Dialing Murder (Amateur Sleuth Cozy Mystery)
Page 9
She straightened herself out.
"He is the most pig-headed, ungrateful man I have ever met. Don't you agree, Officer Murphy? Because I'm a woman, he assumes I'm incapable of thought."
Officer Murphy said nothing as Maisie continued to talk about the Detective. Someone at work was involved. It was right under her nose all the time. Officer Murphy might be able to tell her what was happening. Especially as she didn't get to talk to George in any detail.
"Officer Murphy, any plans to ask Lizzie out again?"
The officer shuffled with embarrassment.
"Well, um, I don't know that it's any of your business, Miss."
His face was beetroot, and she chortled.
"George came by our house yesterday. Did he find what he was looking for?"
"Detective Blake warned us about you, Miss. I am not to answer any questions."
She fumed. Why did Detective Blake dislike her? She knew why. She was clever and could think for herself. He was the type that wanted a woman to giggle at his every word and need rescuing. Well, Maisie Mills didn't need rescuing. Well, of course, other than when George found her. Oh applesauce, she exclaimed. They had rescued her after a fashion. Officer Murphy walked her to the telephone exchange.
"I'd better walk you in, Miss. Just to be sure."
It was lunchtime. Maisie brazenly walked through to where she knew Lizzie and Lily would be eating lunch. Their shocked looks made Maisie realize how they worried about her.
"You need to leave the police to their own matters, Maisie. I know you were talking about criminals and dead bodies with George. It isn't proper conversation for a young lady. There are some occupations that suit a man's disposition," Lily scolded her. She was telling Lily about her morning. Lizzie was too busy making eyes at officer Murphy to listen.
"Miss Carnegie is going to have a conniption. She knows you were gone," Lily spoke quietly. As if on cue, Miss Carnegie walked into the lunchroom.
"There are no gentlemen allowed in here, even if he is a police officer," Miss Carnegie said as she looked at Maisie. Officer Murphy was no match for the haughty Miss Carnegie. He excused himself, muttering that he had to escort Miss Mills to work.
"Helping the police again, were you, Miss Mills? How very civic minded of you. Return to your station. You've had enough of a break for your last day."
Lily and Lizzie gasped. Maisie had forgotten to tell them that part of her day. She stood up and followed Miss Carnegie out of the room.
Sitting at her desk, Maisie went through the motions of connecting calls. She glanced around wondering who among the workers was involved in shenanigans. When she could, she looked at the women who worked alongside her. She saw Daisy Jones looking shifty as though not wanting anyone to hear her speak. Maisie plugged into that line, but Daisy was only arranging a date with her beau.
Maisie plugged into another call. This time it was the man from before. Katie's beau.
"It's done," he said.
Frozen to her seat, Maisie didn't expect to recognize the voice that answered him as she heard the woman say.
"It's all sorted now. You don't need to go anywhere."
It was Miss Carnegie.
Maisie sat upright and looked around. Officer Murphy had already left. Maisie telephoned the police station to give George the culprit's name.
"Officer Bantry, hurry please."
The line went quiet. Maisie looked up to see Miss Carnegie leaving her office. She had to follow her. It looked liked she was going to the basement. Maisie crept behind her and took care going down the stairs. At one point, she slipped on a step. Miss Carnegie paused but then resumed. Maisie continued to follow her.
The store room was open and staying close to the wall, Maisie went to take a closer look. What was Miss Carnegie hiding in there? It was so quiet. Maisie wondered if she had been mistaken. Was there an exit she didn't know about? She took a deep breath and peered around the door. The room was empty!
"Where is she?" Maisie muttered as she stepped into the room. There was no other door, and then Maisie heard the door slam shut behind her and turned to see Miss Carnegie turning the key. Miss Carnegie had lured her here and had been standing behind the door.
"Miss Carnegie, I thought you might need help," Maisie said, trying to think on her feet.
"No, you didn't, Maisie Mills. The nosy thorn in my side. Eavesdropping on people's private conversations," Miss Carnegie tutted.
"The police are on their way."
"I think not. Your problem, Maisie, is that you don't think things through. That is why you in a locked room with me."
"You won't get away with this Miss Carnegie. People will know you did this." Maisie went to move towards Miss Carnegie.
"Not so fast," Miss Carnegie pulled a Derringer from her pocket. Maisie retreated. In her brief knowledge of firearms, Maisie knew the Derringer could only fire once. She'd have to make sure Miss Carnegie missed. The woman walked towards her with a determined gait.
"I can see your mind ticking over. I can only fire once but you see, Miss Mills, I'm not some silly woman. I actually know how to use this. And I'll be well gone by the time they find your remains."
It couldn't end like this. Maisie had to find a way to stop Miss Carnegie as she took aim and got ready to fire. Maisie grabbed a box and threw it at her assailant. The shot missed Maisie, but Miss Carnegie flew into a rage.
