The Bennett Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Diana Xarissa

  “Well, I’ll stay here,” he replied. “Maggie was expecting me. All of the arrangements were made. If you’ve taken over the bed and breakfast, surely you have to honour existing reservations?”

  “We don’t, actually,” Janet replied, hoping she was right. “We aren’t open for business. In fact, we don’t even know if we are going to reopen. My sister and I have purchased the house and we might just choose to live here by ourselves.”

  “But if it’s just you and your sister here, you must have spare bedrooms,” the man said softly. “I’ll pay well for a few nights in one of them. You don’t even have to provide breakfast. I just need a place to stay for a few days.”

  Janet shook her head. “We simply can’t,” she said firmly.

  The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. “Two hundred pounds a night for three nights,” he said, taking note after note out of the wallet. “I’ll pay the lot in advance and if I decide to stay longer, I’ll pay three hundred pounds a night after that.”

  Janet looked at the pile of twenty-pound notes the man had put on the coffee table. Six hundred pounds was a lot of money, but she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of a total stranger staying in the house.

  “Do Stuart and Mary Long still live across the road?” the man asked. “I’m sure they’ll vouch for me. I used to stay with Maggie quite regularly.”

  Janet took a deep breath, wishing Joan were there to help with the decision. “We really aren’t equipped for guests,” she told the man.

  “Look, there’s Stuart now,” the man said, jumping up from the sofa. He’d been sitting facing towards a side window. Now Janet looked and saw their tall and dark-haired neighbour walking along the side of the house.

  Stuart had been a professional gardener, and since he had retired he looked after the extensive gardens at Doveby House in exchange for a small fee and a great deal of tea and biscuits.

  The strange man was walking through the house towards the conservatory and the glass French doors that opened into the garden. Janet rushed after him, angry at his overconfident behaviour. He had the doors open before Janet reached him.

  “Stuart, how are you?” he called to the man who was just opening up the coach house.

  Stuart spun around. “Edward? This is a surprise. I thought you and Maggie parted ways ages ago.”

  The stranger shrugged. “You know how it is,” he said with a chuckle. “We had a disagreement, but we’d been writing again and I told her I’d come see her this month. It was all arranged.”

  “You heard she, well, she passed?” Stuart asked.

  “I did,” the man said sadly. “I’ve been out of the country for most of the year and I came straight here when I got back. It was a huge shock.”

  “Well, I’m sure the Markham sisters will make you feel welcome,” Stuart said heartily. “Joan, the older sister, is brilliant in the kitchen. Maggie was a great person, but she wasn’t a very good cook. Joan is much better.”

  “Excellent,” the man beamed. He turned to Janet. “I assume you’re not Joan, then?”

  “Haven’t you introduced yourself?” Stuart asked. “All the travelling around the world hasn’t improved your manners.” Stuart turned to Janet. “Janet Markham, this is Edward Bennett. He was a dear friend of Maggie’s for many years. Edward, this is Janet Markham, the younger of the two lovely sisters who have just recently purchased Doveby House.”

  Edward bowed deeply. “It is a great pleasure to meet you, Ms. Markham. I do hope you’ll be able to find a room for me.”

  Janet opened her mouth, not entirely certain how she was going to say “no,” but she was interrupted.

  “Janet? What’s going on?”

  Joan was coming down the steps from the conservatory, the pile of banknotes that Edward had left in the sitting room clutched in her hand.

  “Ah, this must be the lovely Joan,” Edward said. He turned and bowed to Joan, offering his hand when he straightened. “I’m Edward Bennett. I was a friend of Maggie’s and I had a booking for this week for the purple guest room. I was just asking Stuart if he’d vouch for me, as your charming sister seems reluctant to accommodate me.”

  Joan looked from Janet to the collection of notes in her hand. “I’m sure we can work out something,” Joan told the man. “Although I’m afraid the purple room is out of the question, as that’s Janet’s room now.”

