Donald's Death (Cara Daniels Cozy Mystery Book 1)

by Gillian Larkin

  Cara yanked it open and let out a cry of horror as she took in the scene in front of her.

  Donald Ackroyd was in a crouching position a few feet away. Both hands were on his head. Blood ran through his fingers and down his face.

  Emma stood next to him, a gold golf trophy raised high. She swung it downwards.

  Cara shot forward and launched herself at Emma. Emma screamed as Cara connected with her. They both fell to the floor, the golf trophy rolled to one side.

  Gran entered the room. Emma curled into a ball and began to sob. Cara stood up and rubbed the shoulder that had connected with Emma. Gran looked at her and said, “Have you turned into a human cannonball today? Stop throwing yourself at everyone!”

  Cara raised a shaking hand. “Gran! It was Emma! She was going to kill Donald! She’s already hit him once.”

  Gran walked over to Donald and helped him to straighten up. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to him. He took it and pressed it to his head. He tried to smile. He said, “This is becoming a habit, you saving my life.”

  Cara knelt down next to Emma and said, “It’s okay. It’s all over now.”

  Emma’s sobs subsided. She moved into a sitting position and looked at Cara through watery eyes. Emma said, “I was going to kill him! I really was going to kill him!”

  Donald said, “Let’s try to forget about this Emma, no harm done.” He gave a wry smile as he looked at the blood on the handkerchief. “Not much harm done.”

  Emma’s eyes widened. She moved closer to Cara. Cara frowned. Something wasn’t right here. She said to Emma, “Why did you try to kill Donald?”

  Emma said, “It was self-defence. He was going to … hurt me. He had me pinned against the desk. My hands landed on that golf trophy and before I knew it I hit him with it.”

  “Self-defence? Why?” Cara asked.

  Donald laughed. “Don’t listen to her, she’s in shock. I think I’d better get myself to the hospital, get checked out. Don’t worry, Emma, I won’t press charges.”

  Emma shook her head. “No! No! You can’t get away with what you’ve just done!” She got to her feet and pointed at him. “You accused me of stealing.” She looked at Cara. “He said he’d found stolen money in my handbag, money from the till. I didn’t put it there. He said he’d seen me putting stolen clubs in my car. I’ve never done anything like that!”

  Donald pulled at his collar. “Emma, let’s not talk about business matters in front of strangers.”

  Gran folded her arms and gave Donald a cold look. She said to Emma, “When did he accuse you of this?”

  “Just now. I brought him into the office after Mr Templeton nearly attacked him. Mr Ackroyd locked the door, I thought he was worried about Mr Templeton coming back. He said we needed to talk about money and golf clubs being stolen. That’s when he accused me of having stolen money in my handbag and golf clubs in my car.” Emma’s hands flew to her face and she began to cry again.

  Cara put her arms around her shoulders and said, “Please, carry on.”

  Emma lowered her hands. “He said he wouldn’t tell the police if I was … nice to him. He went on about how I must be lonely being a single mum, and that he’d hate for me to lose this job. He came towards me and pinned me to the desk. His hands …” She broke into tears again.

  Donald cried out, “She’s lying! She has been stealing from me. I confronted her and she went mad!”

  Gran shared a look with Cara. Two thoughts came into Cara’s mind. She looked straight at Donald and said, “Have you got a dog?”

  Donald frowned. “What? A dog? What’s that got to do with anything.”

  “Just answer the question,” Gran said.

  Donald threw his hands up. “This is ridiculous! Yes, I have got a dog!”

  Cara looked at Gran and said, “That’s what I saw yesterday when we drove past his house. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, I saw a dog’s head near the window. I didn’t mention it because I wasn’t really sure that I saw it.”

  Donald spluttered, “What are you talking about? What were you doing near my house?”

  Gran nodded. “And what does that tell you about his character?”

  Cara looked back at Donald. “We saw you yesterday with your neighbour. He complained about your dog, you lied and said your dog had died.”

  A steely look came into Donald’s eyes. He sneered and said, “That old fool deserves everything he gets. He’s always complaining. So what if I let my dog out on a night to make a mess in his garden? I thought it would be a laugh to let him think he’s going mad. It serves him right for complaining all the time.”

  Emma wiped her eyes. “You’re evil.”

  Donald shrugged. “And you’re a thief.”

  “No, she isn’t,” Cara said. “I presume that you all have access to the staffroom. Emma, do you have lockers in there?”

  “No, I leave my handbag hung up next to my coat.”

  Cara nodded. “So anyone could plant money in your handbag. I saw you, Donald, on the CCTV, you were putting some golf clubs in the boot of a car. At first I thought it was your car, but I’ve realised it was Emma’s car, she’s parked next to you. You must have taken her keys from her handbag.”

  Emma gasped. “Why? Why would he do that?”

  Gran said, “So he could blackmail you.” She looked Donald up and down in disgust. “You haven’t worked here long. I wonder if you’ve done this sort of thing before. I wonder if you’ve got away with it before. The police can look into that.”

  Panic crossed Donald’s face. “Now wait a minute! There’s no need to get the police involved. It’s all a misunderstanding. You’ve no proof that I did any of those things you’ve accused me of.”

  Cara pointed towards the bank of CCTV monitors. “We’ve got proof.”

  Donald made a lunge towards Cara and the TV monitors. Gran stepped forward and stuck her leg out. Donald crashed to the floor.

