Page 28 of Star Witch
I frowned. As much as I liked Amy, there were limits. I ignored her whisper. I was sleeping; this was not the time for girly chats. If she wanted a bedtime story, she could go and find Mazza. I was sure he’d be very happy to oblige.
Unfortunately, my room-mate wasn’t about to give up. ‘Ivy! Can you see that?’
No. I was sleeping. My eyes were closed. I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t want to see anything.
‘It’s right outside our window!’
Whatever was there, she was starting to sound alarmed. As long as it was outside, I didn’t care.
Then the room phone rang. Amy yelped. I heard her pick up the receiver and answer cautiously. ‘Hello?’
Didn’t she know anything? You should never pick up the phone at night time. It only invited problems that could almost always wait until daylight. Preferably after noon.
‘She’s sleeping.’
Uh-oh. I felt an unpleasant squirm deep in the pit of my stomach.
‘What? I can’t throw water over her!’
Arse. I sighed and sat up. ‘Give it here,’ I said reluctantly. Wide-eyed, she passed over the phone. ‘Winter,’ I said. ‘I love you to bits but it’s the middle of the night. I need to sleep.’
‘How did you know it was me?’ he asked.
Because I’m not a complete idiot; no one else would be rash enough to try and phone me at this hour. I tutted into the phone.
‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘I need to know what your new friend told you. The one who found the body. I waited ages for you to show up.’
‘Really?’ I grinned.
His response was terse. ‘Of course. We’re here on serious business, Ivy.’
As if I’d forget. ‘I know that. That’s why it’s very important that I get enough sleep to function like a human being instead of a zombie tomorrow. He didn’t say anything you wouldn’t expect.’
I shot a glance at Amy. She was watching me with her arms wrapped round her knees, apparently concerned that this was some type of family emergency. I had to be careful how much I said on the phone; I didn’t want to give the poor girl nightmares that might interrupt my sleep even more. ‘What he saw was very nasty.’
‘Did he give you a location?’
Hang on a minute. There was a business-like tone to Winter’s voice that had me worried. He’d better not be planning what I thought he was. ‘Yes.’
‘Good. That’s what I was hoping for. Meet me downstairs in five minutes and we can go and check it out.’
Before I even began to tell him what a plonker he was, he hung up. I stared at the silent phone, half-expecting Winter to start speaking again and tell me he was joking. Of course, that didn’t happen.
I replaced the handset and lay down. There was no way I was going out at this hour to meet him. Midnight trysts were not my thing, even with Winter.
‘Is everything okay?’ Amy asked tentatively.
‘Fine.’ Hopefully my terse response would encourage her to lie down and go back to sleep. I closed my eyes. Back to dreamland.
A moment later, I sat back up again. Huffing, I swung my legs out of bed and scrabbled around for my clothes. All I was going to do was to tell him what an idiot he was and that tramping around the Scottish Highlands at this hour was a stupid idea.ThenI was going back to sleep.
It might have been close to summertime but this was Scotland. My breath clouded in the air and the shock of the cold was almost enough to wake me up. Almost.
Winter was waiting for me underneath a street lamp, looking for all the world like some kind of old-school detective. Or crazed stalker. Frankly, it could have gone either way. I yawned in his direction.
‘I really don’t think this is a good time to go wandering about a great big hill,’ I told him in no uncertain terms.
He didn’t acknowledge my complaint; instead, he cast a critical eye up and down. ‘You can’t wear your pyjamas. Even with that coat on, you’ll still get cold.’
