The Secret of Chestnut Hall (A Blooms, Bones and Stones Cozy Mystery - Book One)

by Olivia Swift

  “Dex is having a coffee and then going back to work. He says he will stay for a few days next week,” Evan told her.

  “At least we know it’s safe, and I can bring in a generator to put some lights inside. In fact, I can pick one up from the hire company today.” Dan Lestrade came back to say that the home said it was fine in the afternoon but disturbed the routine in the evening.

  “Give yourself half a day off,” Evan told Jazz, and she asked what time.

  “Straight after lunch,” he answered. She told Dan Lestrade where she wanted him to start work. They agreed a time to meet at the retirement complex, and she went back to tell her team the new arrangements and make another assault on the garden. It was starting to look quite smart and contained quite a number of specialist plants. Finishing earlier than the rest for lunch, she told Carly that she was in charge and stopped to tell Kim she was going home to change.

  “Evan will pick me up,” she finished, and Kim gave her a sideways look that needed no words.

  “I’ll finish the urns today and get back to the nursery.” She watched her sister walk off. Jazz never left ongoing work lightly. She could feel that there was something between these two even if Jazz herself had not yet realized.

  Back at home, Jazz pulled out clothes and tried several before settling on fashionable embroidered jeans that clung to her figure and picked up the color of the embroidery with a gold designer top that draped elegantly at the waist. She added makeup, many bracelets, left her hair loose, and added killer heels in gold to echo the top.

  “Are the heels too much?” she asked herself, but the doorbell rang, and it was too late to change. She ran downstairs to grab her shoulder bag and open the door. Evan Sutherland was taken aback by this transformed vision on the step. He was speechless, and Jazz looked around.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. He pulled himself back to reality and held out an arm.

  “My lady, you look fantastic. Please step into my carriage.” He had brought a four wheel drive vehicle as big as her own and asked if she wanted to find the generator on the way back.

  “Good thinking, Batman,” she answered and settled in the passenger seat. “Nice to be driven for a change.”.

  They met Dan Lestrade at the home, and he complimented Jazz on how good she looked as well.

  “I should wear heels more often if it gets all of these compliments,” she laughed. “They would be useless on the garden though.” The staff nurse on duty welcomed Dan and showed them through to his uncle’s private room. It was pleasant and led out through patio doors to a small terrace with some pots of flowers. The old man was in a wheelchair but struggled to stand up and shake hands.

  “What a pleasure to have visitors,” he said. “Find a seat.” Jazz peeked out of the patio doors.

  “This is a lovely place, and you have your own garden. That is wonderful.”

  “Gardened all my life. I still like to see things coming along.” Dan Lestrade broke into say that Evan was the new owner of Chestnut Hall and was really curious about the old stories.

  “I’m restoring the garden, so anything you can remember about it will be really useful,” Jazz added, and the old gardener cast his mind back.

  “I wasn’t the head gardener. I was the second, but I also was a jack-of-all-trades around the place. I helped out in the house, the grounds, and with the horses when they kept them. Jed Baker was the head gardener.”

  “What was the owner like then?” Evan prompted, and the man looked at him.

  “Not to speak ill of the dead and all that, but he was a bit of a tyrant. Nobody liked to get on his bad side. His wife was younger than him and often was upset by his temper. He was a bit of a bully really. Nobody was that surprised when she took off.” He paused. “He had a son who was from his first marriage, and he left the house to him but Carlton, the son, never wanted the place and never came back there.”

  “Can you remember when they closed off the grotto?” Jazz asked. He thought for a moment and said it was some time after the wife left.

  “I think he just closed everything up. Lived like a bit of a hermit. Jed’s wife, Molly, had always been housekeeper and she still went in and saw to the cleaning and his meals. Apart from her, he kept to himself. I retired, and that’s about it really.” Then he smiled. “Molly still pops in to see me and keeps in touch.” As he said that, there was a knock at the door and an elderly woman looked in. “Good grief,” he exclaimed. “Talk of the devil. This is Molly herself. Come in. Come in and meet the new owner of Chestnut Hall.”

