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Chapter Twenty-Five

I felt like I’d been hurtled twenty feet through the air and landed on a bush – which, of course, I had been. Walking back home would be slow going. There used to be a taxi firm in the village, and I was sure there still was, but I didn’t have its number. Besides, I wasn’t convinced a driver would be okay allowing a dog and a woman covered in leaves and twigs in their car.

I swallowed my pride and rang Maddie. When she promised to come straight over, something in me eased. It was nice having someone to call on. I’d missed that, in London.

Her car rocked up with my bestie behind the wheel dressed in her pyjamas. I opened the rear door for Eva then hopped into the passenger seat. ‘This is a change for you,’ I said gesturing at her attire. ‘What happened to the girl who didn’t like to go out until nine o’clock at night? ’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Just feeling shattered, that’s all,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be up for going out on Friday. Ezra told me he’d spoken to you.’

I slid her an accusing look. ‘Of course he did because you totally told him to go and get me a coffee.’

‘Maybe.’ She smirked. ‘So?’

‘So what?’

‘He looks good, doesn’t he?’ She waggled her eyebrows.

A half-laugh, half-huff escaped me. ‘He’s grown up,’ I admitted. ‘But I’m not going there, Maddie.’

‘Why not? He’s a really good guy – he’s funny and you two always got on really well.’

‘When we were seventeen . But people change. He’s not my type now.’

‘No? So what is your type?’

A picture flashed into my mind: someone in a smart shirt, sleeves rolled up over bulging muscles, brooding eyes that I could lose myself in for hours. I pushed the unwanted image away forcefully. Nope. I was not going there, either.

‘Regardless of my taste in men, at the minute I don’t have time for one,’ I said primly. ‘I’ve got enough to sort out. I think Mr Jacobson might be the one we need to speak to. ’

‘That’s great!’ Her excitement and relief were palpable and I hated to quash it, but I needed to tell her the truth.

‘Yeah … but it’s complicated. I think perhaps you were right in thinking he’s an ogre.’

Her face crinkled with confusion. ‘But I thought he was a witch?’

‘I mean he really doesn’t like people. He didn’t like me, anyway. I’m not sure how we’ll get him to talk to us. I think he might have a screw loose.’

‘Screw loose, or screw missing entirely and held together with hope and duct tape?’

I grimaced. ‘The latter.’

‘You’ll think of something. You have to. We have to,’ she said grimly. Her words didn’t make me feel great.

With effort, she dredged up a smile and tried to dispel the grim atmosphere that had descended. ‘So how was the first day on the job?’ she asked. ‘Did you have time to dig up stuff on Banks?’

‘Actually, it was pretty manic.’ I told her everything that had happened.

‘Shut up !’ she said finally. ‘I can’t believe someone killed Warren. That’s insane. I’ve seen Toby in passing and met him a couple of times socially but I could never imagine he’d do something like that. But the stepmum…?’ She paused. ‘Well, Yanni’s not her biggest fan. ’

‘Is she not?’ I hadn’t got that impression from Yanni at all, then I realised that was the whole point: she had one heck of a poker face. I knew that from that wash of loneliness I would never have guessed at.

I’d have to do something about that too, but one problem at a time. ‘If you’re planning on going to bed when you get in, I can do a little digging from home,’ I suggested.

‘Sounds good,’ she said. ‘Although the Wi-Fi can be patchy. ’

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine.’

Maddie nodded. A companionable silence was beginning to fall between us when she spoke again. ‘I know it’s not the best of circumstances,’ she said softly, ‘but it’s really, really good having you back. It’s a bit like you’ve never been away.’

‘I feel the same.’ I squeezed her arm. ‘And I’m so damned grateful for it. Grateful for you.’

I was genuinely shocked by how much her friendship still meant to me; I’d honestly believed that I’d let her fade into my past, but now that I was here that ache that lived in my heart had finally gone. Until that had happened, I hadn’t realised just how crippling it had been.

Back home, I bid a yawning Maddie goodnight. I grabbed my laptop and sat down in the cold living room, the empty fireplace taunting me. Maddie wasn’t the only thing I’d missed, and when she had persuaded me to come home, I’d been looking forward to basking in the Witchlight. That it was gone left me more than a little depressed. The Eternal Flame was my inheritance, and I had failed it miserably. Well, I was done failing. I was going to find it, and restore it, and that was all there was to it.

I opened my laptop and navigated my way to the dark web, then opened up pages on some of the websites I frequently used as a PI. One of the most useful things I’d ever done in London was pay a magical hacker called Donovan a ridiculous price to get me banking access codes and encryption keys; using the portal he’d created for me, I could pretty much log into any bank I wanted from anywhere in the world.

So that’s what I did.

I thought I’d have to search half a dozen Fraser Banks to find the one I was looking for but when I narrowed down the search parameters to Cornwall there was only one person with that name and an English bank account. Or rather several English bank accounts.

As I opened the first one, my jaw dropped. The numbers were massive; we were talking my annual martial arts earnings plus my PI fees multiplied by ten, per month.

‘Banks, indeed,’ I muttered. ‘This man could open one himself with all that money. Crikey.’ I wasn’t even that jealous. Uh-huh.

I scanned down. Some debits were for mundane things – internet, bills, rental on property – and there were large amounts going to building firms. Judging by what I knew of Banks, that wasn’t a surprise; as a property developer he’d gotta develop.

Halfway down the page something caught my eye. Two hundred thousand pounds had gone out of the account but there was no name listed for the recipient, just an address. That didn’t feel right.

I typed the address into a search engine but nothing came up. I tried changing my servers and using one on the dark web. Still nothing. My first lead and I’d hit a dead end. But that wasn’t the last of my options. I pulled open my phone and scrolled down to a name: Donovan.

There was a reason I had used him before: when it came to finances, he was the absolute best if you wanted to stop payments to somebody or wanted full disclosure. But this wasn’t a case of accessing bank statements, which I could already do thanks to his portal. Donovan was better than that: he could trace the money from source to final destination going back years. He also had systems linked to public CCTV cameras that could track where high levels of cash were spent, not only in the UK but overseas as well.

When I pressed on his number, he answered within two rings. ‘Beatrix Stonehaven. Long time, no see – or hear. How can I help? Unless you’re ringing for my stimulating conversation?’

‘Not much time for conversation today. Sorry. Could you do me a favour?’

‘Depends on what it is and what you’ll pay me for it.’ He sounded amused.

‘I was hoping for a discount this time based on my charming personality and the fact that I once saved a cat from a tree.’

He let the silence hang. That was a no, then. I sighed. ‘I’m on a case. There’s a payment to a bank account. I’ve got the associated address and number but no name. Any chance you could track that down for me? And to be honest, I’m not sure the address is legit.’

‘You need me to do some deep digging?’

‘Possibly. Probably.’

He grunted before he spoke again. ‘Payment will be the usual,’ he warned.

I gritted my teeth. Donovan wasn’t cheap and I didn’t know what Yanni was going to pay me, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. If we could get some dirt on Banks, we could stop him dead in his tracks, stop him getting anywhere near my house. When it came to my home, money was no object. I had credit cards. I’d use them.

‘All right. I’ll transfer it to you now with all the information that I have.’

‘I’ll get onto it as soon as I have time. Pleasure doing business with you,’ he said. A click. The line went dead.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. One step closer.

Now all I had to do was hope that Donovan’s ‘deep digging’ didn’t put us both in a hole too deep to climb out of.