A Deadly Restoration (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by A Deadly Restoration

  “Well, now that my house is tidier I was going to invite some of my new neighbours round.”

  “That sounds lovely.” I smiled at her.

  As I stood up some of the silver balls fell off my lap and onto the floor.

  “Oh! I’m sorry, let me get them,” I said.

  Cora chuckled. “Stephen’s just the same. The amount of times I found those little things in his bed!”

  When I finally arrived home that night it was getting dark. The builders had gone and there wasn’t anybody having arguments on doorsteps.

  I decided to have a long soak in the bath. All the cleaning work I’d done today was starting to catch up with me.

  When the bath was ready I gratefully sank into it. I placed a cup of tea on the side of the bath. Bliss. What more could a person want?

  Suddenly there was a loud crashing noise. It sounded just like the tiles did yesterday when I knocked them over.

  “What’s he up to now?” I asked myself.

  I wanted to know where the noise was coming from but I didn’t want to leave my warm bath. I tried staying there for a while longer but curiosity got the better of me.

  “I’ll just have a quick look,” I promised myself.

  I got out of the bath, put on my dressing gown and looked out of the front window. I couldn’t see anything unusual. I looked out of the side and back windows. I noticed that Leo Kennedy’s back door was open. None of the lights were on in his house.

  Strange.

  But as that had nothing to do with me I decided to go back to the bathroom and my warm bath.

  I stopped halfway. Perhaps I should take a quick look, just to make sure he hadn’t had an accident or anything.

  A few minutes later I was wishing that I’d stayed in my bath.

  Chapter 7

  There had been no answer when I knocked on the open door. I called out ‘hello!’ but no one answered.

  I soon saw why.

  Leo Kennedy was buried under a pile of tiles in his front room. My hands flew to my mouth and held in the scream that was about to come out.

  I took a few deep breaths and then put the light on. I checked the pulse of the hand that was sticking out from the rubble.

  There was no pulse.

  I looked around the room and spotted a telephone. I phoned for an ambulance and the police.

  I took a closer look at Leo Kennedy. There were only a few parts of him visible beneath the tiles but it was definitely him, I recognised his fancy designer shirt.

  What were roof tiles doing in his living room? And who had pushed them on top of him?

  While I waited for help to arrive I took a look around the room. The walls had been replastered and the ceiling recovered. It looked nice, very professional.

  I moved into the kitchen. New units had been fitted. Not my style but very sleek. There was a brochure lying open on the worktop. I picked it up, it was for new ovens.

  “Ms Blake! I hope you’re not contaminating the crime scene!” a voice rang out.

  I dropped the brochure back onto the worktop and looked up at the angry face of DI Clarke.

  We’d met before. I’d forgotten how piercing his eyes could be.

  “I haven’t contaminated anything!” I blurted out.

  “You seem to have a habit of finding dead bodies. Is there something you need to tell me?” he asked.

  “I live next door and noticed that the back door was open. I just came round to make sure everything was alright.”

  DI Clarke raised an eyebrow. “In your dressing gown?”

  I pulled my belt tighter and said, “Yes, in my dressing gown. That’s not a crime is it?”

  DI Clarke gave a little smile. “You’ll have to give us a statement. Do you want to go home and change first?”

  I nodded. It’s hard to be dignified when you’re wearing a dressing gown with cute ducks on it.

  I returned five minutes later and gave DI Clarke a statement. I told him about the noise which I now knew to be slates crashing onto Leo Kennedy.

  “It doesn’t look like an accident. Can you think of anyone would want to kill Mr Kennedy?” DI Clarke said.

  “I can think of two people straight away,” I said. Then I hesitated. I felt disloyal to Cora but I had to tell the inspector about the argument that her son had had with Leo Kennedy.

  Was he the one who had killed him?

  Chapter 8

  It took a long time for DI Clarke to take my statement. He kept asking me to repeat the things I’d overheard. I was tempted to point him in the direction of Joan’s house, I’m sure she knew more than me.

  The next morning I was having a lie in when there was a thudding at my front door.

  I muttered to myself as I pulled on my dressing gown and stomped downstairs.

  “Yes?” I asked as I opened the door.

  John Thomas, the builder was glowering down at me. He was so big that he was blocking out the sun. A vicious looking dog was slobbering at his side.

  “What have you been saying to the coppers? You told them that I killed Leo Kennedy!”

  I took a step backward. “I didn’t! The inspector asked me if he had any enemies and I told him about your argument over the tiles.”

  “That doesn’t mean I killed him. You’ve no right spreading lies,” John Thomas said angrily.

  “I didn’t say you killed him! But you must admit that it’s suspicious that your tiles were the ones that crushed him,” I pointed out.

  He shrugged. “I just piled them up in his living room, to teach him a lesson about not paying my bills. If I wanted to kill him I wouldn’t have wasted good quality tiles.”

  He had a point. I’d seen him with all sorts of tools that he could have used instead.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.” I tried to smile. It was like smiling at a thunder cloud.

  Suddenly his face cleared and he returned my smile. “It’s not the first time I’ve been accused of murder. I must have one of those faces. Ha!”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. I looked closer at the dog. It was slobbering all over my front step. I’d have to clean that when he’d gone.

