by Emily Selby
'Sorry for the gruesome details, but I'm just relating what Vera said.'
"Poor Phyllis.'
They sipped their drinks in silence. Katie thought of the fragility of life and how some people had so much evil in them. And how some people could hold grudges. She shuddered. Sunnyvale was such a great town to live, she was happy that it had one less poisonous person, and one murderer soon to be transported out of town.
'Right, lass. We've got to go.' Chris stood. 'I've got to get home and collect my kids, so do you, I guess.'
'I don't have any children to collect, but I'd better go back to the station to wrap this case up.' Jack climbed to his feet. 'At least, I'll get to go home tonight. I'd rather not have to come back on Monday to finish stuff off. Not that I don't like your team, but all that driving back and forth over the past ten days has exhausted me.'
Katie raised her brows in surprise. 'Where do you live?'
'Half way between Sunnyvale and Carlisle.' He replied. 'A twenty-minute drive. I'm living with my dad in a little cottage in a tiny village. All this village life is a bit new to me.' He laughed.
If he lived with his dad, he probably was single, Katie couldn't help taking note.
'You've done a lot of driving,' she said thinking of all the late-night journeys he’d made over the previous week or so.
'I listen to the music or audiobooks, so it's fine. But the worst is when you have to return to work shortly after you've got home and gone to bed.'
'I hope you have some positive memories from Sunnyvale...' Katie said, smiling. She really hoped he did, because... because... It would have been awful if he didn't. He deserved to have some positive experiences. He was a good man, Katie concluded.
'I have, thank you. Your cake was lovely. And the team is awesome, too. 'He turned to Chris. 'Let's go. Katie needs to get her daughter from school, too. I bet the little one misses her mum.' Jack smiled warmly. Kate's knees went all weak, just the way they had when she first saw him. Only ten days ago. She would have never thought that ten days later...
Oh well. Life.
'Hey, Katie, almost forgot.' Chris turned around at the door. 'I've got that ring for you.'
'What ring?'
'The ring from the box Vera smashed.' He pulled a matchbox from his pocket.
'But- it's Roy's,' she protested. After all the effort Roy had expended in finding it, Katie couldn't take it away from him. 'What if the man contacts him again?'
'Roy says it's yours. I'm just passing it on. You can argue with him later. He'll be out of hospital on Monday,' Chris said.
Both men waved and left.
Still clutching the matchbox, Katie stood on her doorstep watching the men climb into the police car and drive away. She opened the box a little, just to have a look. The light glimmered on the smooth, opalescent surface. Intrigued, Katie slid the lid off completely.
'Oh!' She let out a cry. 'Beautiful.' She whispered. She admired two shimmering half-moon stones joined with a panel of intricately-shaped white metal, sitting on top of a golden band.
Very unusual, indeed. Katie thought. She had a bad feeling about this one. Worth shedding blood over? A chill went down her spine. A sense of sadness tugged at her heart. She slid the box closed.
'Let's not open another Pandora's box.' She whispered as she walked to her bedroom. On Monday, she'd call Roy or the solicitor and return the ring. She hid the box in a drawer and rushed back to the hallway to grab her jacket and the car keys. It was time to pick up Julia from school. She really missed her little girl.
Life had to go on.
Dip Pens, Descendants, and Dirty Deals
1
Katie Redford unlocked the door to her flat. The smell of wet dust hit her hard. She wrinkled her nose. It was the first time she had been away from her flat for longer than a few hours.
Gosh, these old flats can get mouldy quickly!
It was barely 24hrs since she’d left. Hopefully, it wasn't a leaky roof or something equally nasty. Kate sighed. The last thing she needed was yet more expense.
She climbed the stairs, dragging her overnight bag. It was a long drive. Not only because of the miles and buckets of rain involved, but because of Katie's heavy heart. Leaving her daughter with her unreliable ex-husband for a weekend was never easy. It was Barry's turn to have Julia, but he couldn't come to collect her, or attend her amateur theatre audition. With the youngster even keener than usual to spend some time with her dad, the best solution had been to drive to York straight after the audition.
