The Patrone Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 16)

by Diana Xarissa

  He shrugged. “As I said, I was more interested in what real life could teach me. I did some travelling for a while before I started working. I’ve worked in various retail shops, trying to learn as much as I can from each new experience before moving on to the next position.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” William told him. “I was hoping to find someone who’ll be around for quite some time.”

  “I suppose that would depend on how much I think I can learn from you,” Bradley told him with a smirk.

  William nodded. “You won’t mind if I ring someone at your last position to get a reference?”

  Bradley flushed, “Of course not,” he muttered. “You may struggle to find anyone who remembers me, though. As I said, it’s a huge operation, and they go through staff at an alarming rate. It’s possible, maybe even probable, that whomever you speak with will simply be able to confirm the dates of my employment.”

  “But of course, I would never hire anyone without checking references,” William said.

  “Let me give you a better person to ring,” Bradley suggested. “Harold Travers was my manager where I worked before I moved to the antique shop. He’ll remember me. It was a much smaller operation.”

  William wrote down the name and number that Bradley gave him. “You might warn him that I’ll be ringing,” he said.

  “I will. We’ve remained friendly, even after a year or more. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear from me again.”

  “Excellent. Do you have any questions for me?” William wondered.

  “Will I be making a commission on sales?”

  “Yes, that would be part of your compensation.”

  “That’s good news. I’m much more motivated as a person by financial incentives. That was the one good thing about my previous position. We received a very generous commission on everything we sold. Of course, with so many members of staff, the competition amongst ourselves was cutthroat.”

  “That won’t be the case here,” William told him.

  Bradley laughed. “No, I didn’t think it would. Actually, I’m a little bit concerned, as I’ve been here for more than half an hour and you haven’t had a single customer. It’s difficult to earn a commission if there isn’t anyone shopping.”

  “It has been quiet this afternoon,” William conceded, “but I had a very busy morning. I’ll be paying a fair hourly rate, anyway, so you’ll be compensated for your time whether we have customers or not.”

  Bradley nodded “And over time, would you be willing to teach me about the other ins and outs of running such a business?” he asked. “I’m especially interested in learning about the accounting side of things, paying VAT and taxes and all of those issues. I’d hate to get anything wrong once I start my own shop, obviously.”

  “Actually, I have an accountant who handles all of that for me,” William told him. “I suggest, when you do start your own business, that you hire one, too. It saves you a tremendous amount of hard work.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Bradley said. “Did you have any further questions?”

  William looked at Janet, who was still feeling annoyed with the man. She shook her head.

  “I’ll be in touch,” William said as he got to his feet. “I plan to make a decision by the end of the month.”

  “I look forward to hearing from you with good news soon, then,” Bradley said. He followed William to the door. “Thank you for your time,” he told William. “You, too, Mrs. Marks,” he called to Janet.

  “No problem, Bentley,” she muttered in reply.

  She grinned to herself as he hesitated in the doorway. After a moment, he nodded at her and then turned and walked away.

  “His CV is impressive,” William said as he rejoined Janet, “but I didn’t like him.”

  “He was arrogant and rude, and I couldn’t work out what he had to be arrogant about,” Janet complained.

  “I need to ring my friend at the antique shop in Derby. I’m sure he’ll remember Mr. Austin. I suspect he won’t be very complimentary about him.”

  Janet wandered around the shop while William was on the phone. The only person who came into the shop simply wanted directions to Little Burton. Janet tried to persuade him that he needed a new lamp, as well, but he wasn’t convinced. He left with William’s card and his directions as William walked out of the back room.

  “That was fascinating,” he told Janet. “I was right. He did remember our friend, Mr. Austin.”

  “That sounds promising,” Janet laughed.

  “Let’s just say that Mr. Austin didn’t leave of his own accord. He was asked to go, based on some rather unusual circumstances.”

  “Oh? Don’t stop there.”

  Before William could speak, a young woman struggled through the door with her pushchair. The baby was screaming and trying to climb out, but the woman ignored that as she smiled at William. “I need a present for my mother-in-law,” she told him. “It should be incredibly ugly, but also incredibly expensive.”

  “I’d like to think that I don’t stock ugly things,” William replied. “I do, however, have something that might only appeal to a limited audience.”

  Janet paced anxiously as William sold the woman a hideous green vase with orange and purple flowers all over it. Luckily for Janet, the baby’s screams covered up the large gasp that she gave when William told the woman the price.

  “It’s perfect,” the woman said as William wrapped it carefully in layers of tissue paper. He put it into a large box with the shop’s name across it and then handed the box to the woman. She slid it into the basket under the pushchair and then headed for the door. Janet got there first and held it open for her.

  As the door swung shut, William took a deep breath. “Listen,” he said softly.

  Janet sighed. “Silence is such a lovely sound.”

  “At least she spent a lot of money and wasn’t here for long. Now, where was I?”

  “You were going to tell me why Bradley lost his job.”

  “Oh, yes, well, it seems there were several fraudulent credit card transactions in the shop over the course of the year he was there. That isn’t exactly unusual, of course, we all know that.”

