Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Box Set Read online

  She went back into the kitchen and found Drew doing the washing up.

  “Hey, you don’t have to do that. Here, let me do it.”

  “No, I want to. It gives me something to do while she’s out there ... showing off.”

  Charlotte turned to him sharply. “She’s not showing off. She’s worked bloody hard and she’s having a drink. Which you’re also welcome to, if you’d like one.”

  Drew’s cheeks flushed. “No, thanks. And I’m sorry - that wasn’t supposed to sound the way it did. I was just thinking that Kate would have really enjoyed tonight. We’d have been out there, dancing with everyone else if she’d been here. It’s just so difficult to see everyone’s life just carrying on as normal when mine has changed forever. It’s hard to come to terms with, you know?”

  Charlotte went straight to him and gave him a hug. “Of course it is. For goodness’ sake, it’s barely three weeks since you lost her. How else are you supposed to feel?” She stepped back and put her hands on his shoulders. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re amazing - I really do. Now, put down that washing-up brush and come and have a drink with me!”

  He managed a weak laugh and they went out into the bar, just in time to see Betty leading a long, winding conga up the marina front.

  “Hey, Jess, Mike, come and have a drink with us,” said Charlotte.

  “Actually, I won’t, if you don’t mind.” The look on Jess’s face was decidedly sheepish.

  “What’s going on?” said Charlotte. “You look like you’re about to do something very naughty.”

  “Oh come on Jess, have a drink,” said Drew.

  “No, really, I can’t.” Jess was insistent.

  “Why not? One won’t hurt, surely? Come on, have a drink and then you can come home with us so you won’t have to worry about driving.”

  “She won’t have to worry about driving anyway,” said a voice from outside and they all turned to see Ben Dillon standing on the terrace.

  “You have got to be kidding me! You’re not back with him, are you?” Drew’s tone couldn’t have been more scathing. “After he thought you were involved in what happened to Kate? God, you must be desperate.”

  The conga arrived back on the terrace, with everyone unlinking themselves from the person in front. Sumalee was giggling and clinging on to Laura. Charlotte wasn’t sure if it was because she was a little tipsy, or simply because she was having the time of her life.

  Drew slid off his bar stool and strode to the door, calling out to Sumalee. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

  Her face dropped, but she came to stand by his side.

  He turned to Jess. “You deserve everything you get,” he said bitterly, before striding off up the marina front, Sumalee scampering behind.

  “What was all that about?” Jess was perplexed.

  “He’s having a really hard time coming to terms with what’s happened,” said Charlotte. “I think he thought that because you weren’t with anyone, you kind of had something in common, so seeing you with Ben has probably hit him hard. He had a little wobbly moment in the kitchen earlier. You can’t blame the poor guy.”

  “I suppose not,” said Jess, slipping her arm through Ben’s.

  “Anyway.” Charlotte nodded towards Ben. “When did all this happen?”

  Ben blushed. “Tonight. I came crawling back to Jess to ask her if she’d give me another chance. I just kept on and on and on until she said she would. I’m working tonight, though, so I’m giving her a lift home to give us a little time to talk in the car.”

  “I’m leaving my car here tonight,” said Jess, passing her keys over the bar to Charlotte. “Could you put these under the bar for me, please, and I’ll take it home tomorrow. Or you can drive it home if you want to and I can just pick it up from your place. Whatever suits.”

  Loud bangs from the firework display on the beach signalled the finale of the food festival.

  Charlotte picked up two drinks. “Come on, Mike. Let’s take these outside and go and watch the display. See you later, you two. Be good.” She grinned at Jess who grinned back as she and Ben walked off to his car.

  They sat on the terrace and watched the fireworks exploding high in the night sky; sending out bright fountains and fizzling out like comets as they fell to earth.

  When the last firework had extinguished itself, Charlotte was still sitting outside with Garrett and Laura, Leo, Harry, Ava, Harriett and Betty. The marina was still alive with hordes of people milling about, enjoying the holiday atmosphere. Mike, grateful for the extra money, had agreed to stay on and run the bar and was doing a great job of keeping the customers happy.