So, exhausted from all the driving and two weeks of dealing with the murder of her former cleaning client, the only thing Katie wanted was to slip into her bed and sleep until she couldn't any more.
She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the rack in the hallway. The floorboard squeaked under her feet, her steps echoing on the landing. Maybe she'd look into buying some rugs in town tomorrow? She needed to spend more time making the flat comfortable. It'd been over a month since Julia and Katie moved in, and the flat still didn't feel like home.
Katie shivered. The days were getting colder, of course, but she didn't realise the house could become cold so quickly without the heating on. A waft of chill wind touched her cheek.
A draft? She'd never noticed that before.
An open window? Would she forget in the heat of the last moment preparations? Had she been burgled? Her heart skipped a beat. She took a deep breath.
The draft felt as though it came from her bedroom.
Katie wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck. She pressed the handle. The bedroom door opened with a familiar screech.
The room was dark and freezing cold. The wet breeze hit her in the face the moment she entered. The curtains flapped in the wind, dripping water onto the tired floor panels. It had been raining heavily for hours. Darn it!
She should have double-checked all the windows before leaving the house.
She flicked the light switch. The room filled with a harsh yellow glow. Katie swept her surroundings with one glance and blew out a breath—it condensed in the air around her head. She shivered. Apart from the sodden curtains and a puddle of water on the floor, the room looked untouched.
Pure luck!
She crossed the room to close the window. She pulled the dripping curtains aside. Her backyard was dark–the council still hadn't fixed the street lamps in the back lane. The nearest source of light came from her own window. Katie leant out just to have a look. Tiny droplets touched her face, cooling it further.
She reached out to close the window and caught a glimpse of something on the garage roof, just below her bedroom window. A dark spot the size of a large rubbish bag. Katie strained her eyes but couldn't make out any more detail. She needed a torch. She kept one in the top drawer, somewhere between her knickers and bras.
She turned back and opened the underwear drawer.
Her heart flipped. Certain she hadn’t left it this messy. What was going on? Had someone been through her underwear? She'd check later if anything had gone missing.
Katie grabbed the torch and returned to the window.
She swept the beam across the garage roof and focused on the large blob under the window.
A cold shiver fluttered down Katie's spine.
'Who’s there?' she called out, holding her torch pointed at the spot. Her voice echoed in the empty yard below. 'Can you hear me?'
The more she looked, the more she was convinced. It was a body, curled up in the dark and the rain—immobile.
Oh Lord, a body!
She ducked inside the bedroom, scrambled in her handbag for her mobile phone. With her hands still shaking, Katie dialled the emergency number. The operator took her details.
'Are you sure that person is not moving?'
Katie steadied her breath.
'I've watched for a while and saw no movement. I called out, but there was no response. It's on the roof of my garage, I can't really get any closer.'
'Help is on its way.
'
A few minutes later the first set of flashing lights appeared outside the access lane at the back of the row of terraced houses. Katie observed the movements of the firemen and then paramedics on the roof, checking the body, but not doing much with it. Katie found their actions bizarre. If the person was unconscious, surely, he or she should be taken down? Or they should bring some equipment up. Anyway, this was awful. Poor thing. Lying there is the rain and cold. Was it a repairman or a burglar? What was he or she doing there at night in such weather?
And, more importantly, why this person was still there, on her roof, not moving?
Katie shivered again and hugged her jacket closer to her chest. She really should close the window, but she couldn't peel herself off it. She was leaning on the frame, her feet glued to the floor. A lump grew in her throat. What if the person was dead? Died at work, on their own. Without an opportunity to call for help. Or maybe they called for help but weren't heard, because Katie wasn't home?
