“Didn’t she leave her son here for a while, though?” Stuart asked.
“Aye, I kept young Nick for more than a year before she finally sent for him. I had him back again once or twice over the years, too. I always told him he was welcome here, as long as he was willing to do his fair share of the farm work.”
“And was he?” Stuart wanted to know.
“Sometimes. When he was younger, he tried hard, but I think his mother must have taught him her ways. He got lazy as he got older and then he stopped coming. I was surprised when he turned up last week, really.”
“Is he staying here with you?” Janet asked.
“In his old bedroom,” Martin said. “The house has three bedrooms and I’ve never needed more than the one. His friend, Jim, is staying in the other one.”
“And how long will they be here?” was Janet’s next question.
“I wish I knew. Oh, they’re welcome to stay as long as they like, really, but I’m not used to having other people in the house. It’s different, that’s all.”
Janet looked over at Stuart. She could think of a dozen other questions, but they all sounded rude when she thought about them.
“Are they helping you around the farm, then?” Stuart asked.
Good question, Janet thought.
“There’s not much helping to do anymore,” Martin sighed. “I’ve a few cows and sheep left, but they pretty much look after themselves these days. I keep saying I’m going to sell them, but I can’t imagine not having some animals around the place.”
Stuart nodded. “You didn’t plant anything this spring?”
“Plant? Oh, no, that’s too much like hard work. I haven’t planted anything in years. Jasper, over across the way, he’s been trying to convince me to rent him some of my land for pennies so that he can expand, but I’m still thinking about that.”
“Jasper Jones? I’d have thought he has more than enough of his own land,” Stuart remarked.
“That’s what I told him, but he wants to try something new. I didn’t really follow what he said, something about organic methods, whatever that means. I don’t think it’s really him that wants to do it. I think it’s his son, Joseph. He’s just moved back up here from the south. I understand he was involved in lots of environmental protests while he was down there. He’ll be the one that wants my land.”
“And you aren’t interested in renting it out?” Janet wondered.
“Not to Jasper or his son, anyway,” Martin laughed. “We’ve been neighbours for seventy-odd years and I’ve never liked the man. I don’t mind leaving the land empty. Maybe if he offered me a lot of money, I’d change my mind, but I doubt it. I don’t need money, really.”
“We all need money,” Stuart replied.
“I’m doing okay. I have my state pension and I put a bit away when I was younger, too. I’ll have to be careful, but it should see me out,” Martin told him.
“Mary and I just redid our wills for the tenth time since we’ve been married,” Stuart said. “She keeps changing her mind on how much to leave each child.”
“As I don’t have children, I don’t have that problem,” Martin replied.
“What about Nick?” Janet asked.
Martin shrugged. “He’s not really my child, but he is in my will anyway. He never seemed interested in being a farmer, so I’ve left the farm to my cousin in Edinburgh. Now that Nick is here and talking about trying his hand at getting the farm back up and running, I may have to reconsider that, though.”
“You should wait and see if he’s really serious before you make any changes,” Stuart suggested.
“I won’t do anything too…” the man stopped as they all heard a door slam somewhere. A moment later they could hear footsteps in the corridor.
“Martin? Where are you?” a voice called.
“We’re in the sitting room,” Martin shouted back.
“We?” was the reply. A moment later a dark-haired man with a beard and mustache, who was probably in his forties, strode into the room. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and he stopped a few steps into the room. He stared at Stuart for a moment and then turned to look at Janet. She was starting to feel uncomfortable when he spoke again.
“Martin, I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t have guests when I’m not here,” he said loudly. “I don’t know what you two are after, but it’s time for you to leave.”
“We aren’t after anything,” Stuart said, getting to his feet. “I’ve known Martin for many years. I brought my friend to meet him because she wanted to ask him about someone who used to live in Doveby Dale many years ago.”
The man nodded. “I hope you understand that Martin isn’t in the best health right now. Physically, he’s doing okay, but mentally, well, just don’t believe everything or maybe even anything he told you,” he said in a whisper.
Chapter 5
“What are you whispering about,” Martin demanded. “You know I can’t hear you when you whisper.”
“Sorry, Martin,” the man said quickly. “Introduce me to your friends.”
“This is Stuart Long. You’ll have met him when you were younger,” Martin replied. “And Janet Markham has just purchased Doveby House.”
The man gave Janet a thoughtful look. “I’m sure that wouldn’t have been inexpensive.”
“It was surprisingly affordable,” Janet replied truthfully. “The owners were eager to sell. And you are?”
“Oh, I’m Nick Berry. I’m Martin’s stepson,” the man said.
“I do remember you, but only slightly,” Stuart said. “You’ve changed a lot since you were ten.”
Nick chuckled, but it seemed forced. “We all get older, don’t we? But what are you doing here?”
“We came to talk to Martin about Alberta Montgomery,” Janet replied. “She used to live in Doveby House.”
Nick shrugged. “If you say so.” He glanced over at Martin and then stepped closer to Janet. “You should go now. Martin isn’t well. He isn’t really meant to have visitors,” he said in a low voice.
