Pearl And Derek Mysteries - Box Set 1

by Gillian Larkin

  Derek’s smile grew. The hard light that he’d seen in her eyes earlier had gone now. She looked quite radiant when she smiled. He said, “I would like some help, thank you.” He explained where he wanted to put his new cushions. Mona asked him what colour his sofa and chairs were. “Sort of beige … brown … sandy coloured?” He shrugged. “I’m not being much use, am I?”

  “A pale background is perfect. It gives you the option to add plenty of colour. I love bright, bold colours. What’s your favourite colour?”

  Derek shrugged again. “I’m not very good with colours.” He came up with a plan to keep her talking to him. He could mention Lydia again and then turn the conversation towards Gabby. “Would you mind choosing the colours for me?”

  Mona clapped her hands together. “I would love that! If you’re sure?”

  “I am. Thank you.” Derek followed Mona around the stall as she looked through the supply of cushions. He tried to start a conversation about Lydia but Mona was too busy muttering to herself as she prodded at several cushiony candidates.

  Mona nodded firmly and said, “I’ve come to a decision.” She grabbed hold of four brightly coloured cushions and handed them to Derek. “What do you think?”

  Derek took them. They just looked like cushions to him. “Perfect. Thank you. Could you give me a hand while I pay for them?”

  Mona shook her head. “You’re not paying for them at all. This is my apology. I’m going to pay.”

  Derek wanted to hold his hands up in protest but they were full at that moment. “No, you can’t do that!” He peered over the top of the cushions.

  Mona had already walked towards the till. Her phone rang as she handed over a plastic card to the assistant at the till. Derek walked after her and immediately dropped a cushion. He stooped to pick it up and then dropped another. By the time he’d made it to the till, Mona had gone.

  “Drat,” Derek said as he put the cushions on the counter. “Did you see which way that woman went?”

  The woman behind the counter answered, “I’ve no idea but you’d better get after her, she’s left her purse here.” The woman handed him a black leather purse. “She’s paid for those cushions. Do you want a bag?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Derek waited for the woman to put the cushions in bags. The purse felt warm in his hands as if he shouldn’t be holding it. He really should go and find Mona straight away. “Are you sure you didn’t see which way she went?”

  The woman handed the full bags over. “No idea. Thank you for your custom.” She turned away from him.

  Derek took the bulky bags and shoved the purse into one of them. He couldn’t go chasing Mona with these big bags under his arms. He decided to put the cushions in his car and then see if he could find her. He could try the hairdresser’s first. Maybe she’d be there again. And if not, he would take the opportunity to speak to Lydia.

  Derek walked out of the market and waited at the side of the busy road. His heart dropped in dismay as he saw Mona driving past him. She gave him a cheery wave. Derek’s hands were too full for him to wave her down. All he could do was stare helplessly as her car was lost in traffic. What was he going to do now?

  His question was soon answered as he returned to his car.

  Pearl waved to him from the passenger seat. Gabby gave him a quick nod from the back seat. She was chewing something again.

  Derek quickly put the cushions in the boot and then got into the driver’s seat. He explained about Mona and her purse.

  “Great,” Pearl said gleefully. “We can do some snooping on her.”

  “But shouldn’t we try to find her? She’ll be worried about her purse,” Derek said.

  “We’ll find her right after we finish snooping,” Pearl informed him. “Can we go back to your house? Gabby wants to tell you about the night she died. She’s remembered what happened.”

  Chapter 8

  For the second time that day Derek settled down with a cup of tea and the company of two ghosts. He took a sip of his drink and said, “I’m ready. Tell me everything.”

  Gabby played with her hair. She was in the same cross-legged position as before. Pearl was, as usual, at his side.

  Gabby said, “It was at Lydia’s party, at her house. She was having this celebration thing, five years or something.”

  Derek nodded. He already knew that.

