Page 20 of A Skirl of Sorcery (The Cat Lady Chronicles #3)

Chapter

Sixteen

Iscribbled a note for Thane and left it on the coffee table beside the drawings.

I reminded myself that I trusted him; there would be a good reason as to why he wasn’t waiting here for me.

That knowledge was far more worrying than reassuring, but I was limited as to what I could do.

This was Coldstream. Because mobile phones rarely worked, I couldn’t simply drop him a text message or call him.

Perhaps it would have been easier if I were a werewolf, but as a cat sith I didn’t possess amazing tracking skills. I could buy a tracking potion, but I’d have to commission a witch to brew it for me and that could take hours, so that would be my last resort.

Thane was a big boy: he could look after himself and, until I heard otherwise, I’d have to assume he was alright. Keres, however, was definitely dying and her problems were my priority. Even so, I wiped away all Thane’s damned blood from that staircase as I left. He could thank me later.

When we exited the swanky building I pretended not to see the concierge frown in my direction.

Tiddles immediately turned left and pattered with feline determination along the narrow pavement.

‘No,’ I muttered as I caught up to her, scooped her up and returned her to my shoulder. ‘We’re going to Danksville.’

She hissed in my ear.

‘If Thane wanted us to know where he was, he’d have left a note.’ I ignored the flicker of anxiety in my stomach. ‘We can search for him later if he doesn’t show up. We need to focus on Keres.’

Tiddles nipped my earlobe hard enough to make me wince. ‘I won’t change my mind.’ She dug her claws into my flesh but I remained resolute. ‘I’m in charge here,’ I said. ‘Not you.’

This time she didn’t respond but I knew she was still pouting. Tough. Searching for Thane right now would be a wild goose chase whereas I had a destination in mind when it came to Keres.

I was relieved that Tiddles settled down and allowed the journey to Danksville to proceed without incident. When I hopped off the tram at my usual spot, I didn’t walk towards my own street: instead I turned right towards the fringes of the suburb.

According to her journal, Keres had been shrieking outside the door of a man called Colin Shellycoat.

I vaguely recognised the name: as his surname suggested, he was descended from the shellycoats of times long gone.

Hundreds of years ago they were infamous for being one of the many Scottish creatures who made a sport out of misdirecting travellers.

Even now, it wasn’t considered wise to ask a shellycoat for directions, although there were few of them left and they tended to be neighbourhood stalwarts who were active members of the community rather than outsiders with a penchant for mischief.

That was why Colin Shellycoat’s name rang a bell with me.

After he’d died the previous month, vast numbers of people had attended his funeral to pay their respects.

In fact, there were still several floral tributes outside the house.

But I was certain that he’d been elderly and had died of natural causes.

His house was similar to mine with four floors, although none of them had been turned into flats. There was only one entrance and it looked as if he and his family had retained the building for their own use.

The scrap of garden at the front was the same size as mine and, by the looks of things, the remaining Shellycoats enjoyed spending time in it. It was well-kept, with butterflies, bees and small flies hovering around the multi-coloured flowers.

Tiddles was fascinated by a small water feature and jumped down from my shoulder to lift a paw and bat curiously at the gurgling bubbles.

I left her to it; if a water fountain was what it took to distract her from Thane’s vanishing act, so be it.

I might consider getting one for my garden if it held her attention for more than a few minutes.

I went up the stone path. The front door was ajar, so rather than knock I called through. ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’

Footsteps approached and a moment later an apple-cheeked woman wearing a flour-dusted apron appeared. She looked relatively young, probably only a few years older than me, which suggested that she was Shellycoat’s daughter rather than his wife.

‘Good morning.’ I smiled at her. ‘I’m Kit. I live a few streets away.’

She squinted at me then her expression cleared. ‘You’re the cat lady!’

I beamed. ‘I see my reputation precedes me.’ It was lovely to be reminded that people thought of me as the person with too many cats rather than the person who was too handy with a garrotte.

