“There is if he pushed Douglas down the stairs! Those must have been his footprints on the stair carpet.”
Dad nodded. “They were. He asked Douglas if he could use his toilet when he was there on Tuesday. I asked Kirk if he’d noticed the stair carpet sticking up at the top. He didn’t notice anything but he said he didn’t trip over anything on the way back down the stairs.”
“What about the rock through the window!”
“Stop shouting, Cain’s still in a delicate state. I asked him that. He actually looked ashamed. He said he had done that before to one of Douglas’ neighbours but he hadn’t done it to Douglas.”
“Again, we only have his word for it.”
“You’re convinced he’s guilty, aren’t you?”
“Yes, there aren’t any other suspects.”
Dad shared a look with Cain. He turned his attention back to Julia and said, “When Kirk left Douglas’ house that Tuesday night he saw someone coming the other way. He watched where they went as they passed him. They went into Douglas’ house.”
“No! Who was it?” Julia said.
“Kirk said he wasn’t sure if the person was male or female. He decided on female when he saw that she was wearing a coat with cats on it and carrying a shopping bag that had dancing kittens printed on it.”
Julia looked at Cain, back to her dad, and then at Cain again.
Cain nodded. “It must have been Mildred from the charity shop, Mildred with the moustache.”
Chapter 18
“But what was she doing there? How does she know Douglas?” Julia waited while her thoughts caught up with her. “She must have killed Douglas!”
Dad rubbed his head and stood up. “You’re giving me a headache with all this shouting. I’m going. I’ve nothing else to report. Cain, do you want a lift?”
Cain stood up gingerly. “Thanks, Ray. Thanks for the water, Julia. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Julia gave them both a vague wave, she was too lost in her thoughts to talk.
What was Mildred doing there?
There was one, or two people that might know the answer to that. Julia made a quick phone call to Doris who told her to come round in a few hours.
That gave Julia enough time to finish making her soap and allowing it to cool. When they were ready she packaged up a couple of bars and put them in her bag.
When Doris opened the door later, Julia handed the bars over with the clear instructions that there was one bar for Doris, and one bar for Nina. She didn’t want Doris taking both of them.
Doris sniffed the soap and said, “That’s a nice fragrance. If you’re going to make any more I’d prefer rose. Follow me through to the patient.”
Nina was sitting in a comfy armchair. She stood up when Julia came in and gave her a hug. Nina looked much better. If she had been crying, she’d made a good effort of covering the evidence up.
Julia sat down and brought them up to speed with what had happened. They both gasped when Mildred’s name was mentioned.
Doris pressed her lips together tightly and nodded her head. She looked at Nina and said, “I told you about that woman but you wouldn’t listen! You always try to see the good side of people but that Mildred Hepplethwaite doesn’t have one.”
Julia looked from one woman to the other. “Am I missing something?”
Nina spoke. “Doris told me that Mildred is in love with Douglas, and has been for years. She told me to watch my back.”
“Too right I did. And I was right, wasn’t I? Sneaking off to see your Douglas when you weren’t there! Hussy!”
Julia said, “Do you think they were having an affair?” She couldn’t imagine that happening but she had to ask.
“In her dreams!” Doris spat. “Let me tell you about Mildred Hepplethwaite. She was at school with Val, Douglas’ first wife. Val knew that Mildred liked Douglas but I suspect she never knew that Mildred was in love with him. Val couldn’t get rid of Mildred after they left school. Mildred hung around Val like a bad smell. I think that’s because it was the only way she could still see Douglas.
“It was Mildred’s idea for Val to adopt those cats. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mildred told Val to adopt them for Douglas’ sake, seeing as Val couldn’t give him a child. She’s a devious one is Mildred. She was always turning up at Val’s on some excuse or other, something to do with the cats.
