Yvette's Death (Cara Daniels Cozy Mystery Book 3)

by Gillian Larkin

  Cara shivered as she saw the look that passed between the two suited men.

  There was some more talk as Sol explained about the benefits of the retail units. The taller man assured Sol that they’d be in touch soon and Sol walked away.

  The two men were silent as they walked towards a large car and got in.

  “Why aren’t they driving away?” Robin asked. “I don’t like how they’re looking at Yvette’s shop. What are they waiting for?”

  Yvette came out of her shop and locked it up. She walked towards a small car, got in and drove away. The car that contained the two suited men drove after her.

  Cara started the car up and said, “Looks like we’ve found someone who might be a threat to Yvette.”

  Chapter 4

  Cara followed the car that was following Yvette. They all drove to the shopping centre that was on the other side of the town. Cara parked at the rear of the car park. Robin flew out of the car and a second later popped his head through the glass of the driver’s window. He said, “Yvette’s gone inside and so have those men.”

  Cara moved her hand towards Robin’s head. “Don’t do that! Either bring your whole self through or wait outside for me.”

  Robin grinned at her and then moved his head out of the car. He walked at her side as they entered the shopping centre.

  Yvette walked into a large supermarket, so did the two men. Cara and Robin followed a little way behind.

  Robin said, “Why are they following her? Do you think they’re going to ask her about the shop? Maybe ask if they can have it instead?”

  Cara gave a small shrug. She couldn’t talk to Robin here, no one else could see him.

  That didn’t stop Robin from talking to her. “Cara, look at what they’re doing now! Oh! They’re taking a picture of her! And look, that smaller man with the squashed nose is on his phone now. Shall I find out what he’s saying?”

  Cara gave him a curt nod and turned to examine a selection of cooked meats.

  Robin returned to her side a short while later. “Squashy-nose said to someone on the phone that Mr Banks has a problem that needs sorting out, that it needs taken care of asap.”

  “Who’s Mr Banks?” Cara muttered.

  “It’s the other man, the taller one. He told Squashy-nose to send the photo of the problem. He sent the photo that he’d just taken of Yvette. Cara! I don’t like it. Those men are evil. I could feel the evil coming off them in waves. What are you going to do about it?”

  Cara picked up a packet of beef and placed it in front of her mouth. She whispered, “What can I do about it? Where’s Yvette now?”

  “It’s the first sign of madness!” a voice behind her said.

  Cara spun around and saw Yvette smiling at her. Yvette said, “Talking to yourself, it’s the first sign of madness. I don’t know why people say that though, I talk to myself all the time.”

  Heat flooded Cara’s cheeks. “I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to … this beef! No, not talking, just looking closer at the packet and …”

  Yvette waved a hand at her. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” She waggled her eyebrows dramatically. “Have you been following me?”

  “Yes we have!” Robin declared. “And it’s a good job too! Two dastardly men are following you.” He looked behind him. “They’ve gone! Cara, where did they go? Are they hiding behind the cheese counter? I’m going to check.” He lifted off the ground and flew away.

  Cara was glad to see him go. It was hard to ignore someone so loud and theatrical. She said to Yvette, “No, I wasn’t following you. Have you noticed that there isn’t a wool shop in this centre?”

  “I have, my shop is the only one for miles.”

  “Can I ask, how do you advertise your shop? Do you have a website?”

  Yvette laughed. “I wouldn’t know where to begin with a website! My husband says I should have one but I’ve never had the time to look into it. Do you think I should have one?”

  “Definitely. That’s what I do for a living, I design websites. You can have a page for online ordering, and a page where people can sign up for special offers. You could even start a blog, let people know about the rejuvenation of the shopping parade.”

  Yvette shook her head. “You’ve lost me. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

  An idea came to Cara, one that would allow her to keep an eye on Yvette. Cara said, “I can put a basic website together for you, as a thank you for teaching me how to knit. I can show you how to post blog entries, how to install a subscriber’s sign-up box.”

