The Ellsworth Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 5)

by Diana Xarissa

  “Maybe I should try to find out why there’s a ghost in my room,” she said out loud. “Why are you here?” she asked the air. Then she shook her head. Talking to the walls was a waste of time, but perhaps she ought to try doing some research into the house’s history. Aside from the ghost, who was a minor inconvenience, she loved her spacious room with its own en-suite. It was much nicer than the small bedroom she’d had in the cottage where they used to live, and Janet smiled as she looked around the space. In spite of her ambivalent feelings about running the bed and breakfast, she did love Doveby House.

  The rest of the day was uneventful. Sunday morning saw their guests checking out, which meant lots of work for both sisters. All of the bedding had to be removed, washed, and put back and the room had to be thoroughly cleaned. When they finally finished, it was nearly time for lunch, after which their next set of guests would be arriving.

  “Sometimes this does seem like rather a lot of work,” Janet said over cold sandwiches and tea.

  “Perhaps we should try to leave a day between departures and arrivals,” Joan said. “Then we could take our time getting everything ready for the next guests.”

  “Except we’d still do it in a hurry, just like today, because neither of us could stand knowing that the room was sitting there, needing cleaning,” Janet replied with a laugh.

  Joan chuckled. “You’re right, of course. I couldn’t possibly sit around and relax if I knew there were chores to do.”

  Their first new arrivals appeared just before two o’clock.

  “Hello, hello,” the man greeted the sisters. “I’m Charles Walters and this is Lynne.”

  Charles looked to be somewhere in his sixties, with patches of grey hair dotted around his head. His eyes were a soft blue that Janet thought would make a pretty dress. He had a little round tummy and short legs, and Janet wondered what he’d looked like when he and his wife had first met. Lynne was a few years younger and seemed to be fighting aging somewhat more successfully than her spouse. She was slender and her hair was a dark brown that was probably dyed, but had been done well enough that Janet wasn’t completely certain. She was a couple of inches taller than Janet’s five feet, three inches, which also made her a few inches taller than Charles.

  “Welcome to Doveby House,” Joan told the pair. Janet held the door open while the man carried in their cases.

  “I hope you had a nice drive up,” she said politely as the man struggled in with the final suitcase.

  “Oh, it wasn’t bad,” he said jovially. “We’re just in Derby, you see.”

  “You live in Derby?” Janet asked, feeling confused.

  Charles chuckled. “Well, on the outskirts, on the opposite side of it from here. I love to get away, you see, but I don’t like to drive too far.”

  Janet nodded. “It’s always nice to get away from real life for a while, isn’t it?”

  “Charles, darling, you mustn’t bore the woman. I’m sure she couldn’t care less where we’re from,” Lynne said.

  Janet glanced at her. She sounded angry for some reason.

  Charles flushed. “Of course, dear.” He turned to Janet. “You mustn’t mind me. I am rather inclined to prattle on.”

  “We’d like to pay for the week in advance,” Lynne said to Joan. “In cash, if that’s okay.”

  Joan and Janet exchanged glances. “Of course you may do whatever you like,” Joan replied. “But if you’d rather not part with so much cash up front, I’m happy for you to pay for a day or two at a time or put some portion of the stay on a credit card, if you’d like.”

  “No, I think cash is best,” Lynne said. “And I’d rather pay now. If we don’t, we might just find ourselves out of money when it comes time to leave. Charles has a bad habit of overspending on souvenirs.”

  “I believe the time we ran out of cash it was because someone had bought themselves a rather pricey pair of earrings,” Charles protested. “I believe your jewellery habit is a bit more dangerous than my inability to resist pointless trinkets.”

  Lynne laughed, but it sounded forced. “You could be right, my dear. Do get the room paid for, won’t you? Then we can go out and do some shopping.”

  Charles pulled out a wallet and counted out a great many twenty-pound notes. After counting it all a second time, he handed the money to Joan. “I do hope that’s the right amount,” he said.