  “I didn’t want to go, it sounded dead boring but Mum made me go. She said I should be thankful to Lydia for giving me a job.” She gave a heavy sigh. “So I went. Lydia was in a right state when I got there. She wanted everything to be perfect but some of the food hadn’t turned up. I went to the shop and got some stuff for her.” Her eyes narrowed. “A cruise. Why am I thinking about a cruise? Who went on a cruise?” She shook her head. “I don’t know where that thought came from. People started arriving. All our family turned up. They were saying how proud of her they were and how she could never do anything wrong.” She stopped and her eyes widened. “But Lydia did do something wrong. I found out! Oh, what are the family going to say when I tell them? Ha! That’ll knock the shine off her halo.” She started to laugh.

  Pearl said, “What are you talking about? What did you find out? Stop that noise and tell us!”

  Gabby immediately stopped laughing. She stared at Pearl. “What?”

  “I asked what you’d found out about Lydia. And it’s not ‘what’, it’s ‘pardon’.”

  “Eh?” Gabby wrinkled her nose. “What are you talking about?”

  Pearl gave an exasperated sigh. “You just said …” She rubbed her forehead and looked at Derek. “Can you take over? My patience is being stretched so thin I’m worried it’s going to snap.”

  Derek nodded. He turned to Gabby and reminded her of what she’d said about Lydia.

  Gabby frowned. “Did I say that? What was I going on about? I can’t remember now.”

  Derek gently said, “Never mind, it’ll come back to you. Who else was at the party?”

  “Some of the customers. And Mona the monster. She was there. She was probably checking to make sure that Lydia wasn’t giving anyone a sneaky haircut on the side.” She snorted. “I hate that woman. She was always having a go at me. Saying that I should smarten up, and that I should get to the hairdresser’s on time, all that kind of rubbish. She even made Lydia give me a formal warning because of my timekeeping. It’s not my fault that I was so late that morning. I was watching Jeremy Kyle and I had to find out who the father was. There was this lad, I think he was called Chad or something, and he’d been …”

  Pearl swore under her breath and looked away.

  Derek held his hand up. “Gabby, you’re going off topic again. Tell me more about Mona Coleman. How did she get on with Lydia? How often was she at the hairdresser’s?”

  “Too often. Lydia hated her but she had to put up with her being there. Lydia had a loan or something. I was shocked when I found out that Lydia was useless with money. I bet her mum and dad don’t know that.” She smirked.

  “How did you find out about her money situation?” Derek asked.

  “I saw something on her phone. I took a picture of it.” Gabby reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out. She touched the screen. “Hang on, there’s nothing here. What’s happened?”

  “Can you remember what you saw?” Derek asked again. He didn’t like the way that Gabby’s jaw was moving so fast. It was a wonder that her jaw hadn’t become dislocated.

  Gabby shook her head and stared at her phone. She gave it an irritated shake. When she looked back at Derek there was panic in her eyes. “My phone! I had photos. I had evidence. I was going to tell everyone! I was going to tell everyone that night. I was going to shut her up for good!” Her jaw moved even faster.

  Pearl went to Gabby’s side and put her arm around her shoulder. “Calm down, you’re getting agitated again. Are you still talking about Lydia?”

  “I think so.” She frowned. “No. There was someone else. I had photos of her too. I
was going to show them to her.”

  Pearl’s hand moved in front of Gabby’s jaw. She gently touched it. “Stop chewing now, love. You don’t need to chew.”

  Gabby’s eyes widened as she looked at Pearl. “I don’t think I can! I remember going into the bedroom. She came in. She shouted at me! She put something in my mouth. It tasted disgusting but she made me chew! And then I couldn’t breathe!”

  Pearl pressed her hand harder against Gabby’s jaw. “Give me the pain. I can take it.”

  Derek felt his heart race as a silver glow appeared around Gabby’s jaw. The light flowed out and over Pearl’s hand. It disappeared into her skin and Pearl winced and let out a cry of pain.

  Derek cried out, “Pearl! Are you okay? Can I help?”

  Pearl gave him a tight-lipped smile and shook her head. She opened her mouth and a silver light came out. It disappeared into the air, like fog melting in the sun. Pearl gave a weak smile and said, “By heck! That was a strong one.”

  Gabby burst into tears. “I’m sorry for hurting you! I didn’t mean to!”

