by Sam Speed
LP. Who do we know LP? Leslie Peterson? No, if it was about the theft at Yvette's work Leslie doesn't work there. It might be Lorna Paton.'
'While I wouldn't put it past her to blackmail her own friends, I can't imagine Lorna as a killer.'
'Me neither, but we can speak to her at the class tomorrow,' I said. 'Meantime, how about we forget the blackmail list for now and see where we are with our original suspects.'
'Sounds good to me,' said Jean.
'I think we can discount Mary,' I said. 'She's not bright enough to have figured out poisoning Yvette and I doubt if she would have the strength to hold Christine down and push a bike spoke into her.'
'That's true although it wouldn't take much strength. I saw it done when I worked in New York. I walked into a room at the wrong time and was amazed at how easily the spoke went in. And Christine was hardly in a position to resist.'
'What happened in New York? I take it they didn't kill you unless you're one of the undead?'
'Strangely no. I was standing just inside the doorway and the killer came right at me. I was too scared to even move, but all he did was run straight past me. A colleague explained it was part of the gang's code of honour. It was all right to kill a member of another gang or one of their own who had betrayed them. But it was against their code to kill a member of the emergency services. If I had testified against them it would have been another matter but the killer was shot the next day.'
'I'm very pleased it is part of their code,' I said. 'How about we start with someone we've not looked at much, like Anne and her son?'
'I'm pretty sure we can discount George, and I doubt if Anne would have time, but let's have a go at them.'
Anne's welcome smile disappeared when she saw it was us.
'What can I do for you Lisa?' she said.
'A couple of 2nd class stamps please,' I said.
'The post office is shut.'
'Don't you have stamps for sale in the shop?'
'Only in books of twelve.'
'I thought they came in books of four as well.'
'They do but I don't have any.'
I resisted the temptation to ask Anne if she would take a couple out of a book of twelve for me. This was beginning to get tedious. It's not like I actually wanted any stamps. I'd only asked because I knew the post office was closed and I didn't want to have to spend any money.
'How's George keeping?' I asked. 'Is he helping you with the shop now?'
I was careful not to ask her if she didn't trust him near the till.
Anne's eyes narrowed and she practically spat when she spoke.
'You think I don't know what you're up to Lisa. You need someone to blame for the murders to get the police off your back. And who better than poor George. Well, you can forget it. My George has hardly been out of his room for months. He's a good boy, He's just unhappy. Can't cope with anything. So, you keep away from him.'
Anne started to come around the counter. I beat a hasty retreat from the shop before I got thrown out. Jean followed me for once speechless.
'That went well don't you think?' I said.
Jean laughed.
'I would definitely say Anne is capable of murder. I thought I was going to have to hold her back there.'
'Unfortunately, since she has no help in the shop except for the occasional George, she has an alibi for Christine's murder. I doubt if George is capable of murder, but we won't rule him out for now. Who next?'
'What do we do about Lorna?' said Jean.
'We don't know much about her,' I said, 'but the notebook said she was stealing. That's more likely to happen at her work. Maybe petty theft like pens and paper clips.'
'Even so, some works take that seriously and at her age, Lorna couldn't afford to lose her job. She might never get another.'
'Ok, tomorrow she can have the dubious privilege of staying behind to help with the clear up. It's my night off so I'll be there.'
'Me too.'
I explained the next night that we'd be looking for a helper each week. This would allow Dawn to get away early. There were quite a few cynical expressions. I can't think why. What have I ever done to deserve that? Poor naive Dawn thought I was doing it so she could spend more time with the bold detective. As it turned out she'd already been spending far too much time with him.
I waited until Lorna was standing right beside me to make the announcement. That way it was natural to ask her to be first to help. Jean stood close by her mouth curved up at one side. She knew there was never anything natural about what I did.
'Can you stack the chairs?' I asked Lorna.
Jean carried them into the small room at the back of the hall. She made a great show of shifting things about in there to give me time to get Lorna on her own.
'How are you enjoying the class?' I asked Lorna.
'I love it,' she said. 'It loosens me up after a day sitting at a desk. Or if it's before I go to work at night it relaxes me and makes the shift more bearable.'
'Is it bad working at the call centre?'
I'd rather cut my throat than do it, but some people seemed to like it. Mostly those who enjoy hearing their own voice. It didn't sound as though Lorna was one of those.
'Sometimes it's ok,' she said, 'but if you get an awkward customer it can make the whole shift a misery. Of course, it's better now Yvette's not there.'
Her eyes widened and she raised her hand to her mouth. But it was way too late to prevent the damage.
'I didn't mean... It's not that...'
Trying not to smile I said, 'Was Yvette difficult to work for?'
'She could be. I mean... I don't want to speak ill of the dead. And she was my friend. Well, to be honest, I was never close to her. It was Suzy who suggested we include Yvette when we went out. I didn't like it when she came along. She was so bossy. You'd have thought we were still at work. But I guess Suzy felt sorry for her. If she hadn't been such a bitch at work maybe she'd have had friends of her own.'
I took a guess, 'Was it the constant phone calls? Did she never let you have a break?'
