Knitting And Murder (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 9)

by Gillian Larkin

  “I know she has. Have you been tracking her?”

  Cain pulled his phone out. “I have. I’ve set it to vibrate when the device starts moving.” He looked at his phone. “She hasn’t moved yet. She’s still in the café where I left her.”

  Julia frowned. “You don’t think she’s discovered the tracking device, do you? She could have noticed it and put it in a bin in the café.”

  “I hope not.” Cain jumped. “That was definitely a vibration. Look, she’s moving. Are we going to follow her now?”

  “We certainly are. We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery. You tell me where she’s going and I’ll keep a safe distance.”

  Cain grinned at her. “This is quite exciting, isn’t it?”

  Julia couldn’t help but smile at his expression. “It is. You concentrate on your phone.”

  Cain did so. He gave Julia directions which took them through the centre of Leeds and towards one of the more affluent areas. Julia had a few clients in this area so she knew the roads well.

  Cain said, “The device has stopped. Let me zoom in on the map.” He moved his fingers over the phone’s screen and then lifted it up to show Julia.

  Julia said, “Ooo. It’s that fancy boutique on the main road. I’ve driven past it but never stopped. You should see some of the cars that stop outside it. They’re worth more than my house.”

  Cain peered at the phone. “What do they sell?”

  Julia pulled into a side street, switched off the engine, and gave him a triumphant smile. “Baby clothes. Expensive baby clothes. They probably sell blankets too.” She pointed towards the end of the street. “You can see the door from here. And look who’s coming out. It’s Kayla Booth, looking very satisfied with herself.”

  Cain said, “She must have left the blanket inside because the device isn’t moving anymore.”

  “Let’s give it a minute or two, then we’ll go inside. I don’t want Kayla to know we’re on to her.” She looked over at Cain. “What are you looking at now?”

  “Tommy. I’m not convinced that kitchen window sill is the best place for him. I might put him in the dining room. I’m thinking about growing some vegetables in my garden. Is there anything you’d like me to grow?”

  “Can you grow a chocolate tree, please? That would be lovely. And while you’re at it, a cake tree would be nice too.”

  Cain laughed. “I think I’d like a pizza tree.”

  They chatted for a few more minutes and then left the car. As they walked towards the boutique, Cain said, “I feel scruffy in my work clothes. Do you think they’ll let me in?”

  “Cain, you are just as valuable as any other person who goes in here. Don’t ever think you’re not good enough to go into a place like this. Hold your head up, young man.” Julia held her own head up and pushed open the door. Even with her head held high, she still saw the disparaging look the sales woman gave them.

  Julia wasn’t going to stand for that nonsense. She gave the woman a bright smile and said, “Hello there. We’re looking for baby clothes, hand-knitted if you have any.”

  The sales assistant’s eyes lowered and focused on Julia’s stomach.

  Julia stiffened. If that woman asked how far gone she was … Well, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep her patience in check.

  Cain must have picked up on the situation because he stepped forward and said, “One of our friends has just had a baby. They’re very special to us and we’d like to get them something unique. Perhaps a baby blanket?”

  The woman’s mouth lifted at one corner. “Just one moment, I might have the very thing you’re looking for. One of our exclusive designers delivered an item a short while ago.” She turned her back on them and began to fiddle with something. They heard the sound of a plastic bag opening. The woman turned back to them and placed a pink baby blanket on the counter.

  “Aha!” Cain exclaimed. “That’s my blanket! I finished knitting it last night. Aha!”

  The woman took a step back and her hands flew to her chest. “Whatever are you talking about?”

  Julia was about to explain but Cain took off and walked around the shop. He pointed at items and said, “Aha! That’s mine. And those baby socks are mine! Aha! And I know who knitted that, it was Ethel from Kirkgate Market.”

  Julia noticed the woman reaching for her phone and told Cain to be quiet for a moment. When he returned to her side, Julia explained everything to the woman.

  The woman looked genuinely upset. “I had no idea that young lady was doing that. That’s just awful. She told me her father had business contracts with local designers and she was helping him out by delivering the delicate items. She’s even brought me some new things this morning. Some lovely jewellery and handmade candles.”

