The Daisy Dunlop Mystery Box Set: Lost Cause, Lost & Found, Lost Property

by JL Simpson

  At no point had he coerced her, but he had taken advantage of her obvious lust for him. She wanted to get him into bed and he'd agreed. Why not? Anything to get the job done. Speaking of which, Sarah was now the gate-keeper to the information he needed. He'd stupidly thought they'd set him up his own log-in and let him loose on their database. Apparently he needed to earn their trust, and if he was relying on a good report from Sarah to get it, he was in deep shite.

  He took a step toward the desk. “I'd bet I was the last man you expected to see.”

  She snorted. “Expected or wanted to see.”

  “So how have you been?”

  She rested her chin on the heel of her hand. “Let's just cut the bullshit. You screwed me over and now you want me to help you.”

  “I'd not put it quite like that.”

  “No?”

  “We were on a mission. Things got out of hand. I never planned for it to end the way it did, but we can't change the past. Can we not put it behind us?”

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  Solomon slid into the chair across from her and smiled. “Is it not odd that they've asked you to help me?” He took her raised eyebrow as answer enough. “Of all the people they could have assigned to babysit me, they chose you. Do you not think this is a test for both of us?”

  “A test?”

  “It’s a requirement of the job that we work with whoever we are assigned to regardless of our personal feelings. Relationships are discouraged between staff because it muddies the waters. How can you complete a task regardless when you are constantly worrying that your partner could be in danger?”

  “You never worried about me.”

  Solomon took a deep breath. “You're wrong. You are so wrong.”

  “Sex wasn't what fucked up our mission, you did.”

  “Guilty as charged, but my point still stands.”

  “What point is that?”

  “This is a test. Am I still a loose cannon that won't do as he's told, and can you get the job done no matter who you’re assigned to work with? What better way to find out than to throw us together. I can't find out what I need to know, and you can't prove you can put your emotions aside and get the job done no matter your personal feelings toward your partner, unless we suck it up and work together. So what's it to be, Sarah? Are we both going to succeed, or do we both fail?” He leaned back in his chair. “The choice is yours.”

  Sarah pulled the computer keyboard toward her. “What do you need to know?”

  Solomon held back a triumphant smile. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table. “I need everything you have on these two men but first I need to know the details of any calls made today from the secure flat in Mayfair.”

  After a few keystrokes Sarah spun the screen around. Solomon read the details. Daisy was on her way to see a Glenys Thompson in Charminster. Solomon had no idea who Glenys Thompson was but he'd bet his left bollock Daisy had no intention of getting off the train in Poole. He could wait to see if Timothy was on the ball or he could put a backup plan in place. There was no way he could get to Bournemouth station himself to intercept her but Paul could. He'd need to know what was going on to be sure he wasn't leading the police to Daisy, and he'd have to be told exactly what was at stake.

  Telling Paul his wife’s new case had, once again, gotten her knee deep in dead bodies wasn’t going to be fun. Solomon had always promised to keep her safe, and he had succeeded despite Daisy’s ability to find trouble and murder wherever she went. If Paul was already wavering about Daisy continuing her life as an heir hunter, finding out that she was in the sights of a killer would push him over the edge. His call could see Daisy lose the very thing they were working to ensure, Paul’s continued support for her new career. Neither Paul nor Daisy would thank him once the case was over.

  * * * * *

  The first part of Daisy's plan had gone perfectly. Get to Waterloo Station, check. Get a ticket to Poole, check. Now she had the final stage to complete. She nudged Timothy's elbow. He shifted his focus from the countryside speeding past the window to Daisy.

  She flashed him a brilliant smile. “Do you want a cup of tea?”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “I was going to the buffet car to buy one for myself and thought you might like one.”

  “And you'll come straight back?”

  “We're on a speeding train. Where else would I go?”

  He pursed his lips and appeared to weigh up his options before giving a small nod. “I take mine white, one sugar.” He reached into his trouser pocket.

  She gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Keep your money. My treat.”

  “Thanks.” She started to wriggle out into the aisle. Timothy grabbed her arm. “You'll be careful.”

  She smiled. “Relax. Nothing's going to happen. You'll have your tea in no time.”

  Daisy stood in the aisle, took a moment to get used to the rolling motion of the train, and then headed toward the end of the carriage. Deep down, she felt a little guilty. If Timothy was Solomon she'd never be able to get away with anything, but he wasn't. Solomon had left her alone and out of the loop. She had no choice but to take her future into her own hands and solve this bloody case, one way or another. Whatever Timothy’s role, she was sure he wasn’t sent to help her, and even if he was, she didn’t have time to find out.

  Daisy glanced over her shoulder before closing the door to the next carriage behind her. Timothy had gone back to staring out of the window. The train started to slow down and Daisy hustled through the carriage and on to the next. She needed to put as much space between them as possible if she was going to succeed.

  Once the train ground to a halt Daisy stepped off and made her way across the platform. If Timothy happened to look in her direction he'd be lucky to spot her in amongst the crowd of football fans that had disembarked. She would be forever grateful that Bournemouth had a home match this week. With luck he wouldn't realize he'd lost her until the train reached Poole. By the time he got back to Bournemouth to look for her she'd be long gone. Or she would be if she had any means of transport.

