A Secret Killer (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 4) (2 page)

BOOK: A Secret Killer (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 4)
6.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

 

 

Chapter 3

 

Cain
went on,

I got
in with the wrong crowd, I tried to do things that would make me part of the
gang, like shoplifting, that sort of thing. I wasn

t
very good at it and often got caught. The police soon knew my name. Mum would
give me a good thrashing whenever she had to pick me up from the police
station. Still, I was surviving, sort of.


Things
changed when my dad turned up. Mum had always told me that he was dead so you can
imagine the shock I got when he turned up. I won

t go
into all the details, but needless to say there was a lot of shouting between
Mum and Dad. He didn

t even know I existed. When he laid eyes
on me for the first time he looked disappointed. I remember his words,

Are
you sure that

s
mine?

Mum was adamant about him being
my dad, she said she wanted nothing from him, and wanted him to go away before
there was trouble.

Cain
smiled and gave a small shake of his head.

I

m
sorry, I

m
supposed to be making this brief. Are you sure you want to listen?

Julia
nodded.

Please,
go on. You said that things got better for you. Did your dad take you away from
the estate? Did you spend more time at school?

Cain
gave her a small smile.

No, seems my dad
wasn

t welcome
on the estate. He

s what you call a

grass

. He

d
given evidence to the police many times in exchange for money, there were a lot
of people after him, most of them from the estate. It seems my dad wasn

t the
cleverest of people. He

d returned to see
Mum and to get some information from her about what was happening on the
estate. He needed money and wanted some information to sell to the police.
Apparently, the news that he had a son didn

t
stop him going ahead with his plans. News got round immediately that he was
back, a lot of people had scores to settle with him.

There was a pause. Cain picked a
bit of fluff from his trousers and carefully placed it in his pocket. He looked
directly at Julia and said,

He was killed,
two hours after meeting me. He was shot as he walked through the estate. There
were no witnesses, of course, who would say anything about his killing? There
was a feeling that justice had been done.


Was
your mum upset?

Julia asked.

Cain
shrugged.

She
didn

t
care. She was more concerned for me. Nobody knew who my real father was, she

d
kept it a secret. She knew what my father was like, knew his reputation, she
didn

t
want anyone to know I was his son. But, like a bad smell, the news filtered
around the estate. Things got much worse for me. I got used to the beatings, it

s
funny how you do. But what hurt more was my brothers turning against me, they
called me all sorts of names. They treated me worse than a dog. When I look
back now, I

m not
sure how I survived those days. Mum didn

t
seem to care at all about me.

Julia
blinked away a tear. She looked over at Dad, he pressed his lips together and
shook his head at the sorry tale.

Cain
made to stand up.

I

ve
upset you. I knew I shouldn

t have said
anything. I

ll
go.

In
a gruff voice Dad said,

Stay where you
are. I want to know what happened next. You look clean, and you speak well, so
I

m
assuming something happened.

Cain
sat back down. He smiled and said,

My gran, that

s
what happened. She didn

t know she had a
grandson. She

d heard
through friends about me. My dad had been awful to her growing up, stole from
her many times. She knew he was a bad penny but she never gave up on him. She
went to his funeral, she was the only one. Apart from me. I hid behind a tree,
but that eagle-eyed woman found me. She came with me back to the flat. She took
one look around the place, grabbed my hand and marched me out of there. She
told me I was going to live with her.


Didn

t
your mum try to find you?

Julia asked.


No.
Gran spoke to her later and sorted everything out. Gran said that Mum would be
in touch to see me soon, but she never did.

He frowned.

It

s
alright, don

t
look so sad. I understand why Mum didn

t want to see
me. Anyway, Gran took care of me. Cleaned me up, fed me, made me go to school.
She changed my life for the better, she told me every day how wonderful I was,
how loved I was. After a while I started to believe it. Which brings me round
to you and this job. Gran used to have a cleaning job, I helped her whenever I
could. I loved our times together. I think I associate cleaning with being
loved! I know that

s strange, but that

s how
I feel. I

m a
good worker, Gran taught me how to clean things without using chemicals.


She
sounds lovely,

Julia said.