  Julia told her, “She got those from the slimming club members. Can I ask how much you’re charging for these items? And how much you’re paying Kayla?”

  The woman told them the prices. Julia had to steady herself against the counter.

  Cain said, “Blimey. Perhaps I should take up knitting full-time.”

  The woman wrung her hands together. “What am I going to do? What if my clients find out what I’ve got myself involved in? Reputation is everything.”

  Julia said, “You’ll have to let the police know. Give them my name and I’ll let them know how Kayla tricked everyone. I can’t imagine they’ll be harsh with you.”

  The woman nodded. “Thank you. By the way, she doesn’t call herself Kayla. She’s called Natalie Evans. And there’s something else. An older woman came in here about a month ago asking where I was getting my knitted baby clothes from. I said I couldn’t divulge that information and she told me she had an idea of who my supplier was.”

  Julia said, “What did she look like?”

  “Quite old-fashioned. She was wearing a tweed skirt, a twin-set and pearls.”

  Chapter 34

  Julia and Cain left the shop a few minutes later.

  Cain said, “Do you think it was Blanche who was here?”

  “It sounds like it, but she could have been describing Henrietta too. If it was Blanche, why was she asking questions about Kayla? Do you think she knew what Kayla was up to? Maybe Blanche threatened to tell everyone. From what we’ve found out about the amount of money Kayla’s making, she would have a motive for killing Blanche.”

  “So, Kayla’s back in the running for killing Blanche? Do you think she’s capable of that?”

  Julia stopped walking and put her hand out to stop Cain too. “We can ask her. She’s leaning against my car.” They started walking again.

  Kayla Booth smiled as she watched them come closer. It was a smug smile. “If you’re going to follow me, you really should use a car that hasn’t got your name on it, Julia.”

  “What do you want?” Cain asked. Julia noticed his fists curling at his side.

  Kayla flung her long hair back and said, “I want to know why you’ve been following me.” She looked from one to the other. “Oh, I can see you’ve found out what I’ve been doing.” She laughed. “Don’t look so angry, Cain. It’s not like I’ve killed anyone.”

  Keeping her voice calm, Julia said, “What you’ve done is despicable. You’ve taken advantage of kind people who’ve given their time for free. You’ve tricked people at the knitting class, and the slimming class too. I’ll bet you’ve even tricked those poor people at the bereavement meetings.”

  Kayla shrugged. “I didn’t force them to. They offered. I was doing them a favour by letting them think they were doing something good.”

  Julia said, “I wonder how people found out about your donations to the hospital in the first place?” The glint in Kayla’s eyes confirmed what Julia was thinking. “You started the rumours, didn’t you?”

  “It was easy. I put stuff online as an appreciative family member. Some people are so gullible.” She looked at Cain. “And so needy. They’ll do anything for attention.”

  Julia saw Cain’s nostrils flare and saw he
was struggling to keep his temper. She’d never seen him lose his temper, and she didn’t want to see that now. She said, “There’s no point talking to you about morals. You obviously don’t have any. But your scheme is over. We’ve told the woman in the boutique what you’ve been up to. She’s going to contact the police.”

  “What!” Kayla snarled. “You’ve done what?”

  “You heard,” Cain finally spoke. “You won’t be making money from other people’s efforts anymore.”

  A nasty look came over Kayla’s face. “You two have just made a terrible mistake. And you’re going to sort it out. You go back in there and tell her you’re wrong about me.” She pointed at them. “I’m not working alone, I know some nasty people. Some nasty people who can convince you to ignore what I’m doing.”

  Julia folded her arms. “We don’t respond to threats.”

  “You should do.” Kayla put a hand on Julia’s car. “You’ve got a business that could easily be destroyed by a few well-placed rumours. I’ve seen that happen before.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Julia asked.

  “Never you mind.” Kayla smirked at Cain. “You go back to that shop and do what I say. Or else I’ll make sure you take the blame for this scheme of mine. I’ll convince everyone this was your idea, Cain. You’ve already been in prison for taking the blame for someone else, you can do it again. Go on, Cain. I might even go on a date with you.”

