City of Magic: The Complete Series Helen Harper (fox in socks read aloud TXT) 📖

and where they live.’ The bogles had wanted to live anonymously but events earlier in the year had made that impossible. We tried to respect their wishes and leave them in peace when we could but this wasn’t one of those times. ‘I’ll go on my own. They’ll be more likely to talk to me.’

Anna stood up. ‘They know me too. I’ll come with you.’ At my look of exasperation, she raised her eyebrows. ‘Monroe would turn furry and rip my head off if anything happened to you while you were out there alone. Remember that the beasties are out and about in force.’

‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea,’ Timmons said, concern immediately darkening his brow.

Anna leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. She scooped up Lucy from his arms. ‘We’ll bring this wee girl with us. She’ll frighten away any other monsters simply by being so cute.’

Lucy puffed herself up and let out the loudest squeak I’d heard her produce yet. Then she bared her teeth and opened her mouth wide, emitting a small – and yet most definite – roar. We all stared at her in astonishment.

Timmons blinked. ‘I think she understood you.’

I smiled. ‘Smart as well as beautiful.’ I winked. ‘Just like all of us.’

Walking to the bogles’ neighbourhood would have taken most of the rest of the day, so Anna and I borrowed two of the hotel bicycles. Until the previous month, a few people had hung onto their cars but fuel was incredibly scarce. Also, the only vehicles that worked in these magical times were the old ones that relied less on computer technology and more on old-fashioned mechanics. It had been several weeks since I’d seen anyone drive. That wasn’t a bad thing; we were all considerably leaner and fitter. Living in this post-apocalyptic world meant engaging in a full-on diet and exercise programme that achieved outstanding results. Joe Wicks, eat your heart out.

‘I knew this would happen sooner or later,’ Anna said as we cycled. ‘There’s no accounting for curiosity. It’s why we open that cellar door in the middle of the night to investigate the noise when we know we shouldn’t. It’s why youngsters try drugs. It’s why there’s such a fascination with criminals, especially when their crimes are horrendously gruesome.’

I adjusted the gears on my bike to accommodate the slight incline. ‘You mean someone was always going to enter Manchester from the outside to see what was going on?’

She nodded. ‘Yep. I kind of thought it would be the army, but a daft billionaire with more money and ego than sense could fit the bill just as well.’

‘This isn’t a theory I’ve heard you share before,’ I told her.

Anna was silent for a moment. ‘I didn’t want to ruin the fun,’ she said finally. Her stomach grumbled and she laughed slightly. ‘Such as it is.’

‘Well,’ I said, grinning, ‘it’s certainly a lot better now we’re all getting along and no one’s trying to kill anyone else.’

She shrugged. ‘That’s the nature of this beast called life. We’ll get to psycho murders again before too long. Things run in cycles. We have peace now but in another couple of months everything will kick off again. Then it’ll calm down. So on and so forth.’

Interested, I glanced at her. ‘Did this happen when you were with the police? Before, I mean?’

‘Sure. But on a larger scale. You’d settle down the local drug gangs and then there’d be a spate of burglaries. The drug gangs would pick up again while knife crime would rise. It was like a whack-a-mole.’

‘Do you miss it?’

She laughed. ‘Not a chance.’

We turned the corner and approached the bogles’ cul-de-sac. I knew from past experience that there were hidden eyes on us, though I couldn’t have said where those eyes were hiding. As an acknowledgement to the bogles’ security, I slowed down and Anna followed suit.

‘Wait for it,’ she said. The road was still and empty, with only the barest whisper of a breeze rustling the leaves in the trees nearby. ‘Wait for it.’ She drew in a breath. ‘They’re bound to show themselves at any moment. In fact, I think that…’

She didn’t get the chance to finish. From out of nowhere, three bogles leapt out in front of us. Two had clearly been hiding in the trees; the third clicked into existence once Anna and I passed some sort of invisible marker.

I slammed on the brakes, coming to such an abrupt halt that I almost shot over the handle bars. ‘A little warning next time would be good,’ I muttered. At my back, Lucy moaned in brief protest at the violent stop.

‘Where would be the fun in that?’ Alora, the chief bogle smiled at me. Her expression was considerably warmer than it had been the first few times we’d met. I hoped that Anna’s comment about how things went in cycles didn’t mean that the same would happen to our relations with the bogles. I liked being able to drop in on another community from time to time. Somehow it made everything feel a bit more normal.

‘Hi, Alora,’ I said.

Anna, who’d come to a far more graceful halt than I had, swung her leg over the bike and lowered it to the ground. She strode up to Alora and shook her hand. ‘Good to see you again.’

‘And you, DI Jones.’ Alora’s eyes crinkled. ‘I hope this isn’t an official police visit. What is the crime rate these days on the mean streets of Manchester?’

Anna smiled and doffed an imaginary cap. ‘Low to non-existent, ma’am,’ she drawled in a deep voice. ‘Nothing to worry about.’ She paused and returned her voice to normal. ‘But we are here for an official reason. Me and Charley both,’ she said, indicating me with a wave of a hand.

I dipped into a bow because it didn’t hurt to remind Alora that I was keen to remain on the bogles’ good side.. ‘We’re here