Julia winced as Sherry’s grip tightened. “The police have told me not to get involved but I suppose I could make some small investigations, speak to the people who were in the hall last night.”
Sherry released her grip. “Would you? That would help, I know it would.” She sighed. “I feel lighter already knowing that you will help the police.”
Julia felt a weight settling on her shoulders. She didn’t want to get involved but if it meant clearing Sherry’s name, then she could hardly say no. And she still remembered the look on her dad’s face when he thought he was a suspect. She didn’t see that she had a choice.
Julia stood up and thanked Sherry for the tea. Sherry put some biscuits in a bag for Cain to take home. Julia left Sherry’s house with a promise that she’d stay in touch.
As they drove away, Cain said, “Well, what do you think about Sherry’s story? Do you think she’s capable of murder?”
Julia glanced down at her hand and noticed a small bruise. “She’s certainly got a strong grip on her. And, yes, she does have a motive. She could have found Brandon alone in the costume room, whacked him on the head with something and then dragged his body behind a rack of clothes.”
She felt Cain staring at her. He said sadly, “It’s hard to trust anyone, isn’t it? We’ve been fooled before by people claiming to be innocent.”
Julia nodded and pressed her lips together. Cain was right. She said, “I don’t believe that you or Dad killed Brandon.”
Cain laughed. “I should think not too! Who are we going to interrogate first?”
“I’m not sure. We obviously need to speak to Eric Murphy, see if he had a grudge against Brandon. Also, I want to clear Sherry’s name. One thing is puzzling me, why did Reverend Thompson stop her from using St Andrew’s hall so abruptly? Had he found out something about her past? Had someone told him something?”
“Like Sherry being a murderer?” Cain let out a yelp. “Oh! I know! I know! Someone went to confession with Reverend Thompson and told him about an unsolved murder. They knew that Sherry had committed the murder but they didn’t have any evidence, but they wanted to warn Reverend Thompson! That’s it!”
Julia smiled. “Reverend Thompson doesn’t take confessions, it’s not a Catholic church.”
Cain was not deterred. “Maybe someone told him anyway and he’s not allowed to tell the police because of church secrecy laws or something.”
Julia pulled the car up outside a bungalow and switched the engine off. “It’s something to consider. Right, time to clean Ivy’s house. I wonder if she’s heard about the murder.”
“I would say yes. Ivy knows everything that happens in this town.”
Julia’s face lit up. “And she knows just about everyone in this town and their past. Including Eric Murphy. Let’s see what we can get out of the lovely old dear.”
Ivy was more than happy to talk about the murder.
Chapter 12
Ivy’s first words to them as she opened the door were, “Well, Julia Blake, as soon as I heard about that fellow’s murder, I knew you would be right in the middle of it. Come in and tell me everything!”
Julia stepped through the open door. “I don’t have much to tell you, Ivy. The fellow’s name was Brandon Briggs.”
“I already know that!” Ivy said folding her arms. “I know that he was from London and he was some sort of famous play writer. How did he die? Who was there at the time? What motives did they have? Was there a lot of blood?”
Julia put her hands on her hips. “That’s a lot of questions, I’m not sure that I can give you the answers to all of them.” She dropped her hands. “Anyway, I’m here to clean, not gossip.”
Ivy let out a chortle. “Well, you won’t want to hear what I’ve got to say about the case then!” She made to turn away.
Julia said, “Okay, you don’t fool me with your innocent old lady look. I’ll tell you what I know but I’d better get on with my cleaning at the same time.”
Ivy nodded and led her into the kitchen. Cain started on the windows and Julia began on the work surfaces. Ivy sat at the kitchen table and waited patiently.
Julia told her all that she knew about the murder, and about the people who were there. Cain occasionally filled in any blanks. Ivy listened and nodded now and again.
When Julia had finished Ivy said, “I suspect Eric Murphy. He left the hall and he’s a big lad. He could have easily bashed that young fellow on the head and then dragged his poor lifeless body to one side.”
