The Jade Dragonfly & Other Stories

By Caitlin McColl

Four short mystery stories involving two Detectives, seasoned old-school Thomas McCloud, and fresh-faced, excitable young Johnny Lattley.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caitlin McColl
• Release date: Sep 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005483647

Caitlin McColl

Since childhood, Caitlin has written mainy fantasy - with dragons, wizards and other fantastical monsters. But now she writes Steampunk, stories that makes our world just a little bit more interesting, with the ability to mask the humdrum days we all have - those cold, grey, rainy, depressing days. The days you accidentally sleep in, lock yourself out of the house, battle morning rush hour and realize your still wearing your slippers. Caitlin lives in beautiful Vancouver, Canada with her husband and her dog.Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/caitlinmccollInstagram: instagram.com/caitlinmccollauthorSeptember 2020-Published The Clockwork Universe and The Stained Glass Heart, follow ups to Under A Starlit Sky. Also re-did covers for books.-Published All That Remains - a free short story collection from 2017-Republished The Diary of Dr Jekyll that was published by a Seattle based publisher that is no more2015-Released a free ebook compilation of stories from her short story blog, Under A Starlit Sky, collectively called The Dark And Shadowy Places.Hope you enjoy!

Book preview

THE JADE DRAGONFLY & OTHER STORIES

CAITLIN MCCOLL

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright © 2009 Caitlin McColl

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copy-righted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

The Jade Dragonfly

‘Aha!’ said Constable Lattley as he knelt down to take a closer look. ‘Look at this Detective!’ he said excitedly.

Detective Tom McCloud was just starting to open the pantry door in the kitchen when he sighed and came over to where Johnny was kneeling on the floor peering at something on the ground. ‘What is it?’ he grumbled.

‘Its blood!’ said Johnny.

Thomas sighed again shaking his head, ‘No it isn’t, it’s just wine spilled on the carpet. See, you can see it is all near this little table, right where there is a coaster. The victim was poisoned remember?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ said Johnny looking disappointed.

Detective McCloud was starting to regret having asked Constable Johnny Lattley to come help him with the case.

‘What about this over here, Smokey?’ said Johnny.

Detective McCloud shot Constable Lattley a withering glance. ‘What have I told you about calling me Smokey?’ he growled.

‘Oh, sorry, sir. You said only the other Detectives can.’

‘Right, and you’d do well to remember that’ said McCloud heading back into the kitchen with the victim. Thomas got the nickname when he was a heavy smoker years ago, and having the last name of McCloud didn’t help either. He used to sometimes be called Smoke Cloud, which he hated even more than Smokey.

Constable Lattley followed McCloud into the small kitchen, giving a wide berth to the small round table at which the victim was still sitting, slumped over.

‘So,’ said Detective McCloud, ‘The neighbour who found Mrs. O’Reilly said she had come over to chat to her about what she’d seen recently and wanted to know if Bree, that’s Mrs O’Reilly, was okay.’ McCloud made a note in his notebook of the victim’s name: Brielle O’Reilly. ‘And,’ he continued, ‘Adara, that’s the neighbour,’ he explained to Lattley, ‘came through the back door of the kitchen here and found Mrs. O’Reilly just how you and I see her right now.’

The victim was lying with her face turned to the left, her eyes slightly closed. She was wearing a long skirt and a light flowery summer top. The back door of the house in the kitchen was open due to the warm August weather. Surrounding Mrs. O’Reilly on the small cluttered table was a salt and peppershaker, a half drunk cup of coffee, still slightly warm, a small pile of letters and a beautiful ornate letter opener.

Constable Lattley walked towards the table and was looking at the letter opener. He slowly reached his arm towards the item when McCloud shouted ‘Don’t touch it!’

Johnny yanked his arm away and jumped backwards bumping into the counter behind them.

‘That’s evidence young man! Don’t go getting your dirty prints all over it!’

‘Okay, okay, I just wanted to look at it,’ said Johnny looking a little sheepish.

‘What I was saying,’ continued McCloud, annoyed at the actions of his assistant, ‘was the neighbour, Mrs. Adara Murray, had come by because she wanted to talk to Mrs. O’Reilly about