  Cain took a deep breath and turned to Julia. There was an unaccustomed steeliness in his voice, “Julia, I’d like to have a word with Kayla, please. In private.”

  “Are you sure?” Julia said.

  He gave her a tight smile. “I can deal with her. Please, Julia.”

  “Okay.” Julia moved to her car, gave Kayla a pointed look until she moved away from the driver’s door, and then got in her car. She watched as Cain took hold of Kayla’s elbow and moved her along the street.

  Cain had his back to Julia so she couldn’t see his expression. But she could see Kayla’s. The smug look was still there, but as Cain started to talk, the smug look slowly disappeared. Kayla’s eyes widened and Julia thought she saw fear there. After a moment, Kayla gulped and nodded at Cain. Kayla opened her hands and spoke for a while. Cain put his hand on her shoulder and Kayla flinched. She nodded again, lowered her head and walked away.

  Cain waited a moment before turning back to Julia. He gave her a cheerful smile as he came back to the car. He got into the passenger seat and said, “All sorted.”

  Julia stared at him. “What did you say to her? She looked scared to death.”

  Cain looked slightly embarrassed. “I had to use some strong words, that’s why I didn’t want you to hear me. I told Kayla I’d made some friends when I was in prison, and I told her those friends would help me out if I needed them to. I told her exactly what I thought about her behaviour and I explained my prison friends would not take kindly to such a deception, especially as it involved charity. I advised her to stop doing what she’s doing and to hope the police wouldn’t be too hard on her. That last bit was a lie. I hope the police lock her up for years.”

  Julia shook her head. “You must have really scared her.”

  He grinned. “I scared myself. I got some more information about Blanche. Kayla said it was Blanche who had been asking questions about Kayla’s scheme. She’d worked out Kayla’s real name and what she was up to through her online friends. Blanche had contacted Kayla by email and had threatened to expose her. Kayla didn’t do anything about it and thought Blanche was bluffing.”

  “Or so she says,” Julia said. “Hang on, what do you mean, ‘online’?”

  “Like I said, Blanche emailed Kayla, or Natalie, or whatever her real name is. She probably used that laptop of hers.”

  “What laptop? Blanche didn’t have a laptop, according to Henrietta. Oh! I never told you what Elaine, the librarian, told me. I’ll tell you in a minute. How do you know Blanche has a laptop?”

  “I saw it. On those photos you took. Those that you wanted me to delete. It was lying on the floor next to her bed. I thought you’d seen it. I saw the Internet router too, it’s the same as mine.” He put his hand out. “I can get those photos back for you if you like?”

  Julia handed him her phone. Some things were starting to make sense.

  Chapter 35

  Julia and Cain moved on to their next cleaning jobs. Thoughts whirred around Julia’s head. Cain had been right about the laptop. It was barely visible in the photo and just the corner of it could be seen sticking out from beneath Blanche’s bed. Thank goodness for Cain and his eagle-eyes, she would never have spotted it on her own.

  Julia was confused about the remarks Blanche had made to her about the Internet, and asking if people needed stamps to send emails. She felt now like Blanche had been playing her for a fool. Blanche must have been laughing at Julia behind her back for being so gullible. Julia was disappointed in herself for being taking in so easily. She had liked Blanche and she had felt a genuine sadness when the old lady died. What had Blanche’s true nature been? Howard hadn’t been impressed with her and thought she was too controlling with Henrietta. Julia sighed as she cleaned bathroom tiles. She didn’t know what to make of Blanche at all.

  During their cleaning work, and at Julia’s request, Cain made some online checks on Kayla Booth under her real name of Natalie Evans.

  When Julia had finished in the bathroom, Cain called her over and showed her what he’d found. “Kayla, or Natalie, has got a lot of friends online. And she’s got quite a potty-mouth, as my gran would say. She doesn’t come across as a likeable character and she’s always putting other people down. Look at this though, it was posted about a month ago.”

  Julia looked at the posting. “She’s not happy with someone. That old so-and-so who’s sticking her nose everywhere must be Blanche. I don’t like that comment about the old woman getting what’s coming to her.”

