A Party To Die For (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 3) (4 page)

Chapter 13

DI
Clarke’s car was still parked outside Fiona’s house. I decided he should know
about my suspicions over the Blackburns.

Gina
answered my knock at the door. She looked terrible, as if she’d been crying all
day. I explained why I was there.

“The
inspector is in Fiona’s office, looking through some paperwork. Can I get you a
cup of tea, Julia?”

“That
would be lovely, thank you,” I said.

I
followed Gina into the kitchen and waited while she made us both a cup of tea.
We sat down at the table.

“How
are you? And how’s Megan-Rose?” I asked.

“We’re
both heart broken. Megan-Rose cried herself to sleep last night. This is going
to be awful for her, every year on her birthday she will remember that this was
the day that her mum died.”

“I
hadn’t thought of that,” I said.

Gina
sipped her tea.

“Is
Megan-Rose’s father coming home?” I asked.

“He’s
flying in tomorrow,” Gina said. “Can you believe it, he said he had an
important meeting today that he just couldn’t cancel! His daughter needs him
and he isn’t here.”

Gina
had a bitter look on her face.

“Thank
goodness you’re here,” I said. “Megan-Rose needs her auntie.”

“Auntie...yes...that’s
me,” Gina said thoughtfully.

“Who
will look after her? Will her father be at home more?”

“I
doubt it. He seems to forget that he has a daughter. Fiona was planning to send
her away to boarding school. He’ll probably still go ahead with that.”

“You’ll
miss her if that happens. You two seem very close,” I said carefully.

Gina
gave me a searching look. I began to feel uncomfortable.

“You
know, don’t you?” she said.

“I
don’t know anything,” I replied.

“But
you suspect, don’t you?”

I
sighed. May as well admit the truth. “I suspect that you’re Megan-Rose’s real
mum.”

Gina
gave a little smile. “I am. The truth will probably come out soon. Do you know
all about the surrogacy business? That I bore Megan-Rose for Fiona?”

I
nodded.

“It
was Fiona’s idea. I found out I was pregnant from a one night stand. It’s not
like me to have one night stands! I don’t know what came over me that night.
Anyway, there I was, pregnant with no father on the scene. I can’t remember his
name, never mind what he looked liked. I told Fiona and she came up with this
surrogacy plan.”
“Couldn’t you have had the baby and looked after her yourself?” I asked.

“I
was too embarrassed. I had no money and no job. Fiona was very persuasive. She
said I could live nearby and see Megan-Rose every day. It seemed the best
solution for everyone.”

“Didn’t
Fiona want her own children?”

“She
married for money, not love. Her and Richard are seldom in the same country,”
Gina said.

“Do
you regret giving her up?” I asked.

“Every
day,” Gina looked down at the table.

“Can’t
you tell the truth now? You could have full custody of Megan-Rose,” I pointed
out.

Gina
said, “Fiona had a contract drawn up. I don’t even know if it’s possible to
gain custody.”

I
put my hand on top of Gina’s. “You have to try. She’s your daughter.”

Gina
nodded. “You’re right. But I can’t tell Megan-Rose just yet. It’s a lot for a
little girl to take in, especially when she’s still grieving over Fiona. Thanks
for listening, Julia.”

“You’re
welcome. I wonder if the inspector is free yet?” I said.

I
said goodbye to Gina and left the kitchen. I had to go past the stairs to get
to Fiona’s office. As I did so I thought I heard footsteps upstairs.

DI
Clarke must be up there, I thought and I headed up the stairs.

As
I got to the top of the stairs I saw someone coming out of Fiona’s bedroom.

It
wasn’t DI Clarke.

Chapter 14

A
woman stared at me. She looked familiar.

She
smiled. “Hello, it’s Julia Blake, isn’t it?”

I
nodded. This was awkward. She knew me but I couldn’t place her.

“Are
you with DI Clarke?” I asked.

“Yes,
yes I am. I’d better go downstairs before he starts yelling at me!” she said
and she quickly walked past me and down the stairs.

I
wondered what she had been doing in Fiona’s room. Had the police found new
evidence?

I
looked behind me, no one was coming up the stairs. I went into Fiona’s room.

The
bed had been stripped. Evidence I presumed. I had a swift look around, I
couldn’t see that anything else was missing.

Something
scurried across the carpet. It was a spider. It scuttled under the bed.

“Not
you again,” I said to it. I wasn’t sure if it was the same spider that I’d seen
in the kitchen yesterday but I knew I’d have to get rid of it. Fiona couldn’t
stand spiders. She was dead but I could do this last thing for her.

I
got down on my knees and peered under the bed. I saw the spider and reached out
towards it. I tried to grab it but the pesky little thing ran away. As it ran
towards the wall I noticed something lying on the carpet. As my arm was
outstretched I picked it up and brought it towards me.

I
sat back on my heels and examined it.

It
couldn’t be!

I
blinked and looked again.

Not
her? Surely.

But
how else would it have got here?

There
was no time to lose, she could already have left the house.

I
stood up and ran down the stairs.

Where
was DI Clarke? He wasn’t in Fiona’s office. Or in the kitchen.

I
looked in the room where the party had been held the previous day. The woman
I’d met coming out of Fiona’s room was on her hands and knees, peering under a
table.

