[Passion, Competition]

  Groucho popped back into view, Draco must have cast an invisibility spell on him to prevent the police from seeing a chimpanzee wearing a strange looking helmet in Lady Holland’s drawing room. Lu related to me all that she had overheard.

  “Jaq, this is Lu, my girlfriend, " she overheard the detective, as he instructed the uniform officer to get back outside and search for Farthing’s belongings. Then he said this might be a robbery gone wrong.”

  “It’s nice to meet you Lu, thank you for going to grandmother's aid before. If Farthing was killed for his belongings I just wished it’d happened farther away from here.”

  I heard a whispered “Meet me in the hallway.”

  I excused myself and went out into the hallway. A miniature sized version of Draco briefly appeared then disappeared again.

  “What are you doing here Rose?”

  “I just wanted some alone time with Lu, she’s a big fan of British murder mysteries so I thought she’d love to see a manor house and I wanted to support Jaq's idea to host writer retreats. The next Lord of the Rings could be written here. I certainly didn’t kill a man so my girlfriend could solve a mystery.”

  “I never thought you did Rose.”

  “No but Jaq, thinks I’m involved. Can’t you cast a truth spell or detect a lie spell or something to prove it wasn’t me.”

  “No sorry Rose, as much as I hate to admit it your magic is stronger than mine when we are in a fictional world.”

  “What about in Wyldwood, could you cast it there, we could just jump there and do it and then jump back.”

  “I’m already in Wyldwood, this is just a projection of me, I’m in my lair. But I believe you anyway, let me talk to Jaq, I think she’s just still a little sore at you for some of the things that happened to her in the tower.”

  “You know a lot of good things happened too, like Frida and Nyx for one, she found her grandfather and even seemed to come to peace with both Collins and her Grandmother.”

  “I know, but you know that people tend to focus on the things that go wrong, not on the things that go right.”

  “Yeah, I do. Alright I’m going to get Lu and head off to bed.”

  I went back inside to get Lu and she was talking to Groucho. He better not have said anything inappropriate to her. But they seemed on good enough terms.

  “Hi Groucho, Draco asked me to tell you he was leaving. How are you enjoying being back home?”

  “Good but I’m stuck in the barn all the time, Maz is paranoid that someone will see me. Have you asked Nyx or Draco about using an illusion spell on you, to make you look like Aragorn or Legolas.”

  “I like the way you think, Rose, just think if I looked like that I could pick up girls as easy as pie.”

  “That’s not what I meant you to use it for, to deceive some poor girl, I meant to have you use it so you could freely come and go. I agree with Maz about the government would use you, then put you in a lab to make more of you. I don’t know if the governments used to be evil, but now I know for a fact that today they are evil.”

  “Yeah, Yeah, you sound just like Maz and Jaq. But I hear you, I’ll check with Draco and Nyx.”

  “Lu, are you ready to head up? I'd like to walk the maze, tomorrow if the weather improves.”

  “Sure am Rose.”

  We go up the tower stairs, to our room. As we pass by the tower windows I can still see the flashing blue lights of the police vehicles. But time to put all that out of my mind, it’s ravishing time!

  It’s only lightly raining this morning when I wake up, it’s early but I slept all that I want, I don’t feel like wasting a second of our weekend away. I try to be very quiet, getting my book to read in the huge armchair by the window. But Lu’s vigilant senses alerted her to movement in the room.

  “Go back to sleep Lu, I was just grabbing a book.”

  “I’m surprised you are up so early, you nearly wore me out last night.”

  “I just don’t want to waste a second of our time away, it seems like it’s been forever since we had whole days with each other.”

  “Well, put the book away, let's go walk the maze before breakfast.”

  “Oh, that sounds great, do you want a slicker or would you prefer a wool cloak and hood.”

  “Cloak and hood, in forest green, please.”

  “Coming right up, you don’t mind if I wear a red one too, do you?”

  “Not at all, the first time I ever saw you were wearing a red cloak with the hood pulled up and I thought you were enchanting.”

  “Ah, Lu, I love you.”

  “I love you too, Rose.”

  All dressed in wool, and high tech hiking boots, we were ready to face the sub-optimal Welsh weather. We walked out the back door hand and hand and strode towards the maze. We weren’t in any rush and wanted to experience the whole maze so we just kept to the right wall the entire time. Enjoying the dead ends as much as the progress made. Eventually we reached the center of the maze, there sat a suitcase, I went over to examine it.

  “Don’t touch it Rose, it could be evidence, that might be Farthing’s luggage.”

  I didn’t touch it but I did walk around it, three initials are monogrammed next to the handle, A F F.

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  “I’m pretty sure it is his, it has his initials on it, at least if his middle name starts with F. We better get back and report this to the police, it took a while getting here which I enjoyed but now I just want to get back.”

