I returned to the door, took out the miniature traps, and restored them to full size. After placing them on the floor, I baited each one with a couple of pink marshmallows. Hopefully, that would be enough.

  All I could do now was wait, so I sneaked out of the cold-room and took a seat in the restaurant. The traps had worked very quickly on the wood nymphs, and I was hoping for a similar result tonight.

  After an hour, I sneaked back inside the cold-room.

  Bingo! All three traps had been sprung. There were two ice nymphs in one trap, and one in each of the others. As soon as they spotted me, they began to yell and scream.

  “Let us out of here!”

  “How dare you! Let us out!”

  “You’ll be sorry when we get out of here!”

  “The game’s up, boys.”

  I went back through to the restaurant and made a call to Daze.

  “Jill?” I could tell by her voice that she was half asleep. “Why are you calling me at this time?”

  “It’s only just turned ten.”

  “I was having an early night.”

  “Sorry, but I think you’ll be pleased when I tell you the reason for the call.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “You know those ice nymphs you’ve been trying to track down?”

  “Yes?” She suddenly sounded much more awake. “Do you know where they are?”

  “Even better than that. I have them trapped.”

  “You do? That’s fantastic. Where are they?”

  I gave her the address and she promised she’d be straight over.

  Good as her word, she and Blaze appeared a few minutes later. He looked half asleep too. “Where are they, Jill?”

  “Follow me.” I led the way to the cold-room.

  “Wow! Nice work! We’ve been trying to track these guys down for days.”

  Chapter 24

  The next morning, Jack and I were at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. He’d just finished chewing the last spoonful of his ‘yummy’ muesli and was staring out of the window.

  “It looks like it’s going to be a lovely day, Jill. I’m glad that cold snap has finally broken.”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I said, ‘you’re very welcome’. Who do you think is responsible for the end of the cold snap?”

  “I know you can be rather full of yourself, but surely even you can’t claim to control the weather.”

  “What do you mean, full of myself? And yes, the end of the cold snap is down to me.”

  “How?”

  “How do you think? I got rid of those ice nymphs.”

  “Daze must have been delighted when you called her.”

  “Not at first she wasn’t because she was in bed, fast asleep. But once she realised that I’d caught the ice nymphs, she soon bucked up. Anyway, how are you feeling about your review this morning?”

  “Okay, I guess.” He sighed.

  “What have you got to be nervous about? You’re a good detective.”

  “Maybe, but you know how it is with reviews. They always seem to find something to criticise.”

  “You shouldn’t take any notice of them. If someone criticises me, it’s like water off a duck’s back. Not that anyone ever does, obviously.”

  Just then, my phone rang; it was Aunt Lucy.

  “Morning, Jill. I hope you don’t mind me calling so early.”

  “Of course not. There’s nothing wrong, is there?”

  “No, everything’s fine. I just wanted to invite you to a family lunch tomorrow.”

  “Oh? What’s that in aid of? I haven’t forgotten someone’s birthday, have I?”

  “No. It’s a celebration for the twins.”

  “What are they celebrating?”

  “They won the Candlefield Businesswoman of the Year award last night.”

  “Are you sure? The twins?”

  “Yes, Jill, of course I’m sure.”

  “Sorry. How come I wasn’t invited to the award ceremony?”

  “They probably thought you were too busy. They know how hard you work. Anyway, Grandma has decided we should all have lunch together to celebrate. Can you make it tomorrow?”

  “Of course. What time?”

  “Midday?”

  “Okay, I’ll be there.”

  “What was all that about?” Jack said when I’d finished on the call.

  “It was Aunt Lucy. She’s invited me over for a family lunch tomorrow. They’re celebrating because the twins have won the Candlefield Businesswoman of the Year award.”

  “Is this some kind of wind-up?” Jack laughed.

  “Apparently not. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t invite me to the ceremony. They normally insist I go everywhere with them.”

  “Have you said something to upset them?”

  “Me? No, I don’t think so. I mean, I did laugh when they told me they’d been nominated for the award, but I—”

  “That’s the reason, then. If they didn’t expect to win, they wouldn’t want you there in case you ridiculed them even more, would they?”

  “You make it sound like I was really horrible to them.”

  “You were.”

  “Thanks. Now I feel really bad.”

  “You’ll just have to make it up to them tomorrow.”

  “I will, yeah. I’ll be very supportive.”

  ***

  Mrs V was at her desk.

  “Good morning, Mrs V. Did you enjoy your time alone without Armi?”

  “To tell you the truth, Jill, I didn’t. I thought I would, but I missed him dreadfully. The house just didn’t seem the same without him.”

  “Well, he’s back now.”

  “He is and that little trip seems to have done him the world of good.”

  “In what way?”

  “He seems to have finally seen the error of his ways and decided to cut back on his night-time snacking. It was getting ridiculous. Every morning when I got up, at least half a packet of biscuits had gone missing. He must have been eating them after I’d gone to bed. Of course, he denied it, but there’s only the two of us in the house, and I definitely hadn’t eaten them. But, this morning, the biscuits hadn’t been touched, so I’m hoping that marks a new start for him.”

