Virtually Scared To Death (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free

harassment. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining myself to DI
Clarke.
    At
home that night I spoke to my dad and took the messages that he’d kindly taken
for me during the day.
    “I’ve
emailed you a job advert that I put together, for someone to help with your cleaning.
See what you think. If it’s alright I’ll get it online tomorrow,” Dad said.
    “Thanks
Dad, you didn’t have to go to so much trouble, I really appreciate it,” I said.
    When
I’d finished talking to Dad I switched on my computer. It made a funny noise as
it started up.
    I
pointed at it and said, “Don’t start messing about again or I’ll get a new one!”
    I
made a cup of tea while the computer decided to warm up. I logged onto my
emails and read the job advert that Dad had written. It looked perfect. I
emailed a reply back to him. I wrote ‘thank you’ about ten times.
    Then
I saw Mark’s email that he’d sent me the other day. A huge feeling of sadness
washed over me. It was a peculiar feeling to read an email from someone who was
now dead.
    With
a small sigh, I opened the email and read Mark’s message.
    ‘Hi
Julia, thanks so much for agreeing to look at my game! I’m sure you’ll enjoy
it! It’s almost ready to be sold but I just wanted one last pair of eyes to
scan it over. I trust your judgement – and your honesty. See you soon,
Mark.’
    I
felt tears brimming up in my eyes.
    I
really didn’t feel like playing a game but felt like I owed it to Mark to at
least give it a try.
    There
was a link at the bottom of the email. I clicked on it and then downloaded the
game.
    It
took me a few minutes to get into the game and I wasn’t sure I was doing
everything right.
    Then
my computer started making a chugging sort of noise.
    “No!
Not now!” I shouted at it.
    I
knew what was going to happen next. The annoying computer was going to freeze
on me.
    And
it did. Sometimes it sorted itself out, and sometimes I had to reboot it. All I
could do was wait.
    I
went into the kitchen to make another cup of tea. When I came back in I saw
that my computer was still in frozen mode.
    When
I saw the image it had frozen on, I screamed and dropped my cup.

 

Chapter 12

 
    Twenty
minutes later I was letting DI Clarke into my house.
    “What’s
the emergency? Have you found another dead body?” he asked.
    I
led him into my front room where my computer was. I prayed that it hadn’t
become unfrozen on its own.
    It
hadn’t.
    I
pointed to the screen and told the inspector that the image had come from
Mark’s game.
    “That’s
a sick looking game. I hope there’s an age limit on it,” DI Clarke said.
    “This
isn’t the game that I was playing at Mark’s apartment. That one had fairies and
goblins. This image was definitely not part of the game,” I explained.
    We
looked at the image. It was of a young girl, a girl that had been mutilated
somehow. Her face looked out helplessly, her lips open as if she was saying
something.
    “Do
you think she’s supposed to look like a child that worked at a mill? One that’s
been injured?” I asked.
    “That’s
a peculiar thing to say.”
    “When
I was last at Mark’s he mentioned believing in ghosts. He said he kept hearing
things, like a young girl crying and the sound of machinery. ” I looked at the
inspector expectedly.
    “Go
on,” he said.
    “I
remember reading something about subliminal messages that had been broadcast at
a cinema during the showing of a film. It showed images of a certain drink that
could only be seen if the film was slowed down considerably. And then, after
the film, people would go and buy the drink, and they didn’t know why.”
    DI
Clarke nodded, “Yes, I’ve heard about that but what’s it got to do with Mark
Castle?”
    “I
think someone has put subliminal images, and maybe sounds, on Mark’s game. When
he’s been working on it the images have been playing constantly. And when we
found his body the game was on a continual loop. Do you think the images