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

by Diana Xarissa

  “Yes, I know. It’s very late. Our guests don’t seem to be able to tell time very well. They also don’t know when they want breakfast tomorrow. I shall have to be up early to help Joan, although mostly I think I’ll be tasked with keeping her from shouting at the guests rather than helping make breakfast.”

  It was obvious that the kitten wasn’t actually interested in what Janet was saying, so she stopped talking and got herself ready for bed instead. When Janet crawled under the covers a short while later, Aggie didn’t move.

  “Good night, then,” she told the kitten. Aggie reached out and patted her arm with her paw, reminding Janet of just how much she loved the little pest. Aggie had been an unexpected but very welcome gift from Edward Bennett. The man had been their first guest after they’d purchased the bed and breakfast. He’d romanced Janet during his stay and then surprised her by telling her before he departed that he worked for some secret government agency. According to Edward, he’d sometimes used the house as a safe house while Margaret Appleby had been the owner. Janet still wasn’t certain whether Edward had been telling her the truth or not, but she’d become used to his infrequent phone calls and occasional gifts.

  The large painting on her bedroom wall had come from Edward, as had the little red car she loved so much. One of these days he was going to ring again and give her a chance to discuss that car with him, she told herself. That was her last thought before she fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 6

  Aggie was patting her arm again when Janet opened her eyes. “What time is it?” she asked the animal.

  Aggie shrugged and then curled back up on her pillow. Janet looked at the clock. It was six and well before she had to get up. Why had Aggie woken her? When her mobile rang a moment later, Janet sighed. No doubt Aggie wanted her to know that Edward was about to ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Janet, darling, how are you?” Edward asked.

  “I’m fine, thanks. How are you?”

  “Far too busy, but thinking of you a great deal.”

  “You shouldn’t have bought me a car.”

  Edward chuckled. “Do you still have it?”

  “Yes, of course I still have it. It’s a wonderful little car, but you must make me pay you for it.”

  “I won’t argue. We can discuss it in person, actually, or rather I hope we can.”

  “You’re coming to visit?”

  “I’m hoping to come to visit, maybe in January. It’s complicated, though, and I probably won’t be coming alone.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I may be bringing a friend with me, that’s all. Don’t worry about it for now. We’ll talk again in a few weeks. Can you ask Joan to not book any guests for January, though, please?”

  “The entire month?”

  “Yes, the entire month. I’ll pay for both guest rooms for the month, so don’t worry about lost business. I just need to know that the rooms will be available when I need them.”

  “We may already have bookings for January.”

  “Let me know what you have the next time I ring, please, and don’t take anymore. I know I’m asking for a huge favour, but I have my reasons.”

  “It isn’t really a favour if you’re paying for the rooms,” Janet argued.

  “There may be more to it than just that.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Edward chuckled again. “You know I’d tell you everything if I could. For now, just block out January for me. I hope you’re looking forward to seeing me?”

  “I don’t know. I hate the secrecy, you know.”

  “I am sorry. If I could turn back time, I’d have moved up north back when you were twenty-five and courted you then,” he told her. “I’d have taken some boring desk job and spent the next forty years making you happy.”

  Janet flushed. The words were sweet, but she told herself not to believe them. “I lost the combination to the safe,” she told him.

  The house’s library had a built-in wall safe that Janet and Joan had discovered during Edward’s first visit. While he’d been there, he’d actually opened the safe, but since then he usually made excuses for not giving the combination to Janet.

  “I don’t have that paperwork with me here,” he told her. “The next chance I get, though, I’ll track it down. Watch for a card or a letter with the combination soon.”

  “Promise?”

  “I can only promise to do my best,” he sighed. “There are issues here.”

  “Are you still in the US?”

  “I’m in Cyprus,” he replied. “Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Switzerland and then I’m off to Moscow for a few days. As I said, there are issues. Tell me what you’ve been doing lately, though. What’s new in Doveby Dale?”

  “Someone broke a window in William Chalmers’s shop. That’s the only excitement here.”

  “That’s unfortunate. I assume Robert is investigating?”

  “Yes, of course. William had just interviewed a few people for a job in the shop, as well. I can’t see why any of them would want to hurt William’s business, but they seem to be on Robert’s list of suspects.”

  “Presumably the ones William didn’t offer the job to will be higher on the list than whomever William is going to employ.”

  “That’s just it, though. William only interviewed them on Thursday and the window got broken that night. He hasn’t offered anyone the job yet.”

  “Do you know anything about the people he interviewed?”

  Janet felt herself blush. “I was there for the interviews. William thought it might be interesting for me, and he wanted another opinion, as well. Who knows, one day Joan and I might want to hire someone to help out here.”

  “Did you find it interesting?”

  “It was different, anyway. I didn’t like any of the candidates and if I were William, I wouldn’t hire any of them.” She told Edward all about the three people William had interviewed.

  “I believe I can see why the three of them are on Robert’s list of suspects,” he said when she was done. “I wonder who else is on the list.”

