The Rhodes Case

by Diana Xarissa

  “We are the Markham sisters,” Joan said. “I’m Joan and this is Janet.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Adam Lloyd.” He stuck his head back behind the partition. “Hey, Gil, come here,” he called.

  A moment later a second man walked out and gave the sisters a smile. “I’m Gilbert Gordon,” he said. “Everyone calls me Gil.” Gil looked a few years younger than Adam, with darker brown hair. He was cleanly shaven.

  “It’s nice to meet you both,” Joan said.

  “We fitted the kitchen at Doveby House, back when Maggie owned it,” Adam told them. “She was crazy, but she paid on time and she seemed happy with our work.”

  “I love the kitchen,” Joan replied. “It’s my dream kitchen, really.”

  Adam nodded. “We worked hard on that one. I designed it all myself. I love to do design work, and I don’t get to do much of it, really. A lot of times, we end up just fitting pieces that people bought at the DIY superstores. They have about three standard designs and they just sell you whatever fits into your space according to their boring designs. I prefer to come up with some different ideas for spaces.”

  “We’d probably need different ideas if we do the carriage house project. It isn’t a large building and we need to leave plenty of space for a bed and probably some sort of sitting room area, too.”

  Adam ducked behind the partition and came back with a notebook and a pen. “Do you have the dimensions?” he asked.

  While Joan and the two men talked about different ideas, Janet wandered around, opening and closing cupboards and looking through sample books for everything from countertops to cupboard knobs to taps. She’d never given any of those things much thought, but it wasn’t long before she was starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options.

  “Before we do anything, of course, we need to clear out the carriage house,” Joan said after a while. “Right now it is full of boxes that were left behind by previous owners. We need to go through them all, but we’re worried that we might accidentally throw out valuable antiques.”

  Janet’s ears perked up as the two men laughed.

  “I don’t suppose either of you know anything about antiques?” Joan asked.

  Adam shook his head. “I went to the shop in the village once, but everything in there just looked old to me. My grandmother has a house full of old furniture, and if she leaves it to me, I’ll probably just throw it all away.”

  “You’d have to get it valued,” Gil said. “Some of that old stuff is worth a fortune. My grandmother had this old table that looked as if it was going to fall apart, but it was worth three hundred quid.”

  Adam shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll leave everything to my mum. Mum will get someone to check everything in the house before she gets rid of anything. She’s convinced her mother is sitting on a fortune.”

  “That couple who were burgled, the Courtneys, didn’t realise what they had,” Gil said. “I’m sure they’re sorry now.”

  “We heard about that,” Janet interjected. “Imagine having a statue worth that sort of money and not realising it.”

  Adam laughed. “We gave them a quote for a new kitchen last year,” he said. “Do you remember?” he asked Gil.

  The other man nodded. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I’ve never seen so much, er, stuff in one place before.” He smiled at Janet. “They told us that they were collectors, but this went well beyond any collection I’d ever seen. Just about every flat surface in the house had something sitting on it. They had picture frames, small statues, cups, bowls, vases, trays, I mean, you name it, they had at least a dozen of it. We had to move several things just to measure the countertops to give them their quote.”

  “My goodness,” Janet said.

  “I suppose it’s hardly surprising that something they’d bought over the years turned out to be valuable,” Adam said. “It’s just unfortunate that they didn’t realise the value before it was stolen from them.”

  “You didn’t fit their kitchen, then?” Joan asked.

  Gil shook his head. “They decided they wanted a new bathroom more than a new kitchen. We don’t do bathrooms.”

  “We should,” Adam sighed. “I’d have to contract out the plumbing work, and there is a lot more of that with a bathroom install than a kitchen. We really should start thinking about doing bathrooms, though. Everyone seems to be redoing them at the moment, whereas kitchens have become less popular.”

  “We’re going to need a bathroom adding, too,” Joan said.

  Adam grinned at her. “Maybe we could make some sort of deal,” he suggested. “We’ll do the bathroom at a discounted price in exchange for using you as a reference for our new service.”

  “I’d certainly consider that,” Joan said. “I’m not ready for you to start work yet, though.”

  “We aren’t ready to start fitting bathrooms, either,” Gil said.

  “We’ll get in touch, if we do decide to start branching out,” Adam told Joan. “I’m curious about this carriage house of yours. It sounds as if it could be an interesting project.”

  “We don’t get many of them,” Gil said. “Most people have boring kitchens and all they want us to do is change out their old cabinets for new ones and replace the countertops. Both Adam and I enjoy designing and working with unusual spaces, but we rarely get the opportunity.”

  “I understand you did some work for the Harrisons,” Joan said. “They live on the street behind us.”

  “We fitted their kitchen a few months ago,” Adam agreed. “Are they friends of yours?”

  “We don’t know them,” Joan admitted. “Someone just mentioned them in conjunction with your work.”

  Adam looked at Gil and then shrugged. “They had their own ideas about what they wanted,” he said. “They preferred very high-end finishes and I think the end result is very attractive.”

  Gil turned a laugh into a cough and then cleared his throat. “It was probably the most expensive kitchen we’ve ever fitted, anyway.”

