Molly's Boudoir: the 4th Jasmine Frame novel (Jasmine Frame Detective) Read online

  Jasmine Frame is recuperating from surgery and bored.

  Her daily exercises and residual soreness are holding her back from the life of a private investigator.

  The lack of a functional car is another problem. Nevertheless, when DI Tom Shepherd requests her help with the arson and murder at Molly’s in the quiet town of Thirsbury, she is eager to get on the case.

  With help from her partner, Viv, she gets mobile and is soon delving into the weird sexual practices of the owners of Molly’s, learning that some men will go to any lengths to fulfil their urges.

  Jasmine knows all about urges but finds that one of hers, the need to investigate, gets her into trouble that could threaten her new womanhood.

  Praise for Jasmine Frame novels

  Painted Ladies

  “Good detective tale with an extra twist.”

  Andrew Clegg

  “This book answered all the questions I may have had (but was too embarrassed to ask) about transgender.”

  Sakura

  Bodies By Design

  “An excellent crime novel with a twist. The exploration of gender identity is superbly well handled, taking the reader into unfamiliar territory with compassion and insight”

  Bridget Arreger

  The Brides’ Club Murder

  “It’s an enjoyable read, in the style of Agatha Christie, as Jasmine explores the means, motives and opportunities of each of the Wedding Belles.”

  Simon Whaley

  Cover artwork by Scott Wood

  ALSO BY P R ELLIS

  JASMINE FRAME NOVELS

  PAINTED LADIES

  BODIES BY DESIGN

  THE BRIDES’ CLUB MURDER

  NOVELLAS AND ANTHOLOGIES (E-BOOK ONLY)

  DISCOVERING JASMINE

  MURDER IN DOUBT

  TRAINED BY MURDER

  BY PETER R ELLIS

  SEPTEMBER WEEKES STORIES

  SEVENTH CHILD (EVIL ABOVE THE STARS VOL 1)

  THE POWER OF SEVEN (EVIL ABOVE THE STARS VOL 2)

  UNITY OF SEVEN (EVIL ABOVE THE STARS VOL 3)

  COLD FIRE

  Molly’s Boudoir

  The 4th Jasmine Frame novel

  P R Ellis

  Molly’s Boudoir

  First published in Great Britain by Ellifont, 2018

  Copyright © P R Ellis, 2018. All rights reserved

  The right of P R Ellis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Ellifont, 20 Llangattock Court, Dixton Road, Monmouth NP25 3PX

  www.ellifont.wordpress.com

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978-0-9933647-8-5 Print edition

  ISBN 978-0-9933647-9-2 eBook edition

  Condition of Sale

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  Converted to eBook format by Alnpete PrePress

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events are either a product of the author’s fertile imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places or people (living or dead) is purely coincidental.

  To Lou – again, as ever.

  CONTENTS

  1 Tuesday 15th October 2013 – Late evening

  2 Thursday 12th September 2013 – Afternoon

  3 Saturday 21st September – Morning

  4 Monday 30th September – Morning

  5 Monday 7th October – Evening

  6 Wednesday 16th October – Morning

  7 Wednesday 16th October – Morning, later

  8 Thursday 17th October – Morning

  9 Thursday 17th October – Late morning

  10 Thursday 17th October – Afternoon

  11 Thursday 17th October – Evening

  12 Friday 18th October – Morning

  13 Friday 18th October – Morning

  14 Friday 18th October – Afternoon

  15 Saturday 19th October – Morning

  16 Saturday 19th October – Late morning

  17 Sunday 20th October – Morning

  18 Sunday 20th October – Late morning

  19 Sunday 20th October – Early afternoon

  20 Sunday 20th October – Afternoon, later

  21 Sunday 20th October – Late afternoon

  22 Sunday 20th October – Evening

  23 Sunday 20th October – Evening

  24 Sunday 20th October – Evening, later

  25 Sunday 20th October – Late evening

  26 Monday 21st October – Early morning

  27 Monday 21st October – Afternoon

  1

  TUESDAY 15th OCTOBER 2013

  LATE EVENING

  Smoke, or was it steam, gleamed silver in the fire appliance’s spotlights as it drifted from the shattered frontage of the shop and rose into the night sky. DI Tom Shepherd peered through his windscreen as he parked behind one of the vehicles. He got out and stood, looking up at the row of brick built terraced houses and shops. Water was no longer being sprayed on the building but hoses wormed across the pavement with puddles of water dammed between them.

  Tom pulled his jacket tight around him to shield him from the cold wind which blew up Broad Street, and took a few steps along the pavement. He nodded to a uniformed police officer who recognised him and held up the police tape high enough for him to duck under. Coming towards him was DC Sasha Patel. She tilted her head to look up at him.

  ‘I recognised your car, Sir.’

  ‘You’ve been here a while, Sasha?’

  They turned and walked side by side beside the fire engine.

