Dotty dices with death, p.1
Dotty Dices With Death, page 1
part #1 of Dotty Drinkwater Mystery Series
Dotty Dices
with
Death
By
Diane Ezzard
Other Books in the Series: -
Dotty Dishes the Dirt – novella and prequel to the series
Dotty Dreads a Disaster – Book 2 (Coming soon)
Other books by Diane Ezzard
The Sophie Brown mystery series –
My Dark Decline – prequel to the series.
I Know Your Every Move
As Sick As Our Secrets
The Sinister Gathering
Resentments and Revenge
A Life Lost
The Killing Cult
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Other books by the author
Newsletter Sign up
Novel
Newsletter sign up reminder
Reviews
About the Author /Acknowledgements
Blurbs and extract on other books by the author
Full Bibliography
Chapter 1
Dotty took off her fluffy olive-green beanie hat and scratched the top of her head. She made her way to the back of the bus and found an empty seat by the window. As CEO of her own company, it wasn’t ideal travelling this way. It couldn’t be helped, however, as her car had been making that funny noise again. She wouldn’t put up with it any longer. After all, it might be something serious and she could hardly run her gardening business with no vehicle. So, she dropped it off at the garage first thing. It was handy that she had no customers booked in today other than a potential new client to visit. She’d look strange getting on the bus with a lawnmower and other gardening tools. What would her nosey neighbour, Betty Simpson think? There would be no end of moaning from Betty if she took up extra room with her equipment. Nudging Betty who sat on the seat in front, she smiled.
“Cold out, today,” she said.
“Yes, dear. Where’s your car?” Betty didn’t miss a trick. She was the go-to person if you wanted to hear any gossip.
“It’s in the garage for a service.” That wasn’t the whole truth but sometimes a little white lie was the easiest option with Betty. Dotty was in no mood for explaining irregular car noises this morning. Betty didn’t need to know the ins and outs. She embroidered stories enough and came up with her own version, anyway. Knowing Betty, if she decided that Dotty’s car had really been towed away for getting behind with the repayments, then that’s what she would tell everyone. Betty could tarnish your name with her misrepresentations before you could click your fingers.
Dotty thought about changing her car for a van. It would be more practical, but it didn’t go with her image and street cred. Besides, she was fed up of gardening. It was okay in the summer months when the weather was warmer but now the colder weather had set in, there wasn’t as much to do, and it was freezing working outside. She’d not given that much thought when she was talked into starting up this little one-woman business by her two friends, Rachel and Kylie.
It was alright for them. They both had their nice warm jobs working inside. Rachel worked in an office and Kylie worked as a barmaid at Ye Olde Six Bells. Neither girl was happy in their jobs, but they weren’t as miserable as Dotty. They always had a moan when the threesome met up on a Saturday. Although, if they all wanted to go on holiday together next year, they would have to grin and bear it.
Dotty wasn’t on the bus for long. She checked the address beforehand and knew which stop to get off. If the Braithwaite’s hadn’t lived at the top of a hill, she’d have taken her pushbike, but it was too steep to tackle, and the forecast was for rain later. She shuddered and vowed to put some effort into looking for a new job. There had to be better ways than this to make a living. It could be worse. She could be in India working in the paddy fields or — no she couldn’t think of any jobs worse than gardening right now. Even India would be warmer than Sussex. She looked out the window and watched a gust of wind pick up the leaves as they took flight through the air.
Dotty arrived at the location and jumped off the bus. She immediately felt the chill of the wind on her cheeks. She tossed her head back and walked up to the house. Her mind wandered as she thought about working in a bar in Ibiza or picking strawberries in Portugal, anything warm away from this biting cold weather. She looked up at the large house and groaned as she rang the doorbell. The door creaked open and the tall, pinched face of Mr Braithwaite stared down at her as she stood waiting on the bottom step.
“Oh, you’re a girl. Well, I suppose its women’s lib, and anything goes these days. You’d better come through.” He walked in front and Dotty scurried behind. “It’s a girl, Marjorie. It’s a girl.” Dotty thought it sounded like someone had just given birth.
“Yes, I know it is, Albert. Now run along and make yourself useful.” Albert stood in the doorway frowning. “Make a drink.” She shooed him out of the room. “Have a seat. Dotty, isn’t it?”
Dotty nodded and plonked herself down on a grey corduroy sofa. The Braithwaite couple were retired, and Mrs Braithwaite had seen Dotty’s card in the local hairdresser’s shop. Albert returned not long after with a tray of drinks and a plate of chocolate digestives. Under normal circumstances, Dotty would refuse the biscuits as she was dieting again, but she took one to be polite.