  Pearl patted her hand. “It’s alright. It’s all out now. Can you remember anything else about that night? If it causes you any pain then lose the thought, or give the pain to me. Okay?”

  Gabby sniffed and closed her eyes. She waited a few seconds. She opened her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t remember anything else. I can’t see who hurt me. Why can’t I see them?”

  “That’s okay. We’ve got a bit of information now to help us along.” Pearl looked over at Derek. “It’s time to delve into the private affairs of Mona Coleman. Open up her purse and let’s see if she’s got anything to hide.”

  “And what about Lydia?” Derek asked.

  “You can interrogate her tomorrow.” Pearl tried to stand up. She grimaced and said, “I’ll stay here on the carpet for a moment or two. Derek, stop looking at me like that. I’m fine.”

  Derek wasn’t sure about that but he knew Pearl didn’t want a fuss. He reached for the purse that he’d placed at the side of him. He opened it. His attention was immediately drawn to a black card that was edged in pink. He held it up. “This looks interesting.”

  Chapter 9

  Derek looked nervously back over his shoulder. “I’m not sure about this, Pearl. Whenever you see someone in this position on the telly, you just know that something terrible is going to happen to them.”

  Pearl moved closer to his side. “Alone in a deserted alleyway in the middle of the night.” She nodded. “I know what you mean. We can go back home if you like.”

  Derek looked at the black card in his hand. “No. This is definitely the right address. In fact, the address is the only thing printed on this card, apart from that note on the back.” He turned it over and looked at the handwritten note. “It was in Mona’s purse so this message must be for her. But why has she got a message saying that she needs to be at this address tonight? It’s all very peculiar.” He jumped and looked over his shoulder again. “What was that? Did you hear something? Can you see anyone sneaking up on me with a menacing look on their face?”

  Pearl shook her head. “It was just a cat. You’re making me nervous now. Let’s go home, I don’t like it here. You can give the purse to Lydia tomorrow. She can give it to Mona.” She put a finger to her lips. She moved closer to Derek and whispered, “I can hear something.”

  A voice called out, “I’ve been here before.”

  Pearl screamed and jumped into Derek’s arms. Derek stumbled backwards and cried out, “Hell’s bells! Who said that?”

  Gabby stared at them, her arms folded. “It was me. Who else would it be?”

  Derek let out a shrill laugh. “Blimey! You gave us a fright. Pearl, I’m going to put you down.”

  “Why? I don’t weigh anything.” Pearl gave him a cheeky smile. “I quite like being in your arms, Derek Quill.” Her smile disappeared as Gabby let loose with her thoughts about old people canoodling. Pearl snapped at her, “Oi! There’s no need for talk like that! We’re not doing anything wrong.”

  Derek placed Pearl on the cobbled road. He ignored the racing of his heart. He rather enjoyed having the warmth of Pearl in his arms. He cleared his throat. “Gabby, you said you’d been here before. Can you tell us more about that?”

  Gabby cocked her head to one side. “I can’t remember fully. It was on a night out with my mates. I think we came down here by accident. We saw some men knocking at that door.” She giggled. “They knocked five times in a funny way and then the door opened. A doorman appeared, he was rough-looking. The men said something to him and then he let them in. We were a bit drunk so we tried to get in too. It worked! We went in and we saw …” She started to laugh. Her hands flew to her mouth. “We saw …” She laughed even harder, her body began to shake.

  Pearl tutted and shook her head. “When you’ve gathered your wits will you kindly tell us what you saw?”

  Gabby moved her hands and screeched, “I can’t! I can’t say the words! It’s too funny! You have to go in and see for yourself.”

  Pearl turned to Derek. “What do you think? Shall we go in?”

  “I think we have to. Gabby, can you show me how the men knocked on the door? And can you remember the password? I hope it hasn’t changed.”

  Gabby wiped her eyes and tried to control herself. She gave Derek the information he needed and then she burst into laughter again.

  Pearl gave her a sharp prod. “If you can’t control yourself, you’d better go somewhere else. I can’t be having you making a spectacle of yourself when me and Derek are trying to conduct a serious investigation!”