  Janet wondered what they weren’t saying. It seemed obvious that neither man was fond of what they’d done for the Harrisons. “Perhaps we should take a look at the finished kitchen to get an idea of what you can do,” she said thoughtfully.

  “I have a long list of references that I can give you,” Adam said quickly. “People who will be happy to let you into their homes to see our work. I’m not sure the Harrisons fall into that category.”

  “After their recent burglary, they probably aren’t keen on having visitors,” Joan suggested.

  Gil nodded. “I was shocked when Robert told us about the missing painting. I remember seeing it when we were working there. It certainly didn’t look as if it was worth anything.”

  “It was pretty uninspiring,” Adam agreed. “It was in the centre of a large collection of art, and I thought at the time that it didn’t seem to belong. The rest of the paintings were colourful and interesting, and that one was just, well, dull.”

  “Perhaps they won’t miss it, then,” Janet suggested.

  Adam laughed. “Maybe they’ll be happy to get the insurance money rather than have to live with it any longer. I remember Mrs. Harrison making some remark about the painting having been in her husband’s family for years. I got the impression that she didn’t like it, but that her husband wouldn’t agree to getting rid of it.”

  “So Mrs. Harrison must be the chief suspect behind its disappearance,” Janet said.

  The men both laughed. “I hope the police think that way, too,” Gil said. “Right now I think Adam and I are their chief suspects.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” Janet said. She thought both men seemed very likeable. Surely Robert didn’t really suspect them.

  “It’s an occupational hazard,” Adam replied with a wave of his hand. “Luckily, Gil and I are innocent. Robert will find the burglar eventually.”

  “Perhaps it was someone from the bathroom fitting company that the Courtneys used,” Janet suggest
ed.

  Gil made a face. “They used one of the big companies from Derby for that.”

  Adam chuckled. “You hate when people use Derby companies for things, but as we don’t fit bathrooms, they didn’t have much choice.”

  “I know, I just think that now they’ll probably use the same company when they do decide to do their kitchen,” Gil sighed. “And the Derby company can undercut us on price every time because they fit hundreds of kitchens every year.”

  “So let’s start fitting bathrooms,” Adam suggested.

  “Let’s have this argument later,” Gil replied. “It isn’t something we should be discussing in front of customers.”

  Adam nodded. “So, where were we?” he asked Joan.

  “Can you give me an idea of what this would cost?” Joan asked, pointing to the rough sketch the man had made of the carriage house kitchen.

  “How much do you want to spend?” he countered. “We could do the whole thing for under a thousand pounds, not including appliances, or you could spend ten thousand, using the very best materials available and having custom-made cupboards built. There are literally hundreds of variables that go into a kitchen, even one as small as this one.”

  “If we decide to go ahead, how much do you charge for your design services?” Joan asked.

  “We don’t charge for our designs,” Adam replied. “Not even if you end up taking them to one of the DIY superstores and having them supply you with stock cupboards and countertops from their warehouses that will more or less fit into the space.”

  “We’re not going to do that,” Joan said firmly. “We really need to discuss everything, though. The en-suite bathroom is more important than the kitchen. We probably need to think about that first. And before we do anything else, we need to clear out the building.”

  “Maybe by the time you’ve cleared it out, we’ll be in a position to do the bathroom,” Adam said. “If not, please do keep us in mind for the kitchen if you decide to add it later.”

  “We’ll definitely keep you in mind,” Joan told him. She looked at Janet. “Did you have any other questions?” she asked.

  Janet shook head. “It was all fascinating, though. I never realised how many options there are for kitchens.”

  “We only stock a small sample of some of the things that are available,” Adam told her. “There’s a giant kitchen show in London every year that showcases probably fifty times as many options.”

  “I’m sorry, but no one needs that many choices for cupboard knobs,” Janet said.

  Adam chucked. “You’d be amazed how many of our customers go through our books and can’t seem to find anything they like.”

  “They’re just being ridiculous,” Janet said. “As long as they can get their cupboards open, the knobs don’t really matter.”

  “Which ones would you have, then?” he asked.

  Janet looked at a section of wall that had what seemed to be hundreds of different options screwed into it. “This one,” she said, pointing to a round knob in brushed silver.

  “I prefer this one,” Joan said. Her choice was very similar, but slightly more rounded on the surface.

  “I could live with that,” Janet replied. “Actually, I could live with just about anything on this wall, aside from that one.” She pointed to a large knob that had bits protruding from it at odd angles.

  “That’s our most expensive knob,” Adam told her. “Each one costs twenty-six pounds.”

  “And the Harrisons have over a dozen of them,” Gil added.

  Janet laughed. “I really want to see their kitchen now.”

  “Let me give you a list of customers you can visit,” Adam said. He disappeared behind the partition for a moment. “These are all people who’ve agreed to let us send potential customers to them. Please ring them first, though, don’t just show up on their doorstep.”

  “We really don’t need to visit anyone else,” Joan said. “If you did the kitchen in Doveby House, that’s proof enough that you know what you’re doing.”

  “Thank you,” Adam said.

  Janet and Joan walked out of the cottage and back to Joan’s car. They were on their way back to Doveby House before Janet spoke.

