They felt mildly better as they returned to the laptop. Sable pressed play on the footage from the wall plug.
When they’d finished watching it, Sable gave Connie a confused look. “I don’t understand. That camera was aimed at the area in front of the desk, but we didn’t see any feet near it. Apart from ours and Don’s. Where was the murderer standing?”
Connie let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. And, more to the point, how did he or she get in? They didn’t come through the door because the pen was recording that area.”
“And we didn’t hear anyone drop down from the ceiling.” Sable sat back on her chair. “I’m at a loss.”
“Me too.” Connie wagged her finger. “Although, there is something about that metallic noise that’s bothering me. I need to let my mind relax.” She got to her feet. “I need to do some ironing. That always relaxes me.”
“Really? You could have told me that before. I hate ironing. You could have been doing mine for years.”
Connie moved towards the cupboard where the ironing board was. “Bring it round anytime. I’m not being rude, but I like to iron in peace and quiet with only Jessica Fletcher for company.”
“Who’s she? A neighbour?”
Connie said, “If I could be bothered, I’d give you a withering look. Jessica Fletcher is the star of ‘Murder, She Wrote’. I usually put one of her DVDs on while I iron.”
Sable smiled. “Oh, that Jessica Fletcher. You go and do what you have to. I’ll stay here and get our notes up to date.”
Connie pulled the ironing board out and headed into the living room. She set it up and said to herself, “Come on, Connie. You know where you’ve heard that noise before. Let the memory return.”
Chapter 8
One hour later, Sable and Connie were back at Jocelyn’s building. The police were still there, and it took them ten minutes to convince a stern-faced officer standing outside that they knew DI McCue.
Connie said, “It’s important that we speak to her. It’s about this murder.”
Sable added, “We have a vital piece of evidence. I’m sure you wouldn’t want DI McCue to find out you wouldn’t let us through.” She gave him her own stern look.
The officer turned his back on them and made a call.
A few minutes later, Saffy walked towards them. She gave them an enquiring look and said, “What can I help you with? We’re still busy with the crime scene.”
Connie said, “I think I’ve got something of importance to tell you. It could be nothing, but it might be something.”
Saffy said, “Can you be more specific? Sorry to be abrupt, but I’m needed inside. We’re trying to work out where the murderer came from.” She looked at Sable. “We’ve looked at the footage you recorded. We now know the time of death, and the victim’s movements immediately before.”
“Have you checked the recording from the light bulb yet?” Sable asked.
“We have. It doesn’t show anything but the top of the victim’s head as he walked about. The killer must have been a few feet back when they shot Mr Kent. It’s a mystery as to where the killer came from. I’ve got officers checking the ceiling, and some are on the roof.”
Connie said, “If my theory is correct, I think I know how the murderer got in.”
“Go on,” Saffy said.
“Bear with me, this is a bit of a story,” Connie began. “When I was young, about seven or eight, I used to come to this building with my dad. It used to be a building society. Dad often spoke to the manager, and they had discussions in the manager’s office which was exactly where Jocelyn’s office is right now.”
Saffy nodded. “I see.”
Connie went on, “It was a lovely building with some great features. It had this amazing metal cage lift.” She fixed Saffy with a serious look. “And it had a service lift which ran up from the basement. Each floor had access to that lift. When Dad and me went to see the manager, he would order refreshments for us. The refreshments would be sent up from the ground floor using the service lift. And as it came nearer, it would make a peculiar metallic noise. It scared the life out of me when I was little. I thought it was a monster.
“Anyway, when we were listening to the footage this morning, I heard that noise again. It was faint, but I’m sure it was the same noise. It took me a while to figure out where I’d heard it before.”
Saffy’s eyebrows rose. “And you think the service lift is still in Jocelyn’s office?”
“I do. And I know exactly where it is. It’s built into the wall behind that filing cabinet.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely.”
Saffy tapped her chin and looked over her shoulder at the main entrance of the building. She turned back to Sable and Connie and said, “We’d better have a look then.”
Connie held her hands up. “If I’m completely wrong, then I apologise in advance.”
Saffy said, “Don’t worry about that. I get things wrong all the time. But you have to follow your instincts. Do you want to come with me?”
Sable said, “As if you need to ask.”
The three women rode the lift and walked into Jocelyn’s office. They stopped in front of the filing cabinet and stared at it.
“Do we need to use some magic words?” Sable quipped. “Perhaps ‘Open Sesame’?”
Saffy pulled some latex gloves on. “Let’s see how easy it is to move.”
Connie said, “According to Jocelyn, this filing cabinet was put here by her husband.”
“Interesting,” Saffy said. She put her hands on the back of the cabinet. “I hope it’s not too heavy. Just a minute, there’s a small handle at the back.” She pulled the cabinet towards her.
It moved easily.
Saffy said, “It’s like it’s on wheels.”
Connie pointed at the wall behind the cabinet. “There it is! There’s the service lift. Thank goodness for that. This could have been embarrassing.”
Saffy moved closer to the metal door of the lift. She grabbed the handle at the bottom and slid the door up. An empty space met them.
