Death Dues (27 page)
‘Turned up out of the blue she did one day. As I said, I’d never seen her before so it made me curious. Anyway, next time she came calling I was in my garden and made sure to catch her when she came out. I invited her in on some pretext or other and she was happy enough to agree. It didn’t take long to get her story out of her.’ Emily Parker sat back with a satisfied smile. ‘I’m a good listener. Anyone will tell you.’
Rafferty didn’t doubt it. He’d been hoping and praying that her ferreting skills were an equal to her listening ones. And so they’d proved to be. He thanked her for her time and the information she had so willingly provided and headed for the car. What she had told him jelled with one or two of his own ideas. All he had to do now was check them out. In pursuit of this, he climbed in the car and headed across town.
Chapter Seventeen
‘Hail the conquering hero!’ Rafferty crowed as he entered his office. ‘I know who killed Jaws Harrison,’ he announced triumphantly. ‘I even know why and what was used for the killing. It wasn’t a hammer as Sam Dally thought. It was a metal tipped walking stick.’
‘You mean Jim Jenkins? He’s the only one to my knowledge who uses one.’
Rafferty nodded.
‘So why did he do it? He’s not one of the debtors. What possible motive could he have?’
‘You remember the first time we called round to his house and his granddaughter was there?’
‘Yes. A pleasant young woman. Mr Jenkins seemed very fond of her.’
‘He is. Very fond. But I only found out how much when I decided to pay another visit to Emily Parker, the proverbial nosy neighbour, to see what she could tell me about the girl. She’d seen Kim, that’s the granddaughter, visiting him and was naturally curious because there had never been any sign of the girl until two years ago and Mrs Parker’s lived beside Jim Jenkins for years. She tried to get the information out of Jenkins without success, him being the taciturn sort, so, unbeknownst to Jenkins, she waylaid the girl one day when she’d been visiting, plied her with tea and crumpets and found out the relationship. Young Kim’s apparently a bit artless and was clearly putty to an experienced information gatherer like Emily Parker. Anyway, I got her address from Mrs Parker and went round to see the girl. She admitted to me that she was in debt to Malcolm Forbes.’
‘But she wasn’t on the list that Forbes gave us. There was no Kim on it.’
‘There wouldn’t be. It was her grandfather’s pet name for her. He was fond of Kipling’s Jungle Book and called her Kim from that. She was adopted as a baby – her real name’s Alicia West.’
‘West. The list of debtors is alphabetical. We hadn’t got as far as the Ws.’
‘She checked out her parentage when she reached the age of eighteen and got to know her grandfather soon after. I think he was bitterly ashamed that he’d made his daughter give the baby up for adoption – she stayed with an aunt in Liverpool for six months which is how Mrs Parker didn’t know of the pregnancy. Young Kim or Alicia, whatever you want to call her, said her grandfather had admitted as much. He was sorry about all the years when they hadn’t known one another. It made him even more protective than he might otherwise have been. So when Jaws started threatening her for non-payment and her grandfather got it out of her, he decided to kill the man who had frightened her. I gather that Jaws, apart from the threats, had also more than intimated that she could pay him in kindness.
‘I checked with the Royal Marines, which was the lot Mr Jenkins was with in the war and Jim Jenkins had been a commando. Well used to creating death by stealth even if he’s crippled with arthritis now. I doubt if Jaws Harrison even heard him come up behind him.’
‘Have you spoken to Mr Jenkins?’
Rafferty shook his head. ‘I couldn’t. He’s been admitted to hospital and not expected to live. He’s got advanced prostate cancer with secondaries. But he left me a letter which he dictated to one of the nurses in which he confessed to what he’d done and why he did it.’
‘Killing Harrison wouldn’t have helped his granddaughter for much more than a week or two.’
‘No. He realised that. But he thought the man deserved to die. And so he killed him. He has some savings which he’s already given to Kim with the proviso that she pay Forbes off. And her and her natural mother will share the money from the sale of the house between them so she should never get into debt with someone like Forbes again.’
‘Why couldn’t he just give her the money to pay off Forbes in the first place rather than kill Harrison?’
‘As I said, Jaws had made a play for the girl, suggesting she could pay him in kindness next time she didn’t have the money. Jim Jenkins thought redemption was in order. I suppose with his old army training killing was the regular habit for doing away with enemies. That’s why he targeted Harrison rather than Forbes himself. Who can blame him? It’s not as if Jaws Harrison is any great loss to the world.’
Rafferty made for the door. ‘I’m off to see the super to do a bit more crowing.’
‘Hoping for another pat on the head?’
‘Certainly am. And why not? Case over.’
Epilogue
The murder was solved, as were the muggings. And now, apart from the wedding flowers which was back in his bailiwick again, there only remained one job for Rafferty to do – sort out his best man for the wedding.
He’d finally decided on Llewellyn. He was certain he’d do a much better job than either of his brothers or any of his friends.
‘Ah, Daff,’ he said when Llewellyn came back from fetching the morning tea. ‘There’s something I want to ask you. I’ve been putting it off because I’ve had so many other things on my mind, but I was always going to ask you.’
‘Ask me what?’
‘Will you be my best man?’
Llewellyn smiled. ‘I thought you’d never ask. Of course I will. I’ll be delighted.’ His smile deflated. ‘Only you might change your mind when you hear my confession.’
‘Confession? Not another one.’
‘Not to murder. Just to telling Maureen one or two things I perhaps shouldn’t have done.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like that I did the invitations for your wedding. And that Nigel Blythe’s house photographer is booked to take the photos.’
