Death At The Spa (Julia Blake Cozy Murder Mystery Book 10)

by Gillian Larkin

  Julia phoned Cain immediately. There was no answer. She sent him a text and told him to contact her urgently.

  Who had he recognised?

  Julia scrolled through all the photos she’d sent him. There were many people in the background; some staff and some guests.

  She paused as she came to one particular photo.

  Oh! Was that who he’d recognised?

  Of course! She’d gone missing right before Erin’s body had been found.

  Julia looked closer at Teresa, the therapist who’d given her a facial. She recalled how Teresa had then left her alone - it would fit in with the time that Erin had been murdered. Had Teresa really fainted? Or had it been a show?

  Julia frowned. What was she going to do with this information?

  Chapter 17

  Julia had time to do an online search using her phone. She checked Erin Baker first. She had the usual Facebook page and her friends were mainly people who worked at the spa. She found reviews of Erin’s work on other spa websites. Julia made a note of where Erin had worked previously. It could be something to check out later.

  Julia then checked Lori’s online presence. Her relationship status was noted as ‘complicated’. Lori posted regularly on her page and had even posted a jolly message an hour ago saying she’d ordered the latest cellulite busting cream that all the celebrities were using.

  Julia pulled a face at the message. Lori didn’t look as if she had any cellulite on her perfect body. She probably wouldn’t know what cellulite was if it bit her on the bottom. There were far too many posts on Lori’s page for Julia to read through at the moment. She’d have to come back to Lori later.

  Next, she checked Teresa’s pages. She’d found her surname through Erin’s Facebook page. Hmm, that was interesting. Teresa had social pages but they only started two years ago. That was most unusual. Julia did a bit more delving and found a lukewarm review for a facial Teresa had done at a spa four years ago. It was the same spa where Erin had worked, according to her reviews. Julia did a double check and discovered Erin and Teresa were at the same spa at the same time.

  She didn’t have time to do any more research as it was time to wake Mum up.

  Mum was a bit groggy as she started to come round so Julia made her a swift cup of strong tea.

  Mum took the cup gratefully. “I don’t normally have caffeine so late in the day but I need it today. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve been through so many emotions today.”

  “I think that’s a good thing,” Julia noted. “It’s better to get all your emotions out in the open. Do you still want to go down to the dining hall for something to eat? I could order room service if you’d prefer?”

  Mum pushed herself off the bed. “I’d like to go down. Indigo said she’d meet the group in the dining hall to arrange a time for the twilight walk. If she’s still going, that is. I’d like to go on the walk. It sounds fun.”

  “And where exactly do you go on this twilight walk? And what will you be doing?” Julia wagged a finger at her. “I hope there’ll be no naked dancing involved.”

  Mum laughed. “Have you seen the other women in the group? We’re far too old to be wiggling our wobbly bits in the night air.” Mum finished the rest of the tea. “Just what I needed. Julia, can you do me a favour?”

  “Of course.”

  “When we meet up with Gemma again, would you mind not talking about the murder, please? I’ve had my fill of it today. Let’s talk about other things.”

  “Okay.” Julia smiled at Mum. She really wanted to talk about the murder with Gemma. She wanted to let her know about Cain’s text. But it could wait. Mum’s welfare was more important.

  Mum and Julia left their rooms and went down to the dining hall. Gemma waved at them from a table inside and they walked over to her.

  As promised, Julia didn’t mention the murder once. Gemma picked up on the change of conversation and joined in with the safe topics of family, friends and work. They all decided on the same thing for dinner - pan-seared tuna with potato and butternut squash.

  Mum said, “Not quite the fish and chips that Cain and your dad are having, but close enough.”

  Julia and Gemma had just enough room in their stomachs for dessert - organic peanut butter mousse, which was surprisingly light and fluffy.

  Indigo Sunset approached their table as they were finishing their meal. She laid a hand on Mum’s shoulder and gave her an apologetic look. “Kathleen, I’m so embarrassed. What must you think of me?”

