Westerham Witches and a Venetian Vendetta Dionne Lister (e manga reader .txt) 📖

“Yes… frequently… many people.” I grinned. “Being weird, impatient, and easily surprised are my three biggest skills.”

A brief vibration of magic tickled my scalp, and Millicent stepped through her doorway. “Hey, ladies. Sorry you had to wait with all that noise.” I stood, and we hugged.

“The noise is my fault. I knocked to check if you were home. Big mistake.”

She laughed. “We really should train them better. I’ve had that conversation with them before, but they don’t listen… obviously. Anyway, come in. I understand it’s urgent.” She unlocked the door, and the dogs stopped barking, but they did jump up on Millicent. “Get down.”

“Yes. Super urgent.” I gave both dogs a quick pat on the head.

Imani came in and shut the reception-room door. “We need to get back to the hotel ASAP. I was hoping you and the rats could come with me. I don’t want Lily there right now, just in case she’s been compromised. She might have been caught by a security camera snooping in the hotel office.”

Millicent frowned as she continued through kitchen and into the family room. “What do you need? I’ll convey it to the rats.” She walked to the corner where there was a plywood box with a doorway cut into it. “Cinnamon, Bagel. I need your help.”

Imani explained the plan as my cute little friends exited their sleeping quarters. I grinned and sat on the floor. “Hello, you two!” They scurried to me and squeaked. I patted each of them on the back. “How have you been?”

Millicent smiled. “They say they’ve been good and that they miss you—you don’t come over enough.”

“Sorry. I’ve been making the most of being able to go out again, and we’re supposed to be on holiday. Anyway, it’s great to see you.” Bagel climbed up my shorts and top, then up to my shoulder. Her favourite spot. She nuzzled into my neck.

“Okay, ladies, pay attention.” I looked up, but silly me. Millicent was talking to the rats, not me. She told them what we wanted them to do. “They say they’re happy to help.”

“I knew we could count on you guys. Thank you.” I stroked Bagel’s back.

“Squeak, squeak.”

I looked to Millicent for a translation. “She said always.” Millicent picked up Cinnamon. “Now that’s organised, I guess I should dress for a Venetian holiday.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t come? Maybe I could be a big distraction for the old woman? She could get angry at me while you two are checking out all the rooms.”

Imani bit her bottom lip and held it there for a moment. “Hmm. Tell you what. We’ll go without you, but if we need a decoy, I’ll text you ‘yes,’ and you come to the reception room, then try and keep her there as long as possible… using non-violent means.” She gave me a stern look.

“Oh my God. As if I’d do anything to forcibly keep her there. I don’t want to end up in jail. I figured she could interrogate me about why I was in the office. I could string that out for ages.” I was queen of the confusing conversation. Ooh, a fourth skill.

Imani looked at me for a while, likely thinking. She finally said, “That could work.” She looked at Millicent, who had magicked a pretty summer dress on—it was white with a small-blue-flower print. It had two big pockets at thigh level, and she slipped Cinnamon into one and Bagel into the other.

Millicent smiled. “Ready to roll.”

Imani made a doorway. “After you.” Millicent stepped through, and Imani followed. The doorway shut, leaving me alone. Well, Millicent’s two dogs were here, but I was practically alone. Now all I had to do was wait.

And we all knew how good I was at doing that.

Chapter 7

My phone rang. It had only been about five minutes since they’d left. Had they already found something? Heart racing, I slid my phone out of my pocket.

Damn.

Unknown number.

Now was not the time to be getting a sales call from some company who wanted to sell me ink cartridges, or from someone telling me the “police” were after me for avoiding taxes. Just in case it was important—maybe Will was calling me from the PIB Trieste office—I pressed the answer button. “Hello?” I braced myself to hang up quickly if it was a scammer. Normally, I’d love to keep them on the phone and pretend to believe them to waste their time, but I wasn’t in the mood.

“Hello, Miss Bianchi?” The woman on the other end sounded familiar and had an Italian accent.

Who could it be? I wasn’t answering till I knew. I mean, why did people do this? Call someone and ask who they were before saying who the caller was. Excuse me, but you’re calling me, bucko. “Who is this?”

She tittered. “Mi Scusi! It is Isabella from the ’otel. I was wondering if you could come and join me for a coffee. The camera, it showed you were in the ’otel office. I’d like to know why.”

Crap. What the hell should I do now? What if I admitted it, and she had me arrested? Well, it’s not like they could arrest me while I was in the UK, but it meant I couldn’t go back to Venice… ever. And she was a fairly nice old lady who was going through enough right now with the murder of her boss. Maybe she’d forgive me if she knew why I was looking? “Sorry. I was just trying to find some information. My dear friend Angelica has gone missing, and I’ve been looking everywhere. She has a habit of drinking too much and falling asleep in weird places. I thought maybe she had accidentally gone in there and, you know, fallen asleep.” What was a lie between strangers?

“Mio Dio!” Silence for a bit. “I’m so sorry.” She sighed, and her voice sounded worn down, tired. “All the things happening here. Evil is around. First, my son-in-law is murdered, and they