Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Sherri Bryan

  He walked to the edge of the roof and she saw him glance down behind the plant. He turned back to her and she looked surreptitiously at Drew before averting her eyes.

  Immediately, Nathan interrupted Simon Clancy’s monologue. “I’m afraid the roof terrace and restaurant will have to be closed for the rest of the day. Possibly longer. Until we know what happened, the entire area will be out of bounds. I’ll need to get our Scene of Crime Officers here to dust for prints and look for evidence and they can’t do that with all these people milling around.”

  “’The roof terrace and restaurant will have to be closed for the rest of the day?’” the piggy- eyed hotel Manager repeated, spluttering in horror. “On the hottest day of the year? Oh no, I’m sorry, it’s out of the question.”

  Nathan fixed him with an icy stare. “It wasn’t a suggestion, Mr. Clancy.”

  The manager took a deep breath and turned away. When he turned back, his face was flushed with anger. “Chef Floyd-Martin will not be happy when she finds out about this!” he hissed at Nathan as he mopped his heavily perspiring brow. “She won’t be happy about it at all!” Wringing his hands in despair, he walked amongst the tables, doing his best to persuade diners that moving down to the smaller and less luxurious lounge bar would be a far superior setting in which to enjoy their lunch.

  “Is someone going to tell me what’s happened?” Ben asked in exasperation.

  “It seems that a woman fell off the roof,” said Nathan.

  “Although some people seem to think that I pushed her,” said Jess, as she blew her nose loudly. She glanced over at Jean-Claude who was sucking up to a smartly dressed American couple as he escorted them down to the lounge bar. She turned back to Ben. “There’s a whole crowd of people down on the street. Why didn’t you see anything when you arrived?”

  “Because we came in through the side entrance. We didn’t know anything had happened.”

  For Drew’s sake, Jess was trying to behave as normally as possible. As normally as one could, of course, having just found out that an old friend has most likely fallen to her death from a hotel rooftop.

  “I’ve been trying to tell these guys that they should be looking for a woman who was up here when I arrived. She came out as I was coming in and she was in a real rush. She almost sent me flying. Of course, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, because I didn’t know then what happened.” She noticed that Drew had turned decidedly pale. “Are you alright, Drew? Is it the heat?”

  Drew shook his head. “Have you seen Kate?” he asked, a tremble in his voice. “She came on ahead - I was going to meet her here. She wasn’t up here with you, was she?”

  Jess’s mouth went dry and she swallowed twice before she could speak. “I haven’t seen her since I got here about 20 minutes ago.” She was careful not to say anything that would either raise or dash his hopes.

  Nathan’s phone rang and he walked away to take the call. It was brief and when he’d finished he said, “Maybe we should move to Mr. Clancy’s office. It’ll be more private.”

  Jess noticed that he caught DS Farrell’s eye and gave the very slightest shake of his head. What’s that all about?

  “DC Farrell, if you could cordon off the area over by the railing and arrange for SOCO to get here asap. No one is to be allowed up here unless they’re part of the investigating team, okay? If you could also make sure that the kitchen team start moving out. I’ll be back up shortly.”

  Jess, Ben and Drew began to follow Nathan out to the lift when a furious voice bellowed after them.

  “Would someone like to tell me what the bloody hell you think you’re doing?” The voice reverberated around the terrace, now devoid of diners.

  The Amazonian 6’ 3” figure of Olivia Floyd-Martin loomed over them, multiple gold piercings in her ears and three thick gold chains around her thick neck, her angry, red face seeming even more so against the brilliant white of her chef’s jacket.

  “Good afternoon, Miss. Floyd-Martin. DCI Nathan Costello.” Nathan stepped forward, his arm outstretched in greeting, but the enraged chef drew herself up to her full height and crossed her arms in a definite and deliberate snub.

  “It’s Ms. Floyd-Martin.”

  Jess watched the exchange between them. Having steered well clear of Olivia and her gang of bullies at school, it was common knowledge that she hadn’t changed much over the years. She still had a reputation for being a foul-mouthed tyrant, often reducing her staff (and the odd diner) to tears, but she knew that Nathan wouldn’t be intimidated by her.