  Mum patted Indigo’s hand. “I think you’re a strong woman who’s dealing with bad news in the best way she can. How are you feeling?”

  “Better. I’m not sure if that was the whisky or the nap I had.” Indigo smiled at Mum. “Thanks for listening to me rambling on. Are you still up for the twilight walk? We’re going to leave about eight. I could do with some fresh air and there’s something magical about the night sky.”

  “I would love to go.” Mum nodded her head in Julia’s direction. “Julia thinks we’ll be dancing naked around a tree.”

  Indigo gave Julia a mock-serious stare. “A tree? No, we’ll be doing our naked dancing around a lake. It’s much more freeing. You are more than welcome to join us, you too, Gemma.”

  “Thank you,” Julia said. “But we’ll have to turn you down this time.”

  Indigo gave Mum’s shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you again. We’ll meet by the main doors soon. I’ve got something to tell you. It’s something, or someone, we talked about earlier.”

  Indigo said goodbye to them all and walked away.

  Julia pressed her lips together and tried not to look at Mum.

  After a moment, Mum said, “Julia, you’d better say what’s on your mind before you burst.”

  “I was just going to say, do you think she wants to talk to you about Erin?”

  “She might do. If she does, I’ll let you know what she says. I’d better go and get changed.” Mum stood up. “And, Julia, you can tell Gemma about my chat with Indigo. I don’t mind. Feel free to talk about the murder now. I’ll see you later.”

  Julia waited until Mum had left the dining hall, then she told Gemma about Indigo’s talk with Mum.

  Gemma’s eyes widened. “That’s interesting. I didn’t know Erin and Indigo were so close. But I wouldn’t, would I? I don’t know anything about these people. Although, the more I’m hearing about Lori, the less I like her.”

  “Wait until you hear about the text Cain sent me.” Julia took her phone out and showed Gemma the text. She then showed her the photographs and pointed out Teresa. She also filled Gemma in on the Internet searches she’d conducted.

  Gemma stared at Julia. “You’ve only been away from me an hour and look what you’ve found out. Are you sure you don’t want to work for the police? I could put in a good word with Arnie.”

  “I like working for myself. Do you still want to spy on Lori?”

  “Absolutely. I’m not sure how we’re going to do that without her seeing us.”

  Julia got to her feet. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve got an idea. It involves us wearing disguises. Well, a disguise for you, but not so much for me.”

  “Even though you’re talking nonsense, I think I actually understand what you’re talking about.”

  The two of them left the dining hall and headed in the direction of the staff living quarters.

  Chapter 18

  As they headed towards the staff rooms, Gemma looked at Julia and said, “Why do you keep looking over your shoulder?”

  Julia frowned. “I keep thinking someone is watching us. I felt that earlier, and I was right because you had been watching me.”

  Gemma looked over her shoulder. “I can’t see anyone. You’re making me nervous now. I keep thinking the murderer is after us.”

  They walked along a carpeted corridor. Julia said, “Lori’s room should be just along here.” She spotted a door on their left. “Aha! This is what I was hoping to see. There’s a doo
r like this on the corridor to my room too.”

  She opened the door marked ‘cleaning supplies’ and stepped in. Gemma followed her.

  Gemma said, “Is this what you were hoping to see?”

  Julia put her hands on the large cleaning trolley which contained cleaning products and dusters. “This is perfect. And look over there, there are even overalls for us to wear. Put one on.”

  Gemma reached for the overalls. She handed one to Julia. “Do you think disguising ourselves as cleaning staff will work? At this time of the day?”

  “Cleaning staff are invisible to almost everyone, no matter what time of day it is. People walking past might register the trolley, but only because it’s in their way. They don’t pay any attention to the people who are cleaning. Trust me.”

  Julia put the overall on and pushed the cleaning trolley out of the room and into the corridor. “I’ll clean the skirting boards and you do the picture frames. Make sure you keep your back to Lori’s room. If you feel she’s going to look your way, duck behind this trolley, it’s big enough.”

