Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (18 page)

As we watched, more of them took mugs of coffee and soon they were all standing around chatting, munching on the cup cakes and drinking coffee. All thoughts of placards or chanting forgotten – at least for the moment. Though I knew this was only keeping the problem at bay for now – we hadn’t made it go away – I couldn’t help feeling relieved.

Chapter 33

Mum, Eva and I stood by the window peeking out and smiling to ourselves. The women looked like they were having fun despite the rain, clasping their cold fingers round the warm mugs and laughing over the cakes. Millicent was at the back of the crowd, slightly apart from her groupies. Her face was serious and her eyes dark but from a distance it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. While the ladies gossiped, she turned sharply and strode off back towards town, leaving one latte and one cupcake left untouched on the table.

Mum raised her eyebrows at me and I sniggered. We’d beaten them with a snack.

Once Millicent, who I assumed was their leader, had gone, the woman started to leave, too. They put their empty mugs back on the table and drifted off along the beach, or back into town, until the only people left were us.

I linked my arm through Mum’s.

‘No magic needed,’ I said gleefully.

Mum squeezed me close.

‘For now,’ she warned. ‘I don’t think it’ll be that easy next time.’

I waved off her worries. We could fret about that later. Full of beans I turned to see what Suky was doing and gasped in horror. She was slumped on the sofa, eyes closed, her breathing shallow.

As one, Mum, Eva and I raced to her side. Her eyes flickered open for a second, then closed again. Mum cradled her sister like a baby.

‘Suky,’ she said. ‘Suky sweetheart, please talk to me.’

‘Get help!’ Eva shouted at me, pushing me towards the door. ‘Go now. Get Jamie!’

I hesitated for a fraction of a second.

‘Go!’ Mum and Eva yelled together. So I went.

Chapter 34

Jamie was locking up his surgery when I arrived, panting from running up the hill. I grabbed his arm.

‘Come quick,’ I gasped. ‘It’s Suky. She’s at the café.’

He didn’t stop to ask questions, just bundled me into his car and headed towards the loch. When we arrived outside Suky was sitting up on the sofa and sipping a glass of water. She was horribly pale and wrapped in mum’s pashmina. Smiling weakly at us, she coughed a terrible, hacking cough.

Jamie listened to her chest and spoke quietly to her as Mum, Eva and I huddled in the corner and watched. I was shaking with fright and terrified something awful had happened.

‘You’ve got a chest infection,’ Jamie said gently, sitting down on the sofa next to Suky. ‘I need to give you antibiotics and speak to your oncologist.’

Suky looked relieved.

‘I was so scared,’ she said in a shaky voice. ‘I thought this was it.’ She tried to laugh but her voice wobbled.

‘It’s not completely straightforward,’ Jamie said, patting her hand. My heart sang with gratitude to him. ‘You’ll have to stop your radiotherapy for now.’

‘No,’ Suky said. ‘I can’t stop. It’s nearly over.’

‘They won’t do it if they think you’re ill,’ Jamie said gently.

‘Of course I’m ill, I’ve got cancer,’ Suky said. ‘Tell them they have to do it.’ She looked panicky. ‘I don’t want to drag it out.’

Jamie looked at Mum for help. She sat down next to her sister and rearranged her pashmina round Suky’s shoulders. ‘We’ll talk about this later,’ she said. ‘No need to worry now. We should get home.’

We all bundled into Jamie’s Land Rover and he drove us up the hill. Harry was there and I briefly wondered where she’d been. She was horrified when she saw how pale Suky was. As we helped Suky up the stairs, she snapped at me.

‘I’ll take it from here,’ she whispered over the top of Suky’s head. ‘Mum left me a note saying you’d told her to go for a walk. What did you do that for?’

‘I thought it might help,’ I said. ‘Can I give you a hand getting her into bed?’

‘I think you’ve done enough,’ Harry snapped. She steered Suky into her bedroom and shut the door.

Hurt, I left her to it. Downstairs, Jamie was hovering in the hall, so I showed him to the door.

‘Thanks so much.’ I leaned against the doorframe, suddenly feeling exhausted.

Jamie smiled and softly touched my arm, just above my elbow.

‘She’ll be OK,’ he said. ‘How are you doing?’

His unexpected kindness made me cry.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, sniffing in a most unladylike way and wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. ‘It’s just been a crazy day.’

