‘Louis has to ask you something.’ She turned an excited face to him. ‘Only he doesn’t speak English very well, do you?’

‘Non, mon coeur.’

She giggled. ‘He calls me his heart, isn’t that just so cool? After you were here, me and Aggie had a real bust-up and Dad insisted—’

‘Dad?’ I interrupted.

‘It’s Dad’s restaurant. I’m working fulltime now I’ve finished school. You met him.’

Right: Mr Manager with the shiny shoes.

‘Anyway’—Holly squeezed another nonexistent millimetre closer to Louis—‘Dad insisted we go and see Mother.’

‘The Lady Meriel.’

‘Yeah. Mother said it was okay for me to date Louis as long as he came and talked to her first.’ She tugged on his arm like a child with a new toy. ‘Isn’t that great?’

Louis nodded back. He might not speak the language, but he appeared to have no problem understanding it—or maybe he was just interpreting Holly’s enthusiasm. It wasn’t hard to follow.

He broke in with a voluble torrent of words, then said in a thick accent, ‘You tell pleeeze, mon coeur.’

She nodded. ‘He wants to apologise for the misunderstanding in the police station. He realises now that this country is much nicer than he was told. I think some of the other vamps had a bit of a joke with him, told him that the police were all stake-happy or something.’

I gave Louis a sceptical look.

He flashed me an arrogant smirk, complete with sharp white fangs. Whatever Holly’s mother had got him to promise might make him safe for Holly, but the psycho part was still there, just itching to get out. I hoped Holly’s mother had made the agreement watertight—or rather, bloodtight.

‘Anyway, Louis’s not here for very long. Once he’s finished his job, he’s got to go back to France. Dad and Aggie aren’t too happy about us seeing each other, but Mother says, what better way for me to learn about’—she lowered her voice, a deep blush colouring her cheeks—‘about sex, than with someone that’s got a good three hundred years’ experience?’

Louis gave a self-satisfied lift of his lips.

‘And Mother’s even arranged somewhere with children for Aggie, now that I’m grown up, so she’ll be happy and won’t end up breathing down my neck all the time.’

I thought Aggie was far more likely to breathe down Louis’ neck, or maybe sic him with some of her nasty little brownie magic. But it looked like everyone was getting something they wanted, even the vampire. So what was I doing here, because it sure as hell wasn’t just for Psycho Louis to apologise?

Holly opened her mouth, but Louis interrupted with an elegant lift of one shoulder that reminded me uncomfortably of Malik and said, ‘I wish you to find she-witch.’

‘Yeah, that’s what he wants me to ask you.’ Holly grinned. ‘See there’s this witch that used to work for his boss, only she doesn’t any more, for some reason. But he’s got to find her and talk to her.’

I sighed. ‘Tell him I’m not a detective.’

Holly rattled away to him.

In answer, Louis reached into his jacket and produced a small photo.

‘That’s her,’ exclaimed Holly. ‘That’s who he wants you to find.’

Louis held out the photo to me. ‘Is this what he was asking me at the police station?’

Louis nodded, staring at me, his eyes full of disdain. ‘The Earl, he want finding she-witch himself. For reward.’

So Louis hadn’t developed a sudden desire for Detective Inspector Crane. I ignored his outstretched hand. ‘What reward?’

He slid the photo across the table. Curiosity got the better of me and I gave it a quick glance.

It was a headshot, face on. The witch looked to be somewhere in her twenties or thirties; it was difficult to put an age on her because she was so fat. She’d succumbed to sugar abuse, trying to boost her magic too far past its natural abilities. A mass of brown hair hung either side of her face and her mouth had a pinched look about it. Her bright blue eyes would have been her main feature, but the pads over her cheekbones made them look too small. I’d never seen her, only—

Louis threw another stream of words at me.

Holly gasped and leaned forward, peering at the photo. ‘He says that she is a very powerful, dangerouswitch, that she’s killed, using magic. He thinks she might be hiding amongst the other witches, but she’s got 3V, so she might be coming to HOPE. He wants you to see if you can find her before she kills again.’

Louis fished something else from his jacket and placed it next to the photo.

‘He says the witch will not be harmed,’ Holly translated. ‘He just wants to talk to her. There is some information his boss needs.’

Yeah, right. Like I was going to believe that.

I looked at the piece of paper. It was a cheque, payable to me. I swallowed as I read the number of noughts. That would go way past ending my employment worries.

‘He wants to know if this is enough payment. If not,’ Holly squeaked, her eyes rounding like saucers, ‘he says that whatever you desire he will get. More money, gems, stocks and shares, property, whatever.’

My head jerked up in surprise. Shit. He really was bringing out the big incentive guns. ‘What’s so important about this information?’

Holly looked at Louis, then reported, ‘His boss has some sort of sickness and she has made a spell that makes him better.’

Of course he was after the spell, just like all the other vamps. It hadn’t taken much to work that out. And now I’d discharged my debt to Declan, I didn’t need to look for it, but ...

‘Ask him what the spell actually does?’ I told her.

Louis shook his head, lips pressed tight together, as Holly said, ‘He doesn’t know.’

Or wasn’t about to tell me, more like! I tapped my finger on the photo. Psycho Louis was the first vamp to ask me to find a witch and not the spell—none of the other vamps had mentioned a witch. Did that mean they didn’t know about her? Or— Of course!How stupid could I get? She was a witch, and even if they did know who or where she was, they had no way of reaching her other than through the Witches’ Council—so they’d gone for the next best thing. Me.

What was it the Earl had wanted? He’d wanted me to find the spell and absorb it. And I was betting that whatever the spell did, it wasn’t something cute like producing fluffy bunnies from top hats. Maybe he thought I could regurgitate it in one piece ... although thinking about it, he wasn’t far wrong—which made me wonder just exactly where the Earl had got his information about me. I shoved that thought aside for later.

But if Psycho Louis was here for the spell, then why was he wasting his time playing kissy-face with Holly? Okay, she was a faeling with a powerful mother, and she probably tasted good, but ... Something nagged me, just at the edge of my memory.

I picked up the photo—maybe I could use it to get me into Inspector Crane’s good books—and pasted on a fake smile. ‘Can I have this?’

Louis nodded with enthusiasm.

I tucked it into my waistcoat pocket and stood up. ‘Holly, tell him the answer’s no. In fact’—I picked up the cheque, tore it in two—‘that will save you the translation.’

Louis’ brows knitted together and he glared up at me. ‘Meestake. You make bad meestake.’

Leaning down, I placed my hands flat on the table. ‘Not in my book, mate.’ I looked at Holly, clinging open-mouthed to his arm. ‘I hope your mother knows what she’s doing.’

I left them and strode back into the kitchen. ‘Time to go, Agatha.’

‘She’ll be back in a couple of mins.’ Mick was slouched in a heap on the floor. His red hair hung wet and dripping down his neck, and something I decided not to look too closely at was smeared across one cheek and down one side of his long coat.

‘What the hell are you doing here, Mick?’

‘I’m following you, of course,’ he sniffed. ‘Aggie’s gone to sort out one of her kitchens. I messed it up when I came through.’ He wrapped his coat tighter round him. ‘Jeeesus, I hate the brownies’ trail, it always makes me want to puke.’