The Millionaire Murders by Rachel McLean, book 5 in the Dorset Crime series - Chapter 1

Ines Perez opened the front door to the house, her senses on fire. Her boyfriend Vali was behind her, holding her hand. He tugged at it as she stepped over the threshold.

“Are you sure this is OK?” he said. “She’s definitely gone for the weekend?”

Ines turned and gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster, despite her own nerves.

“It’s fine,” she whispered. “She’s at her chalet in Verbier, the house is empty.”

His eyes brightened. She could sense the excitement streaming off him.

“Quickly,” she said, pulling him through the door.

This house was set back from the road, separated from it by a thick hedge. But there was CCTV outside, and she didn’t want anybody noticing them.

Vali closed the front door behind them and Ines paused to breathe in the smell of the house. Furniture polish mixed with perfume and the tang of the sea. Up ahead, beyond the vast open-plan living room, broad doors led out to the beach. The garden was peppered with mature trees: shade in the summer, protection in the winter, and the view always stopped her in her tracks. She’d grown up by the beach, but in a house that was nothing like this.

This wasn’t Ines’s house of course; there was no way she could afford this on her salary. But it was where she worked. Lived too, for now. Susannah Ramsay, Ines’s boss, had made her millions as a corporate lawyer in the City of London. She spent part of the year here on the Sandbanks Peninsula, enjoying the fruits of her labours. And it was Ines’s job to take care of her every need. This week Susannah was away in Switzerland, so Ines could take care of her own needs.

Feeling Vali’s hand on her shoulder, she turned and let him kiss her. She forced her body to soften into the kiss, pushing away her anxiety. Vali was cute, she’d been seeing him for a month since they’d met in a Bournemouth bar. This was the first time she’d brought him here.

Susannah had fired her last gardener after he’d hosted a barbecue on the lawn. She’d attempted to bring criminal damages charges. Ines knew the consequences if she was caught.

Vali pulled away from the kiss and looked into her eyes, grinning.

“This place is something else.”

She nodded. “Come and see the living room.”

She took his hand and led him through. The double doors opened up into a broad space, illuminated by the moonlight. The beach was eerie in the dim blueish light.

Vali walked to the doors and placed his hands against the glass.

“How much did you say your boss earns?”

Ines approached him. “Don’t worry about that now. Let’s go upstairs.”

He nodded. “Are you sure there’s nobody else here?”

“There’s a cook when she’s in the house, but he’s gone with her to Switzerland. I get to stay behind. I work for the house more than I do for her.”

She surveyed the kitchen. It gleamed. Ines might not own this house, but she was proud of how beautiful she made it. Especially when Susannah wasn’t here to undo all her work.

Vali looked up at the ceiling. It was high, lending an almost cathedral-like quality to the room.

“Lucky house,” he said, winking.

Ines smiled. “Come on.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the door. They stumbled through the broad hallway and tiptoed up the stairs. Ines knew the house was empty, she knew there was no one here to hear. She also knew that the thick carpets and concrete steps would muffle the sound of her footsteps. But she still felt like she was trespassing.

They reached the top of the steps and Ines turned to Vali.

“My room’s the second on the right.”

She felt her skin tingle. Their relationship so far had consisted of meetings in pubs, walks along the shore in Bournemouth and snatched kisses at bus stops. It hadn’t gone any further. Until tonight.

Vali put his hands on either side of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Ines tried to relax, but was aware of the stairs right next to her. She felt untethered, and off balance.

She pulled away. “Come on.”

She headed for her room, passing the closed doors to Susannah’s bedroom. She paused for a moment. What if her boss hadn’t gone away? What if she was in there asleep and not in Verbier?

“We’ll have to be quiet,” she whispered to Vali.

“You said the place was empty?”

“It is,” she said. “But I don’t want the neighbours hearing.”

He laughed. “You’re that loud, are you?”

She gave him a wink. “You’ll have to find out.”

“Even if you screamed the house down, the neighbours wouldn’t hear you here,” he said. The next house could be half a mile away, these buildings were so isolated.

He pushed open one of the doors to Susannah’s bedroom.

“Why don’t we do it in here? I bet her bed’s bigger than yours.”

He walked through.

Susannah’s bed was as wide as it was long, an ocean of silk and velvet. Part of Ines’s job was to change it every week. She’d done so this morning, just after Susannah had left.

“No,” she hissed. “My room.”

“Hang on,” said Vali, his voice tense.

“What?” Ines whispered.

She touched his cheek, surveying the line of his jaw. Vali was handsome. She couldn’t believe her luck meeting him here.

He turned to her. “Out,” he whispered.

“What?” she said.

“There’s somebody in here.”

Ines’s heart clenched. “No there isn’t.”

He bent down to look into her eyes, his face inches away from hers.

“The bed,” he whispered. “There’s somebody in the bed.”

Ines felt her muscles tense. “There can’t be.”

She looked past him towards the bed. Sure enough, there was a shape in it.

When she’d made the bed this morning, she’d smoothed the sheets, pulled them taut. She knew that they would reflect the moonlight. This room didn’t have curtains; Susannah liked to wake and look at the view.

But now the smooth lines of the bed were disrupted. There was a shape in the centre of it, darkness disturbing the sheets.

Ines put out her hand, feeling like she might fall.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“Has your boss got any pets? Maybe…”

“No. She’s allergic.” Her heart was racing. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Turn the light on,” he said. “We need to check.”

“No! Don’t be stupid.”

“Look, Ines. You and me have been stood here talking to each other for too long now. If your boss is asleep over there, we’d have disturbed her.”

“No. Come on.” Ines thought of the gardener.

“Could she be on drugs?”

Ines shook her head. Susannah was into clean living. Vile smoothies with grass and seeds, egg-white omelettes. “No.”

“We need to see, Ines. Turn the light on.”

She approached the bed, trembling. The shape hadn’t moved.

Her foot brushed against something and she yelped. She grabbed Vali’s arm and pulled him back to the door. He reached out and flicked the light switch.

“Vali, no!”

She blinked, her eyes acclimatising.

“Shit,” said Vali.

Ines followed his gaze.

The bed wasn’t empty.

At its centre was Susannah. On the floor in front of it – the thing she’d touched with her foot? – was another shape.

“What’s that?” she said. “It’s a…”

“It’s a man.”

Ines frowned. Susannah was single. No men ever came in here. “Who?”

“Fucked if I know,” said Vali.

Ines whimpered. “Get out. We have to get out now.”

Vali turned to her. “We should check on them.”

She stared back at him. “I’ll call 999.”

“We should check on them,” he repeated.

“No,” she said. “Don’t touch anything.”

She was a housekeeper, an immigrant. He was a student on a temporary visa. She knew how things like this could turn out for people like them.

“Don’t touch them,” she told him.

Her eyes flicked insistently between the two bodies, on the floor and on the bed.

Susannah was laid out at the centre of the bed, her arms out to her sides. In the middle of her chest, staining her silk dressing gown, was a dark patch of blood.

On the floor in front of the bed was a man Ines didn’t recognise. He had dark hair and looked young. His suit was covered in blood. On the carpet beside him, a puddle of the stuff.

Ines retched. She put a hand to her chest and took a deep breath.

“Vali,” she said. “What happened?”