Rafferty beamed. ‘No harm done. I’m sure Mo can keep a still tongue in her—’ He broke off, dismayed. ‘I see. That’s it, isn’t it? She couldn’t keep a still tongue. Don’t tell me she’s told Abra?’
‘I’m afraid so. I’ve just had Maureen on the phone. She thought she ought to warn me. And you.’
‘How did Abra take it?’
‘Like she was on the warpath and with the tomahawk aimed at your head.’
Rafferty slumped in his chair and slurped some of his consoling tea. ‘I suppose that means the wedding’s off.’
‘It certainly will be if she catches you. Maybe you ought to stay with us for a night or two until she calms down.’
Rafferty, recalling how caught up in the roar of the wedding Abra had been lately, said, ‘A week or two might be better.’
The phone rang just then. The caller display told him it was Abra. He let it ring, picked up his jacket and said to Llewellyn, ‘That’s Abra. You’d better answer it. I’m off. You can tell her I’ve gone to Paris to check out
haute couture
wedding dresses.’
‘Really?’
‘Don’t be daft. Of course I’m not. But it’s the only thing likely to sweeten her current disposition. Give it plenty of Welsh welly.’
Llewellyn gave a long-suffering sigh and reached out an arm. ‘I don’t recall this sort of thing being mentioned on the job description.’
’But it did say “Expect the unexpected”, didn’t it? I think you’ll find that’s probably me.’
SYNOPSIS OF DEATH DUES
A Rafferty & Llewellyn cozy procedural #11
With his wife-to-be’s wedding budget spiralling out of control and his superintendent demanding the swift resolution to the series of muggings of local loan sharks, DI Joe Rafferty is anticipating a long and trying week. And sure, enough, he isn’t disappointed.
When one John ‘Jaws’ Harrison is found with his skull caved in, in an alleyway backing on to rundown Primrose Avenue while on his way to collect debt repayments from the residents, Rafferty and his intellectual partner, Sergeant Dafyd Llewellyn, imagine the case will be easily solved. Armed with a list of local debtors, they begin their investigations. But they hadn’t counted on the conspiracy of silence amongst the residents — most of whom had good reason to want Jaws dead.
With the Super breathing down his neck and fiancée Abra sending his blood pressure to boiling point, Rafferty is forced to make some unorthodox decisions and stretch his intuitive powers to breaking point.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
Geraldine Evans is the author of twenty published novels, including fifteen in the Rafferty and Llewellyn procedural series, two in the Casey & Catt procedural series, one historical novel (
Reluctant Queen
), one medical suspense (
The Egg Factory
) as well as a romance (
Land of Dreams
), a collection of short stories (
A Mix of Six
) and a short guide to epublishing with Amazon’s Kindle (
How To eFormat Your Novel For Amazon’s Kindle: A Short But Comprehensive A-Z Guide
).
Her previous publishers include Macmillan, Severn House, Hale, St Martin’s Press and Worldwide (US).
She started writing in her twenties, but it wasn’t till she hit the milestone age of thirty that she actually finished a novel. For the next six years she completed a romantic novel a year, only the last of which was published (
Land of Dreams
(out of print in any format). When her follow-up romance was rejected, she felt like murdering someone. So she did. She turned to crime.
Dead Before Morning
, her first mystery novel and the first book in her now 15-strong Rafferty and Llewellyn procedural series, was taken from Macmillan’s slush pile and published, both in the UK and the US by St Martin’s Press. It was the beginning of what has been a long and — ultimately — successful career as a mystery author.
In the late summer of 2010, she made the decision to part with her publisher and turn indie, which is when she also began to make a proper living as an author. She has now published most of her backlist as ebooks, as well as independently epublishing two new novels (
Kill and Kill
#15 Rafferty series and
The Egg Factory
), her first short story collection (
A Mix of Six
) and her short non-fiction guide to formatting for kindle. She is currently working on her sixteenth Rafferty & Llewellyn novel, tentatively entitled
Asking For It
.
Geraldine Evans is a Londoner, but moved to Norfolk in East Anglia, in 2000.
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Other Books By Geraldine Evans
Rafferty & Llewellyn procedural series
Kith and Kill #15 (Self-Published)
Deadly Reunion #14 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Death Dance #13 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
amazon UK
amazon US
(pb and hb not ebook)
All the Lonely People #12 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
amazon UK
amazon US
(pb and hb not ebook)
Death Dues #11 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
A Thrust to the Vitals #10 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Blood on the Bones #9 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Love Lies Bleeding #8 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Bad Blood #7 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Dying For You #6 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Absolute Poison #5 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
The Hanging Tree #4 (Orig Pub: Macmillan)
Death Line #3 (Orig Pub: Macmillan)
Down Among the Dead Men #2 (Orig Pub: Macmillan)
Dead Before Morning #1 (Orig Pub: Macmillan)
Casey & Catt procedural series
A Killing Karma #2 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Up in Flames #1 (Orig Pub: Severn House)
Standalones
The Egg Factory: International Medical Suspense Novel (Self-Published)
Reluctant Queen: Historical Novel About the Little Sister of Henry VIII (Orig Pub: Hale)
Land of Dreams: Romantic Novel (Orig Pub: Hale)
OUT OF PRINT IN ANY FORMAT
Short Stories
A Mix of Six
Non-Fiction
How To eFormat Your Novel For Amazon’s Kindle: A Short But Comprehensive A-Z Guide
