A Secret Killer (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Tuesday morning. ”
    “ I …” Julia began. She couldn ’ t
carry on, her heart felt too heavy.
    Cain
touched her arm. “ I think you should sit down, you ’ ve
gone very white. ”
    Julia
finally looked away from the body lying on the carpet in Hugo ’ s
office. She said, “ My legs won ’ t
move, they ’ re in
shock. Oh, Cain! Look at him lying there! Who would do that to Hugo? He ’ s one
of the kindest people you could ever meet! ”
    Cain
peered closer at Hugo ’ s body. “ It ’ s
obvious he ’ s
been murdered. He would hardly hit himself on the back of his head with that
paperweight. It ’ s the same one he threw to me yesterday. ” He shook his head. “ It
always amazes me that there ’ s so much blood
in a human body. ”
    A
sob escaped from Julia. She took a step back and turned away from Hugo ’ s
body.
    Cain
said, “ Sorry,
I know I sound callous, but like I told you in the interview, I ’ ve
seen a lot of dead people. You sort of become indifferent to it after a while.
I didn ’ t
mean to upset you. ”
    Julia
looked over her shoulder. “ I ’ ve
seen people who ’ ve died before, it ’ s
just that Hugo was so full of life, and now he ’ s
just lying there, all undignified. I ’ ll never hear
that booming laugh of his again. ” She took a tissue from her pocket and
wiped her eyes. “ I ’ ll
phone the police. I could do with a strong cup of tea but we can ’ t go
into the kitchen, we could contaminate any evidence. ”
    Cain
walked over to her side. He took the phone from Julia ’ s
shaking hands and said, “ I ’ ll do
it. I presume it ’ s still 999. ”
    Julia
said, “ Look
at the names, there ’ s a DI Clarke. I ’ ve
dealt with him before. ”
    Cain ’ s
eyebrows rose but he didn ’ t say anything.
He was soon speaking to someone on the phone.
    Julia
gave herself a mental shake. She remembered Hugo joking that if he was ever
murdered he ’ d
like Julia to investigate. She was sure that wouldn ’ t be
necessary, the police would soon find his killer.
    However,
she could always help them a little, point out things that they might not
notice. She put her tissue away. Cain ended his call and gave the phone back to
Julia. He said, “ The police are on their way. Shall we
wait in the car? We could be contaminating the scene now. ”
    “ I
think we ’ ve
already done that, ” Julia
pointed out. She looked around the room. “ The
front door was unlocked when we came in, there are no signs of forced entry. I
can ’ t see
that any of the windows have been damaged. Hmm, I wonder if the murderer came
in through the back door. I wish we could have a quick look at it. ”
    Cain
said, “ He
might have left the back door unlocked. Remember what he told us yesterday, he
said he liked to show visitors the back door from the TV show. ”
    Julia ’ s
eyes narrowed. “ That ’ s
true. Do you think he had a visitor yesterday, after we left? ”
    “ We
saw that man driving in just as we were going out, the one that you recognised.
He could have been visiting Hugo, he might have been a new client. I ’ m
assuming that Hugo would treat all his new clients to a tour of the kitchen. ”
    Julia ’ s
lips lifted briefly. “ Yes, he loved
showing that kitchen off. And he most likely made his visitor a cup of tea with
that antique set. Perhaps if I took my shoes off I could have a swift peek in
the kitchen. No one would know. ”
    “ I
would know, ” a voice said coldly.
    Julia
stiffened. She knew that voice. He had spoken to her in that cold tone many a
time. In fact, she wasn ’ t convinced that
he knew how to convey any other emotion. She turned to the owner of the voice. “ Hello,
Detective Inspector Clarke. How are you? I haven ’ t
seen you for a while. ”
    The
tall thin man in front of her stared directly into her eyes. “ That ’ s a
good thing, seeing as we always seem to meet over a corpse. What have you been
up to this time? ”
    Julia
gave him a shaky smile. “