  Molly Baker was sprightly for her age, well dressed, and looked as if her hair had just been coiffed at the stylist. She came in and shook hands.

  “These folks were just curious about the tales around the house. This smart young lady is restoring the garden, and this young man is the new owner.”

  “Can you throw any light on these stories please?” Jazz asked, but the woman shook her head.

  “Lot of nonsense if you ask me. Just because he kept to himself, they have to invent stuff. I worked there for years, and it was just the place I worked. Nothing unusual.”

  “That’s good,” Evan answered. “I am going to modernize inside the house and keep the garden tidy.”

  “I’m glad you are in a lovely place like this,” Jazz said waving an arm at the room and garden.

  “Aye. I never knew I had the insurance with the job, but it has come in very handy. It’s very comfy here.” He looked at Molly. “And Molly still has her house---a different landlord now, but her sons are doing well in the property business.”

  “Thanks for seeing us,” Evan said, standing up.

  “Got some equipment to pick up on the way back,” Jazz added, and Dan said he would sit for a few minutes and chat. They left the trio in the extremely well-equipped residential home that was almost like a five-star hotel in the reception area.

  “It’s a super home but still a bit like a prison. It must cost an arm and a leg,” Jazz murmured as they breathed fresh air and went back to the motor. Evan nodded.

  “We’re not really much further forward. I think Rob probably knew as much as we found out today,” he added.

  “I’ll buy you that pizza if you like and we can decide where to look next.” He slipped an arm lightly around her shoulders as they reached the car and said he was famished. “Better get the generator first,” she reasoned.

  Once the first pangs of hunger had abated Jazz wondered about looking at the newspaper records of the time.

  “We know roughly when it happened.”

  “Good idea,” he agreed. “I think you can access it online.”

  “It’s a sort of whodunnit. Like Molly said, there is probably nothing more than gossip, but I would like to find out,” Jazz admitted, and he grinned and agreed. “Tomorrow,” she went on, “I am abandoning the garden and exploring the grotto.”

  “Count me in,” he answered. “Buried treasure, here we come.” He drove back to the nursery, and they sat in the car for a few minutes.

  “Thanks for the pizza. I will have to up my game and cook something special.” He leaned across and kissed her on the cheek. She turned towards him, and he brushed his lips lightly across hers. Jazz smiled and opened the car door.

  “See you in the morning,” she said and climbed out. As he drove away, she watched him go with a hand where his lips had touched her cheek.

  She heard Kim open the door.

  “Stop dreaming like a sixteen-year-old,” her sister called and Jazz told her all that had happened.

  “It is odd, but I had a funny feeling in that residential home. I know those places are a bit strange, even when very expensive, but I just know there is more to the story than the wife running away and him living like a recluse.”

  “We’ll see what more Rob can find out. His older relatives seem to know quite a lot.”

  “Good idea. We’ll try the newspaper archives as well, and maybe the son will talk to us. Why did he never go back there?�
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  “Can I come and see inside the grotto tomorrow?” Kim asked, and Jazz said they were starting on it in the morning.

  “I guess Carly, Ben, and I’m guessing Rob will all be raring to see what’s inside.”

  Chapter Five

  There was definitely a buzz about the garden in the morning. No one was keen to start on any job in case they missed the exploration of the grotto. Jazz herself felt the excitement and knocked at the door of Chestnut Hall to find out where the generator was. Evan pointed to the garage. She found a wheelbarrow and between the two of them, they balanced the machine and the hard hats that Evan had brought out as well and set off down the garden slope. A little band of helpers was waiting at the garden. Ben lent his strength to lift the generator down. Jazz had used the machine before and started it up. She was secretly pleased that it looked so efficient because sometimes these things were difficult to get going. She had brought a string of lights and handed them out to the rest of them to form a chain. The bulbs successfully did their job, and she turned to Evan.

