A Fair Murder (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 6)

by Gillian Larkin

  “So do you,” Julia pointed out. She nodded towards the other side of the hall. “Look at Dad and Cain move those tables, they’re doing a great job. Perhaps we should leave them to it.”

  Lesley said, “We’ll let them move the tables, we haven’t much to do here. Could you put the tombola drum in Seth’s office please? I’ll give you my key. Thanks. I’ll go and have a word with Deborah, if she’s back in her office. I need to give her feedback on the fair, let her know how the attendance compares to previous years.” Lesley steeled herself as if facing a battle. She put a hand on Julia’s shoulder and said, “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, come and rescue me!”

  “I will do,” Julia promised. Lesley gave her a smile and headed towards the corridor.

  Julia walked over to Dad and Cain to see how they were doing. Dad said, “We’re nearly done. Your mum is saying goodbye to people outside, you know what she’s like for chatting. Why don’t you go? I’ll make sure everything is put away.”

  Julia looked at the floor and pressed her lips together.

  Her dad burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you want to clean the floor! I thought you did it the other day.”

  Julia looked back up. “I did but it looks a mess. I can’t bear to leave it like this.”

  “Neither can I,” Cain added. “Shall we give it a quick going-over? I’ll give you a hand.”

  “Thanks. I might have a swift clean of the toilets too, I don’t want to leave them in a state. I’ll get the cleaning things from Seth’s room.”

  Julia remembered to pick the tombola drum up on her way to Seth’s room. Her eyebrows rose as she saw that the door was open. She walked in and set the tombola drum down. Her hands settled on her hips as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Bottles of cleaning fluids were lying on their sides on the floor, and toilet rolls had been flung around the room. Had someone broken in?

  Julia stepped out of the room, pulled the door to and locked it. She’d have to let Lesley and Deborah know about this straight away.

  She walked down the corridor and stopped outside the closed door of Deborah’s office. She knocked on it and waited. No answer. She opened the door.

  Her hands flew to her mouth as she saw the unmoving bodies of Lesley Humphries and Deborah Paignton.

  Chapter 9

  Deborah Paignton was slumped over her desk, her head was lying on her outstretched arm. Next to her hand was a glass lying on its side, purple liquid pooled at the opening of the glass.

  Lesley Humphries was on the floor, her own hand outstretched in the same way that Deborah’s was. To complete the mirroring effect, Lesley also had an empty glass in her hand with the same purple liquid trickling on to the carpet.

  Julia ran over to Lesley’s side and crouched. She felt for Lesley’s pulse. There it was! “Lesley! It’s me, Julia! I’m going to phone for an ambulance.”

  Julia stood up and whipped her phone out. As she pressed the numbers she rushed over to Deborah’s side and put her hand on Deborah’s neck. She couldn’t feel a pulse.

  Julia spoke as calmly as her speeding heart would allow on the phone. When the call had ended Julia went back to Lesley and knelt at her side. “The ambulance is on its way, hold on.” Julia didn’t want to leave the two women but she needed help. She sent her dad a quick text.

  Within two minutes he was at the office door. His face turned white as he took in the scene. Julia called out, “Dad! Don’t come in, you might contaminate something. I think …” she gulped, “I think Deborah’s dead. But Lesley’s still breathing. I’ve phoned for an ambulance and the police. Could you wait at the main doors for them?”

  Dad didn’t speak. He nodded his head but seemed to have trouble looking away from the terrible scene. Cain appeared at his side, looked into the room and said, “I had a feeling something terrible was going to happen today, everyone was too happy. Have you phoned the police?”

  Julia nodded. “And an ambulance.”

  “Right. We’ll wait for them at the door,” Cain said. He grabbed Dad’s arm and pulled him away.

  Lesley let out a faint croak and tried to open her eyes. “Julia? Is that you? What am I doing on the floor?”

  Julia picked up Lesley’s hand and held it. “Try not to talk, the ambulance will be here soon.”

  Lesley licked her purple lips. Her eyes opened more. “The wine, it tasted funny.”

