Fred returned to his seat and wiped his brow. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight, I feel as weak as a kitten.”
Julia heard the panic in Cain’s voice as he said, “I can stay with you, Fred.”
“Nonsense, lad. You’ve got work to do. I’ll be alright.”
Julia put her hand on the cleaning trolley and pulled it towards the lift. In a firm voice she said, “Cain, we’ve got work to do. You can check on Fred later.”
Cain shot a parting look at Fred as Julia dragged the trolley away. Cain called out, “You take care of yourself!”
When they stepped into the open lift Cain said, “I don’t want to leave him! I feel like something terrible is going to happen.”
“I know but we can’t hang around him all night. Let’s get our cleaning work done as quickly as possible. I’ll see if I can spot anything suspicious in Ivor’s office.”
“Like sleeping tablets?”
“Exactly.”
They left the lift on the seventh floor and began their bin emptying process. Julia noticed that Joe was standing near his desk at the far side of the office. He raised his hand in greeting. Julia returned his greeting and carried on with her cleaning work.
She jumped as someone touched her on the shoulder a few seconds later. It was Joe. Julia held a bin in front of her as she recalled what DI Clarke had told her about him.
Joe said, “Thanks for looking after Lorraine today. I popped out to see her this afternoon.” He pressed his lips together and looked at the floor. He looked back at Julia and said, “I saw the scan photo of the baby. Lorraine told me it wasn’t mine. She told me about Karl. But I already knew both of those facts. I’m not stupid. Lorraine also told me about the rumours she’d spread about me.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t be angry with her. She was so sorry for all she’d done.”
Julia pulled the bin a bit closer. “When did you know the baby wasn’t yours?”
“As soon as she told me. I was away on a course when she supposedly got pregnant. And I knew about her affair with Karl. It didn’t take me long to put two and two together. I didn’t tell her because I didn’t want to upset her in her condition. I was planning on telling her soon but then I started to genuinely care for her.” He laughed. “I didn’t think I was the settling down type but I can see myself being with Lorraine and the baby.”
“Did you confront Karl about him being the father?” Julia asked, half-fearing the answer.
Joe’s fists clenched at his side. “I don’t want to talk about that man. You’ll have to excuse me, I can hear my phone ringing.” He gave her a small smile and walked away.
Julia jumped again as Cain popped his head up from behind a neighbouring partition. “Wow! So Joe had more than one motive to kill Karl.”
Julia watched Joe walk away. Her heart sank. When would she ever learn to stop trusting people?
Chapter 29
The cleaning work on floor seven was soon finished. Julia and Cain moved up to floor eight and began again.
Cain scanned the office. “I don’t think there’s anyone here tonight. I can’t see Ivor anywhere.”
Julia looked towards the end of the office floor. “I think I’ll go and empty the bin in Karl’s old room first.”
Cain nodded. “Have a good look in the bin, see if you can find any empty packets.”
Julia had already decided on that plan of action. She looked left and right as she made her way to Karl’s office. It was difficult to see if anyone was sitting at their desks with all these partitions in the way. She walked into Karl’s office and noticed immediately that it looked much tidier. Had Ivor moved himself in there permanently now?
Julia looked back through the door, half-expecting Ivor to appear. Her palms felt clammy as she reached for the bin. She didn’t know why she felt so guilty, she was only doing her job. She peered into the bin. It was mainly full of paper. Hang on, what was that? Julia put her hand in the bin.
“Looking for something?” a voice behind her called out.
Julia jumped and dropped the bin. People seemed to have a habit of sneaking up on her. The contents of the bin scattered on the floor. She looked over at Ivor. “I thought I saw something, a plastic bottle, I was going to put it in the recycling bin.” It was a feeble excuse but the best she could come up with.
