“Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s at the hospital now, Dad’s going to stay with her. He said there was a note at Louisa’s side. It said that she’d killed Brandon in a jealous rage. It was a typed note.”
Cain shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. No one types a suicide note. Do they?”
Julia wiped her cheeks again. “I don’t know. What’s going on? Louisa didn’t kill Brandon, she wouldn’t! And she wouldn’t take her own life!”
John came to Julia’s side and handed her a tissue. He said, “People do funny things when they’re under stress. You wouldn’t believe how many phones I get in here that have been thrown at someone in anger.”
Cain said, “Are you going to the hospital?”
She shook her head. “Dad told me not to, there’s nothing I can do at the moment. He wants you to go ahead with the rehearsal, and to apologise for his absence.” Julia blew her nose noisily. “I just can’t believe it, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t know what to do.”
Cain patted her arm. “Your dad will look after Louisa. We’ll soon find out the truth. There’s nothing you can do now. Let’s go to the rehearsal, if you’re up to it?”
Julia gave him a shaky smile. “That’s a good idea. Let me pay you, John, before I forget.”
John waved her hand away. “Pay me next time, I’m sure you’ll be in again.”
Julia gave him a grateful smile and pulled her phone to her chest. “Thank you.”
Cain held on to Julia’s arm as they walked back through the market and over to her car. Cain said, “Are you okay to drive? You’re shaking.”
“I’ll be okay in a minute. It’s a shame you can’t drive.”
Cain said, “I am going to start taking lessons soon. Your dad said he’d help me too, he’ll take me out in his car now and again.”
Julia and Cain got in the car. Julia took a few deep breaths and then started the car up. It was only a ten minute drive to St Andrew’s Church. She hoped she could hold herself together for the rest of the evening. She hoped the only drama she was going to witness would be on the stage.
Chapter 31
Julia and Cain made it into the hall just as Eric was calling everyone to attention. Julia and Cain stood where they were as Eric announced, “I have some distressing news. I regret to inform you that Louisa Porter has taken an overdose this afternoon.” He bowed his head and waited for the gasps and mutterings to stop. He raised his head and continued, “Louisa wasn’t successful in her attempt and she is recovering in hospital. Alas, it seems that Louisa was the one who murdered our wonderful friend, Brandon Briggs.” There was more muttering. Eric said, “The police found a confession note. We might never know why that poor girl decided to take the life of such a genius as Brandon. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive her. I’m not sure the world will ever forgive her.” The solemn look vanished for his face. “Carol, you can take Louisa’s part. Right, let’s get on with the rehearsal, we’ve wasted enough time already.”
Everyone jumped to attention and began to take their places. Cain said to Julia, “I’d better go. I’ll let Eric know about your dad not being here.”
Julia’s attention was focused on Eric. “Eric probably already knows. How did he know about Louisa and the note?”
Cain shrugged and ran towards the stage. Julia walked towards the last row of seats and sat on a chair in the middle of the row.
Her eyes were feeling tired again and she closed them for a moment. Something wasn’t right. She wasn’t convinced that Louisa killed Brandon, she didn’t care about the note. She took her phone out and decided to check her messages.
There were a few messages from some of her clients, she’d deal with them later. One from her mum asking how she was, a couple from her dad asking if she needed anything from the supermarket. There was one from Louisa which had been sent that afternoon, it must have been sent before she took the overdose - ‘Julia, thank you for being a good friend. I’m sorry to let you down like this but I won’t be going to the drama group or slimming club for a while. I need time alone. Sorry x’.
Julia felt her eyes prickling again. What state of mind had Louisa been in when she sent this?
Julia saw another message, this time from DI Clarke. It had been sent about an hour ago - ‘Ms Blake, I wanted to let you know that Fabian Black has woken up. He has provided us with some valuable information regarding Mr Briggs’ murder. We are dealing with this. Do not, I’ll repeat that, do not interfere any further. We have everything under control.’