  John Thomas saw me looking. “He’s a smasher isn’t he? Ugly as sin but a great hunting dog. Watch this.”

  He took the lead off the dog and within a second the dog raced away into Leo Kennedy’s garden.

  John Thomas laughed. “Keep watching, he’ll come back with something soon.”

  About a minute later the dog returned from a garden further down the road. It had various things in its mouth, all of them covered in dog dribble.

  “Well done, Razor, what have you found? Couple of bones and a football. Good job, lad.”

  I didn’t like to point out that the things belonged to other people. John Thomas was not a man that you argued with.

  “We’ll be off then,” he said to me. Then he leaned closer, pointed a chunky finger at me and said, “Don’t be telling any more tales to the police about me. Me and Razor don’t want to have to visit you a second time. Cheerio!”

  I watched the two of them walked away.

  Had I just been threatened by Leo Kennedy’s killer?

  Chapter 9

  I didn’t know whether to phone DI Clarke to let him know what John Thomas had said. I thought about it for a while then decided not to bother as I’m not sure what the inspector would do with that information.

  Also, I didn’t want a second visit from the builder and his dog.

  Thirty minutes later I set off for my first cleaning job.

  I arrived at Mrs Claybourne-Brent’s detached house twenty minutes later. She greeted me at the door, immaculately made up as usual.

  “Can you do the bedrooms today, please, Julia?” she asked. She wrinkled her nose and continued, “My teenage son had his friends round for a sleepover last night and I must apologise in advance for the aroma.”

  “That’s okay. I’m sure I’ve smelt worse,” I said.

  “I wasn’t keen
on him having friends over but it seems to be the done thing now, and you know I like to keep up with everyone else!”

  I smiled. That was an understatement.

  “One of his friends lives at the end of Prospect Road, you know, in one of those big houses? His parents have had the most amazing conservatory built. He showed me photos on his phone,” Mrs Claybourne-Brent said.

  I walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms. Mrs Claybourne-Brent followed me. It seemed she had more to say.

  “Anyway, I was surprised that they’d got planning permission for it because it’s an old house. He didn’t know anything about that, so I phoned his mum.”

  I opened the door to the son’s room. I nearly keeled over from the smell. I took a deep breath, walked quickly over to the window and opened it.

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent was still talking. She didn’t seem to notice the smell, perhaps she was used to it.

  “So I phoned his mum and asked how she got planning permission. She gave me the name of this man at the council who, apparently, is very understanding.”

  I gave her a look. “Understanding in what way? Did she have to pay him?”

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent frowned. “She didn’t say. Anyway, I got his number, this chap at the council, and he’s coming round today to look at our kitchen extension.”

  “What’s wrong with your extension. It’s beautiful,” I said.

  “Yes, but it’s not big enough. My sister’s is much bigger,” she said wistfully.

  Her kitchen was plenty big enough. I should know, I’d cleaned it enough times.

  The doorbell rang.

  “Oh! That’ll be him now.” She looked in a nearby mirror, patted her hair and adjusted her pearl necklace.

  I was left alone to get on with the cleaning. I made a start on the window. I could hear Mrs Claybourne-Brent talking to the man from the council. I looked out of the window at the doorstep below to see what the man looked like.

  I recognised him. It was the shifty looking man with the big nose, the one who had called on Leo Kennedy shortly before his death.

  Chapter 10

  What was he up to? And what sort of council services did he provide? Going by what Mrs Claybourne-Brent had told me, it seemed he was willing to put illegal planning permissions through the council – perhaps for a price?

  Is that why he’d spent time at Leo Kennedy’s house? Had Leo paid him to put the plans for the house through?

  I thought about this as I rubbed the window clean.

  I had to find out exactly what sort of man he was. I zipped through the cleaning work in the bedroom as quickly as I could. I headed downstairs on the pretence of asking Mrs Claybourne-Brent if she’d like the bathrooms doing.

  She was in the kitchen with the shifty looking man. She had her back to me.

  “So you see, Mr Heap, it’s not really big enough is it?” she said.

  Mr Heap was making notes on a clipboard and hadn’t noticed me listening by the door.

  “I see your point, Mrs Claybourne-Brent,” he said. “How much bigger would you like it?”

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent gave a silly giggle and said, “How big can I have it?”

  Mr Heap smiled and carried on writing, “As big as you like. It will cost you...”

  He looked up and noticed me. He stopped talking.

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent looked around. She seemed annoyed to see me standing there. “Yes, Julia? What is it?”

  “Would you like the bathrooms cleaning?” I asked politely.

  She waved a hand at me dismissively, “Yes, just do upstairs today. Mr Heap and I are in the middle of a business meeting. You don’t need to bother with the kitchen.”

  Mr Heap gave me a sly look. He turned to Mrs Claybourne-Brent and said, “Perhaps we should continue our conversation in the garden? I could measure out how big you want your kitchen.”

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent giggled again.

  Mr Heap took her arm and led her outside.

  Bother! I wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying now!

  Unless...

