A Deadly Service (A Butterworth Mystery Book 3)

by Gillian Larkin

  The lift pinged and the doors opened. They stepped out into the dimly lit corridor.

  Connie pulled her coat closer. “It’s creepy at this time of the night, isn’t it? I feel like someone’s watching us.”

  “That’s just your imagination.” Sable looked left and right. “Although, I do know what you mean. Let’s get into Jocelyn’s office and lock the door behind us.”

  They walked along the corridor and quickly let themselves into the office. Sable locked the door firmly behind them.

  Connie surveyed the room. “I can’t see that anything has been moved yet.” She moved towards the recording pen that they’d left with Jocelyn earlier. “I told Jocelyn to switch this on before she left the office. Do you think we should look at the footage now?”

  “No, not if there isn’t anything different in the room.” Sable reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of items. She walked over to an electrical socket and pushed a plug into it. “It’s a shame this is so low down. We could do with it being higher. Still, it might capture something.”

  Connie put her hands on her hips. “It’s amazing, just amazing. To think you can put recording devices in any household item! It’s just amazing.”

  Sable handed a tartan flask to Connie.

  Connie’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me there’s a recording device in this. When did Garth give that to you?”

  “He didn’t. It’s mine. And the only thing it’s got inside is coffee. We’ll need it if we’re going to stay up all night. Can you pour some out now, please? I could do with a boost.”

  “I will do.” Connie took the flask. “Are you going to put the light bulb in now? Do you need a chair?”

  “I do. You sort the coffee out.” Sable pulled a chair towards her and climbed on to it. She unscrewed the existing light bulb and replaced it with the one Garth had sold to them. She flicked the switch at the side so that the device at the end of the bulb began to record.

  Connie put a hand out to help her down, and then guided Sable over to the furthest corner. Connie whispered, “We’ll have to be careful what we say. Jocelyn might see these recordings, and we don’t want her to know about you-know-who and their café meeting today.”

  “Good point. I don’t want to talk about it anyway; it makes me feel sick and furious at the same time.”

  Connie patted her arm. “I know. Let’s have a walk around the office and familiarise ourselves with everything. Then we’ll know if anything is out of place later.”

  “Later? But we’ll know if anyone sneaks in. We’ll be here.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. If someone is sneaking in, they could be coming from a different room or a different floor. I think we should check each area and take photos as we go. And we’ve got our surveillance items set up if someone should come in. And, if we’re out of the way, perhaps that will encourage the intruder to return.”

  Sable pulled her closer and whispered, “Do you think someone is watching us now?”

  “I don’t know. Do you?”

  Sable gulped. “My imagination is going into overdrive. Let’s have that coffee.”

  They took some fortifying sips of coffee and then made a slow tour of the room. They took photos on their phones as they did so.

  Connie paused at the filing cabinet on the left wall. She frowned. “Why is this bothering me so much?”

  Sable went to her side. “What do you mean?”

  “This area. There’s something bothering me, and I can’t think what it is.”

  “Is it the filing cabinet?” Sable looked at it. “Do you think there’s someone hiding inside?”

  “That’s not possible. The drawers aren’t big enough for a person.”

  Sable turned her head slowly to Connie and said in a low voice, “What if it’s a customised filing cabinet? What if there’s one big drawer behind it? You heard what Jocelyn told us about this cabinet.”

  “That her husband put it here? Yes, I remember.”

  Sable and Connie stared at the filing cabinet.

  Connie said, “Open it then.”

  Sable took a step back. “You open it. You’re closer.”

  Connie tutted and placed her coffee cup on top of the cabinet. “Right, I’ll open it. If anyone leaps out, be ready to grab them. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Sable moved closer to Connie and put her cup next to hers. “Wait. I need a weapon.” She dashed over to her bag and retrieved a large torch. “This will do.” She went back to Connie and raised the torch in readiness.

  Connie moved her hand towards the top drawer, her heart beating at an alarming rate. “Ready.” She slowly pulled the drawer open. “Oh. It’s just a normal drawer with files in it.”

  Sable raised her torch higher. “Try the next drawer.”

  Connie did so. Again, it was a normal drawer, and so were the others. She let out a shaky laugh and said, “I don’t know whether I’m relieved or disappointed.” She took her cup off the top of the cabinet and took a big gulp of the welcome drink.

  Sable lowered the torch. “It was worth a try.” She took her cup down too. “I think I should have brought more coffee. I need chocolate. I’ve brought one of those giant bars with me.”

  Connie said, “I’ve brought some fruit.” She looked towards her bag. “I don’t think a banana is going to soothe my nerves, though.”

  Sable went over to her bag and pulled out an enormous slab of chocolate. “You can have some of this. There are certain situations where only chocolate will do.”

  They took a seat and broke into the slab. They munched away quietly for five minutes.

  Connie drained the last of her coffee. “Well, I suppose we have to go round the rest of the building now. Are you up for it?”

  “Not really. But we have to do it.” Sable stood up and looked around the office once more. “I’m turning into a wuss. I don’t want to leave the safety of this office.”

  Connie got to her feet. “But what if we find you-know-who skulking around the other floors? You could …” She waggled her eyebrows.

