The Truth About Murder 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

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.