“When Val died she must have been worried about how she was going to still see Douglas. He came into the shop a few times and I actually heard her say that Val would want him to continue adopting cats. Poor Douglas, what was he to say to that? He was under the impression that Val and Mildred had been good friends. I think Val put up with Mildred because she was too kind to tell her to get lost. Anyway, Douglas adopted a cat, just the one. Again, she made excuses up to go and see him often.”
Julia looked at Nina. “Did you know about this?”
Nina nodded. “She came round one day when I was there. She’d brought a new brand of flea powder for Cat. She didn’t know that Douglas and I were seeing each other. I’ll never forget the look on her face when she saw me in Douglas’ front room.”
Doris said, “A face like thunder, no doubt. She’s never taken to you. As soon as you volunteered to work at the charity shop she took against you. It was even worse when she found out about you and Douglas. That’s why she made you work in the stockroom so much.”
“I didn’t mind. I could understand how she felt. Poor Mildred.”
“Did Douglas know how she felt about him?” Julia asked.
Nina said, “He thought they were just friends. I didn’t point out that she was in love with him, that would only make things uncomfortable between them.”
There was silence for a while.
Then Julia said, “Do you think that Mildred killed Douglas?”
“Yes!” Doris shot out.
“No,” Nina said. “Why would she do that?”
“Jealousy springs to mind. When Mildred went to Douglas’ on Tuesday night he could have told her about your engagement.”
Doris nodded and said, “Then the jealous cow flew into a rage and pushed him down the stairs!”
There was another silence. Julia broke it again. “Oh! Nina, that’s what I meant to ask you the other day. I know Douglas didn’t have any children so who inherits his property?”
Nina looked down at her knee and said, “Val wanted to leave everything to a charity, the cat charity.”
“Not the one run by Mildred?” Doris asked.
Nina looked up and nodded. “Val trusted Mildred, and so did Douglas, he saw no reason to change the beneficiary of his will. His property goes direct to Mildred so that she can proportion it out to various cat charities in the area.”
Doris stood up and put her hands on her hips. “So she gets all his money! The scheming … oh! Julia, she must have killed Douglas! She was there on the night he died and she had motive!”
Chapter 19
Julia didn’t disagree. She couldn’t, the facts spoke for themselves.
Nina began to cry.
Doris stood up and walked over to her. “Not again, Nina love. I thought you’d stopped crying.”
“This is all my fault! If I hadn’t have moved here then Douglas would still be alive.”
“Nonsense. Mad Mildred could have killed him at any time. I’ve never trusted her, there’s a mad glint in her eyes.” Doris looked over at Julia and said, “So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to have it out with her?”
“I don’t know where she lives, do you?” Julia asked.
“No. But she’ll be at the shop tomorrow. I’ll have a word with her,” Doris threatened.
Julia stood up. “No, don’t do that. I’ll have to let DI Clarke know about this. I want to know how far he’s got with his own investigations.”
Doris made a noise of disapproval. “He probably hasn’t questioned Kirk Adams yet.”
“Well, I’ll still have to talk to him.”
“Are you going to the police station now? I’ll come with you,” Doris said.
“Let the poor girl go home,” Nina said as she dried her tears with a blue handkerchief. “She’s got a life of her own. We can’t be sending her out on errands on our behalf. She’s even got her family involved now. Julia, go home. You look into Douglas’ death when you can.”
Doris made another clicking noise and folded her arms.
Julia said, “I want to find out who killed Douglas, for his sake and yours. I’ll let you know how I get on.”
Doris showed her to the door without saying a word. She didn’t need to speak, Julia could feel the disapproval wafting towards her like a bad perfume. Julia would continue with her investigations, but not today. She was going to phone her children and make sure they were okay. She needed to hear their voices.
The following day was Monday. Cain was waiting for her outside his house. He looked much brighter than he had the previous day. As he climbed into the car Julia said, “You actually look as if you’re alive. How are you feeling?”
“Great! I slept most of yesterday. Your dad said I could go with him to the pub this Friday.”
“I thought you were never going to drink again.”
