Julia switched the laptop on and put in ‘Henrietta’ as the password. It was the wrong password. Julia thought for a moment and then put ‘Howard’ in. The log in page changed to the home page. So, Blanche was using Howard’s name as her password. How long had Blanche been doing that? Had she still been in love with him?
Julia looked at some of the folders first. A thought came into her mind about letting DI Clarke know about this laptop before she did any snooping. She told the thought to clear off. As far as DI Clarke was concerned, Blanche’s murder had been solved.
Julia’s hand hovered over some video files. Wary of what she was going to find, Julia half-closed her eyes and pressed play on the earliest one.
Her mouth dropped as she watched the first video. It stayed open as she watched the others. She wasn’t expecting that. A sense of unease settled in her stomach and she went online.
She clicked on Blanche’s Internet history and wasn’t too shocked to see what came up. It was all making sense now. She then went on to Blanche’s favourites on the top bar of the screen. If she’d been anything like Julia, she’d have many pages listed here.
Julia nodded to herself as a long list of pages came up, all in a similar vein. Blanche had been busy these last months.
Julia looked at the top bar again and saw Blanche used the same email provider as herself. She clicked on that and noticed that Blanche had kept herself logged in. Julia had no qualms about reading the emails. Any respect for Blanche had disappeared when she watched that first video. Tears welled in Julia’s eyes as she read the anonymous emails Blanche had sent. Blanche’s words had been cruel and vicious. She’d upset a lot of people. Kayla Booth had been right about Blanche sticking her nose into other people’s business.
A noise made Julia jump. Was that the front door opening? Was Cain coming in? Julia stayed where she was. If it was Henrietta returning, then Julia was going to show her what she’d discovered. Henrietta had a right to know.
Julia called out, “I’m upstairs. In Blanche’s room.” Her nose wrinkled as she smelled something familiar.
Footsteps sounded on the carpeted stairs as someone came up. A person appeared in the doorway and looked at Julia.
Chapter 37
“Julia, what are you doing in my sister’s room?” Henrietta took a step forward. “Is that a computer on your knee? Is it yours?”
Julia got to her feet. “No, it’s Blanche’s. Didn’t you know she had one?”
Henrietta’s shoulders dropped. “No. When you said Blanche told that lady at the library she was going to get one, my heart sank. I was really hoping that lady was wrong. I didn’t want Blanche to go online. If she did, I knew she’d be curious about Howard Samuels. It wouldn’t have taken long for her to find him. And it wouldn’t have taken her long to find out about us being a couple.” Henrietta blinked away a tear. “I can tell by your face that you’ve discovered something terrible. Please, tell me what it is.” She walked unsteadily to a small sofa beneath the window and motioned for Julia to follow her.
Julia did so and put the laptop on her knee. She said, “I think Blanche has known for a while about you and Howard. Let me show you this.” Julia clicked on the Internet history again. “She must have become suspicious about you because she’s been looking up, ‘How to tell when someone is lying to you’. There’s a lot of information on here.” Julia made a mental note to look at the same pages when she got home. It was good information.
Henrietta played with her pearls. “How long ago was this?”
“She visited this page about ten months ago. But that’s not all she did.” Julia clicked on another page and turned the screen to Henrietta.
Henrietta’s eyes widened. “Tracking devices? What sort of a person would use a tracking device?”
Julia didn’t make a comment to that. She went on to Blanche’s emails and opened some of them. “Blanche made contact with people who are experts on finding out what people are up to. Some of them suggested she use a camera as well as a tracking device. They’ve even given her the names of websites to contact.”
Henrietta gulped. “A camera? Julia, are you suggesting that Blanche put some sort of bug on me to see where I was going? And that bug had a camera as well? This is preposterous! Blanche would never do that to me. Never!”
With a reluctant heart, Julia made her next move and opened one of the video files.
Henrietta gasped. “That’s me! At Denise’s salon. But how?”
Julia pointed to Henrietta’s pearls. “There’s a tracking device in there, along with a tiny camera. I found a receipt in Blanche’s emails for a modification to a pearl necklace. Didn’t you say Blanche took your pearls to be cleaned?”
Henrietta nodded her head sadly. “Has she really been watching me? Has she heard everything I’ve been talking to Denise about?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. And she’s watched every meeting you’ve had with Howard. I found a video where he’s talking to you about Blanche. He’s explaining it was him who told your father about the planned elopement.”
“No! She must have been devastated to hear that.”
“That’s not all Howard said. He goes on to say he only had eyes for you, and how much he didn’t like Blanche.”
“I remember the conversation. I admitted I had feelings for him when I was young, and that I was glad Blanche didn’t run off with him.” She let out an anguished sob. “Poor Blanche! Having to listen to all of that. She must have felt so betrayed.”
Julia couldn’t keep the hard tone from her voice. “Don’t feel sorry for her. She got her revenge on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“All those conversations you had with Denise at the salon were recorded by Blanche.”
“But we talked about very private matters. Denise discussed the problems some of her other clients were having.”