  “Ah, of course, but that’s no problem. I’m happy anywhere. Maggie used to have me sleep on the couch in the sitting room if the guest rooms were all full,” Edward replied.

  “Well, that certainly won’t be necessary this time,” Joan said. “We have two perfectly lovely empty guest rooms. You can have your choice between them.”

  “I think he should go in the west room,” Janet said loudly. Not only was it the smaller of the two rooms, it was further from her room.

  Joan looked as if she might argue, but Janet didn’t let her.

  “Come along, then, I’ll show you to your room,” Janet said to Edward. She headed off towards the house, not caring if the man was following or not. Behind her she heard him saying a few words to Stuart. When she reached the French doors, he jumped ahead of her.

  “Allow me,” he said, holding the door while she walked through it.

  Janet muttered “thanks” under her breath and then walked back to the sitting room. She grabbed the lightest of the man’s bags and headed for the stairs.

  “I take it you don’t have any staff around to help with bags?” Edward asked as he looked at the other three bags that remained.

  “We aren’t open for business,” Janet reminded him tartly.

  “In that case, just leave the bags and I’ll take them up one at a time,” he suggested.

  “This one isn’t heavy. I’ll take it up,” Janet replied. “You can do what you like with the rest.”

  In the short upstairs corridor, she made sure her bedroom door was shut before opening the door to the smaller guest room. She dropped the man’s case on the bed and turned to leave. Edward was right behind her, carrying the two largest cases.

  “I do hope this is okay,” Janet said, not caring if it was or not.

  “It’s fine,” Edward assured her. “I assume the door locks and you have a key for me?”

  Janet frowned. “Of course we do,” she said uncertainly. She knew she’d seen keys somewhere, but she simply couldn’t remember where as the man stared at her.

  “Here we are,” Joan said from the doorway. “I’m fairly certain this is the right key, but let me check.”

  Janet watched as Joan tried the key, which turned easily.

  “Mrs. Appleton had it labelled as “blue room,” but, of course, we’ve had it painted,” Joan told Edward.

  “I like the new colour,” he replied. “And you’ve had the furniture fixed up as well. Maggie was allowing things to get a bit shabby around here.”

  Joan beamed. “We’ve tried to make everything as nice as possible,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to have a little bed and breakfast, you see.”

  “What did you do before this?” Edward asked.

  “Janet and I were both primary schoolteachers,” Joan told him. “We retired last year and did some travelling, but I felt like it was time for a new adventure.”

  “How very fortunate for me,” the man said. He smiled brightly at both women, but only Joan returned the look.

  “We’ll let you get settled in,” Janet said, walking quickly to the door. The room was definitely too small for three people, she thought as she hurried out of it. She walked down the hall to her own room with Joan right behind her. When she hesitated outside her door, Joan opened the door and pushed her inside.

  “Here,” Joan hissed, handing Janet a key ring.

  “What is this?”

  “The key to your door,” Joan told her. “I thought you’d want to keep your door locked now that we have a guest.”

  “I most certainly do,” Janet agreed. Aware that she was nearly
shouting, she made an effort to lower her voice. “Why on earth did you tell him he could stay?” she demanded of her sister.

  “Did you see all the lovely money?” Joan asked. “And besides, what’s the point in having a bed and breakfast if we aren’t having guests? Stuart knows him; it isn’t like he’s a total stranger or anything. Besides, he seems charming.”

  “He was one of Maggie’s old boyfriends,” Janet said.

  “You don’t know that for sure. He just said they were friends,” Joan countered. “Anyway, so what if he was?”

  Janet shook her head. She hadn’t told her sister about the letters she’d found in the desk downstairs. They were very racy letters that various men had written to Maggie Appleton over the years. Janet was sure that one of the authors had been a man called Edward. She hadn’t read more than a few lines of any one letter, but that had been enough to make her feel uncomfortable about their unexpected guest.

  “I’m going to lock up the empty guest room as well as the library,” Joan told her sister. “If Mr. Bennett wants to look at the books, he can ask one of us to open the door. I’ve also locked up my suite, of course.”

