‘Finn,’ I whispered. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘Why are you whispering?’

  ‘Because Dizzy spent the night with a girl bat and they’re saying their goodbyes. Why are you calling?’

  ‘Aw, that’s so cute. About Dizzy I mean. I wish Jewel would find herself a boyfriend. Me and Lassie might be able to get an evening to ourselves. You know, Jewel talks over every single film we watch, making fun of the acting?’

  ‘Yeah. I remember trying to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last Winter Solstice. Your cat did not make it easy. Anyway, once again, why are you calling?’

  ‘Can’t I just call to shoot the breeze?’

  ‘No, Finn, you can’t. I mean, I’d like it if you did, occasionally, because all we ever seem to talk about is murder. But I sense that this, like every conversation we have, is about to follow a certain trend.’

  He let out a weary sigh. ‘Yeah, but I wish it wasn’t. All right then, here’s the deal. For one thing, my mother is still refusing to be tested, but she fainted again shortly after you left the hospital. It was, rather conveniently, while I was once again questioning her about whether or not she’d been sabotaging your exams.’

  ‘Is she all right?’

  ‘Well she checked herself out of the hospital pretty soon afterwards, so yeah. She also em … well, this is the second thing. She told me that had only been pretending to be friendly with Emily, so Emily wouldn’t know she suspects her of murdering Athena.’

  Cue my gasp of shock.

  ‘Yeah, yeah I thought that might make you gasp,’ Finn continued. ‘She then handed over the chocolate Emily had brought to her hospital room, and begged me to get it tested. So now, Ronnie’s testing both boxes – the one you got from Athena’s fridge, and the one Emily gave to my mother. And Ronnie says that there’s something in them all right, but she says it’ll take her another twenty minutes to half an hour to narrow it down.’

  ‘Oh.’ I didn’t bother to gasp this time. I was far too dejected for that. I really didn’t want Emily to be guilty of this. Apart from the fact that I felt some responsibility over her winding up in the Maze (I mean, would she have become so possessive over Max if he hadn’t been falling for me in front of her eyes?), it also made no sense. Why would someone who has just won their freedom throw it all away? ‘And Athena’s laptop?’

  ‘Paul’s just gotten started on that, so we’ll know soon enough. But Wanda, I need you to do something you won’t like. I need you to interview Emily. Keep her busy until we’ve got the results, and don’t let her out of your sight.’

  ‘Seriously?’ I sank down onto the chair next to the telephone (yes, my coven still had a landline, and no, we didn’t often use the actual phone – but the seat next to it was very comfortable). ‘I mean, I’ll do it obviously, even though I really don’t want to. But I have to say, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Why would Emily kill her counsellor, and try to poison your mother while she was at it?’

  ‘Well, Minerva told you Emily said Anton had tried it on, right? And that he’d said she was a fantasist. All of that led to a pretty big misunderstanding, according to the owl, when Emily thought Athena was taking Anton’s side. Maybe Emily was angry enough to kill Athena, and then to try and poison my mother too, if she started to suspect Emily.’

  ‘Yeah, but … Emily got out on time, didn’t she? Which means Athena must have vouched for her, no matter what Anton said. So why would she hold a grudge?’

  ‘True. But Emily hasn’t been known as the most rational of women, has she? And there’s definitely something in those choccies. Look, it’ll be twenty minutes, tops, before we know for sure. Go there, have some breakfast, feel her out. We either will or won’t be arresting her by the time you’ve finished your meal.’

  ≈

  As I approached Caulfield’s, I felt a little bit sick. I didn’t want breakfast. I barely even wanted a cup of tea. By the end of this, I would know if Emily was a poisoner or not. In the meantime, it felt like a countdown to her fate.

  When I entered, Nan and Kevin were manning the counter, while Emily sat in a booth with Jasper Jaunt and Wolfie.

  My heart leapt at the sight of the wolfhound, and he bounded out of the booth and jumped up on me, licking my face with the sort of gusto only Wolfie could manage.

  ‘Wanda, Wanda I miss you!’ he cried.

  I snuggled into his neck. ‘Oh, Wolfie, I miss you too.’