  “I don’t believe either of them had anything to do with the break-ins.”

  “No, I don’t either. They were lovely, both of them. I hadn’t realised they did our kitchen. It’s incredibly well done, though. If we ever do add a kitchen to the carriage house, I want to use them.”

  “I agree, even if they are a bit more expensive than their competitors.”

  “If they decide to try bathrooms, I want them to install the en-suite, as well.”

  “Are we truly going to remodel the carriage house, then?” Janet asked. “Where will Stuart keep his gardening supplies?”

  “We’ll have to discuss our plans with Stuart, of course. Maybe we could have a small shed built for him.”

  Janet frowned. Clearly Joan had already given the matter some thought.

  “Perhaps when we get back to the house we should have a go at clearing out a few boxes,” Joan said. “If we can get rid of four boxes a day, we should be able to clear out the whole building before Easter.”

  “Four a day? That seems a lot.”

  “I suppose that will depend on what we find in the boxes.”

  Chapter 8

  Half an hour later, Janet was really starting to dislike her sister. The first box they’d opened had been full of books and it hadn’t taken them long to go through them and decide to get rid of the lot. Most were water-stained, and even Janet couldn’t think of any reason why anyone would ever want British guidebooks from the nineteen-sixties. The second box, however, had been full of paperwork. Joan had insisted that they sort through it immediately, rather than choose another box as Janet suggested.

  “Electricity bill, gas bill, bank statement,” Janet said in a monotone as she moved each sheet onto the correct pile. “I’m not sure why we need to sort them. They’re all from the seventies. What difference does it make what they were paying for electricity back then?”

  Joan looked up from her own pile and then shrugged. “Okay, anything dated from the seventies or older can be put into a single pile,” she conceded. “We don’t need to keep any of that.”

  “What about the early eighties?” Janet asked a minute later.

  “I suppose we don’t need those either,” Joan said. “Keep anything from the nineties, though.”

  Janet nodded and then flipped through the rest of the papers in her pile. “Someone bought a dress for four pounds,” she told Joan. “And a lipstick for twenty pence.”

  “I wonder if the Doveby Dale historical society would be interested in any of this stuff,” Joan replied. “Perhaps we should offer it all to them before we dispose of it.”

  “Since they never ring me back, I don’t think we should give them anything,” Janet replied. Some months earlier she and Joan had discovered a box of papers that had belonged to Alberta Montgomery, who had once lived in Doveby House. Janet was convinced that Alberta was the ghost who haunted her bedroom, and she’d been trying to find out as much as she could about the woman. Calls to the historical society had never been returned, though.

  “Maybe they’ll be more inclined to help you if you offer them something in return.”

  “Or maybe they’ll ignore both of us instead of just me.”

  When they finished the box of papers, Janet sighed. “I think that’s enough for today,” she said as Joan piled everything back into the box. They hadn’t found anything interesting in the box, but it had taken them over an hour to go through it all.

  “Two more boxes,” Joan said firmly. “We’re never going to be able to convert this into a guest room if we don’t do the work.”

  The words were barely out of her mouth when the carriage house door suddenly swung shut with a bang. The light flickered twice and then went off, leaving Janet and Joan in the dark.

  “I told you the ghost wou
ldn’t be happy about turning this into a guest room,” Janet said as she reached into her pocket for her torch.

  “It was the wind,” Joan replied.

  Janet walked over to the door and turned the lights back on. The key didn’t want to turn in the lock, but eventually she managed to get the door to open.

  “I think we’ve annoyed the ghost enough for today,” she said. “Let’s leave the rest for another day.”

  Joan looked as if she wanted to argue, but when the lights flickered again, she headed for the door, carrying the box of books. “At least we’ve managed to get rid of two boxes,” she said, handing the box to Janet and then going back for the second. “It’s a start.”

  “Sure,” Janet replied as she followed Joan out of the building. She balanced the box on her hip and switched off the light. The key turned more easily on this side of the door as she locked the carriage house behind them.

  She and Joan put the boxes in the corner of Joan’s bedroom. “I’ll ring the historical society and see if they want any of the papers,” Joan told her sister. “The books can just go out with the rubbish on bin day.”

  “I hate to throw away books, even those,” Janet sighed.

  “I think it’s time for some dinner,” Joan told her. “If you help, I’ll make apple crumble for pudding.”

  Apple crumble was Janet’s favourite pudding. Joan always made it when she wanted a favour from Janet. Fearing that Joan was going to push even harder for the carriage house remodel, Janet thought about telling her sister that she didn’t want apple crumble. After a moment, though, she realised she couldn’t do it. Joan hadn’t made apple crumble in ages.

  They worked together in the kitchen until they heard the front door opening. “Surely Edward and Reuben aren’t back yet,” Joan said.

  “If I’m not back in five minutes, ring 999,” Janet said, only half joking.

  When she reached the sitting room, she was relieved to see Edward and Reuben disappearing towards the stairs.

  “Is everything okay?” she called after them.

  Edward said something to Reuben and then turned and walked back down to Janet. “Reuben had a bit of an accident,” he explained. “He needed to come back here to get cleaned up.”