'Oh yes,' Lorna seemed happy to have someone who understood. 'Sometimes when you have a nasty customer it's hard to keep going. Our last supervisor would let us take a break, but Yvette made us go straight onto another phone call. She said it was easier if we got "straight back on the horse". I mean... I struggled to speak sometimes for tears. And most days I used my tea break to update the system because Yvette never let us have enough time between calls.'
'Did you not say anything to the office manager?'
'Joanne did. She was told to go through the proper channels. I mean... How can you complain through your team leader when it's about your team leader? And the manager must have told Yvette because after that Joanne got all the worst jobs to do.'
Time for another educated guess, 'I'll bet Yvette was the type who'd complain if you even borrowed a pen or a piece of stationary for home. Isn't that just a perk of the job?'
'You are so right. She caught me one day slipping one of their pens into my bag and threatened to tell the manager. I mean... I need my job. She said she'd keep quiet if I brought her in a coffee every day. I could have bought that pen umpteen times over for what I paid for coffee. It wasn't even a good pen. And all the rest of my team stopped talking to me. They thought I was crawling up to Yvette.'
'Even Suzy?'
'No, not Suzy. She knew what Yvette was like. Yet she still wanted us to be friends.'
'Strange,' I said. Or not so strange if Yvette held something over Suzy as well. 'You must have hated Yvette. Suzy didn't seem that cut up about her dying either.'
'I wouldn't say hate, but Yvette could be very difficult to like. Of course, it was dreadful to have someone you know die but I couldn't help feeling a little relieved, and I got the impression Suzy was too. I don't know why Suzy was so keen for us to go out together.'
I had a good idea why. Meantime I was inclined to cross Lorna off the list. You don't kill someone over a
cup of coffee.
Jean didn't agree with me.
'If Yvette was making Lorna's life a misery at work, she might have snapped,' she said later.
'From what she said, Joanne was getting the worst of it. She might have snapped.'
'Which one's Joanne?' said Jean, 'I don't remember speaking to her.'
'She only came the one week and that was after we did the class at the Call Centre. She wasn't coming when Yvette was killed and she's not from the Nu Faran. She wouldn't have known about the hall being empty before the class. We can probably rule her out.'
'I'll put her with the also-rans then,' said Jean.
I laughed and removed Snowball from where she had settled down between us. She stretched and looked at me in indignation. Then gave herself a good clean where I had dared to touch her. She jumped up on the tumble drier and curled up to sleep.
'There was something strange about Suzy's relationship with Yvette,' I said. 'We should allow her to unburden herself to us soon.'
'Are we going to wait until next Thursday and have her the lucky recipient of the clear-up? Or bump into her beforehand?' said Jean.
'Let's wait 'til next week,' I said, 'I quite fancy a break from being Nancy Drew. And if we're not seen around maybe the killer will think we've stopped and get careless.'
'Ok,' said Jean, 'a week off it is. And what do you think we should do with all that spare time?'
Since she was kissing my neck as she spoke, I had a good idea what she thought we should do with the time.
Suzy's Story
The week's break from sleuthing didn't work out quite as expected.
The following Monday I decided to pop into town to pick up a few toiletries on my way home from work. It was cheaper to buy them in the bargain shops than with my grocery shopping.
I bumped into Wendy and we decided to have a coffee.
'How's Jean?' she asked.
'She's doing fine. She was disappointed when her black eye started to fade. She thought it made her look tough.'
Wendy laughed.
'Sounds like she is back to normal.'
'How are you doing with the bold Detective Mikey?' I asked.
'Don't let him hear you call him that. 'He hates being called Mike never mind Mikey.'
'I know.'
'You can be quite bolshie. You remind me a lot of Jean,' she said wistfully.
'I'm sorry things didn't work out between you.'
'No, you're not. You're happy they didn't so Jean was available.'
'You could be right. How are you doing with the blackmail list?'
'Not great,' she said, 'but there's something curious. I'm in the book.'
'Really? What have you been up to?'
'Nothing. I'm an officer of the law.'
'And a very pretty one too.'
Wendy blushed and the pink on her cheeks with the rest of her delicate features made her look perfect. If Jean hadn't captured my attention first.
'What was she blackmailing you about?'
'She never did. Perhaps even Yvette figured out trying to blackmail a police detective was not a good idea. The thing is not long before she died Christine asked me about it. She seemed to think Yvette was blackmailing me about being a lesbian. It would pretty much destroy my career progression if it came out, but I certainly wouldn't have paid blackmail over it.'
'It's strange Jean and I never noticed it. But even if we saw your initials we would never have imagined you were one of the victims. But since Christine worked out about you, she must have seen the list and known who else Yvette was blackmailing. If she carried on with Yvette's blackmail list, it makes it more likely she was killed because of what she knew. I wish I'd managed to get into Christine's briefcase. Have you got it?'
'Briefcase? No. I didn't know there was one.'
'Damn. Detective Mikey must have it. I don't suppose there's any point in your asking him.'
'I'll see what I can do. He's in a great mood since he's been back with Dawn.'
I shut my mouth before I growled.
