A Party To Die For (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 3) (3 page)

Chapter 9

“Where
is this Gina?” DI Clarke asked.

I
pointed over to where Gina was. She was sitting on the carpet next to
Megan-Rose. Megan-Rose was looking at a doll that someone had bought her.

“Does
Gina know about her sister?” DI Clarke asked.

“No,
but I think she might suspect, considering police officers are in the house and
Fiona is nowhere to be seen.”

“There’s
no need to be sarcastic, Ms Blake, a simple ‘no’ would have done. I’ll break
the news to both of them.”

“Shall
I come with you?” I offered.

“I
can manage, I’ve done this many times before. Too many times. Ms Blake, this
investigation has nothing to do with you now. You can go home. If I need
anything else I’ll get in touch.”

“That
told you,” Anna whispered to me.

The
inspector started to walk towards Gina and Megan-Rose. I suddenly remembered
something. I grabbed his sleeve.

He
stopped in surprise and looked at me, and then pointedly looked down at his
sleeve.

“Sorry,”
I quickly said and let go of his sleeve, “but I need to tell you something
about Gina. She gave birth to Megan-Rose, she was a surrogate for Fiona.”

“And?”
DI Clarke said.

“What
if she’s actually Megan-Rose’s real mother? Fiona was going to send Megan-Rose
away. If Gina was the real mum, wouldn’t that give her a motive to kill Fiona?”

DI
Clarke’s eyebrows raised. “As I’ve just told you, Ms Blake, you’re free to go
home. I’m the one investigating this case. Goodbye.”

I
opened my mouth to say more. Anna gently pulled me back.

“You’ll
get yourself into trouble if you’re not careful,” she said.

“But
I want to find out who killed Fiona. I liked her, and I don’t want her killer
to go free!”
“I’m sure the police know what they’re doing. You’re working for me today. Come
on, we need to tidy up.” Anna pushed me towards the food table.

I
sighed when I saw the mess.

Anna
bossily kept on at me until I helped her clean the mess up. I noticed that DI
Clarke took Gina and Megan-Rose into another room to break the news to them.

About
thirty minutes later we were ready to leave.

“I’ll
just let Gina know we’re leaving,” I called out and walked quickly away before
Anna could stop me.

I
found Gina in the family room. She was alone with Megan-Rose. Megan-Rose was
sitting on Gina’s knee and silently crying.

Gina
was stroking her hair.

I
couldn’t intrude on such a private moment so I turned away.

As
I did so I heard Gina say to Megan-Rose, “It’s okay, my darling. Everything is
going to be okay. I promised you that, didn’t I? I’ll look after you now. No
one loves you more than me.”

Chapter 10

I
couldn’t stop thinking about Fiona for the rest of the day. I hoped that DI
Clarke found the murderer soon.

I
was still feeling sad when I got home. I took my coat off and hung it up. A
card fell out of the pocket, it was Clara Chuckle’s business card. She had a
website listed.

I
was sure that looking at Clara’s website would cheer me up so I powered up my
computer.

My
computer is quite old and takes a good five minutes to warm up so I made myself
a cup of tea whilst I was waiting. One of these days I would have to buy a new
computer.

When
the computer was ready to work I logged onto Clara’s website. It was bright and
colourful, it reminded me a bit of some of Fiona’s websites that she designed.

A
heavy feeling settled in my stomach as I thought of Fiona again. She was going
to help me update my website, mine was very basic as I had done it myself. I
couldn’t afford Fiona’s professional designer fees, but she had agreed to give
me some advice and tips.

That
wasn’t going to happen now.

I
didn’t feel like looking at Clara’s website anymore, I wasn’t in the mood to
appreciate the videos that she’d put on. I’d look at them another time.

I
decided to sort my things out for the following day. I checked my diary to see
what I had booked. I had some lovely clients in the morning, nothing too strenuous.

Then
I groaned. Oh, not her! I’d forgotten all about that appointment.

Kim
Blackburn had been bothering me for months to give her a quote for cleaning her
house. I’m sure she only wanted me to do it because Fiona employed me. Every
time I went to Fiona’s house to clean I noticed that Kim was also cleaning some
part of her house. She didn’t really need me to clean for her.

I’d
made the appointment last week but thought I’d be able to get out of it when
the appointment came round.

Never
mind. I’d go and make the best of it.

She’d
probably want to talk about Fiona’s death and try to get all the gory details.

Perhaps
I could question her? Find out exactly why she wanted Fiona’s phone. Maybe
discover what she was hoping to find on it.

The
thought that I could help the murder investigation made me feel a bit better. I
decided to ignore the fact that DI Clarke told me to leave the investigation to
him.

Chapter 11

I
had a full morning with my regular clients and then I headed over to Kim
Blackburn’s. When I pulled up in her drive I noticed that DI Clarke’s car was
parked outside Fiona’s house.

“I
wonder what he’s doing in there,” I said to myself.

I
got out of my car and walked up to the front door. It opened before I had
chance to knock.

Kim
Blackburn gave me an over bright smile. “Julia! I thought you’d forgotten our
appointment. You’re a few minutes late.”

I
looked at my watch. It was two minutes past the hour. “I do apologise, Mrs
Blackburn.”

“That’s
okay but if you do end up working for me I’ll expect you to be on time,” she
said.

She
opened the door wider and gestured for me to enter.

I
made up my mind at that moment that I wouldn’t be adding her to my list of
clients. I already had more than enough work to keep me busy, and I didn’t like
being spoken to in that way.

However,
I had an ulterior motive in talking with Kim so I put my best smile on and
entered her house.

The
first thing I noticed was a Chinese vase on the hall table. It was exactly like
the one that Fiona had in her house.