You
do seem like a presentable person, and I would love to give you the job but
…”


It

s the
manslaughter thing, isn

t it? Okay, here
are the short details. When I was eighteen, I saw one of Gran

s
friends being mugged outside a shop. I ran over to help her, she must have
thought I was one of the attackers because she lashed out at me. She lost her
balance, fell to the floor and cracked her head. I stayed with her and called
for an ambulance but she died on the way to the hospital. The police were
waiting for me. They knew me from my past, they were ready to charge me there
and then.

Julia
said,

You
told them the truth, didn

t you?

Cain
shook his head.

I couldn

t. I
knew who the muggers were. I wasn

t a snitch, I
wasn

t
like my father. There were witnesses from the Clover Estate, they lied and said
I

d
attacked her on purpose. I suppose they were getting even more revenge for what
my dad had done to them. I went to prison. Gran was heartbroken. She knew I was
innocent, she pleaded for me to tell the truth. She said I didn

t
need to pay for the sins of my father.

He sighed.

I
served my time, saw things I didn

t want to
including many dead bodies. I was released six months ago.

Julia
had a sinking feeling about her next question, but she had to ask it.

How
did your gran take that?


She
died three moths before I came out.

Cain looked towards the window and took
a moment to compose himself. He put a bright smile on his face and turned back
to Julia.

Well,
that

s my
story! You can check up on me, you can speak to the people at the prison. I
wouldn

t
blame you if you told me to leave.


Why
do you want this job?

Julia asked.


I
love cleaning, and I feel I would be closer to Gran. I do miss her. It would
also allow me to save up to go to college and to continue with my studies, I
never got a chance to take my exams. I promised Gran I would do that. If you
feel like you could take a chance on me I

d be
prepared to work for free for a week. Then you could see if I was up to
scratch.

It
was clear that Cain was trying to hide the desperation in his voice. What was
Julia to do? Did she believe him? Should she give him a chance? She looked over
at Dad, he had a soft look on his face as if he was considering adopting the
young man.

Julia
thought of her children, away at university. If anything went wrong in their
lives she hoped they

d be given a second chance.

She
smiled at Cain and said,

Is Monday okay
for you? That

s my
busiest day, I could do with your help.

Cain
burst into tears. So did Dad.

Julia
handed them both a tissue. She addressed Cain,

I
promise you that we won

t see any dead
bodies.

She
soon broke that promise.

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 


I

m
sorry, Julia, I haven

t been much use.
You can take me home now.

Julia
turned to face Cain.

That

s a
defeatist attitude for a Monday morning. What do you think you

ve
done wrong?

Cain
sighed and looked out of the car window.

All I
did was chat, well, listen to Mrs Samson. You did all the cleaning work, I was
no use at all.

Julia
prodded him on the arm, Cain turned his head and looked at her. Julia smiled
and said,

You

ve
helped me a great deal. As you

ve just
discovered, Ivy, you don

t need to call
her Mrs Samson by the way, likes to talk. She gets lonely, she doesn

t get
out as much as she used to. I don

t mind listening
to her but she does tend to slow up my cleaning work. So, you sitting on her
sofa, politely listening to how her week has been, allowed me to crack on with
my work. I have quite a few clients like Ivy, they don

t
really employ me for cleaning, some of them even clean their own houses before
I turn up! They like to have someone to talk to.

Cain
frowned.

But
aren

t
they wasting their money by employing you?

Julia
gave him a wry smile.

I don

t
charge them the full amount. As you will soon see, I have plenty of wealthy
clients who more than make up for my discounted prices. Don

t
ever tell Ivy that! She

ll insist on
paying the full price. I think Ivy likes you, you

re a
good listener.

Cain
nodded.

I
liked listening to her, she reminds me a bit of Gran. Are you going to take me
home?


No
chance,

Julia said. She turned the key in
the ignition.

Our
next client has an enormous house, you

d better get
your elbow grease ready!

Julia
glanced at the rear-view mirror and prepared to drive away. She jumped as
someone knocked on the driver

s window. Ivy
Samson

s
wrinkly face stared back at her. Julia lowered the window and said,

Ivy,
is something wrong? Did I forget something?

Ivy
quickly glanced at Cain, and then back to Julia. She said in an overly cheerful
voice,

It

s nothing,
Julia, could I have a quick word?


Of
course,

Julia replied.

There
was another glance towards Cain and back at Julia. Ivy raised her eyebrows and
said,

Could
you step out of your car please?