‘I asked around a few months ago when I kept seeing a black cat wandering around,’ she said. ‘I wanted to be sure he had a proper home.’

‘That would be He Who Roams Wide – he does his own thing. It wouldn’t be the first time somebody thought he was a stray, and it probably won’t be the last.’

‘Cats are going to cat,’ she said. On cue, Tiddles thrust her head into the gushing fountain then sprang back and glared at it for not letting her know beforehand that it was wet.

‘You’re a woman after my own heart,’ I replied. I was pleased; this might prove to be an easy conversation.

She grinned. ‘I’m Holly.’

‘Nice to meet you. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Holly?’ I took a gamble that she was indeed Colin Shellycoat’s daughter. ‘It’s about your dad.’

Her expression dimmed. ‘He’s dead.’

‘I know, and I’m sorry for your loss. I realise he passed away only recently so it must be very painful for you.’

Holly blinked rapidly. ‘It’s okay,’ she said hesitantly. ‘What would you like to know about him?’

‘It’s not him I’m interested in, it’s the ban sith who was shrieking outside before he died.’

‘Keres.’ She whispered the name so quietly I had to strain to hear.

Uh-oh. I prepared myself for a bitter onslaught. ‘Yes, that’s her name.’

Holly wrapped her arms around herself. ‘She was so wonderful.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t think I can ever thank her enough.’

That certainly wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. ‘Please,’ I said. ‘Go on.’

Holly took a while before answering, not because she didn’t want to talk about her father but because she wanted to choose the right words.

‘My dad was ill for a long time and he was in a lot of pain. He had some good days but,’ she sighed, ‘most of the time it was a real struggle. He did his best not to let us see how much he was suffering – he came from that generation where you maintained a stiff upper lip and carried on rather than complaining.’

I nodded my understanding.

‘But it was hard for him – months of sleepless nights when he was in agony.’ She dropped her head.

‘He’d tried every painkiller you can think of, magical and non-magical.

They worked for a while but then his body got used to them and the pain crept in again.

Sometimes, when he thought nobody was listening, I heard him cry out as if he couldn’t keep it to himself any longer.

It was brutal.’ She looked up. ‘And then Keres came along.’

I didn’t say anything; this was one of those times when it was wiser to wait than to fill in any gaps with the sound of my own voice.

Tiddles, however, sensed the shift in the atmosphere.

She abandoned her attempts to kill the water fountain in favour of padding towards Holly’s feet and sitting beside her.

Sometimes she was smarter than she appeared.

She didn’t demand to be petted and she wasn’t begging for food, she was simply reassuring Holly by her presence.

Tiddles was definitely a demon kitty but she possessed an angelic side, too.

Holly was silent for several moments as she reached down to tickle Tiddles under her chin. When she spoke again, her voice was calmer and her eyes were clear.

‘Keres changed everything. The relief my dad felt at knowing the end was coming was extraordinary – it sounds contradictory but it gave him a new lease of life for his last few days. He stopped worrying about the pain and he got out of bed for the first time in weeks. At his insistence, we opened our doors and welcomed in his friends, distant relatives – everyone he wanted to see. It might sound macabre but we had a party to celebrate his approaching death.’

I didn’t think it sounded macabre, I thought it sounded lovely. ‘He got the chance to say goodbye properly. He didn’t have to worry about what was coming because he already knew. He knew there would be an end to the pain and he could leave on his own terms.’

She nodded and gave me a meaningful look. ‘He was so invigorated that we thought he would overcome his illness and he’d be alright. But he didn’t think that because he believed in Keres and her powers. To my dad, her skirl made all the difference.’

That was the third time I’d heard someone describe the shriek of a ban sith as a skirl – Trilby, Martin and now Holly. ‘You spoke to her at length?’ It was the only thing that made any sense; Holly wouldn’t use ban sith terminology unless she’d talked with a ban sith.