"I can kill you with my bare hands," Miss Carnegie shouted. She threw Maisie to the ground and sat her on, squeezing her throat. Maisie tried to fight back, but she was losing consciousness. She couldn't break Miss Carnegie's hold of her. Maisie tried to call out, desperate act as it was. She flailed on the ground, and the room began to fall into darkness. Maisie closed her eyes but could hear some commotion. She heard Detective Blake's voice, and the pressure was released from her throat.
"Miss Mills. Stay with us," the voice said.
Chapter Eleven
"A clever girl like Maisie will pick up something I'm sure of it," Mrs. Hopkins said reassuringly.
"I'm sure it's okay for you to leave, Officer Murphy. Maisie is safe now," Lily said.
"No, Miss. My instructions are to remain with you, and that's what I will do. I can wait outside, but I'm not leaving."
"You will stay in the warmth young man," Mrs. Hopkins said.
Maisie was lying on the couch. She was safe. She noticed that Mrs. Hopkins was her old self again. Why she hasn't mentioned Katie, Maisie wondered. Her throat was so sore.
Only a few hours earlier she had been attacked by Miss Carnegie. She knew the police had come just in time. However, she knew no more of the events.
"I wonder what's happening?" she asked herself.
Maisie rolled her eyes as Mrs. Hopkins went on about how young women behaved in her day. Lily was trying to stifle a giggle as Maisie made faces. The sound of car doors slamming brought the group to attention.
"What will we do?" Mrs. Hopkins asked.
"Stay here ladies, I'll see what's happening," Officer Murphy stood up and looked out the window. Maisie noticed his body language relaxed a little, it was safe. As he went to the front door, she followed him.
George and Detective Blake were standing there. Maisie opened her mouth about to give Detective Blake a piece of her mind. Just as the words were about to come, the men separated to reveal a bruised and beaten Katie. Her beautiful face destroyed.
"Katie!" Maisie rasped.
"I'm okay, Maisie. Really I am. Thanks to George." Even with one eye closed, and her facial lacerations, Katie still exuded beauty. She smiled at George. He was embarrassed.
"May we come in?" the officious Detective Blake said as he made his way in.
"Oh Katie," Mrs. Hopkins burst into tears and Lily was close behind. George held Katie as he walked her to the chair.
"Our business has concluded. You and Mrs. Hopkins are safe now, Katie. We thank you for your help," Detective Blake said rather graciously.
Maisie was perplexed and l
ooked around for answers. Why was he thanking them and not her?
"What happened?" she asked hoarsely.
"Maisie Mills, the doctor said to rest your voice," Mrs. Hopkins said putting her arms around Maisie.
"It's late. Miss Mills, I apologize for my treatment of you earlier. It was a necessity, I'm afraid. But I shall explain tomorrow. It's been a very long night. Murphy, you are relieved now. I'm assuming George that you will stay here," Detective Blake said as George nodded.
"Bring Miss Mills to the station at, shall we say, 11 am. George, Miss Mills, ladies, Goodnight. On behalf of the Unites States, we thank you again for your service."
Maisie was even more confused. This sounded serious. But Detective Blake was right, now was not the time for full disclosure. Katie needed to be looked after, and Mrs. Hopkins collapsed in her chair. Two of her charges had narrowly escaped death.
"Tomorrow, then," Maisie whispered. She looked at George for any inclination on what had transpired, but George only had eyes for Katie.
No one was going to bed anytime soon. Lily made more tea. Katie looked so frail. Maisie saw the bruises around her friend's wrists which meant she had been bound. Poor Katie. Maisie put her hand to her neck. When she closed her eyes, she could feel Miss Carnegie grip. She shuddered. What pain Katie must have endured to have such bruises and cuts. Maisie scolded herself for play acting like a child when Katie was in real danger. Mrs. Hopkins had banned any discussion about what happened. They were to be grateful to be alive and how lucky to have such fine policemen as part of the family.
"Maisie, you'll want to get ready." Someone was shaking her shoulders.
"Go away," she said.
"Maisie Mills, wake up. You have to see that lovely Detective Blake. Don't keep the man waiting," Mrs. Hopkins scolded her.
Maisie sat up and stretched. Her back ached from leaning over the table. She looked around and saw Katie and Lily were gone. George sat beside her eating breakfast, and Mrs. Hopkins was pouring tea.
"Now I've made fresh scones. George, bring the basket to the station. You young men need feeding up after all the work you do."
George smiled.
"What a day we had yesterday, Maisie. You were brilliant." He put his hand to his mouth.
"Oops, I'm under orders not to discuss the day with you, sorry, Maisie. The Detective will explain everything."
