Page 102 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem
‘I hope you’re right, Heather, but they might already have moved it on. It could be anywhere in the world by now.’
I groaned. This idea was useless. I’d gotten nowhere.
‘Sorry I can’t be of more help. Or encouragement.’ Herbert placed a supportive hand on my shoulder.
‘That’s fine. You’ve been helpful. Thank you.’ I turned to go, but an idea occurred to me, and I turned back. ‘Does the Witchnet have personal ads?’
‘Yes, it does. They are used for a lot of things, though mainly for dating. But you’re not thinking of hooking up with someone, are you?’
Had he batted an eyelash at me when he asked that? ‘No, I meant I could put in a personal ad to tempt the thief.’
‘What a great idea! Here, let me show you how to do it.’
Herbert tapped at the keyboard for a few seconds and navigated to a part of the website where I could enter an ad. Now all I had to do was think of how to word it. It had to be something tempting enough to draw the murderer out of hiding, but not obviously a trap.
After a minute, I wrote:
Powerful warlock in town for a few days seeks rare or important witchy materials, particularly spell books. Top prices paid. Contact here:
This was the hard part. I couldn’t give my phone number—all my colleagues knew that. Raven? Aunt Ruth? Could I pull them into this?
‘You’re hesitating,’ Herbert said. ‘Ask a friend to help you with this. I can’t get my establishment involved. It’d ruin my reputation.’
‘I know someone.’ Raven had offered to help. I phoned him and explained the outline of my plan, hoping he wouldn’t ask for details, because I hadn’t thought that far yet.
‘Sure. I can pretend to be a powerful warlock,’ he said. ‘That might be fun.’
‘It could be dangerous.’
‘Then you’ll definitely want me around.’
I got off the call. Herbert grinned at me. ‘It sounds like it’s falling into place. I have another suggestion, though. Put an ad on the Antiques and Collectibles website too. Only witches and warlocks use the Witchnet, but anyone might see it on the other site.’ He leaned close, brushing me. ‘I’ll show you the website.’
Five minutes later, I’d loaded an ad that might work for non-witches:
Book collector in town for a few days seeks old, unusual books about witchcraft practices. Top prices paid. Contact here:
Herbert smiled. ‘Looks good. I think you’ve got everything covered.’
‘Yes. Now, please—’
‘Relax. My lips are sealed.’
‘Thank you, Herbert.’
‘No problem. Please remember to buy your witchy supplies from here.’
I laughed. ‘I promise.’
I completed the contact details at the end of the ad, bid Herbert good evening and drove home. The personal ad was now live, and now all I had to do was wait for the book thief to take the bait.