  I still looked after him sometimes, but I didn’t see him nearly as much as I had when I lived with Max. We had been a family, really – Wolfie, Dizzy and Melissa’s familiar, Princess, along with me, Max, Melissa and the steady stream of familiars who sought out my help. Now, I was surrounded by my entire coven every day, and although it was lovely, it wasn’t quite the same.

  ‘Emily and Jasper spent the night together,’ Wolfie informed me. ‘And the night before that. They smell like they’re in love.’

  I looked over at Emily and her bass-player boyfriend. Her cheeks were flushed, while the skinny rock star merely gave me a proud smile and said, ‘Yeah, you know it baby. Me and Dollface are the real deal.’

  Emily’s cheeks burned even brighter and she stood up and said, ‘I’d better get to work. The breakfast rush’ll be starting soon.’

  I looked around the café and bakery. Apart from me, Jasper and Wolfie, the only ones here were Nan and Kevin.

  ‘We’re going to see Max now,’ said Wolfie. ‘Well not our Max. The other Max. But we still look after him. He got sick again, Wanda. Did you know? Have you seen him?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said sadly. ‘I saw him last night.’

  ‘It’s a worry,’ Emily chimed in, her hands in the pocket of her apron.

  Wolfie looked at her. ‘You should go and see him. When he wakes up, I bet he’ll say thanks for the chocolate you sent him.’

  Emily’s eyes flashed to mine for a moment. ‘I made too large a batch. I’ve been giving it to everybody. Plus, this new Max seemed like he needed cheering up.’

  Jasper squeezed her hand. ‘You’re so kind and thoughtful, Dollface. Me and not-our-Max really enjoyed the sweets. Wolfie had a couple, too.’

  ‘Oh.’ I felt a flutter of relief in my chest. ‘You both had some too? And you’re … well, you look like you’re fine and dandy.’

  Emily gritted her teeth. ‘Of course they are. I haven’t been poisoning people with my chocolate, Wanda. Is that why you’re here? You think that the chocolate I gave to new Max put him in hospital? I mean, it’s got to be official business, right, because you haven’t been in this place since the day I got back.’

  Wolfie’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as he looked up at Emily. ‘No one’s been in here since the day you got out.’ While Emily’s father and granny winced, the wolfhound continued. ‘I like it this way. I can run around in the empty shop. Plus, there’s always lots of leftover food every day. Wanda, do you want to play ball?’

  I was about to answer – very much in the affirmative, because playing ball with Wolfie sounded a lot more fun than questioning Emily. But Jasper patted Wolfie’s head and said, ‘We’ve no time, boy. We’re going to visit new Max, remember?’

  ‘Oh yeah.’ Wolfie grinned. ‘Maybe he’ll play ball with me.’

  As they trotted out of the shop, the flutter in my chest became a sharp ache. Good goddess, I missed my old life. Taking in some breaths to calm myself, I turned to Emily. ‘It is official business, actually. Can we sit down?’

  Emily glanced worriedly at her father and her granny.

  ‘Talk to her, Emily,’ Nan said softly. ‘You’ve nothing to hide, my love. I’ll bring you over some tea and muffins. On the house.’

  12. Sweet and Sour

  I really wished that anyone but me could be the one sitting here – and not because of anything Emily had done in the past, or what she might have done more recently. It was simply because, these days, any reminder of Max caused a sting.

  ‘Emily, I’d like to ask you some questions about your stay in the Maze,’ I began. ‘In particular, the relationship you had with Anton Gale when you were there. A witness tells me you made certain accusations about him.’

  ‘Wow. That is not what I thought this was going to be about. I–’ She broke off, as Nan set a tray down on the table, unloading tea, blueberry muffins, and some fresh milk. Emily gave her granny a tense smile and waited for her to leave. Finally, she lowered her voice and said, ‘I thought you were accusing me of poisoning the new Max.’

  I stirred some milk into my tea and took a sip. ‘I’m still waiting to hear what his test results are. In the meantime, I need to know if Anton Gale said or did anything untoward while you were in the Maze.’