  Julia glanced towards Deborah’s desk and towards the open bottle of blackberry wine. Julia took a deep breath. Someone must have poisoned the wine. Someone had murdered Deborah Paignton, and almost murdered Lesley. Julia squeezed Lesley’s hand and said, “Hold on there, Lesley, I don’t want to lose you.” Julia went quiet as she willed the ambulance to hurry.

  Within minutes sirens pierced through the silence. Julia heard the mutter of voices outside. The voices got louder as people walked towards Deborah’s office. Two uniform-clad men rushed into the room and immediately got to work.

  Julia reluctantly released Lesley’s hand as a paramedic knelt at Lesley’s side. Julia pointed to the blackberry wine and said, “I think they’ve been poisoned. This is Lesley Humphries and the other woman is Deborah Paignton. They both work at the school.”

  “Thank you, we’ve got the situation under control. Could you leave the room please?”

  Julia walked towards the door but her legs gave way before she got there. Strong arms caught her and pulled her into an embrace. Julia looked up at Dad and started to cry. Dad hugged her and patted her back. “There, there, love. You’ve had a nasty shock, we all have.” He led her to a row of chairs and settled her down.

  Julia sniffed and brushed her tears away. “I can’t believe it. Who would want to hurt them? Does Mum know?”

  Dad sat next to her and held her hand. “She does. She’s getting her things together, she said she’s going to the hospital with Lesley.” He shook his head. “What a sad ending to this wonderful event. What happens now? Do we stay? Do we go home? Someone needs to lock the school up.”

  A familiar voice spoke, “You can leave everything to the police now, Mr Rosenthorpe, or should I call you Hulk?”

  Julia looked up at the unsmiling face of DI Clarke. His blue eyes looked back at her. Their paths had crossed many times in the past. Julia attempted to smile at him.

  He gave her a small smile. “We meet again, Ms Blake. I can’t say that I’m surprised to see you. I’m more surprised when I arrive on a possible murder scene and you’re not there.”

  Julia stood up. “I don’t mean to get involved in murder cases. But it was me who found the bodies. Well, one body and one person who’s still alive. Shall I give you a statement?”

  DI Clarke put his hands behind his back. “In good time. I take it from the banners outside that there has been a school fair today? And I’m assuming that most visitors have now left?”

  Julia nodded. Dad stood next to her and said, “That’s going to make your job difficult, isn’t it? There’s been hundreds of visitors today, any one of them could have killed Deborah Paignton.” He sighed. “I can tell you for nothing that she wasn’t a popular head teacher. You’re going to have many suspects.”

  DI Clarke nodded. “Thank you for that information. I’ll have someone take full details from you soon. Would you mind waiting for me whilst I take a look inside the room where the incident occurred?”

  “Of course,” Dad replied.

  “Shall I come with you?” Julia asked the inspector.

  “No, thank you. I think I can manage on my own,” the inspector replied. He walked into the room.

  Julia stood at the entrance to the room and peered in. She was moved out of the way as Lesley was taken out on a stretcher. Julia called out to her, “Mum’s going with you in the ambulance.” She then turned her attention back to the room. DI Clarke and another man were looking at Deborah Paignton. Julia quickly scanned the room. She spotted something that made her gasp.

  The inspector looked up and gave her an irritated look. “Ms Bl
ake, step away from the door.”

  Julia raised a hand towards the far wall. “Look! The stick that our lollipop man uses! It’s cracked and bent, it wasn’t like earlier. Has Deborah been hit with it?”

  DI Clarke looked at the stick and then back at Julia. “You know full well that I’m not going to give you any details at this stage. I’m going to say this once more, step away from the door. I will personally take a full statement from you later. You can give me every small detail that you remember then. Okay?”

  Julia nodded but didn’t move.

  DI Clarke gave her a closer look. In a softer tone he said, “The paramedics told me that Lesley Humphries is going to be fine.”

  “Thank you,” Julia said and she stepped away from the door.

  Chapter 10

  Mum phoned Julia later that evening. She told Julia that Lesley was fine and that she was being kept in hospital for the night. Mum hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to her yet. Mum then wanted to know everything that had happened after she had left the school with Lesley in the ambulance.

