Murder by the Seaside: A completely unputdownable cozy mystery novel (A Detective Grace McKenna Scottish Murder Mystery Book 1) by Jackie Baldwin

Author:Jackie Baldwin [Baldwin, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781805080534
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2023-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Five

Grace rang the doorbell and waited. It was time she delivered another update to her client. She noticed a curtain twitch upstairs. There was the sound of hurried footsteps on the stairs and the front door was flung wide.

‘Grace! Did we have an appointment?’ Sylvia’s face was flushed and moist as though she’d been sweating.

‘I thought I’d swing round and update you on the investigation,’ she replied with a smile.

‘Great, come in then,’ Sylvia replied.

As Grace entered, she heard the back door close.

‘Dratted wind,’ said Sylvia.

Why was she being so secretive? wondered Grace. I’m not exactly the morality police. There was a faint scent lingering on the air, but it dissipated before Grace pinned it down.

‘Please, sit,’ said Sylvia, hurriedly clearing away two mugs and an ashtray into the kitchen. ‘Coffee?’ she shouted over her shoulder.

‘Please – black, no sugar,’ Grace yelled back. She took the opportunity to glance around the room. There were no photos of Paul Gordon here.

Sylvia returned with the coffee.

‘I’m afraid that someone broke into the agency,’ Grace said, watching Sylvia’s reaction closely. ‘The intruder took those photos of your husband and… the woman.’

Sylvia exhaled and turned to straighten one of the cushions. ‘What a strange thing to go for!’

‘You know who she was,’ said Grace, in a tone that brooked no argument.

For a moment she thought that Sylvia was going to try and brazen it out, but then her client simply sighed and nodded.

‘Yes, it was that girl who worked at the golf club.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me when I asked before?’ demanded Grace.

‘I didn’t want it to get out.’

‘If you want me to solve this case, you can’t pick and choose what information you give me. It’s for me to determine what’s relevant to my investigation. Now, tell me again, when did you find out your husband was having an affair?’

‘Like I said before! Not until after he died and I looked in the safe. When I saw those photos, I was so shocked and upset I just shoved them back in there. I should have got rid of them straightaway.’

‘Then why didn’t you?’

‘I don’t know. I worried they might have had something to do with his death.’

‘You thought that someone might have been blackmailing him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Those payments from his bank account, that you confirmed to Jean were charitable donations to a good cause, were actually going to his blackmailer?’

‘I didn’t know for sure, but I suspected as much.’

‘I’m still having trouble understanding why you didn’t tell me about all of this from the start,’ said Grace, allowing an edge to creep into her voice.

‘I didn’t want you to suspect me of having killed him.’

It was a good point. Blackmailers didn’t usually murder their victims: it would cut off their income stream. But a wronged wife might have no such qualms.

‘You were at the golf club the day that Maria Rossi was murdered.’

‘So were a lot of people. It doesn’t mean I killed her.’

‘You had motive, means and opportunity.’

‘You’re barking up the wrong tree,’ said Sylvia, her eyes wary now.

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