Julia pulled a face at the message. He probably thought Louisa was the killer, he was probably standing at her bedside waiting for her to come round so that he could arrest her. Well, the inspector was going to get her thoughts whether he wanted them or not.
As the rehearsals began, Julia sent DI Clarke a couple of messages about what she’d found out recently. She told him about the possible kidnapping of Saffron Kershaw, and about the website that was run by Oscar Pennington. She told the inspector that Eric Murphy was hiding something, and that he should get himself round to St Andrew’s Church right now! Julia thought for a moment, deleted the exclamation mark and then sent the message.
She felt a movement at her side. She looked up to see Yvonne Murphy sitting at her side, a small smile on her face.
Yvonne said quietly, “I’m so sorry to hear about your friend, Louisa. I was so shocked to hear that she’d killed Brandon Briggs, and so violently too.” She shook her head. “You just can’t tell with people, can you? It’ll be time for a tea break soon. I wonder if you’ll be able to help me again, please. The Reverend Thompson has kindly allowed us to use his kitchen, you know where that is, don’t you? It’s much more convenient using the church facilities, it saves me having to lug those great big tea and coffee urns around. Although, lugging those about has given me arm muscles that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud of!” Yvonne chuckled to herself and looked fondly at her husband who was now on stage. “Isn’t my Eric wonderful? He’s my whole world, I’d do anything for him.”
Julia’s breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe. Her scalp prickled with fear as she stole a sideways glance at Yvonne’s serene face. How did Yvonne know the attack on Brandon had been violent? Julia glanced at Yvonne’s arms, they did look quite big, but that could be Julia’s imagination suddenly playing tricks on her. Julia swallowed and looked away.
Julia thought back to the night that Brandon had died. He had announced that he was going to the costume room. Then Yvonne said she had to go out for biscuits. She wasn’t long because she saw Sherry Cooper leaving the town hall at a quarter past eight. Louisa had gone to the costume room around eight twenty-five. No one had said what time Yvonne had returned to the main hall with the biscuits. If she hadn’t returned until eight twenty-five, that left a ten minute gap, Yvonne could have gone to talk to Brandon in the costume room - alone. Yvonne might have seen Brandon’s silhouette against the costume room window from the outside as she returned to the town hall, just as Julia had seen Cain’s. Yvonne would have known that Brandon was still in the costume room.
Julia moved slightly away from Yvonne as another thought came to her. Something that John had said a short while ago. She hadn’t been listening fully as she was trying to speak to Dad, but didn’t he say something about the woman who brought her damaged tablet to him on Julia’s recommendation? Didn’t he say that the cover had been cracked? Didn’t he say that it looked as if the tablet had hit something, several times? Julia stiffened. Something like Brandon’s head?
Julia jumped as her phone sounded out a message. It was from DI Clarke – ‘Ms Blake, we have new information. You must keep away from Yvonne Murphy at all costs.’
Julia froze as she felt a breath on her cheek. Yvonne was inches away from her face, a smile on her face. Yvonne said, “He’s right, you should keep away from me. Ah well, too late now. I think we’ll go to the kitchen now, Julia.”
“N
o, thank you,” Julia replied as she discreetly tried to send a message to the inspector.
Yvonne snatched the phone from her hands and placed it quietly on the floor. Her smile was too bright as she said, “You will come with me to the kitchen, there’s no one there at the moment.” Julia felt something prod her side. She looked down. A gun? An actual gun? And it was pressed into her side. Yvonne pressed it even harder into Julia’s side and said, “Now.”
Yvonne stood up and pulled Julia to her feet. She put her hand through Julia’s arm and dragged her towards the end of the row. She really was strong.
Julia looked frantically towards the stage, hoping to catch Cain’s eye. But Cain was now lying on the stage floor, pretending to be dead. No one else looked their way.
Yvonne marched Julia into the small kitchen and closed the door behind them. Julia quickly scanned the room. There was only one exit door and Yvonne was standing in front of it, and she was pointing the gun at Julia.