  “Well, as I don’t have to take the boat out later, I’m having another drink,” announced Garrett.

  “Why aren’t you taking the boat out?” asked Charlotte. She’d never known Garrett miss a day, apart from Sundays which were his day off.

  “Boring stuff. I’ve got to go and sort out some paperwork for the boat and tomorrow’s the only time they could give me an appointment. Anyway, I’ve had a fantastic evening, and the night is still young! Anyone else care to join me?”

  He disappeared into the bar and Charlotte’s thoughts wandered to Nathan. She hoped his enquiries were starting to bear fruit.

  “Did you see Jess going off with that policeman?” asked Ava.

  “I thought they’d broken up,” said Laura.

  “Yes, they had, but they’re giving it another go,” said Charlotte. “I think he realises that he was an idiot and if he hasn’t already, I’m sure Jess will tell him!”

  “Where did Sumalee and Drew get off to?” asked Leo. “He didn’t look very happy when they left and neither did she.”

  “I wonder if Sumalee knows who her real father is,” said Ava suddenly, rather the worse for wear.

  “What do you mean, ‘who her ‘real’ father is’? It’s Drew’s father, of course.” Charlotte was puzzled. “She said it was.”

  “Well, yes, I know that, but which father?” Ava was staring into space, running her finger around the rim of her glass.

  “Ah yes,” said Harriett. “That is the question.”

  “What are you on about?” Charlotte laughed. “You’ve started to talk gibberish. Too much vino, that’s your problem.”

  “Oh no, dear,” said Betty. “It’s a reasonable question. You see, Drew’s adopted.”

  “What? Really?” Charlotte’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Since when?”

  “Since he was seven,” said Harriett.

  “Oh ... I had no idea. What happened to his real parents?”

  The ladies glanced at each other, cagily, before Ava spoke in a stage whisper. “If we tell you, you must promise to never tell anyone. And that includes you too.” She pointed down the table to Leo, Harry, Garrett and Laura. “We don’t even talk about it amongst ourselves. We only know because Harriett used to be friendly with a woman whose sister was a social worker and liked to blab.”

  “You’re starting to spook me, Ava,” said Charlotte, looking over her shoulder.

  “And so you should be spooked,” said Harriett. “It was a terrible state of affairs.”

  “Ooh, yes, I remember. It was terrible,” echoed Betty.

  “Will one of you just tell us what the bloody hell happened!” Harry rolled his eyes.

  “Well, when Drew was seven years old, his mother killed his father after she found out he’d been having an affair,” said Ava.

  “Numerous affairs, I was told,” said Harriett.

  “Stabbed him with a knitting needle, she did.” Betty nodded her head.

  “In front of the poor child, would you believe?” said Ava.

  “Oh my God!” Charlotte’s hands flew to her mouth. “That’s horrible! Poor Drew! What happened after that?”

  “She paid a little visit to the woman her husband had been seeing and bumped her off too,” said Harriett.

  “Yes, then she confessed to everything and ended up in the loony bin.” Ava
dabbed a drop of coffee liqueur from the corner of her mouth.

  “Ava!” Betty reprimanded her. “You can’t say ‘loony bin’ these days!” She turned to Charlotte. “What Ava means is that she was put into a secure psychiatric unit for a while but, when the doctors found out that she was perfectly sane, she was transferred to a maximum security prison.”

  “Yes, and that’s where she died.” Harriett blew out the flames on her Sambuca and tentatively touched the glass to her lips.

  “Such a shame,” said Ava. “She was so full of energy and so beautiful. Such a terrible waste of a life.”

  “D’you remember,” said Betty, “how she always used to wear emerald green? It complemented that long, auburn hair of hers perfectly. You know, I thought of her when I saw the police appeal on TV the other day.”

  “Oh, yes! She had the most gorgeous hair, didn’t she? Used to put me in mind of Rita Hayworth,” said Harriett. She noticed Charlotte’s vacant expression. “She was a Hollywood film star, dear.”