  Julia said, “Me and Dad had to wait an hour before DI Clarke was ready to talk to us. Cain waited with us too, we were told to sit outside in the school gardens. There were a lot of people coming and going.” She paused. “Dad got upset when Deborah was taken away on a covered stretcher. Is he okay now?”

  Mum said, “He’s fine. Other than seeing disturbing things on the telly, he’s never seen anything like that before. He told me that he gave a full statement to the police, and so did Cain. What did you tell them?”

  Julia sighed and settled further back on her sofa. “I told them everything. I sat with DI Clarke on a bench in the garden. He listened and a man at his side made notes. I told him about my first meeting with Deborah, and how she reacted when she saw Cain. I hope DI Clarke doesn’t think that Cain is a suspect.”

  “We’re all suspects, Julia. I had murderous thoughts towards Deborah Paignton, I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

  “Having murderous thoughts is one thing, acting on them is something else. I told the inspector about the wine and how it was a donated bottle for the tombola stall. I think he’s going to try and find out who donated it.”

  Mum said, “He’ll have a hard time doing that. Leading up to a school fair we find donations left anonymously all around the school. Lesley might have an idea though. What else did you tell the inspector?”

  “I told him that I’d put the blackberry wine in Deborah’s office. I explained that her door was left unlocked at all times. He just nodded when I said that. I had to tell him about Barney Samson and his run-in with Deborah. Did Dad tell you that Barney’s stick was in Deborah’s office?”

  “He did. He said it had been damaged as if someone had bashed it against a wall or something.”

  “Yes, I don’t know how it got like that. But it means that Barney went into Deborah’s office after he’d done some school-crossing work outside. Deborah had spotted him from her window helping people across the road, she marched out and had a go at him. Mum, she sacked him in front of everyone. Barney then came back to the hall to tell me and Lesley what she’d done, and then he headed towards the corridor and, presumably, to Deborah’s office.”

  There was silence for a moment. Mum broke it by saying, “Does DI Clarke think that Barney put something in the wine? Does he think that Barney killed Deborah?”

  Julia sighed. “DI Clarke never lets me know what he’s thinking, but Barney must now be a suspect. I can’t believe that he would do something like that! DI Clarke said he’s going to have a word with Barney. I know that someone else went into Deborah’s office before the fair ended. I didn’t want to tell the inspector, but I had to.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Imogen. She collected all the money from the stalls and went into the office. She was only a couple of minutes but that would be long enough to …” Julia didn’t finish the sentence.

  Mum said, “I don’t think Imogen is capable of murder. I’m assuming that the blackberry wine was poisoned. Where would Imogen get poison from?”

  Julia explained, “There are plenty of hazardous chemicals in Seth’s room, anyone could have poured something into the wine if they had access to that room. Barney had a key to Seth’s room, and so did Imogen. And when I went to collect some cleaning equipment at the end of the fair, the door was open.”

  Mum tutted. “I don’t like this Julia! I don’t believe for a second that Barney or Imogen would do anything as drastic as poisoning Deborah and Lesley. Why would they?”

  Julia hesitated for a second and then said, “Deborah did sack Barney today. You know how much he loves that job.” Mum tutted again. Julia continued, “And as for Imogen, she always seemed scared of Deborah. Why was that? Did Deborah know something about her that no one else did?”

  “Hmm, that thought has crossed my mind before. Well, what are we going to do about Barney and Imogen? We have to clear their names.”

  Julia said, “I haven’t finished with the visitors to Deborah’s office yet. DI Clarke looked at the signing-in book for today. Seth had signed in at 12.20.”

  Mum gasped. “Seth? Our Seth? I never saw him.”

  “Neither did I. But I did see something strange in Deborah’s room when I found her and Lesley. On her desk, next to the blackberry wine, I saw two caddies, a tea one and a coffee one. They looked like the ones that Seth kept in his room. I told DI Clarke this. He sent a man to check Seth’s room, the caddies weren’t there.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would the caddies be in Deborah’s room?”

