Witch Is When Life Got Complicated Read Online Free PDF

wine.
    “Look what I’ve got!” I lifted the cat out of the basket and held him out for Mrs V to see.
    “Shush!” She rubbed her head.
    “Sorry,” I whispered. “Look.”
    “Whoopee. You got the stupid cat back. I’m so very pleased. I’ve missed him like a hole in the head. Speaking of which, do you have any aspirin?”
    “There’s some in the filing cabinet. Bottom drawer.” I held the cat even closer to her. “Look! This isn’t Winky. It’s a different cat. I’ve called him Blinky.”
    So sue me. I thought it was funny.
     
    “Who’s he, and why is he here?” Winky screamed at me when I walked into my office. Blinky was curled up in my arms.
    “More to the point, what are you doing here?” I said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I even put up posters.”
    “Yeah, I saw those. Looked kind of cute in them, didn’t I?”
    “Where have you been?”
    “Here and there,” he said. “Been sharing the love, you know.”
    Yuk. I didn’t know, and I certainly had no desire to. “How did you get back in?”
    “I followed the old bag lady in. She looks rougher than usual this morning. I reckon she’s turning into a lush.”
    “Mrs V won a competition for her scarf last night. She’s allowed to celebrate.”
    “You still haven’t answered my question.” Winky turned his one good eye on the new arrival. “Who is he?”
    “This is Blinky.”
    “Really? That’s the best you could come up with?”
    “I like it—it suits him. Someone thought he was you.”
    “Me? He looks nothing like me. He’s ugly!”
    Pot, kettle.
    “This is his home now.”
    “Over my dead body.”
    Don’t tempt me. “It’s your own fault. I thought you’d gone for good, and besides someone was going to kill him.”
    “They’d have been doing him a favour. Doing us all a favour. The world isn’t ready for a cat as ugly as that.”
    “Blinky is here to stay, so you’d better get used to the idea.”
     
    I had planned to ask Mrs V to keep an eye on the cats, but she was fast asleep.
    “You two had better behave. No fighting and no destroying my office. Got it?”
    I looked from one to the other. Winky was perched on the window sill; Blinky was on the leather sofa. If the new arrival was intimidated by Winky, he was doing a good job of hiding it.
    I didn’t like the idea of leaving them in the office together, but I had to get going. I’d promised to go to a barbecue at Kathy’s, but before that I wanted to call in at the props shop where the original knife had been purchased. Mrs V didn’t stir when I left, and I wondered if she’d still be there in the morning.
     
    “Mr Culthorpe isn’t in,” the spotty kid behind the counter at the props shop informed me.
    “Is Mr Culthorpe the proprietor?”
    “No, he just owns the place. He’s gone away on holiday. He’ll be back on Monday.”
    “Do you know much about stage props? Specifically knives?”
    “I don’t know nowt about owt,” ‘Mastermind’ said. “I just sell stuff.”
    “Does Mr Culthorpe often leave you in charge?”
    “Not usually. Jason is supposed to be here—he’s the manager. But he rang in to say he’d won fifty grand on the lottery, and I should tell the gaffer that he could shove his job.”
    “It might be better if I call in again when Mr Culthorpe is back. Thanks. You’ve been—err—thanks.”
     
     
     

Chapter 5
    Barbecues were not really my thing. Wasps, flies and over-cooked meat—what’s not to like? Kathy and Peter, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of them. From May to September, they averaged one every four weeks. And guess who got invited to them all? A pattern was emerging. Whenever I said I didn’t like something and definitely did not want to do it, Kathy browbeat me into doing it. Did she actually hate me?
    “Auntie Jill!” Lizzie screamed. “I’ve got a hot dog. Do you want one?”
    “No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
    “Come and see my new beanie!”
     
    Lizzie had cleared the middle