Virtually Scared To Death (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read online

  I had found out more about Mark Castle in the last hour than I had in the two years that I cleaned for him.

  Ivy’s eyes narrowed as she considered something, “One of my friends at work said there was a new game coming out from Mark, and it was supposed to be his best ever. Did he talk to you about it?”

  I wasn’t going to tell Ivy about the fairy battle game. “He didn’t talk about his work. He always asked about my business. He gave me lots of marketing tips. He was a kind man.”

  Ivy moved to the window and looked out. “I wonder how she did it? Has she got a key to his place? I’ve seen him go out to the gym over the road every other night. I bet she snuck in and did something.”

  “Like what?” I asked. I finished the windows. I made a move towards the kitchen.

  “I don’t know, but whenever I’ve seen her she has this sly calculating look in her eye,” Ivy said.

  I glanced at my watch. I was running late again. I cleaned Ivy’s apartment as quickly as I could. I made sure I did a good job though, Ivy’s got eyes like a hawk.

  I said goodbye to Ivy and made my way downstairs. I could have taken the lift but I was interested to see if the police had finished in Mark’s home.

  As I walked casually past the door someone called my name. It was DI Clarke.

  “Ms Blake! I need another word with you. Come here,” he ordered.

  I entered the apartment and walked towards him. I was pleased to see that Mark’s body had been removed. The inspector was pointing at the game on the screen.

  “Do you know anything about this game? It seems to be on an endless loop.”

  I told the inspector what I knew about the game. As I was talking a loud bleeping noise came from the computer.

  “What’s that?” the inspector asked.

  “I think it’s a video call,” I said and I pressed the button that I had seen Mark press the other day.

  Jasper Parker’s face came into view.

  DI Clarke immediately began to interrogate him. I moved out of the way.

  I listened as DI Clarke explained that Mark had died.

  I heard Jasper’s booming voice in reply, “Well, that’s a tragedy! I knew Mark well. We were great friends. Do you know when the funeral will be? I’ll come up from London as soon as I can.”

  I was standing near the window whilst the two men were talking. The chimes from Leeds Town Hall began to sound out the hour. I automatically began to count the bell notes.

  I could hear a faint echo of the chimes. It was coming from somewhere in the room. I moved closer to the computer.

  I could hear the chimes coming from the room that Jasper Parker was in. How could that be possible? He was supposed to be two hundred miles away.

  Chapter 8

  I didn’t have time to voice my concerns to the inspector. He finished talking to Jasper and then turned to me.

  “Mr Parker has explained to us about how the game could be on a loop. You can leave now,” he said.

  He turned his back on me and started to talk to someone in uniform.

  Something was bugging me about Mark’s death. I felt there were things going on that needed to be explained. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that Jasper Parker was somehow involved. And what was it about those tablets? Why had Mark opened the new bottle if he had bottles already opened.

  Unless someone had come into his apartment, removed the older tablets and then substituted them for tampered tablets!

  I shook my head as I left the apartment and walked towards the lift. I was beginning to sound as suspicious as Ivy Brown.

  I waved bye to Steve as I reached the ground floor. The constable who had spoken to me was now talking to Steve.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about the tablets. Then I remembered something my dad said about having things delivered from the chemist. I wondered if Mark had his tablets delivered.

  I’d seen the name of the chemist often on the bottles in his bathroom. Their shop was nearby.

  I knew I was late for my next job but I just had to put my mind at rest.

  I walked into the chemist shop. It was only small and there were two people behind the counter.

  I didn’t want to give details of Mark’s death so I made up a story about my mum moving into Canal View Court.

  “She needs a lot of medication but she can’t get out often. Can you deliver?” I asked the woman behind the counter. I secretly prayed that my mum wouldn’t need medication anytime soon.

  The woman smiled at me. “We do deliver. In fact, we already have someone there that we deliver to.”

  I pretended to looked concerned. “The last chemist we used gave the pills to a neighbour because Mum had popped out. I wouldn’t want her tablets to end up in the wrong hands.”

  The woman nodded. “I quite understand. We make sure the patient, or a member of the patient’s family, sign for them.”

  The young man standing next to her butted in, “That’s what happened to me last week, when I was delivering some tablets to Mr Castle. He lives at those fancy apartments.”

  The woman tried to shush the chattering youth, “Stephen! We’re not supposed to mention names!”

  Stephen gave a little grin and carried on, “I had just pressed the buzzer for Mr ... somebody’s door, when this lady saw me and said she was his wife. I asked her to confirm the name and address of the patient, for security reasons.”

  Stephen glanced at the older woman to make sure he’d done the right thing. She gave a little nod.

  “And this woman told me the name and address, even his date of birth. She said she’d sign for them and take them up to her husband.”

  I didn’t like to say that Annabel Castle was actually the ex Mrs Castle, the young man looked as if he was in enough trouble already.

  “Thanks for all your help. I’ll let my mum know about your delivery service.” I smiled and left the shop.

  Now I was really worried. Annabel Castle had taken a delivery of tablets for Mark. She could have easily tampered with them.

