“I’ll wager your Debra didn’t.”
“She didn’t. She tried to become friends with Lana. But it’s hard to be friends with someone when they keep wiping your face clean and rearranging your pencil case.”
Connie and Sable walked up to Dolly’s back door. Connie knocked again.
Lana gave them a curious look over the low fence.
“I’ll try.” Sable rapped loudly on the door.
There was still no answer.
Connie looked over at Lana and said, “Hello there. Do you know if Dolly’s in?”
Lana stood up and put a hand on her lower back. “I haven’t seen her go out.” She squinted at Connie. “Mrs Butterworth? Is that you?”
Connie moved closer to the fence. “It is. It’s Lana, isn’t it? How are you?”
“Aching,” Lana said with a laugh. “As soon as I’ve cleaned my house from top to bottom, I have to start all over again. It’s a never-ending job. You should see how dusty it gets.”
Sable joined Connie at the fence and said, “You could let the dust settle for a while. Who was it who said that a layer of dust could only get so thick?”
Lana gasped, and her face turned pale. “Leave the dust? Why would you do that?”
Connie said, “She was only joking. Lana, how long have you lived here?”
“About five years.”
“And how well do you know Dolly?”
“We exchange pleasantries now and again.” A look of disgust crossed her features. “We’ve had a few hard words too. It’s those cats of hers. They get everywhere. They come into my garden and make themselves at home. It makes my garden look untidy. And then they sneak into my house and leave their disgusting fur and smell everywhere. I can’t tell you how many bottles of bleach I’ve gone through to get rid of the stink. I’ve talked to Dolly about it, but she can’t seem to control those menaces of hers.”
Connie looked back at Dolly’s door. “How many cats has she got?”
“It feels like hundreds, but it’s probably ten or so. I’m surprised there aren’t any of them staring out at us now.” Lana frowned. “Now that we’re talking about it, I haven’t seen any of Dolly’s cats for days. I wonder where they are?”
Sable said, “You told us you hadn’t seen her go out today? Are you certain about that?”
“As certain as I can be. Dolly uses the back door, and I’ve been busy out here all morning.” She looked skyward. “I think one of those dust clouds has been overhead recently. You hear about them on the news, don’t you? Dust clouds which come from the desert or somewhere. My path was filthy this morning. It’s taken me ages to get it clean. And I’ll have to give it another going-over later on.”
Connie said, “It looks clean to me. And your garden is beautiful.”
Lana shook her head. “It’s not quite right yet. You’ll have to excuse me; I’d better get back to it.” She returned to her kneeling position on the step.
Sable and Connie went back to the door.
Connie said, “I don’t like this, Sable. I’ve got an uneasy feeling about Dolly. Something’s not right. Can you feel it too?”
“I can. Try knocking on the door again.”
Connie did so.
Without looking up, Lana called over, “She might be having a nap. Go in. She always leaves the back door unlocked during the day.”
Connie put her hand on the handle and turned it. The door opened. She looked at Sable, her eyebrows raised in question.
Sable said, “We may as well go in.”
They stepped into the kitchen.
Connie called out, “Dolly? It’s me, Connie, Megan’s grandma. Are you in?”
Sable looked around the kitchen. “Wow. I have never seen so many cat-related items in my life. Look at all the ornaments. And the pictures. Even the cups and plates have feline images on them.” She turned around and looked the room over. “But not one single living cat to be found.”
Connie pointed to the corner of the kitchen. “Look at those clean feeding bowls and cat litter trays. They haven’t been used for a while.” She called out for Dolly again.
As there was no reply, they walked through to the living room.
Sable grimaced. “There’s even more cat knick-knacks in here. She could start her own shop. And still, no living animal.” She ran her hand along the nearest upholstered chair. “And not one cat hair in evidence.”
Connie put her hand on her stomach. “I feel uneasy. Something is definitely amiss here. Should we go upstairs?”
“I think we should. I can go if you like?”
“No. We’ll go together. I’ll keep calling out for her.”
They slowly went up the stairs.
They turned to the first bedroom on their right, and Connie tentatively knocked on the door.
They waited a moment and then walked into the room. They stopped and looked at the bed.
Sable said quietly, “There she is. She looks as if she’s sleeping.”
“We both know she’s not sleeping. Let me check for a pulse anyway.” She went over to Dolly’s still body and placed her hand against her neck.
Connie’s voice caught in her throat as she said, “She’s dead.”
Chapter 4
Connie said, “She looks so peaceful, like she’s having a nap. And look at her dressing gown; frolicking cats everywhere.”
Sable went over to Connie’s side. “I’ll phone the police. They need to be notified in cases like this. We should have a look for any cats too. They could be hiding somewhere.”
Connie took one last look at Dolly’s pale face before walking away.
They silently checked the other rooms, and then went downstairs and into the living room. Sable phoned the police.
Connie wandered over to the living room window and looked out. “I wonder how long she’s been lying there? I hope it wasn’t too long. I hate to think of her lying there all alone.” She looked back at Sable. “Sable! What are you doing? Are you looking at Dolly’s post?”
