Raven (A Very British Witch Book 4) Read online

“Oh, I don’t know. Fancy a bite to eat?”

  “Sounds great. I’m absolutely starving.”

  “Where do you fancy?”

  Her mouth twisted, as if thinking it through. “Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you surprise me?”

  “Darling, are you sure you trust me with such an important decision?”

  Scarlett laughed. “Yes. Yes, I trust you.”

  “Very well then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  When Tim turned down a street lined with expensive looking restaurants, Scarlett wiped away some of the condensation that covered the window and looked through, wide-eyed, trying to guess where he might be taking her. She loved driving through town at this time of day, with the restaurants and bars teeming with activity. Halfway along the road, they stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let a group of suits walk past, obviously out for after work drinks, who waved at her when they saw her looking.

  The engine geared up and she continued looking through the gap she’d made in the condensation, until the end of the street came in to view. Ten seconds later, she looked at Tim, puzzled.

  “Darling, where are you taking me?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not far from here.”

  “I meant, which restaurant?”

  “Just one of my favorite joints. Just—”

  “Just what?”

  “Keep an open mind.”

  Scarlett grinned. She did always love a mystery.

  They turned along Market Street, passing the Chinese, Indian, Italian and just about every takeaway imaginable, until they came to the square.

  “Here we are.” Tim pulled up into a parking space, just opposite the Kebab House.

  Scarlett stepped out of the car, grinning, looking around at all the shops, trying to figure out where they might be going. In the end, she followed him through the car park to the sidewalk. After waiting for a car to pass, they crossed over. Tim held open the door of the restaurant and gestured with his head for her to step inside.

  Standing at the doorway, inches from Tim, Scarlett laughed. “Here I was thinking you were going to treat me to something nice.”

  Tim smiled at the dark-haired man in white overalls behind the counter, then turned to focus on Scarlett. “Oh come on, it’s not that bad. I thought you were after a bit of adventure?” He eyed her teasingly. “I’ve been coming here for years and look at me—fit as a fiddle.”

  She looked him up and down. He was, in fact, quite fit. She gave a fake, over-dramatic sigh, just to play along. “Oh well then. I suppose.”

  Now that she was through the door, she could tell the food smelled absolutely delicious, and she followed Tim hungrily to a nearby table.

  Tim smiled at her when he saw how her demeanor had changed. A waitress appeared from nowhere and handed them a pair of menus, then whisked off to grab them some water.

  Scarlett inspected the menu with interest. “What’s good here?”

  Tim gestured enthusiastically. “Everything. There’s a reason I brought you here, and it’s not just so we could spend some time in a place I knew wouldn’t be crowded. I come here for lunch all the time. It’s one of my go-to spots.”

  She smiled. It was a small gesture, but it made her feel a little giddy that he’d want to show her his favourite lunch spot. Tim wasn’t the most verbose when it came to sharing his feelings, but it was little things like this that showed her he cared.

  “I’ll let you pick for me, then. Get me your regular.”

  The waitress returned soon after that, and Tim ordered for the two of them. After she’d gone away again, Scarlett gave him a playful nod.

  “So you said we came here because you knew it wouldn’t be crowded. You know, there’s easier and more appropriate places we could be alone.”

  Tim dipped his head. He suddenly looked a bit wary. “Well, you’ve caught me out, I did have more than dinner on my mind.”

  Scarlett sat up straight. “Oh?”

  “I have some news. Some information for you about Raven.”

  “Have you checked the dates?”

  “I have indeed.”

  “And?”

  “I can tell you when Raven was brought into the facility.” He glanced around, just to make sure no-one was eavesdropping. “September 12th.”

  Scarlett shifted her eyes upwards and did some quick calculation. The result was disappointing. She shook her head.

  “Doesn’t mean anything to you?”

  “I need to give it some thought.”

  Luckily, the waitress arrived with their meals just then, which gave her time to do just that.