  Gemma fastened her overall and grinned at Julia. “This is exciting. Is that what you do when you’re helping Arnie on his cases?”

  “I’ve never disguised myself before. I do like how you refer to me helping Arnie. I know he doesn’t see it that way.” Julia checked the time. “It’s nearly eight. Lori’s secret visitor will be here soon. My money is on Harry Lewis.”

  “Mine too. However, we could both be surprised.” Gemma turned her back to Lori’s door and began to dust the nearest picture frame.

  Julia moved past Lori’s door and got to her knees. She noted with approval that the skirting board was already clean. Most impressive. She ran a duster along the wood anyway. She thought she was going to be having a break from cleaning today. She smiled. She didn’t mind, she always liked cleaning, it was therapeutic.

  Julia became lost in her work and jumped as a sudden hiss sounded out. She glanced over at Gemma who was waving a cloth frantically at her. Gemma’s eyebrows danced up and down and Julia soon saw why she was so agitated.

  Someone was walking along the corridor.

  Julia looked out from the corner of her eye and saw a pair of women’s shoes walking along the carpet.

  The shoes stopped outside Lori’s door. There was a knock and Julia took a quick glance upwards at the owner of the shoes.

  It was Teresa.

  Julia shared an astonished look with Gemma. Gemma gave her a small shrug and moved to the next picture frame.

  Lori’s door opened. “Hi! About time! Oh. It’s you. What do you want?”

  Teresa said, “I’m only here to deliver a message from Harry. He can’t meet you tonight. He’s helping Indigo out with her twilight walk thing.”

  “What? Why can’t she do it herself? What does she need Harry’s help for? It’s only a walk. Can’t the old cow manage that on her own?”

  “No. She’s feeling fragile and asked if he could help.”

  Lori snorted. “Fragile? Don’t tell me she’s still upset about Erin dying.”

  “Of course she’s still upset! We’re all upset. Apart from you, you hard-faced witch. We’re all in shock.”

  “I thought you’d be pleased that Erin was dead. She doesn’t have to keep your dirty little secret to herself anymore, does she? That’ll be a relief for you. You must have thought she was going to spill the beans more than once. You would have lost your job for good if she had.”

  Teresa said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m here to deliver your message. You can think what you like about me and Erin. She was a good person.”

  “Whatever,” Lori said. She closed the door.

  Teresa turned on her heel and walked away.

  Gemma waited until Teresa’s footsteps faded, and then she went over to Julia. “Well, you were right about us being invisible. They were carrying on a private conversation as if there was no one else around. What do you think about their conversation?”

  Julia got to her feet. “I think we need to find out what Teresa’s secret is. Did you notice she was out of her work clothes? She must have finished working for the day. Shall we follow her? Or is that going too far?”

  Gemma began to unbutton her overall. “Yes, I think we should follow her. I want to see what kind of a person Teresa is. She’s obviously got something to hide.”

  “Excuse me, ladies. What do you think you’re doing?”

  Julia and Gemma turned slowly around and met the confused stare of Sienna Moss.

  Sienna said, “Ms Blake? Mrs Clarke? Would you like to explain yourselves?”

  Julia thought quickly. “I was telling Gemma what my job involves and she asked if I’d ever cleaned somewhere like this before.” Julia swept her arm around the corridor. “I told her no, but it had always been a dream of mine to clean somewhere like this.” She caught the unbelieving look on Sienna’s face but carried on anyway. “I hope you don’t mind, but I just had to have a go. Not that it needs cleaning, everything is immaculate.”

  “I see,” Sienna said slowly. She looked at Gemma and raised an eyebrow.

  Gemma said, “And I came to keep her company.” She lowered her voice and said to Sienna, “She hasn’t been herself since finding Erin’s body. I think she needed to clean something so she could get those dreadful memories from her head.”

  Sienna gave her a tight-lipped nod. “I quite understand. We all deal with grief in our own ways.” She turned to Julia and smiled brightly. “Would you mind putting the trolley back when you’ve finished? Thanks ever so much. I’ll leave you to it.”