  I ran upstairs and into the en-suite bathroom that faces onto the back garden. I opened the bathroom window. I could hear the murmur of voices but not actual words. I climbed onto the bath and leaned out. I could see the heads of Mrs Claybourne-Brent and Mr Heap. The sun glinted off Mr Heap’s nose. It really was an exceptionally big nose.

  They couldn’t see me but now I could hear what they were saying.

  “Are you sure we can get planning permission?”

  “Of course, and I can make it happen within weeks. For a small fee,” Mr Heap said.

  Mrs Claybourne-Brent asked what the fee was.

  I nearly fell into the bath when I heard the amount. It wasn’t small at all!

  Mr Heap was definitely a crooked council man.

  Did he have something to do with Leo Kennedy’s death?

  Chapter 11

  I kept thinking about Mr Heap and his possible involvement in Leo Kennedy’s death. By the end of the day I had convinced myself that Mr Heap had sneaked into Leo Kennedy’s house and pushed the tiles onto him.

  I wasn’t sure what his motive was though. Perhaps Leo had found out that Mr Heap had made a fortune with his crooked council business and that he wanted a piece of it. Maybe Leo was bribing Mr Heap.

  That motive fitted together nicely. Too nicely perhaps.

  When I arrived home later on I saw John Thomas’s van parked next door. He was loading tiles into the back. As I drove nearer I could see that some of the tiles had blood on them. Shouldn’t they be kept as evidence?

  I pulled into my driveway and quickly got out of my car. I was hoping that I wouldn’t be spotted by the builder.

  I put my key in the front door lock. I got a prickly feeling at the back of my neck, as if someone was watching me. I looked behind me. John Thomas was looking at me, he was holding up a blood stained tile. He winked at me and then turned away.

  I got into my house in double quick time and locked, and bolted, the door behind me. I didn’t feel safe on my street any more, not with Leo Kennedy’s killer still on the loose.

  I made some tea for myself but I didn’t eat much. I felt uneasy for some reason.

  A while later I peeped through my front window. John Thomas’s van had gone. That made me feel better and I began to relax.

  I never did finish my bath from the other night so I decided to try again. I had been in the bath for a good twenty minutes when I heard the sound of glass breaking.

  I was instantly alert. I had an immediate vision of John Thomas and Razor breaking into my house. I didn’t want to be dragged down the street in Razor’s slobbering jaws.

  I jumped out of the bath, quickly dried myself and threw on some clothes. I wasn’t going to be caught in my dressing gown again.

  I armed myself with a toilet cleaning brush and quietly opened the bathroom door. I listened but couldn’t hear any movements. I crept along the landing and into each upstairs room, my toilet brush raised. The rooms were empty.

  I gathered my courage together and went downstairs. My hands were shaking and my knees had a horrible wobbly feeling.

  Within minutes I had checked each room. There was no intruder in my house. And there wasn’t any broken glass anywhere.

  So where had the noise come from?

  I opened my back door and looked over the fence to Leo Kennedy’s house. The glass in his door had been broken.

  I looked at the upstairs windows. There was a beam of moving light, as if someone was shining a torch around. I could also see a faint silhouette at the window.

  I recognised the big nose.

  It was Mr Heap.

  Chapter 12

  I did the sensible thing and phoned DI Clarke.

  “Stay inside your house, Ms Blake. Don’t confront him, he could be dangerous. We’re on our way.”

  “Okay, I’ll stay right here,” I confirmed.

  I waited for a minute then I went back outside. What
if Mr Heap left before the police got here?

  I could see from the torch light that he was still upstairs.

  I stood on my bin and climbed over the fence. I dropped down onto the grass. I quietly pulled Leo Kennedy’s bin over to the fence in case I needed a quick getaway. I entered through the back door, avoiding the broken glass. I wasn’t going to confront Heap, I just didn’t want him to get away.

  I walked through the front room and stood at the bottom of the stairs. I could hear the sound of drawers being opened. I looked around the room. The moon was shining through the window and I could see blood stains on the wooden floor. The moon reflected off something in the corner of the room. I walked over for a closer look.

  I bent down to see what it was.

  I heard a creak on the stairs behind. Heap was coming down!

  I straightened up and made to move.

  “You again!” Heap yelled.

  I didn’t wait to answer. I bolted from the room and out of the back door.

  Heap chased after me.

  I tried to climb onto Leo’s bin in readiness to leap back over the fence. My foot slipped and I fell to the ground. Heap grabbed my arm.

  I wriggled free and ran towards the back garden. The moon’s rays hadn’t reached the back garden and it was dark. I ran blindly onwards. I could hear Heap behind me.

  All of a sudden the security light came on. It startled me and I fell into a hole. I tried to scramble to my knees but Heap had caught up with me. He grabbed my hair and pulled me to my feet.

  “Why are you following me?” he snarled.

  “Let go off my hair, you’re hurting me!” I gasped

  Heap let go. “Why were you in that house? Are you from the council? Have you been spying on me?”

  “No, I saw a light on and wondered who it was. I was just being a concerned neighbour,” I said as convincingly as I could.

  Heap glared at me. “I don’t believe you.”

  He raised his hand.

  “Don’t kill me!” I cried out.