"Then can we go? My head will explode if someone doesn't explain things to me. I'll get changed, and we can go. My voice is coming back, not quite the same but much better."
Maisie raced upstairs. Katie's door was open. Perhaps she could enlighten her a little.
"Knock, knock, may I come in?" Maisie said. It was a shock to see Katie's face in the daylight.
"I know I look a sight. Please don't be angry with me, Maisie. I wanted to tell you but I couldn't. Oh my, your throat. You'd better wear one of my scarves. Bring me the patterned silk one," Katie said as she pointed to the scarf. Maisie handed it to her and Katie patted her bed for Maisie to sit by her as she tied the scarf around her friend's neck.
"Now you look divine."
"Katie, I'm only glad you're safe. That's the main thing. You're home where you belong. You rest now."
As soon as she saw her face, Maisie knew she couldn't put any pressure on Katie. She had been through enough. She left Katie alone.
Freshened up, Maisie returned downstairs.
"Come on, George. I'm ready," she said in a hoarse voice.
"Here's the car now. Detective Blake sent word this morning that we'd be collected. Your carriage awaits," George did a fake bow as Maisie left the house. He was in a good mood, she told herself.
Their arrival at the station was very different to Maisie's previous visits. She was ushered in immediately to the Captain's office. Detective Blake and Captain Davis were waiting for her.
"Miss Mills, I hear you have been pivotal in this investigation," the Captain said in greeting. Maisie blushed.
"We had many pieces of the puzzle. Our breakthrough came yesterday when Officer Bantry told us what you said. We had places, names but seemed to be missing the puppet master, so to speak…"
"Perhaps I should continue, Captain," Detective Blake said as he continued. "We suspected someone at the exchange was involved as was your instinct. But you confirmed it. We knew you were being followed. To protect you, I made that very visible display yesterday. Whomever was following you would report that you were out of reach. Officer Murphy was supposed to stay inside the building to keep an eye on you. Mrs. Hopkins and Katie were helping us but under strict orders not to reveal this to you. You all had to go about your business normally."
Maisie was dumbfounded.
"But why was Miss Carnegie involved?"
"We'll get to that in a moment. It seems our Henry Jenkins/John Smith was a Russian spy. After the war, he had gone into hiding and married. But once a spy always a spy and I reckon life was too tame for him. Miss Carnegie was his handler. Apparently, she would arrange false identities for the spies. She was ideally placed to send and receive messages without revealing herself. Except she had fallen in love with Henry Jenkins. Apparently this time he truly wanted to leave to be with Mrs. Leech, and Miss Carnegie couldn't take it.
She arranged to meet him in the park and kissed him. She slipped a cyanide capsule into his mouth and held him until he died. It seems the hair belonged to her orange long-haired cat. Jake Lakes identified her as the woman he had seen, not in words but in his reaction towards her.
"Apparently, she knew you overheard something on the telephone. Once you identified the language as Russian, we knew we had to act fast, and Katie was the bait. They needed to get close to you. You were seen leaving Mrs. Leech's with a book…"
"They got Katie to steal it. She was so brave. But I have should have listened to Lily. She saw animal hair on the usually immaculate Miss Carnegie's clothes. I just wasn't paying attention." Maisie sighed. She had missed that clue.
"What we didn't know was that Rene Dubois, real name Ivan Fodestski, hadn't finished with Katie. When we were alerted, we knew we had to do something but didn't want to overplay our hand. Mrs. Hopkins was informed that someone may come to the house. We weren't sure if they would come for you, Miss Mills. Ivan was just another of Miss Carnegie's spies. She murdered Henry Jenkins but was afraid you knew too much. Ivan was here to tidy up loose ends. George tracked Ivan down, and he was killed in the shoot-out. George shot him as he was about to shoot Katie. The desk sergeant recognized your voice on the phone, and when I took the call, you were gone. We went as fast as we could. Your friend, Miss Tucker, had seen you heading to the basement. She alerted Officer Murphy who was standing outside. We got to you just in time."
"Will you need us to testify?" Maisie asked, the case having been more compelling than she could ever have envisaged. She noticed the detective and Captain exchanging glances.
"Well, that won't be necessary. Miss Carnegie took a cyanide capsule during the interrogation and died."
Maisie gasped. The case was really closed now.
"That's it, Miss Mills. You were very helpful. I doubt we could have solved it without you."
Maisie agreed. She was escorted to George's desk.
"So what's next for you, Maisie? Back to the exchange tomorrow?" George asked.
"No, George. I've had enough excitement to do me a lifetime. I need a quiet job."
George chuckled, as he wondered how long this attitude would last.
The End
About Belle Astor
Belle Astor is a hard-working mother of three children and two dogs! She enjoys cozy mysteries and is particularly interested in the stories of women sleuths who can go head to head and hold their own against their male counterparts.
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