  Emma began to shake. She turned to Cara and said, “I’m so glad you came in! I would have killed him! I would have gone to prison! Oh, my little boy! I wouldn’t have seen him grow up!”

  Cara took Emma in her arms and held her as she cried.

  Gran touched Cara on the shoulder and said, “I’m going to phone the police.” She jerked a thumb at Donald. “He’s not getting away with this. It might take a while to sort everything out.”

  Cara gave her a small smile over Emma’s shaking shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 11

  Cara woke with a jump the next morning. Someone had tapped her leg. She screamed when she saw a man sitting at the end of her bed.

  Edward held up a hand. “Oh dear, I didn’t mean to frighten you, Cara. I didn’t want to wake you, you looked so peaceful but I’ve got to be somewhere soon and I need to talk to you.”

  Cara rubbed her eyes. “How long have you been watching me?”

  Edward smiled, “Just for an hour. Did you know that you snored?”

  Cara ran her hand through her hair and tried to straighten it a bit. “What are you doing here? Is Gran here too? Has she some news on Donald Ackroyd?”

  “Your gran isn’t here but I can tell you that Donald Ackroyd is under arrest. The police found a lot of sexual harassment claims against him. The claims were dropped for one reason or another. Based on Emma’s experience the police are going to interview the people who made the complaints again. He’s going to be spending a while in prison. He paused and studied her. “What’s wrong?”

  Cara sat up and pulled the bedcover up to her chin. “He’s such a nasty man. He had us all fooled. Me and Gran went to all that trouble to protect him and …” She looked away.

  “Are you thinking you should have let him die?”

  “It did cross my mind,” Cara muttered.

  Edward tapped her leg again. Cara looked back at him. He said, “My experience has taught me that some people deserve to be punished for what they’ve done, but not killed. In Donald’s
case you helped Emma. She would have murdered Donald, she would have gone to prison. Her soul would have shrivelled. You helped her. Don’t forget that.”

  Cara nodded. She remembered how grateful Emma had been. “Where is Gran?”

  Edward sighed and looked down at the bedcover. “Abigail is not in a good place right now.” He looked back at Cara. “I mean emotionally, not physically. She was furious at herself for thinking Gregory Templeton was going to be the murderer. She said she should have spotted the clues that you did. She should have noticed the black line around Donald didn’t disappear when Gregory was no longer a threat.”

  Cara frowned. “I didn’t notice that either. There was so much going on. She shouldn’t feel guilty, we got there in the end.”

  “She does feel guilty. One more blow to Donald’s head and Emma would have killed him.” He stood up. “Your gran needs a rest from saving souls. She’s been doing too much since your granddad died, it’s affecting her health. I’ve sent her on a holiday, a cruise.” He laughed. “She didn’t want to go! You should have heard some of the things she called me!”

  “A cruise? That sounds lovely. Where?”

  “Not far, just around the world. She’ll be gone for months.” His face softened as he smiled at Cara. “I told Abigail that you’re ready, you proved that yesterday.”

  Cara clutched the bedcover tightly. In a wary voice she said, “Ready for what?”

  “For taking over Abigail’s job, of course! She’s left her car outside for you. The keys are in your kitchen along with the keys to her house. She said you’d find resources in her home that will help you.”

  “But I … I don’t know what to do!”

  “You’ll learn. And you’ll have an angel to help you.”

  “You?” Hope flared in Cara.

  Edward shook his head. “I can’t help any more, I haven’t got any white feathers left.” He took a step back and his wings appeared. “You see how my feathers are silver? They turn that colour once a soul has been saved.”

  Cara pointed. “I can see a white one!”

  Edward gently shook his wings. The last white feather detached form his wing and floated towards Cara. The space that it left behind was filled with a new silver feather. The white feather landed in front of Cara. She picked it up.

  Edward said, “That is for you to keep. Every time you save a soul you get a white feather. Your gran has got hundreds of them! And she’s already gone through two other angels! Cara, don’t look so worried, you’re going to do a wonderful job. I really have to go now.”

  “No! I’m not ready!”

  “Your angel will visit you soon, he’ll explain everything.” He held up a hand. “Be patient with him. The new angels can be a bit of a handful. They’re so eager but naïve! Keep your eye on him. Goodbye, Cara, my beloved.”

  Edward smiled and then disappeared.

  Cara looked at the empty space where he’d been. Tears came to her eyes. She couldn’t do this, she really couldn’t. She would have helped Gran with other cases, but she couldn’t do it on her own. She placed the feather against her cheek and closed her eyes. A warmth trickled down her body.

  Her eyes opened. “I can do it!” she told herself. Then her resolve immediately wavered. “Can I?”

  A note from the author

  I’ve been writing murder mysteries for a few years now. I recently got the idea that I wanted to write stories about someone stopping murders from occurring in the first place. I realised that person would need some sort of paranormal/supernatural help to let her know when the possible murders would occur and I came up with angels. That got me thinking: if you knew someone was going to be murdered soon, what would you do to stop it?

  Read Cara’s other stories, you can find details of them on my website :

  www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

  If you sign up to my newsletter through my website you will receive 3 short stories in pdf form as a thank you gift.

  You can contact me on : gillianlarkin67@gmail.com

  Best wishes

  Gillian

  A CARA DANIELS COZY MYSTERY

  DONALD’S DEATH

  BY

  GILLIAN LARKIN

  www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

  Front cover images by Vectorstock.com

  Copyright 2015 by Gillian Larkin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication must be reproduced in any form,

  without permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to any persons, living or dead, is purely

  coincidental.