Gavin's Death (Cara Daniels Cozy Mystery Book 4) (4 page)

Chapter
10

Cara
let the window down. Nora held a finger under her nose as she spoke, “Hi, sorry
to bother you, but could I have a word with you about Gavin Bennett?” She
grimaced as a particularly fragrant cloud came over them. “Somewhere away from
this stench?”

Cara
nodded. “Of course. Do you want to get in?”

“I’d
rather not, thanks. My car is parked behind yours, could you follow me? I don’t
want to leave my car here to absorb this disgusting smell.”

Cara
nodded again. “Okay.”

Nora
gave her a grateful smile and walked away. Cara watched through her rear-view
mirror as Nora Silcoates got in the car behind her and began to drive away.
Cara followed her.

Because
she had no Robin to talk to, Cara decided to talk to herself. “So, Cara
Daniels, you’re now following a woman that you don’t know, to goodness knows
where. This woman has been following Gavin and could be a possible murderer.
Great.”

Nora
pulled into the car park of a small café. Cara told herself that she could at
least get a tea whilst she spoke to the possible murderer.

Nora
was sitting at a table inside by the time Cara walked into the café. She sat
opposite her.

Nora
said, “You’re very trusting, I could be anyone!”

“I’m
very nosy,” Cara confessed truthfully. “And I remember you from yesterday.”

“Ah,
yes. Gavin Bennett was showing you around a house. He wasn’t pleased to see me
yesterday but I needed to talk to him urgently, I still do. I called in at the
estate agent’s this morning and Susan told me where he was going to be. When I
got to that house I found his car but no Gavin. A lovely old lady told me that
you’d just driven off after him, and that you were his girlfriend. I soon
caught up with you, I remembered your car from yesterday.”

“You’d
make a good spy,” Cara said. “I’m not his girlfriend. The old lady, Ada, got
that wrong.”

Nora’s
face dropped. “Oh, then I’m not sure I should talk to you. As his girlfriend I
thought you could talk some sense into him.”

Cara
pressed her lips together as she decided whether to lie or not. She decided to
lie. “We’re good friends. Please feel free to talk to me. I know that you’ve
been trying to talk to Gavin on the phone.”

Nora
sighed. “He’s ignored all my messages. Let me start from the beginning. I’m
Nora Silcoates and I used to work for Gavin. He employed me as a home help for
his mum. She needed help around the house, someone to do her shopping for her,
that sort of thing. She’s a lovely woman, Thora Bennett. But she started to get
ill. I’m not sure if it’s the onset of Alzheimer’s, Gavin wouldn’t take her to
the doctor’s to get her assessed. I’ve dealt with people like Thora before and
I know they need professional help, the kind of help that I couldn’t give. She
would probably be better in a specialised home. I told Gavin this but he
wouldn’t listen. He said there was no way that he would put his mum in a home,
he’s convinced that he can help her all on his own.”

“Do
you still look after Thora Bennett?” Cara asked.

Nora
gave her a small smile. “No. As soon as I started mentioning Alzheimer’s and
doctors, Gavin fired me. I needed to hand my keys in and I wanted to say a
proper goodbye to Thora so I went to see her for one last time, this was a few
days ago.” Nora paused and blinked away a tear. “She’s gone downhill so fast, I
was shocked at her appearance. I let myself in. Thora was delighted to see me,
she asked me where I’d been. Then all of a sudden, she changed. She started
shouting at me, asking who I was and what was I doing in her home.” Nora pushed
back her sleeve. Cara cringed at the bruises there. “Thora hit me with her
walking stick. For a frail old lady she’s very strong! She hit me several times
before I could pull the stick from her hands. I thought at one point that she
was going to kill me!”

A
shiver ran down Cara’s back. “What happened next?”

“I
kept my voice calm and I kept saying her name, and who I was. Eventually, she
stopped shouting and looked at me properly. She smiled and asked me why I
hadn’t been to see her recently. She didn’t even remember that she’d attacked
me. That’s why I’ve been phoning Gavin, and following him. I want to show him
these bruises. Thora needs urgent attention before she hurts herself, or anyone
else.”

Robin
appeared at Cara’s side. He crouched and whispered, “Gavin Bennett is at his
mum’s house. He’s going to be murdered in less than ten minutes.”

Cara
said to Nora as calmly as she could manage, “I’m going to see Gavin now. I’ll
tell him everything that you’ve told me. Thank you.” She stood up and turned
towards the door.

Nora
stood up. “I’ll come with you.”

“No!”
Cara said abruptly. “I mean, no thank you. I know how to deal with this.”

“Do
you?” Robin asked at her side.

Cara
quickly left the café and muttered to Robin, “I’ll think of something when we
get there.”

Cara
sped along the roads leading to Thora Bennett’s house. Gavin’s car was parked
outside. Cara jumped out of her car and raced down the drive. She seemed to be
doing a lot of that recently.

She
burst through the door and ran into the living room. Silence greeted her.

Thora
Bennett was hunched over the prone body of her son, sobs escaping from her.
Cara gasped when she saw the blood trickling from Gavin’s head.

Thora
looked up at Cara, tears streamed down her wrinkly cheeks. She said, “I’ve
killed him, I’ve killed my own son.”

Cara
knelt next to Gavin and felt for a pulse on his neck. She couldn’t feel
anything, she wasn’t even sure if she had her hand in the right place. Robin
placed a hand over Gavin’s chest and waited a moment. He said, “Cara, he’s
still alive - just.”

Cara
quickly phoned for an ambulance and then took the mortified Thora into her
arms. She held the old lady whilst she cried. Cara felt like she was absorbing
the pain of each heartfelt sob, she couldn’t help but cry too.