Ivor must have thought it was feeble too because he said, “I don’t think you saw a bottle at all, Julia. I think you were looking for something in particular.” His face was expressionless. He waved a hand towards the mess on the floor. “Go on then, have a good rummage around. I know you like sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Julia felt her cheeks warming up. She tried to sound indignant as she said, “I don’t know what you mean!” She dropped to her knees and gathered the rubbish up. She placed it back in the bin.
Ivor squatted next to her and put his hand on the item that Julia had been looking for. He handed it to her. “Here, sleeping tablets. That’s what you were looking for, isn’t it?”
Julia took the packet and flung it in the bin. She straightened up and said, “I wasn’t looking for anything at all.” She turned round, picked up the bin and said briskly, “I must be getting on.”
Ivor’s hand darted out and rested on her arm. “You’re not going anywhere. Sit down, I want to have a word with you.”
Julia raised her head. “I’m busy.”
Ivor sneered. “Are you planning to take that packet to the police? You talk to the police a lot, don’t you? You’ve told them a lot about me. Sit down.”
Julia pulled the bin closer. It seemed to be the day for hugging bins. “I’m not sitting down.”
“Fine.” Ivor whisked the bin out of her hands and put it on the floor. “I’ll say what I have to with you standing up.” He pushed the door to the office closed.
Julia glanced through the door to see where Cain was. He was now vacuuming with his back to her and seemed oblivious to her plight. Julia looked towards Ivor. She did not like the look on his face. She slipped her hand into her pocket and curled it around her phone. Should she phone DI Clarke? She had his number on speed dial.
Ivor’s shoulders dropped and he ran a hand over his chin. “This is a mess. A total mess.” He walked to his chair and dropped into it. He looked up at Julia and said, “I think it’s time I confessed.”
Julia took her hand off her phone and took the seat opposite Ivor.
Ivor gave her a weary sigh. “That packet of sleeping tablets that I’ve just handed you hasn’t been opened yet. It’s a packet that I had in my old desk and I was clearing them out. I don’t need them any more. I know you’ve seen the same brand in my house, the police told me so.”
Julia leant forward. “Were you drugging Karl Rayburn with the sleeping tablets?”
“Yes,” Ivor admitted.
“Oh.” Julia moved backwards. She put her hands on the chair ready to make a run for it after she asked her next question. “Did you drug Karl so that it would be easier to kill him?”
Ivor frowned. “What? No! Of course not!” He studied Julia’s face. “You really think that I killed him?”
Julia said, “You’ve just admitted to drugging him.” She waved her hand around his office. “And you’ve been given a promotion because Karl is no longer around.”
“You think I killed him to get his job?” Ivor’s tone was incredulous.
“And because you’re having an affair with his wife,” Julia added. She may as well get it all out now.
There was silence for a while as Ivor stared at Julia. “You have an active imagination.”
“Not really,” Julia replied. “You two seem very close. And you must admit that getting Karl’s job, and his wife, is a good motive for murder.”
Ivor’s attention flicked to the closed door and back. He slowly nodded. “It’s true that I wanted Karl out of the way. But I didn’t kill him.”
“Why did you want him out of the way?”
Chapter 30
Ivor sighed. “It wasn’t my idea, it was Olivia’s. She used to call on Karl at the end of a working day if they were going out for a meal or meeting friends. She said that was the only way to get him to leave the office in time. But he was always busy and kept Olivia waiting many a time. I felt sorry for her and I used to talk to her whilst she waited for Karl. She’s quite a needy person and she soon latched on to me as a person to confide in. She told me all about her marital problems and how Karl had never been there for her and the children, his work always came first.
“One day I made a joke about getting Karl to retire early. I went on to say that I could slip him the odd sleeping tablet to make him think that the workload was getting too much for him. Olivia leapt on to the idea and started making plans about how we would go about it. I’m ashamed to say that I went along with her plans. I did think that it was time for Karl to retire, and yes, I did think about getting his job. Don’t look at me like that, I know what I did was wrong.”
“How did you manage to drug him?” Julia asked.