And
was that the same print of an orchid on the wall that Fiona had?

Kim
was talking as she walked in front of me, “I’d like the skirting boards done
every two weeks, the walls dusted down every month...”

I
wasn’t really concentrating, I was too busy noticing all the similar things
that Kim had in her house that Fiona had in hers. Who bought them first? My
money was on Fiona.

We
entered the formal dining room. It was spotless. Kim stopped walking and turned
around to face me. She looked sad, but it looked like a false sadness because
her eyes were twinkling.

“Isn’t
it tragic about Fiona? I’m still in shock. Imagine dying like that, with a
pillow over your face.”

“How
do you know how she died?” I asked.

“That
lovely policeman came round yesterday to question me. He asked me to clear up
that misunderstanding about the phone. He seemed happy with my explanation.”

I
wasn’t happy with her explanation, I was sure she was lying.

Kim
carried on, “I wonder who will look after poor Megan-Rose now. I bet Gina will.
She’s been more like a mother to that child than Fiona was. I know I shouldn’t
speak ill of the dead, but she spent too much time at work. I make sure I spend
quality time with my little Lily everyday.”

“Whether
she wants it or not!” a voice boomed out behind us.

It
was Bob Blackburn. He looked me up and down and smirked. It made my stomach
heave a little.

Kim
flushed. “I wasn’t expecting you home so early, darling. I’m just asking Julia
here for a quote to clean the house.”

“Great
idea! Why don’t you come into my office, Julia dear, and we’ll discuss the
money side of things. Kim’s no good with stuff like that. This way,” Bob
indicated towards a door.

“I’ll
come with you,” Kim quickly said.

“No
need, we can manage. Be a love and put the kettle on. I could do with a cuppa,”
Bob said to his wife. His eyes were still on me.

Kim
blinked rapidly a few times and then she walked away.

Bob
put his hand on my back and led me forwards. It felt too intimate a gesture and
I felt like slapping his hand away.

A
few minutes later I did actually slap him.

Chapter 12

Bob
led me into his office, his hand still placed on my back.

He
closed the door behind us and then walked in front of me. He leant against his
desk, his legs spread wide, an evil glint in his eyes. He smiled.

“So,
Julia,” he began. He looked me up and down again.

I
crossed my arms protectively.

“What
sort of work do you offer?” he asked.

“The
usual kind of cleaning work, dusting, vacuuming, polishing.”

He
grinned. “Anything else?”

“It
depends what you want. I’d be happy to consider most things. But not ironing, I
don’t do that,” I told him.

Bob
stood up straight and walked slowly towards me. I could see his big tummy
straining against his shirt.

He
licked his lips. “How about any extra work? Just for me?”

I
looked around his office and said, “I can clean in here too.”

Bob
laughed. “I don’t mean cleaning, Julia. I think you know what I mean. Shall I
spell it out for you?”

I
knew from the way he was looking at me what he meant. I could actually feel my
toes curling up in disgust. I wasn’t going to be intimidated by the likes of
Bob Blackburn!

I
took a step closer and looked him right in the eye. “I’d like you to tell me
exactly what you mean.”

Bob
gave a sly grin and then told me exactly what he wanted me to do.

That’s
when I slapped him. Hard. I was secretly pleased to see that I left a red hand
mark on his fleshy cheek.

“What
was that for?” Bob’s hand flew to his injured cheek.

“For
insulting me. I certainly won’t be doing any kind of cleaning work for you, or
your wife, ever!” I said and I stormed out of the room.

Straight
into Kim Blackburn. She must have been listening at the door.

“I
knew it! You’re after my Bob!” she jabbed her finger at me.

“What?”
I said incredulously. Had she looked at her husband recently?

“You’re
just like that trollop, Fiona. She was after him too! She thought I didn’t
notice how she looked at him!”

“What?”
I said again.

“My
Bob said she was always texting him, asking him to come over. I knew what she
was after!” Kim was almost screeching.

Bob
came to his office door. He took one look at Kim’s red face and quickly closed
the door.

Coward.

“How
do you know Fiona was sending him texts? Is that what you were looking at
yesterday, on Fiona’s phone?” I asked.

“Well,
I had to check, didn’t I?”

“And
what did you find?”

“She’d
deleted them all! Because she had something to hide, obviously.”

It
wasn’t obvious to me at all. I was quite sure that Bob wasn’t Fiona’s type. I’m
not sure he was anyone’s type. Apart from Kim.

“Why
did you think Fiona was after Bob?” I asked.

“He
was always going round there. He said she’d asked him for help with little jobs.”
Kim had calmed down a bit by now.

I
knew that Fiona kept a list of contractors in her kitchen, everything from
electricians to  plumbers. It didn’t make sense that she would ask Bob for
help. It sounded to me like it was Bob who was after Fiona. And Bob was in her
house on the day of her murder.

An
awful scene came into my mind. Perhaps Fiona had been having a lie down when
Bob came into the room. Bob might have tried to get into bed with her but Fiona
pushed him away. Bob could have lost his temper and suffocated Fiona.

Or
Kim could have been so consumed with jealously that she killed Fiona. She had
been in Fiona’s room and picked up her phone.

I
had a sudden desire to leave the Blackburn’s house.

I
didn’t need to think of an excuse.

Kim
put her nose in the air and said, “I don’t want you to clean my house. I can’t
employ someone who I don’t trust. I’ve seen how you look at Bob.”

With
disgust, I thought to myself.

“It’s
alright, Mrs Blackburn, I wasn’t going to offer my services to you anyway.
Goodbye.”

I
left the house with a feeling of relief.