The three men that had been following the woman stopped and then sat back in their seats. Janet looked at Edward and then sighed. “I’m going to talk to her,” she whispered. When she got up and headed for the door, Joseph didn’t bother to speak to her. Instead, he went back to taking questions from the floor.
Outside the community centre, Janet found the woman sitting on a bench. She looked up at Janet and sighed. “Let me guess, Joseph told them all not to believe me and they all decided to stay and listen to him.”
Janet nodded as she sat down next to the woman. “I’m not a reporter,” she told her. “But I am interested in what you have to say.”
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
“My name is Janet Markham, and my sister and I own Doveby House,” Janet explained. “And I’m out here talking to you because I’m incurably nosy.” The statement was something of a risk, but Janet thought it was one worth taking. The other woman stared at her in surprise for a moment and then burst out laughing.
“Let’s go and get a cuppa and some cake,” she suggested. “I’ll tell you everything you could possibly want to know about my husband, and Simon Hampton as well.”
“That sounds perfect,” Janet said.
Chapter Six
There was a coffee shop right across the road from them. Janet and her acquaintance walked over and ordered tea and cakes from the girl behind the counter.
“What’s happening at the community centre?” the girl asked as she put their order together. “I’ve not seen that many people going in there, ever.”
“Simon Hampton is holding a press conference about the fire this morning,” Janet explained.
“Oh, that,” the girl said. “I suppose it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened in Doveby Dale lately, but half of the freezers in the back of that shop were faulty. It’s hardly surprising that one of them caught fire.”
“The fire was deliberately set,” Janet told her.
“No? Really? I didn’t hear that,” the girl exclaimed. “That is exciting. No wonder the press are all over it. I suppose they haven’t caught whoever did it yet. It’s only been a few hours, right?”
“As far as I know, no one is in custody yet,” Janet said.
“Poor Robert Parsons will be working all hours again,” the girl sighed. “I hate when he comes in looking all exhausted. He needs more help in Doveby Dale, and they need someone else to police Little Burton, as well. Robert is working too hard trying to cover both stations.”
Janet smiled. She’d forgotten that the girl in the coffee shop was keen on Robert Parsons. “He does work very hard,” she agreed. “But there are several uniformed constables in the community centre right now helping with the press conference. Maybe some of them will stay and help with the investigation as well.”
“More likely, because it’s Simon Hampton we’re talking about, they’ll bring in some fancy CID inspector from Derby to investigate the fire, and send Robert back to issuing parking tickets and finding the little old ladies who wander off from the home at the edge of town,” the girl snorted.
She put a tray with the tea and cakes on the counter. “There you are,” she said brightly. “Enjoy.”
Janet picked up the tray and followed the other woman to a table near the back. Once they were settled in with their refreshments, Janet smiled at the woman.
“I’m Janet Markham,” she repeated herself. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I’m Hannah,” the woman said. “Hannah Carter, although I think I’ll go back to my maiden name once the divorce is final.”
Janet nodded. The woman was probably approaching forty. She had brown hair streaked with grey that was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her brown eyes looked tired as she sipped her tea. “I shouldn’t eat cake,” she muttered as she looked at the large piece of chocolate cake on the table in front of her.
“You’ve had a stressful day,” Janet said. “Chocolate will help.”
“I’ve been telling myself that a bit too frequently,” Hannah said ruefully. “Joseph complained all the time that I’d let myself go after we got married, but since he and I split, I’ve gained twenty-three pounds.”
That explained the oversized T-shirt the woman was wearing over jeans that looked uncomfortably tight.
Hannah sighed and put a bite of cake into her mouth. “Maybe I won’t have any dinner,” she said after she’d washed it down with some tea.
“What were you doing at the press conference?” Janet asked.
“I really do work for the local free paper,” Hannah told her. “I deliver it, but I also write articles for it once in a while. I’m trying to make it more regular, but a lot of times there isn’t all that much to write about. The paper already has two local reporters who cover every little thing. I’ve managed to get an article or two published about gossipy village news, but I’d really like to get a front page headline out of the press conference.”
“But you got thrown out,” Janet said.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. I know Joseph. He isn’t going to say anything interesting in there.” She shrugged. “Mostly I went to see Joseph, though. I wasn’t kidding about his behaviour, and having a chance to confront him about it in public was too good to pass up.”
“He harasses the staff at the shop?” Janet asked.
“Only the young, pretty girls,” Hannah replied. “As I understand it, he always just laughs off any complaints, and Simon doesn’t do anything about it. Mind you, I’ve heard stories about Simon as well.”
“I don’t understand men,” Janet said.
“I don’t either,” Hannah told her. “And what’s worse is I keep trying. Joseph is my third husband and he’s the worst one yet. I keep thinking I’m learning from my mistakes, but I’m not, really.”
“I’ve never been married,” Janet told her.
“So you’ve just proven you’re smarter than me,” Hannah laughed.
“So who do you think started the fire?” Janet asked.