Ivor smiled. “It was easy. I brought him drinks in the afternoons, made sure the tea and coffee was decaff. I started doing this about two weeks ago. I could see Karl fighting the effects of the sleeping tablets and still trying to put the working hours in. The second part of the plan was to chat casually to Karl about his retirement plans. I brought in some brochures about holiday villas and new cars and showed them to Karl on the pretence that I was making my own retirement plans.”
Julia thought back to the brochures that she’d seen on Ivor’s desk. She didn’t say anything about finding them.
Ivor carried on, “Olivia kept phoning me and asking how Karl was doing. She felt guilty after a while because Karl started to look haggard and worn out. I told her to keep firm because our plan was starting to work.” Ivor frowned and looked down at the desk. “The day before he died, Karl took me to one side and told me he was thinking about taking early retirement.” Ivor looked up. “I wish he’d walked out of his office at that moment, then he wouldn’t be dead now.”
Julia frowned, not sure whether she believed Ivor or not. “But what about Olivia? Are you two together? Because it looks that way to me.”
Ivor shook his head slowly. “We’re not a couple although Olivia would like us to be. I think she’s still in shock about losing Karl, and she feels guilty about what we’ve done. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about her, she’s phoning me all the time. I’ll be a friend to her for now, but I think I’ll have to put her straight in the future.”
“Can I ask you about Joe and his promotion? Karl didn’t give him the job because of unfounded rumours. Why didn’t you give him the job?”
“Because I need him here. It’s for totally selfish reasons and I explained that to Joe. Anyway, he can’t leave the country now that he’s got Lorraine in the family way.”
Julia took a gamble with her next question. “Did you hear anything about Karl having an affair?”
Ivor let out a loud laugh. “Karl? When would he have the time? He was always at work.”
Julia nodded and pressed her lips together. So Ivor didn’t know about Lorraine and Karl. That didn’t mean that Olivia didn’t know.
Ivor broke through her thoughts, “Do you believe me? I didn’t kill Karl. I didn’t always agree with his work plans but we got along well enough.”
“What time did you leave the office on the night that Karl was murdered?”
“You saw me leave. It was about about ten minutes after eight.”
“And you didn’t come back?”
“No. I met Olivia for a drink in a bar down the road. I used my card to order a meal as soon as we went into the bar. The police have already checked my bank details to confirm the time. Do you think I sneaked back to murder Karl?”
“You could have. And so could Olivia.”
Ivor shook his head in disbelief. “Do you suspect everyone?”
“Yes. Somebody killed Karl.”
Ivor held his hands up. “I can assure you that it wasn’t me. In fact, I’m going to phone your inspector friend in a moment and tell him everything that Olivia and I did with the sleeping tablets. Would that make you believe me?”
Julia shrugged. “I suppose so.” She frowned. “If you didn’t kill him, then who did? Did he have any enemies? Anyone from the past?”
“Not that I know of. But I’ve only worked here for a few years, Karl had worked here for years. There could be something, or someone from his past, that has come back to haunt him.”
Julia tapped her chin. “I’ve already done an Internet search on him but I couldn’t find anything.”
Ivor stared at her for a moment. “You have been busy. Have you tried checking the files in the basement? They go back years. There could be something in there.”
Julia thought about the strange noises in the basement. And the rats. The thought of looking through the files there didn’t appeal to her but it seemed the only option. She stood up and said, “Thanks, I will have a look in there.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
Julia’s face gave her thoughts away.
Ivor nodded. “Of course you don’t. You still think I’m a suspect. I understand. I hope you find something useful down there.”
Julia said, “So do I.” She picked up his bin and left the room.
Cain was waiting outside for her. “I’ve been staring at the back of your head for the last five minutes! I thought you might have picked up on my telepathic thoughts. Are you alright? Was he confessing to the murder?”
Julia walked towards the cleaning trolley and emptied the bin. She told Cain what Ivor had said. She ended with the information about the basement files. She asked hopefully if Cain wanted to come with her.