  “Ms. Floyd-Martin, we have reason to believe that a crime may have been committed and we are closing off this area until our investigations have been completed. I can assure you that every effort will be made to ensure that our work is concluded as soon as possible, after which you may resume access.”

  The formidable chef drummed her fingers against her arm, her spiky, blonde, lavender-tipped hair wilting visibly under the afternoon sun. “Have you any idea what will happen to a soufflé if it has to be transported from a kitchen on the twelfth floor to diners on the ground floor?”

  Nathan shook his head. “No idea, but whatever it is, I’m not interested. I shouldn’t worry too much about it, though, because the kitchen up here will also be off limits while our investigation is ongoing.”

  Oh my, thought Jess. Olivia looks as though she’s about to explode.

  The chef slapped her hands repeatedly against her head and ran her fingers through her hair. With one giant step, she stood nose to nose with Nathan. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that I cook in that hell-hole of a kitchen downstairs? I have been at this hotel for five years and I’ve yet to set foot in it. That kitchen is for preparing snacks and bar meals. This kitchen,” she waved her hand behind her, “is fully geared up to serve 100 diners from an extensive à la carte menu. There is no way on earth that I can replicate what I do up here, down there.” She spat the words in disgust.

  Nathan stared at her, not a flicker of emotion registering on his face. “Ms. Floyd-Martin, what you do, or don’t do, in whatever kitchen, is of absolutely no concern to me. My only concern is to find out what happened here and the quicker we can do that, the quicker we’ll be gone. DS Farrell is responsible for making sure that you and your team vacate the kitchen as soon as possible, so please cooperate with her. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He nodded and continued on his way downstairs to the manager’s office, leaving the chef cursing loudly in his wake.

  Out by the lifts, Jess leaned against the cool, stone wall. As she did her best to avoid Drew’s blank gaze, something caught her eye. A small piece of green fabric was caught on the iron banister. “That must be from her dress! The woman who ran into me! She must have caught it on the rail as she ran past - it was exactly that colour!” she told Ben and Nathan excitedly.

  Nathan pulled a latex glove out of his pocket and put the fabric into a small, plastic evidence bag. “I’ll take a statement from you when we get downstairs, Jess, and you can give me a full description.”

  “Well, I didn’t see her very closely, but I’ll do my best.” Jess wracked her brains in the lift. It gave her something to do. No one was talking and the atmosphere was strained.

  A gentle bump let them know that they’d reached the ground floor. Simon Clancy’s office was in a corridor just off the main reception area and his voice could be heard inside, becoming more and more feverish with every word. “And can you believe they’ve closed off the entire roof! The outdoor dining area, the restaurant, the kitchen and the pool! We’ve had to squeeze extra tables into the lounge bar to accommodate all the diners. It’s a complete nightmare – if my reputation isn’t in the gutter by the end of the day, it’ll be a miracle!”

  Nathan knocked on the door. “YES!” The irate manager called out.

  “It’s DCI Costello. You said we could use your office?”

  “I’ll have to call you back.” The sound of a receiver being slammed down preceded the door being opened
by a very sulky-looking Simon Clancy. He stood aside and the four of them filed in, each taking a seat at the large conference table in the centre of the room.

  “Right, I’ll need to take a statement from you, Jess. If you can tell me what happened from when you arrived at the hotel. What you saw, who you spoke to, that kind of thing.” Nathan smiled reassuringly.

  Despite the fact that she’d done nothing wrong, Jess felt incredibly uneasy. She cleared her throat. “Well, I arrived just before ten-past twelve. I should have been here at twelve, but I was running a little late. I called Ben to tell him, didn’t I Ben? Then I took the lift up to the twelfth floor and when I got out, a woman came rushing out from the roof terrace and banged straight into me. I called after her, but she was gone before I got a good look. All I can tell you is that she was quite tall, she had long, auburn hair and she was wearing a green dress or skirt and top, I’m not sure which, a sun hat and big dark glasses. I think.” She paused. “Would it be possible to have a glass of water, please?”

