The Chalmers Case (10 page)

“It’s no
bother,” Janet lied with a smile.
 
“What about you two?” she asked Mildred.
 
“Do you want breakfast at seven as
well?”

“Yeah, I suppose
that’ll work,” Harold grunted.
 

“Now we’re off
to the pub,” George said.
 
“Apparently there’s one quite nearby.”

Janet carried
all of the plates into the kitchen, where Joan was spooning up generous
servings of stew for themselves and Michael.
 

“They all want
breakfast at seven,” Janet said, watching the happy look on her sister’s face
fade.
 

“Seven?” Joan
echoed.

“That’s what
they said,” Janet told her.
 
“But
they’ll probably be late.”

Joan made a
face.
 
“They’d better not be,” she
muttered under the breath.

“We’ll have an
early night,” Michael said.
 
“There’s nothing on
telly
anyway.”

Joan smiled
faintly.
 
“This was all my idea.”
Janet heard her say to herself as she went back to serving up their
dinner.
 
Janet couldn’t help but
smile at the thought that she’d been thinking herself.

Dinner was
delicious, and Janet was surprised that the guests were back from the pub
before they’d finished off the last of the jam
roly
poly
.
 

“We only had
just one drink,” Mildred said as Janet walked into the sitting room when she
heard their voices.
 
“We all have a
lot to do tomorrow, you see.”

The four
guests made their way upstairs, leaving Janet and Joan to finish tidying the
kitchen and then have an early night
themselves
.
 
Janet headed upstairs as soon as she’d helped
Joan with the few breakfast preparations they could do the night before,
leaving her sister with Michael.

In her room,
Janet read for a short while and then switched off the light.
 
She fell into a dreamless sleep, waking
at six and wondering for a moment why she’d set such an early alarm.
 
After a quick shower, she dressed and
headed down to the kitchen to help Joan.
 

Joan had all
of the preparations done and was just waiting for the guests to arrive to
actually start cooking.
 
The sisters
sipped coffee while they waited.
 
At
quarter past seven, Janet began to feel cross.

“They said
seven,” she told Joan.
 
“And
actually, I haven’t even heard their showers running yet.”

“Maybe we just
can’t hear them in here,” Joan said.
 
“Or maybe they aren’t bothering with showers as they’re travelling
today.
 
Or maybe they’ve changed
their mind and they’re all lying in.”

Before Janet
could reply, they heard the front door bell.
 

“Did you
invite Michael for breakfast?” Janet asked as she got to her feet.

“No, and he’s
said many times that he isn’t an early riser,” Joan replied.
 
She stood up as well and the sisters
walked quickly to the front door.

“If it’s a
potential guest, tell them no,” Joan hissed to Janet as she reached the door.

Janet
swallowed a smile at the words and then pulled the door open.

“Constable
Parsons?
 
What brings you here?”

Chapter Ten

The young man
smiled.
 
“Mr. Chalmers has some
concerns about some of your guests,” he told Janet, gesturing towards the man
who was standing behind him looking miserable.

“But they’re
his cousins,” Janet replied.

“Not the
Stones,” William growled.
 
“The
Harrisons.”

“They haven’t
come down for breakfast yet,” Joan told their visitors.
 

Janet took a
step backwards.
 
“Please come in,”
she invited them.
 
“They asked us to
have breakfast ready for seven, but they haven’t actually come down yet.”

“They’re long
gone,” William told her.
 
“And
you’ll be lucky if they didn’t take a few of your more portable valuables with
them.”

Janet and Joan
both gasped.

“Now, now,
let’s not start throwing unsubstantiated accusations around,” the young
policeman said sternly.
 
“Could one
of you check to see if your guests are still here, please?” he asked the
sisters.

“I’ll go,”
Janet volunteered quickly.
 
She
dashed out of the room before Joan could argue.
 
With her keys in hand, she approached
the door to the east room.
 
She
knocked quietly, fully expecting the Harrisons to answer the door.
 
When they didn’t, she knocked again,
more loudly.
 
After a third attempt,
she tried the knob.
 
