Connie said, “Have we even got a final bill ready?”
“Of course. I’ll print it off while you get your coat on.”
Sable and Connie arrived at Jocelyn’s office forty minutes later. The filing cabinet had gone, and so had the swivel chair that Don had died in.
Jocelyn invited them to sit down and offered them tea and coffee. Not wanting to take up her time, they refused the offer of a drink.
Sable handed the final bill to Jocelyn and said, “You can pay us directly into our bank account. The details are on there.”
“Thank you. I’ll get on to this straight away. I wanted to leave a review on your site, but I couldn’t find anywhere to leave one.”
Sable said, “I hadn’t thought of putting reviews on. That’s a good idea. If you don’t mind, you could email your review to me, and I’ll put it on later.”
“I will do.” Jocelyn put the bill to one side. “I wanted to get my business affairs in order. I can’t stay in this building, not after what happened.” Her attention went to the service lift. “I’m going to sell up. I’ve already got an interested buyer. He’s offered less than what the building’s worth, but it would mean a quick sale.”
Connie said, “Who’s the buyer?”
“Emlyn Murray. I think I told you about him before.” Jocelyn frowned. “Is there a problem with Emlyn? You both look shocked.”
Connie searched for the right words. “We were under the impression he might have been involved with Ricky, the estate agent.”
Jocelyn looked blank, so Sable said, “The one who was found dead in the basement. The one who shot your husband.”
Jocelyn recoiled. “Oh. Yes. For a moment there, I’d forgotten about him. Isn’t it weird how you can push hideous events from your mind so easily? Emlyn did say he had a chat with the police, but he was never arrested or anything. He said there was a misunderstanding, but it had been cleared up now. Is there something I should know about him?”
“If the police say it’s a misunderstanding, then it must be,” Connie said.
A young man in work clothes came into the office. “Sorry to trouble you, Mrs Kent, there’s a problem with a delivery downstairs. They want to speak to you in person.”
Jocelyn stood up. “Excuse me; I won’t be long.” She gave them a tight-lipped smile and added, “I won’t miss this when I move on.”
As soon as she’d left the room, Connie said, “Well! What do you think about that? I can’t believe the police haven’t arrested Emlyn.”
“Perhaps they’re going to soon.” Sable looked upwards. “That’s my light bulb.”
Connie looked up. “Are you sure? It looks like a normal light bulb to me.”
“That’s the point. I thought the police had it. They were supposed to return it to me.” She stood up and climbed on to the chair. “I’m having this back.”
“Are you sure you should be doing that?”
“It’s my property. I bet there’s been a breakdown in communication and some poor, tired police officer thought the bulb had to go back here.” Sable unscrewed it, climbed off the chair and put the bulb in her handbag.
Jocelyn came back into the room. “Sorry about that. It’s all sorted out. Are you sure I can’t get you any tea or coffee?”
Sable said, “No, thank you. We’d better be getting along.” She put her hand out. “We wish you good fortune for your future.”
Jocelyn shook her hand. “Thank you.”
Connie stood up and shook Jocelyn’s hand too. Then Connie abruptly pulled her into a hug.
“Oh! I wasn’t expecting that,” Jocelyn said as Connie released her. “But thank you.”
Sable and Connie said farewell and made their way out of the building.
When they were seated in Sable’s car, Sable said, “You can’t go around hugging all our clients. We’re supposed to be tough professionals. I can’t imagine your Hercule Poirot hugging his clients when a case is concluded.”
“I wanted to examine her neck.”
“Why? Have you turned into a vampire?”
“Not that I know off,” Connie said. “I noticed her hands were soft. There wasn’t a patch of eczema anywhere on them. So I pulled her close and looked at her neck. Those patches that were there a few days ago have completely gone.”
“So?”
“So, this has been an extremely stressful time for Jocelyn Kent. You’d think her skin would have broken out in eczema patches left, right and centre, wouldn’t you? Don’t you think it’s strange that her skin hasn’t reacted at all to the events of these last days?”
“Yes, that is strange. Perhaps she’s just happy that her horrible husband has gone.”
Connie looked out of the window. “Perhaps.”
Chapter 11
They returned to Connie’s house and set up the laptop in the conservatory. Sable uploaded the footage from the light bulb, and Connie gazed out at her flower beds.