  ‘Not as long as the fire service and response team. I was just leaving home when the call came through on my phone so didn’t have to go far.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I forgot that you live in Thirsbury. Your patch then.’

  ‘I don’t know it that well, Sir. We only moved in six months ago.’

  They stopped as a couple of fire officers, still wearing breathing apparatus, returned to their vehicle.

  ‘What have we got then?’ Tom asked, ‘I gather it’s not a routine fire, if there is such a thing.’

  ‘No sir. There’s a body inside, and the incident commander doesn’t think the death was due to the fire.’

  ‘Ah. Can we have a look?’

  ‘They haven’t let me in yet, Sir, but I think they’ve put the fire out now. The commander thought the building might be unsafe. The flames were pretty fierce at the front of the building.’

  ‘An accelerant?’

  ‘Possibly or maybe the building was just a tinderbox.’

  Tom stroked his chin. ‘Hmm. What was it used for?’

  ‘I’m not sure, Sir. The ground floor is a shop called Molly’s. Clothes I think. I’ve never really noticed it.’

  Tom turned and looked down the gently sloping main street of the small town. There was no traffic, not surprising as the fire and police vehicles blocked the road, but there wa
s now a small group of people, lit by the streetlights, waiting at the tape barrier that had been erected.

  ‘It’s some way from the main shops, so not a major retailer,’ Tom said.

  ‘No.’

  Tom faced the shop and took a step forward.

  ‘If the fire guys think the victim wasn’t killed in the fire presumably the body is not where the fire was fiercest?’

  ‘That’s right, Sir. It’s in a room at the rear.’

  Tom looked up and down the street. ‘Can we get to it by the rear entrance?’

  ‘There isn’t one, Sir. The Fire brigade had to fight the fire from the front. That’s why they’ve got hoses going into the building.’

  ‘We’re going to have to go through the front door then, safe or not. Let’s get overalled up. SOCO should be here by now.’

  ‘They got here just before you, sir, and are waiting for permission to enter.’

  As he tugged the one-size-fits-all disposable overall over his shoulders, Tom noted the similarity with the baby-grows his infant son was put in. There seemed to be room for two of Sasha Patel in hers. He signalled to the pair of scene of crime officers to follow and then advanced towards the blackened entrance to the shop with a hefty torch in his hand. A fire officer blocked the doorway; Tom guessed he was the incident commander.

  ‘The fire’s out but we’re still damping down as a precaution. We’re carrying out a preliminary structural survey. I wouldn’t like to give odds against the ceiling of the ground floor coming down.’

  ‘We need to get in to secure the scene of crime,’ Tom said.

  ‘I understand that. We’ll escort you through. The rear of the building wasn’t as affected by the fire and seems pretty sturdy.’

  ‘Thanks. Lead on.’

  The fire officer turned and entered the building with Tom behind and followed by Sasha and the SOCO officers carrying their bags of forensic kit. They stepped directly into a corner of a rectangular room about four metres by three. The only light was from the lights erected on the street outside shining through the shattered windows. There were heaps of sodden, charred material scattered over the blistered and buckled laminated floor running with water. There was also what Tom took to be the shards of a wooden desk. Tom switched his torch on and dispelled the shadows to reveal the fire-blackened remains of what was presumably the stock of a clothing retailer. He could tell the SOCOs were fretting about their and the fire officers’ feet trampling over the floor which was a possible crime scene. They’d secure the scene as soon as they could have it to themselves.

  They entered a narrow corridor directly opposite the entrance which had a stairway up to the left and then they passed into an even darker windowless room. The dancing light of torches revealed it to be a little larger than the front room, and square, though with one corner taken out by a now scorched wooden cubicle. The torch light bounced back at them from tall, cracked and shattered mirrors in the centre of each wall. Again, there were heaps of cloth reduced almost to ashes but amongst the debris were pale lumps of material that mystified Tom.

  ‘What’s that stuff? It looks like dinosaur eggs.’ he said.

  ‘Not sure what they were,’ the Fire Officer replied, pausing as he crossed the room. ‘It hasn’t burned like the other materials. Probably a silicone rubber. It’s non-flammable.’

  ‘What are they doing here?’ Tom asked.

  The fireman shrugged. ‘The body’s through here.’ He moved on to the exit from the room. Tom followed close behind. The floor changed from wood to stone. This was a smaller room, narrower than the others but with a door and window onto the dark garden. The body lay in the doorway. Before examining the deceased, Tom edged around the body and scanned the room. It appeared to be a kitchen, no, more like a scullery. There was a sink unit and cupboards but no cooker.

  The Fire Officer directed his torch at a door on the side of the room. ‘There’s just a loo in there,’ he commented.

  ‘The fire didn’t reach here then,’ Tom said looking around.