Her eyes watered. Burglar or not, they were a person, with a family, and friends... So sad... Katie clasped her hands together. Standing at the window was not helping her or the poor person on the roof. Reluctantly, she pushed herself away from the sill and pulled the handle. As she closed the window, another set of lights emerged from the darkness at the end of the lane. Katie recognised the local police van. Her heart made an extra flip, and her stomach churned. Getting the men in blue involved meant that the body on the roof was dead.
She hadn't had time to recover from the most recent spate of crimes and here she was, discovering another body. Her little Sunnyvale was no longer the happy, safe place it used to be.
Katie wobbled and sat on her bed. What should she do? At least her daughter was away and safe.
So much for Katie’s quiet weekend.
She sat motionless for a few more seconds. Maybe it wasn't all that bad. Maybe, it was just a sudden death of someone who was fixing the roof? She was probably exaggerating. There might have been a completely innocent explanation of the presence of a dead body on her garage roof.
Either way, she was freezing and starving, and she needed a cup of tea. Priorities, Katie! She chastised herself.
She turned the heater thermostat up to twenty-five degrees and filled the kettle. She was about to sit down at the table with a cup of freshly brewed tea when someone knocked on the door. It was nearly 9 pm.
'Who is it?' Katie called out from the landing.
'Hi Katie, it's Celia Baxter with Inspector Lumley,' a familiar voice replied.
Katie ran downstairs.
She let the two police officers in. It was strange to see their familiar faces outside work, particularly Inspector Andy Lumley, who was the boss of their small team. Used to seeing them during the day, at the station where Katie worked part time as an office clerk, she struggled to work out how to behave. Treat them as her colleagues? Or act as any normal citizen would in the similar circumstances?
Fortunately, Celia, a new recruit on the Sunnyvale team, made the choice easier for her.
'Hi, Katie. Fancy seeing us again at a weekend?' Celia smiled. Her dark curls were wet. 'We've got some questions about an incident in the neighbourhood.'
An incident. Aha!
'Please, come in.' Katie gestured for them to follow her upstairs to the landing.
'I understand you discovered the body?' Celia asked ready to take notes.
'So, it is a dead body?'
Celia nodded.
'Can you tell us how you discovered it?'
Katie briefly described what had happened, while Celia scribbled in her notebook.
'Did you notice anything suspicious around your house?' Celia carried on.
'Not really. I returned home from my mother’s just after 8 pm.'
'You said your window was open. Did you leave it open?'
'I’m not sure. It's possible. We left in a rush.'
'Did you notice anything different around your house?'
Katie chewed on her cheek. A strand of hair came loose from her ponytail. She tucked it behind her ear and started curling it on her finger. Somehow, it helped her think.
'Actually,' she said hesitantly. 'My bedroom looked a little messier then I remembered it.'
'What do you mean?' Inspector Lumley asked.
'My...' Katie blushed. 'My underwear drawer seemed messier than usual. I'm not a very organised person, I admit. But I don't think I would have left my clothes like that.'
'Do you think someone has rummaged through your... things?'
Her taciturn boss looked as uncomfortable as Katie felt. He clearly didn’t want to delve any deeper into her underwear drawer.
'I'm not sure. It's just a feeling...'
'Is there anything missing?'
Katie shrugged. 'Again, I'm not sure. What would be missing? My knickers?' Katie laughed, but it sounded hollow.
Celia glanced at her boss, who seemed to listen carefully to everything, but gave nothing away, keeping his face deadpan.
'Do you keep any valuables in your underwear drawer?' Celia asked. 'A lot of people do. I do.'
'I don't have any valuables,' Katie replied promptly and paused, suddenly aware of something she'd forgotten about. 'Maybe except... Except... Oh, I'd better check.' She turned on her heel. 'You can follow me,' she added, and led them into her bedroom.
She headed straight for the chest of drawers by the window and opened the top drawer. A colourful muddle of her bras, knickers and socks looked different than usual.