  The guard's whistle sounded, carriage doors slammed and the train began to pull out of the station. Daisy was swept along by the chanting crowd as they all surged toward the exit. Maybe one of her fellow travelers could give her a lift? Or maybe she could hitchhike. She slipped through the exit, deep in thought. A hand wrapped around her upper arm bringing her progress to halt. Bugger. “Timothy!”

  She spun around and gaped at the man who held her arm captive. “Paul?”

  He let her go and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing into his embrace and inhaling the warm scent of the man she loved.

  Paul eased her back and frowned. “Who's Timothy?”

  “He's a friend of Solomon's. What are you doing here?”

  Paul smiled. “I'm a friend of Solomon's, too.”

  The phone in the flat must have been bugged. Solomon must be involved with some dodgy Government department if he could listen in on phone calls and conjure up strange men in black cars to watch people.

  Maybe she was being paranoid, or maybe she needed a tin foil hat. Either way, Solomon had no right to stick his nose in when she was so close to finally working out who Tomas Jenks was. He had chosen to bugger off and leave her on her own without telling her what he was doing, and she had managed to find a new lead and follow it up all on her own. Involving Paul made it look like she was out of her depth, when all she really needed was transport. She stepped back and folded her arms. “So the git called you. How come he's allowed to talk to you when I'm not?”

  Paul ran his hand up and down her left arm. “He told me what's going on.”

  Daisy sighed. “None of it's my fault. I just want to find Tomas Jenks' sister.”

  He looked sad and disappointed. “It's never your fault. You never got caught up in murder before you decided to be an heir hunter.”

  There it was. He had al
ready made his decision even though her week to prove herself wasn’t up. “I never had any trouble with murderers before I went to work with Solomon.”

  Paul lifted an eyebrow. “You've got a point.”

  “Have you come to take me home?” Her heart pounded as she waited to hear the answer.

  “Are you ready to come home?”

  Daisy shook her head. “I need to speak to a lady in Charminster.”

  “About the murders?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Will she be able to tell you who Tomas Jenks' sister is?”

  “She might be able to tell me where I can find the man who knows who Tomas Jenks really is.”

  A smile tipped up the corners of his mouth. “And then we can go home?”

  Daisy’s body warmed in the cool afternoon air and her knees felt shaky. He hadn’t given up on her, yet. She slid her arms back around Paul's neck and kissed him on the lips. God, she loved him so much. “After I speak to the man who knows who Tomas Jenks really is.”

  Paul wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. “I've missed you.”

  “I've missed you too. I should never have said we couldn't have sex and then got the jitters about Sherman and Ben listening in.”

  “I should have ignored Solomon's stupid suggestion and made love to you the other night when we were alone instead of taking Johnny for a walk.”

  Daisy frowned. “What suggestion?”

  Paul nuzzled her neck, pressing soft kisses behind her ear. “Does it matter now? I thought we had a case to solve.”

  Her body tingled in all the right places but Paul wasn’t going to use her pent-up sexual frustration to wheedle his way into her investigation or to get out of telling her exactly what he had agreed to with the stupid Irish git. “I have a case to solve, and yes it does matter.” She pushed him away. “We'll discuss what exactly Solomon suggested and how much pain I will inflict on him later.”

  Paul laughed. “God, I love you. Are you sure we can't go home so I can show you how much?” He trailed kisses up her neck, making her body hum in delight. A loud wolf whistle from a passing stranger brought her back to her senses. She shoved at Paul's chest. “I love you too but you'll going to have to wait until later. Now where's the car?”

  “I left it at home.”

  “Why?”

  “The police are on duty outside the house and Solomon said until he found a way to call them off, they’d be looking to arrest you. I caught the bus to the shopping mall and gave them the slip before hailing a cab to the train station.”

  “You were on the train?”

  “All the way from Southampton. We'll have to use a cab.”

  Daisy grabbed Paul's hand as they made their way to the taxi rank. He might be coming along for the ride but she was still going to prove to him that she could do this on her own.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Daisy was half-way up the front path by the time Paul had finished paying the cab driver. Glenys's house was in the middle of a row of terrace houses. The fake stone facade that was all the rage in decades gone by covered the original red brick that was still visible on her neighbors’ houses. Plastic double glazed windows and a shiny chrome and glass front door completed the modernization of the front of the old house. The doorbell tinkled a tune as Daisy pressed the button. She stepped back and waited.

  A blurry figure appeared behind the frosted glass and locks clunked before the door swung open to reveal Glenys Thompson. She was a dark haired younger version of her mother, Maura.

  Daisy took a step closer. “Mrs. Thompson? I'm Daisy Dunlop.” Paul appeared at her side. Daisy smiled at him. “And this is my husband, Paul.”

  “Please, call me Glenys.” She stepped back to let them both in. Paul closed the door behind them and they followed Glenys down a dark hallway and into a bright and airy living room. The scent of coffee and vanilla filled the air. Glenys waved toward two overstuffed cream colored sofas. “Take a seat. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?”