  “I’ve no idea. Obviously, Robert doesn’t discuss such things with me.”

  “I wonder if he’d discuss them with me,” Edward said thoughtfully.

  “Surely you have better things to do than worry about a random act of vandalism in Doveby Dale.”

  “I do, but I also worry a good deal about Doveby Dale. The amount of criminal activity worries me. Even small things like random acts of vandalism contribute to the safety and security of the village. Someone rather important to me lives in Doveby Dale, you see.”

  Janet flushed again. “Yes, well, I’m sure Robert has everything under control.”

  “I certainly hope so. Is the bed and breakfast quieter now that summer is over?”

  “It’s very quiet, although we do have two couples booked for this weekend. One of the couples arrived last night, actually.”

  “From the tone of your voice, I suspect you aren’t too happy about that.”

  “They seem as if they’re going to be difficult,” Janet replied. “So many of our guests are difficult, it seems.”

  “Tell me about the new arrivals, then.”

  Janet told him all about Mr. and Mrs. Morris. “I don’t suppose they’re wanted by MI5 or something and someone can come and take them away this morning?” she asked at the end.

  Edward chuckled. “While they sound disagreeable, they don’t sound like criminals. Hopefully, they’ll spend most of their time outside of Doveby House. They leave on Sunday?”

  “I think they’re staying until Monday morning,” Janet sighed. “That probably means a very early start on Monday as they’ll want breakfast before they head back to Liverpool.”

  “When I’m there in January, we’ll have to talk about a proper holiday for you. Where would you like to go?”

  “Goodness, I’ve no idea.” She wasn’t exactly sure what the man was suggesting, either. If he wer
e hinting that she might want to go away with him for a weekend, well, that was out of the question. She knew she was old-fashioned, but she wouldn’t be travelling with any man without a wedding ring on her finger. As soon as the idea popped into her head, she almost laughed out loud. Getting married at her age was a ridiculous notion, really.

  “Have you done much travelling in the past?” Edward interrupted her train of thought.

  “I spent time in France, teaching English, and Joan and I enjoy holidays on the Isle of Man fairly regularly. Beyond that, we try to visit different cities when we can. We’ve been to Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and probably a few others as well.”

  “Aside from time teaching in France, how much of the Continent have you visited?”

  “We did a few short trips when we were in France. We spent a weekend in Rome and another in Amsterdam. I think that’s about it.”

  “My dear girl, I long to show you the world. You’ve never been to America? I do think that’s a country worth visiting at least a few times.”

  “I don’t like to fly.”

  “Why not?”

  “It just seems unnatural.”

  “You’ve not had a bad experience, then?”

  “No, um, I’ve never flown,” she admitted in a low voice.

  Edward chuckled. “Once I get through a few more little jobs, I’m going to show you the world,” he said. “I promise you, flying isn’t bad. It’s mostly boring, which is true for nearly all types of travel. Of course, if you’re adamant about not flying, we could always sail over to the US. It takes ages, but it’s a wonderful way to travel.”

  “I have a business to run.”

  “Yes, we’ll have to sort that, won’t we,” Edward said, sounding unconcerned. He sighed. “I must go. Duty, as ever, calls. Remember what I said, though. Once I’m able to properly retire, I do want to show you the world. I’ll ring again soon about January. Don’t forget to block out the month for bookings, please. I’ll put a cheque to cover the costs in the post to you in the next day or two.”

  Janet opened her mouth to reply as the phone went dead in her hand. “Nice talking to you, too,” she muttered as she put the phone down and glanced at the clock again. If she didn’t hurry, now she was going to be late. Sighing, she got out of bed and headed for the shower.

  “The entire month of January?” Joan asked, staring at Janet.

  “That’s what he said. He said he’d put a cheque in the post to cover it.”

  “I’ve half a mind to keep taking bookings until the cheque arrives. Knowing Edward Bennett, we’ll never see the money and he’ll never turn up.”

  Janet sighed. “Do we have any bookings for January?”

  “No, not yet, but we could get some any day now. We already have bookings for February, after all.”

  “That’s just because of Valentine’s Day,” Janet replied. “Peter and Paula Ellsworth booked for next year when they were here for Valentine’s Day this year.”

  “We have another couple booked for Valentine’s Day weekend, too,” Joan told her. “I believe they know Peter and Paula.”

  “So there aren’t any bookings for January?”

  “Harry and Sue Mortimer were going to come in January,” Joan said. “Sue rang last week to tell me that they’re going to have put their visit off until later in the year, though. They’re both busy with work and other things.”

  “I’m glad they’re busy, but it would have been nice to see them again.”

  “They’ll be here, just not for their wedding anniversary. She said something about trying to get here for Harry’s birthday in May.”

  “I suggest that we block out January for Edward, then,” Janet said. “If the cheque he promised doesn’t arrive in a week, we can always reconsider the decision.”

  Joan hesitated and then nodded. “I suppose we could do that. I wouldn’t agree if he were asking for June or July, but January doesn’t seem as if it’s going to be very busy.”