  Janet nodded. She felt better knowing the library was going to be locked. She didn’t want the man to find the letters he’d written, if he was indeed the Edward in question.

  “How’s your knee?” Janet asked as she suddenly remembered that her sister had been to the doctor.

  “It’s fine,” Joan told her. “The doctor did a bunch of poking and prodding and said he thinks it’s healing fine. I just need to be patient and careful with it.”

  “Well, that’s something good today anyway,” Janet muttered as Joan let herself out of the room.

  While Joan headed back downstairs to start preparing dinner, Janet had a sudden thought. What if Edward actually knew that Maggie had died and he’d come looking for the letters he’d written to her? Maybe she needed to talk to Joan about the letters after all.

  An hour later, when Joan knocked on the door to tell her dinner was ready, Janet still hadn’t figured out what she wanted to do about the letters. She followed Joan down the stairs and then frowned when she saw Edward already sitting at the small kitchen table.

  “I’m sure you don’t mind that I invited Edward to join us for dinner,” Joan said. “It’s just cottage pie with veggies and I always make too much for just the two of us.”

  Janet forced herself to smile. It’s fine,” she muttered, taking the seat opposite the man who was, at least as far as she was concerned, an unwelcome guest.

  Joan frowned. “That isn’t your usual place,” she said as she began to serve.

  “Nothing wrong with a bit of variety,” Janet told her sister.

  “I’m sorry,” Edward said. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble between you two. Clearly I’m intruding where I’m not wanted. I can leave, if that’s what Janet wants.”

  The man looked at Janet and then reached across the table and took her hand. He stared intently into her eyes. “I’m not such a bad person, once you get to know me,” he said softly. “Please, give me a chance.”

  Janet breathed in slowly, trying to think as she felt herself getting lost in the man’s gorgeous eyes. He tightened his grip on her hand and Janet felt her heart skip a beat.

  “You can throw me out after dinner if you still want to,” he said. “But for now, please let me eat. Everything smells so good.”

  Janet pulled her hand away and then took a large drink of water. The man was too charming and too sophisticated for her. She looked over at Joan, who was glowing as Edward kept up a steady stream of compliments on her cooking.

  After a moment, Janet began to feel ignored as Edward and Joan chatted lightly about nothing much. For the first time in a long time, Janet didn’t really feel hungry. She ate a few bites of the cottage pie, which was, as always, expertly prepared, but she felt slightly unwell.

  “Are you okay?” Joan asked her, pulling Janet back from her wandering thoughts.

  “I’m fine,” Janet said a bit too loudly. “I think I’m just a little bit overtired. We’ve been so busy lately, getting the house ready and everything.”

  “Yes, well, maybe you should have an early night,” Joan suggested.

  “Do you have a date?” Janet asked. She felt as if Joan had almost been flirting with their guest, which annoyed her.

  “Michael said he might stop over to watch a bit of telly with us later,” Joan said, her eyes moving from Janet to Edward and back again.

  “Don’t tell me you’re dating Michael Donaldson from across the road?” Edward asked with a bark of laughter. “You’re much too good for him.”

  Joan flushed. “We’ve gone out a few times,” she muttered. “He’s a nice man.”

  “Oh, he is at that,” Edward agreed. “And I’m sure he’ll treat you well. He has to know you could do much better if you wanted to.”

  “Michael’s smart and funny and he treats Joan like a princess,” Janet said tartly. “I don’t think she’d be able to find a kinder or more understanding man.”

  Edward smiled at Joan. “I guess if you get tired of Michael, your sister wouldn’t mind dating him herself.”

  Janet turned bright red. “Not at all,” she said hotly. “He isn’t my type, but he’s perfect for Joan and you shouldn’t be rude about him, that’s all.”

  “I didn’t think I was being rude about him as much as complimenting your sister, but let’s not argue. I’m still hoping you won’t want to throw me out after pudding,” Edward said in a teasing tone.

