Page 110 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

It all made sense. Melissa overheard Ronald telling me how the spell book was extremely valuable. She was on the same floor at the time of his murder. She was one of the few people who could have hidden the book and retrieved it later. Even if she wasn’t a witch herself, she must have known she could sell it for a lot of money.

One thing I’d learned about Melissa was that she coveted wealth. She desired expensive clothes and accessories, even if she bought them second-hand at the thrift store. She’d seen the witch’s spell book as a fast route to riches.

Melissa pressed forward, shoving me aside with one shoulder. I stumbled back but remained on my feet. She escaped through the door onto the street.

I dashed after her. I couldn’t let her get away. My car had gone, Raven had flown off, and I couldn’t chase Melissa down the street. I wouldn’t get fifty metres.

It was raining now.

She’d stopped by an old blue Volvo and was searching her bag. She must be looking for the keys! That’s her car. I can’t let her get away!

If only those kids had stolen her car instead of mine.

I hastened over to Melissa. With one quick movement, I lunged forward and snatched the tote bag from her. She let out a cry of surprise and tried to pull it back. But I held on tightly, refusing to let go.

‘Give it to me!’ she demanded, glaring at me with fury in her eyes. She dropped her car keys. I kicked them under the vehicle.

‘No way,’ I shot back. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

Lightning crackled in the sky, swiftly followed by a loud peal of thunder.

Melissa glowered at me, but I stood my ground, refusing to let her win. We struggled, our bodies colliding as we fought for control over the tote bag. Finally, I got a firm grip on it and tugged as hard as I could.

The bag ripped open, and the book tumbled to the pavement.

It was the stolen spell book.

I grabbed it. ‘Care to explain this, Melissa?’ I stuffed it under my coat, pressed against my body, trying to protect it from the rain.

Her startled expression faded when she saw I had the spell book in my possession, and she put her hands on her hips defiantly. ‘I found it, and I’m going to turn it in for the reward.’

‘Liar. You killed Ronald Morris and stole it after you overheard him say how valuable it was.’

Her eyes drilled into me with hatred. ‘You can’t prove anything.’

‘Inspector Pentecost will be interested to hear my theory, though. Surely, you’ll have left behind physical evidence, like fingerprints or DNA. When I tell the police I found you with this stolen book, they’ll arrest you and find that evidence.’

‘It’s your word against mine, Heather. I’ll say I found you with the book.’

‘But it will be your DNA and fingerprints on the candlestick you hit Ronald with, won’t it?’ I hoped my phone was still recording this. Would she confess if I pressed her?

Melissa scowled. Her expression changed. ‘I didn’t mean to kill him. I only wanted to knock him out so he wouldn’t see me take the spell book. When he’d said how valuable it was, I had to have it.’

‘Why was that?’

‘I’ve worked at Chirtlewood for years. We’re not paid much. Look at how the earl and countess lived. What luxury they had. And there are people today who are even richer. Vastly wealthy. Why shouldn’t I have some of that? It’s just one book from the library, but what I could sell it for would pay for a decent retirement for me.’

‘What about Ronald’s retirement?’ I said grimly. ‘You cut that short.’

‘I told you that was an accident.’

‘You hit him with a heavy metal candlestick. It was lethal.’

‘I know. I had to. He saw me snatching the book.’ She didn’t sound contrite.

‘So, he did see you, and it wasn’t an accident, was it?’ The rain continued to pound down, and I pulled the tote bag containing the book closer to my chest to protect it. ‘Why didn’t you simply take the book after hours when no one was around?’

‘Ronnie was going to ask Lydia if he could borrow the book to take home for a few weeks. I couldn’t take the chance she would allow that. I had to get it first. It was too valuable to let it slip away.’

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