  Did she kill him?

  Chapter 9

  I returned to the apartments the following morning to deliver some of my business cards to Steve.

  He was in his office, the door was open.

  “Caught you!” I said. Steve was staring into space.

  He spun around with a guilty look on his face. “Oh Julia! You scared the life out of me! I was just daydreaming about becoming a wealthy games designer like Mark. It must be great doing a job like that.”

  “Wouldn’t you miss unblocking sinks and changing light bulbs?” I asked with a grin.

  Steve smiled. “Of course, there’s nothing like being called out in the middle of the night because someone’s lost their key somewhere in Leeds. Talking of which, my master key that went missing has turned up. It’s right there, on that hook behind you. I don’t know how it went missing, or how it was returned without me knowing.”

  I quickly thought of Annabel Castle, but I didn’t say anything.

  “Did the police talk to you for long yesterday?” I asked.

  Steve raised his eyebrows. “Did that DI Clarke speak to you?”

  “Yes. I don’t know why but he made me feel guilty.”

  “Me too. It was like he had x ray eyes. I mentioned to him about my granddad having similar tablets to Mark. He started asking when I last saw my granddad and if I had easy access to his tablets.”

  I tutted.

  “And then he sent someone round to my granddad’s to see if he had any tablets missing. Like I’d swapped Mark’s tablets for stronger ones! I thought he was going to lock me up as a suspect.”

  “I’m sure they have to question everyone. Has Annabel Castle been here since Mark died?”

  Steve thought for a while and said, “No, I haven’t seen her since Monday. I wonder if the police are going to talk to her too.”

  I put some of my business cards on Steve’s desk and said, “I’ll leave you to your game.”

  The su
n was shining so I decided to walk into the centre of Leeds. The outdoor cafes were full. People had even taken their coats off. I didn’t have to be at my next cleaning job for a while and the thought of sitting outside, sipping a latte, appealed to me. I hadn’t slept well the previous night as I couldn’t stop thinking about Mark. I could do with something to wake me up a bit.

  I walked along, trying to see which cafe had spaces.

  Something stopped me in my tracks.

  Annabel Castle was sitting outside one of the cafes. She wasn’t alone. Jasper Parker was sitting opposite her.

  They were holding hands and smiling at each other.

  Chapter 10

  They were in it together!

  I ducked into a nearby shop doorway, which was a mistake as a group of teenage girls were coming out. They rudely pushed into me and forced me back into the street.

  I discreetly turned my back on Annabel and Jasper and walked down the street a little way.

  I dug out DI Clarke’s card and phoned him.

  “I’m not able to get to the phone right now. Please leave a message.”

  I quickly left a message saying that I’d seen Annabel and Jasper together. Then I paused. It sounded like I was just gossiping. I ended the call. I didn’t know what DI Clarke would make of that message.

  I decided to take some photos. Then I could prove that they were sitting together, and that Jasper wasn’t in London as he claimed.

  It’s hard not to look suspicious when you’re taking photos on your own. A man stopped at my side as I raised my phone and aimed it towards the couple. He looked over to where I was looking. I glanced at him and gave him an annoyed look, but he didn’t move.

  Then a woman stood next to him and looked over at Annabel and Jasper too.

  “Who are they? Are they famous?” she asked. “They look famous.”

  I ignored her and took a couple of shots.

  Then the woman took her phone out and started taking pictures of the couple as well. “I don’t want to miss anything.”

  A second later the man did the same thing.

  “Can you stop that!” I hissed. “I’m trying to take secret photos.”

  “Are you the press?” the woman asked, her eyes wide at the thought of seeing famous people in Leeds.

  Within twenty seconds a small crowd had appeared at my side, all holding their phones up and taking photos.

  I turned to the crowd and said as forcibly as I could, “Go away!”

  They didn’t move.

  I looked towards Annabel and Jasper. They had noticed the crowd, and they had noticed me.

  Jasper looked furious. He stood up and began walking towards me.

  I did the sensible thing. I ran away.

  Chapter 11

  DI Clarke never phoned me back. I was worried that Jasper would phone him and make a claim of harassment. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining myself to DI Clarke.

  At home that night I spoke to my dad and took the messages that he’d kindly taken for me during the day.

  “I’ve emailed you a job advert that I put together, for someone to help with your cleaning. See what you think. If it’s alright I’ll get it online tomorrow,” Dad said.

  “Thanks Dad, you didn’t have to go to so much trouble, I really appreciate it,” I said.

  When I’d finished talking to Dad I switched on my computer. It made a funny noise as it started up.

  I pointed at it and said, “Don’t start messing about again or I’ll get a new one!”

  I made a cup of tea while the computer decided to warm up. I logged onto my emails and read the job advert that Dad had written. It looked perfect. I emailed a reply back to him. I wrote ‘thank you’ about ten times.

  Then I saw Mark’s email that he’d sent me the other day. A huge feeling of sadness washed over me. It was a peculiar feeling to read an email from someone who was now dead.

  With a small sigh, I opened the email and read Mark’s message.