  Emily chewed on her lower lip for a moment. ‘It … it came out of nowhere,’ she told me. ‘He had always been so professional. Then one day, while I was reading a book in the conservatory, he sat down beside me and started saying that he was afraid he might have to recommend that my stay there be extended. I … I was shocked. His wife, Athena, the goddess rest her soul, she was my counsellor, and she had told me that I was ready to leave. I said as much to Anton, and he said I must have misunderstood things. He told me that Athena felt the same as him.’

  Her face was white, and she pulled off pieces of her muffin. ‘He said … he said: “However, there might be a way I can talk her around, as long as you play nice with me”. His creepy words are seared into my brain, but even that wasn’t as bad as what he did next. He put his arm around my shoulder, Wanda. And he leaned in.’

  She shuddered. ‘I jumped up before he could kiss me, and I ran out of the conservatory. But then I thought – wait, why am I the one running off with my tail between my legs when I’ve done nothing wrong? So I marched back in, about to tell him exactly what I thought of him, when I saw him kissing Carmel Plimpton.’

  ‘On the same day?’ There was a sceptical note in my voice. ‘Was she there when you were there the first time? Or did she walk in past you as you were on the way out?’

  ‘No, she must have come in from the garden just after I left, because there was no one but me and him when he tried it on. I know it sounds crazy – even I have trouble believing it, and I was there – but it happened. The man was acting like a different person, not at all like himself. I was due to have a session with Athena, and when I got there, I told her everything.’ Emily wrapped her hands around her cup. ‘She … she went all pale and shocked and told me she’d deal with it, and that we’d end our session early that day.’

  ‘And what happened next?’

  Emily held out her hands. ‘I don’t really know. Carmel Plimpton told me that Athena was going around telling everyone that I was a fantasist, that I’d imagined it all. I was pretty upset about that, I have to tell you. I even fought with Athena about it, I’m ashamed to say. But Athena denied she’d been saying those things. She told me that even though she felt like it was out of character for Anton, she believed me. She didn’t outright say she’d noticed his sudden odd behaviour, but she hinted at it. She even said she’d written up a report about the incident, and she was going to email it to me to make sure she got the details right before she took things further. Except I never got the email, and soon after she passed away.’

  ‘You never pursued it?’

  ‘I was just glad to be out. To get my life back. To be honest, other than the fact that a lot of people seem to be avoiding this place like the plague, my life is better than before. I told Jasper how I’d felt about him all these years, and he told me he felt the same. It’s … it’s the kind of honesty I never would have been able to achieve if it weren’t for my sessions with Athena. She was amazing at her job.’

  ‘So, you really didn’t believe that she’d called you a fantasist?’

  ‘No!’ Emily’s reply was vehement. ‘Not in a million years. You should know better than most that you can’t trust a word that Carmel says.’

  ‘Hm. It’s just … I have it on good authority that you and Carmel were rather close in the Maze. And I did see you visiting her only yesterday. Seems strange to pal around with someone when you can’t trust them.’

  She looked me in the eye. ‘That’s exactly why I’ve been hanging around with her. After I saw her kissing Anton, I started to think about things, and I realised: everything in the Maze was good until she started to volunteer there. Anton was even trying to get rid of her at one point, but that was before I saw them kissing. After that, she had him wrapped around her little finger. She even got him to overlook her side job.’

  ‘Her side job?’

  Emily nodded. ‘She said she was volunteering there because she wanted to retrain, to join the mental health field. But she was already acting like she was a professional healer of the mind. Some of the people who came into the Maze as day patients, they dropped their sessions with Athena and went on to see Carmel in a private capacity. Paying her actual money. It stank to high heaven. Then there was the other issue.’

  She flicked her eyes to mine before quickly looking away. ‘All of those people who were going to see Carmel, they were all people who had a problem with you. An IT guy who had fantasies about killing you because you put his girlfriend in jail, another one who was out on work release from Witchfield after you arrested him, a secretary whose cousin you jailed … there was a whole bunch of them, and they all hated you.’

  I felt a sudden shiver of discomfort. Everyone she mentioned matched Ronnie’s description of the people who had been fired from Crooked College – people who had been messing around with my schedule and pulling the alarm. To disguise my discomfort, I snorted. ‘Yeah, I’ve heard some people feel that way about me. You must have got along with them, then.’

  ‘What? No, Wanda. I don’t hate you. Not at all.’