Jamie turned on his heel and disappeared back into the kitchen. Confused, I watched him go. When he came back he was holding my coat and my bag.

‘Here you are.’ He thrust them at me. ‘I’m taking you out for dinner.’

That was most definitely not what I had expected. I grinned at him.

‘Where are you taking me?’ I asked as I shrugged my coat on. Loch Claddach was hardly a hot bed of top restaurants.

‘Curry.’ Jamie pushed me out of the door and into his car. ‘Never let it be said that I don’t know how to treat a lady.’

‘That is exactly what I need,’ I grinned as we headed down the hill. And it really was. Several poppadums, a chicken tikka masala, one pint of lager and lots of laughter later I felt much better. The horror of Suky’s illness and the shock of the locals’ campaign against us had receded as Jamie entertained me with tales of his travels and his more eccentric patients.

I leaned back in my chair and rested my hands on my stomach, which was definitely not as flat as it had been when I left London.

‘I’m stuffed,’ I sighed. ‘I need to walk off all this food.

Jamie signalled the waiter and asked for the bill.

‘I’ll walk you up the hill,’ he said as he waved off my attempts to pay for my share of the curry. ‘I can leave my car in town and pick it up tomorrow.’

I didn’t protest as I normally would. I was still spooked by today’s events and worried some of
those frightening women could be lurking about outside our house again. Plus, I couldn’t disguise how much I was enjoying Jamie’s company.

As we strolled up the hill, I looped my arm through Jamie’s. It felt so comfortable to be with him – just like old times really. He was talking about his plans to extend the surgery, but I wasn’t really listening. Instead I was admiring his profile. He’d been handsome at school but now he was really gorgeous, I thought to myself. I wondered if tonight had been a date and if he’d try to kiss me when we reached the house. He had lovely lips.

‘Don’t you think?’ Jamie looked down at me.

‘Lips,’ I said without thinking. No, that wasn’t right. What had he asked me? I had no idea. I smiled at him in what I hoped was a winning way.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that,’ I said politely.

Jamie laughed.

‘I didn’t think you were listening,’ he chuckled. ‘What were you thinking about?’

‘Erm, Suky,’ I said, hating myself for not thinking about my sick aunt.

Jamie slung his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close.

‘The prognosis is good,’ he said. ‘Putting off the radiotherapy might delay things a bit and she’s in for a rough old ride, but I’m really confident she’ll get through it. She’s very strong.’

I leaned into him as we walked.

‘I know,’ I said. ‘It’s just hard to see her like this.’

We’d reached my gate so I paused, turning to face Jamie.

‘I had a really nice time,’ I said, butterflies flapping madly in my (slightly bloated) stomach. I tilted my head so I’d be ready if he went for the kiss.

‘Me too.’ He leant down. This was it! A brief worry about chicken tikka breath flashed across my mind but I dismissed it, stepping closer to Jamie.

And then he kissed me on the cheek.

‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Sleep well.’

And he walked off down the hill.

Chapter 35

I woke up the next morning filled with shame. Suky was fighting for her life, Dom hadn’t been gone five minutes, and all I cared about was locking lips with my ex-boyfriend.

I rolled out of bed and nervously went to find Harry, hoping she wasn’t still blaming me for Suky’s troubles yesterday.

She came out of her room as I was walking past.

‘Sorry about being such a bitch yesterday,’ she said immediately. ‘I was just so worried.’

‘That’s OK,’ I said. ‘I was worried too.’

We walked downstairs and into the kitchen where mum was spreading marmalade on a slice of toast.

I took it from her as I passed, bit into it, then gave it back.

‘I rang Brent and told him we didn’t need him today,’ Mum said, waving off my attempts to get another bite. ‘He’s got a real bee in his bonnet about the café. He thinks we should close for a while.’

I huffed.

‘He’s being a bit of a drama queen about it,’ I said. ‘And he doesn’t even know what happened yesterday yet.’

‘What happened yesterday?’ Harry asked.

‘I forgot you missed it all,’ I said. ‘It was awful.’

I told her about the Housewives’ Guild and their placards.

‘They’ve got a name?’ she said.

‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘They’re called the CLAWs.’

‘That’s a rubbish name,’ said Harry. She had a point but I couldn’t see that it mattered much.

‘Brent thinks it’s all over for us here,’ I said.

Harry snorted.

‘What does Nell say about it all?’