“He seems perfectly fine to me,” Janet replied.
“Of course, you just met him today,” Nick retorted.
“I’ve known Martin for many years and he seems fine to me, as well,” Stuart told him. “I should think you’d be happy that Martin has friends who want to visit him.”
“Of course, I’m delighted,” the man said sarcastically.
“Nick? I told you I have places to be,” a voice shouted from the front of the house.
“I’m in the back. Give me a minute,” Nick shouted.
“Who’s that, then?” Martin asked.
“It’s just Jim. He was waiting in the car for me,” Nick told him.
“My car?” Martin demanded. “When are you going to get yours running again? I’d like my car back, you know.”
“And I’d love to give it back to you,” Nick replied. “I hate driving around in that ancient thing, but the garage hasn’t been able to replace my brakes yet. They keep telling me they need another day. If it were safe to drive, I’d take it somewhere else.”
“Hey, Nick, come on,” a voice said from the doorway. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know we had guests.”
Janet looked over at the man who’d just joined them. He, too, appeared to be in his forties. His hair was lighter than Nick’s and cut far shorter. Sunglasses covered his eyes, even though he was indoors. Now he slid them down his nose and studied Janet over the top of them.
“They’re visiting Martin,” Nick said.
“Really? Why?” the man replied.
“Martin is an old friend,” Stuart said. “Who are you?”
The man looked amused as he glanced over at Stuart. “I’m Nick’s friend. Jim Rodgers is the name. What else do you want to know?”
Stuart looked as if he had a great many questions for the man, but Martin interrupted.
“Stop whispering, all of you,” he said. “Nick, why are you here?”
Nick glanced at
Jim and then sighed. “I was hoping I might borrow a few pounds,” he said. “Jim and I were going to go and get some dinner somewhere, but my bank card still isn’t working properly.”
Martin frowned. “You’ve had nothing but trouble since you’ve been here,” he said. “First your car broke down and then your bank card stopped working. Maybe you need to go back to Manchester and get everything sorted.”
“I would, if the garage here would get my car repaired,” Nick told him. “As it is, I’m a bit stuck. I don’t think your car would get all the way to Manchester, even if you didn’t mind me taking it.”
“Which I most certainly do,” Martin snapped. “And I haven’t any more money to lend you, either. You’ve had over two hundred pounds off me since you’ve been here.”
Nick flushed. “I told you, I forgot to tell the bank that I was going to be in Doveby Dale. When I tried to use the card here, they cancelled it because they thought it had been stolen. Now I’m trying to get a new card, but until I do, I don’t have any access to my money.”
“I suppose your good friend, Jim, is just going to have to help you, then, isn’t he?” Martin said.
“He already owes me a good deal more than two hundred pounds,” Jim said. “I’m running low on funds myself, now.”
“Perhaps you’ll have to cut your visit short,” Janet suggested.
Nick looked over at Martin. “If his health was better, I might, but I’m awfully worried about him,” he told Janet in a whisper.
“There’s plenty of food in the kitchen,” Martin said. “You two can stay home and cook something for your dinner. You don’t have to eat in fancy restaurants all the time.”
Nick nodded. “We’ll do that, then, after we’ve finished running a few errands.”
“What sort of errands?” Martin asked. “You’ve been out all day, running errands.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Nick replied. “We’ll be on our way, and when we get back I’ll cook something for all three of us.” He nodded at Jim and the pair made their way out of the room.
“It was nice meeting you,” Janet called after them.
Martin laughed. “It wasn’t, though, was it? He can be very unpleasant, that boy. It’s only because I remember the unhappy eight-year-old I once knew that I put up with it.”
“You shouldn’t lend him money,” Stuart suggested. “You’ll never it get back.”
“Oh, I know, but I’m only lending him his own inheritance. He’s getting one of my bank accounts, you see, and every time he asks for money, I take it out of that account,” Martin laughed.
“What’s wrong with his car?” Janet wondered.
“The brakes failed,” Martin replied. “I know he’s telling the truth on that, because I was with him when it happened. We nearly hit a stone wall, and we had to have the car towed to the garage. I’m not sure why the repair is taking so long, though.”
“Maybe you should ring the garage and find out,” Janet suggested. She hadn’t like the man at all, and she was highly suspicious of everything he’d told them.
“If he doesn’t get the car back soon, I might just do that. I miss having my car here whenever I want to go anywhere,” Martin told her. “For now, well, in some ways it’s nice to have him around.”
“We should go,” Janet said, getting to her feet. “Thank you so much for your time. I enjoyed learning more about Alberta.”
“I enjoyed talking about her and the past. It doesn’t seem as if anyone is interested in what happened all those years ago. Nick isn’t, anyway.”
“Do you know if Alberta has any family left anywhere?” Janet asked.
Martin shook his head. “I believe her parents were both only children. There might be some distant relatives somewhere, but I’ve no idea where you’d even start to look for them.”