  “They weren’t there earlier when I put the wine there. Seth must have come into the school at 12.20 and gone to his room. He took the caddies and then placed them on Deborah’s desk. Perhaps he left his room unlocked.”

  An unspoken thought passed between them. Mum eventually said, “Are you thinking Seth might have collected some chemicals from his room and then put something in the blackberry wine? No! I can’t believe that!”

  “While I was speaking to the inspector he got a call from his office. The police had taken the blackberry wine away, they’d tested it immediately and discovered that it had been poisoned.”

  Mum said, “Julia, what’s going on? I can’t believe that any of our friends would murder Deborah Paignton, and try to murder Lesley.”

  Julia paused for a moment and then said, “Somebody did.”

  Chapter 11

  Julia didn’t sleep well that night. Her mind kept going back to Deborah Paignton and Lesley. She bolted upright at one stage as a thought about the blackberry wine shot through her mind. What if someone had a grudge against the school and had donated a bottle of poisoned wine, not caring who drank it? Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She was tempted to phone DI Clarke to tell him her thoughts but it was 3 a.m. She knew he wouldn’t appreciate a call from her at that time, or any time if it was to just voice her concerns.

  She got up a few hours later and pottered around her house for most of the morning. She caught up with her accounts and gave the house a good clean. Since Sam and Chloe had left for university the house never needed much cleaning. Julia sighed as she put the vacuum cleaner away. She’d rather have her children at home, no matter how much mess they made.

  Mum called round at 1 p.m. After making a cup of tea and sitting down at the kitchen table, Mum said, “I’ve been to see Lesley this morning. She looked much better. We had a chat about what had happened yesterday in Deborah’s office.”

  Julia pulled her cup closer. “Is Lesley okay?”

  Mum nodded. “The doctors found traces of arsenic in her blood, but not much.”

  “Arsenic! Do people still use that? Where would you even get that? Had arsenic been put in the blackberry wine or just the glasses?”

  Mum held her hand up. “If you stop interrupting I’ll tell you everything. Yes, it was arsenic in the wine. Anyway, back to the fair and yesterday. Lesley left you in the hall when the fair was over. She went i
nto Deborah’s office. Deborah was there, sitting at her desk. Deborah complained about being caught outside the school and having to talk to people. Lesley listened and then told Deborah how well the school fair had gone, better than any other year by the looks of it. Apparently, Deborah smiled at this point.”

  Julia’s eyebrows rose. “A proper smile?”

  Mum nodded. “Apparently so. Deborah picked up the blackberry wine and said they should have a drink to celebrate, she’d even poured the wine into glasses before Lesley entered the room. She even made a joke of wishing it was a bottle of something stronger. Lesley wanted to get back to the hall but felt she should share a drink with Deborah. She took the glass that Deborah offered, took a sip and then tried to sit down. That’s when she started to feel dizzy, she said everything went black, and that’s the last she can remember. She vaguely remembers you being there before the ambulance arrived.”

  Julia took a drink of her tea and thought about what Mum had said. “Does Lesley know about Deborah?”

  Mum sighed. “She does. A doctor told her. And your inspector came in to have a word with her first thing this morning.” Mum shook her head. “Lesley feels so guilty. She says that if she hadn’t gone to Deborah’s office then Deborah wouldn’t have felt the need to drink the wine.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. She could have drunk the wine whether Lesley was there or not. Mum, do you think the bottle was deliberately poisoned when it was in Deborah’s office?”

  Mum gave her a wry smile. “I know what you’re thinking. I’ve been thinking that too. I know this is a harsh thing to say but I hope the bottle was poisoned deliberately in Deborah’s office. I’d hate to think that someone donated a tampered bottle without caring who got hurt.”

  There was silence for a moment as they drunk their tea.

  Mum put her cup down and said, “Well, what are you going to do about this?”

  Julia shrugged. “I can’t do anything, it’s nothing to do with me. The police will deal with this investigation.” She looked down at the table and added, “DI Clarke’s last words to me were to leave the investigating to them, and to not interfere in any way.”