  “I’m sure it does.” And, once again, you’re very welcome.

  Winky had stayed overnight in London, which meant I could look forward to a nice quiet morning in the office.

  Spoke too soon.

  There were two cats sitting on the sofa and another two on my desk.

  “Hey, you lot. What’s going on? What are you doing in here?”

  “Hi there.” The ginger cat waved a paw at me.

  “Never mind, ‘hi there’. Why are you lot in my office?”

  “It’s all above board. We booked it through CatBnB. We’ve only booked the one night, so we’ll be gone in about an hour.”

  “This office is on CatBnB? Are you sure?”

  “Yes. The owner confirmed the booking.”

  “The owner?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Winky, I think.”

  “Right, and you say you’ll be gone in an hour?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Okay, but I’m going to need you two to get off my desk. And keep the noise down until you leave.”

  I was going to have serious words with Winky when he got back. How dare he rent out my office?

  ***

  I was now quietly confident that I knew what had happened to Lori Harty’s painting, but if it turned out I was wrong, I was going to have a serious case of egg on my face in a few minutes time when I confronted the members of the Washbridge art society.

  Finley McAdams’ wife had gone out for the afternoon, so it was Finley himself who answered the door.

  “Jill, nice to see you again. The others are in the conservatory. We’re all very keen to hear what you have to tell us. I’ve made iced tea. Will that be okay for you?”

  “Iced tea would be lovely, thanks.”

  Finley led the way to the conservatory where Hannah Westbrook, Myla Donovan and Gabriella Wilde were all chatting. They stopped as soon as I walked into the room.

  “Do have a seat, Jill.” Finley pointed to one of the wicker chairs near the patio doors. “There’s just Lori to wait for now.”

  “Actually, Finley, she won’t be joining us today.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I didn’t tell her about this meeting.”

  The four of them looked very puzzled by that revelation.

  “How come?” Myla said.

  “Because it’s the four of you that I need to talk to. I think maybe now’s the time that you come clean and tell me the truth about what happened to Lori’s painting.”

  “Whatever do you mean?” Gabriella snapped.

  “I’m sorry, Jill,” Hannah said. “But I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Do you really want to play it this way? Maybe you’d all prefer I had this conversation with the police.”

  “There’s no need to involve the police.” Finley took the chair next to mine. “What is it you think we know?”

  “How about you explain why none of you thought to mention that originally all five members of the society had intended to purchase the painting together.”

  That clearly threw them for a moment, but eventually Hannah spoke up. “So what? We do occasionally combine to purchase a piece. There’s nothing particularly unusual about that.”

  “But isn’t it true that the five of you went as far as making an offer to Ethan Porter for The Old Barn?”

  “Yes, we did. What of it?”

  “As I understand it from Ethan, you offered less than the asking price, and he said he needed time to consider the offer.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And isn’t it also true that in the meantime, Lori took it upon herself to offer Ethan the full asking price, which he duly accepted?”

  “That’s right, yes,” Finley said.

  “How did you all feel about that?”

  Myla shrugged. “Obviously, we’d have preferred it if she’d told us what she intended to do.”

  “What about the rest of you?”

  “I thought it was a despicable act on her part,” Gabriella said.

  “I wasn’t impressed.” Hannah shrugged. “But it’s the sort of thing she would do.”

  “So, it’s fair to say that you were all angry. So angry, in fact, that you decided to teach her a lesson.”

  “I’m sorry, Jill,” Finley said. “I really have no idea what you’re getting at. You can’t possibly believe that we stole the painting. You’ve seen the CCTV, haven’t you? There’s no way any one of us could have taken that painting out of the apartment without being seen.”

  “It’s certainly true that you couldn’t have taken it out of there in one piece, but that’s not what happened, is it?” The room fell silent again, and now all four of them shared the same horrified expression. “Lori told me that while she was in the kitchen, making the drinks, she heard a buzzing sound, which she assumed had been the sound of the bees, but it wasn’t, Finley, was it?”

  “I really don’t know what you’re getting at.”

  “I think you do. What Lori actually heard was the sound of your jigsaw—the same one I heard when I came to visit you last time. You used it to cut the painting into two pieces. Each piece just small enough to fit inside a handbag. That’s why, later, Lori found traces of sawdust on the floor, which she assumed was the result of woodworm.”

  “How am I supposed to have taken the jigsaw into the apartment?” Finley said. “It’s clear on the CCTV that I wasn’t carrying anything.”

  “Three ladies. Three handbags. Two to carry one half of the painting, and one to carry the jigsaw and a jam jar. Isn’t that right, Gabriella?”

  “This is preposterous!” she said. “I’ve a good mind to call my lawyer.”