'Where is it?' Katie mumbled to herself, feeling various pieces of her underwear. 'I'm sure I put it in here.'
'What are you looking for, Katie?' Celia asked, joining her at the drawer.
'The ring,' Katie explained, now checking the contents of the drawers below. 'These ones looked untouched,' she said slowly.
'What ring?'
Katie looked at Celia, her head spinning. Celia had been involved in some of the events of the previous few weeks and would understand. 'A few days ago, we found a ring in the workshop I inherited from Mrs Dunbar. Do you remember that?' Katie asked.
Celia nodded.
'I put it in here.' Katie pointed the top drawer. 'I was planning to talk about it with the solicitor on Monday. I'm not clear who the ring belongs to since the workshop is not yet formally mine.'
'Is it gone?' Celia asked.
Katie pulled the drawer out and emptied its contents onto the bed. She spread the pile of underwear into a single layer.
'Yep, gone,' she said, tensions growing in her jaw.
'Was it valuable?'
'No idea,' Katie replied truthfully. 'It was an old engagement ring, probably gold. It had two half-moon opals in the centre. It was pretty.'
Inspector Lumley grunted and strode across the bedroom. Katie watched him check her window. He was known for being economical with words.
'Here, look,' he said eventually, leaning over the windowsill. 'Scratches and tiny splinters...'
Katie took a while to process the information.
'Do you mean my flat was broken into?'
'Yes,' he said straightening his back. 'Might have been the guy on the roof.'
A large rock formed in the pit of her stomach. Not only had she found a dead body, she’d also been burgled. She gulped and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
'But why would anyone break into my flat? I have nothing of value. I'm quite poor.'
'Obviously you did have something of value,' Celia said. 'The ring. It looks as though the burglar knew about it.'
'Do you think the dead man on the roof is the burglar?'
'We've found a crowbar beside him. I'm not sure about the ring,' Inspector Lumley replied. 'And he's been murdered.'
Katie's jaw dropped.
'Murdered? How?'
Inspector Lumley looked at her. His face was expressionless. His staff often joked that getting an emotional response from him was harder than getting him to talk.
Katie glanced a
t Celia.
'How?' she repeated.
Celia jerked her shoulders under Katie's gaze.
'We think he's been stabbed,' she replied.
'Stabbed? Another one? What was it this time? A knitting needle?'
Celia glanced at her boss, who was scratching his chin and staring into the distance.
Celia cleared her throat.
'Not a knitting needle, but something that looks like an old-fashioned quill pen, you know, the thing people used to write with. What do you think, sir?' Celia glanced at Inspector Lumley again.
He scratched his large nose and studied Katie's ceiling for a few seconds, nodding to himself.
'Right,' he said after a few more seconds of staring. 'Maybe you'd know.' He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He fumbled with it for a while.
'Enlarged it so you can see only the item, not the body,' he said and passed her the phone.
Katie inhaled sharply. The air seemed to have less oxygen than usually. She felt the blood draining from her face. She blinked, hoping the image she was staring at would change. But it didn't.
'Do you recognise it, Katie?' Celia asked.
'Hmm,' Katie mumbled, her throat tight. 'It's a pen I use for lettering. A dip pen.'
'Did you say the pen you use?' Inspector Lumley asked sharply.
The more she thought about it, the more jittery she became. How on earth could a simple police clerk and a part-time cleaner get herself involved in yet another murder?
Katie cleared her throat.
'Yes, it's my dip pen.'
'Are you certain it's yours?' Inspector Lumley's eyes were drilling through her.
'See that purple sign?' Katie pointed to the picture. 'It's peeled off a little. It was 'K' for Katie. I painted it with nail polish, so I could easily recognise it.
There was a long, tense silence.
'I see,' Inspector said, looking away.
So much for a quiet weekend. She’d found herself involved in yet another murder mystery.
2
With adrenaline rushing through her system, and a headache beginning to blaze a trail behind her eyes, Katie stood.