The Irwin Case

by Diana Xarissa

  Robert was the police constable responsible for policing Doveby Dale and the neighbouring village of Little Burton. The young man took his responsibilities very seriously, and he also seemed to feel responsible for Janet and Joan. He visited frequently to check on the sisters and their guests, and both women had developed a soft spot for the good-looking and kind young man.

  Janet smiled and invited the man inside. “Joan had a late night,” she told him as she led him towards the kitchen. “She isn’t feeling very well this morning, I’m afraid.”

  Joan was putting bread into the toaster when they reached the kitchen. Janet was pleased to see that some of her colour had come back, no doubt thanks to the coffee.

  “Coffee?” she asked Robert. “Toast? Breakfast?”

  “I’ll have some coffee, thanks,” Robert said. “I had breakfast about an hour ago, but if you’ve baked any biscuits lately, I wouldn’t say no to one or two of them.”

  Joan nodded, and very slowly and carefully poured a cup of coffee for the man. While she was doing that, Janet piled biscuits onto a plate, which she set in front of Robert on the table.

  When Joan’s toast had popped, she joined Robert and Janet at the table with her dry toast and coffee. After a small nibble on her toast, she looked up at Robert.

  “What can we do for you this morning?” she asked.

  “I understand you had to refuse a credit card yesterday,” the man said. “I was hoping you could answer a few questions about that for me.”

  “I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it,” Janet said. “I just assumed it was a glitch in our little machine or something.”

  “Many times, when a card gets turned down, it is simply a glitch,” Robert said. “Sometimes the card company thinks it detects fraud and puts a hold on the card until they can speak to the card holder. In this case, however, it was something else.”

  “What?” Janet asked.

  “Before we get into that, I’d like you to tell me about the guests who were involved,” Robert said.

  “About Jacob and Harriet Mills?” Janet asked. “Don’t tell me that isn’t really their name? Were they trying to use a stolen credit card? They seemed like such nice people.”

  Robert held up a hand. “At this point, I have no reason to believe that the couple who stayed with you were anything other than exactly who they claimed to be,” he said. “But I’d like to hear what you know about them and what you thought of them before I tell you anything more.”

  “Let me get my notebook where I write in the bookings,” Joan said. “I make notes when I speak to potential guests. I can’t remember what I wrote about those two, but there might be something.”

  While she was gone, Janet refilled her coffee cup and topped up Robert’s as well.

  “Here we are,” Joan said as she sat back down. “Jacob rang us about three weeks ago and asked to book for this past weekend. He and his wife wanted to tour some stately homes, he told me.”

  “Did he say where they were coming from?” Robert asked.

  “Yes, Rugby,” Joan told him.

  “Did you ask him how he’d heard about Doveby House?” was the next question.

  “Yes, and he told me that he and his wife had stayed here once before,” Joan said. “That was over a year ago, though.”

  Robert nodded and made a note in his notebook. “And did he pay for the room when he booked?”

  “Oh, no,” Joan replied. “I don’t make guests pay in advance, although I might start asking them for a deposit of some kind as we get into the summer and have to start turning away bookings. No, I told him what the rate was and that I expected payment on arrival.”

  “When they arrived, how did he pay?” Robert asked.

  “Cash,” Joan told him. “Many of our guests seem to prefer to pay in cash. I’m not sure why. We have the credit card processing machine now, but it doesn’t get used much.”

  Robert made another note. “So what happened yesterday?”

  “Jacob came down and asked if they could stay another night,” Joan explained. “We don’t have anyone arriving before Saturday, so I told him they could. He gave Janet his credit card to pay for the extra night.”

  “And I ran it through the machine and the machine said that their card was declined,” Janet added.

  “And he didn’t offer to try a different card?” Robert asked.

  “No,” Joan said. “When Janet told them that the card had been declined, Jack and Harriet decided that they needed to go home and get that problem sorted.”

  “I see,” Robert said. “And what did you think of them?”

  “They seemed like a nice couple,” Joan said. “They were very, um, communicative, really. We heard all about how they met when they were only teenagers and how their parents made them wait until they were both twenty-one to marry.”

  “When Joan says ‘communicative,’ she means they talked way too much,” Janet interjected. “I think I know more about their lives than I do about my best friend.”

  Robert smiled. “The constable who spoke with them today said something similar,” he said.

  “I thought they were very nice,” Joan said. “They are a few years older than I am, and they’ve been married for over fifty years. That’s a huge accomplishment.”

  “It is,” Robert agreed. “And you had no reason to doubt anything they told you?”

  “Not at all,” Joan said firmly.

  “Not until their credit card was refused,” Janet put in.

  “It doesn’t seem as if that was their fault,” Robert said. “Did either of them mention when or where they’d used their card while they were here?”

  Janet looked at Joan and then both sisters shrugged. “Harriet said something about only charging a few meals on it since they’d made a payment,” Janet said.

  “And did they tell you where they’d had those meals?” Robert asked.