Cain nodded. “Ray told me that I just need to get used to it. He’s so wise. You’re lucky to have him as a dad.”
Julia didn’t say anything as she drove away. She knew she was lucky to have Dad but she didn’t approve of his plans to corrupt Cain with beer. Still, Cain had a lot of catching up to do and she was rather he did it with Dad at his side.
They were busy with cleaning work all day. Julia deliberately didn’t tell Cain about the new developments concerning Mildred, she didn’t tell him she’d been to see Nina and Doris after he’d left. She knew that he’d offered to help her, but it wasn’t fair to take up his time. She’d got herself involved in this investigation, she could deal with it on her own.
After she’d dropped Cain off at home that evening she drove to the police station. DI Clarke wasn’t waiting for her at the door this time, he was waiting in the reception area.
“Good evening, Ms Blake. Yet another happy coincidence, us both being here at the same time.”
“Well, you work here,” Julia pointed out.
“Exactly. Which brings me neatly to my first question. What are you doing here?”
His blue eyes seemed to pin her to the spot. She fiddled with the handle on her handbag and said, “I may have stumbled across some information that might help you.”
DI Clarke’s left eyebrow rose. “Is that so? Is it something to do with the death of Douglas Pedley?”
“Yes,” Julia mumbled. She wished he’d stop staring at her like that, it was unnerving.
DI Clarke tapped his chin. “But I don’t understand, Ms Blake. I specifically told you to leave the investigations to me.”
Julia dropped the handle of her handbag. She gave the inspector a direct look and said, “Do you want to know what I’ve found out or what?”
The corner of the inspector’s mouth lifted a fraction. “Of course I do. I was having a little joke with you. Come into my office.”
“Can you let me know in advance when you’re having a little joke because I can’t tell,” Julia said.
She followed DI Clarke down a corridor and into a corner office. She said, “Oh, this is nice. You can see out in two directions.” She looked a bit closer. “You can see the road. Oh! You must have seen me driving down that road. That’s how you knew I was going to walk in.” She paused. “You assumed I was coming in here, I could have just been driving past.”
“I doubt that. Take a seat.” DI Clarke sat behind a large desk. Julia saw the backs of some picture frames as she lowered herself into a chair. She wondered who the photographs were of. His wife? Children? His pet dog? Maybe she could ask him.
He tapped his watch and said, “I haven’t got all day.”
Maybe she wouldn’t ask him about the photos. She said, “Have you spoken to Kirk Adams yet?”
“I have. And I believe your father and Mr Andrews have too. It’s another happy coincidence that they were at that particular pub at the same time as Kirk Adams.”
Julia ignored the last comment. “So you know about the old man who died at the other side of town. Have you checked how he died?”
“I have. It was a heart attack. Let me save you some time, Ms Blake. I’ll tell you what I know about Kirk Adams. You interrupt me if there’s anything new to add. Let me tell you too that we didn’t find any fingerprints on the rock that came through Mr Pedley’s window.”
Julia listened as DI Clarke told her everything that she already knew.
She said, “Do you know the identity of the woman that Kirk saw as he left Douglas’ house?”
“My wife goes to charity shops often and, unfortunately, drags me along sometimes. I had a suspicion that the description matched Mildred Hepplethwaite who works at the cat charity shop.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
“I spoke to her this morning. She said she did go to Mr Pedley’s house on the evening that he died. She had a cat collar that she wanted to give to his pet. She stated that she stayed for ten minutes and then left. She confirmed that Mr Pedley was alive when she left.”
“And you believe her?”
“My opinions don’t matter. Let me just say that Ms Hepplethwaite has now become a person of interest. We are trying to establish a motive for her.”
Julia waved her hand at him. “I know why she did it!”
“Really?” His left eyebrow went on an upward journey again. “Do you have hard facts, or is it gossip?”
Julia thought for a moment. “A bit of both. Do you want me to tell you?”
DI Clarke studied her for a moment and then said, “You may as well.”
