Come Die With Me: The 19th Murray Barber P I Case

By Julie Burns-Sweeney

Murray Barber is a private investigator with a difference, he can hear the dead!
While working away on a small island during a murder mystery weekend the body count starts to grow. A drowning, a trip down some steps, even a poisoning? Were they really all accidents? It's for Murray to reveal the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326254230

Book preview

Come Die With Me: The 19th Murray Barber P I Case

COME DIE WITH ME:

THE 19TH

MURRAY BARBER P.I.

CASE

by

Julie Burns Sweeney

Copyright: 2015

Published by Lulu.com

ISBN:978-1-326-25423-0

CHAPTER ONE

This is annoying me now! Debbie was still messing with her phone. She hadn't left it alone since she realised that she had no signal, which was just after they had stepped aboard the small ferry boat.

They were sat opposite each other in the overly flowery dining room which looked out over the terraces, which in turn ran down to the cliff edge. It was a hot sticky July and they were on a tiny island off the far west coast. All that stood here was the nineteenth century house, extended recently to allow the owners their separate accommodation, a pool, a small rocky beach and the boathouse and store on the tiny harbourside.

Murray was studying the other guests. He had been hired by a Mr Dave Samuels to watch his mistress for the weekend while he and his wife were away. 'Keep an eye on her while I keep the wife happy. She can get a bit out of hand sometimes.' It had sounded very messy! The mistress was one Emma Shore, 28, and she was sat on the far side of the dining room. Murray had to admit he was impressed! She wore well-tailored clothes, a pale pink blouse and cropped white trousers. Her blonde hair had neat honey hi-lights and swished whenever she turned her head. She was a financial advisor by trade and that apparently was how Mr Samuels had met her. He ran his own logistics company and, after some background checking, Murray had found this was all started on his wife's money. What he couldn’t understand was why she was here?

Murray hadn’t met Mr Samuels, the arrangement had been made over the phone but some background checking had found that, at fifty-two, Mr Samuels was somewhat older than his girlfriend. What exactly he expected Murray to do if Miss Shore 'got out of hand' however, Murray was somewhat uncertain? Having taken on the case Murray then found out that she had booked herself on this weekend break and so he had jumped at the chance of whisking the neglected Debbie away too! As for Debbie well, with Tyler packed off to a friend’s house, a Murder Mystery weekend at an island retreat just couldn't be missed!

As Debbie kept one hand on her phone and poked at her salmon with a fork in the other, Murray let his gaze wander from Miss Shore onto the man sat at the next table. He too was travelling alone. A larger man in his early thirties maybe? He was far from well dressed, looking both disheveled and sweaty. No wonder he was travelling alone! But at least he looked more like a murder buff than Miss Shore although, maybe he would fit better at Comic Con?

The island….

In the corner sat the oldest guest. A little elderly lady with a grey perm and polka dot summer dress under a thick woollen cardigan. She in turn was watching the only other couple in the room. A husband and wife in their late forties, early fifties maybe? They looked the opposite of Murray and Debbie. He was fighting with his phone while she poked her food and stared around the room. Murray noticed she caught the gaze of the elderly woman. The two briefly exchanged smiles, the younger woman's somewhat forced before she glared out of the window beside her. She too was well dressed but looked bored. The last of the guests were a pair of middle-aged women sat in the middle of the room. Both excitable and giggling.

Ladies and gentlemen! Murray and Debbie both turned their attention to their host. Joan Williams was in her late fifties, full-figured but impeccably turned out. For a woman living on a rugged island she knew how to present herself as the Lady of the House, unlike her poor husband Harry, who was rushing in and out of the kitchen serving the guests and probably doing all the cooking and everything else too! Now, I do hope you are all enjoying your meal? She cast a quick glance around the guests who nodded in agreement. And I hope you are all finding your rooms more than satisfactory! They all have such wonderful views, especially at this time of year when the weather is so lush! Now… to business! I believe you are all first-timers here so I’ll try and keep it as simple as possible. After dinner there will be a chance for you to relax until seven o’clock when we will all meet up on the terrace for cocktails and some general mingling. When you return to your rooms afterwards you will all find a clue posted under your doors. These will send you all to various parts of the island this evening. Please follow your clues carefully! Oh, and one of you will be told you are the murderer! Please keep this secret and pay special attention to your messages! Have fun everyone! And enjoy yourselves!

Well this was going to be fun! How was he going to keep his eye on Miss Shore when everyone was creeping around? Maybe he should have brought Jake with him? No, that would have been a bad idea… he’d have to do this without the aid of spirits!

Having finished their dinner, Murray and Debbie headed upstairs. They waited till Emma Shore had got to her feet as Murray wanted to know which room she was in. She stopped on the first floor and entered the room opposite the bottom of the second flight of stairs. Murray and Debbie were up at the end of the landing. The larger single man and the two middle-aged women were at the top of the house.

Are you going to join me in the shower then? Deb whispered as they opened their door and