  Daisy and Paul both opted for coffee and Glenys bustled across the room and disappeared through a door that must lead to the kitchen.

  Sitting next to Paul, Daisy tapped her fingers on the arm of the sofa and jostled her knee. A cardboard shoe box sat in the middle of the coffee table and she desperately fought the urge to look inside. Glenys hadn't mentioned whether she had anything that might help Daisy find her Uncle Cameron. Unless Maura was back home and making sense, this was her last hope.

  Paul placed his hand on her knee and she stopped jiggling. “Are you nervous?”

  Daisy shook her head. “Not really.”

  “What's in the box?”

  She shrugged. “No idea.”

  “What do you think’s in the box?”

  “Answers.”

  “To?”

  “Where I can find Glenys' Uncle Cameron.”

  “The man who knows who Tomas Jenks is?”

  Glenys reappeared carrying a tray. She set it down on the edge of the coffee table. “Oh, I meant to say that you could look through the box.” She passed a steaming mug of coffee to Paul as she smiled at Daisy. “It's the only place that's likely to have anything to do with Uncle Cameron in it. Mum insisted I take a pile of family papers off her a couple of years ago, but I've never bothered to check what's inside. She was very agitated at the time so I didn't want to argue with her. I figured if she needed them she'd ask for them back. She's not as well as she could be.”

  “I met her earlier this week.”

  “So you know what I mean, then.” Glenys sighed as she placed Daisy’s mug on the table in front of her. “She has her good days and her bad days. More bad than good lately. Dementia is such a horrible disease. She is living in the past most of the time.”

  Daisy moved to perch on the edge of the sofa and pulled the box toward her. She flipped off the lid and delved inside. With shaking hands, she began to go through the box page by page. Old bills, family photos of Maura and her husband with Glenys and her sister when they were children. A guidebook for Edinburgh Castle. A user manual and receipt for a metal detector. Other than the pictures, nothing seemed worth keeping. Maura must have been having one of her vague moments.

  The stack of documents Daisy had examined piled up on the coffee table. Glenys pulled out the photos and smiled at memories of days gone by. Even if Daisy found nothing of any use, she had helped Glenys reconnect with her childhood and happier times. Daisy pulled out another photo and glanced at it, her hand moving to discard it before her brain registered what she was looking at. She stared at it. The picture was old. A young Maura was flanked by two men. Both had a similar look about them and one of them was definitely a younger version of Tomas Jenks. They were all dressed up for a night out by the looks of it. Daisy flipped it over but there was nothing written on the back. She handed it to Glenys. “Who are the men with your mam?”

  Glenys smiled. “The one on the left is Uncle Stuart the one on the right is Uncle Cameron.”

  Daisy stared at it. Bloody hell. Tomas Jenks was Cameron McAlister. That was why Marcus Matthews had been at Tomas Jenks’ house. Maura must have given him the address. So she knew her brother was living under an assumed identity. Now she thought about it that made perfect sense. Maura was Tomas Jenks’ sister and Glenys was one of the nieces who would inherit his worldly goods. Her heart pounded. She’d solved her case. She could walk away and call Liam, or she could keep digging. One photo might not be enough, especially when the person who gave it to her was a potential beneficiary. Either way, she'd set out to prove she could be an heir hunter and she had done it. Liam would pay her for the information that would set him on the track to legally proving that Tomas Jenks and Cameron McAlister were the same person and she could move on to a new case.

  She was still in the frame for the murder of Graham Harrison, and until the police found the real killer, her life could never go back to normal. If they arrested her she could be locked up for days and somehow s
he figured that wouldn’t help her persuade Paul that she was in the right job. Solomon was working on solving the murders. Maybe the other information Glenys had could help. Something weird was going on. Why had Cameron changed his name? What was he hiding from? Before she asked Glenys what she knew, Daisy needed to drink her coffee and finish searching the box.

  * * * * *

  Solomon ended his call with Timothy. Surprise, surprise. Daisy had disappeared off the train sometime before they made it to Poole. Paul had promised to let Solomon know if he didn't intercept Daisy. There had been no call, so Timothy's admission that he had lost her was expected.

  Solomon moved his chair to sit next to Sarah as she tapped away on the computer. Tomas Jenks was proving to be elusive. He owned the house in Hamworthy, and bank accounts and registrations with utility companies that they already knew about. No sign of him ever being born or serving in the armed forces. Just as they had suspected, the man wasn't who he said he was.

  Her search for Cameron McAlister was proving more fruitful. She had found his birth certificate and his marriage certificate. No sign of a divorce anywhere. He owned no property that they could find. He had lodged tax returns which Sarah had printed out. Solomon had Googled the address he used and found it was a guest house in Bournemouth. He needed to check the numbers in the returns against the financial statements Daisy had saved from Cameron’s computer to see if anything matched. Sarah went back to the list of search results and Solomon leaned forward to see what might be useful. She was working blind but he had some ideas about where more information about Cameron McAlister could be found. By adding his date of birth to the name she had reduced the list of positive results but there was still no guarantee they were all for the right man. Solomon pointed at the screen.

  “Why do you not try this one?”

  Sarah glanced at him. “Was he in the army?”