Not far from the cafe, I passed the Jobcentre and who should be coming out of it but George MacDonald. I was confident now he had nothing to do with the killings, but seeing him there without his bulldog of a mother was too good a chance to miss. After all, he'd worked at the call centre and might know some gossip.
'Hello, George,' I said, 'how are you keeping?'
His eyes were dull and his face sallow. His hands were shaking and his left eye twitched. He barely seemed to see me never mind recognise me. He was obviously not well and I decided not to add to his problems. But by now he had remembered who I was.
'I heard you argue with my mum. Mum says I mustn't talk to you. I didn't kill Yvette. I didn't. You mustn't say I did. It's not fair. Go away and leave me alone.'
He rushed away before I could even speak and it takes a lot to leave me speechless.
From the look of it he was seriously ill, but would an innocent person be so defensive? Yvette might have tried to blackmail him over the theft. Then when he wouldn't pay up, she put in the complaint that got him sacked. That made sense but I still couldn't imagine him being determined enough to kill anyone. Still if he had guilt could have made him go to pieces.
Dawn came around to see me on Wednesday while I was getting ready to go to work.
She hadn't dropped by unexpectedly since the time Wendy was there.
She was biting her lip. A habit I thought she'd grown out of. She sat down and stroked Snowball.
'Are you all right?' I asked.
'Well, yes.'
She didn't sound too sure.
'Is there something you want to tell me? Is something worrying you?'
'In a way.'
This was not going too well and I didn't have time for it.
'Just come out with it Dawn. Whatever it is we can work it out together.'
I wondered what was so serious that she had come to me instead of the amazing Detective Mike.
'I'm pregnant.'
Yep, that would do it. I refrained from saying 'How on earth did that happen?' It's a pretty stupid question. But did I congratulate her or commiserate? She said she wanted a baby when she was married to Donald, but she didn't seem happy.
'That's good, isn't it?' I said.
'Oh, I want this baby more than the world, but I don't know how Michael will react. It's not long since we got back together. He might think I'm trying to trap him.'
I thought of asking if it was his baby, but I knew it was and I didn't think Dawn would appreciate the comment.
'I doubt if Mikey would feel trapped. He would simply move on to another woman.'
'You are so cold sometimes I almost hate you.'
Oh, right, now it was my fault if Detective Mike cleared off. I hated him for making Dawn feel so uncertain. And it was unfair that I got the blame when all I ever did was try to protect her.
'This baby is part of him and part of you how can he not love it?' I was making myself sick being nice. 'If he doesn't support you with this pregnancy, that's his loss and the two of us will manage same as always.'
It was no use I had to say it.
'How on earth did you let this happen? There's no need for unwanted pregnancy now.'
'I've was so bloated and headachy because of the pill. When Michael and I broke up I decided to stop taking it. It's not like I had any intention of sleeping with anyone else and if I needed protection I could use a condom. Then we got back together. I was so happy. I forgot all about having to use a condom. It was only once and I thought I might have had some protection, a residual effect, from the pill.
I guessed this was not the right time to mention the morning after pill.
Do you think I should... do something about the pregnancy?'
I thought of Dawn's tears when she told me how much she wanted a baby.
'It's your decision. You want a baby and there's always a risk this could be your only chance, so go with what you feel is right for you. You
don't even know how Mikey will take it. He might be thrilled to bits. Although somehow, I doubt that. He's too interested in flirting and impressing women. I'm sorry Dawn, but I don't think he's the type to be faithful to one woman never mind settle down as a father and family man.'
'You've never liked him,' Dawn said, 'you're jealous because you've never had anyone to love. You're probably not even a real lesbian. You just can't get a man of your own. You're going to end up a lonely bitter old cat woman.'
Wow, pregnancy hormones kick in quickly, don't they? Mind you I can think of worse things to be than a cat woman. Time to change the subject I suppose.
'What about the class?' I said, 'will you still be able to do it?'
'The exercises are low key. It'll be fine to carry on with them and they'll be good for the baby. Michael can help with the lifting if you don't want to. Since you are so determined to break up my relationship.'
Jeeze, when did I become public enemy number one?
'Don't be silly we'll all still help.'
'So, I'm silly now?'
I was not entirely sure our friendship would survive this pregnancy. I needed to get off to work but I had a feeling if I said that, Dawn would turn that into me throwing her out. I'd try a change of subject again.
'When are you going to tell Mikey?'
'I'm going straight there. I've been putting off the pregnancy test. I didn't know what to think, but now I need to know if he's ok with it.'
'Let me know how you get on.'
'Of course.'
Dawn phoned the next afternoon. When she started talking about the weather I guessed she didn't know what to say or how to say it. I was torn between wishing that Detective Mike had bailed out for her sake and hoping he would be supportive.
'Are you all right?' I asked cautiously, in case she had phoned to tell me more about the dire future she forecast for me.
'I'm fine thanks,' she said. 'Michael says he would have preferred to wait a bit, but since it's happened he's thrilled to bits at the idea of being a father. I told you he's not as bad as you think. You should be more open-minded Lisa. Could you take the class for me tonight so Michael and I can discuss our future? We have a lot to talk about.'
