried Susan into her bedroom, and put her on the bed.

  “I don’t know how you expect us to get away with this.” Neil was giving Charlie and Dorothy a lift. “Susan isn’t stupid.”

  “There was nothing else we could have done.” Dorothy shrugged.

  “There is one thing you could have done.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You could have not let a human get her hands on your vampire tablets.”

  “As I recall, I wasn’t in the room at the time. You two gave her permission to plunder my handbag.”

  “That was my fault,” Charlie admitted. “But I had no idea what they were.”

  “It’s okay, Charlie. You weren’t to know.”

  “Typical.” Neil tutted. “When Charlie does something wrong, you forgive him every time, but if I put a single foot out of place, you tear into me.”

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Oh, and by the way, don’t drop me at the bookshop; I’m coming to the fancy dress shop with you.”

  “For your fairy costume?” Neil grinned.

  “Yes, and if I hear one sarky comment from you while I’m there, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  Before going into work, Charlie wanted to see if he c
ould contact Jill Gooder.

  “Hello, you’ve reached the offices of Jill Gooder, P.I. How can I help you?”

  “Is that Jill?”

  “Goodness, no. I’m Annabel Versailles; Jill’s PA. How can I help?”

  “I was hoping that I might be able to arrange to see Jill today.”

  “She’s very busy.”

  “It’s extremely urgent, and I’ll only need a few minutes of her time. Will you tell her it’s Charlie, and that I used to manage the fancy dress shop? I think she’ll remember me.”

  “Just hold on a moment, please.”

  Charlie crossed his fingers and waited.

  “Hello. Jill says she can spare you ten minutes at one o’clock if that’s okay?”

  “That’s fine. I’ll be there.”

  “After you.” Neil made a show of holding the door open for Dorothy.

  She glanced around. “This place hasn’t changed at all.”

  “Dorothy, meet my two able assistants: Debs and Fable. Ladies, this is Dorothy. She used to work here once upon-a-time.”

  “If you worked for Neil, you have my sympathy,” Debs said.

  “Neil wasn’t the manager when I was here. That was Charlie. He and I left about the same time.”

  “To get away from Neil, no doubt.”

  “It didn’t work, though, because we all share an apartment.”

  “If you’ve done talking about me.” Neil glared at Debs. “Dorothy is here to purchase a fairy outfit. Will you show her the skankiest we have in stock, please?”

  “Take no notice of him,” Dorothy said. “I want something simple, and preferably very cheap.”

  “We have a good selection,” Fable said. “Follow me, please.”

  “How do you like working for Neil?” Dorothy asked, once they were out of earshot.

  “Neil’s okay. He’s asked me to be his magician’s assistant, at his audition tonight.”

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “Yeah, but I haven’t told my boyfriend, Troy. I don’t think he would approve.”

  “Don’t lose your boyfriend just to help Neil out. He isn’t worth it.”

  “It’s okay. I quite fancy the idea of being on TV.”

  Neil came to join them. “Now then, my little fairy, have you picked your outfit yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Don’t we have anything skanky enough for you?”

  ***

  Susan woke up several hours later.

  Confused, she tried to work out why she was lying on the bed, but she drew a blank. At least her headache had gone.

  She checked her phone; it was almost midday, and she was due to meet Greg at one o’clock.

  She called the office.

  “Susan? I thought you were coming in this morning?” Stella said.

  “Something came up. Any messages?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Okay. I doubt I’ll make it in this afternoon because I’m chasing down a couple of possible leads. Give me a call if anything crops up, would you?”

  “Will do.”

  Susan had arranged to meet Greg at Middle Wash. They were going to check out The KeyStop together. If she hurried, she’d just about have time to pick up a sandwich en-route.

  The Gregmobile was parked across the road from The KeyStop. Susan pulled up behind him, but Greg didn’t seem to notice her arrival. When she walked to the driver’s side window, she could see why: he was singing along to some awful music, so she knocked on the window to get his attention.

  “Sorry.” He turned down the music. “I didn’t see you there.”

  “What was that awful racket?”

  “Wash your mouth out. That was prog-rock at its finest.”

  “I’m surprised this old heap has a CD player.”

  “CD? None of that new-fangled nonsense. This is an eight-track stereo.”

  “A what?”

  He pressed a button on the dashboard, and the player ejected a huge cartridge, which had the picture of an album sleeve printed on it.

  “Don’t drop that thing; it’ll break your toes.”

  “You can keep your MP3s and your Spotify; give me good old eight track any day.”

  “Have you seen much activity across the road?”

  “I’ve only been here a short time, but I did see someone pull up in a Range Rover, a few minutes ago. They came out of the shop, clutching a brown paper bag.”

  “I told you. Something weird is going on.”

