Murder in Perspective : The 15th Murray Barber P.I. Case

By Julie Burns-Sweeney

Murder In Perspective
The Fifteenth Murray Barber P.I. Case
Murray Barber is a private investigator with a difference. He can hear the dead speak.With the help of some ghostly company and Jeff, his friend from C.I.D., Murray
solves a variety of cases.
Some very different photos. One unknown little boy in a family snapshot hides a secret past. Some holiday snaps show more than you might at first see….

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781291049190

Book preview

Murder in Perspective : The 15th Murray Barber P.I. Case

MURDER IN PERSPECTIVE

THE FIFTEENTH

MURRAY BARBER P.I. CASE

By

Julie Burns-Sweeney

CHAPTER ONE

Maisie Greenwoods placed the creased black and white photo down on the coffee table between them and glanced up hopefully at Murray. She was sixty years old, her long hair was dyed a light brown but her grey roots were starting to show. Four cats of varying colours sat along the back of the settee behind her, all with their eyes tightly shut but with that 'we know exactly what you're doing so don't try anything' air about them. Murray sat forward on the leather armchair and turned his gaze from the panoramic view of the town harbour out of the window to the small family snapshot.

It's an old photo. he pointed out.

Yes, that's me, the baby. And my mother and father. It's the little boy I have no memory of. They never ever told me I had a brother. Not Mother nor Father, not anybody.

And you want me to find out who he is and what happened to him? Murray looked closely at the photo. Was it taken during the war? Maybe he was an evacuee?

I'm not quite that old! she laughed. I was born in 1953. That was taken, I'd say when I was a few months old. He only looks about five or six. All too late for the War I'm afraid. I thought about going down the Records Office but I don't have the patience. And please don't ask me to 'go on-line'! It's all foreign to me!

Murray was thinking that a name of some sort would be so much more help, but there were many ways to get to the bottom of the mystery. He could start with his on-line record searches into Maisie's parents and work forward from their wedding. He asked for the date of their marriage.

Oh, now that would have been late 1951.

1951? Murray picked up his notebook from the coffee table and jotted down the year next to the names of Maisie's parents. If he looks five or six in 1953 then he was born before they married?

Oh.... I suppose he must have been? Now I'm really confused. Maisie was staring down at the picture with deep furrows in her brow. I'm not being very helpful am I? It's just that since Mother's death last March I've just been working my way through her belongings and this caught my eye because I'd never seen it before and as I say, I have no idea who that little boy is... or was?

May I take this photo with me?

By all means.

Right, leave it with me, I'll find out who he is and with any luck, what happened to him and where he is now.

That would be great! I know it seems a silly waste of time but it's bothering me so much.

Not a problem Mrs Greenwoods. Murray smiled as he gathered his bits and pieces together and got to his feet. I'll get back to you in a couple of days.

Once back out in his car, Murray glanced at his phone. He really didn't know why he kept doing that? It had been over two weeks now and there hadn't been a word from Jenny. It was over. He kept thinking that he should delete her number and be done with it but it just wasn't that easy. Still, he had a list of jobs on and work to be done, he started his engine and set off for home.

The traffic in the Cornish coastal towns was heaving and luckily the weather was still being generous to the 'emits' as they made the most of their summer holidays. Once back in the peace and quiet of his one-bedroom flat, Murray made himself a coffee and sat himself down at his desk. He glanced at his list of jobs. There was the usual suspected unfaithful spouse, Mrs Trisha Tillman wanted to know why she couldn't contact her canvasser husband Billy, in the afternoons. Then there was the insurance job, something that had become more regular since Jenny's