Murder in the Neighbourhood: A Diane Dimbleby Cozy Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

box… as part of an investigation…?”
    Darrell stops shovelling the food.
    “Yes,” he says after swallowing a mouthful. “A bank manager will even open a vault if necessary. But why do you ask?”
    Diane taps her leg and whistles. Rufus runs up to her and jumps on her lap.
    “He’s really taken a liking to you already,” Darrell admires.
    “A vault would be perfect. Do you see this locket?” Diane says, pointing to the charm dangling on Rufus’ collar. “Well, I found this message inside.”
    She passes him the small scrolled piece of paper. He opens it and reads: 4u opn sdb 2914 at bk .
    “Wow! Excellent find Diane! I’ll have to get Liam from Forensics on this. He’s a master at cracking codes. I wonder if it’s a substitution cipher...”
    “You don’t have to ask Liam for help. You can solve it right now, Inspector. Pretend a teenager has just sent you a text message. Now read it.”
    “For you… open… sdb… what does sdb stand for?” Darrell says out loud. “……….. Oh! Safety deposit box – that’s why you were asking about the bank! Of course. Well, I’m a bloody fool!”
    Darrell shakes his head and smiles at his friend. He tells Diane that he will make arrangements with Carys Jones’ bank in Shrewsbury.
    “We should be able to go as early as tomorrow morning,” he says.
    “What do you mean, we can go tomorrow?” asks Diane. She remembers times in the past where she’s perhaps stuck her nose in a little too close to the heart of an investigation.
    “I don’t think there’s any harm in you coming to the bank with me on a Sunday morning when everyone is at church or still asleep in bed,” he says. “Plus, it’s only fair since you found the clue telling us to go to the bank.”
    “Maybe Rufus should come too then, since he guarded the clue so well,” Diane giggles.
    Her laughter soon turns to heartache, as her mind wanders to Carys who might have planted that clue in Rufus’ locket out of fear for her own life.
    Darrell takes the last bite of Diane’s delicious stew and brings his plate to the sink. “You know, it appears that your instincts have been right… again ,” he calls out from the kitchen.
    “Is that right?” says Diane, wiping away a few tears from her cheek.
    “That Carys’ death was no accident and that—” Darrell stops suddenly when he comes out to see Diane looking upset. “Maybe I should not talk about this… you’re too close to the victim.”
    “No Inspector! Sorry… Darrell… it is because Carys is so important to me that I want to know every detail possible.”
    Darrell nods his head slowly and sits back down. He goes on to describe the state of Carys’ home – the upstairs in particular was a mess. He did not know whether Carys liked to keep a clean home or not, but this did not look like a case of bad housekeeping. Books appeared to be thrown, a lamp table and chair were toppled over – it was clearly the scene of a struggle.
    Darrell remembers thinking that earlier, when he was surveying the upstairs of the home, how Carys was such a brave woman indeed - although he does not share this with Diane. He could almost clearly picture this 63-year-old woman fighting for her own life, drawing energy from her resilient spirit, not her partially frail body. Judging from her bedclothes, it did appear she was having a nap before she was assaulted and killed. What a nightmare she awoke to.
    “So you think our Carys was pushed off the balcony to her death?” asks Diane.
    “Well no,” says Darrell tentatively. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
    Diane adamantly nods.
    Darrell explains that he had been talking to Dr. Jackson. Although he had found shallow stab wounds on Carys’ abdomen and arms, the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.
    “Was that sustained from the fall?” asks Diane.
    “No… it looks like she was already dead – being thrown over the balcony was just the