  “It would be nice to be paid for the whole month and not have any guests at all. I think I could learn to love the bed and breakfast if that happened every month.”

  Joan laughed. “It will almost be like our summer holidays when we were teaching, except we still did a lot of work during the summers, making lesson plans and those sorts of things. Having a month off will be a treat, especially if we actually do get paid. Are you looking forward to seeing Edward if he does manage to come?”

  “I’ve no idea how I feel about that,” Janet sighed.

  “What did he say about the car? I suppose he might have argued that the car was his payment for at least a month at the bed and breakfast.”

  “He told me that we’ll discuss it when he’s here. I’m not sure what that means, but I shall be saving my pennies from now until then so that I can offer him the market value for the car.”

  “You’ll have to ask Mack about that.”

  Janet nodded. Mack Fenton ran the garage from which the car had been purchased. He’d know exactly what Edward had paid for it. Janet just wasn’t certain she was ready to learn how much that had been.

  The sisters ate breakfast while they talked about upcoming bookings, of which there were very few.

  “Of course, I’m not letting anyone book Christmas week,” Joan said. “I was going to leave the first week of January free as well, but now I shall have to pencil Edward into that week.”

  Before Janet could reply, Mr. and Mrs. Morris strolled into the room.

  “Coffee,” Mrs. Morris said.

  Janet got up and poured them each a cup of coffee.

  “What can I make you for breakfast?” Joan asked. “I usually do a full English breakfast for our guests, but I can do other things if you’d prefer.”

  “Full English sounds good to me,” George said. “Jackie, what do you want?”

  The woman made a face. “I’m not much of a breakfast eater, but since we’ve already paid for it, I’ll have the same.”

  Joan got busy at the cooker while Janet began making toast. “You’re welcome to eat in here or in the dining room,” she told the couple as she worked.

  “Oh, let’s go in the dining room,” Jackie said quickly. “We don’t want to be in the way.”

  Janet showed them into the rarely used room next to the kitchen and then went back to help Joan. It only took the sisters a few minutes to prepare breakfast for their guests. Janet delivered the plates and then helped Joan clear up the kitchen.

  “We’re off,” George announced a few minutes later as he and Jackie swept through the room.

  “What time should we expect you back?” Joan asked.

  “Oh, goodness, you can’t expect us to know that. We’re on holiday. We’ll be back when we run out of money or energy and not before,” Jackie told her.

  Janet followed the pair to the door to make sure they locked it properly behind themselves. Of course they didn’t, which meant they would probably forget to do it when they came home that evening as well. Sighing, she rejoined Joan in the kitchen.

  “She didn’t even touch her breakfast,” Joan complained as she carried the plates back in from the dining room.

  “She did say she didn’t eat breakfast.”

  “Then why ask for anything? What a horrible waste.”

  “As she said, she did pay for it.”

  Joan took a deep breath and then scraped everything off the plate into the bin. “It’s still a terrible waste,” she said tightly.

  Janet nodded. “Do you need any help down here or should I go and see what sort of mess they’ve left behind in their room?”

  “If you can go and get started there, I won’t be far behind you,” Joan promised.

  Janet took a few steps and then stopped when the phone rang. As she was standing next to it, she answered.

  “Janet? It’s Robert Parsons. I’m just ringing to see if you and Joan will be home for a while. I’d like to talk to you both about something.”

  “What’
s wrong?”

  “A window was broken at the chemist’s shop last night,” he replied. “I’m spending the rest of today visiting all of the businesses in Doveby Dale to make sure everyone knows what’s happening. I’d hate to think that this sort of vandalism is going to continue, but I want to be sure that everyone has been warned.”

  Chapter 7

  Mr. and Mrs. Morris had left their room tidier than Janet had hoped. “They weren’t here for more than a few hours, of course,” she said to Joan as they remade the bed and cleaned the en-suite bathroom. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to do tomorrow.”

  “Not if they stay out until the wee small hours of the morning,” Joan said unhappily.

  “We’ve been very fortunate, really. Most of our guests have kept very reasonable hours while they’ve been staying here. I suppose we should expect guests to want to be able to have late nights once in a while. They are on holiday, after all.”

  “If they want late nights, they’d be better off staying closer to Derby. There are pubs and clubs in Derby, after all. I’m not sure that our little pub will suit Mr. and Mrs. Morris.”

  “If it’s even open when they get back from their day out,” Janet grinned. “I’ve never been there, but from what I’ve heard about the place, it’s only open when the landlord can be bothered to be open, which isn’t often.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard the same. Michael and I were going to get a drink there one night after dinner, but it was shut. He told me that when his wife first died he used to have a drink there most nights, but the landlord usually closed around nine. Apparently he likes an early night.”

  “It seems an odd way to run a business.”

  “Michael didn’t think the landlord cared very much about having customers. He told me a few stories about the man and the pub, but I don’t know if any of them are true.”

  “You can share them with me anyway,” Janet said eagerly.

  “Maybe after I vacuum,” Joan replied before she switched on the machine.