  ‘There’s some smoke damage and superficial scorching,’ the fireman said directing his torch at the beamed ceiling. ‘There was a bit of flameover but we were lucky. Got here soon after the fire took hold and as it was apparently centred on the front of the building, managed to get water on it at a decent rate. Obviously, it wasn’t lucky for her.’ He nodded at the body. ‘I guess she was dead already since she didn’t get out of the back.’

  Tom crouched to get a closer look at the victim. It looked female although Tom was a little surprised by the mode of dress. The victim seemed to be wearing an unusual flared black dress, that barely reached her knees, over a ruffled petticoat. The legs were clad in sheer nylon and the shoes on her feet had narrow heels at least three inches in length.

  Sasha bent down at his side and directed her torch beam onto the victim’s head.

  ‘I think she’s wearing a wig, Sir.’

  The hairpiece had slipped revealing a bald skull which was covered in dark stuff.

  ‘Mmm, yes, and I think that’s blood not soot on her head. I’d say she was hit with a blunt instrument.’

  ‘Drawing your own conclusions Detective Inspector?’

  Tom swung round on his heels to see another overalled figure standing over them.

  ‘Dr Winslade?’

  ‘Yes, Tom. Do you think I could get to see the deceased?’

  ‘Oh, yes of course.’ Tom straightened up, wary that his head was just about at beam height. He stepped aside to allow the pathologist to crouch down beside the body. DC Patel also moved aside as the two SOCO officers manoeuvred into the confined space.

  ‘We need light in here,’ Winslade said as she peered at the corpse.

  ‘Yes, I know, but we haven’t even done a preliminary scan for evidence yet.’ Tom replied.

  ‘Well, let the experts get on with the job. You go and do what you’re good at.’

  The pathologist’s bossying didn’t rankle with Tom. She’d been doing this job for longer than he’d been a senior detective and she was right.

  ‘Let’s get out, DC Patel, and start asking questions.’ They retraced their steps towards the front of the building, meeting the senior fire officer in the front room.

  ‘What’s upstairs?’ Tom asked.

  ‘Living quarters. One bedroom.’

  ‘Can we go up there?’

  ‘I’d prefer if you didn’t, Inspector. We’re still not sure whether the beams were weakened significantly. There was some transmission of the fire to the upper floor but we stopped it taking hold. I think it will be daylight before I can say whether it is safe for you.’

  Tom wondered whether he could delay that long to start the search for evidence about the dead woman but decided that pressing the fireman was not sensible just yet.

  ‘OK, please let me know as soon as you can.’ He passed on out of the premises with Sasha at his heels. In the glare of the floodlights he turned to face her. ‘Right Sasha, we need to know who the victim was, who lived here and ran the shop. Perhaps they are the same person. I presume the neighbours have been evacuated. There’s plenty of people gawping. See what they know, but don’t mention how or when the victim was killed yet.’

  DC Patel nodded and marched off. Tom took his phone from his pocket and after glancing up at the peeled and dripping nameboard above the shop window began tapping the words “Molly’s” and “Thirsbury” into the search box.

  Tom was reading the screen with a growing sense of bemusement when a SOCO approached him from the burnt-out building.

  ‘Sir. Dr Winslade says she’d like you to come in.’

  Tom followed the officer back inside the burnt-out building. In the few minutes he had been concentrating on his screen, there had been considerable changes made. Two battery powered light-stands had been set up in the rear room providing a much more even illumination. Tom noted the white-painted walls stained with soot and trails of mucky water, and the white plastic floor-pads contrasting with th
e dark stone, but his focus was the body still lying on the floor apparently unmoved. Dr Winslade was kneeling, peering at the back of the head of the victim. She beckoned for Tom to join her. He too knelt.

  ‘Your guess was correct, Tom.’

  Tom smiled. ‘My guess?’

  ‘Yes, the victim was hit on the back of the skull with a heavy but blunt instrument. I can’t be certain but I’d say death was instantaneous. The killer took a pretty good swing at it.’

  ‘The weapon?’

  ‘Can’t say exactly, just yet. It doesn’t seem to be here.’

  ‘We need daylight to have a good look around. Is that all?’

  ‘No. There was something else I wanted to tell you. I have given the body a look over, well Tom, more a feel over actually.’

  ‘Yes?’ Tom was surprised that Dr Winslade wasn’t getting to the point more quickly.

  ‘Did you notice the clothes the victim is wearing?

  ‘Sort of. An unusual fashion. Those shoes for a start look pretty uncomfortable.’

  ‘It is a particular kind of outfit. But the main point is that the victim is not female, well, not a cis-female.’

  Tom frowned. ‘I’ve heard that term. Jasmine uses it.’

  Winslade nodded. ‘Yes, I think Frame is going to be needed on this case. The victim wasn’t born female. He or she has a penis.’

  Thanks to the pathologist’s lead up, Tom wasn’t surprised. ‘A transsexual?’