  Tim ate patiently while she thought, only interrupting to say, “You know, I will never get used to the idea of a talking cat. I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my job, but this—well, it just about takes the biscuit.”

  Scarlett nodded. “I know just what you mean. If you made a TV series about a talking cat, people would say it was too unrealistic.”

  They both laughed.

  Scarlett took a bite of her meal. “But that’s not the half of it is it?”

  “Not sure what you mean?”

  “Well, as if a talking cat isn’t bad enough, what about the fact that she was once a witch?”

  Tim nodded. “Oh yes, that is pretty improbable too.” He clattered his knife and fork onto his plate, wiped his mouth and pushed the plate towards the middle of the table with a satisfied sigh. “Mmm. Delicious. But of course, we’ve only got her word for that.”

  “What, you don’t believe her?”

  “Don’t believe anything until you’ve seen evidence to support it, that’s what I was taught during my training. And as of yet, I haven’t seen anything to suggest she might have been a witch. Do you believe her?”

  “Well, she was pretty convincing. Yes, I do. Although the idea is pretty improbable as you put it, what other explanation might there be for a cat being able to talk? An alien perhaps?”

  Tim laughed. “Oh, now you’re just being ridiculous.”

  Scarlett sensed she had the upper hand. “So what other explanation might there be?”

  “Errr… ” Tim furrowed his brow while he thought. “There has to be a rational explanation.”

  Scarlett grinned. “Come on then, give me one other possible explanation.”

  “Give me a minute.”

  “I’ve given you a minute already. There isn’t one is there?” She grinned. “Admit it.”

  “Well… ”

  “Admit it!”

  “Well, OK, I admit it. The most likely scenario is that Raven was once a witch that for some reason or another got herself turned into a talking cat. There.”

  Scarlett laughed. “Thank you.”

  “Not a problem. Oh, I have something for you.” He delved into his jacket pocket and produced a memory stick. “Here.”

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a memory stick.”

  “Yes, I can see that, but what does it have on it?”

  Tim leaned in. “It’s the ME’s report. You might find it interesting.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “It contains the result of the post-mortem.”

  Smiling, Scarlett pulled out her laptop, switched it on, and sat staring at the screen while it loaded.

  “Finally!” Scarlett plugged in the memory stick and double clicked on the file.

  Staring unflinchingly at the screen, Scarlett now felt grateful for the bright lights as she read the document in silence.

  The post-mortem had concluded the time of death to be around six weeks prior to the discovery of the body. She performed a quick calculation. “14th September,” she murmured aloud.

  Tim looked up. “Sorry?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just thinking aloud.”

  “Oh, okay then. You carry on, we’ve got all night.”

  She performed the calculation again. Yes, 14th September, give or take a few days.

  Realizing the implication, she took a deep breath and raised her chin.

&n
bsp; “Darling what is it?”

  “It’s not what I was hoping for.”

  “You were hoping it would put that cat of yours in the clear?”

  Scarlett nodded. “Exactly.”

  She closed the laptop just as the waitress reappeared to take their plates. “Everything to your satisfaction?”

  They both nodded and told her they’d enjoyed every mouthful.

  “Would you like to see the dessert menu?”

  Tim didn’t hesitate. “Oh, yes please.”

  Waiting for the waitress to enter the kitchen, Scarlett leaned in across the table. “Thanks for the intel, Tim, it’s much appreciated.”

  “Don’t mention it. I’m just sorry you didn’t get the news you were hoping for.”

  She frowned. “Oh, well. Let’s not talk about that now.”

  The waitress came with the menus and they ordered their deserts.

  Scarlett swallowed her second mouthful of ice cream. “Tim?”

  “Yes, darling?”

  “I’ve enjoyed tonight. It’s been fun.”

  Tim grinned. “Hasn’t it? We must do it again some time.”

  “Yes, that would be nice.”

  “I’ll pass on your compliments to the chef, then should I? We could make this place a regular fixture. Unless, like you said, you wanted to go somewhere more private.” He grinned.

