A Party To Die For (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 3) Read Free Page B

Megan-Rose. “Have you found a body? In my house? Whose is it?” 
     

Chapter 8
     
    DI
Clarke looked down at the little girl. His face softened and he smiled.
    Gina
came rushing over. She looked closer at the inspector. She must have soon
realised who the body belonged to because she gave the inspector a small nod
and then led Megan-Rose away.
    “Where
is the body?” DI Clarke asked me more quietly.
    “This
way,” I said and I headed towards the stairs. The inspector and two uniformed
officers followed me. As we went upstairs I told the inspector who Megan-Rose
was.
    I
led them into Fiona’s bedroom and without really needing to, I pointed to her
lifeless body.
    DI
Clarke walked over to her. He stared at her face for a while and then said, “It
looks like suffocation. The bedclothes aren’t disturbed too much so it looks
like she didn’t thrash about. She was probably asleep, or nodding off to sleep
when someone came in and put a pillow over her face. She most likely didn’t see
her killer.”
    “Do
you think they used the pillow next to her?” I asked. I had noticed Fiona’s
lipstick on the adjacent pillow.
    DI
Clarke nodded. He told one of the officers to take the pillow away as evidence.
    “How
long had she been upstairs, Ms Blake?” he asked.
    “Not
long, about one hour. She wasn’t feeling well so I suggested she had a lie
down. I wish I hadn’t now.”
    “Did
anyone come upstairs whilst the victim was having a lie down?”
    “Fiona,
she was called Fiona Doyle. The only person for sure that I know about is Kim
Blackburn.” I then told him about the phone incident.
    “Have
you still got the phone?”
    I
told him yes and then handed it over.
    DI
Clarke looked at the phone for a while and then said, “Do you think Kim
Blackburn had a motive to kill Fiona? Had you heard them arguing about
anything?”
    “No,
Kim gave the impression that she was always best friends with Fiona. Fiona
didn’t feel the same way, she told me several times. She said Kim was like a
leech that would latch onto her and copy her in any way she could.”
    “I’ll
be having a word with Kim Blackburn. I take it she’s one of the people you told
to leave the party?” DI Clarke asked me with a glint in his eyes.
    I
felt my cheeks go warm. “Yes, but she only lives next door.”
    DI
Clarke had a quick look around the room. “We’ll have to question everyone about
their movements, see if anyone else came upstairs.”
    “Somebody
must have. Look, there’s a glass of water on the bedside table,” I pointed out.
    “Couldn’t
Fiona Doyle have brought that up herself?” DI Clarke questioned.
    “She
could have but she always uses a coaster, she keeps them inside the table
drawers. Fiona was quite fussy about things like coasters.”
    DI
Clarke considered that for a moment, then he told the same officer to take the
glass too.
    “We
need to examine this room a bit more but I shall have to tell that little girl
about her mother, before anyone else does,” the inspector said.
    We
went back downstairs. Anna was waiting for us with a worried look on her face.
    “I’ve
just remembered something that I saw earlier, when Fiona was having a rest
upstairs,” Anna began.
    “Go
on,” the inspector said.
    “I
saw someone go upstairs with a glass of water. It was Fiona’s sister, Gina.”
     

Chapter 9
     
    “Where
is this Gina?” DI Clarke asked.
    I
pointed over to where Gina was. She was sitting on the carpet next to
Megan-Rose. Megan-Rose was looking at a doll that someone had bought her.
    “Does
Gina know about her sister?” DI Clarke asked.
    “No,
but I think she might suspect, considering police officers are in the house and
Fiona is nowhere to be seen.”
    “There’s
no need to be sarcastic, Ms Blake, a simple ‘no’ would have done. I’ll break
the news to both of them.”
    “Shall
I come with you?” I offered.
    “I
can manage, I’ve done this many times before. Too many times. Ms Blake, this
investigation