“Take a few. We only get them in for guests. We both have diabetes and can’t eat them.” Dotty thought it strange to buy biscuits they couldn’t eat, so she took another two to show her consideration and smiled. She finished her drink and Marjorie asked her all the questions she could think of. Marjorie wanted to know more about Dotty’s family than finding out her prowess as a gardener. In fact, the only question relating to gardening was about her age.
“You look very young to have your own gardening business, dear.”
“I’m twenty-seven.”
“Gosh, you don’t look that old.” Dotty believed her youthful looks were more down to her beauty regime than her genes. She used a face pack twice a week, exfoliated on alternate days, always used serum and moisturiser and gave her face a deep cleanse every bedtime. She had also recently splashed out on eye cream and neck cream because you can’t be too careful. Wrinkles could appear any time. With all the effort she put in, she hoped to still look youthful in her sixties and seventies if she could keep up her efforts until then.
“Thank you,” Dotty said, blushing.
“So, you’re not married, yet?” Marjorie asked as she pointed to Dotty’s bare wedding ring finger.
“No, I’m very much single. My last relationship was a disaster. Ray was a nightmare to get rid of. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer. We were only together for a short time and it’s taken me months to get him to see I’m not interested.”
“Oh dear, young love never runs smooth. Those were the days. I knew straightaway when I met my Albert that he was the one for me. You know immediately, don’t you, dear?”
“I wish Ray could have worked out sooner he wasn’t the one for me. He must have been thick not to get the message.” Marjorie gave a shallow sigh. From her nostalgic gaze, she was no longer listening to Dotty. Her memory cells sprang forward with visions of Albert as a young man with his long hair. They were both teenagers in the Swinging Sixties but were more mod than rocker. Albert owned a gleaming blue scooter and would take Marjorie on day trips to Southend. Ah, those were the days.
“Would you like me to show you the work we want you to do?” Marjorie asked, coming back into the moment.
“Yes, of course.”
“Follow me. There’s a lot.” Marjorie pulled a face. “Albert can’t do it anymore with his bad back.”
They walked around to the back of the house. Dotty was taken out to the garden.
“Wow, that’s huge.”
“Yes, it’s rather deceptive. You can’t tell from the front of the house just how much land is round the back. As you can see, we have a lot of trees which means a lot of leaves.” Dotty had never seen as many leaves as those sat in the Braithwaites’ garden. It was as though they had been collecting them up for her. “Do you have one of those machines that hoover them up?”
“No, but I’m sure I can get hold of one.” She stood admiring the hues of orange and brown that nature produced in autumn just before the harshness of winter took the last few leaves away. There were speckles of yellow and red to inspire her creative juices. As Dotty spoke, a gust of wind brought another ton of leaves swirling into the garden. She worried that as soon as one set of leaves cleared, another would appear. She’d have preferred to be out there painting the scenery rather than clearing it away.
The two women stood together viewing the spectacle for some time. More leaves fell from the interlocking branches of the trees above. This would be a thankless task. It wasn’t a good idea to take this job on, but Dotty needed the money. She was at the stage of borrowing off her mum to go on a night out and that wasn’t good.
They moved into the kitchen to discuss terms. Dotty didn’t know how much hiring a leaf machine would set her back, so she added on extra to compensate. She showed Marjorie the price as she seemed to be in charge and the one holding the purse strings in this house. They had just shaken on the deal when a crashing sound came from the hall. Both women looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
“It’s only me, Gran,” came a voice that Dotty thought she recognised. She frowned and seconds later a tall young man stood at the kitchen door.
“Oh, it’s you. What are you doing here?” he swept his lanky fringe off to the side.
“Hello, Ray. How are you?” Dotty had a sickly feeling growing inside her stomach.
“Do you two know each other?” Marjorie looked at them both.
Chapter 2
Showing no emotion, Dotty stared at Ray with her striking green eyes then turned back to speak to Marjorie.
“If that will be all for today, I’ll see you next week.”
“Fine, we’ll look forward to it.” Dotty quickly put her hat and scarf back on. She cringed as she pushed past Ray, stood with his mouth so wide open he could have caught a dozen daddy-longlegs. She zipped up her fur-lined green jacket, popped on her hat and headed for the door.
She couldn’t wait to get outside, and she almost ran down the hill. It was still chilly, but she wasn’t waiting for the bus in case Ray appeared. He stood at the window of his grandparents’ house and watched her go. By the time Dotty arrived back in her village she felt flustered.
What were the chances of her ex being the grandson of her new clients? She should have put two and two together, coming from such a small community. Why hadn’t she guessed they were related, having the same name? What was she to do? Should she cancel the work and say she had been struck down by some deadly virus? She felt sure that seeing Ray again would nudge him back into contacting her. She had only just silenced him after the last of his messages. Now she wondered if she would ever get rid of him.