Janet frowned. She really wanted to go through the box of letters and diaries that Alberta had left behind. Joan was the only obstacle. But maybe the letters themselves would hold a clue as to where to find Alberta’s family. That might be an argument worth trying with Joan.
“Thank you for your time,” Stuart said. “Would you mind terribly if I drove Janet all around the farm before we go? I told her a lot about it on the way over and I’m sure she’d enjoy looking around.”
“I would, indeed,” Janet said.
“Drive wherever you’d like,” Martin told them. “There’s nothing much to see now, though. As I said, I’m not planting anything and I don’t have many animals left.”
“It will still be interesting to see the layout,” Janet told him. “I’m fascinated by everything about Doveby Dale and its history.”
“Take your time and drive all the way around, then,” Martin said. “From the top of the hill, you can see back across the whole farm. You may even be able to see Doveby House from up there.”
“Really? I can’t wait,” Janet replied. She picked up the candleholder. “And thank you again for this. I’ll find somewhere special to keep it back at Doveby House.”
“You’re very welcome. As I said, I like the idea of one of them being there,” Martin said.
He led Janet and Stuart back through the farmhouse and opened the front door for them. Nick and Jim were standing near Stuart’s car, talking together.
“I thought you had to be somewhere,” Martin shouted at his stepson.
“We do, but we had to ring someone to check the arrangements,” Nick called back.
Martin shrugged. “Always rushing off and then going nowhere,” he muttered under his breath.
Janet watched as the two men climbed into the old car that was parked next to Stuart’s. It didn’t seem to want to start, but eventually it coughed to life. Nick drove away, giving them a bit of a wave as he pulled onto the road.
“Thanks again for everything,” Stuart said to Martin. “I’m going to make a point of visiting you more often.”
“You’re always welcome,” Martin replied. “And you are, too,” he added, nodding at Janet. “It’s always nice to have a pretty woman around the place.”
Janet flushed and then thanked the man before following Stuart to the car. As they began to drive away, she waved to Martin, who was still standing in the farmhouse’s doorway.
“That was interesting,” she said after a minute.
“It was, wasn’t it?” Stuart replied. “I don’t like Nick and I don’t trust him.”
“Was he one of the men at the garden centre?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t think he was, but I do think Jim was one of them.”
“That’s odd. Maybe Nick was waiting in the car?”
“That’s one possibility, I suppose. Let’s see what we can find on our drive.”
Stuart drove slowly along the dirt road that surrounded the farm. As far as Janet could see, there was nothing there but neglected fields. When they reached the top of a small hill, Stuart stopped the car.
“We should be able to see the whole farm from here, or most of it, anyway,” he told Janet.
They climbed out of the car and Stuart pulled binoculars out of his glove box. While he took a long and slow look around, Janet tried to find Doveby House in the distance.
“I can’t see anything but empty fields,” she said after a minute.
“Look down there,” Stuart said, handing Janet the binoculars. “Just to the left of the large tree and to the right of the farmhouse. Does that look as if someone has been preparing the ground for planting?”
Janet trained the glasses on the spot she thought Stuart was talking about. “I suppose it might,” she said slowly. “But it really doesn’t look all that different to the fields all around it, at least to me.”
Stuart sighed. “I think you might be right. Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see. If you look a little bit further to the left, you can see Doveby House, anyway.”
Janet followed his directions and then grinned. “It is Doveby House,” she exclaimed. “Although it looks really tiny from up he
re, even with the binoculars.”
“Let’s go,” Stuart said. “Maybe we’ll spot something on the way back down.”
“There’s something,” Janet said a moment later. “What is that?”
A huge cloud of dust seemed to be rapidly approaching their car. Stuart pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. A moment later Nick stopped Martin’s car next to him.
“What are you doing out here?” Nick demanded.
“Martin said it was okay if I drove Janet around the farm. She’s interested in the history of Doveby Dale and in how this farm used to operate,” Stuart replied.
“Yeah, well, I think it would be best if you left now. Martin means well, but he’s not doing as well mentally as he is physically. He probably forgot what a mess these roads have become. I’d hate for your car to get damaged out here.”
“The roads haven’t been that bad,” Stuart said. “Is Martin okay?”
“He’s fine, really, he just needs some looking after. That’s why I’m here,” Nick told him.
“That’s very kind of you,” Stuart said. “We’ll be on our way, then.”
“You should turn around and go back the way you came,” Nick said. “The road on this side isn’t as good as it is on the other side.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Turning around on such a narrow road would be difficult.”
“But easier than trying to get through what’s ahead. Turn around now,” Nick said firmly.
“But you’ve just come up that way,” Janet pointed out. “If you can manage in Martin’s car, we should be good in this one.”
“As I said, you need to turn around,” Nick replied. “There’s no need to argue over this. Just turn around.”
Stuart looked at Janet. She shrugged. They didn’t seem to have much choice but to obey, especially when Nick reversed his car so that he was blocking the road in front of them.
“Can you get turned around here?” Janet asked.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Stuart said. “But I don’t think we have much choice.”
The Lawley Case Page 4