  “I know they ate at the local café at least once,” Janet said. “And they had dinner at the pub in Little Burton as well. Beyond that, I simply don’t recall. And I don’t know where they paid cash or where they might have used their card, either.”

  “They ate lunch at the café at Chatsworth the first day they were here,” Joan said. “I remember Harriet was still shocked by the prices, even several hours later.”

  Robert made a note and then smiled at them both. “Is there anything else you can tell me about them?” he asked.

  Janet shook her head. “I can’t think of anything else,” she said.

  “Thank you for all of your help, then,” Robert said. “It seems that their credit card details were stolen and their card was used to purchase some very expensive items at a shop in Leeds.”

  “In Leeds?” Joan repeated. “Surely no one local could have been involved, then.”

  “At this point, we’re not ruling anything out,” Robert said. “But at the moment, it seems likely that they were the victims of a group of professionals. The card details could have been stolen some weeks or even months ago, perhaps along with a great many others. I’m doing what I can to investigate, but I don’t expect to be able to find anything.”

  “What happens to Jacob and Harriet?” Janet asked.

  “The credit card company will absorb the loss,” Robert told her. “They’ve been good customers for a great many years and the incident was clearly a complete departure from their normal spending habits. They’ll have to fill out some paperwork, but they won’t lose any money.”

  “That’s good news,” Janet said.

  “In the meantime, if you have any other guests that have trouble with their credit cards, ring me,” Robert said as he rose to his feet. “It’s just remotely possible that there’s a local connection to the criminals.”

  Janet walked Robert to the door. Joan had started to stand up, but Janet had waved her back into her seat. “You sit and rest,” she said. “Let those tablets do their job.”

  Joan had opened her mouth to object,
but no words had come out. At the door, Robert gave Janet a hug.

  “Thank you for your help,” he said. “Hopefully, the problem originated in Rugby or somewhere between here and there, but as I said, let me know if you have any additional problems.

  Janet nodded. “Like Joan told you, we rarely take credit cards, but we’ll ring you straight away if anything else happens.”

  She watched the man walk down the steps and climb into his car before she pushed the door shut and locked it. Poor Joan was probably still feeling miserable. Janet wasn’t in a hurry to get back to her, really.

  Chapter 4

  When Janet walked back into the kitchen, Joan was putting her toast plate into the dishwasher.

  “Would you think badly of me if I went and laid down for an hour?” she asked Janet.

  “Not at all,” Janet said stoutly. “You go and rest. I hope your head feels better when you wake up.”

  “I’m sure it will,” Joan said. “I’ll be up in plenty of time to make some lunch for us both. Michael and I are meant to be going out for dinner tonight, but I’m not sure I’m going to manage that.”

  “It’s your anniversary,” Janet said. “You don’t want to miss that.”

  “Maybe it’s time to stop celebrating the monthly anniversaries of our first dinner together,” Joan said tiredly. “Or maybe it’s time to stop seeing one another altogether.”

  “You don’t mean that. It’s the headache talking, that’s all. Get some sleep. You’ll feel better in an hour or two.”

  Joan nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. Janet watched her leave the room and then sighed. Those nasty women had really upset her sister. Janet was left wondering what they’d said about Michael’s wife that had bothered her sister so much. Asking Joan would no doubt just upset her more.

  Feeling too restless to settle down with a book, Janet decided to head into the village to do some window shopping. The options within the small village were somewhat limited, but she could get a few magazines from the newsagent, at least. The sort of glossy gossip magazines that Joan frowned upon were exactly what Janet felt she needed at the moment.

  The centre of Doveby Dale was only a short distance past the café where Janet had eaten the previous evening. She parked in the small car park and headed for the short parade of shops, glancing over at the police station that was visible nearby. Robert’s car wasn’t there, but Susan Garner’s was.

  Susan was Robert’s civilian assistant. Among other things, the forty-something blonde was a talented knitter, and she provided the sisters with piles of beautiful blankets that they displayed in the bed and breakfast. Joan and Janet took a small commission on every sale, and Janet was reminded as she crossed the car park that Harriet Mills had purchased a blanket from them. She’d have to stop and see Susan before she headed for home, Janet decided.

  The newsagent was busier than Janet had expected it to be, but she was happy to wait in a short queue to buy her magazines. Next, she visited the chemist’s shop that was next door. She bought the bottle of shampoo that she’d forgotten at the supermarket the previous day, wincing only slightly at the shop’s higher prices. The only other shop in the row was WTC Antiques, and Janet debated with herself about visiting.

  William Chalmers was an odd mix of charm and arrogance with a dash of something slightly shady thrown in. When he’d first arrived in Doveby Dale, Janet and Joan had taken an almost instant dislike to him. Over time that had softened to something almost approaching friendship, and in the last few months William had begun to show an interest in taking his relationship with Janet even further than that. Janet wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the man, although she had to admit to being flattered by the attention. If Edward Bennett hadn’t been in the picture, she probably would have let William take her out, at least once or twice.

  Now she stood on the pavement in front of his shop, waffling about whether to go in or not. She’d just about decided to head back to the car when the shop’s door swung open and William greeted her.