  Lu grabbed me by the hand and led us straight out of the maze, have I mentioned that my girlfriend is amazing, yeah I know a maz ing, some times I just love puns and purple prose.

  “Lu how did you do that, get us out of the maze with no mistakes at all.”

  “It was really simple, Aya and Jaq must use this maze very often, they always use the same path, straight in and out.”

  “Lu can you detect any other scents, besides us four?”

  “No Rose, that means that either Jaq or Aya, put that suitcase into the center of the maze, it also means one of them might be the killer.”

  “Look, Jaq, has a motive, but she never left the table last night. Aya left but came back clean and completely dry after just a few minutes.”

  “Rose, what if one of them used magic?”

  “Then we need a world class magician.”

  Lu guarded the entrance to the maze. I jumped home, and quickly roused Draco, who wasn’t very happy. He's a night owl who loves to sleep in.

  “Draco we need a world class magician, evidence is pointing to either Aya or Jaq as a potential killer. At the very least, one of them appears to be tampering with evidence.”

  We jumped back to the start of the hedge maze.

  “Rose, go get Jaq. Lu keep guarding the entrance, I need to see the luggage in order to determine if a spell has been used.”

  “Wait Draco, Jaq is one of the suspects, she’s the last person we should notify.”

  “Rose, if the evidence pointed at Lu, wouldn’t you talk to her about it?”

  “Yes of course I would, I trust Lu explicitly. Oh I get it, you trust Jaq, the same way I trust Lu. I’ll go get her.”

  I went up to the house, checked the dining room for Jaq, she wasn’t there. Then I walked up to her room, which Collins had pointed out to us yesterday. My little dinner surprise worked out well, otherwise I’d never know where her room was in the sprawling mansion.

  I knocked and Frida answered.

  “Hi Rose, what's up did you want to talk about the sequel.”

  “No Frida, I was looking for Jaq, is she here?”

  “No sorry Jaq, she went down to the barn to talk to Draco.”

  “Thanks Frida, I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”

  I went down the stairs and out to the barn as swiftly as I could. I was almost to the barn when the door flung open and Jaq came storming out.

  “Rose, why didn’t you come get me as soon as you found the suitcase.”

  “I was on my way to, I checked for you in the dining room and your bedroom and as you can see I was headed to the barn, to get you.”

  “But first you thought it was necessary to get Draco, so you think I killed Farthing. I’m not so stupid, if I wanted to kill him, I would have dealt with his body, not left him down on the main road, like some kind of flashing sign. I could have just dragged him into the tower. Or ask Nyx to dispose of his body in literal hell.”

  “Alright, don’t bite my head off. You blamed me last night for killing him just so my girlfriend could be involved in a murder mystery. You are the second hardest person I’ve ever worked with.”

  “Who is the first?”

  “Juliet, she’s my best friend now, but when we were working together we were always at each other's throat.”

  “Well maybe there is still hope for us, after the sequel is finished. That’s what I just heard, at least.”

  “Yeah, you are right Jaq. I never really thought that you were the killer. I think I was just hurt, that you thought I had something to do with it. You know what that means though, it’s almost certain that Aya is tied up in this one way or another. Which is a shame, she seemed lovely last night at dinner and all the scenes I did with her.”

  Lu was still guarding the entrance when we arrived.

  “Draco’s still inside trying to see if any magic was used to get the luggage into the maze or if it was physically carried inside.”

  Just then Draco came out of the maze.

  “Rose please jump us all back to our tower, we need to talk to Doug, and have a strategy session.”

  “But what about the luggage Aya might get it and dispose of it while we’re gone.”

  “Jaq, If she touches it, she’ll be stuck to it. I cast a gravity spell on it. It’s so heavy right now no one could lift it, not even me. If she touches it, her hand will become just as heavy so she’ll be stuck.”

  I jumped us home and we went into the library to speak to Doug.

  “Hi Daisy, is Doug in Opal’s room?” “Thanks Daisy, we’ll be home tomorrow. Bye” “Come on, I’ll get Doug and we can talk to him in the dining room. I skipped breakfast, I’m starving.”

  I got Doug out of Ruby and Opal’s room and we all went into the dining room. I showed Jaq how the sideboard worked and brought my and Lu’s breakfast to the table while Lu got everyone their favorite tea.

  “Doug, I’d like you to meet Jaq, we need all the info you can get on an Aya Asada, we know that she has video’s posted on youtube, because that’s how the Colonel heard of her.”

  “This might take a little while, Rose.”

  “That’s all right Doug, just get everything you can, there is a very good chance that she is a murderer and she’s living in my friend’s house.”

  “Will do Rose. Jaq, I just want you to know that I think you have a nice figure, I don’t know what’s wrong with Nyx and Groucho.”

  “Doug, I’m telling Daisy that you are harassing my friend.”

  “I’m not, I was complimenting her.”