  “What? Oh, yes, yes, I know. I’s just that ... you say she had long auburn hair and always wore green?”

  “Yes, that’s right, dear. Emerald green.”

  “And what was her name?” A shiver ran through Charlotte, from her head to her toes.

  “Her name? Her name was Nina.”

  Chapter 14

  Nathan was reeling from the recent revelations.

  Sumalee was a man.

  A man who liked to dress as a woman and live as a woman.

  He could hardly believe it. He’d seen Sumalee close up and there’d been no doubt in his mind that she was a woman. There wasn’t a hint of masculinity about her. He ... she was stunning.

  At last, the break in the case he’d needed.

  At last, everything was falling into place.

  The person in the green dress and the auburn wig must have been Sumalee - the killer had been living among them all this time.

  With her cheery personality and her kind and gentle manner, she’d fooled them all.

  Even Kate.

  She hadn’t really been her friend - she’d just pretended to be. Who’d throw a friend off a roof?

  Nathan wracked his brains. Had Sumalee been envious of the relationship Drew had had with Kate? Had he been worried that when Drew and Kate married, the sibling bond between them would become fractured?

  Jealousy certainly seemed the most obvious motive, but speculation wasn’t enough to give him a conviction.

  He needed hard evidence that linked Sumalee to Kate’s death and he was on his way to his house to see if he could find exactly that.

  He parked a little way from the house and quietly climbed over the back gate. Although the house was in darkness, the streetlights cast an eerie glow over the frontage and for what Nathan had in mind, nothing less than total darkness would do.

  As he slid his key into the lock on the back door, it crossed his mind that there was a clause in the rental contract assuring his tenants that he would not enter the premises under any circumstances unless he was invited, he suspected foul play or there was an emergency. Definitely not in breach of contract, he thought, grimly.

  He stepped into the house, the darkness his guide. He knew the place like the back of his hand, which would give him the advantage over someone who was less familiar with it.

  He moved quickly from one room to another. There was no one downstairs. He climbed the stairs, making sure to avoid the steps he knew would creak if he put his foot on them. With his baton out and ready, he checked every room. No one.

  Assuming that Drew’s room would be the master bedroom at the front of the house, he made his way to the second bedroom, assuming that Sumalee’s would be that one.

  He flicked on the light switch. The room was spotlessly clean and tidy and his mum’s favourite saying when he’d been an untidy teenager flashed through his mind. ‘A place for everything and everything in its place’. He could hear her saying it now.

  Searching the room quickly, the cupboards and drawers revealed nothing of interest. He checked under the bed, under the mattress and on top of the wardrobes, but found nothing of any significance.

  He moved into Drew’s room, thinking that Sumalee may have hidden evidence there, but a swift search revealed nothing.

  The third bedroom was little more than a box room. Nathan had used it for storage when he’d lived there but on opening the door, he saw that Drew was using it as an office. Sparsely decorated, the room contained nothing but a wardrobe, a desk and a chair. Nathan opened the desk drawers, but apart from the stationery one might usually find in a desk, its contents were minimal.

  Slightly disillusioned with his lack of success, he opened the wardrobe door and gasped.

  A row of pale-beige, low-heeled shoes ran along the bottom of the cupboard - six pairs in all, with an empty space in the middle. The rail in one half of the wardrobe was filled with emerald green dresses, each one perfectly pressed and on its own hanger. On the shelf unit to the left were two wig stands, one holding a long, auburn wig styled in soft curls and the other one, empty.

  As he unclipped his police radio from his pocket to call in a ‘Be on the Lookout’ alert for Sumalee, he looked up and saw an empty hanger.

  An empty wig stand, an empty hanger and a missing pair of shoes.

  “Yes, change that. Change that description to a man of south-east Asian appearance, slim build, about 5’10”, wearing a green dress, light-coloured shoes and a long, auburn wig. Yes, I’m deadly serious.”

  As he pushed the door shut, he heard something move behind the wardrobe. A large sheet of thick cardboard that was wedged between the back of the cupboard and the wall had slipped down and he removed it carefully for a closer look.

  “Oh God ....”