  Janet nodded. She’d learned a bit about that very subject not long ago.

  “Company policy was that the member of the sales team who’d made the sale still received his or her commission on such transactions. The management didn’t feel it was right to blame or punish their staff for someone else’s fraud.”

  “That’s very good of them, really.”

  “It is. They have a reputation for being an excellent employer, and that sort of policy is one of the reasons why. Anyway, Bradley started in the middle of the year, and it wasn’t until he’d been there for ten or eleven months that anyone noticed that not only were there a lot more fraudulent transactions going through, but a lot of those transactions were Bradley’s sales. Eventually, the sales manager added everything up from the day Bradley had been hired. There had been forty-three fraudulent transactions and thirty-nine of them had been Bradley’s sales.”

  “My goodness!” Janet exclaimed.

  “They asked Bradley for an explanation, and he denied any knowledge of anything fraudulent, of course. In the end, they offered him a chance to quit, with the understanding that if anyone rang for a reference they would simply confirm this employment dates and give no further information.”

  “That hardly seems right.”

  “They didn’t have any proof of anything fraudulent. The police were involved, but apparently they couldn’t track anything illegal back to Bradley. I’m not sure how hard they tried, of course. Small-scale credit card fraud isn’t a high priority for them.”

  “And it was small scale?”

  “Surprisingly small scale,” William told her. “Some of the transactions were for amounts under a hundred pounds, and the highest one was only for a few thousand. At a shop like that one in Derby, that would have only represented a tiny fraction of
their sales on any given day.”

  “I thought you said they told Bradley they wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened.”

  “The man I spoke with is a personal friend of mine, otherwise I wouldn’t have received anything more than confirmation that Bradley had worked there,” William explained. “That would have been a warning anyway, of course, but I wasn’t seriously considering hiring him, not after the way he spoke to you.”

  Janet flushed. “He’s just young.”

  “That’s no excuse for being patronising and rude,” William countered. “I can’t afford for my staff to treat my customers that way.”

  Janet nodded. “They might get away with that in Derby, but here in Doveby Dale you need to be kind to everyone.”

  William flushed. “A lesson I needed to learn after I arrived.”

  “You’ve come a long way,” Janet teased him.

  William shut the shop at five and insisted on taking Janet out for a nice dinner. They drove to a new restaurant that had just opened on the outskirts of Derby. The food was delicious, and Janet enjoyed it and the company very much.

  “So, if I had to hire one of them, which one would it be?” William asked her on the drive home.

  Janet shook her head. “I wouldn’t hire any of them. Go through the CVs again. There must be a better candidate.”

  “I don’t think there is, but I can hope,” William sighed.

  He left Janet on her doorstep with a gentle kiss. “I want to do this again soon,” he told her in a low voice. “I’ll ring you.”

  Janet let herself into the house. She knew Joan had had dinner plans with Michael Donaldson, their neighbour from the semi-detached houses across the street. Both sisters had been surprised when Michael had first asked Joan to have dinner with him, not long after they’d moved into Doveby House. He was a handsome widower who was a retired chemist. After more than a year, it was beginning to seem normal for Joan to have a boyfriend, the first she’d had in her sixty-odd years of life.

  “Meeroow,” Aggie said as Janet locked the door behind herself.

  “And the same to you,” Janet laughed. She got Aggie a small treat from the kitchen and then the pair retired to Janet’s room. She was asleep before Joan got back from her night out with Michael.

  Chapter 4

  “Good morning,” Joan said as Janet walked into the kitchen the next morning.

  “I thought you might lie in this morning,” Janet replied, feeling slightly disappointed to see her sister bustling around preparing breakfast.

  “I wasn’t out that late,” Joan replied. “I thought we should have porridge for breakfast today.”

  Janet made a face. She hated porridge, but Joan always insisted that it was good for them and tried to make her eat it at least once a week. In the shower, Janet had decided that she was going to try some of the toaster pastries that Joan had purchased for a recent guest. The ingredients list read more like a science experiment than a recipe, but Joan had purchased various types, including some that contained chocolate, and Janet was curious about them. She couldn’t bring herself to eat one in front of Joan, though. She knew her sister wouldn’t approve.

  As Joan worked, Janet found herself studying her sister’s hair. The two had always worn their hair in almost identical styles. Just recently, Joan had decided to get her shoulder-length bob cut. Her grey hair was now only about an inch long all over her head. By the time Joan put the hated bowl of porridge in front of her, Janet had decided that the new cut suited Joan’s more angular face, but wouldn’t work on her. Even though Joan did all of the cooking, Janet was the one who had to work to keep her weight healthy. She did think that her more rounded cheeks were preferable to Joan’s angles, whatever the hairstyle.

  “How was the interviewing, then?” Joan asked as she joined her sister at the table.

  Janet took a bite and made a face before she replied. “It was interesting, but I wouldn’t hire any of the candidates we spoke with yesterday. They were all horrible, albeit in different ways.”

