“I don’t think five pounds will be enough, but thanks anyway.”
They made their way back to reception and put the cleaning trolley away. There was no sign of Fred so they assumed he was on his rounds.
Julia still hadn’t decided what to do about the uncollected jewellery as they left the building.
Someone made her mind up for her.
“Good evening, Ms Blake, Mr Andrews. How are you both?” DI Clarke stood on the pavement, his hands behind his back. His blue eyes seem to pierce into Julia’s soul.
Julia blurted out, “There was a message on Karl Rayburn’s phone about some uncollected jewellery!”
Cain nudged her and hissed, “Julia! We weren’t going to tell him.”
Julia looked at Cain. “I can’t help it. His eyes are boring into me. I’m too tired to resist.”
The corner of the inspector’s mouth twitched slightly. “Perhaps you should explain yourself a bit better, Ms Blake.”
Julia told him about the message from the Queen’s Hotel.
“Ah, I see. And you were on your way to collect it, were you Ms Blake?”
“I … yes,” Julia turned away from his accusing stare. “But I was going to phone you to let you know about it.”
“Of course you were.” DI Clarke released his hands from behind his back. “It’s a nice evening for a stroll. Let’s walk over to the Queen’s Hotel together. You can explain more about the sleeping tablets you found in Ivor Walsall’s house. And you can let me know why you were there in the first place. Mr Andrews, you’ll be walking with us.”
Julia looked at Cain and mouthed an apology to him. Cain shrugged and gave her a smile to let her know it didn’t matter.
DI Clarke set off at a long-legged stride, Cain jogged at his side and Julia trudged behind them. If the inspector thought she was going to run to keep up with his freakishly long legs, he could think again.
DI Clarke slowed down after a moment so that Julia could catch up with him. She told him about the sleeping tablet packets, and why she had been there at Ivor’s house.
The inspector nodded. “Interesting. And have you any theories on who might have killed Karl Rayburn?” He chuckled. “That was a silly question. Of course you have a theory, you probably have a dozen. Let’s hear them.”
Julia shrugged. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The inspector stopped walking. So did Cain. DI Clarke stared down at Julia and said, “Are you okay, Ms Blake? You don’t seem yourself.”
Julia shrugged again and looked away.
Cain said, “She’s tired. We’ve been working double shifts this week. And some of the people in that office have been mean to us, well to Julia more. But she’s had to take it because she doesn’t want any trouble for Ellen Parks. That’s whose work we’re covering.”
Julia looked at Cain and gave him a grateful smile. She was surprised to see concern on the inspector’s face. She didn’t want his pity. She jabbed a finger in his direction. “And your attitude towards me doesn’t help! I didn’t ask to find a dead body! I didn’t ask to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! I’ve told you everything I know about Karl’s murder and you treat me like I’m … I’m …”
“Some sort of virus?” DI Clarke finished, a twinkle in his eyes. “A virus can be useful sometimes. I do appreciate your help.”
“Pardon? Say that again,” Julia said.
“No.” He crossed the road to the Queen’s Hotel. Julia and Cain followed him. The inspector held the door open and said to them, “Come on, you may as well have a look at the unclaimed jewellery. I know you want to.” He laughed. “You might even recognise it.”
Julia did recognise the jewellery when it was placed in front of them on the reception desk. She said to DI Clarke, “I’ve seen a photograph of Lorraine Carver wearing something very similar to this.”
Chapter 23
Julia discussed the inspector’s reaction with Cain as they drove to the pub a short while later. “He didn’t seem very surprised, did he?” she said.
“I think it’s his training. He has to keep his face straight, he can’t give his emotions away.”
“Like some sort of robot,” Julia concluded. She pulled into the pub car park and found a parking space. “Well, I think it’s shocking. If that necklace belonged to Lorraine then that means she was at the hotel with Karl Rayburn.”