Saffy peered over the side. “I can see all the way down to the bottom. I think I’m looking at the top of the lift.” She looked over her shoulder at Connie. “How big is this lift? Is it big enough to fit a person inside?”
Connie frowned. “It seemed enormous to me at the time. But then, I was only a child, and everything looked big. There’s a button just on the inside of this door frame. You use that to call the lift up. The manager showed me how it worked.”
Saffy looked to the side of the frame. “Yes, I can see it.”
She pressed it.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Still, nothing happened.
Saffy got her torch out and shone it at the dark area in front of her. She focused the beam on one point. “Come closer and look at this. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
Sable and Connie went to Saffy’s side.
Sable said, “The rope’s been cut right through. That’s why the lift won’t come back up.”
Saffy reached out and pulled the rope towards her. “This has been cut recently.” She looked back down the lift shaft. “I want to have a look at the service lift itself. There could be evidence in it. Do you know if the lift is still used on the other floors?”
Connie said, “We had a look on each floor last night. This supporting wall is on every floor, but there’s no sign of the lift. Obviously, it’s still there, but the access point has been covered up.”
Saffy nodded. “That leaves the basement. Do you want to come with me?”
Sable shivered. “There are rats down there.”
Connie pointed to the area in front of her. “There was an even bigger rat in there.”
“Good point,” Sable said.
They returned to the main lift. As they headed towards the basement, Saffy gave Connie and Sable shoe covers and latex gloves to wear.
Saffy pointed
out, “We could be entering another crime scene.”
Connie held her gloved hands up. “We could do with some of these. Where do you get them from?”
“We buy them in bulk. I’ll send you the info later. Mention my name, and you’ll get a good discount.”
They arrived in the basement. The light was on, and Sable couldn’t see or hear any furry creatures.
Saffy led them over to the service lift. “This hasn’t been covered up at all.”
Connie tutted to herself. “Sable, we should have spotted this last night. If we’d have been brave enough to come fully into the room, that is.”
Saffy said, “I’m glad you didn’t. If this is where the murderer was hiding, it could have been a different outcome for you two.”
They looked at the metal door.
Connie said, “It does look big enough for a person to fit in, don’t you think?”
“If that person was of medium build,” Sable noted. “It would be uncomfortable, though.”
Saffy told them to take a step back while she opened the door.
Connie and Sable took a minuscule step back.
Connie clasped her hands to her chest. “I don’t know why, but I feel sick to my stomach.”
“I do too,” Sable admitted.
Saffy slid the door upwards.
A body rolled out and fell at her feet.
Chapter 9
The man landed on his back. Unseeing eyes stared at them.
Connie said, “We’ve seen him before. He’s called Ricky. He’s an estate agent. We saw him in a meeting with Don recently.”
Saffy said, “Is this the same Ricky who Don was talking to on the phone?”
“Yes,” Connie confirmed. She looked down at the deceased. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why was he in the service lift?”
Saffy moved closer to the lift and put her head inside. “I can see a gun in the far corner. It’s got a silencer on the end. It could be the one used to murder Don Kent.” She tilted her head upwards. “There’s a small door at the top here which is open. There are some ropes just above the opening. It looks like some sort of pulley system.”
Sable peered at Ricky’s open hands. “This chap has got burn marks on his hands. He could have been trying to pull the lift up manually.”
“He wouldn’t have got very far with the rope being cut,” Connie pointed out. “Do you think he became trapped inside this lift and suffocated?”
Saffy crouched next to the body. “It looks that way. Even with some air coming down the lift shaft, he wouldn’t have lasted long. It appears we’ve found our killer. I’m not sure how he got up to the fifth floor unless someone was up there pressing the call button.”
Connie pointed to the outside of the service lift. “There are some buttons here with all the floor numbers on. Ricky could have got inside the lift, pressed for floor five, and then closed the door on himself. Then he went upstairs, let himself out, pushed the filing cabinet to one side and shot Don.”
Sable said, “He must have thought he was shooting Jocelyn. The chair had been turned around, and she was supposed to be in the office at that time.”
Saffy straightened up. “That is possible. I saw the button for the basement upstairs on the wall. We’ll assume once he’d used his gun, he pressed that button, pulled the door closed, and then came back down here hoping to make a quick getaway. Why didn’t he?”
Connie said, “Could you pull the door down a bit, please? I thought I saw something on the handle.”
Saffy pulled the door down, and they all examined the handle.
“There,” Connie pointed. “Those scratches are recent. And look what’s under the handle when it’s closed. There’s another handle built into the service frame. They join together. Someone could have put a padlock on these handles to stop Ricky opening the door from the inside. And when that happened, he tried to use the rope to get out. But it had been cut.”
Sable said, “And the only part of the service lift which was still open was floor five. I wonder if he attempted to climb the inside of the lift shaft?”
“We can check for that later,” Saffy said. “But the obvious question is, who locked these doors and left Ricky to die? He must have had an accomplice.”
