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Julia Blake – A
Deadly Restoration
     
    Chapter 1
     
    The
radio blared out. I groaned. It wasn’t the best way to be woken up.
    It
wasn’t even my radio, it was the one next door.
    I
grumpily climbed out of bed and walked over to the window. I pulled back the
curtains and shot the builders next door an annoyed look. They didn’t even
notice me, they were too busy singing.
    It
was too early for me to be up but there was no way I could get back to sleep
with that level of noise, not just the radio, but the banging and thudding that
the builders were making.
    I
decided to make the best of it and got myself ready for the day.
    My
client list of cleaning jobs for today didn’t look too bad, I might even have
time to pop to the supermarket.
    After
breakfast I collected everything I needed and let myself out of the house.
    Oh
no! Joan was trying to get my attention from across the road. I liked Joan but
I didn’t have time for a gossip.
    Don’t
look at her! Look in your handbag, look at the ground. Just don’t look at her!
    “Julia!”
she waved.
    “Morning,”
I called back as I frantically grabbed my car keys. Perhaps I could drive away
before she got any closer.
    It
was no use. Joan was determined to talk to me. She practically ran over.
    “Have
you heard the noise? And look at the mess!” she pointed towards next door.
“It’s a disgrace, an absolute disgrace! When are those builders going to be
finished? And do they have to play that radio all day?”
    Joan
asked questions but she never waited for answers.
    “I’m
sure it won’t be forever,” I said. I moved my car keys towards the lock.
    Joan
grabbed my arm. “You’re too soft, Julia! The noise must be worse for you,
living next door. It wasn’t like this when old Cora Roberts lived there, was
it? Gives me a headache this noise. How long does it take to renovate a house
anyway?”
    I
shrugged and sneakily put my key in the car lock.
    Joan
gave my arm a tug. “Look! That man’s here again, the shifty looking one with
the big nose.  Do you recognise him?”
    I
looked over to next door. “He does look familiar. I think I’ve seen him around
here before.”
    “He’s
from the council, building planning department. I bet he’s made a deal with the
new owner of that house. Planning permission should never have been given for
the work that’s going on now. We wanted a small extension on our kitchen, but
the council wouldn’t let us have it.”
    I
nodded sympathetically.
    “There’s
something fishy going on. I’ve a good mind to go over there and have a word
with that council man.”
    “I
think you should,” I said hopefully.
    Joan
let go of my arm, put a determined look on her face and said, “I’m going over!”
    I
opened my car door and got in before she changed her mind.
    I
almost felt sorry for the shifty looking man. But when I looked over at the
house next door, I realised that Joan was right. There was an awful lot of restoration
work going on, they were almost rebuilding the house.
     

Chapter 2
     
    I
managed to get to the supermarket at lunch time. As I walked down the dairy
aisle I saw a familiar face, or rather a familiar back hunched over the ‘reduced
to clear’ section.
    “Hello
there,” I said. I put my hand onto the stooped back of the elderly woman.
    She
turned around. Her face crinkled up as she smiled. “Julia! How lovely to see
you!”
    “We
were talking about you earlier, me and Joan.”
    Cora’s
face crinkled even more. “I bet it was Joan talking, and you doing the
listening. I hope you were saying something nice about me.”
    “Of
course. We were saying what a lovely quiet neighbour you were, compared to the
noisy man who bought your house,” I said.
    “Are
you having that fish or not!” a voice rudely interrupted us.
    Cora
glared as a young woman leant into the reduced item area and put her hand on a
piece of fish. Cora slapped the hand away.
    “That’s
my haddock, young lady! I saw it first.” Cora