The door opened
under her hand.

She pushed it
open and stuck her head inside the room.
 
It appeared to be empty.
 

“Please don’t
touch anything,” Robert said from behind her.
 

Janet
jumped.
 
She’d been so
focussed
on what she was doing that she hadn’t heard him
coming up the stairs.

“They seem to
have gone,” she said.

The only thing
out of place in the room was a small pink envelope that was sitting on the
table by the door.
 
Someone had
written “Joan and Janet” in neat handwriting on it.
 
Without thinking, Janet reached for it.

“Ah, I’d
rather you didn’t touch that,” Robert said.
 
“Or anything else in here.
 
We may well have to have the whole room
dusted for fingerprints.”

“But what
happened?” Janet asked.

“We can talk
downstairs,” the man told her.

As they exited
the room, Janet gestured towards the west room.
 
“We should probably see what’s keeping
them,” she said.
 
“They were meant
to be at breakfast at seven as well.”

“I suspect
they’ve also gone,” Robert replied.
 
“And we’ll be wanting to dust that for prints as well.”

Janet just
stared at him for a moment and then shook her head.
 
“I knew there was something funny going
on,” she exclaimed.

Back in the
sitting room, Joan was fussing over William Chalmers.

“I’m sure
Robert will sort everything out,” she was saying.
 
“You should have a cup of tea and try to
calm down.”

“I’ve worked
so hard,” he replied.
 
“Everything
was going so well.
 
First Harold
showed up and tried to ruin everything and then, when I thought that problem
was all sorted out, the
bloo
,
er
,
blasted Harrisons come in and ruin my life.”

“Exactly what
happened?” Janet asked, looking from William to Robert and back again.

William buried
his head in his hands.
 
“I can’t
talk,” he moaned from behind them.

“And I can’t
tell you much,” Robert said.
 
“We’re
still investigating exactly what happened, but I’ll tell you the basics, at
least, in exchange for your cooperation with our investigation.”

The sisters
nodded.
 
Janet reckoned they had
little choice but to cooperate, and she was dying to hear the story.

“Firstly, Mr.
and Mrs. Stone were former business associates of Mr. Chalmers,” Robert
explained.

“They were the
ones behind the mislabeled things at my last store,” William said.
 
“I didn’t
realise
what they were up to until it was too late, or I would have stopped them.
 
We all ended up spending time in prison,
even though none of it was my fault.”

“Anyway, we were
concerned about their visiting with Mr. Chalmers, and it seems our concern was
warranted,” Robert continued.

“I told you,
they were blackmailing me.
 
I’ve
worked hard to achieve a certain social standing here in
Doveby
Dale and if the good people of the village discovered that I have a criminal
record, that
would ruin everything.
 
Harold and Mildred threatened to tell
everyone about my past if I didn’t help them out.”

“Help them out
how?” Janet asked, ignoring the “keep quiet” look from her sister.

“They still
had some questionable merchandise from our London operation,” William
explained.
 
“They wanted me to sell
it in my shop here.
 
I didn’t feel
as if I had any choice but to agree.”

Janet pressed
her lips together before she said something she shouldn’t.

“There are
always choices,” Joan said firmly, putting Janet’s thoughts into words.

“Yes, I
suppose,”
William
agreed with a sigh.
 
“But then Mildred had this great
idea.
 
She’d met the Harrisons here
and decided that they were the perfect customers for our slightly less than
perfect antiques.”

“Fakes,” Joan
said.

“Not exactly
fakes,” William protested.
 
“Just
not exactly as rare and valuable they appeared.”

“So they
befriended the Harrisons and then tried to get them to buy the worthless
stuff?” Janet asked.

“Yes,” William
said quietly.
 
“I didn’t have
anything to do with it.”

“Except that
they conducted their business in your premises,” Robert pointed out.

“Yes, well,
just that,” William muttered.

“So what
happened next?” Janet demanded.

“Harold told
them that he had a few little pieces he wanted to get rid of and that he could
sell them cheap if they were never formally part of the stock in my store.
 
He brought them all to the shop yesterday
and showed them to the Harrisons, who agreed to buy the lot.
 