Nell! I’d forgotten all about our secret weapon.

‘I haven’t spoken to her,’ I said. I quickly bashed out a text asking her to meet us at the café and she replied immediately.

‘She’s going there now,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Where were you yesterday?’ I asked Harry as we walked down the hill.

‘Just doing some bits,’ she said.

‘What bits?’

‘Why do you care?’

‘I just wondered if you were experimenting,’ I said.

‘With what?’ Harry pulled her hat further down on her head. ‘God, this wind is terrible.’

‘Dark magic,’ I said. I’d been doing a lot of research of my own and discovered there was only one branch of magic powerful enough to control life and death. ‘Voodoo.’

Harry looked at me sharply.

‘Has Mum said anything to you?’

‘A bit,’ I said. ‘Just that you were looking into some things.’

‘It’s not what you think it is,’ she said. ‘There are lots of different kinds of voodoo. It’s not all chickens’ feet and dolls with pins in, you know.’

We were nearing the café and I could see Nell waiting outside, so I dropped it.

‘Be careful, H,’ I said. But she didn’t reply.

Chapter 36

‘Nothing?’ I said, in disbelief. ‘Nothing at all?’

Nell shook her head.

‘Millicent ran the meeting – she’s the chairwoman – and they talked about the Christmas craft fair, who’s going to turn on the town lights and whether they’d had any luck in getting a sponsor for the Hogmanay celebrations,’ she said.

‘But they were all here, yesterday,’ I said.

‘I know,’ Nell said. She looked a bit shamefaced. ‘I don’t think that’s anything to do with Millicent.’

‘Hang on,’ I said. ‘You were adamant. You said she was horrible.’

‘I know,’ Nell said. ‘But I went round for dinner last night and she was really nice to me.’

‘You went for dinner?’ I said, surprised. ‘With plastic Imogen?’

‘She’s actually quite nice. She was never the ringleader of all my troubles,’ Nell said. ‘I think she’s been bullied too. She’s got bulimia, you know.’

‘Really?’ I said in surprise. ‘Poor girl. I hope she’s getting some help.’

I opened a box of teabags and started putting them into a jar to display on the counter.

‘But I still think it’s Millicent. There’s no one else they’d listen to like they listen to her.’

‘I think there is someone,’ Nell said. ‘But I don’t know who. After the meeting, some of them – that woman from the newsagent’s and some others – went off together. Millicent didn’t go.’

‘She’s right,’ Harry said. ‘Groups don’t just come together like that. There must be someone behind the scenes, pulling the strings.’

‘You can find out who it is,’ I said, with a flash of excitement. ‘We’ll go to the newsagent’s and speak to Stringy Hair, and you can do your Jedi mind trick and get her to tell us who’s behind it all.’

‘That could work,’ Harry said.

‘What’s a Jedi mind trick?’ Nell asked. ‘Is it a witchy thing?’

So she did know everything. And she obviously didn’t mind.

Harry looked at her.

‘It is,’ she said gravely. ‘But you must never talk about it.’

Nell nodded, her pretty young face serious.

‘I’m brilliant at keeping secrets,’ she said. The thought of the secrets she’d kept made me sad.

‘Right then,’ said Harry. ‘No point in messing about. I’m off.’

She picked up her handbag and left without even looking back. I envied her confidence.

Nell and I opened the café, but I wasn’t sure why we had bothered. We sat for half an hour waiting for Harry to come back, but not one customer came in.

Eventually, the bell above the door tinkled, and Harry came in. She was pale and stony-faced.

‘Can you make me a coffee, Ez?’ she said. I leapt up, glad of the opportunity to do something.

Harry took off her coat and hung it up on the empty stand. I handed her the coffee and she slumped on to the sofa next to Nell. I sat down opposite.

‘What did you find out?’ I asked. ‘What is it? Why do you look so upset?’

Harry took a breath.

‘It’s Brent,’ she said.

Chapter 37

I stared at Harry, trying to make sense of what she’d said.

‘It’s Brent,’ she repeated.

‘No it’s not.’ I said. ‘I know you’ve got a thing about him because you can’t read him, but really he’s nice. He’s been taking Suky to hospital, for goodness sake.’

‘It’s him, Ez,’ she said.

She sat up.

‘It was easy,’ she said. ‘That woman in the newsagent’s didn’t recognise me. So I just got her talking and the rest just happened.’