  Sable’s face lit up. “Whack him on the head? Twist his arms behind his back? Get him in a headlock? Come on, Connie, let’s go.”

  Chapter 6

  Connie and Sable made a thorough check of the rooms on the other floors. It didn’t take long as most of the floors didn’t have any partitions up yet, and it was easy to see across the whole floor. They had a visit to the basement, but their inspection was cut short when they heard the scurrying of many pairs of little feet.

  They returned to Jocelyn’s office and discovered nothing amiss. They attempted to sleep on the floor but decided the damage caused to their bodies wouldn’t be worth it. Checking that all their surveillance items were in place, they made the unanimous decision to go home, get a good night’s sleep and return early the next day.

  And, now, as they stood at the entrance to Jocelyn’s office, Connie realised they should have stayed.

  Connie couldn’t take her eyes off the chair behind Jocelyn’s desk.

  The back of the chair was facing them, and they could see the top of a head resting against it. They saw the hole in the back of the chair, and the blood spatter on the wall in front of the occupant.

  Sable said, “Before you say it, we should not have stayed here last night. That could be one of us in that chair.”

  “Who do you think it is?”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Sable made a move forward.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police? We could contaminate the area.”

  Sable said, “As ludicrous as this sounds considering the amount of blood on the wall, that person could still be alive. You stay here, and I’ll check.”

  Moving around the edge of the wall, Sable made her way over to the body in the chair. She stopped at the side of it and looked at the occupant.

  Connie called over, “Who is it?”

  Without taking her eyes away, Sable said, “It’s Don Kent. He’s definitely dead.”
She looked back at Connie. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “I know you didn’t! Get back over here. I’ll phone the police.” Connie took her phone out. She glanced back at Sable. “What are you doing now?”

  Sable was putting on a pair of latex gloves. “I’m going to upload the recorded footage to my phone.” She moved towards the pen they’d given to Jocelyn earlier.

  “You should give that to the police.”

  “I will do. But this is our case, Connie, and we need to see what’s on the footage.” She pointed towards the chair. “That could have been Jocelyn in there. In fact, whoever killed Don probably thought it was Jocelyn if the chair was in this position when they entered the room.”

  Connie nodded. “You’re right.” She looked around the room. “How did they get in? We locked the door and checked the window. And how did they get out again?”

  “We’ll leave that to the police to work out. They’ll check for fingerprints and DNA evidence.” Sable plugged the end of the pen into her phone and touched the phone’s screen. After ten seconds, she put the pen back on the desk. “That one’s done. I’ll upload the footage from the plug and the light bulb while we wait for the police.”

  Connie made the phone call to the police. “I should go downstairs and wait for them. The workmen will be worried when they see the police cars arriving.”

  Sable said, “Okay. I’ll wait here.” She gave Connie a nervous smile. “I’m sure our invisible killer has gone by now.”

  Connie’s brow furrowed. “They might not have. We don’t know when Don Kent was murdered. It could have been ten minutes ago. Feel his skin. Is he still warm?”

  “I’m not touching him! Anyway, I’m busy.” Sable went to the wall socket and took the plug out.

  Connie moved further into the room. She pointed upwards. “The ceiling. We never thought about the ceiling. Look at the panels. Do they look as if they’ve been disturbed?”

  Sable looked up. “No. But I didn’t have a good look at them before.” She gulped and said hoarsely, “Connie, the killer could be up there now looking down at us.”

  Connie dashed forward, grabbed Sable and pulled her out of the room. She shut the door behind them and locked it. “We’ll wait here.”

  “But what about my light bulb?”

  “You can get that later.”

  Sable uploaded the footage from the plug and then waited in silence with Connie.

  They both jumped as the lift doors opened and a slim woman walked out.

  Connie let out a sigh of relief. “Saffy! Thank goodness it’s you. How are you?”

  DI Saffron McCue replied, “Never mind how I am. What have you two been up to now? Not another dead body? If I didn’t know you so well, I’d be getting suspicious. Before I have a look at the deceased, tell me what your involvement is.”

  A couple of uniformed policemen came out of the lift and made their way over.

  DI McCue told them to wait behind her and take notes.

  The police officers were soon scribbling in their notebooks as Sable and Connie took turns in telling the inspector why they were there.

  Saffy shook her head. “You two have been busy. Can I have the key to the door, please? And that plug.”

  Sable said, “What about my light bulb? Can I upload the footage before you take it away?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t. You shouldn’t have disturbed anything at all. When I have a spare two hours, I’m going to talk to you both about the correct procedure for private investigators in the event of a crime.” She took the key from Connie and opened the door.

  The lift doors opened again, and everyone turned their heads to see who the occupant was.

  Jocelyn Kent came out. She took in the scene and said, “Have you found someone? Have you found the intruder?” She came closer, put her hand on her chest and smiled at Connie. “This is such a relief. Who is it? Are they inside my office? Have you made a citizen’s arrest? Is that why the police are here?” Her smile froze. “Why isn’t anyone answering my questions? What’s going on here?”