  There were two blown-up photographs stuck to the card.

  One was of Kate and had been defaced with an X drawn through it in thick, black pen. Underneath it was written the date, Saturday, 4th October. The date Kate had died.

  The other picture was, as yet, untouched, but the date below it was Friday, 24th October. Today’s date.

  And the picture was of Jess.

  Chapter 15

  Charlotte shoved her keys at Mike and asked him to lock up. “I have to get a message to Nathan as soon as possible,” she told Garrett and Laura, asking them if they would keep trying him on his mobile.

  She ran all the way to Jess’s car, hoping against hope that her instincts would prove to be wrong. Please let her be okay, please let her be okay. Starting the engine, she wheel-spinned out of the car park.

  Holding her phone and the steering wheel with her left hand, she swiped the screen of her phone with the other and pressed Jess’s name with her thumb. The call went straight to answer phone. Then she scrolled through her phone book to Ben’s number. It rang five times, also diverting to the answer phone.

  “Damn it!” Charlotte banged her hand on the steering wheel and dragged her hand across her face. Fearful tears were filling her eyes and she pulled over to get herself together. Picking up her phone, she tried Nathan, Ben and Jess once more before dialling Ben’s direct line at the station.

  “Pick up, pick up, pick up!” she said, over and over.

  “Hello, DS Dillon’s phone. DS Farrell speaking.”

  “Oh thank God! It’s Charlotte Denver here. Could I speak to Ben please? It’s really urgent.”

  “I’m sorry, he hasn’t turned up for his shift yet,” said his colleague. “I was just about to call him to see where he is. Would you like to leave a message?”

  Not Ben too! Charlotte thought quickly. “Listen, DS Farrell, I need your help. I think Jess and Ben are in danger. If I come by the station now, can you help me?”

  She headed for the police station. Fiona was already waiting for her and Charlotte was out of Jess’s car and sitting next to the detective in seconds.

  “Okay, before we go anywhere, what’s going on?” Fiona Farrell was calm and Charlotte began to fee
l reassured that everything would be okay.

  “I’m sorry, but we can’t waste any time - you drive and I’ll explain.”

  “Okay, at least tell me where we’re going, then.”

  “Willicombe Road, Jess Beddington’s house. I think the person who killed Kate Denton is going after her next.”

  “What? Why do you think that? And who do you think killed Kate ... wait a minute, isn’t that Ben over there?” As they drove past Charlotte’s old house, Ben was getting into his car. Fiona pulled up and both her and Charlotte jumped out and ran over to him.

  “Oh my God! Ben, why haven’t you been answering your phone? Where’s Jess?” Charlotte grabbed hold of his arm.

  “And why aren’t you at work?” Fiona chimed in.

  “What is this? Twenty questions? Okay ... I dropped my phone and dislodged the battery but I didn’t realise until I tried to call the station. As I was already running late, I was going to call you back when I got to work, Charlotte. And I took Jess home after we left the marina, so I assume that’s where she is.”

  “And why aren’t you already at work?” Fiona asked again.

  “Because I had an allergic reaction to something so I went to A&E for an antihistamine shot. Dunno what it could have been. Anyway, why were you trying to get hold of me?”

  “Charlotte thinks that whoever killed Kate Denton is after Jess. We were just on our way over there. You want to come with us?”

  Ben was in the car before she finished the sentence. They sped off and Ben turned to Charlotte in the back seat. “What the hell is going on?”

  ººººººº

  Nathan drove to Jess’s house at breakneck speed. Her car wasn’t there, and the house was in darkness but for a dim glow through the front door which told him that a light was on at the back of the house.

  He remembered Charlotte telling him that Jess kept a key under the blue garden gnome. Damn it! There were at least twenty garden gnomes on the drive and in the dark, he couldn’t’ see what colour any of them were. He took his torch out of his pocket and shone it through his hand to dim the light. Finding the blue gnome, he saw a key taped to the bottom. When this is all over, I must remember to tell Jess to find a safer place to keep her key, he thought, as he opened the front door as smoothly and quietly as he could.