“I think the police should start by taking a good hard look at Simon,” Hannah replied. “But he has enough money to buy off anyone that does that.”
“Robert isn’t for sale,” the girl behind the counter shouted. She blushed when the other two women turned to look at her. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have been listening,” she said. “But truly, Robert will consider everyone, even Simon Hampton.”
“Robert might not be in charge of the investigation,” Janet pointed out.
“Well, he should be,” the girl said loudly.
Hannah smiled at Janet. “If I were with the police, I’d start with Simon and work my way down,” she said. “If Simon wasn’t behind it, then they should look at Clifton and Joseph next. I can’t imagine they’ll have to look much further than that.”
“What about Simon’s wife?” Janet asked.
“Cynthia? She wouldn’t know how to light a match,” Hannah told her. “Of course, she’s more than capable of getting someone to do her dirty work for her. The police will have to work out who she’s currently involved with, I suppose.”
“Other than her husband,” Janet said.
“Oh, she and Simon both cheat,” Hannah replied. “They were devoted to one another when they got married two years ago, but that didn’t last very long at all.”
“Oh, dear,” Janet said.
“Clifton could be involved,” Hannah said thoughtfully. “With the fire and with Cynthia. He started working for Simon around the same time that Simon and Cynthia got married. I wonder if he knew her before the wedding?”
“And your husband?” Janet asked.
“Oh, Cynthia would never even speak to Joseph,” Hannah laughed.
“What about the fire?”
“I’d love to blame it on Joseph,” the woman replied. “But I can’t imagine a motive for him. He’ll be out of work for some time while the shop is being rebuilt, and I can’t see Simon paying anyone during that period. I don’t know. If there was a w
ay that my husband could profit from the fire, I’d suspect him, but I can’t see anything but negatives for him as a result of the fire.”
“What sort of motive could Simon have?” Janet asked.
“Oh, insurance,” Hannah said. “He was having trouble getting planning permission to expand. Maybe he decided to cut his losses and burn the place to the ground. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided not to rebuild, no matter what he’s saying right now.”
“And his wife?”
“Maybe she just wanted to upset Simon,” Hannah said with a shrug. “Or maybe she caught Simon in the stockroom with another woman and lost it. She has anger management issues.”
“She does? She just looked bored at the press conference.”
“Yeah, she’s either bored or throwing things and screaming,” Hannah said. “There isn’t a lot of middle ground with Cynthia.”
“What about Clifton? Why would he try to burn down the shop?”
“There are lots of options with him,” Hannah said. “He might have been acting on Simon’s orders or he might have been trying to make Cynthia happy. Or maybe he thought it would make Simon happy and he did it to surprise him. Or you could change Simon to Cynthia in that sentence and it would still work.”
“I take it you don’t like Clifton,” Janet said.
Hannah laughed. “He’s not my favourite person,” she conceded. “I don’t like him and I don’t like his friends.”
“Were you telling the truth about your husband at the press conference?” Janet had to ask.
“Oh, absolutely,” Hannah said. “I should know. I met Joseph when he hired me at the shop. He got very friendly in the stockroom on my second day on the job. I was dumb enough to be flattered by the attention. It wasn’t until after we were married that I found out that I wasn’t the only one he’d been taking long breaks with in his office.”
“But he married you,” Janet pointed out.
“Yeah, because I thought I was pregnant and I threatened to make a big fuss,” Hannah said. “Luckily, it was a false alarm, but we’d already had a quickie wedding before I found out. By that time Joseph had decided that he liked the idea of being married. It kept other women from getting too serious, I think.”
Janet sighed. “Whatever happened to happily ever after?” she sighed.
“I don’t think even fairy tales have happy endings,” Hannah told her. “I mean, would you marry a man who found you in a casket in the forest and kissed you anyway? I’m not sure Snow White lived happily ever after, not with that creepy weirdo.”
Janet laughed. “I never really thought about it,” she admitted.
“Cinderella married a man she’d only spent a few hours with, Sleeping Beauty was a hundred and sixteen when her prince woke her up. They wouldn’t have had much in common, would they? Imagine the changes in technology in those hundred years.” Hannah shook her head. “I’m sure all fairy tales were written by men,” she said. “And they’re nothing but nonsense.”
“Oh, great, shatter all of my illusions,” the girl behind the counter called. “I was holding out hope that a handsome prince was going to ride up one day and take me away from all of this.”
“You’ve been hoping to be kidnapped?” Hannah asked.
“I’d been hoping to be swept off my feet,” the girl said. “I wouldn’t exactly call that kidnapping.”
“But it would be,” Hannah said. “And you couldn’t possibly run off with a man you’d just met. He could have all sorts of terrible habits.”
“Like what?” the girl asked, sounding intrigued.
“Let’s start with his penchant for running away with young girls,” Hannah said dryly.
The girl behind the counter laughed. “You’re just jaded because your marriage didn’t work out.”
“None of my marriages have worked out,” Hannah corrected her. “And I don’t know a single happily married couple, either.”