  “Are you staying for pudding?” Janet shot back.

  “Janet!” Joan said sharply. “That’s enough. Edward is our guest. Our paying guest at that. If this is how you’re going to treat paying guests, perhaps we need to rethink our plans to reopen the guest house.”

  “As they’re your plans, not mine, I don’t suppose it much matters what I think. I’ll be in my room. I’m not feeling well.” Janet got up from the table and headed for the stairs.

  “I made apple crumble,” Joan called after her.

  Janet’s steps faltered. Apple crumble was her absolute favourite pudding, and Joan didn’t make it nearly often enough.

  “Apple crumble is my favourite,” Edward said.

  That was all Janet needed to hear. She stomped up the stairs and carefully and quietly opened and closed her bedroom door. She wasn’t going to give the man the satisfaction of hearing her slam it like she wanted to. Falling onto her bed, she waited for the tears to come.

  After a moment, when they failed to materialise, she sat back up. She knew she was behaving badly and out of character, but she wasn’t quite sure why. The handsome and worldly Edward Bennett was the cause of her disquiet, she knew that, but she couldn’t begin to understand why he bothered her so much. Maybe it was time to read through all of the letters that Edward had written to Maggie, she decided.

  Chapter Three

  Doveby House was quiet just after midnight. Janet lay in bed, trying not to think about apple crumble. Joan had come up to check on her around nine.

  “Are you okay?” Joan had asked, looking concerned.

  “I’m fine. I think I might be brewing something, that’s all,” Janet replied.

  “Well, you were very rude to Edward,” Joan scolded. “I hope you’ll make an effort to be nicer to him tomorrow.”

  “Did Michael come over?” Janet changed the subject.

  “He did. He and Edward and I watched some telly and had biscuits. It was a very pleasant evening. Tomorrow night you should join us.”

  “I might,” was as far as Janet was willing to concede. “I’ll either be feeling better or definitely ill by then.”

  Now, three hours later, the only thing she was feeling was hungry. She could almost hear the apple crumble calling to her softly from the kitchen. No doubt it was feeling rejected after she’d turned her back on it earlier.

  She rolled over and punched her pillow into shape. After a moment she pushed
back the top layer of covers and rolled to her other side. Several minutes later she gave up. There was no way she was going to get any sleep until she’d had her share of the apple crumble. Muttering darkly about unwelcome guests causing unnecessary inconveniences, she pulled on her bathrobe and tucked her feet into her slippers before exiting her room. She locked her door behind her and then slipped the key ring into her pocket.

  Living for the past month in Doveby House had taught her how to get down the stairs without making noise. As the house had been built in the seventeenth century, there were many creaky steps and floorboards throughout it. Experience had taught Janet that her sister could sleep through just about anything, but she’d still taken the time to learn where to step as she went up and down the stairs, so that when they had paying guests she wouldn’t have to worry about disturbing them if she wanted a midnight snack. Tonight she was glad she’d done so.

  In the kitchen, she quickly pulled the remains of the apple crumble out of the refrigerator. She frowned when she saw how little was left. Clearly Edward had enjoyed more than his fair share, she thought. Not wanting to make any noise, she didn’t bother to heat it, simply spooning a large portion onto a plate. She added a dollop of custard and then sat down at the table and dug in.

  A few minutes later she was feeling much better. She put her plate and utensils in the sink, sticking her tongue out at her sister in advance. There was no doubt that Joan would complain about it in the morning. Janet headed for the stairs, but paused before she got there. Since she was up anyway, maybe she ought to have a look at those letters now, she thought.

  She pulled the keys from her pocket. In addition to the key to her room, Joan had included a master key that opened all of the doors in the house. Janet turned and headed for the library. As she pushed open the door to the television room, she gasped.

  “I hope the telly didn’t disturb you,” Edward said, looking up at her from his seat on one of the comfortable sofas. “Joan said I could stay up and watch as long as I liked.”

  “I didn’t know you were here,” Janet replied.