Cain cheerfully said, “We suspect him too, don’t we Julia?”
“The thought had crossed my mind, but I don’t know much about Eric.” Julia turned her cleaning efforts towards the oven. She suspected that Ivy cleaned the kitchen herself because it hardly ever needed a good scrub by them. Julia didn’t mind, a lot of her older clients employed her just to have some company during the week.
Ivy tapped on the table. “I’ve known Eric Murphy quite a while. My son went to his school when he’d just started as a drama teacher, Edgethorpe High School. I think Eric still works there now. My son was in his class and most of the time Eric was jolly. But there was one occasion where he had an argument with the head teacher, I can’t remember what it was about, but Eric threatened to kill the head teacher. They even had a proper physical fight, right in the middle of the playground, in front of all those children! It was all Eric’s fault, he went after the head teacher and threw the first punch.”
“That’s terrible, did he get sacked?” Julia asked.
Ivy shook her head. “He should have, in my opinion, but he talked his way out of it. You’ve seen what he’s like with his fancy long words. He had to take time off school after making a public apology to the head. He’s got a real temper on him. I’ve heard that he likes to be the centre of attention, I’m surprised that he let that Brandon fellow direct the play. Eric has been the director since that drama group started up.” She frowned. “I think it was Eric who actually started the group.”
“Have you ever seen him in any plays? I saw him rehearse the other day and I was quite surprised at how good he was,” Julia said.
“I have seen him,” Ivy admitted. “And, yes, I suppose he is good. Why would he let Brandon direct though? Brandon would get all the attention that Eric normally got.” She made a clicking noise with her tongue. “It doesn’t make sense, does it?”
Julia and Cain agreed that it didn’t. They moved into the living room where Julia began to dust the many ornaments that Ivy had collected over the years. Cain started on the windows.
Ivy settled into a chair and faced Julia. “Every time I’ve seen that Eric Murphy I’ve had a bad feeling about him. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t trust him. I think it’s all the bright colours he wears. He looks like some sort of peacock strutting around while his poor little wife flutters around him seeing to his every need. What about this Sherry Cooper person? Do you think she might have killed Brandon?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t know what to think about Sherry, she seems genuine enough.”
Ivy tutted. “Never trust a smiling face, even the Devil smiles sometimes.”
Cain looked over from the window. “Oh, I like that saying, I might use that.” He turned back to the window.
Julia paused in her dusting. Seeing as Ivy was the font of all knowledge concerning this town, she decided to ask her something. “Ivy, what do you know about Louisa Porter?”
Ivy frowned and looked down at her knees. “Porter? Louisa? That name rings a bell.” She looked up. “Yes, I used to see her and her mum around town often. We used to bump into each other at the supermarket and exchange pleasantries, like you do. Louisa was a lovely young girl, very confident, always smiling. I haven’t seen her for a long time, did she move away and then come back recently? You said she’d joined the drama group.”
“No, she’s been housebound for a long time. She’s put on quite a bit of weight and has health problems. She wasn’t able to move around much
so she employed me to do her cleaning.”
Ivy pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “I do remember a bit of gossip about her, it’s a long time ago though. It was something about some sort of attack. I used to still see her mum around, but she never stopped to chat like she used to, barely gave me a smile. She always seemed to be in a rush. I wonder what happened.”
Julia sighed. “That’s what I wanted to know too.”
“Why don’t you just ask her?” Ivy said.
“I’m not nosy, it’s none of my business.”
Ivy and Cain snorted at the same time.
Ivy stood up. “Cain, I’ve made some banana bread for you to take home. Do you like banana bread? I find it a bit heavy on my tummy.”
Cain said, “I’ve never had banana bread before but I’ll give it a go. Thank you.”
Julia said to Ivy, “You shouldn’t keep making him all these cakes, everyone keeps making him cakes. I don’t know where he puts it.”