  Gabby nodded as tears of laughter rolled down her cheeks. She squeaked, “I’m going!” She vanished.

  “Young people today,” Pearl said and then added a few tuts of disapproval.

  Derek raised his hand and knocked on the door. His heart was racing for another reason now. All his senses were telling him to go home. Too late. The door opened and a scary-looking man peered down at him.

  “Oh!” Pearl declared. “He looks like that butler chap from the Addams family!”

  Derek gulped and managed to say the words that Gabby had told him. When he’d finished he gave the man a wobbly smile.

  The man looked Derek up and down. “Are you sure you want to come in?”

  Derek forced himself to nod.

  “It takes all sorts,” the man muttered. The door was opened wider. “Come in. I hope you’ve got a strong heart.”

  Derek hoped so too as he stepped into a darkened hallway. The man indicated for him to walk down it. Derek jumped as a woman suddenly appeared at his side.

  Pearl screamed, “Derek! Cover your eyes! She’s barely dressed!”

  “May I take your coat, sir?” the young woman at his side asked.

  Derek didn’t know where to look. He coughed and said, “No, thank you. I think I’ll keep it on. I’m feeling a bit chilly.” He wanted his coat nearby in case he had to make a run for it.

  The woman laughed. “I’m sure you’ll soon warm up. Things are going to get hot in here tonight! This way, I’ll show you to your table.” She sashayed in front of him and Derek had no option but to look at her sequin covered behind as he followed her.

  Pearl hissed at his side, “Derek, what sort of a place is this? And what’s it got to do with Mona Coleman?”

  They soon found out.

  Chapter 10

  The woman led them into a long, dimly lit room. Three-quarters of it was taken up by small round tables. There was a stage at the front of the room. Derek had no idea what was on the stage because purple curtains covered it.

  The woman turned to Derek and said, “Would you like a seat at the front, sir? We have one table left.”

  Derek shook his head. “I’d rather sit near the back, if that’s okay?”

  The woman smiled and took him to a small table further back. She pulled out a chair and Derek sat down. Pearl settled herself in the chair at his side. “Would you like somethin
g to drink? We have a wine list if you’d like to have a look.”

  Derek tried to smile despite his growing sense of unease. His voice croaked as he said, “A glass of water would be lovely, thank you.”

  The woman gave a tinkle of a laugh and said, “Of course. There’s no need to look so worried. Is this your first time?”

  Derek nodded. The woman patted him gently on the shoulder and told him he would have a good time. Pearl folded her arms and told the woman that it was unlikely, and that she could keep her glitter covered nails away from Derek.

  The woman left them alone. Derek looked around the dark room. He hissed to Pearl, “What kind of a place do you think this is? It seems to be mainly men here.”

  Pearl’s lips pressed together so tightly that they almost disappeared. She nodded her head in the direction of the stage. “I think we’re going to be treated to a show of some sort. Derek, if it gets too racy, close your eyes.”

  “I will do.”

  A man in a gold suit leapt on to the stage, a microphone in his hands. “Ladies and gentlemen! Good evening! Welcome to this very special event. If you’re a regular you’ll know that this next act is extremely popular. So popular in fact that her Saturday night shows are always a sell out! That’s why she’s agreed to do a special appearance tonight.” He nodded in agreement as cheers sounded out. “What a treat for a Tuesday night! Without any further ado, here’s our very own Mona Teaser!”

  There was a thunderous round of applause and the gold-suited man jumped off the stage. Soft music began and the purple stage curtains slowly opened.

  Derek shared a look with Pearl. He said, “Do you think it’s …?”

  Pearl nodded. “I think we might be seeing another side to Mona Coleman, whether we want to or not.”

  Derek found he couldn’t look away from the stage. The curtains opened fully to reveal a woman lounging gracefully on a pile of cushions. Derek said, “I’ve got those very same cushions. Mona bought them for me.” The woman stretched and slowly stood up. Derek swallowed and added, “Those tassels hanging from her … those are on my cushions too.”