Cain blanched. “I’m not sure, I think it’s haunted down there. I could definitely feel a presence when we were there last time.”
Julia’s phone beeped. She read the message. “It’s from Dad. He’s found out from one of his friends that there was a scandal with Inkwell’s Insurance in the early 1980s. He’s given us the name of one of the sales reps who was involved, Victor Westholme.” Julia looked at Cain. “We have to look at those files. Dad wants to know what happened.”
Cain stood taller and stuck his skinny chest out. “If Ray wants me do this, then I will. Come on, let’s go to the basement.”
Chapter 31
Cain’s bravado disappeared the minute they stepped out of the lift. He shivered. “The temperature has dropped, can you feel it? That’s what happens when there’s a ghost nearby.”
“There are no such things as ghosts. Wheel that trolley over to the main bin. Do you need my help to empty it?”
Cain grabbed the trolley. “No, I’m fine. You go down to the dusty file area and do what you have to. It might take me a while to empty this trolley.”
“You coward,” Julia said. She set off walking on legs that suddenly felt weak. She knew there was no such thing as ghosts. It wasn’t ghosts she was worried about. Someone had killed Karl Rayburn, and that someone could be hiding in this basement ready to leap out and silence Julia. She stopped walking and called back to Cain. “I’ll wait for you.”
“I might be a while!” Cain called back.
Julia folded her arms and gave him a pointed look. “I’ll wait.”
Cain knew he was defeated. He emptied the trolley bin and then pushed the trolley to one side. He saw a scrap of paper on the floor and picked it up. He slowly walked over to the main bin and dropped it in.
“I’m still waiting!” Julia called out in a stern voice.
Cain walked slowly towards her, twisting his hands together. “Have you ever seen a ghost before? What if we see one and it wants revenge for something?”
“I’ll deal with any ghosts. Come on, stop being a wuss. You go first.”
“No way! Ladies first.” Cain dropped a step behind her.
Julia grabbed his arm. “We’ll go together.” They
walked deeper into the basement, the light dimmed. Julia gave a nervous laugh. “I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz. You know, that part where Dorothy and her friends are walking through the haunted woods and …”
“Haunted! You do believe in ghosts!” Cain would have run away if Julia hadn’t had such a firm grip on his sleeve.
She steered him towards the first row of files and walked him to the far end.
Cain wriggled under her grip. “Can you let go of me please? I think you’re bruising me.”
“Sorry.” Julia let go of him and walked closer to the first filing cabinet. “Look. There are dates on them all. This says 1910. That’s when the company first opened. Isn’t that interesting?” She looked at Cain. He was wringing his hands and looking behind him. Julia pulled open a metal drawer.
Cain screamed and collapsed to the floor.
“What on earth are you doing?” Julia asked him.
Cain patted his chest, his eyes wide. “That sound! Didn’t you hear it? It was the sound of a wailing ghost heading towards us! Help me to my feet before it gets here.”
Julia slowly moved the metal drawer backwards and forwards. “It’s this drawer that’s making that noise. Listen.”
The fear dissolved from Cain’s face, it was replaced with one of embarrassment. He stood up and gave a shaky laugh. “Silly me. What’s inside?”
“Hang on.” Julia moved the drawer again. “I think this is the sound that we heard the other day when we were down here. We thought it was the sound of rats.”
Cain moved closer and cocked his head. “You’re right. Which means that someone was down here looking at these files when we were here.”
“Exactly.” Julia looked at the top of the filing cabinet and then at the drawer that she had just opened. “Look at the dust that I’ve disturbed when I opened this drawer. You can only see my fingerprints on this one. Let’s have a look at the other files, see if we can see any disturbed dust.”
Cain took his phone out. “Shall I use my magnifying glass app? I downloaded it a few days ago in case we needed it.”
Murder Makes A Claim (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 8) Page 11
