Free Witch Is When Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott Page A

like to take all of my beanies home with you?”
    Her face lit up. “All of them?”
    Maybe I could snag a few of my favourites—I glanced at Kathy. Maybe not.
    “All of them,” I said.
    “For keeps?”
    I nodded.
    “When?”
    “Right now,” Kathy said. “Auntie Jill is going to help us to take them to the car, aren’t you Auntie Jill?”
    “Looks that way.”
    “Thanks, Auntie Jill!” Lizzie threw her arms around me and planted a huge kiss on my nose.
    “Why did you come over, anyway?” I asked, once the beanies were on the back seat of the car with Lizzie.
    “I’ve been trying to ring you all day.”
    I checked my phone. It was dead. I’d forgotten to charge it the night before.
    “You heard about Harrison Scott I assume?” Kathy said.
    I nodded. “It was only yesterday that I spoke to him.”
    “I can’t believe he did it.”
    “The police seem to believe it. He left a note confessing to the murder.”
    “It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “How’s Milly?”
    “Relieved to be off the hook, but still very upset about everything that’s happened.”
    I waved goodbye to Kathy, Lizzie and my beloved beanies. It was the end of an era. The end of my childhood.
     

Chapter 10
     
    I was about to call it a night when I spotted a tentacle peeping out from under the sofa. I grabbed the beanie and clutched it tight to my chest. My very first and still my favourite beanie—the squid. Lizzie must have dropped it when she was playing with them. I could call by Kathy’s on the way into the office the next day to give it to Lizzie. Or—I could hold on to what was left of my precious collection. Kathy need never know.
    I thought about putting it on the shelf in the walk-in wardrobe, but if Kathy saw it, she’d claim it for Lizzie. Unless—. I cast the ‘hide’ spell and the squid disappeared. I was about to walk out of the wardrobe when I realised I could see the squid’s reflection in the mirror. The ‘hide’ spell worked in a different way from the ‘invisible’ spell. When an object was hidden by the ‘hide’ spell, its reflection could still be seen in a mirror. I couldn’t risk Kathy seeing it.
    “Sorry, little fellow.” I reversed the spell, lifted him off the shelf, and put him in the overhead cupboard. I might not be able to have him on display, but at least I could bring him out whenever I felt the urge for a little squid-love.
     
    The next morning, Jack Maxwell’s picture adorned the front page of the Bugle. It would have been so much easier to hate the guy if he hadn’t had movie star looks. The accompanying article was predictable enough. Milly Brown had been released, Harrison Scott had committed suicide. No one else was being sought for the murder of Bruce Digby. How very neat and tidy.
     
    “Jill!” Christine Best, one of the few neighbours I had any time for, shouted to me as I was on my way to the car. “Has Ivers collared you?”
    “About the newsletter?”
    “Yeah.”
    “He’s tried.”
    “I couldn’t get away.” She sighed.
    “Don’t tell me you signed up?” I laughed.
    “What choice did I have? I’d still be with him now if I hadn’t. How did you manage to get away with it?”
    “I cast a spell on him and sent him to sleep.”
    “What? Oh, right.” She laughed. “I never thought of doing that.”
     
    The last time I’d seen Mrs V, she’d been dancing around the office as happy as a lark. What a difference a day made.
    “What’s wrong?”
    Her head was buried in her hands.
    “Look!” She pointed to the filing cabinet.
    “What?”
    “It’s gone!”
    “The trophy? Where is it?”
    “If I knew that, it wouldn’t be gone, would it?”
    I checked the outer door; there was no sign of damage. “How did they get in? Did you lock the door on your way out yesterday?”
    “Of course I did! It was still locked when I got here this morning. It must have been a cat burglar.”
    “I doubt it. More likely a common thief.”
    “I’m telling you it was