“My first thought would have been Don Kent,” Sable said. “If he wasn’t dead. When he was on the phone to Ricky in Jocelyn’s office, he didn’t say where he was calling from. And that call was about ten minutes before the gun shot, so Ricky must have been somewhere near the building. His accomplice must have been nearby too, ready with the padlock.”
“But how would the accomplice cut the rope?” Connie asked. “We didn’t see anyone else going into the office after the shot had been fired.”
Sable shrugged.
Saffy looked at Sable and Connie. “Leave this with us. I’ll let you know how it turns out.”
“Will you let Jocelyn know about this?” Connie asked.
“In due course. I spoke to her earlier. She’s still in shock and won’t be returning to work for a while. Finding out your husband has been murdered is one thing; finding out you were the intended victim is another thing entirely. I don’t want to tell her that over the phone.”
Sable and Connie said goodbye to Saffy and left the building. They headed back to the car park.
Sable said, “At least we know how the intruder got into Jocelyn’s office. That won’t be any comfort to her now. I wonder who the accomplice is?”
Connie froze. Sable bumped into her.
“Connie! Don’t suddenly stop like that.”
Connie’s hand shot out, and she grabbed Sable’s elbow. She hissed, “Duck!”
Sable did so, and the two women hid behind a black car.
Sable whispered, “Why are we ducking?”
Connie jabbed her finger towards the back of the car park. She whispered, “It’s Emlyn Murray. He’s over there. He’s talking on his phone.” Her eyebrows rose. “He’s smiling. Why is he smiling if he’s just lost his business partner?”
Sable hissed, “He’s the accomplice! Of course. It makes sense.”
“We have to find out who he’s talking to.” Connie kept low as she shuffled forwards. “Come on; we’ll sneak up on him.” She grimaced and put a hand on her back.
Sable straightened up. “We are not crabs. And you’re not doing your back any favours scuttling along like that. Look, he’s got his back to us. We’ll quietly walk over and see how much we can overhear.”
Connie stood straighter and gave her lower back a quick rub.
They silently moved closer to Emlyn. He didn’t notice them as he was fully absorbed in his conversation.
“Yep, that’s right,” Emlyn said. “It’s a five-storey building on Cumberland Road. There’s plenty of car parking space.” He listened for a few seconds. “That sounds a good price, but I’ve had better offers. Think it over and get back to me.”
He ended the call and put his phone away. He turned around and jumped when he saw Connie and Sable glaring at him.
“Whoa! Watch it. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” He tried to walk past them.
Sable said, “Was that Jocelyn’s building you were talking about?”
“What?” Emlyn said, his eyes darting to the side. “What are you going on about?”
“Don’t play the innocent with me,” Sable said. “We heard you. Were you talking about Jocelyn’s building?”
Colour infused Emlyn’s cheeks as he gave them a defiant look. “I might have been. What’s it got to do with you?”
“We’re private investigators, and we’re working on Jocelyn’s behalf,” Sable advised him.
Emlyn’s pink cheeks immediately lost their colour. “Private investigators? You two? Are you having a laugh?”
Sable folded her arms. “Do we look as if we’re laughing? For the last time, were you talking about Jocelyn’s building?”
“What if I was? She’ll be wanting to sell it now that her hubby’s gone. And I’
ll take it off her hands at a good price. I’ll be doing her a favour.”
Connie said, “We know about your deal with Don. We heard him talking to Ricky, the estate agent. Your name was mentioned. How well did you know Ricky?”
“Ricky who?” Emlyn blustered. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. Get out of my way.” He put his head down and marched away.
Sable and Connie watched him go.
“Well,” Sable said. “It looks like we found the accomplice. We’d better let Saffy know. She’ll want to talk to Emlyn Murray.”
They shared a look and then headed back to Jocelyn’s building.
Chapter 10
Two days went by without any news from Saffy about the case. Connie and Sable passed the time by making a list of potential new cases for them to work on. They’d had more visitors to their website recently, and more enquiries.
Connie was sitting at the kitchen table with Sable and was about to ring a potential client when her phone rang. It was Jocelyn.
After some general chatting, Jocelyn said, “Would you be able to come round to my office with your final bill, please?”
Connie replied, “Oh, don’t worry about that. We can email it to you later. There’s no rush. I’m sure you’ve got other things on your mind.”
“I do, but I’d like to get this sorted out. I’m extremely grateful to you and Sable for looking into this matter. I never knew about the service lift behind the filing cabinet. And to think that …” she broke off, and Connie heard a sob.
Sable said, “What’s she saying?”
Connie held a finger up as Jocelyn came back on the line.
“Sorry about that,” Jocelyn said.
Connie said, “The bill can wait.”
“Not for me. Please, do come round as soon as you can. It’ll help me.”
“Okay. We can be there within the hour. See you then.”
“Thank you. Bye.”
Connie relayed the short conversation.
Sable said, “There’s no rush for the money. But I’d be interested to know if the police have been in touch with her about the case. She might even know something about Emlyn. We can’t keep leaving messages for Saffy. We’re becoming a nuisance to her.”
A Deadly Service (A Butterworth Mystery Book 3) Page 4