Sable said, “You look thoughtful. What’s on your mind?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve got a niggling feeling in my brain, like something isn’t quite right. But I can’t pinpoint what’s bothering me.”
“It’ll come to you.” Sable smiled. “Perhaps I should leave a pile of my ironing here for when you need quiet contemplation time. There’s plenty of it.”
Connie came out of her trance. “Bring it round anytime.” She looked at the screen and the video that was now playing. “Heck. I really have to get my roots seen to. How come the top of your head looks perfect? There’s not one hair out of place or even a fleck of grey.”
Sable gave a casual shrug. “What can I say? Some people are natural beauties. I’m very low maintenance in the looks departments.”
Connie gave her a friendly push. “Of course you are. You knew this light bulb device would be recording the top of your head. You did something to make sure your hair looked perfect.”
“As if I’d do something like that, Connie Butterworth.”
Sable sped up the recording, and they saw another view of the scenes they’d seen before.
Sable slowed it down and said, “I want to see which numpty took my light bulb and then put it back. It should have been returned to me.”
They watched the footage as the police arrived. Sable increased the speed until they saw the close up of a fresh-faced officer reaching for the bulb. The screen went blank for a few seconds, and then the same officer replaced the bulb.
Sable squinted at the screen. “I can’t see his name. Can you? Never mind, I’ll know him when I see him. I’ll be having a choice word or two with him.”
Connie said, “He might not have known he was to give the bulb back to you. Don’t be too hard on him.”
“I’ll give him five seconds to explain himself.” Sable reached out to stop the video.
“Leave it,” Connie said.
“Why?”
“That niggling feeling is getting stronger. Humour me.”
“I always do.”
They watched the footage for the next two hours. Sable fast-forwarded the parts when the office was empty.
They saw the top of Saffy’s head as she spoke to Jocelyn Kent a day after the murder. Saffy said how sorry she was, and that there was plenty of support available. Jocelyn listened and occasionally brushed a tear away.
Sable and Connie saw something next which made their mouths drop open in shock. They stared at each other in silent horror.
Connie swallowed and said, “Play that bit again.”
Sable did so. The two of them moved closer to the screen.
The video showed Jocelyn waiting silently for a minute after Saffy left her office. Then she broke into quiet, jubilant laughter and fist-pumped the air many times. She danced joyfully from side to side.
“Turn the volume up,” Connie said.
They heard Jocelyn say, “Thought you could get one over on me, didn’t you Don? Ha! You fool. You always underestimated me. And look how my plan turned out. Ha! And don’t
think I’ll be coming to your funeral. I won’t be here. Ha!”
Sable and Connie then heard her making a phone call to organise the sale of her building. The call was to a local estate agent who dealt with business properties.
Sable said, “She was lying to us about selling to Emlyn Murray.”
“She’s been lying to us about everything. I doubt there ever was an intruder in her office. It was a ruse so she could employ us. She most likely asked her husband to go to her office that morning knowing full well he’d be killed. She must have known about the service lift all along. We should have realised that a while ago.”
Sable said, “She hired Ricky to kill Don. But why would he do that?”
“Who knows? Perhaps she was going to give him a financial reward. They could have been having an affair. That would explain how she knew about Don’s secret allegiance with Emlyn. And when Ricky had killed Don, she decided Ricky had to die.” Connie rubbed her forehead. “She had us completely fooled. I felt so sorry for her.”
“She didn’t completely fool you,” Sable pointed out. “You knew something was wrong.”
“But it’s too late for Don and Ricky.”
Sable reached for her phone. “It’s not too late for Jocelyn Kent. She won’t get away with this. I’ll phone Saffy.”
Connie stood up. “I’ll make us a very strong cup of tea.” Her eyes welled up.
“Hey! Don’t you be feeling bad about this. There was nothing you could have done. You didn’t know what Jocelyn was planning.”
Connie blinked her tears away. “I know. Why do people have to do this to each other? Why can’t they sort everything out by talking?”
“Not everyone is as sensible as you and me,” Sable said. “Or as intelligent. Or beautiful. Or talented. Shall I go on?”
Connie smiled. “Do you want cake with your tea?”
“Always.”
Chapter 12
Connie and Sable were invited to Saffy’s office the following day. Saffy made sure they had refreshments and were seated before she told them about the previous day’s events.