  “Good morning,” he said brightly. “What brings you here, and why are you simply standing outside my door?”

  Janet flushed. “I was just admiring the window display,” she lied, quickly trying to take in everything she could see in case he questioned her excuse.

  “And where is your lovely sister today?” William asked.

  “She’s not feeling very well,” Janet replied. “She’s in bed, nursing a headache, actually.”

  “So you thought you’d come down and buy yourself something antique or collectable when she wouldn’t have a chance to stop you,” William suggested.

  Janet laughed and then followed the man into the shop. It looked less cluttered than normal. “You must be doing well,” she said. “I’m sure you had many more things the last time I was here.”

  “Paul turned into a very talented salesman,” William said. “We did almost enough business to warrant my keeping him around.”

  Janet nodded. Paul’s father had sent him to Doveby Dale after Paul had found himself in some trouble with the law. Paul had insisted that he’d only chosen his friends badly and that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. His father decided that a few months in the middle of nowhere, helping William Chalmers run his antique shop, might help put Paul back on the right track. From all accounts, the plan had worked perfectly.

  “Have you had anything new that I might like?” Janet asked.

  “I just received a new painting by the artist who did the one you have in your bedroom,” William told her. “Come and see.”

  Janet followed the man through the shop to the smaller room at the back, which was set up as a small art gallery. It was there that Janet had fallen in love with the first painting, even though it had been far too expensive for her to purchase. She’d mentioned it in passing to Edward, however, and had been shocked and delighted when he’d bought it for her and had it delivered to Doveby House.

  “What do you think?” William asked, gesturing towards a large canvas.

  Janet studied it for several minutes before she spoke. “I would have known it was by the same man, even without the signature,” she said. “But I don’t like it nearly as much as I like mine.”

  “Why?”

  Janet shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I also don’t know why I like mine so much. For some reason, my painting spoke to me, but this one doesn’t, I suppose.”

  William nodded. “For what it’s worth, I don’t like this very much, either. Yours had an energy about it that this one is lacking. Someone almost bought it yesterday, though.”

  “But they changed their minds at the last minute?”

  “But their credit card didn’t go through,” William told her.

  “Really? Did you tell Robert about it?” Janet asked.

  “Robert? Do you mean Robert Parsons? Why would I involve the police?” William replied. “They were probably over their limit, or the painting would have put them over or something. I simply told them the card had been declined and they told me they’d come back once they’d sorted the problem.”

  “Have they been back?”

  “No, of course not,” William said. “Like I said, they were probably over their limit or something.”

  “We had a credit card declined yesterday at the bed and breakfast,” Janet told him. “Robert wanted to hear all about it because it was the result of the couple having their credit card details stolen.”

  “Really? Well, maybe that was what happened to my couple as well,” William said. “But if so, that’s between them and the police. I don’t think it has anything to do with me.”

  “Robert wanted us to ring him if we had any other trouble,” Janet said. “I’m sure he’d like to hear your story as well.”

  “Maybe I’ll ring him later,” William said dismissively.

  “I need to go and talk to Susan anyway. I can tell her about it and have her pass the information along to Robert, if you’d like,” Janet of
fered.

  “That would be kind of you,” William said. “Perhaps I can buy you dinner to thank you?”

  “That isn’t necessary,” Janet said.

  “But I’d still like to do it,” William replied. “Let me see when I’m free.”

  William suggested either Thursday or Friday, but Janet wasn’t sure. “I’ll have to ring you later today,” she said. “I need to check with Joan about guests before I promise anything.”

  “But you will have dinner with me?” he asked.

  “Yes, I will,” Janet said, feeling reckless. If Joan could stay out far too late and have too much to drink, Janet felt as if she ought to at least have a nice dinner out once in a while.

  She looked around the shop for a few minutes, admiring a bookshelf that she hadn’t noticed before. “That would just fit in my bedroom,” she said, checking the price. “Maybe Joan can get it for me for Christmas,” she added when she saw how expensive the piece was.

  “I can give you a better price,” William said.

  “I think I’d better measure the space first,” Janet replied. “It might be just a tiny bit too big.”

  A glance at the large wall clock surprised her. “My goodness, I’m not going to have much time to talk to Susan,” she said when she saw the time. “I’m meant to be home in time for lunch.”

  William walked her to the door and gave her a hug. “Ring me later,” he said.

  “I will,” Janet promised.

  Although the tiny police station was a short distance away, Janet decided it would be easier to walk than to move her car. Susan was just walking out of the station when she arrived.

  “I was just going to collect my lunch,” Susan told Janet. “They make me sandwiches at the coffee shop next door.”

  The small coffee shop next to the police station did excellent cakes and puddings. “I didn’t realise they did more than tea, coffee and sweets,” Janet said.

  “Just sandwiches, really,” Susan told her. “The regular girl behind the counter has a bit of a thing for Robert, so she’s always happy to feed either of us.”

  “How does Robert feel about her?” Janet had to ask.