  “What’s the plan, then?”

  “I can’t go in there because he’ll remember me from the last time. You’ll have to go in.”

  “Okay.” Greg climbed out of the car, and was about to cross the road when Susan grabbed his arm.

  “Not yet. Wait until another car pulls up. When they go inside the shop, give it a minute, and then go inside. Hopefully, you’ll see whatever it is they’re up to.”

  “Sounds like a plan. It’s quite exciting this reporting lark, isn’t it?”

  “It has its moments.”

  Greg made his way casually across the road. At least, Susan assumed that he was going for ‘casual’. In fact, he might just as well have been wearing a placard saying: Nothing to see here.

  Once on the other side of the street, Greg pretended to be fascinated by the display of meat in the butcher’s shop window. Meanwhile, Susan made out that she was speaking to someone on the phone.

  They didn’t have long to wait because a few minutes later, a blue BMW pulled up. A young man jumped out and disappeared inside the shop. Greg looked at Susan who shook her head to indicate that she didn’t want him to follow too quickly. After a minute or so, she gave him the nod, and he went into the shop.

  The young man was the first to come back out, brown paper bag in hand. Greg came out a few minutes later.

  “Well?” Susan asked.

  “When I walked in, the shopkeeper was giving the young man something from the safe.”

  “I knew it.”

  “Except, I don’t think it is a safe. I think it’s a fridge designed to look like a safe. I caught a glimpse inside, and it looked like a fridge to me.”

  “Did you see what he gave the young man, or what was in the fridge?”

  “No. As soon as he saw me, the shopkeeper slammed the fridge door closed.”

  “Did you say anything to him?”

  “No. I didn’t want to let him know we were onto him, so I got a key cut.”

  “We need to find out what they’re selling.”

  “How are we going to do that?”

  “I have a plan.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know what that is.”

  “You have to know; you’re a key part of it.”

  Susan quickly ran through her plan with a less than enthusiastic Greg.

  “Move a little further up the street,” she said. “That way you won’t look conspicuous.”

  He did as she said, and positioned himself in front of the greengrocer. Susan was now the one trying to look fascinated by the display of meat in the butcher’s shop window.

  They didn’t have very long to wait until the next punter pulled up outside The KeyStop. This time it was a Lexus; the driver was a well-dressed woman in her thirties. Susan watched out of the corner of her eye as the woman entered the shop.

  “Ready?” she called to Greg.

  He took out his phone, and gave her the thumbs up. Susan edged closer to the door; if this was going to work, her timing would have to be spot on.

  As soon as the woman came out of the shop, Susan deliberately bumped into her, making sure that her arm came into contact with the brown paper bag. Just as Susan had hoped, the woman dropped the bag onto the floor. It had obviously contained a bottle because the glass smashed.

  “Sorry!” Susan said. “I’m so sorry.”

  The woman said nothing. Instead, she rushed over to her car, and drove away at speed.

  “Look!” Greg pointed to the red liquid that was running down t
he pavement.

  “Take a photo!” Susan shouted. “Hurry up!”

  Greg only just had time to take it before the door to The KeyStop opened.

  “What’s going on out here?” It was the same young man who had cut a key for Susan on her last visit.

  “Someone dropped this,” Susan stated the obvious.

  The man’s expression changed when he saw the carnage on the pavement; he didn’t look annoyed—he looked scared.

  “It’s okay. I’ll see to it.”

  Susan and Greg made their way to their respective cars, and then met up as arranged in the car park of the Wash Diner, on the outskirts of Washbridge. They were both seated in Susan’s car.

  “Did you get the photo?” she asked.

  “I think so.” He brought out his phone. “Yeah, look.”

  “I was expecting to see powder, not a liquid.” Susan stared at the image. “But then, I’m not very well up on drugs, are you?”

  “Not really.”

  “We need to find out which drug comes in the form of a red liquid.”

  “If it is a drug.”

  “What do you mean? What else could it be?”

  “It looks like blood to me.”

  “Blood? Who would want to buy bottles of blood?”

  “Vampires.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “It makes perfect sense.”

  “In your crazy world, maybe.”

  “Hear me out. I don’t know much about drugs, but I doubt they need to be refrigerated. Blood does. And there must be a massive market for it.”

  “From all the vampires wandering around Washbridge, I suppose.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Look, I get that you have a thing about the paranormal, but you’re seeing supernatural creatures everywhere. If there were vampires living amongst us, don’t you think someone might have noticed?”

  “Can you think of another reason for a network of shops, selling blood?”

  “That’s quite the leap. I don’t believe for one minute what we saw just now was blood.”

  “What do you think it was, then?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know it has nothing to do with vampires.”

  Chapter 16

  “Would you like a scarf, young man?” The old lady behind the desk asked.