THE TRUTH ABOUT MURDER a captivating crime mystery full of twists and turns by CHRIS COLLETT

Author:CHRIS COLLETT [COLLETT, CHRIS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thrillers and mysteries
Published: 2019-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-nine

It was years since I’d been to a proper party and even driving over to Joss and Guy’s place on Saturday evening with Cate at my side, I couldn’t help feeling a little apprehensive.

‘It’ll be fine,’ she said, reading my thoughts. ‘I can guarantee it will be a very middle class affair and everyone will be terribly polite and politically correct.’

‘So any personal remarks will be discreet and behind my back,’ I added. ‘I don’t know which is worse.’

We drew up a little way down the street from a well-lit, Edwardian villa.

‘There’s no pleasing some people,’ she said. She slid her hand along my thigh and up between my legs, cupping a hand over my crotch and gently squeezing. ‘Although I’ll do my best later.’

I leant in for a kiss. ‘Can’t we just skip the party?’

‘No! We are going to be sociable.’

And sociable I was. It wasn’t even too bad and, despite the noise, I managed to hold reasonably intelligible conversations with at least three people. After a while, though, the strain began to take its toll and I retreated to the kitchen, where I wrestled for several minutes to get the top off a beer bottle. When it finally flew off, some of it spattered over a pile of junk mail and flyers that had been cast aside on the windowsill. I got a bit of kitchen towel and dabbed at them, and in doing so managed to knock the whole lot onto the floor. As I was picking them up, I couldn’t help but notice the recipient’s name on one of the envelopes: Mrs J. Leonard. I looked up for Cate to confirm it, but she was nowhere to be seen. The man himself, however, was heading — if a little unsteadily — my way.

‘Cheers!’ He held his beer bottle up to mine.

‘Happy birthday,’ I said. ‘It’s quite a party.’ He frowned slightly, working out what I had said.

‘Glad you’re enjoying it,’ he responded eventually. ‘Stefan, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. I didn’t know your surname was Leonard,’ I said, casually. ‘Are you the same Mr Leonard who runs the neonatal department at the hospital?’ I asked him, barely able to believe my luck.

He flashed me a bleary-eyed smile. ‘For my sins. And let’s be honest, there are plenty of those.’

‘So, you must have known Rita Todd,’ I tried to keep it light.

The smile faltered, and for a split-second I think he hoped he might have misheard me, before it became obvious that he hadn’t.

‘Yes, of course, Rita worked in our department for a number of years. It was a tragic loss . . . a shock to us all.’ He hesitated, deciding whether to pursue it or to let it drop. ‘Did you know her?’

‘Not really. I didn’t get the chance. Her daughter thought she was being treated unfairly at work, possibly even forced out, so she approached my law firm for representation. I didn’t know at the time that Rita had already been suspended.’ I paused, in the

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