Jack pointed to the screen. “That may well be our high priestess and her darling wizard.” Jack said. 

“I think it’s destiny, Jack.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Jack and Jill.”

“Funny, Detective. Think about it. Would you go up a hill to collect water?”

“Once a detective, always a detective.”

“What do you think, Cath?”

“Jill Spencer strikes me as a passive person. I couldn’t imagine her burying someone alive.”

“Yeah. I’m the same. I think she’s lonely. There’s some hurt there. We might find out more by having a chat with Shoana. But first, let’s go find this Jill Winter.”

<°)))><

Jill Winter walked into the little nook where the large black mirror lived. It was covered with a silk cover and was an exact replica of the mirror at her bayside home. Evening was approaching and the moon was full but waning, a good time for deep intuition and divination. She hoped.

She lit the votive candles on each side of the mirror, lit a stick of incense, and removed the silk cover. The blackness of the mirror glistened in the candlelit room. She commenced meditating, relieving the tension in her body. Then she stared, stared hard, into the darkness she called up from the mirror.

The blackness of the mirror took on a tinge of dark green and she sensed a presence. Behind her image something green and reptilian appeared. She turned, but there was nothing there. She returned her gaze to the mirror but only her reflection remained. She sensed an emotion she hadn’t known in a long time: fear.

Pushing fear back to where it belonged, she tried instead to visualise the Egyptian god she wanted to appease. An image formed in the mirror. Or maybe in her head—she wasn’t sure. Her pulse quickened as a surge of images came from the mirror. It was unusual, but what she always hoped for. 

Maybe the gods were happy with her.

But the image wasn’t of someone who’d been appeased. It was brief, but she saw downcast eyes. The job had not been done. 

A sacrifice was a sacrifice and it had not happened yet.

<°)))><

The half-cabin cruiser was moored in a concealed area a short walk down a track from their island retreat. They travelled light and stored things of value in a hidden part of their cottage. The wizard helped his partner on to the boat and then handed her their backpacks.

His brother stood on the shoreline and waved them off.

They travelled in the opposite direction to the ferry. After fifteen minutes, the boat turned into a channel that backed on to the private properties of those wishing to live away from the suburbs—their sleepy urban village. It was almost like living on an island but with greater conveniences. They had the best of both worlds. They had fewer neighbours on the mainland than they had on the island.

Their private jetty jutted out from their backyard—a simple wooden platform, long and narrow and low. They tied the boat to the jetty. Seagulls scattered as they walked up to their house.

The boat was secure and they were gone from the island. They would be difficult to locate.

<°)))><

Jack and Catherine spent Tuesday doing detective things.

Locating Jill Winter wasn’t an easy task. Officers went to her last known address and found she left over twelve months ago. 

Jack had a police issued promotional stress ball in his hand and contemplated annoying Catherine by throwing it at her as she looked intently at information on her computer monitor. Her eyes widened and she suddenly stood up and walked over to Jack’s work space. “I found something interesting while trying to locate Winter’s address.”

His attempt at annoyance had been sprung.

She gave him a ‘what are you up to’ look. He placed the stress ball on his desk, straightened up in his chair and leaned towards his monitor as Catherine brought up some information on the screen.

“Looks like Winter was involved in some legal proceedings.” 

Jack leaned further forward. 

“Stealing medication. Found guilty. Conviction recorded. Magistrate put her on a twelve-month good behaviour bond with some community service. She didn’t seem too pleased with the conviction. But the magistrate stated that in her line of work these things needed to be treated seriously.”

“Agree . . . Good behaviour didn’t last too long?” Jack asked.

“No. But it was some time back.”

“Wonder how Jill Winter felt about that? Looked like the conviction didn’t stop her getting other work in the industry.”

Catherine nodded. “That’s if her current employer knew about it. Maybe they did and she won them over.” She reached over and picked up the stress ball from Jack’s desk, Squeezed it. “Wonder what the connection to Ruby is?” 

“I wonder, detective, I wonder.”

Catherine’s phone gave off her weird text message sound. She looked at her phone.

“I’ve got an address. Do you want to go for a drive?”

28 – Blocks and voices

JACK WAS SILENT while Catherine talked to the new voice-input navigation system. These new automated systems found addresses quicker—no typos. Catherine spoke clearly and the vehicle’s in-car navigation system processed the address.

It didn’t take long to get away from the populated metropolitan area. They were heading to the bay suburbs again—although this area was further south, more spacious, and closer to the water than Jill Spencer’s place. The drive to the bay suburbs always relaxed Jack. Was it the water or the breeze? The traffic thinned out. Catherine’s driving was more aggressive than Jack’s so he was happy the traffic was light and they were in an unmarked police vehicle. 

Take second exit at roundabout.

“Why are these computerised voices mostly female?”

“Come on, Jack, you know our voices are more pleasing than men’s.”

“Maybe, but the way things are I’m surprised the politically correct crowd haven’t jumped up and down about it.”

“They did in Germany, apparently. Male drivers over there didn’t like taking instructions from a female.”

“I’m sure that’s some years ago,” Jack said.

“It would have been a culture thing. But there are options available to switch between voices now. It is also a biology thing.”

“Biology?”