Ivy chuckled and said, “He must have hollow legs. I don’t mind baking, I like it, gives me something to do.” She went to the kitchen and returned with a tub. She pointed it towards Julia and said, “Well, what are you going to do about this murder thing? Are you going to confront that Eric? I would, and I’d tell him that I knew he had a temper and he was more than capable of murdering young Brandon!”
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. We’ll move onto your bedroom now. Are you going to follow us?”
Ivy put the tub on a table and shook her head. She returned to her chair and eased herself into it. With a twinkle in her eyes, she said, “I haven’t got time to gossip with you all day, Julia Blake. But I am going to think about this murder business and see what I come up with.” She closed her eyes.
Ivy still had her eyes closed when Julia and Cain finished the last of the cleaning. Julia tiptoed over to the old woman, bent down and listened. She smiled and then straightened up. She walked back to Cain and whispered, “She’s asleep. I’ll leave her a note to say that we’ve gone.”
Cain whispered back, “And I’ll take my banana bread.”
The rest of their cleaning day was spent mostly in silence. Julia couldn’t stop thinking about Sherry Cooper. There must be a reason as to why Reverend Thompson had stopped her from using the hall. Julia had a feeling that Sherry was keeping something from her. And Julia was going to find out what it was.
Chapter 13
As soon as she’d had her evening meal that night, Julia set about doing an Internet search on Sherry Cooper. She soon found Sherry listed as the Slimmer Of The Year ten years ago. Julia then found an article that showed a smiling Sherry Cooper holding up a certificate to show that she had won the same title for a consecutive three years. There were various before and after photographs. The article mentioned that Sherry had been going to the same slimming club for years, and that the club leader, Mavis Littleton, had been an inspiration to her. Julia raised an eyebrow when she read that the club meetings were always at St Andrew’s. The question rose again about why Reverend Thompson had taken the church hall away from her.
Julia didn’t find any more information about Sherry so she turned her search towards the group leader at the time, Mavis Littleton.
Bingo! There were pages and pages of information about Mavis. She now wrote her own books, some were about keeping motivated during a diet, and some were actual recipe books. There were many photos of Mavis and she didn’t seem to have aged much since she’d posed for a photo with Sherry all those years ago.
Julia smiled when she saw that Mavis had her own website. And look at that, she had a contact email too. Julia hesitated for a moment. Was she doing the right thing by contacting Mavis? Maybe Mavis didn’t know anything about Sherry, other than she used to attend Mavis’ slimming group. Julia shrugged, she had no other leads to follow at this moment.
Julia sent Mavis an email under the pretence of looking for a local slimming club. She added that she thought Mavis ran one nearby.
Mavis replied within minutes and informed Julia that the slimming club was now being run by Sherry Cooper. Mavis gave her Sherry’s phone number. She went on to say that if Julia was interested, Mavis was doing a book signing at a local bookshop this Saturday and that Julia could pick up a signed edition of her book.
Julia sent a thank you email and said that she would go along to the book signing.
Julia decided to phone Reverend Thompson, again on the pretence of looking for a slimming club. She was becoming quite adept at deceiving people.
Reverend Thompson answered on the third ring. His pleasant tone soon changed when Julia mentioned the slimming club.
“I’m afraid that the club no longer meets at this church. I can’t help you.”
“But my friend told me that the slimming club has been meeting there for years. Why have they left?” The lie came easily to Julia.
“All I can say is that the church was concerned with the reputation of the club leader. We have high standards to maintain. I suggest that you look elsewhere.” He rang off without saying goodbye which Julia thought was extremely rude for a man of the cloth. What was he talking about anyway, the reputation of the leader?
Julia gave Louisa a quick ring to wish her good luck for the following day’s interview. She caught Louisa’s subdued tone and asked her what the matter was.