Saffy began, “She’s a tough one, that Jocelyn Kent. But I’ve dealt with worse. She kept denying everything, but I kept providing evidence to the contrary. First of all, she organised for the delivery of the filing cabinet. We spoke to the men who delivered it. They remembered how insistent Mrs Kent was on where the cabinet had to be placed.”
Connie nodded. “It had to cover the service hatch. Who put the handle on the back of the cabinet?”
“Jocelyn did, and she added some small wheels to it. She wanted Ricky to be able to pull the cabinet back into position from his place inside the service lift. We spoke to Ricky’s colleagues. Some of his closer friends knew he was having an affair with a married woman. He even let her name slip on a few occasions.”
Sable asked, “How long had they been having an affair?”
“For a few months. We checked Ricky’s business files and saw he’d been having meetings with Mr Kent and Mr Murray for around the same time. Jocelyn saw them all one day and made a move on Ricky so that he’d give up his secrets. To move her plan along, she needed to make allegations of an office intruder. Which would lead to the intruder killing Mr Kent, apparently by mistake.” Saffy’s face softened. “That’s when she got you two involved.”
“She took us for fools,” Connie said, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Saffy said, “And that was her biggest mistake. We eventually got a full confession from her, including how she cut the service lift rope from the next floor down. There was a false partition over the service lift access. She padlocked the door in the basement so that the unfortunate Ricky couldn’t get out. She’d thought of everything. And she’ll have a lot more thinking to do where she’s going.”
Connie said, “But what if we hadn’t have seen that extra footage? What if that young policeman hadn’t put the bulb back by mistake? She would have got away with it.”
Sable put her hand on Connie’s shoulder. “She wouldn’t have. You knew something wasn’t right with Jocelyn, and it would have played on your mind until we took further action. All that ironing and meditation must be working its magic on you.”
Saffy shook her head. “You’ve lost me on that last part. I wanted to say a big thank you to you both. As private investigators, you’re doing some things wrong, but overall, you’ve been a huge help.” She glanced at the closed door before continuing. “And, between you and me, I like having you two around. In fact, I’ve got a present for you.” She opened her drawer, pulled out two boxes and pushed them across the desk. “Don’t use them all at once!”
Sable and Connie looked at the boxes of latex gloves and shoe covers.
“I was hoping it would be chocolates,” Sable said. “But these will come in very handy. Thank you.”
Saffy said, “How’s your business coming along? Have you got office space sorted out yet?”
Connie said, “This last case has put us right off offices. We’ve decided to meet our clients in more relaxed places like coffee shops and the suchlike. But we are going to set up an official office space in Sable’s house, just for ourselves.”
Sable said, “I’ve got plenty of room. It’ll be nice to have Connie there. Saffy, you feel free to call round whenever you like. It doesn’t have to be for business reasons.”
Connie smiled fondly at Sable. “Sable’s even decorating a playroom for when I look after the grandchildren.”
Sable flapped a hand at her. “There’s no point you flitting between two houses when we’re working on a case. And it’ll be nice to have some noise in my house. It’s too quiet.”
Connie looked at Saffy. “You are a witness. You heard what she just said. She said it will be nice. I know Sable, and I know she’ll be saying something else within two weeks.”
Sable laughed. “You know me too well. Connie, we’d better be going soon. We’re seeing our next client this afternoon.”
They finished their drinks, chatted a bit more with Saffy and then left the police station.
As they walked over to Sable’s car, Connie looked heavenwards and said, “I wonder what our lovely husbands think about all of this? They could be looking down at us right now.” She looked back at Sable and saw her smiling. “What?”
Sable said, “I know exactly what they’ll be thinking. They’ll think that my hair looks perfect and that you need your roots doing.”
Connie tutted. “It’s a good job I love you, Sable Butterworth. I wouldn’t let anyone else get away with that.”
They smiled at each other warmly and got in the car.
Sable said, “Ready for the next case?”
Connie replied, “Always.”
A note from the author
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A Deadly Service
A Butterworth Mystery
(Book 3)
By
GILLIAN LARKIN
www.gillianlarkin.co.uk
Copyright 2017 by Gillian Larkin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronically or mechanically without permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
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A Deadly Service (A Butterworth Mystery Book 3) Page 5