Yvonne still had that ridiculous smile on her face. “How shall I kill you, Julia? I can’t really use the gun, it would be too noisy.” She cast her look around their surroundings. “Yes, that would work. It’s going to be so tragic. You came in here to help with the tea and coffees. You slipped on a patch of water, I’ll spill some in a moment. You slipped and hit your head on the sharp corner of that table. I got here too late.” Yvonne’s smile dropped and she gave a dramatic sigh. “So tragic, the loss of another life.”
Julia’s legs began to shake. “But I don’t want to die!”
“Nobody does. Brandon didn’t, and Louisa didn’t when I called on her this afternoon. Fabian Black is lucky to be alive, I didn’t hit him hard enough. Come on, Julia, everyone has to die at some point.” Yvonne walked towards her.
Chapter 32
Julia held her hands up. “Stop! Before you kill me, tell me why.”
Yvonne gave a small shrug. “I suppose I have a minute or two. Have you worked out that I hit Brandon on the head with my tablet? That was so annoying, his stupid head nearly broke my tablet.”
“I worked that out. But why did you kill Brandon? Was it because you found out he’d stolen the script from Fabian Black?” Julia frowned. “Oscar Pennington! It must have been you writing those blog posts!”
Yvonne nodded. “You’re smarter than you look. I always had a soft spot for Brandon, he held dear Eric in the same affection that I did, that’s why I was so generous in my praise for his work. Brandon contacted me about this amazing script that he’d written, it was after I revealed my true identity to him in a private email. He sent me a copy of the script, I knew it was special. I invited him up to our town, told him he had to approach Eric himself and not let on about my secret website. I didn’t want Eric to know about that side of me, he thinks I’m so kind-hearted. But I love tearing other people to pieces! They’ve no idea what real talent is like!”
“Did you know that the script had been stolen? That Fabian Black had written it?”
“Not until after that first rehearsal. Black emailed me with an earlier copy of the script, it had the date on. He said he was going to let everyone know that Brandon had stolen it. Can you imagine how that would make my Eric look? I couldn’t have that. I could see that Brandon was alone in the costume department that Wednesday night, I went in to have a word with him. He laughed at my concerns, he said this was his big chance and I wasn’t going to ruin it for him. He said if the truth came out about the script then he would say that Eric knew all along.” Yvonne looked down at the floor and gave a bitter laugh. “I had my tablet in my hand when I was talking to him, I was showing him the earlier version of the script. He kept laughing at me, he even called Eric a has-been. I had to shut him up.” She looked up. “I dragged his useless body to one side afterwards.” She tutted, “I’m still annoyed about my tablet.”
Julia looked towards the small kitchen window. Her generous hips would never fit through there. Her only hope was to keep Yvonne talking whilst she prayed for a miracle. Julia said, “Why did you try to kill Fabian Black?”
“He tried to blackmail me. He saw me coming out of the costume room, he saw the state of my tablet. He said that if I didn’t give him full credit for the play, he would let the police know. And he wanted money! The cheek of him! I saw him outside the high school on Tuesday night, the Tuesday that we had the open evening. He approached me and said I had one more day before he went to the police. I watched which way he went, got in my car, and mowed him down like the irritating weed that he is.”
“One more thing, what about Louisa? What did you do to her?”
Yvonne sneered. “I had to do something about her. Did you see the way she was looking at my Eric? She wanted him, I could see it in her eyes. I’ve seen it many times. All I had to do was spread a few rumours about her. I made sure she heard those rumours. Oh, and I planted Brandon’s phone and wallet in her handbag. I was going to throw Brandon’s things in a nearby bin for the police to find, it would make Brandon’s killing look like a theft. But planting them in Louisa’s bag was a much better idea, don’t you think so?
“It didn’t take me long to convince Louisa to swallow those pills when I went round to see her this afternoon.” Yvonne waggled the gun cheerfully. “Not with this pointing at her! I took a typed confession note with me, I didn’t want to waste too much time there, I had to go the supermarket and get something in for tonight’s tea. I should have waited really, waited until she died. Trust your dad to come round and find her! Interfering in other people’s lives must run in your family. I would say, that would teach you to interfere in other people’s lives next time, but there isn’t going to be a next time. I think we’ve chatted enough.”