  ‘Really? Didn’t you and Carmel Plimpton often gather in corners in the Maze to badmouth me?’

  ‘Oh.’ Emily smiled slightly. ‘Oh, I see. Well yes, we did. But I didn’t really agree with what she was saying. I thought she was up to something, you see. All of those people she was gathering around her, people who bore a grudge against you – I assumed she was planning on making a move on you, and I wanted to find out what that plan might be.’

  My brows lifted. ‘You were sleuthing? In order to find information that would help me? Funny, because you never reported any of this.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Yes I did! I sent a detailed email to your boss, Finn. I would have liked to tell you face to face, but I didn’t think you’d believe me.’

  Inwardly, I was thinking: Gee, I wonder why. Outwardly, I said, ‘I’ll have to check on that with Finn, in case he somehow missed it, or didn’t mention it to me.’ Either was likely. My friends and colleagues had been hiding a lot from me, trying not to stress me out.

  Emily looked down at her hands. ‘Look, I can see why you’d have trouble believing all of this. I really can. But Wanda, I mean it when I say that I don’t hate you. I had a lot of time to think about things while I was in the Maze. And Athena’s counselling really helped me to see things for what they were. You and I, we were friends. Good friends, I thought. And it wasn’t your fault that Max fell for you – heck, you were totally oblivious to it for a long, long time. I was wrong to do what I did, and I know it. I shouldn’t have sprayed myself with Eau de Wolf to make Max love me. And I shouldn’t have used Make Him Meek to … well, make him meek. At the end of the day, I didn’t even love Max. Oh, I convinced myself I did. And I wanted to, so much. Who wouldn’t rather love someone safe, and lovely, like Max, over someone wild and unpredictable like Jasper? Or Will.’

  ‘That’s below the belt, Emily,’ I said quietly.

  ‘Yeah.’ She blew out some air. ‘I guess it was. And I guess I’m not quite as fully repaired as I thought I was. Sweet and sour, that’s what Athena used to say I could be. She said I just had to recognise when the sourness was coming along, and think about why. I really could use a chat with her round about now to get me back on track.’

  There were a couple of minutes of silence. I knew I should keep questioning her, to keep her busy until Finn got in touch, but the conversation was making my head spin, and I needed to think things through before I asked her anything more.

  Mizz Plimpton’s version and Emily’s version were in direct contradiction. On Mizz Plimpton’s side, I had the evidence of some kind of substance in both chocolate boxes, though I didn’t know quite what it was yet. And on Emily’s side, she seemed sincere. A little sour towards the end, sure, but I felt like she was telling the truth about every word she said.

  Plus, I really, really didn’t like Finn’s mother, and she really, really didn’t like me. It was hardly beyond the realms of possibility that she had done all of this just to get at me. She wanted to gather Emily and as many others as she could, people who had the urge to take out some revenge on me. She could have gone to the Maze for exactly that purpose.

  And if Anton’s behaviour that day was really as out of character as Emily and Minerva seemed to think, it was even possible that Mizz Plimpton had drugged him. Perhaps she’d given him some sort of love potion, but she miscalculated the time it would take to grab hold of him. Emily might have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, a pretty girl sitting there, just as Anton’s magically induced lust took hold. As soon as Emily ran off, Mizz Plimpton pounced, and she had Anton under her control from that day onwards.

  Emily seemed to be lost in her thoughts too, until suddenly she stared at me. ‘I … I have to tell you something else, Wanda. It’s going to sound wild, though. I mean, even wilder than what I’ve told you so far.’

  ‘Well, I’m used to wild stories. Tell me.’

  ‘Well I … I don’t think it was Toadstool Tumours that killed Athena. I mean, yes, Athena had the disease, but I don’t think it’s why she died. That’s another reason why I’ve been sleuthing. I think it’s all connected. And you can tell me I’m crazy all you want. I don’t care. Athena was excellent at potions – heck, she could run rings around the woman who runs the apothecary at the Maze. If she set out to cure herself, I think she would have managed it. I think she did manage it. Because she certainly didn’t seem sick to me. And I – wait.’ She broke off, narrowing her eyes. ‘Wanda, why are you here?’