I
walked over to her and said, “Are you looking for this?”

She
turned around and looked at me. She saw what I was holding out. She stood up
and faced me.

“Where
did you find that? I’ll need to give it to the inspector,” she said.

“You
don’t work for the inspector though, do you? You had me fooled for a moment but
now I recognise you. You’re Clara Chuckles. You look different without your
clown make up on.”

Clara
gave a little smile. She was still looking at the red pompom that I was holding
out.

“Is
this yours?” I asked. “It looks just like the one you had on your shoes at the
party yesterday.”

Clara
thought for a few seconds and then said, “Yes, it’s mine. I lost it somewhere.”

“I
found it in Fiona’s bedroom. Under her bed. What were you doing in there?”

Clara
folded her arms. “I don’t have to answer to you.”

I
took a big breath and asked the question that I was thinking, “Did you kill
Fiona?”

Clara
sneered. “Why would I kill her? I didn’t know her.”

A
thought came to me. “You have similar websites. Fiona had special features that
were unique to her style, I noticed you had something like that on your site.”

Clara
didn’t respond so I carried on, “Although of course, Fiona’s style was more
professional. I don’t mean to be rude but yours was more amateur. Did you copy
one of Fiona’s websites?”

Clara
practically erupted, “I didn’t copy her! She stole the designs from me!”

“So
you did know her.”

Clara
glared at me, a cold look in her eye. “We used to work together years ago. We
were partners, or so I thought. She stole my designs and claimed them as her
own. When I got wise to her she framed me for a theft from a big client. I had
to leave the company that we’d set up together. I couldn’t get a reference so
I’ve had to do stupid little jobs, just to bring money in.”

I
didn’t like the look on her face so I took a step back and said again, “Did you
kill Fiona?”

“Yes
I did. I didn’t plan it though. I didn’t even know that Fiona lived here until
I turned up on the doorstep yesterday. She didn’t recognise me, she didn’t even
give me a second glance.”

Clara
looked around the room we were in. “Look what she ended up with. The perfect
house, the perfect life. This is what I would have had, what I should have had
if it wasn’t for her. As the party went on I suppose I got more angry. I saw
her going upstairs and decided to tell her who I was, and how she’d ruined my
life. When I saw her lying down with her eyes closed...”

“I
don’t want to hear any more,” I said. “I’ll have to let DI Clarke know what
you’ve just told me.”

Clara
gave me a knowing smirk. “I’ll deny it. It’s your word against mine.”

I
held up the pompom. “And what about this?”

“You
removed it from Fiona’s room. Now there’s no evidence to say that I was ever
there.”

A
cold feeling washed over me as I realised she was right.

Chapter 15

“She’s
right. So it’s a good job I overheard everything,” a voice said behind us.

It
was DI Clarke.

“I
was standing in the hallway, I heard everything.” He turned to me and stared at
me intensively until I began to squirm. “Ms Blake, don’t ever remove evidence
like that again. You could have seriously jeopardised this case.”

“I
won’t,” I mumbled. I passed the pompom to him.

DI
Clarke turned to Clara and read her her rights. She didn’t even look sorry. The
friendly clown look had definitely gone.

Two
uniformed officers led her away, leaving me with DI Clarke.

“Alright,
you can give me a lecture. I know I got in your way. I know you told me to keep
my nose out. I can’t help it if I find out things, can I?” I said.

He
said, “You seem to get yourself involved quite easily in other people’s business.”
I nodded. That was true.

He
went on, “I just wanted to say thank you. If you hadn’t found that little
fluffy ball then we wouldn’t have found out who killed Fiona.”

“So
it was a good job that I was around.”

“
Don’t push your luck. Don’t be offended, but I hope I won’t be seeing you
anytime soon. Goodbye.”

I
smiled as the inspector walked away. At least I’d got a thank you.

Gina
walked into the room with Megan-Rose. They were holding hands.

Gina
said, “I am going to do that thing that we talked about earlier. I’ve made an
appointment with a solicitor. It’s my duty to look after this little one. Will
you still come back and clean Fiona’s house until we get everything sorted out?
I don’t know if Richard is going to sell it yet.”

“Of
course I will. And if you need anyone to talk to...about that thing you’re
going to do...I’ll be more than happy to listen to you.”

Gina
smiled. “Thank you, Julia. You’re a good listener. I bet people tell you their
problems all the time.”

They
did. And I was finding more often that their problems were leading to murder.

I
hoped this was the last one that I became involved in.

I
had a nagging feeling that it wouldn’t be.

I’ve
always loved mystery stories and used to devour Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books
when I was young. When I got older I discovered Agatha Christie. Some of her
plots can be confusing but her characters are so vivid and full of life, apart
from the murdered ones of course. My favourite detective has to be Hercule
Poirot as I love the methodical way that he solves mysteries.

I’ve
wanted to write murder mysteries for a long time - and now I have!

 Julia
Blake’s first story ‘Virtually Scared To Death’

Click
here
for Amazon Com

Click
here
for Amazon UK

Julia
Blake’s second story ‘A Deadly Renovation’

Click
here
for Amazon Com

Click
here
for Amazon UK

To
see more of my work, and to connect with me, please visit :

www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

Best
wishes

Gillian