  Joan nodded. “That’s it exactly,” she agreed. She slipped the stack of notes into a pocket and then she and Janet showed the guests to their room. As they had arrived first, Joan decided to put them in the larger of the guest rooms.

  “I hope you’ll have everything you need,” Joan said in the room’s doorway. “We don’t do evening meals, but I can recommend a number of local restaurants to you.”

  “For tonight, I think we’ll just go and explore,” Charles replied. “If we have trouble finding places we like, we’ll take you up on that, though.”

  “You have a key to the front door, so you can come and go as you please, of course,” Joan told them.

  “I suspect we’ll want to turn in fairly early. Lynne’s an early riser, even when she’s on holiday,” Charles said, earning an angry look from his companion.

  “What time would you like breakfast, then?” Joan asked.

  “Oh, I think eight would be good, wouldn’t it?” Charles replied, looking at Lynne for confirmation.

  “Eight would be fine,” Lynne agreed.

  “I usually do a full English breakfast for guests,” Joan said. “Would that suit you both or would you rather have something else?”

  “Whatever is easiest for you,” Charles said. “We’re pretty easy to please.”

  Lynne looked as if she might argue, but then she sighed and kept quiet. Joan glanced at Janet.

  “We’ll get out of your way, then,” Janet said brightly. “Do let us know if you need anything.”

  The sisters headed back down the stairs. In the sitting room, Joan pulled out the notes and the pair quickly went through them.

  “They all seem fine,” Janet said after a moment.

  “You almost sound disappointed,” Joan replied.

  “They’re here from Derby,” Janet said. “Robert said there were lots of the fake notes there. They might have taken one as change or something, that’s all.”

  “I’m glad you aren’t suspicious of our guests,” Joan said. “They seem like a lovely couple.”

  “I thought they seemed a bit odd,” Janet replied. “Charles was friendly enough, but Lynne seemed on edge about something.”

  “Yes, well, as long as it isn’t anything to do with Doveby House, it isn’t our concern,” Joan replied. “I’m going to put the money in the safe. What are you going to do?”

  Before Janet could reply, there was a knock on the door.

  “I think I’ll answer the door,” she told Joan.

  The couple on the doorstep were considerably younger than Charles and Lynne Walters.

  “Hi, we’re Peter and Paula Ellsworth,” the young woman said.

  “Welcome to Doveby House,” Janet replied. She stepped back to let them in, looking them over curiously.

  Neither could be much over thirty, she decided. Peter had his dirty blond hair pulled back into a ponytail that oddly seemed to suit him. He was slender and was wearing those glasses that darken in sunlight. For some reason they didn’t seem to lighten up much as he stepped inside the house.

  Paula was even thinner than her husband, and Janet found herself wanting to urge the girl to eat a few biscuits. She looked tired and stressed about something, in spite of her perfectly styled hair and immaculate makeup.

  They were both dressed in jeans and T-shirts, but neither looked especially comfortable in them. Peter carried their one small suitcase in as they entered the house. Joan joined them as Janet pushed the front door shut.

  “Welcome, I’ll just show you to your room,” she said.

  Janet followed her sister and the pair up the stairs. Joan opened
the door to the smaller guest room and Peter and Paula shuffled inside. Joan explained about the key to the front door, but her only reply was a vague shrug from Peter.

  “I guess I just need to know what you’d like for breakfast, and an approximate time that you’ll be down,” Joan said finally.

  “Oh, I was, that is, I’d rather not, oh,” Paula said, looking at Peter.

  “We’d rather not commit to much of anything,” Peter told Joan. “We’re on holiday, after all. We both have very high pressure jobs and we were looking forward to not having to plan a thing for the next week.”

  Joan nodded and smiled, but Janet could tell the smile was forced. “Of course,” Joan said. “Breakfast will be available any time between eight and midday. After that you’ll have to find somewhere for lunch, I’m afraid.”