“Which means they could have been having an affair,” Cain pointed out. “And that the baby could be Karl’s. Oh!” He waved his hands in the air. “Lorraine could have told Karl about the baby and he might have told her to clear off. She could have been so mad that she took off one of her lethal shoes and stabbed him with it.”
Julia switched the engine off. “I was thinking that too. The alternative is that Olivia found out about the affair, and possibly the baby, and took her revenge on Karl.”
Cain nodded. “Olivia Rayburn seems to have a lot of motives for murdering her husband.” There was a beeping noise. Cain looked at his phone and laughed. “It’s from your dad. He’s watching us from inside. He says I’ve got to tell you to stop nattering and to let me have a pint.”
“I’m not nattering.”
Cain laughed again as he read another message. “It says, ‘Yes, you are nattering. Come inside and give your old dad a hug’. Are you coming in?”
“For a moment,” Julia said. She collected her handbag from the back seat and followed Cain into the pub. It warmed her heart to see how many people called out a hello to Cain. When he’d come out of prison he had hardly any friends. In fact, she couldn’t remember him mentioning any friends at all.
Dad opened up his arms when he saw her. Julia’s eyes prickled at the love she saw in his eyes. Without another thought she stepped into his warm embrace and laid her head on his chest. She let out a small sigh of happiness. Everything was alright. At least for the moment.
Dad released her and studied her face. “You’ve been doing too much again, haven’t you? And you’ve got yourself involved in a murder case again. Go and sit down with Cain. I’ll get you an orange juice and a packet of cheese and onion crisps. Then you can tell me all your problems.” He kissed her on the top of her head and walked towards the bar area. Julia felt lighter already. She walked over to the table where Cain was sitting.
Dad returned a few minutes later carrying a tray. He set it down on the table and then sat himself next to Julia. He picked up her hand, patted it and said, “Tell me everything.”
Julia did tell him everything. Cain butted in when Julia left some details out. Dad nodded as he listened, taking the occasional sip of his beer.
When Julia had finished, Dad said, “I think I remember something about Inkwell’s Insurance. There was some bad publicity for a time, but for the life of me I can’t think what it was. It’ll come to me. So, what are you going to do about this mess?”
Julia opened her crisps. “I’m not going to do anything. I know I told Joe that I’d look into it but I don’t really know what to do next. I can hardly follow Olivia and Lorraine around all day, hoping that they’ll admit to killing Karl. DI Clarke said he was going to make some more investigations.”
Dad smiled. “I like DI Clarke. Did he tell you to keep your nose out of police business?”
Julia frowned and shared a confused look with Cain. “He didn’t say anything like that when we were with him earlier. That’s weird.”
Cain opened his second packet of crisps. “That means that he wants us to get involved. I think we should look into Olivia’s past. See if she’s been married before. She might be one of those black widows. You know, the kind that marries rich men and then does away with them.” He popped some crisps into his mouth and crunched away. “You could look online. I’d help you but I’m in the darts team and we’re having a match tonight.”
Dad put his arm around Julia. “No, Cain. Julia isn’t going to do any more investigating. She’s going to have an early night. She doesn’t care if someone has committed a
murder and is getting away with it. She doesn’t care about all the clues she’s found and the possible suspects that are happily walking around. She doesn’t want to help that nice DI Clarke solve this mystery. Leave her in peace.”
Julia finished her last crisp. “I could have a little look on the Internet. Just before I go to bed. Just to satisfy my own curiosity.”
Dad squeezed her shoulders and then said to Cain, “No more beer for you, you need a steady hand.”
Julia finished her drink, got a final warm hug from her dad and then left the pub.
As soon as she got home she changed into her pyjamas and poured herself a glass of wine. She did a search on everyone connected with the murder. She didn’t find any dirt on anyone. Karl and Olivia Rayburn had been married for over thirty years. Neither of them had been married to anyone else.