Julia shook her head. “I had it all wrong. I thought Eric killed Brandon. I thought you were scared of Eric and his temper.”
Yvonne moved closer. “I’m a good actress, I never get credit for it. Eric must never know what I’ve done. And once I get rid of you, he never will. This has been my greatest performance, even if I do say so myself.”
Yvonne moved towards Julia and grabbed her arm. Julia let out a cry as Yvonne twisted it behind her back. “This way, Julia, I’m going to bang your head on that table, make it look like an accident. Stop twisting about! Let’s get this over with.”
Julia turned and twisted in Yvonne’s firm grip. She kicked her leg out and connected with Yvonne’s shin.
Yvonne screamed and pushed Julia’s arm even further up her back. Julia let out the loudest scream that she could. If she was going to die, she wasn’t going to do it quietly.
Julia suddenly fell to the floor as Yvonne released her arm. Julia looked up, ready to spring into action. DI Clarke looked down at her and said, “Didn’t you get my messages?” He turned to the uniformed men behind him who now had Yvonne Murphy firmly in their grip. “Take Mrs Murphy to the car, she’s done enough damage for one day.”
Julia burst into noisy sobs. The inspector helped her to her feet, gave her a smile, and said, “This would be the ideal opportunity for me to give you a lecture, but I feel this isn’t the time. Remind me to lecture you another time, Ms Blake. Here, take this tissue, you’re making a terrible mess.”
Chapter 33
“You really shouldn’t have brought me chocolates,” Louisa said from her hospital bed the next morning. “I’m trying to stick to my diet.”
Julia opened the box. “These aren’t ordinary chocolates, they’re medicinal ones, to help you get over the shock of the last few days.” She passed the open box to Louisa.
Louisa smiled and took one. “Well, if you insist. You’d better have two, you look as if you’re still in shock. That must have been terrible yesterday, facing up to Yvonne Murphy like that.” She shook her head. “Who knew that little woman had so much hate in her?”
Julia rolled up her shirt sleeve and pointed to a large purple bruise. “Who knew she was so strong?” She rolled her sleeve down and took a chocolate from the box that Louisa had pushed back her way.
“She fooled us all. I don’t know how Eric is going to take all this.”
Louisa said, “I suspect that he’ll like the drama of it.”
Julia laughed. “I think you might be right. Are you sure that you’re okay? What did the doctors say?”
Louisa patted her tummy. “For once, my size came in useful. They said that a skinnier person would have died from the amount of pills that I’d taken. They said I’ve recovered well, I should be able to go home later today, or tomorrow.”
“I’ll give you a lift, just let me know when.” Julia looked down at her knees. “I shouldn’t have let it come to this. I should have come round to see you yesterday, I knew something was wrong.”
Louisa patted her hand. “Don’t blame yourself, you didn’t know. Anyway, you found the real killer in the end. Everything’s worked out okay.”
They both fell silent as a shadow fell across the bed cover, a thin shadow.
DI Clarke stood there, his hands clasped behind his back. He gave them both a stern look. “Ms Porter, Ms Blake. You have both been very lucky. You put yourself in harm’s way, needlessly, I might add. Ms Blake, I’m directing these comments more towards you.”
“Yes, I know. But I thought you’d arrested Louisa for murder! What was I supposed to do? Stand by and let you do your job?” Julia trailed off as she realised what she’d said. She held the chocolate box up. “Would you like one?”
The inspector shook his head. “There’s no point going into what you should or should not have done.” He suddenly smiled. “One of my sergeants referred to you as a virus, one that you can’t get rid of, like the common cold. You just have to endure it and wait for it to go.”
Julia pressed her lips together and moved the chocolate box back on to her lap.
Louisa spoke, “I’m glad Julia got involved. She was the only one that believed in me. She’s always believed in me, she’s never given up on me.”
Death Shows Up (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 7) Page 12