“My parents are still together,” the girl said. “Although I’m not really sure if they’re happy or just too lazy to change anything.”
“My parents were together for forty years,” Janet told them both. “And they were happy together for that entire period. They raised two girls together and as far as I know, they never had a serious fight in all those years.”
“Didn’t you tell me that you’d never been married?” Hannah asked Janet. “Surely with that example, you must have been tempted to marry yourself?”
Janet flushed. “I never wanted to give up working, and in my day, once a woman married, she quit work and raised children,” she said.
“That’s dumb,” the girl at the counter said.
“Yes, it is,” Janet said. “But I’ve never minded. I never found a man that tempted me to change my mind.”
Hannah sat back in her seat and sighed. “I think this conversation has been therapeutic,” she said. “But I really need to get back to work.”
“And I need to get back to my friend,” Janet said, suddenly realising that she’d left Edward at the press conference nearly an hour earlier.
“It looks as if the press conference has broken up, at least,” Hannah said.
Janet looked at the now nearly empty car park and was relieved to see that Edward’s car was still there. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to Hannah.
“Likewise,” Hannah said. “You were just what I needed today. Why were you at the press conference?”
“My friend, Edward, wanted to go,” she replied, stretching the truth slightly. “He’s from London, and I think he’s something to do with one of the papers there.” That was even more of a stretch, but Hannah didn’t know that.
“Well, I’m glad you were there,” Hannah said. “You’ve made me feel much better about everything.”
“I’d credit the chocolate cake, really,” Janet told her. “But if you ever need someone to talk to again, I’m nearly always at home at Doveby House. Please come by and see me anytime.”
“Thank you, Janet,” Hannah said. She stood up, and when Janet also got to her feet, Hannah gave her a quick hug. “I may just take you up on that offer,” she said as she picked up her handbag.
Janet waited until the woman left the building before she followed. She was relieved to find that Edward was waiting in his car when she reached it.
“That was some conversation,” Edward said after she’d climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.
“She’s a nice woman,” Janet said. “And it doesn’t seem as if her husband is a very nice man. But what did I miss that the press conference?”
“Nothing much,” Edward replied with a shrug. “Both men were asked more questions and for the most part they evaded answering them. From what I can ascertain, no one has any idea who set the fire or why and no one has worked out what’s going to happen next. I probably should have just left when you did.”
“I doubt Hannah would have said as much if you’d been there,” Janet said.
Edward nodded. “That’s probably true,” he said.
Janet’s mobile startled them both.
“Where are you?” Joan’s voice said when Janet answered.
“We’re just in Doveby Dale, why?”
“I was wondering if you were going to be here for dinner,” Joan said. “Edward is welcome as well, of course.”
Janet was surprised when she looked at her watch. It was after six. “I didn’t realise it was that late,” she told her sister. “We’ll be home in a few minutes. And we’re both starving,” she added.
“I’ll make more garlic bread,” Joan said. “The lasagne is just about ready.”
Janet disconnected. “The lasagne is just about ready,” she told Edward.
“I was going to take you out somewhere nice,” Edward told her.
“Never mind. Joan’s lasagne is pretty special.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Chapter Seven
Janet wasn’t sure how much she and Edward should tell Joan about their day. She knew Joan
hated it when she thought Janet was snooping, but maybe she’d feel differently about it since she’d had Edward with her.
“So, what did you two do all day?” Joan asked once they were all sitting down with very full plates of lasagne and garlic bread.
“We drove past the shop so that I could see the damage,” Janet said, deciding to tell Joan everything because she knew she was terrible at lying to her sister.
“How bad was it?” Joan asked.
“It was strange,” Janet said. “From the front, you couldn’t really tell that anything had happened, except for an odd broken window. But the back of the building was almost burned to the ground.”
“So we’ll have to do all of our shopping at the big supermarket for the foreseeable future,” Joan sighed.
“Yes, and then we ran into Martha Scott. She lives on the road behind the shop. Apparently Simon Hampton was trying to buy her house and all of the houses on that road so that he could expand the shop,” Janet told her.
“Martha from your Ladies’ Club?” Joan asked.
“Yes, that’s the one,” Janet replied.
“I’d heard a rumour that there were plans to expand the shop, but I didn’t think they were true,” Joan said.
“Who told you about it?” Janet asked.
“Mary Long,” Joan replied.
Janet nodded. Mary was their neighbour Stuart’s wife, and when she was in Doveby Dale she was a continuous source of gossip, a great deal of which proved to be untrue. The sisters felt fortunate that she spent much of her time travelling between her three adult children from her first marriage.
“Well, apparently it is true, but he’s been having trouble getting planning permission,” Janet told her.
“Why would he want to expand?” Joan wondered. “His prices are too high as it is. Presumably, if he expanded, he’d raise the prices even more. The larger shop isn’t that far away. If he raised prices at all, I’d start doing all of my shopping there, and I don’t think I’m the only one. We already give them most of our business, really.”
The Hampton Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 8) Page 5