She found some interesting facts on Ivor Walsall. He’d moved around the country quite a bit. There were articles about him joining various insurance companies and each time he seemed to have been promoted. He was certainly an ambitious individual. Julia wondered if he’d commit murder to further his career.
She then looked into the history of Inkwell’s Insurance. The company had started in 1910 and had only sold life and accident insurance to begin with. They had graduated to household and motor insurance as the years went by. If there was any scandal in their past, it was well hidden because Julia couldn’t find even a whiff of wrongdoing.
She closed her laptop in annoyance. She didn’t want to be involved in this mystery but she knew she wouldn’t rest until she found out who killed Karl. And, more importantly, why did they kill him?
Chapter 24
Cain was all sparkly-eyed and fresh-faced when Julia picked him up the following morning. Julia knew that his team had won the darts match as he’d sent her a text last night.
As he got in the car, Julia said, “I’m glad it’s Friday. This is our last day of office cleaning work.”
“I’ll miss Fred,” Cain admitted. He looked closer at Julia. “You look better this morning, did you have a good sleep?”
“I did.” Julia didn’t feel the need to tell him she’d had a couple of nightcaps to help her into the land of nod. “Right! Let’s get on with our work. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish!”
Julia and Cain got stuck into their cleaning work with gusto. Julia frowned as her phone rang whilst she was mopping the floor. She was tempted to ignore it until she saw that the caller was Joe. “Hi, Joe, is something wrong?” She wasn’t sure why she asked that particular question, it just felt right to do so.
“Yes, something is wrong, Julia. It’s Lorraine, I’m worried about her. She hasn’t come into work this morning and she’s not answering her phone. She hasn’t even phoned the office to let us know what’s wrong with her. That’s not like her at all.”
Julia thought back to the necklace that she’d seen at the Queen’s Hotel the previous evening. DI Clarke said he was going to have a word with Lorraine.
Joe went on, “She phoned me last night to say that the police had been round to see her, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was about. I offered to go round but she told me not to. She said she wanted some time on her own. She sounded so down.”
A trickle of fear, and guilt, travelled down Julia’s back. It was her fault that the police had contacted Lorraine. Well, not her fault exactly. Lorraine had been the one who had left her necklace behind at the hotel. If it was her necklace.
Julia said, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes. I can’t leave the office but I wondered if you could call on Lorraine to make sure she’s okay. If you’re nearby that is. I don’t want to put you to any trouble.” He gave Julia Lorraine’s address.
Julia nodded. “I’m only ten minutes away. I’ll go and check on her.”
Joe let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks so much. That’s a weight off my mind. I’m so worried about her, and the baby. When will you go?”
Julia looked over at Cain who seemed to be following the conversation. Julia said, “We’ve nearly finished up here. We’ll head over there in five minutes. Is that okay?”
“Of course. Thank you. And you’ll phone me when you know how she is?”
“Yes. Of course I will.” Julia ended the call. She told Cain exactly what Joe had said.
Cain frowned. “I hope she’s okay. The early stages of pregnancy are difficult for women. I saw a programme on it last week. It’s a fascinating subject.”
Julia felt her eyes widen. “You do watch some peculiar things. Do you want to come with me or can I drop you off at the next job?”
Cain’s nose wrinkled. “I’d rather go to the next job on my own. Lorraine’s full of unpredictable emotions at the moment, she might cry. I don’t want to deal with that. She’ll probably start shouting when she sees you, you know she hates you.”
“I can handle that.” Julia quickly finished mopping the floor and helped Cain with the last bits of cleaning. She drove to the next cleaning job and dropped Cain off. “I’ll let you know what’s going on. I shouldn’t be too long.”
Cain held up the cleaning bag as he stood on the pavement. “I’ve got all I need here. I can get a bus to the next client’s house. I’ll be fine. I hope Lorraine isn’t too nasty to you, she’s at the mercy of her emotions.” He gave her a cheery smile, closed the passenger door and walked away.