  Peter nodded. “We don’t mean to inconvenience you,” he said tentatively.

  “It’s no problem,” Joan insisted.

  “Thank you,” Paula said quietly from where she’d sat down on the side of the bed.

  Joan nodded, and then she and Janet walked out into the corridor. Joan pulled the door shut behind them. It was barely closed before they heard raised voices coming from the room.

  Janet took a step closer, but resisted the urge to push her ear to the door. She could tell the couple was arguing, but she couldn’t make out any of the words.

  “They definitely need a holiday,” Joan murmured as she pulled Janet away from the door and towards the stairs.

  “Where have the Ellsworths come from?” Janet asked when the sisters were back in the sitting room.

  “Let me check my records,” Joan said. She disappeared into her suite for a short time and then returned.

  “Oddly enough, according to the letter they sent requesting a room, they live in Derby, too,” she told Janet.

  Chapter Four

  The house always seemed different to Janet when they had guests. Feeling as if both sets of new arrivals were rather unusual, Janet took herself off to the library, the room where she felt most at home. She shut the door behind her and turned in a slow circle. The space was just about perfect, being filled completely with bookshelves that stretched from floor to ceiling. Every shelf was full of books and ahead of her Janet had the wonderful job of sorting them all out.

  Having been working on cleaning the room for the last several months, she had only a single set of shelves left to clean. The shelves on the back wall had revealed two hidden panels. The sisters had managed to open one, which was where they’d found Piggy, with the key and coins. They hadn’t yet found a way to open the second panel. Now, as Janet turned her attention to the last shelf, she wondered what might be hidden behind that second panel.

  She wasn’t surprised, but she was excited, when she discovered yet another hidden panel behind one of the last set of shelves. After carefully piling that row of books on the floor, Janet tried pushing, then sliding, the panel. For a moment it seemed quite stuck, but then, suddenly, it slid open. Janet shouted for Joan and then forced herself to wait until her sister appeared before looking inside the small hole in the wall that had been revealed.

  “What’s wrong?” Joan asked, slightly out of breath.

  “I found another hidden panel,” Janet said excitedly. She switched on the torch that she’d dug out of the desk while she’d waited for Joan. “Let’s see what we’ve found.”

  The light lit up the small space. “It’s an old oak tantalus,” Janet said as she reached in and picked up the object. “There are crystal decanters and everything. And it’s very heavy.”

  Joan took it from her and turned it slowly in her hands. “It’s beautiful,” she said after a moment. “And, as you say, very heavy.”

  Janet laughed as Joan quickly set the object down on the desk in the corner of the room.

  “It must be an antique,” Janet said.

  “I don’t understand why it was tucked away inside a hidden compartment,” Joan told her. “Even if it is an antique, I can’t imagine it’s that valuable.”

  Janet shrugged. “I suppose we could take it to William and ask him what it’s worth,” she said.

  Joan nodded. “We needed an excuse to see him anyway,” she reminded her sister. “You couldn’t have found that at a better time.”

  “I’ll just go and find a nice big empty box to put it in,” Janet said, thoughtfully. “And an old bed sheet or something to wrap around it. I’d hate for it to get damaged while we’re moving it around.”

  “Perhaps we should leave the decanters here,” Joan suggested.

  Janet tried to lift them out of the cabinet, but couldn’t. They were firmly locked into place. “I don’t suppose I missed the key?” she asked.

  Joan picked up the torch and carefully checked the inside of the hidden compartment. “I don’t see a key,” she said after a moment.

  Janet was wiggling the stopper on the top of one of the decanters. “It seems like I should be able to get this out of here,” she said after a moment. “But I’m worried I might break something.”

  “Maybe we should invite William to come here and take a look,” Joan suggested. “That way we can be sure of having a private conversation with him as well. You never know who might be in the shop with him if we just stop by.”

  Both women immediately thought of Karen Holmes. While she seemed nice enough, neither sister was eager to get to know her better.

