Page 51 of Secrets of the Forgotten Heir

‘No, she can’t,’ Yanni said matter-of-factly. ‘Amara wants to stay and I think it’s good for her. She’s here if we need to ask her more questions and it gives her a sense of security. Don’t try to take that away from her. We’re happy to keep her and she’s happy to stay. I promise she’s perfectly comfortable.’

Great. The murder suspect didn’t want to leave custody and the other two suspects I wanted to question had vanished. Textbook police work, really. I sighed. ‘I’d like to talk to Mrs D, if I could.’

‘Let her be for now. She’s upset so give her space. I’m sure you’ll be here when she wants someone to talk to.’ She touched my shoulder. ‘Look, you had a late night yesterday. I shouldn’t have asked you to come back so early this morning, not after the rough day you’d had. Why don’t you go home?’

‘I don’t mind covering the phones,’ Dove chimed in from her desk. She’d obviously been listening but she had an amazing skill of making herself near-invisible. ‘Sam’sworking at the moment, and I’d like the excuse to get off earlier and be with him.’

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, surprised by her kind offer.

‘Absolutely. You’ll be doing me a favour. Though maybe I shouldn’t have said that. That way, I could ask you to cover some ofmyshifts in the future.’ She winked.

‘Just say when and where,’ I replied. ‘And thank you. I appreciate that.’ Yanni was right – though not about the lack of sleep. Iwastired but, more worryingly, I was off my A-game. The shit in Sonny’s had rattled me more than I cared to admit and a few hours to get my head together would be appreciated.

‘No problem,’ Dove beamed.

I looked at Eva, who was once again lying on her back, sprawled out and already snoring, despite us having been back in the office for less than ten minutes. Oh, to be able to sleep in public.

‘Can you be back by seven?’ Yanni asked as I picked up my bag. ‘It’ll mean doing the night shift so someone’s here with Amara.’

Seven that evening: that meant six hours to eat, sleep and make myself feel a bit more human. That was something I could do.

‘Absolutely. I’ll beback at seven,’ I promised. ‘Ready to work.’ A quiet night-time shift would hopefully give me the chance to look into this mysterious Fatima Crawley.

Sleep, then time on the clock digging up dirt. It was a win-win.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The minute I opened the front door, the smell hit me. ‘Maddie? Is that…?’

‘In the kitchen,’ she called happily. She was standing over the stove, stirring something with a wooden spoon.

‘You didn’t!’ I said, feeling the grin stretch my lips.

‘Yanni rang and said you’d had a bit of a rough morning so I thought I’d make us hot chocolate. And if you look in that bowl there…’

I glanced into the dish she pointed at, and my heart surged with affection for my best friend. ‘You’ve picked out all the pink marshmallows for me?’

‘I did, because I’m wonderful,’ she said smugly.

‘You are,’ I agreed over the sudden lump in my throat.

Maddie eyed me curiously. ‘So, what the hell happened? My phone’s red hot with calls about you and Old Jacobson getting into some kind of magical fight.’

I sighed. ‘A magical fight implies you can both do magic, which we both know isn’t the case. But … it was weird. He got so freaked out when he saw me,’ I paused then told her the only conclusion I could draw in the circumstances. ‘I think he knew my grandmother and I guess we look alike. He saw me and totally lost it.’

Maddie frowned. ‘But he moved hereafteryour grandmother’s … incident.’

She was right. I hadn’t thought about that; I’d been too distracted by the muttering, the heavy stares and hearing my name being whispered. ‘I guess he must’ve heard about her,’ I said. ‘Maybe seen some photos. But honestly, it was like he thought he waslookingat her and seen a ghost.’ I paused. ‘A terrible, evil ghost.’

‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you actually look like your grandma? I mean, I saw her too, with her scary hair and crazy eyes. She looked nothing like you.’

‘Right.’ I’d thought that too. The image of my grandmother isn’t something that will ever fade from my memory – I don’t even think the strongest amnesia spell could shift it. Given all the time she’d had me, I’d had a pretty good look at her and I hadn’t seen any similarities between us. I hadn’t even twigged that we were related until Dad showed up.

‘Do you think Old Jacobson knew her before she came here?’ Maddie said. ‘When she was young? Your age?’ Her eyes widened. ‘God, is he a sorcerer?’

‘Honestly, I have no idea. I’m guessing he didn’t mean to hurt me though, because he definitely had the power to do that if he wanted to. I feel bad that Fraser got hurt trying to protect me.’

‘Sorry, what?’ Maddie turned to me, her mouth hanging open. ‘Bea! Please don’t tell me you’re talking about Fraser Banks?’

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