“I know,” Julia said. “Denise told you who was having money problems, who was cheating on their spouses …”
Henrietta put her hand up. “Please, don’t go on. I always promised Denise that I wouldn’t breathe a word of what she told me to anyone else. You said Blanche got her revenge, what did you mean by that?”
“Blanche contacted the people you were talking about and sent them horrible emails. I suppose you’d call them poison emails these days. She was unnecessarily cruel to them and threatened to expose them. I read some of the replies from these people. They begged her to keep quiet. But she wouldn’t relent and told them they deserved to suffer. She even blackmailed some of them. I think she must have used that money to pay for your new kitchen.”
“She must have been taking the hurt that I’d caused her out on these strangers. But couldn’t these people have blocked her emails, or found out where they were coming from and told the police?”
Julia said, “Your sister was very savvy when it came to online matters. She’d made a lot of friends who sympathised with her situation. They told her how to re-route her emails so that she couldn’t be traced. And they showed her how to hack into people’s private social pages, and even their phones. She hounded them. And it looks like she took great pleasure in it.” Julia had discovered that Blanche had indeed found out about Kayla Booth and her knitting scam. Blanche had sent emails to Kayla but Kayla had somehow worked out who’d sent them. Perhaps Kayla had friends in low places too. Julia didn’t burden Henrietta with that information.
“This is all my fault. Those poor clients of Denise’s. It’s all my fault that she lost clients.”
Julia’s nose wrinkled as she smelled the same thing that she had done earlier. She recognised what it was as another person walked into the room. It was cigarette smoke.
Denise Kemp said, “Henrietta, are you sure you don’t mind me smoking in here? Let me open a window.” She walked over to the sofa where Julia and Henrietta were sitting and opened the window behind them. She looked down at the laptop. “What are you two looking at?” She began to cough. “Excuse me.” She coughed ag
ain and thumped her chest. She smiled and said, “These cigarettes will be the death of me.”
Julia’s grip on the laptop tightened. Denise’s deep, smoker’s voice could easily be mistaken for that of a man.
Chapter 38
Henrietta stood up and placed a hand on Denise’s arm. “I’m so sorry about this, Denise. You were right about someone revealing all the secrets you’d told me about your clients. But it wasn’t me, it was Blanche.” She looked at Julia. “Will you explain everything to Denise, please?”
Denise stubbed her cigarette out on a nearby coaster and took the seat that Henrietta had just vacated. Julia quickly pressed a few buttons before turning the screen in Denise’s direction. Henrietta pulled a chair up and sat in front of them.
With her heart in her mouth, Julia kept her tone neutral as she told Denise about the hidden camera in Henrietta’s pearls. Denise didn’t make any comment about that.
When Julia had finished telling Denise about the hidden camera and the subsequent emails, Henrietta said, “So, you see, Denise, it wasn’t me at all. I’m so sorry that this happened. I had no idea what was going on.” Henrietta looked at Julia and said, “Denise and I had an argument about this very thing on the night of the knitting class which we held here. Denise’s business started to suffer six months ago because certain clients complained that Denise was talking to other people about them. Denise denied it, of course, but her customers insisted they’d only told their confidential news to Denise and no one else. Isn’t that right, Denise?”
Denise silently nodded.
Henrietta continued, “Her business began to suffer as loyal clients left. Selby, her husband, wasn’t at all pleased. Selby mentioned the advertising boards to me and said they would give a boost to the salon business. When I asked Blanche about this, she refused, even though it made good business sense.”
Julia said, “Where were you two when you were arguing about this?”
“We were in my bedroom,” Henrietta said. “I hope no one heard us because it became quite a heated argument.”
Julia didn’t let them know her dad had overheard them. He was under the influence of elderflower wine at the time and had mistaken Denise’s deep voice for a man’s.
Henrietta wrung her hands together. “Denise, please say something. I feel ever so guilty for what Blanche has done. I had no idea she’d written such obnoxious emails to your clients.”
Denise still didn’t speak so Julia turned to her and said, “You knew, didn’t you?”
Denise looked at her with a cold expression. “I might have known you’d work it out. You just can’t keep yourself to yourself, can you? Just like that interfering old witch. I almost lost my business because of her.”
Henrietta’s voice shook as she said, “Denise? What are you talking about?”
Denise snapped, “You were the only one, apart from me, who knew my clients’ secrets. I believed you when you said you wouldn’t tell anyone about my clients. But I thought you’d been gossiping to Blanche about it. So, I confronted her.”
“When was that?” Julia asked.
“The morning after the knitting class. Blanche didn’t deny it. She seemed glad that I’d found out. She told me I should think twice before interfering with her family again. She blamed me for you and Howard getting together. She said I’d put ideas into your head. She gloated about all the emails she’d sent to my clients. The nosy cow had even hacked into my private emails. She knew I was planning to leave Selby and set up my own business. And, on that morning, she threatened to tell him. I couldn’t have that.” Denise smirked to herself and looked away.
Henrietta said quietly, “Denise, what did you do?”