  Yvette laughed. “You’ve lost me again.”

  Cara took a deep breath and said, “Why don’t I come round to your house and talk you through the process? I’m free tonight.”

  Yvette thought for a moment. Then she nodded. “You’re right, I do need a website. That would be wonderful if you could help. I’ll give you my address. Are you sure?”

  Cara blinked as she saw the black death line around Yvette thicken slightly. She knew that meant Yvette had moved closer to her death. Cara forced a smile and said, “I’m sure.”

  Chapter 5

  Cara didn’t like leaving Yvette but Robin assured her that Yvette wasn’t in imminent danger. He said, “I’ll get a warning on my watch if her death gets closer than one hour. It’s still showing that she’s going to die in the next forty-eight hours.”

  Cara considered what Robin had said about his watch earlier. He caught her concerned look and added, “Would you like it if I followed Yvette for the rest of the day?”

  Cara nodded as they walked out of the shopping centre. Robin gave her a mock salute followed by a big grin. “I’ll catch up with you later!”

  Now on her own, Cara walked through the car park. She wished she’d have got Mr Banks’ first name, she could have looked for him online. Never mind, she had other things to occupy her time. One of the first things she was going to do when she got home was to look on the council website, see if she could find those plans that Sol had talked about. It did seem too good to be true.

  A short time later, Cara sat in front of her laptop and let out a sigh of irritation. She pointed at the computer and said, “It’s no good having a fancy website if it takes forever to load! Typical council organisation!”

  She gave up waiting for the council site to load and looked at knitting shop websites to give her an idea of the services they provided. She grimaced as she came across a site called Becky’s Yarn Supplies. Those background colours did not work well together. She made lots of notes and then started to put together a site for Yvette. She was soon absorbed in her work and didn’t notice the time passing.

  Her heart missed a beat as someone whispered in her ear, “Time to go!”

  Robin grinned at her. “You really jumped then! I thought you were going to fall off your chair.”

  “Don’t sneak up on me! What are you doing here?” Cara leapt to her feet. “Oh! Is it Yvette? Is she okay?”

  “She’s fine, she’s having a nice meal with her family. I left her a second ago. She was talking about you to her husband and said that you’d be at their house soon.”

  Cara looked at her watch. “Heck! I didn’t realise what time it was.” She closed down her laptop and tucked it under her arm.

  As they drove towards Yvette’s house Robin told Cara about Yvette’s family. “Her husband is lovely, I can see the love in his eyes whenever he looks at Yvette. And her son is a cheeky little chap, looks just like his dad. You should have seen their faces when Yvette told them about her shop. The husband wasn’t sure at first but he looked on the council website and saw the plans.”

  “He got further than me,” Cara grumbled as she drove down the road where Yvette lived.

  Robin’s happy tone changed. “They were so excited about the changes. Yvette said her mum would have loved seeing the row of shops full again. They were making plans for their future.” Cara stopped the car outside Yvette’s house. Robin put his hand on Cara’s arm
and said, “Don’t let her die, Cara, she’s got so much to live for.”

  “I’ll do all that I can to keep her alive,” Cara promised. “I’ve got you to help me. We’ll be fine.”

  Robin gave a slow nod. “I wish I could share your confidence but don’t forget, we’re both new to this soul saving business. What if we get it wrong? What if we can’t stop Yvette from being murdered?”

  Cara put her hand on the driver’s door. “Robin, we’re not even going to consider that possibility. Are you coming inside with me?”

  Robin turned his head and looked towards the rear window. “No, I’m staying here. Those two men we saw earlier have been following you. They’ve parked a few cars back.”

  Cara stiffened. “Why have they been following me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they saw you talking to Yvette at the shopping centre earlier. I’ll keep an eye on them.”

  Cara took her laptop and bag out of the car and crossed the road towards Yvette’s house. It was hard to walk normally when she could feel eyes watching her every movement from the car parked down the road.