  Cain said, “I know I warned Kayla to stay away from the boutique, but what if she went back there and threatened that sales woman? The woman might then have been too scared to phone the police. I don’t want her to get away with what she did. Julia, would you mind if I phoned DI Clarke to let him know about Kayla?”

  “Of course I don’t mind. Can you do it in the car? We need to get a move on. Cain, don’t tell him we used a tracking device, not unless you have to. I don’t think he’d like that.” Julia collected her cleaning things and headed for the door. She didn’t want Kayla to get away with it either.

  Cain phoned DI Clarke as they set off towards their next cleaning job. Julia listened as he gave the inspector the whole story about the knitting scam. Cain listened to the inspector’s reply. His eyebrows rose and he looked over at Julia. “I see,” he said to the inspector. “Right, yes. I’ll tell her. Goodbye.”

  Julia said, “Is he going to talk to Kayla? Is he going to ask her if she was talking about Blanche online? He must think Kayla is a possible suspect. I do.”

  Cain frowned. “He will be talking to Kayla about the knitting thing, but not about the murder. They’ve arrested someone this morning for that.”

  “Who?”

  “Selby Kemp. In his original statement, he said his wife came to see him at Blanche’s house on the morning Blanche died. Denise wanted to thank Blanche for the previous evening. Selby said Denise spoke to Blanche for a few moments and him and Denise left together. Blanche was still alive at that point. But Denise has now told the police she wasn’t there at all that morning, and that Selby is lying.”

  “Why would Denise change her mind?”

  Cain shrugged. “He could have threatened her to give that original alibi. Henrietta told you that her and Denise were good friends. Perhaps Denise felt a loyalty to Henrietta and couldn’t keep quiet anymore. And Denise wouldn’t want to be living with a murderer.”

  Julia nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose. Did DI Clarke have a message for me?”

  “Just the usual. Telling you to keep aw
ay from his investigation. He said everything was settled now.”

  Julia had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t settled. There was something bothering her about Blanche’s lies concerning the Internet. “Cain, when we’ve finished our next job, I think we should go to Henrietta’s. We can let her know about Kayla’s scheme. It would be better coming from us than the police.”

  Cain grinned. “Didn’t Henrietta say she was going to be out this afternoon?”

  “She might have done.”

  “So, does that mean you’re going to have a bit of a nosy around her house?”

  Julia gave him a wry smile. “You know me too well. I just have to satisfy my curiosity over this laptop business.”

  Chapter 36

  Julia parked on the road outside Cartwright Manor and looked over at the impressive house. It no longer looked so impressive to her, considering all the deception that had gone on inside.

  Cain craned his neck. “I can’t see any cars in the driveway. Do you think Old George will be working today? I could ask him about Tommy and the best place to put him.”

  “You could have a look for him. I’m only going into Blanche’s bedroom. I hope the laptop’s still there.”

  They left the car and walked towards the house. Cain said, “Do you mind if I go and have a look for Old George now?”

  Julia saw the eagerness in his face and told him to go ahead. She knocked on the huge front door and waited for a moment. There was no answer. Using Blanche’s key, she let herself into the house and called out a hello. There was still no answer. Julia closed the door behind her and took in the stillness of the house. A shiver went down her spine. There was a cold feeling in this house but that could be due to the recent death.

  Julia strode towards the steps and studiously avoided glancing towards the drawing room. She went upstairs and into Blanche’s room. If Henrietta returned home now, she’d have no excuse for being up here. Julia reckoned she’d deal with that if it happened.

  She opened the bedroom door and looked inside. Everything seemed the same as on the morning she’d found Blanche. Had Henrietta even been in here since Blanche died? She hoped not. Julia’s attention settled on the laptop and she walked over to it. It didn’t feel right to sit on Blanche’s bed so Julia sat on the carpet. She opened the laptop and a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Julia looked at it and saw Blanche had written the letter H as a password clue. She shook her head. Blanche hadn’t been security conscious about her laptop. But, there again, if she was hiding it away from Henrietta, there was no need for Blanche to worry about her logging on to it.