She nodded. ‘My dad invited her into the house on the first night. At first I was horrified – I didn’t want anything to do with her.

But when I saw his reaction to her singing…

’ She shrugged. ‘She was the best thing that could have happened to him. His final few days were spent in peace rather than fear. Keres gave him that.’

I felt an odd flicker of pride, which was ridiculous because I’d had nothing to do with Colin Shellycoat or Keres’ actions in the days before his death. ‘She sang for three nights? Did you see what happened on the final night?’

Holly looked puzzled. ‘Her skirl was much shorter. I thought she would stay for the whole night but she stopped not long after she’d started singing and disappeared.

Less than an hour after she’d gone, Dad passed away.

I assumed she’d left us in peace for his final moments.

’ She twisted her fingers together. ‘Was I wrong to think that?’

She didn’t need to know what had happened to Keres because she’d only feel guilty about it and it obviously wasn’t her fault. Better for her and the rest of her family to focus on the positives and the way that Keres had made Colin Shellycoat’s final few days a little easier.

‘No, no,’ I said airily. ‘I was only curious.’ I paused. ‘Did Keres have a particular spot where she, uh, performed?’

It was a question too many; Holly was suspicious now. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked. ‘What’s this about?’

I offered a half-truth. ‘I’m trying to understand as much as I can about ban siths. Lots of people are afraid of them and I’d like to change that.’

‘I was one of those people,’ Holly said quietly. ‘But I was wrong to be scared of her. Come with me and I’ll show you where Keres stood.’ She smiled briefly. ‘It’s the least I can do.’

I stood in the patch of golden sunlight and frowned down at the ground.

Keres had stood here for three nights, shrieking about Colin Shellycoat’s upcoming death, and she’d lost her powers on this very spot, but there was nothing to see.

There was no dark miasma or itchy sensation between my shoulder blades.

I couldn’t sense even a whisper of magic.

I glanced at Tiddles. She was totally uninterested, staring off into the distance as if she were occupied by more important matters. If there had been any flicker of the same darkness that was affecting Keres, she would have told me. There was nothing to learn here.

I scowled. Keres’ powers had been ripped out of her; surely I could find something.

I turned around and allowed myself to think like an assassin rather than an investigator. If I had been contracted to kill Keres and I’d chosen to end her life here while she was singing to Colin Shellycoat, how would I have done it?

Like my home, the house was on a quiet street with little passing traffic so Keres would have noticed anyone approaching her, even after the sun had gone down.

Given how people reacted to ban siths, she would definitely have been wary if someone had drawn near, so any attack would have had to be done from a distance.

Sniper style would have been the easiest way, I decided.

I lifted my eyes to the row of houses opposite. They were of a similar height to the Shellycoats’; which one would have the best line of sight to this spot? Which one would allow me to hide effectively?

As my gaze travelled from house to house I spotted several possibilities, then I smiled grimly. There: a building with large chimneys that would provide plenty of cover and appeared to have a useful flat section of roof. That’s where I would have lain in wait.

As I started to march towards it, Tiddles miaowed in protest. ‘We’re not done here yet,’ I told her. She miaowed again and I glanced at her. She was certainly a stubborn moggy. She didn’t want to follow me but she didn’t want to wait around for me either.

I sighed. ‘Alright,’ I relented. ‘Give me thirty minutes and then we’ll go and look for Thane.’

She narrowed her eyes. For goodness’ sake. ‘Twenty minutes then.’ She didn’t move.

‘Wherever he is,’ I said, ‘it must be to do with that young silver werewolf, right?’

She blinked once.

‘In twenty minutes we’ll visit Alexander MacTire. If anyone knows who that kid is, it will be him. It’ll be faster than conjuring up an effective tracking spell.’

Her tail twitched but thankfully she acquiesced. Despite my earlier declaration, it was clear who was the boss here – and it certainly wasn’t me.