Page 81 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

‘Thou art quite far from the scene of thy demise,’ Charlotte said. ‘’Tis nay surprise thee find yourself waning, as wilt yon earl and I anon. Ere we reach Chirtlewood, thee shalt be restored to thy previous state.’

‘I can’t see me spots any more,’ Maisey said. ‘Am I dying? Again?’

‘Nay, thee might not but set thine anxieties to ease. Thou shalt hast an hour or two ere thy form is dematerialised.’

‘Disappear?’ I asked. ‘As in completely vanish and not come back?’ I didn’t want the death of one of the ghosts on my conscience. Or would that be an undeath? Maybe a re-death? I shook my head, confused.

‘I hast beheld such a sight,’ Charlotte said. ‘Yet I know not what transpired after.’

‘Let’s go back, then,’ I said, restarting the car.

‘We ought to first investigate the bower of Penny for the tome of incantation. See if it be true the lady hast borne it off.’

‘Ooh, can I come too?’ Maisey bounced up and down in her seat, her fading issue forgotten for now.

‘Naturally.’ Charlotte smiled. ‘We shalt all accompany. That shalt be more expeditious.’

‘Fie upon that!’ the earl said. ‘I shalt remain hither. I hast nay wish to tramp about some servant’s lodgings, hunting for a volume.’

‘Thou art ever so cantankerous, my beloved,’ the countess said. ‘The remainder of us shalt wend forth, aye? We hast the entire hovel to look through, do we not?’

Maisey exited the car and pelted down the street. The houses beyond her were visible through her torso. It made my skin crawl. Charlotte went after her.

‘She’s not actually going to disappear forever, is she?’ I asked the earl as I turned the car off.

‘Not unless she dillydallies.’

I was still concerned, but Maisey wasn’t the type to dawdle.

Ten minutes later, they returned to the car and slipped inside. I started it and did a U-turn before heading back towards Kingston and onwards to Chirtlewood, eager to get them home as quickly as possible.

‘Don’t tell me everything you found there, only if you found anything that appeared to be a witch’s spell book,’ I said.

‘I noticed naught of the sort,’ Charlotte said.

Maisey stayed silent. I glanced in the mirror, worried she had evaporated, but she appeared more solid. Her spots were even starting to rematerialise. It was the first time I’d been relieved at the sight of measles spots.

‘Maisey? Did you see a large, leather-bound book anywhere?’

‘Nay. I did look hard, too.’

‘I bet you did.’ How could they search an entire house in ten minutes? They didn’t have to open anything, did they? All they had to do was stick their head through a cupboard door or into a drawer.

‘But ye shouldst hast seen the lady’s basement!’ Maisey said. ‘’Twast a chamber made for torture!’

I absolutely did not want to hear that. Penny had a secretive kinky side to her nature and possibly a lucrative side hustle that went along with it.

‘Maisey, I said not to tell me what you found unless it was the spell book.’

‘Ye hast said nay to know all that I hast found, so I dinnae be telling ye that. But I swear, if ye just took a peek inside her wardrobe, ye’d see it all.’

‘That’s enough, Maisey.’ Unbidden thoughts ran through my mind. I’d never unsee them, and they were almost enough to drive me off the road. Concentrate on my driving! I’m more fragile than the ghosts.

We arrived at Chirtlewood. The ghosts thanked me for the outing—apart from the earl, who said I’d wasted his time. Scruffles barked at the earl as he hobbled towards the front entrance, and a broad smile creased the earl’s face.

When they had gone inside, I went home, the events of the evening preying on my mind. I couldn’t rule out Penny as a suspect—she may have taken the book from the house yesterday. Other than her, there were only Melissa and Lydia. Surely, Lydia wouldn’t have done such a thing, but she was a witch, and it was a witch’s spell book that was stolen...

My thoughts were leading me to a place I didn’t want to go. Lydia was the colleague I was closest to, the person who had helped me the most in my new job. Surely, she wasn’t a murderer and a thief, but if it wasn’t her or Penny, it must be Melissa, and she wasn’t a witch, so why would she want a witch’s spell book?

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