Page 86 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

The inspector left.

Lydia spoke up. ‘There are no pastries this morning because Penny was too upset to remember to buy them, so let’s just get the house ready to open for visitors.’

She walked past me without another word. Penny was next, brushing past me with her head raised. Melissa came last, and pointedly stopped by me and said, ‘Perhaps you’d better quit, Heather. You’re not fitting in with the team here.’

***

NOTHING I’D PLANNED had turned out well.

I paced up and down in the ballroom, avoiding the others. Visitors came and went, but somehow, they knew not to approach me. I must have been putting out misery vibes.

In a few quiet minutes between visitors, the countess appeared in front of me. I walked right through her before I’d even realised she was there. It was only the chill that brought me out of my melancholic reverie.

‘Thee violated me,’ she said.

‘I’m really sorry, Charlotte. I wasn’t watching where I was going.’

‘Hmph. It matters not.’ She inclined her head and looked at me questioningly. ‘Pray tell, what ails thee? Thy countenance is most forlorn.’

‘Last night’s adventures have got me into trouble. The other house guides are angry and upset with me.’

‘Didst thee inform them of thy suspicions that one of them is the villainous thief and murderer?’

I sighed, stopped pacing and turned to face Charlotte. ‘I did. I said a lot of stuff I shouldn’t have because I couldn’t keep my big mouth closed.’

‘Verily, these recent decades hast seen an upheaval of speech. Nay longer do people say what is most pleasing to the ear, but rather, each individual does express their mind and heart.’

‘It’s called honesty, and this morning, it didn’t do me any good.’

Charlotte pursed her lips. ‘So, wilt we follow someone else home this evenfall?’

‘No. I’ll lose my job. I love this job... but I can’t continue to work here if I think one of my colleagues is responsible for...’ I stopped short of saying it. I couldn’t even contemplate it without a sickening sensation forming in my stomach.

‘Verily, this seems a conundrum that hath a political tang,’ the countess said. ‘When I lived, I wouldst rapturously ponder such matters. Thus, if thee do persist with thine inquest, thee stand to be summarily cashiered. However, if thee do not pursue it, thee shalt resign from thy post in vexation of not knowing the sooth of the circumstances. Is it so?’

‘Pretty much.’ I sighed. ‘Maybe it’s the best thing. I thought I was making friends with my colleagues, and now they don’t trust me, and I am suspicious of them.’

‘Alas! It certes wast the jolliest amusement we hadst for ages. I daresay, possibly even a hundred years.’

Oh gods. Now I was responsible for ruining the best fun a household of ghosts have had in a century. ‘I’m glad you enjoyed the outings. Unfortunately, we weren’t successful, and I might have been completely wrong about the whole thing. Probably was.’

‘Thee shalt never discover the sooth unless thee persist in thine inquiry, wilt thee?’

I didn’t want to argue the point with her. I couldn’t; she was right. ‘It’s no longer an option for me,’ I said weakly. ‘I don’t want to lose this job. I have to earn enough to care for my aunt.’

Aunt Ruth. All she’d told me that morning came rushing back. I’d put it out of my mind, buried in my own troubles, but Aunt Ruth was dying. Or going to die. On the third of September, apparently. And she wouldn’t tell me how she knew that or what, if anything, she could do about it.

Now guilt crept through me as I realised how selfish I’d been, thinking of myself instead of how I might help Aunt Ruth.

Instead of being a help to her, I’d fucked things up entirely. I’d broken Aunt Ruth’s magic mirror, so she couldn’t do advanced magic any more. Her hot boarder, Raven, is so enamoured with me he can’t concentrate on his study to find a way to lift his curse, and he shifts into raven form when I get too close. Aunt Ruth is so upset that she’ll run out of time to help him she suggested I might have to move out.

I groaned. I was ruining my relationship with my aunt, who kindly offered me a place to live after my marriage disintegrated. I’d torpedoed my budding friendships with my colleagues by spying on one of them and losing their trust. Melissa even told me I should leave, and I couldn’t think of any good reason why I shouldn’t.

I wanted to investigate the murder myself and find the stolen witch’s spell book to help my aunt. All I’d done was lose everything important to me in my new life. I’d wrecked it.

Mired in my negative thoughts, I’d totally forgotten about the countess. I dragged my consciousness out of the depths of despair.

She’d gone.

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