Chapter 20
Julia told Cain about her chat with DI Clarke the following day. At the mention of the cat’s collar Cain suddenly yelled out, “Cat! We haven’t found Cat yet!”
“Oh, heck. I’d forgotten about her. We’ll have another look for her when we’ve finished this job.”
When they arrived at Douglas’ house later there was a different policeman standing at the front door. Julia walked up to him and tapped the side of her nose. “You don’t have to tell me why you’re here. New evidence has come to light, hasn’t it?”
The policeman gave her a hard stare which made her wither slightly. In a less confident voice she said, “Have you seen a ginger cat? It belonged to Douglas Pedley. She’s been missing for days.”
The policeman shook his head and indicated for her to go away. Julia wasn’t going to be put off. “We’ll have a quick look for her in the garden and woods. We won’t disturb anything.”
The policeman shrugged and looked away.
Julia and Cain went down the garden path and out of the gate. “Did you see Cat in the garden?” Julia asked.
“No, did you?”
Julia looked back at Douglas’ house. “I wish we could look inside the house. We might spot something that’s out of place.”
Cain looked back too. “It’s unusual that the police are still here.”
“They must be looking for evidence to link Mildred to the crime scene.”
“Like a bit of moustache,” Cain suggested.
Julia tutted. “You’re obsessed with Mildred’s moustache. We ladies sometimes need extra help in the hair removal department.” She did a double take when she saw how Cain was looking at her. “Stop looking at my upper lip! Come on, we’ve got a cat to find.”
They crossed the field and entered the woods. They looked where they’d looked before but there was no sign of Cat. Julia hoped they wouldn’t find her dead body anywhere.
Cain suddenly grabbed her arm and said, “I can hear voices. Listen! It sounds like two men talking.” He hunkered down behind a spiky bush. Julia automatically followed him. She strained her ears to catch the voices.
Cain said, “One of them sounds l
ike that man we heard the other day. It sounds like Kirk Adams, I can hear the sneer in his tone.”
Julia cocked her head. She couldn’t make out the voices very well. Cain must have ears like a bat. She whispered, “What are they saying?”
“I can’t quite hear properly. Cover me, I’m going in for a closer look.” Cain flattened himself on the ground and began to inch forward. Julia again did the same. She hissed, “How am I supposed to cover you? I haven’t got a gun. Oh! This is silly. I’m getting up. We’ve got a valid reason for being in these woods, I’m not hiding from anyone.”
She stood up and took a few seconds to stare at the scene in front of her. She hunkered back down and hissed, “It’s not two men talking, one of them is Mildred! She’s talking to Kirk Adams! They’re shaking hands!”
Cain rubbed his ear that was closest to Julia and said, “What do you think they’re doing? Are they still talking?”
Julia stood up and froze. In a normal voice she said, “Hello. I believe we met at the charity shop the other day. Ah, I see you’ve found Cat, she looks comfy in your arms. We’ve been looking for her.” Julia smiled in a friendly way. Cain rose and copied Julia’s smile.
Mildred Hepplethwaite did not return their smiles. She glowered at them as she twiddled with one of Cat’s ears. Cat seemed to be enjoying it, or she might have been too scared to protest.
Mildred took a step towards them and said, “What the hell are you doing on my property? And what were you doing on the ground?”
“Looking for Cat,” Julia explained. “We thought she might have got stuck in a bush. She got stuck the other day.”
“Yes, I know. You two always seem to be hanging about in these woods. You’re trespassing now so clear off.”
Cain made to turn away. Julia didn’t move. “You’ve seen us in these woods before looking for Cat?”
Mildred realised her mistake. “No, I didn’t say that.”
Julia pointed at her. “It was you! You threw the rock through Douglas’ window! You saw me and Cain that day and followed us through these woods to Douglas’ house. Why did you throw the rock through the window? Was it when you realised that Nina was inside?”
Death Takes A Trip (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 5) Page 8