  “You first. It’s your garden.” He pulled away the door panel and took the first light. The grotto showed itself to human eyes for the first time in many years. The quartz crystals sparkled in the electric illumination. Jazz was hard on his heels, and the others followed until they were all inside and the lights stretched from one entrance to the other. They found pieces of rock to hook the wires around and then they were all free to look around. The place was surprisingly spacious and quite high.

  “Wow. It’s big,” Carly breathed. “Bit like a fairytale.” At the center of the way through, it widened into a sort of room. An old metal chair was still in there, and Jazz thought that some of the rill may have been diverted through to give a little tinkling water feature. She found a place where there had been a channel that led to the front of the garden.

  “It seems solid and just the way it was all those years ago,” Evan said.

  “There is no debris,” Ben added and bent down to scratch on the floor with a trowel he held in his hand. “No,” he corrected himself. “There is soil on top of a sort of crazy paving.” He scraped away like an archaeologist and uncovered some paving. Everyone else looked down and then did the same. There was a floor underneath the soft earth.

  “Let’s get brushes and trowels and clean it away. With all of us, it won’t take long,” Jazz suggested, and there was a move to go for the tools. Kim arrived at the same time, and Rob’s truck could be seen pulling up beside the house. He jumped out and ran down to join the group.

  “Lights are on,” Jazz said to both of them. “Feel free to take a look. We are going for tools to clear the floor.” With six people scraping and brushing, the floor was soon revealed and showed what Jazz said were areas where ferns had been planted. These were near enough the entrances to get some light but would add to the atmosphere. The floor looked quite substantial once it was revealed. Carly called to Jazz to see if she knew what the space at the back was for. It was a space about five feet square where there were no paving stones. Jazz could think of no gardening feature that would fit. Ben suggested that maybe someone had taken the slabs to use somewhere else. Jazz nodded and knelt down to scrape with a trowel. The soil was soft and sandy, and nothing seemed to be there. She gave one last movement with the trowel and felt a slight tinkle of something metal. She did the move again out of curiosity, and without any real hope of finding anything, suddenly found herself holding a very old knife. She gasped and dropped it.

  “What is it?” Carly asked, and Evan knelt down beside her. He picked up the knife and turned it over in his hands.

  “Let’s take this into daylight,” he said, and they all followed him outside and gazed at the find.

  “Is it a murder weapon?” Carly asked quietly and voiced what they had all thought as they gazed at the rusted blade. The handle was wooden and had deteriorated with whatever time it had been buried in the ground.

  “We can’t just assume it was used for something bad,” Rob reasoned.

  “But we will have to dig a bit more to make sure there is nothing else down there,” Evan added. He looked at Ben and Rob. “If we take out all of the paving around about the spot, we can all scrape away to see if there is anything else.”

  “Ugh,” Kim said. “Can I wheelbarrow the soil away?” Rob laughed and said he would help her with that. The men carried out the paving slabs that were not very large and revealed flattened sandy soil. They set to with trowels and spades, and after finding nothing untoward, attacked the earth with more effort. There were no bodies, no skeleton and definitely no buried treasure. The one find that came to light was an old-fashioned man’s watch. It was badly deteriorated, and when Evan tried to wind it up, there was no response.

  “Well, I guess they were just things that a gardener or visitor dropped,” Evan stated, and they all stepped back outside to dust themselves down and breathe fresh air.

  “We’ll take a break and then get back to work,” Jazz told them. “When the rest of the garden is sorted, we can replace the paving with gravel and tidy it up. We can add ferns at the entrances and find a way to have some lighting inside.” Everyone nodded and found drinks and snacks to have in the break. Evan had picked up the knife. He said he would take it to the house and asked Jazz to come with him.