The crazy thing was they only went out for three weeks. Even though he was good looking with short, cropped brown hair and a slim toned body, Dotty sensed he would be hard work from the offset. As soon as she agreed to go for a drink with him, he was on her case. At first, she enjoyed the attention. She found his barrage of text messages flattering. He was besotted with her which was a novelty. She hadn’t always received such a positive reaction from men, so, initially, she welcomed the fact he was so full-on. The trouble was it didn’t let up. Every day, he wanted to know what she was wearing and what she was doing. When she was home, he sent so many messages, he knew exactly where she was in the house. He could track her path from the lounge to the kitchen. It felt to Dotty like Big Brother had arrived in the shape of Ray.
She gave him the benefit of the doubt at first, thinking it was the excitement of a new romance — that giddiness that comes with your first love. She had to warn him on their second date that it was too much though. When the messaging didn’t curtail, by the third date, she had seen and heard enough. It was a shame, but she had to leave those good looks for some other poor unsuspecting girl to get her claws into. She explained to Ray that he made her feel claustrophobic. He promised to ease off, but she put her foot down. She warned him the week before and it made no difference. So, she wanted to nip things in the bud before they got off the ground and before he got too fond of her. Imagine trying to get rid of him then? It was bad enough now. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and couldn’t understand why he was being given the elbow.
Dotty’s shock encounter called for action. She decided coffee and cake would be a suitable remedy so popped in the Strawberry tea rooms to cheer herself up. When her phone pinged a message, she dreaded looking down.
Great to see you today. I knew it wouldn’t be long before you changed your mind and wanted me back.
Dotty groaned. She should have done what her friends suggested and taken an injunction out against him contacting her. She blocked him off her social media sites and he had gone quiet. It was just her misfortune to bump into him again today.
Please don’t contact me again. I was there to speak to your grandparent’s about work. That should tell him. It was short and concise. No beating about the bush. He should get the message she wanted nothing more to do with him. Her phoned pinged again almost straightaway.
Stop playing hard to get. Dotty gritted her teeth and banged on the table. She would ignore him.
“Having boyfriend trouble, Dotty?” The new pretty young waitress, Stella with her long hair tied up in a bun was wise beyond her years.
“It’s an ex. He won’t take no for an answer.”
“Boot him in the nether region. He’ll soon get the message then.” Dotty laughed. She’d thought about getting her younger brother, Joe to have a stern word with him. He might take more notice of a guy. The trouble was, Joe was such a wimp. Dotty was sure he was secretly gay and just hadn’t come out yet. He liked to borrow some of her face creams and spent more time than Dotty over his appearance, which was saying something. He even cried over all the old black and white movies when they watched them together.
Just then her phone rang. Convinced it was Ray, she was ready to give him a piece of her mind.
“Yes?” she barked. She hadn’t checked the screen and was very blunt with her welcome.
“It’s the garage,” came a softly spoken man’s voice. “We’ve found what’s wrong with your car. I could go into detail but it’s complicated. The upshot is you will need a new pipe and they don’t come cheap. We’ve tried cleaning it out, but it hasn’t worked.”
“How much?” Dotty was in no mood for bad news.
“With parts. labour, and VAT, it will come to ninety-five pounds and forty-one pence.” She sighed, wondering why they didn’t just round up the amount. This would mean borrowing more money off her mum. “Do you want us to order the part?”
“Yes, I suppose so. When will it be ready?”
“We can have it available to collect by close of play today. If there are any issues, we’ll give you a ring.”
Dotty agreed to the work. She asked him to explain to her what exactly was wrong with her car but after the first sentence, she stopped him. She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. He was right. It was too complicated for her to understand. She would have to trust him.
There was no point walking all the way home and then trailing back again when her car was ready. She intended to mooch down the High Street after she finished her drink. She sat scrolling through her social media accounts. She messaged her friends Rachel and Kylie about her unpleasant meeting with Ray and the aftermath. Dotty was on her second mug of coffee when the door opened and in breezed a windswept Kylie. Her blonde hair was cut short and this week, the long strand at the front that framed her face was coloured a shocking shade of pink. She changed the colour to suit her mood. She pulled the hood of her navy waterproof jacket down.
“It’s horrible out there. I can’t imagine working outside in this weather.” She kissed Dotty on each cheek then smoothed down her hair. After unzipping and removing her jacket, she popped it on the back of the chair.
“No, neither can I.” Dotty’s face brightened up at the sight of her friend.
“That was a stroke of bad luck bumping into Ray, wasn’t it?”
“You can say that again.”
“That was a stroke of…” Dotty playfully punched her friend’s arm. Kylie was forever joking around and didn’t take life too seriously.
“What am I going to do if I can’t get rid of him again?”
“Be straight with him. If he contacts you one more time, tell him you’ll go to the police. Don’t delete his messages though because they’ll need proof.”
“I already have.”
“Oh pooh, what are you like? Maybe we can set him up with someone else, so he stops mithering you.”