  Simon Clancy turned to the water cooler in the corner of his office and filled a small paper cup from the tap. He put it down in front of Jess without a word.

  “Thank you.” Jess drank it all in two gulps. “That’s all I can tell you about what she looked like. I really don’t remember anything else about her.” She stopped and scratched her head. “Anyway, when I walked out onto the terrace, I was surprised that there was no one around, because I thought it’d be really busy. I was just about to go into the restaurant to ....” She suddenly realised that she was still clutching the bracelet. “Oh my God! I completely forgot!”

  “Forgot what?” Nathan looked up from his note pad.

  “This.” Jess held her hand out to show him the bracelet. “It fell onto the pavement right in front of me just before I came into the hotel. I assumed it had fallen from the roof so I took it up with me to see if I could find the owner. It may even belong to the woman who ran into me.”

  “Oh no! No! Let me see that!” Drew leaned forward in his chair, craning his neck to see the bracelet. He gasped and covered his mouth. “That’s Kate’s. That’s Kate’s bracelet! Look on the back of the heart.” He breathing became shallow and he fell forward on the table, his head resting on his arms.

  Everything went into slow motion as Jess watched Nathan rush around the table to Drew’s side, and Simon Clancy fetch more water. She turned the heart charm over. Engraved in script on the back were the words, Kate and Drew, Us Two, Me and You.

  She looked over at Ben and he ran his hand through his sandy-blonde hair. His blue eyes looked at her, his expression impossible to read, and then looked away awkwardly.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered. “You can’t honestly believe that I had anything to do with this?”

  Nathan turned to Jess. “I’ll need that please, Jess.” He took another evidence bag out of his pocket and dropped the bracelet into it. “DS Dillon. I appreciate you’re on leave today, but if you could just keep an eye on Mr. Ferguson for a couple of minutes. I need to make a phone call.”

  “Yes, Chief!” Ben straightened up and jumped into action. He sat beside Drew and averted his gaze from Jess.

  “Could I have another glass of water, please?” she asked Simon Clancy who was staring daggers at her. This time, he only half filled the cup and slammed it down in front of her, causing most of the contents to jump out of the cup and onto the table. “For God’s sake!” she exclaimed. “What is your problem?”

  “That poor woman,” he said, dramatically. “She probably woke up this morning as usual, never for one moment thinking that this would be her last day on earth ... thanks to you.”

  Jess struggled to keep control of her voice. “For the last time. I did not push that woman off the roof!” Her eyes spontaneously filled with tears and she turned her head.

  She had a horrible feeling that this was a long way from being over.

  Chapter 5

  “Hi. Look, I need a favour. Can you get down to The President as quickly as you can? There’s a situation and I could do with your help. I’d rather wait till you get here to tell you what’s going on, though. Okay, that’s great - you’ll leave now? Yes, I’ll see you in a while.” Nathan made a quick call to Charlotte and paced up and down the corridor as he waited for her to arrive.

  He wanted to ask her if she could stay with Drew for an hour or two. Or at least until his parents arrived. He was going to need all the support he could get.

  The woman who’d fallen from the roof was, indeed, Kate. Nathan had known it was her as soon as he’d seen the body. Paramedics had taken over from the Good Samaritan who’d been pumping her chest, but Nathan had seen enough accidents to know when there was a chance of recovery and when there wasn’t. One look at Kate had told him, without any doubt, that she was beyond saving.

  He’d received the call to tell him that she’d passed away when they’d all been up on the roof of the hotel, which is why he’d wanted to get Drew downstairs to Simon Clancy’s office. He didn’t relish telling him that his fiancée was dead, but at least he’d be able to tell him in relative privacy.

  “Nathan. What’s up? And why’s there a police tent out there? What’s happened?” A frowning Charlotte was walking quickly towards him, firing questions.

  He took her hands. “It’s not good news, I’m afraid and there’s no easy way to tell you. Charlotte, it’s Kate ... she’s dead.”

