Death Takes A Trip (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 5) by Gillian Larkin Page A

comments about how Adams
Construction had used bully-boy tactics to get people to sell their houses and
land to make way for new homes. Julia was tempted to contact the people direct
who had posted the comments but thought it would be a better idea to give the
information to DI Clarke. She made a note of the website on her phone.
    She knew that Alexander Adams was up to something, she
just wasn ’ t sure what,
and she didn ’ t know how to
prove it.
    Details, just details, she told herself as she
switched her laptop off.
    Considering that she ’ d encountered a dead body that day, Julia had a decent night ’ s sleep and was raring to go the following day.
    She pulled up outside Cain ’ s house. The young man was sitting on his wall and waiting for her.
During the drive, and their subsequent cleaning jobs, Julia told Cain about her
visit to the police station and about what she ’ d discovered on the Internet.
    Cain rubbed at the window of the apartment they were
now in and said, “ I ’ ve asked Albert to give me Gloria ’ s address. I was working on his garden again last night. He wanted me to
put something down that would keep the neighbour ’ s cats away. ”
    “ Cats! ” Julia dropped
her cloth into a nearby bucket of hot water. “ Cat! Douglas ’ pet. I ’ d forgotten
all about her. Did you see her at Douglas ’ house
yesterday? ”
    Cain shrugged. “ I didn ’ t notice her,
but I wasn ’ t really
looking for her. ”
    Julia said, “ That poor cat. There ’ s no one to look after her. I must let DI Clarke know. ” She paused. “ Or we could go round to Douglas ’ house and look
for her ourselves. We are very near to his house. It will save me a phone call. ”
    “ And we can
have a snoop inside Douglas ’ house, look for clues, ” Cain pointed
out.
    “ I hadn ’ t thought of that, ” Julia lied. “ Let ’ s finish up
here. We ’ re due a lunch
break soon. ”
    Julia ’ s plans to look inside Douglas ’ house were
thwarted by the large policeman standing at the front door. Julia explained
about Cat and asked if she could go inside.
    The policeman shook his head. “ No can do. Nobody is allowed inside, we ’ re still collecting evidence. ”
    “ What kind of
evidence? ” Julia asked.
    “ I can ’ t tell you that. I ’ ll have a look for the cat myself later. ”
    “ She might be
in the garden, or the woods, ” Julia persisted. “ Can we have a look in those places? ”
    The policeman didn ’ t look convinced.
    Julia went on. “ The cat got stuck in some bushes a few days ago. We had to help her out.
I ’ m sure you don ’ t want a dead cat on your conscience. It won ’ t take us long to look. ”
    The policeman gave her a stare that was worthy of DI
Clarke. Finally, he relented and said, “ Have a quick look. I ’ ve got cats of my own, I ’ d hate to think of one being stuck somewhere. ”
    Julia and Cain were off down the path before the
policeman could change his mind. The path went round the side of the house and
into the garden.
    “ What are you
looking for? ” Cain asked.
    Julia was staring intently at the ground as she
walked. “ Footprints. If
you see any, let me know. ”
    Cain adopted the same stare as Julia as they walked
into the garden. They had a quick look around whilst calling for Cat at the
same time.
    Julia said, “ She might have gone into the woods again. Let ’ s try there. ”
    They walked across the field and into the woods. Julia
was still keeping a look out for footprints. They checked the bush that they ’ d found Cat in previously but she wasn ’ t there.
    Cain cocked his head. “ I can hear people talking, and the sound of building work. ”
    Julia pointed forwards. “ It must be from the building site at the other side of the woods, it ’ s part of a new development. The show house that me and Dad went to on
Sunday is part of it. Shall we have a closer look? Cat might have even gone
into the show house. ”
    They moved closer through