  “We should try and talk to the son,” he said when they were out of earshot. “Why did he never come back to the house? The newspaper research needs doing as well. I wondered if I should try and set up a meeting with the son. He was the seller of the property, and I should be able to make contact.” He paused and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Would you like to do the newspaper search tonight? I could rustle up a meal.” Jazz smiled.

  “I would love it,” she said and was about to say something else and hesitated.

  “What?” he prompted.

  “Do you get a feeling that something is not quite right?” she asked, feeling a bit silly as the words left her mouth.

  “I’m glad you said that because I do but didn’t want to put it into words,” he agreed.

  “I’ll get some work done for now,” she said, and he told her he would have a meal ready by seven.

  Kim went back to the nursery, Rob started tree cutting with his right-hand man, Curtis, and Ben put the generator inside the grotto to keep it dry. Then he joined Carly back at the rill. Jazz attacked the garden, and when Dan arrived, she asked him to work on that as well. She told him that they had found an old watch in the grotto and when the rest of the garden was finished, they would put a layer of gravel down and add some ferns.

  “Sounds about right,” he answered and showed no interest in seeing inside the cave at all.

  The day became as normal as any other, and Jazz walked around when the others had gone to check how much was done and how much more work was still to do. She switched on the generator and walked through the grotto. It was quiet and empty. She made a mental note of where the ferns would go and cast her mind over which ones would grow the best in extreme shade. Then she switched off the generator and went home. By seven she was back at Chestnut Hall with a smile on her face. When she opened the door, the delicious scent of whatever was cooking wafted out on the slight breeze.

  The food was pasta and melted in the mouth. It was followed by a meringue and cream concoction that was topped with fresh berries and coulis. Evan handed her a coffee and they retired to the living room.

  “I am far too well fed to actually work on the computer,” she protested, but he handed her the laptop she had brought along and flicked on his own tablet. Jazz resigned herself to research and switched on as well.

  “Sonora City Messenger,” he said, “and I’m going back thirty years from now.” She nodded and pursued the same details. There was silence as they both concentrated, sitting close together on the sofa. She could feel the warmth of his body against her own and settled against him as she worked.

  “Think I’ve found something,” he said and showed her the
tablet. “Wife of local man leaves.” They scanned down the story and checked the dates to find other reports of the same time. Evan jotted down details of people who were talked to at the time.

  “It looked like the police were alerted to find her but talked to him as if he was a suspect.” Jazz remarked. “They were obviously suspicious, but nothing seems to have come of it. Molly and her husband were interviewed but produced nothing of any note. He claimed she had taken a vast amount of money and all of her very valuable jewelry.” After some time, they had amassed all that there was to find and closed down the computers.

  “What do we do about it? And I wonder what sparked all the hints that she was killed.” Jazz asked as he slipped an arm around her shoulders.

  “Let’s start with the son and see what we find out.” She nodded and leaned against him, and he stroked her hair with his hand. “If we stay here I might forget to be a gentleman,” he added and said he would make coffee. He went to start the coffee and Jazz wandered into the kitchen and looked out of the window into a darkened garden. Then she drew a breath.

  “Evan,” she called. “There’s a light moving in the garden.”

  “What!” he called and came to look out as well. The lights were not there.

  “Did you just imagine it?” he asked, but she grabbed his hand and pointed.

  “Look. There it is.” It looked like a torch but could have been any sort of light. It wavered around and disappeared. “It’s gone into the grotto.” Evan grabbed the big flashlight and ran for the back door. “Evan, there might be more than one of them,” she called and then grabbed a broom that was beside the back door and followed him out. What she would do with the broom, she had no idea, but it seemed better than nothing. Evan was well down the grass when she started after him, but they were both in pretty good condition. It was strange running in the dark, but there were no obstacles in their way. She heard Evan shout out and demand who was there. A darkened figure emerged from the grotto and took off down the garden in the direction of the rill and lower pond.