Julia
got Ivy

s
meaning, she wanted to say something in private. Julia turned the engine off
and got out of the car. Ivy put her hand on Julia

s arm
and led her over to the pavement. Julia saw the concerned look on Cain

s
face as he looked back at them through the passenger window.

Ivy
turned her back towards the car and said,

Sorry
about that, I didn

t want young Cain to hear me.


That

s
okay. What

s
wrong?

Ivy
fiddled with her necklace.

I know Cain, and
his family. I hope I

m not speaking out of turn, but do you
know that he

s
been in prison?


I do.

Julia

s
heart sank. Was Ivy going to tell her to never bring Cain back to her house?
Would other clients do the same?

Ivy
continued.

He
comes from bad stock, the poor lad, it isn

t his
fault. I knew his gran, Doreen, lovely woman, would do anything for anyone. It
broke her heart to see Cain in prison. She tried and tried to get him out. She
even spent her savings on fancy solicitors. They took her money and told her
that they couldn

t do anything unless Cain changed his
story about poor Celia Smith. That

s the woman who
died.

She shook her head.

He
wouldn

t
tell the truth. I understand why, but if he knew how it was affecting his gran
he might have changed his mind. I don

t why he was
protecting those scumbags who attacked Celia Smith.


Does
he know who tried to rob her?

Julia asked.

Doreen
pursed her lips and nodded. Then she said,

Don

t
ever let on that you know this, but it was Cain

s
brothers who attacked her. Then the cowards ran off and left Cain to take the
blame. Poor lad. I

m glad you

ve
given him a job, he deserves some good luck. He

s
welcome in my house any time.

Julia
didn

t
know what to say. She looked towards her car. Cain was looking forwards now,
his head bopping slightly. Julia hoped he was listening to music.

Ivy
squeezed Julia

s arm
and said,

You

re a
good woman, Julia Blake. I

ll see you next
week, don

t
forget to bring Cain with you, I

ll make him a
cake.

Ivy

s
face wrinkled up even more as she smiled at Julia and then ambled away.

Julia
wasn

t
sure how she felt. She had made enquiries about Cain, with his social worker
and the prison. They all gave good reports. She wasn

t
happy about his past, would it come back to haunt him? Would his brothers try
and track him down?

Julia
pressed her lips together. If they did, she would deal with them. She didn

t
know Cain well yet, but she had a good feeling about him.

She
got back in the car and gave Cain a bright smile. She said,

Just
as I suspected, you

ve got an admirer in Ivy. She

ll
have a cake ready for you next week.

Cain
turned the radio down.

Really? She
wants me to come back?


She
does, but first, I need to see how you work, see what your cleaning skills are
like. Let

s
head on to our next job.

Julia pulled away from the kerb.

I
presume you watched TV in prison?


Yes,
just appropriate programmes. Why?

Julia
turned left at a junction.

Did you ever
watch Summersdale Secrets?


Yes!
I love that programme.

There was a pause.

Why
are you asking?

Julia
grinned as she drove along a winding road.

You

ll
see. Be prepared to be amazed.


Oh!
Tell me now! I hate secrets!

Cain pleaded.


Nope,
be patient.

Julia turned the radio up and
smiled to herself. It was good to have company.

Her
smile was still in place as she pulled into the gravel drive that led to the
house of her next client. She switched the engine off and turned triumphantly
to Cain.

Summersdale
Secrets!

she declared as she pointed at
the impressive-looking stone building in front of them. She was totally satisfied
with the stunned look on Cain

s face.


It

s

it

s
…”
Cain stammered.


Yep,
it

s
Summersdale Hall. Well, not really, it

s called Barnes
Hall. It is the house where they film it though.

Cain
peered closer, his face fell slightly.

It

s not
as big as it looks on the telly.

Julia
laughed.

No,
they use computer graphics to make it look bigger, they add more rooms. It belongs
to one of my clients, Hugo Barnes. He

s away at the
moment, the house is empty.

Cain
frowned and pointed at the house.

If it

s
empty, who

s
that at the window?

 

BOOK: A Secret Killer (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 4)
6.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Ginger Krinkles by Dee DeTarsio
Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
Perfect Fit by Taige Crenshaw
Jace by T.A. Grey