  Scarlett tipped her head coyly, “Oh, he gets me intel, and all of a sudden he thinks I’m an easy date.”

  Tim was still smiling when he glanced at the time on his phone. “I’m going to have to love you and leave you, I’m afraid I won’t have the pleasure of walking you home tonight. Duty calls and all that.”

  Standing up, he leaned across the table to give her a kiss. “Good night, darling. See you again soon.”

  Scarlett beamed. “Yes, see you soon. Take care.”

  Striding through the restaurant, Tim said goodbye to the owner, before opening the front door and stepping out into the night. She watched as he buttoned up his coat, took a few steps along the road and disappeared into the night.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Tuesday Morning

  Slater Residence, Bicester, England

  It was still grey when she awoke the next morning. Glancing at her phone, she sighed and was just about to pull back the covers, when she remembered what day it was. It was a Tuesday morning, meaning today was her day off. Smiling, she sunk back under the quilt and closed her eyes. It wasn’t long though, before her thoughts turned to the previous night and her smile turned into a grin.

  After spending the next half hour, unsuccessfully, trying to go back to sleep, she gave in and sat up. Instead of lying in bed, she was going to enjoy a quiet morning in, and continue where she’d left off on Sunday. As for the afternoon, well, she was just going to wait and see what the day would throw at her. So, as soon as it turned 9 am, she put on her dressing gown and headed downstairs to make a well-earned cuppa, thinking how nice it would be for someone to take her a drink in bed.

  It was only once she’d poured the water into the mug that she heard Amanda padding around upstairs, so she instinctively pulled out another cup.

  “Morning,” Amanda said, bursting into the kitchen and sitting down at the table.

  “Morning.” Scarlett glanced at the clock. “What are you doing here at this hour?”

  “Oh, I have a late shift today. Don’t start till 11.”

  “Oh. Want a tea then?”

  “Yes please, that would be lovely.”

  Scarlett put a bag into the mug, added the water and milk, and gave it a stir. “There you are,” she said, placing the mug in front of Amanda.

  “Thank you.” Amanda breathed in the smell, waiting for the tea to steep. “Mm. That’s really nice.”

  Scarlett sat down and wrapped her hands around her own mug.

  “So, you looked like you had fun last night.”

  “Oh yeah, it was… fun.”

  Amanda took a sip of tea. “Where did you go?”

  “Bicester Kebab and Pizza.”

  “Tell me you didn’t?”

  “We did.”

  “And… how are you feeling this morning?”

  Scarlett grinned. “You wouldn’t know from the outside, but it was actually really good.”

  “No. To be fair, I’ve heard the rats love it.”

  They both laughed.

  Amanda finished her drink and rapped the mug down on the table. “Fancy another?”

  “Oh, go on then, why not?”

  Five minutes later, they had both resumed their places at the table with another tea.

  Amanda screwed her nose. “Errgh. Not quite up to your standards, I am sorry.”

  Scarlett took a sip and nodded. “I concur.”

  They both chuckled again.

  Amanda looked at the clock. “I’ll have to be making tracks soon. What are your plans for the day? Doing anything nice?”

  “Well, thought I’d just have a lazy day. I might have a jaunt to Oxford later on though, do some shopping. Depends how I feel.”

  Amanda scraped back her chair and got to her feet. “Well have a nice day doing nothing. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Thanks. Yeah, see you later, Amanda.”

  The second she heard Amanda driving away, Scarlett went upstairs to get dressed. Ten minutes later, she was getting into her car.

  She looked through her car window into the living room and breathed a sigh of relief. Like all cats, Raven had shown herself to have an acute sense of curiosity. Scarlett grinned as she imagined her in human form, standing at the curtains, peering out at the street. She’d be the kind of busybody that knew everything about everyone. But not today, and that’s all that mattered.

  The car started and in no time at all, Scarlett was at the end of the street, where, finally, she could relax.