“It’s alright; I’m wearing gloves. I always keep a pair in my bag. I won’t leave any fingerprints.”
Connie was at Sable’s side in a second. “It wasn’t your fingerprints I was bothered about. You can’t read someone’s private post.”
“Dolly won’t mind. Anyway, you said she wasn’t acting like herself yesterday. And there isn’t one single cat in this place. Something unusual has happened here recently. These letters were propped up on the mantelpiece behind that cat clock. They could have something to do with Dolly’s suspicious death.”
“Suspicious death? What are you talking about?”
Sable lowered the letters. “Come on, Connie, you must have seen that bottle of sleeping pills at Dolly’s side. It’s not like you to miss something like that.”
Connie bristled. “I did see them. So what? Many people take sleeping tablets.”
“Not in the middle of the day. Dolly’s curtains were open. If she’d have taken sleeping tablets before bed last night, she would have closed the curtains.” She waved the letters at Connie. “Do you want to have a quick look at these or not? We’ll have to do it before the police get here.”
“Oh, go on there.”
Sable looked at the front of the envelopes. “The envelopes are the same, and the address has been typed on each one. They’ve been posted from different towns, but they’re all from local towns. This one is from Bradford, these two are from Leeds, this one’s from Halifax, this last one came from Huddersfield.” She opened the first one, read it, inhaled sharply and passed it to Connie.
Connie read the contents. “What a terrible thing to say! How dare someone call Dolly evil? And say that she’s not fit to look after herself, never mind a cat.” She turned the paper over. “And they haven’t had the courage to sign this.”
Sable handed her another letter. “This one’s even worse. They’re telling Dolly she doesn’t deserve any happiness in the world, and that everyone hates her, especially her daught
er. And listen to this part: ‘You don’t have any friends because you stink of cats. People cross the street to avoid you. You’re a disgrace to this town. Do everyone a favour and die.’ What an horrendous thing to write.”
Connie opened the last envelope. “It says here that if Dolly doesn’t get rid of her cats, then the writer of this letter will.” She checked the date. “This was written three weeks ago. Is that why there aren’t any cats in here? Did Dolly get rid of them? Or did the obnoxious author of these letters do it?”
Sable looked at the envelopes. “They were all written within the last month. Who would do such a terrible thing? Poor Dolly. No wonder she wasn’t herself yesterday.”
Connie looked up at the ceiling. Dolly’s bedroom was directly above. “Do you think Dolly took an overdose? Did these letters drive her to it?”
Sable was staring at the photo in front of her. “Look at this photo of Dolly and her cats. She obviously loved them. There’s a note at the bottom of this photo. The white cat in her arms is called Blackbeard.”
“That’s a good name considering he’s got a black patch around his eye. I wonder where he is now?”
They stood in silence for a while as they took in the other photographs proudly displayed around the room.
They jumped as a woman said, “Good morning. I didn’t think I’d be seeing you two again so soon.”
Sable and Connie looked towards the slim figure of DI Saffron McCue. She was a friend of Connie’s family and had been in the same class as Debra at school.
Connie blushed, aware of the letters in her hands. “Saffy! Hello! It’s good to see you again despite these tragic circumstances. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you. I’m still settling into the job. Things in Yorkshire move a lot slower than in London. By the guilty looks on your faces, I’m assuming you’re looking at something you shouldn’t be looking at. Would you like to explain yourselves?”
Sable took charge and told Saffy everything.
When she’d finished, Saffy said, “You know you shouldn’t be tampering with anything, but I’m relieved to see you’re wearing gloves. I’ll get someone to take a full statement from you both. Can you wait outside, please? We’ll need to secure the property.”
Connie said, “Do you think you could let us know how this works out, please?”
“In what way?” Saffy held her hand out. “I’ll have those letters now. Thank you.”
Connie handed them over and said, “I’d like to know how she died. If it was an accident or otherwise.”
Saffy said, “You want to know if foul play is involved, is that right?”
“Yes. That’s what I mean.” Connie shifted from one foot to the other. She’d never heard such a cold tone coming from Saffy before.
“And if foul play is involved, you do know that it will be a matter for the police?”
Connie frowned. “Of course we know that. Saffy, have we done something to upset you?”
Saffy sighed and ran a hand over her forehead. “No, I’m sorry. I’m tired. This job is harder than I thought it would be. I’ve been reading over files from the last six months so I can familiarize myself with what goes on around here.” She paused. “Did you say the deceased is called Dolly? As in Dolly Kendall?”
“I didn’t know her surname until I looked at those letters, but yes, she is Dolly Kendall. Or was,” Connie said. “Why?”
“I remember that name. She came into the station a few weeks ago to report her cats missing. I think three had already gone missing, and she was reporting another two that had gone AWOL. No action has been taken by the officer who spoke to Dolly. That’s not much we can do about missing pets.”
Sable said, “We’ll get out of your way. We don’t need to add to your problems.”
“Thanks. And sorry for being so hard on you. I will let you know the cause of death when we have it.”
Connie and Sable left the house by the back door and walked towards a waiting police officer. As soon as they’d given their statements, they returned to Sable’s car.
Connie said, “Are you going to say it, or should I?”
