Page 108 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

‘Don’t worry. It should be safe in this area.’

‘Maybe, but I’d prefer to lock it. Be back in a minute.’ I stood and went outside.

Shit.

Three youths were inside. One of them appeared to be trying to start it somehow.

‘Hey! Get out of there!’ I marched over, waving at them to get out of Aunt Ruth’s car.

The one in the passenger seat looked at me and stuck his middle finger up before turning back to the driver. ‘Let’s fucking go!’ he shouted.

The car screeched away. They’d left the handbrake on. A girl in the back seat gawped through the rear window and laughed.

I ran back into the White Hart. ‘Some bloody kids are stealing the car!’

Raven was on his feet in a shot, but he wasn’t faster than Maisey, who took off straight through the wall and onto the street. Scruffles bounded after her. I raced outside on Raven’s heels.

The car was still in sight. It stopped and started. The gears crunched, and I grimaced. Hopefully, the handbrake was off now, otherwise they would damage the car. Damn those thieves.

The driver swerved and side-swiped a parked car. I groaned. Now it was damaged.

Maisey and Scruffles ran down the street, trying to catch up as the car bunny-hopped. Clearly, the delinquent driver didn’t have a licence, and if he’d stolen cars before, they must have been automatics. He wasn’t used to a manual transmission.

Raven was on the phone to the police, already reporting the theft. He hung up.

Maisey gave up running. Scruffles kept going, but there was no way he would catch up. The car was picking up speed now.

Raven grabbed me and kissed me passionately on the lips.

A warm, shivery tingle wound its way through my whole body. I pulled him tight and deepened the kiss.

Wait, what?

He was gone. I’d been pressing myself so closely up against him that I lost my balance and nearly toppled forward. I looked up.

A raven streaked low through the air in pursuit of the car.

Raven, after the thieves. With luck, he would see where they abandon the car. There was nothing I could do about it myself. Maisey returned, huffing and puffing. How is it that ghosts could get out of breath? I’d have to ask sometime. In contrast, Scruffles bounded back, full of energy.

We went back inside the White Hart. The singing continued, albeit even more out of tune than before.

‘What transpired?’ Charlotte asked, alarmed. ‘Didst thee apprehend the robbers?’

‘No. They’re gone.’

‘Ah, ’tis true, in my days of yore, those who purloined horses wouldst pay a hefty price. Whipping and even hanging wast oft used to deter felons.’

Draconian. ‘They were only kids.’

‘Aye, and yet they still took thy carriage.’

The singing stopped. I looked over at the booth, where a dull thud sounded as the earl’s head hit the tabletop. He’d passed out.

‘We’d better go,’ I said. Should I call a taxi, or walk? What would the taxi driver think about stopping outside Chirtlewood for a minute or two while the ghosts got out?

I pulled out my phone to call a taxi, but as I did, a familiar figure emerged from the corridor that led to the toilets, carrying a bulky tote bag that contained something large and rectangular.

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