  Yvette opened the door on the first knock. She beamed at Cara and said, “I was beginning to think you’d never come!” She pulled the door open. “Come in!”

  Yvette led her into the living room where a man and young boy were reclining on the sofa. They looked like mirror images of each other, one smaller than the other. The man stood up and extended a hand. “You must be Cara, I’m Jake, Yvette’s husband.”

  “Hello.” Cara shook his hand.

  The boy jumped up and stuck his hand out in the same manner. “I’m Ryan, Yvette’s son. How do you do?”

  Cara laughed and shook his hand. Yvette ruffled her son’s hair and said, “You are too cheeky by half! Haven’t you got homework to do?”

  Ryan grinned and flung his arms around Yvette. “I’m too happy to do my homework, Mum! I can’t stop thinking about that tram going to your shop. Will we get free tickets?”

  Yvette kissed the top of his head. “They don’t give free tickets to boys who don’t do their homework.” She gave him a gentle push. “Go!”

  Ryan laughed and ran out of the room.

  Cara swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. “Yvette, I’ve created a website for you, it’s nothing special, just a basic one. We can add order forms and other things later.”

  Jake shook his head. “I can’t believe you talked Yvette into having a website - at last!”

  They all sat down and Cara placed her open laptop on the small table in front of the sofa. There was an eerie silence as she brought the website up and clicked through the pages. Cara swallowed nervously as she looked up from the laptop. Didn’t they like the site? She thought she’d done a decent job on it.

  Yvette was clutching her husband’s hands. Tears ran down her cheeks. She said, “Cara, it’s amazing, it’s wonderful. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Jake cleared his throat and added, “It’s such a lovely design, so eye-catching and welcoming.”

  Heat rushed through Cara and she looked back at her laptop. “If you give me an email for a contact address I can make the site go live now.”

  Yvette laughed. “Really? Just like that? It’s like magic!”

  Cara added a few more details then she said, “Yvette, click on that button.”

  Yvette leaned over and did so.

  Cara smiled at her and said, “Your site is now live.”

  Yvette looked from Cara to her husband. “This has been one of the best days of my life.”

  Cara felt the lump again in her throat. She said, “I’m sure there’ll be many more happy days.”

  Chapter 6

  Robin was in the car when Cara returned an hour later. He said, “Those men in the car behind stayed a little while, it was like they were casing the joint.”

  “Casing the joint? Where have you got that expression from?” Cara asked.

  Robin smiled. “I watch a lot of films, humans are fascinating.” He looked towards Yvette’s house and then checked his watch. “We don’t need to stay here, Yvette is safe for the night.”

  As Cara drove home she said, “Do you think we need to worry about Mr Banks and his friend?”

  “I’m not sure yet, we don’t know what they’re up to, if anything,” Robin said. “Did Yvette like the website?”

  “She loved it. I told her she could put videos on it too, show people how to knit and crochet. There are many possibilities. She can make enough money from the site, she won’t have to rely solely on the shop.”

  Robin said, “I heard that worried tone in your voice. What’s wrong?”

  Cara frowned. “I’m not altogether convinced that the council will go ahead with their plans. I’ve done work for people who’ve relied on the council for planning permission, which then never came through. I still haven’t managed to look at the proposed plans for the shopping parade, the page wouldn’t load again when I tried it inside Yvette’s house. Her husband, Jake, tried on his computer but the same thing happened to him.”

  “Perhaps you should go to the town hall, don’t they keep the plans there?”

  “They do. That’s a good idea. You should hear how happy Yvette and her family are about the plans, I don’t want them to be let down.”

  “You’ll have to let me know how you get on,” Robin said.

  Cara shot him a quick look. “What? Aren’t you going to come with me?”

  Robin turned his back on her and looked out of the window. Cara pulled the car over and stopped. She prodded Robin and said, “What’s going on? What aren’t you telling me?”

  Robin looked over his shoulder and mumbled, “I can’t tell you, you’ll get upset.”