Apparently the Harrisons had a small van
and they were all going to meet at eight this morning at my shop to load it up.”

“And then?”
Joan asked eagerly.
 
Janet smiled to
herself.
  
She wasn’t the only
Markham sister who was just a little bit nosy.

“Mildred rang
me at just before six,” William said sadly.
 
“She and Harold had just woken up and
they were sure they’d been drugged.
 
She told me to check the shop.
 
When I got there, several of my most valuable pieces were missing.”

“What makes
you think the Harrisons took them?” Janet asked.

“Mildred said
she and Harold stopped in the Harrisons’ room for a drink last night before
bed.
 
That’s the last thing she
remembers before around half five this morning.
 
Harold’s keys were missing.
 
Unfortunately, I’d given Harold a key to
the shop so that he could get in this morning.
 
I didn’t want to be there for the sale.”

“So where is
everyone now?” Janet asked.

“Mildred and
Harold took off,” William said.
 
“They packed their things and snuck away from
Doveby
Dale before they rang me.”

“We’re hoping
to catch up with them,” Robert added.
 
“We have quite a few questions for them.”

“But they
didn’t actually do anything wrong in the end,” William pointed out.
 
“The Harrisons didn’t buy anything from
them.”

“We’d still
like to speak to them,” Robert said sternly.

“And the
Harrisons?” Janet asked.

“We’re trying
to work out what time they left and what direction they were headed,” Robert
told her.
 
“We’re pretty sure they
were gone from here before midnight, so they have a good head start.
 
We’re pretty certain we know who they
really are, but their fingerprints will tell us for sure.”

“They seemed
like such a nice couple,” Janet mused.

William
laughed bitterly.

“But what were
you doing with all those painting things in your back room?” Janet asked.
 
As soon as the words were out of her
mouth, she regretted asking.
 
Joan
frowned at her.

William looked
at the ground and then up at her.
 
“I was trying out a bit of painting,” he told her.
 
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to
do, but never tried.
 
I thought
maybe I could try putting a few of my paintings in my shop, if they were good
enough.”
 
He sighed deeply.
 
“Now I just have to hope my insurance
will cover the losses from what the Harrisons stole, or I’ll be out of business
after less than a week.”

So our first set of guests weren’t exactly
what we were expecting, Bessie.
 
I
suppose you mustn’t judge a book by its cover.
 

The police found the Stones fairly easily
but couldn’t charge them with anything.
 
William got rid of all of the questionable antiques and I think Joan and
I (and you) are the only ones who heard the whole story.
 

Most of
Doveby
Dale is quite sympathetic towards poor William after the robbery, and his shop
has been noticeably busier lately.
 
It seems as if everyone is willing to look past his difficult
personality in an effort to support him after his misfortune.
 
I will say that he appears to be working
hard at being nicer as well.

As far as the police can determine, the
Harrisons have vanished completely.
 
The note they left in their room was simply a card
apologising
for not saying goodbye properly and thanking us for a lovely stay.
 
We aren’t sure now if they really did
used to stay at
Doveby
House in the past or not.
 
It is difficult to know what to believe,
though they seemed like lovely people.

I’ve taken to calling the whole sorry affair
“The Chalmers Case.”
 
Joan prefers to
not talk about it at all.
 
We’ve
agreed to take a short break from having guests, just until early next
month.
 
I think Joan is starting to
reconsider this whole bed and breakfast thing.
 
I haven’t told her, but I quite enjoyed
the chaos!

Do come and visit, won’t you?
 
We’d love to see you again.

With all good wishes,

Janet Markham

P.S.
 
Just yesterday a very large parcel was delivered.
 
It was the painting I’d fallen in love
with from William’s shop.
 
The card
attached said “Just a little something to keep me in your thoughts,
Edward.”
 
Of course Joan said I
mustn’t keep such an expensive present from a man I barely know, but the only
phone number I have for him has suddenly been disconnected, so I can’t tell him
that.
 
For now I’ve hung it in my
bedroom and it looks even better than I imagined it would.