Virtually Scared To Death (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Free Page A

the room that Jasper Parker was in. How could
that be possible? He was supposed to be two hundred miles away.

 

Chapter 8

 
    I
didn’t have time to voice my concerns to the inspector. He finished talking to
Jasper and then turned to me.
    “Mr
Parker has explained to us about how the game could be on a loop. You can leave
now,” he said.
    He
turned his back on me and started to talk to someone in uniform.
    Something
was bugging me about Mark’s death. I felt there were things going on that
needed to be explained. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that Jasper Parker was
somehow involved. And what was it about those tablets? Why had Mark opened the
new bottle if he had bottles already opened.
    Unless
someone had come into his apartment, removed the older tablets and then
substituted them for tampered tablets!
    I
shook my head as I left the apartment and walked towards the lift. I was
beginning to sound as suspicious as Ivy Brown.
    I
waved bye to Steve as I reached the ground floor. The constable who had spoken
to me was now talking to Steve.
    I
couldn’t stop thinking about the tablets. Then I remembered something my dad
said about having things delivered from the chemist. I wondered if Mark had his
tablets delivered.
    I’d
seen the name of the chemist often on the bottles in his bathroom. Their shop
was nearby.
    I
knew I was late for my next job but I just had to put my mind at rest.
    I
walked into the chemist shop. It was only small and there were two people behind
the counter.
    I
didn’t want to give details of Mark’s death so I made up a story about my mum
moving into Canal View Court.
    “She
needs a lot of medication but she can’t get out often. Can you deliver?” I
asked the woman behind the counter. I secretly prayed that my mum wouldn’t need
medication anytime soon.
    The
woman smiled at me. “We do deliver. In fact, we already have someone there that
we deliver to.”
    I
pretended to looked concerned. “The last chemist we used gave the pills to a
neighbour because Mum had popped out. I wouldn’t want her tablets to end up in
the wrong hands.”
    The
woman nodded. “I quite understand. We make sure the patient, or a member of the
patient’s family, sign for them.”
    The
young man standing next to her butted in, “That’s what happened to me last week,
when I was delivering some tablets to Mr Castle. He lives at those fancy
apartments.”
      The woman tried to shush the chattering
youth, “Stephen! We’re not supposed to mention names!”
    Stephen
gave a little grin and carried on, “I had just pressed the buzzer for Mr ... somebody’s
door, when this lady saw me and said she was his wife. I asked her to confirm
the name and address of the patient, for security reasons.”
    Stephen
glanced at the older woman to make sure he’d done the right thing. She gave a
little nod.
    “And
this woman told me the name and address, even his date of birth. She said she’d
sign for them and take them up to her husband.”
    I
didn’t like to say that Annabel Castle was actually the ex Mrs Castle, the
young man looked as if he was in enough trouble already.
    “Thanks
for all your help. I’ll let my mum know about your delivery service.” I smiled
and left the shop.
    Now
I was really worried. Annabel Castle had taken a delivery of tablets for Mark.
She could have easily tampered with them.
    Did
she kill him?

 

Chapter 9

 
    I
returned to the apartments the following morning to deliver some of my business
cards to Steve.
    He
was in his office, the door was open.
    “Caught
you!” I said. Steve was staring into space.
    He
spun around with a guilty look on his face. “Oh Julia! You scared the life out
of me! I was just daydreaming about becoming a wealthy games designer like Mark.
It must be great doing a job like that.”
    “Wouldn’t
you miss unblocking sinks and changing light bulbs?” I asked with a grin.
    Steve
smiled. “Of course, there’s nothing like being called out in the middle of