Julia drove over to Lorraine’s house and reluctantly parked outside. She didn’t like talking to Lorraine in the office and she wasn’t looking forward to speaking to her in her home. She sighed, gathered some courage and got out of her car. She walked slowly up the garden path of Lorraine’s semi-detached house and lightly tapped on the door. If Lorraine didn’t answer immediately then Julia could report back to Joe that she’d done her best.
The door swung open. Lorraine glared at Julia. “You! What are you doing here?”
Julia took a step back. Lorraine’s face was devoid of make-up and her hair was sticking up all over the place. She was wearing a dressing gown that had seen better years, let alone better days. Julia stammered, “I … Joe … that is.” She swallowed and began again. “Joe phoned me. He was worried about you and asked me to call by.” She gave Lorraine a forced smile and added, “How are you?”
Lorraine folded her arms tightly. “How do you think I am? I had a visit from that inspector last night about a piece of jewellery. You told him that it belonged to me! And you told him that I was having an affair with Karl Rayburn!”
“I …” Julia couldn’t get her words out. She shot a wistful glance over her shoulder at her car. She could be safely inside it in under ten seconds. She felt a jab on her shoulder.
“Everything was alright until you turned up! Karl was alive, Joe was happy and I was planning a future for my baby! Then you come along and ruin everything!”
Julia picked up on one of Lorraine’s words. “Was? You said ‘was planning a future for my baby’. Lorraine, has something happened?”
Lorraine’s hands flew to her face and she burst into tears. Julia looked again towards her car. She knew what she had to do. She took a step forward and placed her hand on Lorraine’s arm. “Do you want to talk about it, Lorraine? I’m a good listener.”
Chapter 25
Lorraine nodded and turned around. Julia stepped through the door and pulled it to behind them. She found Lorraine in the living room, slumped on her sofa.
Julia sat next to her and offered her a tissue from her pocket. She never left the house without a packet of tissues.
Lorraine gave her a small smile, took the tissue and said, “Sorry for shouting. I know this is none of your fault, but you do seem to be in the middle of everything.”
Julia smiled. “This happens to me a lot. Cain thinks I’m cursed. I’m sorry if the inspector upset you last night. He asked me if I recognised the necklace and I remembered seeing a photo of you wearing something similar.”
Lorraine frowned. “What photo?”
&nb
sp; “Inside Ivor Walsall’s house. He asked me to give him a cleaning quote.”
Lorraine scrunched the tissue up. “You do get around, don’t you?”
Julia nodded. “It’s all part of my curse. Did you have a relationship with Ivor?”
Lorraine grimaced. “I did, for about two weeks last year. He’s a terrible flirt and he doesn’t see anything wrong in his behaviour. He used to chat up other women, and even get their phone numbers, whilst I was standing at his side.” She tutted. “I didn’t put up with his behaviour for long. Have you seen all those photos that he’s got in his house? He treats women like trophies. It’s disgusting.”
“I’ve seen him with Karl’s wife. They seem very close. Are they having an affair?”
Lorraine looked away before talking. “If they are, he’ll have his hands full with her.” She looked back. “Once Olivia has got her hands on a man she won’t let go of him, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way.”
Julia paused for a moment. In a softer voice she said, “Were you having an affair with Karl?”
Lorraine nodded. A tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s such a cliché, isn’t it, falling for your boss. I couldn’t help it. We both spent a lot of time at work, it was like the outside world didn’t exist. We didn’t start the affair until we went away on a team-building weekend. I couldn’t help myself, I fell for him quickly. He treated me so well, unlike my previous boyfriends.”
“Did Olivia know about your affair?”
Lorraine shrugged. “She might have done. I wouldn’t put it past her. She didn’t like anyone talking to Karl. She’s very possessive.”
“When did your affair end?” Julia asked. A terrible thought suddenly struck her and she couldn’t keep it in. “Did your affair end? Or were you still together when he died?”
Murder Makes A Claim (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 8) Page 9
