Page 107 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

It was quiet outside the theatre. If there was a performance on, it must have already started. Eight fifteen came and went. Then eight thirty. Raven paced up and down on the footpath. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, glancing both ways along the street.

Eight forty-five. No one had approached Raven.

Our target had outsmarted us.

Raven came back to the car ten minutes later wearing a downcast expression. It was time to give up. I did a U-turn and headed back the same way.

As we approached Kingston, I said, ‘Let’s go back to the White Hart. Pick up the Chirtlewood ghosts and give them a lift back.’

‘I never expected to be part of a ghost taxi service.’ Raven chuckled.

We passed through Kingston and on towards Richmond. Darkness was setting in now.

I pulled up on yellow lines outside the pub and leaped out of the car. ‘I know I shouldn’t park here, but I’ll be as quick as I can.’

I raced inside. But Raven didn’t wait in the car. He followed me.

‘It’s quiet in here for a Wednesday night,’ Raven said.

It wasn’t. The noise was damned atrocious. The earl sat alone in a booth, singing a bawdy navy shanty at the top of his voice, evidently drunk. Half-empty ghostly tankards sat in front of him.

‘Why have you got your hands over your ears?’

‘What’s that?’

Raven pointed to my hands.

‘Oh. The earl is singing. Badly.’

Over at the bar, an old bartender wiped the bar with a cloth. Something about him appeared odd. He moved slightly into better light, revealing that he wore a coarse linen tunic with a leather apron over the top. A ghost bartender. He glanced up and smiled at me toothlessly.

Charlotte sat by the window, sipping at a glass of wine. Ghost wine? Was that even a thing? Maisey was playing with Scruffles on the floor beside her. The few patrons in the pub were all on the other side of the room. Perhaps they sensed something out of the ordinary, like the chilliness.

Another bartender—not the apparition—called out to us. ‘Would you like something to drink?’

‘We might as well have something now we’re here,’ Raven said.

We approached the bar and ordered. I hurried to find a table as far from the earl as possible, though it made little difference. His tuneless voice grated throughout the whole inn.

Raven brought the drinks over.

‘It’s been an exciting date,’ I joked.

‘Thankfully, there wasn’t enough excitement to cause my involuntary shift.’ He grinned.

‘The night is still young.’

We sipped our drinks.

‘They should put some music on for atmosphere,’ Raven said.

No, please don’t. The earl was still hard at it. Actual music might encourage him to sing louder.

‘We’ll need to come up with another plan if we’re going to solve the mystery and find that damned book,’ I said.

‘Let’s think about that tomorrow, once tonight’s disappointment is less fresh.’

‘Oh. I didn’t lock the car. I thought you were going to wait in it.’

---