  “I’ll finish the cleaning in here and then ring William and see if he can stop by this evening,” Janet told Joan. “I know you’ll be busy with dinner.”

  Joan smiled. “That sounds like a hint,” she said.

  “It is nearly five,” Janet said after glancing at the clock on the desk. “That’s probably why I’m so hungry.”

  “I’ll get started on dinner, then,” Joan told her. “Just don’t forget to ring William. Maybe you should do that before you finish the cleaning.”

  Janet grinned. Joan was always the first to insist that Janet clear up her messes before doing other things. Clearly, Joan really wanted a chance to talk to William. As Joan headed back to the kitchen, Janet found William’s business card with the number for the store on it.

  “WTC Antiques,” a perky female voice said when the call was answered.

  “Oh, good afternoon,” Janet said, frowning at the phone. Surely William wasn’t having Karen answer the store’s phone? “I was hoping to speak to William,” she said after an awkward pause.

  “He’s just with a customer. I’ll see if he can spare a moment. Who shall I say is ringing?”

  Janet scowled at the receiver. “It’s Janet Markham,” she replied tightly.

  “Just hold on for a moment,” the voice replied.

  Janet heard the woman put the phone down on the table. The loud bang was probably unintentional, she tried to tell herself. A few moments later, she heard footsteps.

  “Ah, Janet, what can I do for you?” William’s voice boomed down the line.

  “William, Joan and I have found a tantalus and we were hoping you might have time to stop by and take a look. We were just wondering what it might be worth. We didn’t want to try to bring it to you, as the decanters seem quite fragile.”

  “I’d be delighted to stop and take a look,” William replied. “Did you have a date in mind?”

  “We were hoping you might be free this evening,” Janet said. “But if not, whenever you are available.”

  “I can certainly do this evening,” William told her. “I’ll stop by around half seven, if that suits you.”

  “That would be just about perfect,” Janet answered. “We’ll be done with dinner and ready for tea and biscuits about then.”

  “Excellent. I’ll see you then.”

  Janet put down the phone and then sighed deeply. Back to cleaning, then, she thought to herself. It didn’t really take long for her to finishing clearing and cleaning the last set of shelves. With that job out of the way, now she could start thinking about reordering the books
.

  Sinking down into the comfortable leather chair in one corner of the room, Janet looked happily at the rows and rows of books. They were hers to do as she pleased with and she couldn’t wait to get started. Before she could do anything, though, she had to figure out exactly how she wanted to arrange things. There were several different “library classification” systems that she could use, but Janet felt as if she wanted to create her own system.

  How I do it doesn’t matter, she told herself. What she needed to be able to do was to know exactly what they had and exactly where each book was on the shelves. The more she thought about it, the more she was tempted to develop a scheme that let her classify the books by how much she liked or disliked them. Of course she didn’t have time to read every single book, but she could at least sort the genres by how much she liked each one. She laughed to herself. She’d never be able to tell Joan what system she was using. Joan simply wouldn’t approve.

  With paper and pencil in hand, Janet spent the last few minutes until dinner working through her plans. She’d start with her favourite genres in the corner by the very comfortable chair. That way, when she was curled up in it, they’d be close to hand. Within genres, it made the most sense for her to arrange the titles by the author’s last name. She thought briefly about sorting by the author’s first names, just to be different, but then realised that such a method would put Agatha Christie’s books on the very top shelf in the mystery section. As they were among her favourites, she decided she’d much rather have them closer to eye level.

  She was just about to start looking at book titles when Joan stuck her head into the room.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Joan announced.

  Janet sighed. “It was just about to get interesting,” she complained.

  “I made apple crumble,” Joan replied.

  Janet grinned. Apple crumble was her favourite pudding. It was just about worth leaving the book sorting for apple crumble. She followed her sister to the kitchen, hoping Joan sister had made something she wasn’t overly fond of for dinner so she could leave lots of room for crumble.