  Charlotte staggered backwards, her shock palpable. “Oh no, Nathan!” She burst into tears and slumped against the wall, her hands covering her face.

  Nathan pulled her to him and she buried her face in his shoulder. They stood together for a minute or so until her sobbing subsided and he dabbed her eyes with his handkerchief, hugging her tightly.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.” She shook her head and started to cry again.

  Nathan gave her a quick rundown. “And that’s about all there is to tell. D’you think you’ll be able to stay with Drew?”

  “Oh my goodness, of course, I will!” Charlotte shook her head in disbelief and blew her nose. “Poor Drew - and you say he has no idea?”

  Nathan rubbed his chin. “Well, if I were him, I think I’d have a pretty good idea, but I wouldn’t want to accept it. I mean, Kate hasn’t shown up yet ... under the circumstances, I can guess what’s going through his mind.”

  “Why didn’t you ask Jess to stay with him? She knows him just as well as I do. Better, in fact, because she knew him after I went to live in Spain.”

  “Well, that’s the thing. I can’t ask Jess to do anything because,” he paused, “because she’s a suspect.”

  She stared at Nathan incredulously. “What? Jess is a suspect? Have you completely lost your marbles?”

  “I know ... I know it sounds crazy, but the fact is that she was here when Kate fell, and she had her bracelet in her hand, so at the moment, she’s not only a suspect - she’s the prime suspect.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You’ve known Jess since we were kids. You don’t really believe she had anything to do with this, do you?”

  “Well, I’d like to think not, but I can’t not question her just because she’s a friend. Especially not when there’s evidence against her.”

  “What about the other woman?” asked Charlotte. “The one who ran into her?”

  “Well, of course, we’ll need to find her and speak to her. I’ve sent the description through to the station, but it’s very vague. Jess didn’t get a close look. About all she could tell us was that she had auburn hair and she was wearing green.”

  “Well, what about the other people who were on the roof? The people in the restaurant?”

  “I wish it was that easy,” said Nathan. “Apparently, the only other people on the roof were the kitchen and waiting staff and they were all in the restaurant getting ready for the lunch service.”

  “Well, I know it wasn’t Jess,” said Char
lotte, stubbornly. “There must be some other suspects you can ...”

  She stopped talking and frowned. “What are you thinking?” asked Nathan.

  “I’ve just remembered ... the other day at the café, I heard Kate on the phone with someone called Nina. They were talking about Drew, and Kate said that she couldn’t handle her being in their lives and she didn’t want her around anymore. Something like that, anyway.”

  “And that’s all you heard?” said Nathan. “As though Kate was warning her off?”

  Charlotte nodded. “Obviously, I can’t say for sure that’s what she meant, but that’s what it sounded like. My guess is that either Drew is, or was, seeing this woman behind Kate’s back and she found out about it. I guess it must have been someone they met while they were away - surely they haven’t been back long enough for Drew to have started a relationship with someone here?”

  “Hmm, maybe that’s why they came back in the first place?” said Nathan, thinking about this new information and the new potential suspect. His phone rang shrilly, cutting through the silence. “Nathan Costello. Right, right, I see. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Okay. Yes, thanks. Can you give me ten minutes? I’ll be back up as quickly as I can.” He shut off the call and looked grimly at Charlotte.

  “Well, that was Ed from SOCO. As I thought, he’s confirmed that Kate’s fall wasn’t an accident. The rail around the roof terrace is secure and high enough to prevent anyone from falling over it accidentally.”

  “So that means she jumped or was pushed?” Charlotte asked.

  Nathan nodded. “One or the other, but we don’t know yet. SOCO are still on the roof gathering evidence. They’ll be there for some time, I think.” He looked at his watch. “Anyway, time to give Drew the bad news. You ready?”

  Charlotte nodded, but she really wasn’t. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Drew had lost Kate, there was every chance that her death hadn’t been an accident. She shook her head, sad and scared at the possibility, and followed Nathan into the room.

  When Jess saw her, she jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around her neck, tears pouring down her cheeks.