Denise looked back. “What do you think I did? I shut her up. For good. She deserved it. She wasn’t the kind-hearted person you made her out to be, Henrietta. She’d been manipulating you for years, everyone could see that. She controlled you. She took away your life.”
“I didn’t see it like that. I loved her,” Henrietta said. A tear rolled down her face. “How could you do that to her?”
Denise shrugged.
Julia said, “You lied to the police about Selby, didn’t you? You said you were here with him that morning, but then you changed your story.”
“I had to. I was here that morning with him, that’s true. I arrived after Henrietta drove away. I’d been watching the house. I was determined to confront Blanche. Blanche let me in. Selby was already inside and he told me to convince Blanche to change her mind about the billboards. Selby and me left at the same time and drove away in different cars. Then I came back and had it out with Blanche.” She smiled. “And now Selby’s going to prison. The police don’t believe I was there at all. It’s all worked out well. I don’t have to leave my business now that he’s out of the way.”
Henrietta stood up and took a step away. “Denise, you have to tell the police what you’ve done. You can’t let Selby go to prison for this.”
“I don’t have to tell the police anything. It’s my word against Selby’s and everyone knows about his bad temper.”
Henrietta gestured to Julia. “But we know. We can’t keep quiet. Not about this.”
Denise gave her a hard look. “You won’t be saying anything. I’ll tell the police you were in on it. I’ll tell them how you wanted to get rid of Blanche so that you could be with Howard.” Denise turned to Julia. “You’re a problem, though. You won’t keep quiet, will you? What am I going to do about you?”
Julia made to stand up. “You’ll do nothing with me!”
Denise reached out and forced her back down. With her other hand, she reached into her pocket and took out a pair of sharp scissors. “I always have my hairdressing scissors nearby. When I saw your car outside, I had a feeling I might need them.”
Henrietta screamed, “Denise! No! Don’t hurt her.”
Denise shouted, “Be quiet! We have to get rid of her. We’ll make up some story about her having an accident. We can push her down the stairs. We can tell the police we found her dead when we came back here. They won’t care about a nosy cleaner.” She started coughing again.
Julia took her opportunity and leapt off the sofa. Denise was quicker and chased after her. Denise grabbed Julia by her hair and pressed the scissors to her neck. “You’re not getting out of this house alive.”
The bedroom door was thrown back. Cain and Old George stood there. Cain was holding a shovel, and Old George was holding a pitchfork.
Old George pointed his weapon at Denise and declared, “Get your hands off my woman!”
Chapter 39
DI Clarke stared at Julia and said, “I would ask you to tell me the whole story again but I really don’t want to hear it. You can put everything in your statement later. Ms Blake, what do you hear when I tell you to keep away from police business? Do you register my words at all? Am I speaking another language to you?”
Julia said, “I can understand you perfectly well and I don’t appreciate your sarcasm. I told you before I was getting some information on Kayla. And which I was right to do, by the way. I didn’t know it was going to lead me to a confrontation with Blanche’s murderer. And, as I’ve already told you, I’ve recorded it all on Blanche’s laptop. You can thank me later.” She pulled a tissue away from her neck and looked at it. “I think it’s stopped bleeding now.”
DI Clarke shook his head at her. “You were lucky your boyfriend came in when he did. You could have been seriously hurt. Even killed. I’ve already got enough paperwork for one murder, I don’t need you to add to it.”
Julia ignored the glint in his eye. “Old George is not my boyfriend.”
The very man himself wobbled over to them. He nodded at the inspector and then beamed at Julia. “I may as well give up the pretence now, June. I’ve been playing hard to get but I’m ready to start a relationship with you now. I know there’s a bit of an age difference but we can make it work.”
Julia heard a snort coming from the inspector. She
said to Old George, “I appreciate your offer but I’m afraid I’ll have to turn you down.”
“For now,” Old George said with a chuckle. “You know where to find me when you change your mind.” He winked at her and wobbled away.
DI Clarke said, “You could do a lot worse. And, if you were in a relationship with that old gent, you’d be too busy looking after him to interfere in police business. I think you should stop thinking about yourself, Ms Blake, and think about other people.” He turned and walked away. Julia could have sworn she heard him laughing.
Cain came over to her side, a pot in his hands. “I’m going to have a go at growing cucumbers. Old George has given me some instructions.” He winced as he looked at Julia’s neck. “You’re bleeding again. I can’t bear to think of what might have happened to you if we hadn’t got there in time. It was Old George who realised something funny was going on. We heard Denise’s voice from the garden. We heard her threatening you. Old George was up those stairs in a flash. I was right behind him. Are you alright, Julia?”
“I’m fine. I still can’t believe I was taken in by Blanche’s act. You should have read some of her nasty emails. No, perhaps you shouldn’t. You don’t want words like that in your head. Are you ready to go home now? We can give our statements to the police later.”
Cain nodded and looked down at his plant. “Colin, I’m going to take you home now. I’ll introduce you to Tommy. I think you’ll like each other.”
Knitting And Murder (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 9) Page 12
