As if by Magic by Kerry Wilkinson Read Free Book Online

lost property departments at other bus, train and tram stations in the city to see if more brown boxes had shown up.
    A woman’s voice answered the landline and told Jessica she was welcome to come around. Although Balthazar was currently out, he was due back any moment and she said he would no doubt be delighted to receive his items back. He lived just outside Wilmslow, a couple of miles south of the airport and just across the border in Cheshire. Jessica didn’t know for sure but, given its location, she could guess it was large and expensive.
    Hugo had said he would find his own way home, despite Jessica offering to pay for him to get a taxi, much to Dave’s displeasure about the fact he was out-of-pocket. He spent the entirety of the journey adding up the amount of small things Jessica had required him to buy her over the years, including snacks and drinks and, at various times, everything from socks to half a tank of petrol and a pair of shoes.
    ‘I’m down by over a hundred quid,’ he said as they crossed the motorway on their way out of the city.
    ‘I wish you had such a good memory for everything else. My birthday’s coming up,’ Jessica replied as she looked out of the window to see queuing traffic underneath.
    ‘You’ve already had a present many times over given everything I’ve got you over the years.’
    ‘You’re such a moaner. It’s barely a fiver today.’
    ‘So why didn’t you pay?’
    ‘I’m too important. I’m like the Queen and don’t carry cash.’
    Dave looked sideways at her from the driver’s seat. ‘Perhaps she doesn’t have cash on her so she doesn’t have to buy a round of drinks either?’
    Jessica snorted with laughter. ‘I’m sure it’s that. It’s probably why she’s so rich, she’s spent all these years making the butlers get a round in.’
    Dave continued grumbling all the way to the address, making Jessica all the more determined to find something else he could pay for before the day was out.
    ‘... And we’re in my car, so that’s more petrol,’ he concluded as he parked on the road outside the gates to Balthazar’s house.
    Jessica ignored him and pressed the buzzer pinned to a thick brick post. A face appeared on the screen, although it was too fuzzy to see anything distinguishable.
    ‘Yes?’ a voice snapped.
    Balthazar seemed completely unaware of everything Jessica had told whoever answered his phone, so she had to repeat it before the gate popped open. Her assumptions about the property had been correct. There was a large neatly trimmed garden at the front and a wide driveway leading to a vast red-brick property. At the end of the drive was a garage big enough to fit three cars in next to each other, while a tall single panel of glass took up much of the rest of the ground floor of the house, although it was tinted in such a way that they couldn’t see in.
    The front door was made of thick dark varnished wood and was already open, with a young blonde woman standing waiting for them.
    Jessica saw Dave smoothing the front of his shirt down as they neared the entrance. ‘Easy Tiger,’ she said just loud enough for him to hear.
    Close-up, the woman was even more attractive than she appeared from a distance. She was a little shorter than Jessica and wearing a pair of jeans with towering heels and a T-shirt that was so tight, Jessica could see the outline of a bellybutton piercing, not to mention a bulging chest which Jessica thought must have cost a few thousand pounds. Her dangerous-looking fingernails were painted bright red, and her blonde hair painstakingly curled to give it a bob effect.
    ‘Well, howdy there,’ she said in an accent that fell somewhere between American and Australian and was far too cheery. She was staring directly at Dave, ignoring Jessica.
    Before her colleague could drool, gurgle or say something equally stupid, Jessica replied. ‘We’re looking for Balthazar...’
    ‘You betcha but he’s a little busy at the moment and