  Cara sighed. “I won’t. Come on, is it something to do with Yvette?”

  Robin turned round and faced her. He shifted in his seat. “I can’t stay with you all the time. I’ve got to help another soul saver.”

  Cara felt her eyes stinging. “You’re … you’re leaving me?”

  “No! No, I’m still helping you but I have to help someone else too. I have to go and talk to him now, I have to tell him about his new case.”

  “I see.” Cara folded her arms and looked out of the window.

  Robin said, “I can leave you because you know what to do, you’ve already made contact with Yvette, you know more about her life and circumstances.”

  “I see,” Cara repeated.

  Robin gave her a little shove. “I’m only leaving you for a while, I’ll be back tomorrow. This other soul saver that I have to see isn’t as clever as you, he’s going to need my help more than you do.”

  Cara sniffed.

  Robin said, “Look at me, Cara.”

  Cara reluctantly did so. Robin said, “In the short time that you’ve been a soul saver you’ve done a wonderful job. You care about people, you notice things about them. You can handle Yvette’s case on your own. You know you can.” He moved closer and whispered, “If you carry on as you are I think you might become as good as your gran!”

  Cara laughed. “You’re just saying that! Okay, you go and look after your other friend. I’m going to look at the council’s plans tomorrow, then I’ll call on Yvette and stay with her as long as I can. And I’ll keep an eye out for Mr Banks.”

  Robin nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.” He jumped and looked at his watch. “I knew I shouldn’t have put it on vibrate.” His face fell. “Oh, I’ve got an update on Yvette’s death. She’s going to die tomorrow, some time in the afternoon or evening. And she’s going to die inside Olivia’s Wool Shop.”

  Cara banged her fist on the dashboard. “No she’s not! I won’t let her!”

  “I know you won’t,” Robin said. He touched Cara on her arm, a warmth flooded through her body. Robin added, “You take care, I’ll see you soon.”

  He disappeared.

  Cara swallowed down the feeling of panic that was rising in her body. Trying to stop someone being murdered was a big
responsibility, but one she had to face up to.

  As soon as she got home, Cara made a list of things she needed to accomplish the next day. Once she’d been to the town hall she was going to glue herself to Yvette’s side if she had to. There was no way that she was going to allow Yvette Carter to be murdered.

  Chapter 7

  Cara was at the town hall the minute it opened the next morning. She told the woman on reception what she wanted. She also told the woman that the council website wasn’t very reliable. The woman laughed and said, “I know! It’s awful!”

  Cara shook her head as she walked away. The council seemed a law unto themselves. She soon found the planning department but it took a lot longer to find the actual plans. Cara muttered a thank you to the man who finally delivered the plans to her. He had looked at her suspiciously since the moment she’d asked for the plans.

  Cara took the plans to a table and sat down. She looked through them. Yes, there was the proposed tramline. Everything seemed in order.

  Cara was about to give the plans back when she saw someone familiar enter the room. It was Mr Banks and his squashy-nosed friend. Cara turned her back on them and pretended to be engrossed in the plans.

  She heard a man saying, “Ah! Mr Banks, thank you for coming in.”

  Cara had heard Mr Banks talk to Sol the previous day so she knew what he sounded like. He now spoke, “I hope the matter is now sorted.”

  The other man said, “No, I’m afraid not. I can’t force Sol Lewis to rent the corner retail unit to you. You can still have the other three.”

  “I will have the other three, and I will have the corner unit.”

  There was a sound of papers shuffling, then the first man spoke again, “I believe that unit is being rented by Mrs Yvette Carter. You could speak to her about the unit.”

  Mr Banks said, “Oh, I am going to have a chat with Mrs Carter, don’t worry about that.” There was a pause. Then he said, “I’ll be bringing a lot of money into this town. I shall remember who has helped me, and who hasn’t. How’s your wife, Janet? And your two girls? They grow so fast, don’t they? It’s hard to keep them safe all the time, it’s a dangerous world out there. Goodbye, Mr Temple.”