  “Please feel free to do just that. And while you’re at it, maybe you’d like to explain to him why you took a jar full of bees into the apartment with you. You weren’t scared of the bees because they were yours, and you’re used to handling them. The glass on the ground below this apartment was from the jam jar, which you threw or dropped from the balcony.”

  “This is nonsense.”

  “Is it, though? Really? I was in Washbridge Beekeepers’ Sales and Hire yesterday. I saw you in there, looking at protective clothing, I believe.”

  “Yes, but I—err—”

  “How many beehives do you have in your back garden? I counted six.”

  “Have you been snooping around my house? You had no right to do that.”

  “Why would we cut a perfectly good painting into pieces?” Myla laughed, nervously.

  “I can only think it was out of spite. If you couldn’t have it, why should Lori have it?”

  “You’re right, Jill. About everything,” Finley said. The others looked at him in horror, but he continued anyway. “It’s no good denying it any longer. We should never have let it go as far as it did. We were just upset.”

  “What’s going to happen now?” Gabriella said. “Are you going to tell Lori and the police?”

  “That depends. I happen to think the way Lori went behind your backs was unfair, but that’s not to say I condone your actions. I’d rather not involve the police if I don’t have to.”

  “What exactly are you saying, Jill?” Myla said.

  “Do you still have the pieces of the painting?”

  “I have one back at my place,” Hannah said.

  “The other one is in the shed,” Finley pointed out of the patio doors.

  “Right. There’s somewhere I have to be when I leave you in a few minutes’ time, so I need you to take the two pieces of the painting to my office straight away. I won’t be there, but you can leave them with my receptionist. Then, tomorrow, I’ll speak to Lori and see if I can smooth things over.”

  “How on earth are you going to do that?” Finley said. “When she realises what we’ve done, she’ll go ballistic, and she’ll insist on bringing in the police.”

  “Not necessarily. You’re just going to have to trust me on this. But, if those two pieces of painting aren’t at my office by the time I get back there later today, I’ll go straight to the police. Is that clear?”

  “Crystal,” Finley said.

  The others nodded.

  “Excellent. In that case, where’s that iced tea you promised me?”

  ***

  I’d only ever been able to speak to Jason Bond on the phone. That turned out to be quite fortuitous because it meant I didn’t have to bother changing my appearance before presenting myself as Sonia Lowe.

  We’d arranged to meet at the bench on top of Washbridge Mount. Thanks to my success in capturing the ice nymphs, I was able to enjoy the sunshine while I waited for Jason to arrive. Had we met in that same spot the previous day, it would have been freezing cold up there.

  I’d been there for about ten minutes when I heard footsteps. A well-built man in his mid-thirties, dressed in jeans and a blue T-shirt, was walking towards me. If his expression was anything to go by, he was not in the best of moods.

  “Are you Sonia?”

  “Jason, how very nice to meet you.” It was only when he got closer that I noticed he was wearing gloves. “Have you brought my money?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got it.”

  I held out my hand.

  “Not so fast, darling. Who else have you told that I was meeting Alison?”

  “I haven’t told anyone.”

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “You’ll just have to take my word for it. Once I have the money, you’ll never see or hear from me again.”

  “I don’t believe you. I know your kind, darling. You’ll spend this, and then you’ll be back for more.”

  Before I knew it, his hands were around my neck. I should have realised what he had in mind when I spotted the gloves.

  He was strong, so I had to act quickly before I blacked out. Using the ‘doppelganger’ spell, I made myself look like Alison Reed. As soon as he registered my ‘new’ face, he released his grip on my neck, and stepped back.

  “It can’t be you.” He was freaking out now. “You’re dead.”

  “You don’t get rid of me that easily, Jason,” I said. “Not after what you did to me. I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

  “No, please! I only intended for the poison to make you ill, so that the restaurant would get the blame and be closed down. I didn’t mean for it to kill you. It was an accident.”

  “In that case, why didn’t you come forward and admit your guilt to the police?”

  “I was going to, honestly. I thought for sure they’d arrest me, but then they charged that boyfriend of yours with murder.”

  “Don’t come the innocent. You framed Arnold by planting poison at his house.”

  “No, I didn’t. I swear I didn’t.”

  “Tell it to the police.”

  “Please don’t haunt me.” He slumped down onto the bench and buried his head in his hands.

  I made a call to Sushi who arrived fifteen minutes later, accompanied by two uniformed officers. By then, I’d reversed the ‘doppelganger’ spell and reverted to my normal appearance.

  “What’s going on here, Maxwell?” Sushi was out of breath from the climb. “Who’s that?” She glanced over at Bond, who was staring at the ground.

  “This gentleman is Jason Bond. He killed Alison Reed.”

  “Who?”

  “A young woman who was murdered five years ago. My clients’ son, Arnold Kramer, was convicted of her murder and is now serving time in prison.”

  “What proof do you have that this man was actually the murderer?”

  I took the digital recorder from my pocket and played her the exchange I’d had with Jason when he thought I was Alison.

  “Why is he calling you by the dead woman’s name?” Sushi said.

 

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