  While they ate, Janet told Joan about the three people she and William had interviewed. When she was finished, Joan shook her head.

  “During our busy summer I started thinking that it might be wise for us to hire some extra help next year. If those three are indicative of what’s available, maybe we’re better off on our own.”

  “I’m sure not all job seekers are as bad as those three. It is a small village, though, and Little Burton is even smaller. I suspect most young people move away after school. Shop assistants tend to be younger, really, don’t they?”

  “Sometimes they’re older, maybe even retired.”

  “Yes, of course, like Bernard,” Janet laughed. Bernard worked at the large supermarket near Derby. He was in his early eighties and had retired from a career in banking many years earlier. When he’d grown bored with not working, he’d taken the job at the supermarket. He usually worked in the produce department and could generally be found extolling the virtues of various vegetables and encouraging everyone to eat more fruit.

  “Summer seems a long way off right now, but we should start thinking about what we want to do differently next year. We both worked too hard this year, although it was nice to build up our bank account.”

  “Maybe we should plan on closing for a few days each month next summer,” Janet suggested.

  “It’s just difficult because our guests usually want to come for a full week at a time. We’ve already had one inquiry about next summer, actually. We probably need to work out a plan quickly.”

  Janet sighed. The bed and breakfast had been Joan’s idea from the start, and while she didn’t mind helping out, even during the busy summer months, she hated helping her sister make decisions about how the business was run. She was grateful, then, when they were interrupted by a knock on the front door.

  “I’ll go,” she said, jumping to her feet and rushing out of the kitchen. There were guests due to arrive today, but it was far too early for them to be at the door, she thought as she crossed the large sitting room. Hoping she wasn’t about to be subjected to a lengthy sales pitch for double-glazing or a new security system, she pulled the door open.

  “Janet, it’s good to see you,” Robert Parsons said brightly. “I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

  “Questions for me?” she echoed, staring at the young police constable. His uniform was neat and tidy and his brown hair must have been cut very recently. Janet knew he was very good at the difficult job of policing both Doveby Dale and Little Burton. He often visited the sisters, for tea and biscuits as much as anything else. As Janet understood it, he made a habit of visiting many of the village’s residents, gathering information and biscuits in equal measure. “Is something wrong?” she asked him.

  “There was a spot of vandalism in Doveby Dale last night,” Robert explained as Janet ushered him into the house. “One of the large windows at the front of William Chalmers’s shop was broken.”

  “But I was just there yesterday,” Janet exclaimed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she flushed. “Not that that has anything to do with anything,” she added quickly. “Was anything taken?”

  “William is working through his inventory this morning,” Robert told her. “He actually went in early today to take inventory. He’s trying to keep better track since the incident a while back.”

  Janet nodded. Someone had stolen a few small items from the antique shop, and William had only discovered it when Janet had noticed that something was missing. In the weeks since, William had forced himself to put his inventory records into his computer, and now he could simply print out a list of everything he was meant to have on any given day.

  “At the moment, he doesn’t think anything was taken, although a few furniture pieces were damaged by the broken glass and the brick that went through the window,” Robert added.

  Janet frowned and then led the man into the kitchen.

  “I thought I heard your voi
ce,” Joan said as a greeting. “I’ve just put the kettle on, but I have coffee as well, if you’d prefer.”

  Robert smiled at her. “Coffee sounds great,” he said as he settled in at the table, where a large plate of biscuits had appeared.

  Janet sat down opposite Robert and grabbed a biscuit. She’d eaten porridge for breakfast. She deserved a few biscuits as a reward.

  “What brings you here this morning?” Joan asked as she poured out three cups of coffee. “I hope everything is okay.”

  “Someone broke a window in William’s shop last night,” Janet told her.

  “Oh, dear. I hope no one was hurt and the damage done was minimal,” Joan replied.

  “No one was hurt, or at least I believe no one was hurt. I suppose the vandal may have injured himself or herself throwing the brick, but as far as I can tell, he or she didn’t actually go anywhere near the shop after the window shattered,” Robert said.

  “So nothing was taken?” Joan checked.

  “William is going through his inventory today, but he doesn’t think anything was taken. There was some damage, but it was relatively minor.”

  “But who would have done such a thing?” Joan asked.

  Robert shrugged. “I don’t like to speculate about anything, but there are a number of possibilities. It may have been an entirely random act by someone walking past who thought it might be fun to break a window, or it could have been a deliberate attempt to hurt William or his business in some way.”

  “He interviewed some people yesterday for a job at the shop,” Janet interjected. “Maybe one of them was angry that he or she wasn’t offered the job on the spot.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Robert said. “William has given me his thoughts on the men and woman he interviewed yesterday. I’d like to hear what you thought of each of them.”

  “Surely, if they wanted to cause trouble, they’d have waited until after William made his decision. What if he ends up hiring one of them and then that person turns out to have been behind the broken window? I can see being upset if you didn’t get the job, but I don’t think William has made a decision yet. If he has, he hasn’t had time to share that decision with anyone, anyway,” Janet said.