  ‘Hi Julia, thanks so much for agreeing to look at my game! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! It’s almost ready to be sold but I just wanted one last pair of eyes to scan it over. I trust your judgement – and your honesty. See you soon, Mark.’

  I felt tears brimming up in my eyes.

  I really didn’t feel like playing a game but felt like I owed it to Mark to at least give it a try.

  There was a link at the bottom of the email. I clicked on it and then downloaded the game.

  It took me a few minutes to get into the game and I wasn’t sure I was doing everything right.

  Then my computer started making a chugging sort of noise.

  “No! Not now!” I shouted at it.

  I knew what was going to happen next. The annoying computer was going to freeze on me.

  And it did. Sometimes it sorted itself out, and sometimes I had to reboot it. All I could do was wait.

  I went into the kitchen to make another cup of tea. When I came back in I saw that my computer was still in frozen mode.

  When I saw the image it had frozen on, I screamed and dropped my cup.

  Chapter 12

  Twenty minutes later I was letting DI Clarke into my house.

  “What’s the emergency? Have you found another dead body?” he asked.

  I led him into my front room where my computer was. I prayed that it hadn’t become unfrozen on its own.

  It hadn’t.

  I pointed to the screen and told the inspector that the image had come from Mark’s game.

  “That’s a sick looking game. I hope there’s an age limit on it,” DI Clarke said.

  “This isn’t the game that I was playing at Mark’s apartment. That one had fairies and goblins. This image was definitely not part of the game,” I explained.

  We looked at the image. It was of a young girl, a girl that had been mutilated somehow. Her face looked out helplessly, her lips open as if she was saying something.

  “Do you think she’s supposed to look like a child that worked at a mill? One that’s been injured?” I asked.

  “That’s a peculiar thing to say.”

  “When I was last at Mark’s he mentioned believing in ghosts. He said he kept hearing things, like a young girl crying and the sound of machinery. ” I looked at the inspector expectedly.

  “Go on,” he said.

  “I remember reading something about subliminal messages that had been broadcast at a cinema during the showing of a film. It showed images of a certain drink that could only be seen if the film was slowed down considerably. And then, after the film, people would go and buy the drink, and they didn’t know why.”

  DI Clarke nodded, “Yes, I’ve heard about that but what’s it got to do with Mark Castle?”

  “I think someone has put subliminal images, and maybe sounds, on Mark’s game. When he’s been working on it the images have been playing constantly. And when we found his body the game was on a continual loop. Do you think the images would be strong enough to scare him to death?” I asked.

  DI Clarke looked deep in thought. After a while he said, “It’s possible. He could have been terrified by the background images so much that he needed his tablets.”

  I nodded, “Yes! Of Course! Have you had the tablets tested yet?”

  “Yes, they were four times the dose that Mr Castle takes,” DI Clarke admitted.

  “Do you think Mark was murdered?”

  “It’s staring to look that way. I’ll have to take your computer and get the game analysed.”

  “It runs quite slow,” I warned him.

  “Lucky for us that it does,” DI Clarke grimaced as he came closer to the image on the screen. “That really is quite disturbing.”

  Whilst I helped the inspector unplug my computer I mentioned that I’d seen Jasper Parker in Leeds with Annabel Castle.

  “Yes, he came into the station to complain about you. I’ll have to check the copy of Mr Castle’s game that he’s got.”

  “Why would he have a cop
y?” I asked.

  “Mark Castle gave him a copy shortly before he died so that he could sell it on his behalf,” DI Clarke said. “Jasper Parker claims he had a company ready to buy it.”

  I stopped moving and asked, “Did he mention which company?”

  “I can’t quite remember the name. It was some big Japanese name.”

  I shook my head furiously. “No! That can’t be. Mark said he would never sell to a company like that. I think that Jasper Parker stole the game and somehow, he and Annabel Castle killed Mark!”

  Chapter 13

  The inspector warned me not to make such wild accusations. He left with my computer and said he’d be in touch soon.

  It all made sense to me now.

  Annabel switched the pills so that when Mark needed them he would end up taking a dose that was fatally too strong for him. Jasper had got a copy of the game and put subliminal messages and sounds on them. Mark could have been subjected to them for months and not known.

  It took me a while to get to sleep that night. It wasn’t just the thought that Mark had been murdered, it was the image of the mutilated girl that kept flashing into my mind.

  I was called into the police station the next day. I hoped it was to witness the arrest of Jasper and Annabel.

  I was shown into DI Clarke’s office.

  He invited me to sit down.

  “We’ve had the game analysed and found many brutal images of that same girl and other children. If it’s any consolation they are computer generated images and not actual photographs. We found sounds as well. I won’t play them to you, they’re too disturbing.”

  “Can you tell me what kind of sounds they are?” I asked.

  “Like you’d image a factory to make. You know, like machinery moving. There’s also the sounds of children screaming and a little girl asking for help. If Mr Castle was subjected to this for a sustained period of time ... well, I’m surprised he didn’t go insane.” DI Clarke shook his head sadly.