  Chapter 7

  “Poor Jocelyn,” Sable said. “I thought she’d knocked herself out when she fainted like that.”

  “It was a tremendous shock for her. Tea?”

  “Always.” Sable sat herself at Connie’s kitchen table and powered up Connie’s laptop. “I’ll download our footage. I hope we’ve caught the killer in action. I’m still annoyed about my light bulb. You’d think Saffy would have let me have it for a minute or two. She’s supposed to be a family friend.”

  “She is a family friend. She’s also a member of the police force and she has to do the right thing. She said she’d forward the recording to you in due course.” Connie filled the kettle and switched it on.

  “When will that be? And what about my light bulb? I want it back at some point. We’ll use it again.”

  Sable went on to the Internet and into her cloud storage. She tapped away for a minute, and then said, “Connie, it’s ready to view.”

  “Give me a moment to finish the tea.”

  Sable waited impatiently while Connie finished her task.

  Connie smiled as she placed the cups of tea on the table. “Your face will stay that way if you’re not careful.”

  “What way?” Sable asked.

  “All twisted up. You look like you’ve got wind.” Connie took a seat. “Come on then. Let’s get on with it.”

  Sable clicked on the video recording which came from the pen.

  They watched for a couple of minutes and then Connie said, “Does my hair really look that grey? I only had my roots done last month.”

  “Never mind your hair. Look at the hem on the back of my jacket. You never told me it was uneven.” Sable pursed her lips.

  “I didn’t notice,” Connie admitted. “It does pick up our voices really well. Do you think we made the right decision to have the pen pointed at the door?”

  “I do. That would be the sensible place for a person to enter. It would be easy for someone to get a spare key.” Sable tutted. “I can’t believe I’ve been walking around with a crooked hem. I’ll have to get that sorted out.”

  They watched themselves moving about on the screen for ten minutes.

  Sable said, “Right, this is when we left the room. Let’s fast-forward it a bit to see if anything happens. I don’t think anything did because we checked the room when we came back.”

  They watched in silence for the next thirty minutes as Sable’s hand hovered over the play icon ready to stop it at any moment.

  The time on the recording went through the hours of the night and into the morning.

  “This is tedious,” Connie said. “Shall we have another cuppa?”

  Sable stood up and stretched. “I’ll make it. You keep watching this. Let me know if anything happens.”

  Sable made it as far as the kettle before Connie yelled, “Quick! Come back!”

  Sable spun on her heel and was back at the table in two strides. “What is it?”

  “Sit down. Look at this. Don Kent has let himself into the office. It’s seven-thirty.”

  “We know why he was there. Jocelyn told us he was standing in for her so she could collect her eczema cream from the chemist.” Sable’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s he talking to on the phone?”

  “Someone called Ricky. That’s the name of the estate agent he was talking to in the café.”

  Sable took a seat and listened to the conversation.

  “Yeah, that’s great,” Don said. “Get the paperwork sorted out. I’ll call by this afternoon to sign it. I’ll bring Emlyn with me and then it’s a done deal.”

  The footage showed Don looking around the room as he listened to Ricky. His face creased in disgust.

  Don spoke again. “Don’t worry about the deposit. I’ll have plenty of money soon once I sell my wife’s building. I’ve already got people interested in it.” There was a pause. “Yeah. Great. See you later.” He ended the call and walked further
into the office.

  “Drat. He’s gone out of the picture,” Sable said. “We should have bought more pens.”

  “We can still hear him. Listen.”

  They heard Don humming cheerfully to himself. This was followed by the sound of a small creak.

  Sable said, “That must be him sitting down. It sounds like he’s swivelling around in the chair.”

  After a few minutes, Connie held her hand up. “What was that noise? Rewind it.”

  Sable did so and increased the volume. Connie put her ear closer to the screen.

  “What can you hear?” Sable asked.

  “It’s like something metallic moving. Play it again.”

  Sable did.

  Connie moved her head back. “I’m certain I’ve heard that noise before, but I can’t place it.”

  “Don’t think about it. The answer will come to you when you’re ready. Shall I press play now?”

  “Yes.”

  They listened carefully. They could still hear Don humming, and also the slight squeak of the chair.

  There was a sudden ‘phuft’ noise.

  The chair stopped squeaking.

  Don Kent stopped humming.

  Sable and Connie looked at each other. Connie wondered if her face was as pale as Sable’s.

  Connie pointed a shaking finger at the screen. “That sounded like a gun shot. Like one of those guns with a silencer thing on the end. You’ve watched police shows. Did it sound like a silencer gun thing to you?”

  “It did.” Sable looked at the bottom of the screen. “We know when he was killed. 7:45. Let’s have a look at the footage from the wall plug. We might see who the murderer is.”

  Connie put her hand on Sable’s arm. “Can we have a break? I don’t feel good.”

  “I don’t either,” Sable admitted. “We’ve just witnessed a murder. I’m glad we didn’t have any equipment recording the actual event. I didn’t like Don Kent, but I don’t want to witness his death.”

  Connie stood up. “I could do with some fresh air.”

  “Me too.”

  The pair collected their coats, left Connie’s house and had a twenty-minute walk in the bracing air.