Birthdays Can Be Murder by Joyce Cato Read Free Book Online Page A

‘Yes, of course,’ she sighed. ‘But I don’t know that I can do anything to help.’
    ‘It’s just routine,’ the sergeant hastened to assure her. ‘You’re the only other person present in the house that we haven’t questioned yet.’
    ‘I wasn’t present when the incident occurred, Sergeant,’ Jenny corrected, quietly but firmly.
    Sergeant Mollern, had she but known it, very nearly smiled. However, since he so rarely smiled, and since he was so good at hiding any ability to do so, Jenny was forced to meet his bland stare with an equally bland stare of her own.
    ‘Quite so. This way, miss.’
    Jenny knew when to admit defeat, and followed him glumly to the Greers’ study, where a tall, silver-haired man rose from his chair without any fuss.
    ‘Miss Starling, sir,’ Mollern said, and walked behind her as his superior politely indicated a chair.
    Over the expanse of a wide, walnut desk, Inspector Mollineaux looked every inch what he was: a senior, experienced and implacable police officer, with a lean, rather pale face, and close-shaven, strong jaw. He looked, Jenny thought with a pang of compassion, as if he’d seen too much, and far too often.
    Right at that moment, however, the pale blue eyes were looking at her sharply. ‘We’ve met before, I think,’ he said, his voice both modulated and quiet.
    Jenny swallowed hard. ‘No. I don’t believe so.’ For a long moment she didn’t think he was going to let it go at that, but then he reached for some papers and glanced down.
    ‘Miss Alicia Greer tells me that you arrived about quarter past nine this morning. Is that correct?’
    ‘A little later, I think, but not much.’
    ‘And you came from…?’
    ‘Broadway.’ For the next few minutes Jenny obliged the police by writing down the name and address of her past employers. She fervently hoped they wouldn’t bother them too much – especially her last employer. She was apt to throw what Jenny’s granny would have called ‘a fit of the vapours’. But then, what could you expect from someone who didn’t know a good Dundee cake when she saw one?
    ‘And you were hired to cater her birthday party by Alicia Greer when exactly?’ Mollineaux went on, merely glancing impassively at the addresses she’d given him, though one of the residences belonged to a lord of the realm, and the other was the home address of a rather famous American film star. And it was precisely because she’d had four months of cooking for a Hollywood darling that Jenny had fled to the relative sanity of a British guesthouse!
    ‘Formally, today,’ Jenny confirmed. ‘However, she wrote to me about three weeks ago, asking if I could take the job on. She was most insistent that I try. I had originally planned to come up here, cater the party, and go straight back to Broadway.’
    ‘But now?’
    ‘I’ve left Broadway permanently,’ Jenny said firmly. Nobody criticized her Dundee cake and got her to stay on. No matter how piteously they begged, or how many vapours they had.
    ‘I see. Do you do a lot of parties, Miss Starling?’ Mollineaux asked, managing not to make it sound like a leading question.
    ‘Some.’
    Inspector Mollineaux glanced once again at the illustrious names on the piece of paper she’d given him and said, ‘Hmm.’ It could have meant anything or nothing, and was so neutral that Jenny fought the impulse to applaud.
    She wondered, idly, just how many suspects he’d prompted into incautious talk with that little prompt. She folded her hands in her lap and stubbornly said nothing. After a moment she saw, out of the corner of her eyes, Sergeant Mollern glance across at her with some surprise. Eventually, Inspector Mollineaux looked up at her and smiled. ‘I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere before, Miss Starling. Any ideas where?’
    Jenny had. Plenty. She’d been in practically every county courthouse in the country for a start, as a character witness. Such was the life of someone with an eco-warrior