  “We’ve finished now.” Julia returned her bright smile and wheeled the trolley back to the cleaning supply room. She hung her overall up, feeling Sienna watching her every move.

  Gemma quickly hung her overall up and they turned to Sienna, waved, and then walked away.

  Julia said, “She thinks we’re mad, absolutely mad.”

  “No, she thinks you’re mad,” Gemma corrected her. “I wonder where Sienna was going? We should have done a bit more spying.”

  Julia pointed to someone across the way. “It’s Teresa. She’s leaving the building. Let’s see where she goes.”

  Chapter 19

  Julia and Gemma walked quickly past the reception area and towards the main doors, keeping Teresa in their sights in front of them. They followed her out of the doors.

  Gemma stopped on the steps and looked left and right. “Where did she go? Ah, she’s heading towards the car park. She must be going out somewhere.”

  Julia said, “My car keys are upstairs. I’ll run up and grab them. I’ll be quick.”

  “No need.” Gemma reached into her pocket and took out a set of car keys. “I always have them with me in case I need to follow someone. It’s just a habit from my police days. A weird habit, I know.”

  They set off down the steps but were stopped at the bottom by the valet, Toby, who had driven Julia’s car earlier.

  He beamed at them and said, “Are you heading towards the car park, Mrs Clarke? Please hand me your keys and I’ll collect your car for you.” He put his hand out. Gemma clutched the keys tighter and said, “There’s no need, thank you. I am quite capable of getting the car myself.”

  She tried to walk forward but Toby moved in front of her and said, “Oh, I insist. It’s all part of the service here. We can’t have you walking across the car park on your own. Give me the keys, please.”

  Gemma lifted her head up and stared at him. Julia immediately recognised the intense stare because she’d seen it many times on Gemma’s husband, usually directed at her.

  Toby wilted slightly and took a step back.

  In a commanding voice, Gemma said, “I do appreciate your offer of assistance, but I can assure you, we are capable of collecting the car on our own. I hope you won’t detain us a minute longer.”

  Toby nodded and moved completely out of the way. He mumbled, “If you change your mind, Mrs Clarke, please let me k
now. Do have a good evening.”

  As they walked away, Julia said, “Was that your police voice? It was quite scary.”

  Gemma gave her a swift smile. “It was my police voice. I only use it for special occasions. Look, Teresa’s already driving away. We’d better hurry up.”

  They jogged over to Gemma’s car and were soon driving away. Gemma kept a safe distance as she tailed Teresa out of the spa grounds and along a country lane.

  After a few minutes, Teresa pulled into a pub car park. Gemma did the same and parked at the opposite side of the car park. She switched the engine off.

  Julia released her seat belt and said, “Shall we go in?”

  Gemma shook her head. “Teresa will recognise you. After all, she spent a good deal of time giving you a facial today. She hasn’t seen me before, or at least I don’t think she has. I’d be better off going in on my own.”

  “Good idea,” Julia said.

  Gemma got out of the car and went into the pub. Julia reached for her phone and tried, once again, to get in touch with Cain. He still wasn’t answering his phone, and neither was Dad. Were they still at the pub quiz? Or had they both forgotten to switch their phones back on? She would have to keep trying him.

  While she waited, Julia did some more online searches about Teresa and Lori. She didn’t find anything interesting and soon got bored reading all the posts that Lori had put on her Facebook page.

  Gemma returned to the car about ten minutes later and smiled at Julia as she got into the driver’s seat.

  Julia said, “Well? Did you find anything out?”

  “I certainly did. I sat in the booth next to Teresa and I heard everything she was saying. She met with a man. He said he was surprised to have received her phone call and thought she’d given up on all that sort of business.”

  “What sort of business?”

  “It seems that Teresa is a talented thief. She gives stolen items to this man who sells them. They split the profits. From what I could hear, Teresa had helped herself to luxury items from the spa today. She’d brought them to the pub for this man to sell.”