  It wasn’t far to her destination that Raven had shared with her, just a fifteen-minute drive to the village on the outskirts of town on an average day. Parked outside, she examined her phone, just to check she hadn’t missed anything from Amanda. Part of her worried that Raven might have somehow worked out how to use a phone with her paws. But even if she had, she was, for the moment at least, without a phone.

  The street was practically deserted. Aside from the birds singing in the trees that lined either side of the road, there wasn’t a sound. Stepping from her car, Scarlett turned around to shut the car door as softly as she could, trying not to make a sound. She opened the gate to the flat block and walked along the garden path. That’s when she saw the flaw in her plan. The main door required a fob. With little else to do, she stood outside, waiting, hoping that someone would come rushing down the staircase and hold the door open for her to step inside.

  It was a sunny morning, but chilly all the same. She sat on the path that ran across the front of the block, feet a matter of inches away from the lawn and laughed to herself at the thought that passers-by might assume she was a student.

  A well-to-do looking woman walked along the street and eyed her with suspicion. Scarlett considered how this was most likely a novel experience for her. She’d likely never come across anyone sitting on the ground outside a building. She probably wasn’t aware of the countless homeless people or that sometimes folks find themselves in a predicament after a night out.

  Scarlett noticed the disdainful look on the woman’s face and was about to stand up and head back to her car when one of the windows at the top of the block slammed shut. Roughly two minutes later, footsteps rang out from the staircase. Scarlett got to her feet and made the short journey to the door, wearing her best, professional smile.

  The door opened and a middle-aged man stepped out. He wore strange clothes and had a grey beard that tickled the top of his chest.

  Scarlett caught his eye. “Excuse me?”

  The man smiled at her. “Yes?”

  “I’ve, err, lost my fob. Can you let me in?”

  He held the door open for her and ge
stured with his arm, as they do in pantomimes, for her to enter the building. “Be my guest.”

  Scarlett smiled at the man and thanked him. The block was nothing like the one she’d been in the other day. There was no foul smell for one thing. In fact, the only smell doing the rounds was one of cleaning fluids. The carpet, which had obviously only recently been cleaned, reminded her a lot of the halls she’d lived in during her university days. Minus the music and drunken students, of course.

  As she made her way inside, she could hear the sound of footsteps and banging coming from the floor above. She held her breath. Then, hearing the groan and whir of a vacuum cleaner, she continued to ascend the stairs.

  On the first floor, the cleaner, a woman in her mid to late fifties, wearing a blue overall, was pulling a vacuum cleaner in and out of each flat. Waiting for her to emerge from the flat next door to Raven’s, she made her move.

  “Hi,” Scarlett said warmly.

  The cleaner pressed a button on the vacuum cleaner and the groaning stopped. “Hi.”

  Scarlett walked along the blue carpet towards her.

  “Oh, my leg,” the cleaner said, reaching down to rub her calf. “This job’ll be the death of me, I tell you. I’m not getting any younger.”

  An idea sprung into Scarlett’s mind. “Looks like you’ve been working hard!”

  “I have. Been doing it all morning.” She pointed at Raven’s flat. “Oh well, I best be getting on.”

  “No, no. You have a break.” Scarlett smiled sweetly at the woman.

  “I can’t do that. I’ll have the gaffer on my back if I don’t get them all done. He pays by the hour, you see.”

  Scarlett gave the woman a sympathetic look. “I’ll do this one for you. You sit down a minute.”

  “No, no,” said the cleaner with less conviction this time. “I couldn’t.” Just a little more nudging and Scarlett would win her over.

  “Yes, you can. You can inspect later if you like! Just to make sure it’s up to standard.”

  The cleaner seemed to consider her offer for a moment, and much to Scarlett’s relief she agreed.

  “Well, OK then.” She took out a bunch of keys, spent a couple of minutes trying to locate Raven’s, then struggled to fit it into the lock. “These glasses,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re neither use nor ornament. I’m going for an eye test this weekend.”