Louisa sighed down the phone. “Who am I kidding, Julia? I won’t get that job, I think I’ll cancel the interview. I’ll only waste their time.”
Julia put on her mum voice. “Now listen to me, Louisa Porter, you are an amazing person and you deserve an amazing life. You go to that interview and you knock them dead!” There was an awkward pause and then Julia said, “Perhaps that’s the wrong expression in the circumstances. Have you heard anything back from the police?”
“Nothing, have you?”
“No, but I didn’t expect to.”
Julia could hear the smile in Louisa’s voice as she said, “How far have you got with your own enquiries?”
Julia laughed. “Not very far.”
They chatted for a while longer about other things. Julia did mention her strange phone call with the reverend. Louisa was just as puzzled as Julia about his meaning. Julia ended the call by making sure that Louisa would definitely go to the interview the following morning. Louisa promised that she would.
Louisa was as good as her word. Julia and Cain were sitting in Julia’s car having a quick bite at lunchtime the following day when Mum phoned. Mum said that Louisa’s interview had gone well and that Mrs Warren was impressed with her. Julia quickly told Cain what Mum had said. He nodded and started on his third slice of banana bread.
Mum carried on, “Julia, it is the same Louisa Porter that I used to see around town with her mum. I know she’s put on weight but I recognised her. Now listen, your dad told me that Eric Murphy was part of the amateur dramatics group, I didn’t realise or I would have told you this sooner.”
“Told me what?”
“I know Eric Murphy, we’ve met several times at teacher training events. He’s quite unforgettable with his loud clothes and his even louder voice. I wasn’t impressed with his bad temper, especially when he didn’t get his own way, or if someone ignored his opinions.”
Julia said, “I’ve heard that before. I wish I knew why he’d given up the director’s role to Brandon. From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like him at all.”
“Why don’t you ask him? His school, Edgethorpe, is having an open day this coming Tuesday. It’s open to all.”
“I might just pop along. When will Louisa hear about the job?”
Mum laughed. “Give us a few days! We’ve got other people to see. You can let Louisa know how impressed we were with her, but that’s all. I have to go, bye love.”
“Bye, Mum.” Julia sent Louisa a quick text and then filled Cain in on what Mum had said.
“What’s your next move, Miss Marple?” Cain asked.
“I’m going to a bo
ok signing tomorrow. I’m hoping that Mavis Littleton will shed some light on Sherry’s past. Come with me if you like.”
“No, thanks, I’m taking your dad to the pub. He needs cheering up.”
“Again? How many pub visits does he need before he feels better?”
Cain looked hurt. “Ray is a very sensitive man, he needs my support.”
Julia turned back to her cheese sandwich and kept her thoughts about her dad’s sensitivity to herself. She had other things to think about.
Chapter 14
Julia was up bright and early the following morning. She had her breakfast and then spent a little time catching up on her emails.
At ten o’clock she got in her car and drove to the bookstore where Mavis Littleton was holding her book signing. Julia parked in a multi-storey car park and walked towards the bookstore. As soon as she entered the building her nose was tickled by the aroma of coffee. Julia saw Mavis’ photo on a notice board which informed visitors that the author was on the first floor. A few minutes later Julia walked towards Mavis Littleton. She was sitting behind a table and signing a book for a smiling woman. Julia took the chance to study Mavis. She was trim with short silver hair. She must be in her late sixties or early seventies and she certainly looked good for her age.
Mavis looked at Julia as she approached the table. Julia said, “Hello, I emailed you the other day to ask about slimming clubs. You kindly gave me Sherry Cooper’s number.”
Mavis nodded and smiled. “Ah yes, I remember. Did you manage to get in touch with Sherry?”
Julia could feel her cheeks warming up and realised she could no longer deceive this kindly-looking woman. “I’m afraid I lied to you,” Julia admitted. “I wanted to find out more about Sherry Cooper and thought you might be able to help me.”
Death Shows Up (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 7) Page 5