“About there being something fishy going on with Dolly Kendall? That much is clear. Someone wanted to be rid of her. And what an awful way to do it by taking her cats away and sending those awful letters. But like Saffy said, we should leave everything to the police.”
Connie nodded. “Exactly. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Connie and Sable took a long look at Dolly’s house.
Sable started the engine and said, “It wouldn’t hurt to make a few investigations of our own.”
Chapter 5
Sable called in at Connie’s the next morning and found her sister-in-law sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop open in front of her.
“Any news from Saffy yet?” Sable asked.
“Yes. It seems that Dolly took her own life by overdosing on sleeping tablets and some other pills they can’t identify yet. Saffy’s having tests done on those letters too. Tea?”
“Yes, please. I’ll make it.” Sable reached for the kettle. “I hope they find the low-life who wrote those letters.”
“So do I. But what will they do with them? I suppose they’ll charge them with something. But if Dolly committed suicide, then it wouldn’t be the low-life’s fault. Not directly, anyhow.”
Sable switched the kettle on and leant against the work surface. “I’d love to know who it was. I was thinking about this last night, and I thought about Dolly’s neighbour, Lana. She didn’t like Dolly’s cats coming round to her house. Do you think she’s the type to send those kind of letters?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know her that well when she was at school. I suppose if someone is so obsessed with cleanliness, a cat shedding fur on their clean furnishings could tip them over the edge. And it would be easy to go to those other towns to post the letters.”
Sable held up a finger. “And don’t forget about the disappearing cats. If the cats wandered into Lana’s house, she could easily have got rid of them. If she did, I wonder what she did with them?”
“I hope she didn’t hurt them. I hope she took them to a cat shelter or something.” Connie shivered. “Those poor cats. They must be missing Dolly. She doted on them. Whenever we spoke at the play gym, she would always mention them at some point. She talked more about her cats than her daughter.”
“I’ve been thinking about Dolly’s daughter too. I wonder if she knew about those horrible letters? And the disappearing cats?”
Connie smiled. “We can ask her that when we see her. We need to return Tallulah’s necklace. The police must have been in touch with her by now about Dolly’s death.”
“We’ll have our cup of tea first, and then we’ll go round there. I take it you got the address from Debra?”
“You know me so well. Debra’s dropped Tallulah off there a few times, but has never been invited in.”
“That makes me wonder what the daughter’s hiding. Have you got any biscuits hidden away?”
“You know full well where they are.”
Sable was already opening the cupboard. “Speaking of biscuits, how’s the little criminal this morning?”
“It’s funny you should ask that.” Connie reached for something in her cardigan pocket. “I believe this is your pen.”
Sable’s eyes widened. “How did she get that? It was in my bag. The sneaky little thing. I don’t know whether to be annoyed or impressed. That’s quite a skill she’s got.”
“Debra apologises on Megan’s behalf. Megan’s defence is that she gave you a hug so you should have given her something in return.”
“Fair enough. I’ll bear that in mind for the future.” Sable took the pen and slipped it into her pocket. “Have you checked our website this morning to see how many visitors we’ve had?”
“I have.” Connie gave her a proud smile. “We’ve had fifty-eight visitors in the last twenty-four hours. Your beautiful website is attracting atte
ntion.”
“I told you we didn’t need a professional web builder. And what about email enquiries? Have we had any of those?”
Connie pulled a face. “We’ve had some time-wasters. A man called Timothy wants to know where the best fish and chip shop is. He wanted us to investigate the local ones and report back to him. He’s given us a list of ten shops which are in the running.”
“We could do that,” Sable said. “I haven’t had fish and chips for a long time.”
“He wanted us to do it for free.”
“Imbecile. Tell him to look for his own fish and chips. Anything else?”
“There’s one from a woman called Lucy who works at the supermarket. She wants us to follow her boss and see if he talks about her. She’s not sure if he fancies her or not. She says she’s been wrong about men before.”
“Hasn’t she got friends to help her with that?”
“Apparently not. She said she’d pay us.” Connie paused. “In supermarket vouchers for the grand sum of £10.”
Sable laughed. “That’s tempting. I’m going to update the website and put our fees on the front page. That should save us from idiotic emails from foolish people.”
Sable made the cups of tea and brought them over to Connie. She sat at Connie’s side and said in a gentle tone, “How are you feeling today? Finding Dolly like that was a shock.”
“It was a shock. She was all alone. And she looked so sad. What must her mind have been like in the end? And what if we hadn’t called round? How long would she have been lying there undiscovered? It’s so sad.”
“I know. Which is why we’re going to do something about it. I know we haven’t been hired by anyone, but I think we should take this case on to satisfy our own curiosity. I’ve actually started a file on Dolly and put in all the details we have so far.”
“You’re so organised. But remember what Saffy said. We don’t want to cause trouble for her.”
“We won’t. We’ll keep out of her way. And we’ll stay on the right side of the law, as much as we can do. And if anyone asks who we’re working for, we can tell them we’re not at liberty to say.”
Curiosity Killed Dolly Kendall (A Butterworth Mystery Book 2) Page 2