Chapter
11

Cara
was still crying two hours later in her apartment. Robin sat next to her on the
sofa and stroked her hair. “There, there, Cara. Can I get you anything?
Chocolate? A cigar? Wine?”

Cara
sniffed. “I don’t smoke, but yes to the other things.” She blew her nose. “I’ll
be alright soon. I can’t stop thinking about Thora Bennett. That poor woman.
She didn’t realise she was hitting Gavin with her stick, she thought he was a
burglar. And I suppose Gavin didn’t get the chance to calm her down before he
was knocked unconscious. Do you think he’s going to be alright?”

“I
know he’s going to be alright. And so is his mum. She’s going to get the care
and attention she needs.” He studied Cara’s face for a moment. “Go on, what is
it you want to ask me?”

“I
know we’ve saved Thora’s soul but if we hadn’t got there in time and Gavin had
died, would Thora’s soul still have shrivelled? If she couldn’t remember
hitting Gavin, then she wouldn’t feel the remorse of murdering him. Then her
soul wouldn’t be in danger. Is that how it works?”

Robin
looked towards the far wall. “That’s a good question.” He turned back to her.
“What kind of wine would you like?”

“Hang
on! You haven’t answered my question.”

“I
don’t know the answer.”

Cara
pulled a face at him. “Can we talk about what happened in the car, when we were
near the abattoir?”

Robin’s
shoulders dropped. “I’d rather not. I don’t want to relive it. I wasn’t
prepared to hear those animals’ screams. If you’d have heard them it would have
turned you vegetarian in a second.”

Cara’s
laptop beeped from the other side of the room. Cara said to Robin, “Get that
for me, please.”

“Whoa!
I’m an angel, not a servant.”

Cara
grinned. “It’s a video call that’s trying to come through. It might be Gran.”

Her
hair blew back as Robin whizzed over to the table, grabbed the laptop and
placed it on Cara’s lap in less than a second.

It
was Gran on the video call. Her first words to Cara were, “What’s this about you
trying to sell my house?”

Robin
put his face next to Cara’s and said, “It had nothing to do with me, Abigail!
It was all her idea!”

Cara
shoved him out of the way. “Gran, it was just part of my plan to save someone’s
life.”

Gran
nodded. “That’s okay then. I understand that you’re going to move into my
house, is that right?”

“Who
have you been talking to?” Cara asked.

“Ada
Clement, I phone her every week,” Gran explained.

Cara
folded her arms. “Oh, do you now? She never told me that when I saw her.
Although she did tell me that you send her postcards. You never send me
postcards and I’m your granddaughter!”

Robin
popped his head back into Gran’s view. “You never sent me a postcard either.”

Gran
looked at them both, her face serious. “Cara, I haven’t been in touch with you
because the angels thought it would be better that way. They wanted you to
undertake soul saving jobs on your own without interference from me. They said
that you’d learn quicker that way, and that you’d think for yourself. Do you
understand that?”

“I
suppose so,” Cara muttered.
Gran’s face softened. “It’s broken my heart not to speak to you every day, I’ve
missed you so much. The angels keep me informed of the work that you’ve been
doing. I’m very proud of you.” There was a polite cough at Cara’s side. Gran
added, “And I’m very proud of you too, Robin.”

Robin
grinned and looked at Cara. “Did you hear that?”

“Of
course I did, I’m sitting right here.”

Gran
looked over her shoulder. “I have to go, my masseur is here.”

“Gran!”
Cara called out. “When are you coming home?”

“When
I’m ready. Bye! Bye Robin!”

“Bye
Abigail! Speak soon!” Robin called out.

The
screen went blank. Cara sighed. “I really miss her.”

“I
know. You’ll feel closer to her when you move into her house.”

“I
suppose so. I’m not going to move in completely, I’ll keep the lease going
here.” Cara placed the laptop on the floor and clasped her hands together.
“Right then! Hand it over.”

“What?”

“Your
feather. Or rather my feather. I’ve done my job, saved a soul and now I want my
reward. Give it to me!”

Robin
put his hands to his chest. “Stop talking to me like I’m a servant.”

“Oh!
Stop messing. You know you want to open your wings again.”

Robin
dropped the hurt look and grinned. He stood up and stretched his arms out. His
wings appeared. With a gentle shake a beautiful white feather floated down to
Cara. The missing white feather on Robin’s wing was replaced with a silver one.

Cara
picked the feather up. “I think this is my favourite part of these soul saving
jobs.” She frowned as Robin’s watch beeped. “And that’s my least favourite
part. Have we got another job? So soon?”

Robin
looked at his watch. His wings immediately disappeared. The devastation on his
face made Cara sit up straighter. “Robin, what’s wrong?”

“It’s
Abigail’s neighbour, Ada Clements, that lovely old lady. She’s going to be murdered
soon.”

A
note from the author

I’ve
been writing murder mysteries for a few years now. I recently got the idea that
I wanted to write stories about someone stopping murders from occurring in the
first place. I realised that person would need some sort of paranormal/supernatural
help to let her know when the possible murders would occur and I came up with
angels. That got me thinking: if you knew someone was going to be murdered
soon, what would you do to stop it?

Read
Cara’s other stories, you can find details of them on my website :

www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

If
you sign up to my newsletter through my website you will receive 3 short
stories in pdf form as a thank you gift.

You
can contact me on :
[email protected]

Best
wishes

Gillian

A CARA DANIELS COZY
MYSTERY

GAVIN
’
S DEATH

BY

GILLIAN LARKIN

www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

Front cover images
by Vectorstock.com

Copyright 2015 by
Gillian Larkin

All rights
reserved. No part of this publication must be reproduced in any form,

without permission
from the author.

This is a work of
fiction. Any similarity to any persons, living or dead, is purely

coincidental.