The Ellsworth Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 5) (10 page)

Charles walked quickly up the stairs, with
Lynne following more slowly behind.
 

“Do we have to return some of their money?”
Janet asked her sister.

“I suppose we should,” Joan replied.
 
“Although I don’t know that we’re
obliged to do so.
 
I’ll offer, at
least.
 
That seems the right thing
to do.”

Janet nodded.
 
“It does.”

When the pair came back down the stairs a
few minutes later, Charles was carrying their bags.
 

“Thank you both for everything,” he said
loudly.

“You’re entitled to some money back, as
you’re leaving early,” Joan said.

“Oh, no, it’s entirely our fault, not
yours,” Charles told her.

“We should get some of our money back,”
Lynne argued.

“I said it’s fine,” Charles snapped at
her.
 
“Let’s go.”

“But I paid for half of this week away,”
Lynne said.

“You can afford it,” Charles told her.
 
“I’m going now.
 
Are you coming?”

Janet and Joan wondered for a moment if she
was going to refuse, but after staring at the man for a long time, she finally
nodded.
 
“For the last time,” she
muttered, clutching her handbag.

Janet and Joan watched as they loaded their
bags into the car and then drove away.

“We never did tell him his wife was here,”
Janet said as Joan shut the door behind them.

“I suspect he knows anyway,” Joan replied.

“Perhaps I should ring Robert and tell him what’s
happened,” Janet said.

“I suppose you should,” Joan agreed.
 
“It seems like the sort of thing he’d be
interested in.”

Susan answered, and after they’d exchanged
pleasantries, she put Robert on.

“I just wanted to let you know that Charles
and Lynne Walters have just left,” Janet told the man.
 
“Except she isn’t really his wife.
 
His real wife is called Harriet and she
tracked them down here, which is why they cut their holiday short.”

“I’m not sure any of that is criminal,”
Robert said when Janet finished.

“No, but it suggests that they aren’t as
nice as we’d thought,” Janet replied.
 
“If you’re the sort to cheat on your wife with your secretary, maybe
you’re the sort to spend fake money as well.”

“I’ll make sure someone takes a good look
the pair,” Robert assured her.

“Make sure someone looks at Karen Holmes, as
well,” Janet said.
 
“When we stopped
to visit the antique store earlier, she was shouting some rather awful things
at poor William.”

“Really?
 
That is interesting,” Robert said.
 
“She’s always seemed rather quiet and
reserved when I’ve spent time with her.”

“Well, she certainly wasn’t either of those
this morning,” Janet replied.
 
“She
didn’t know we were there, of course.
 
Once she and William
realised
they had
company, she was back to her usual self.”

“I’ll take a closer look at her,” Robert said.
 
“There’s something wrong there, but I’m
not sure what it is.”

“Do let us know if she turns out to be the
counterfeiter,” Janet said.

“I think it’s more likely she’s a gold
digger, hoping to hook herself a wealthy second husband.
 
I’m going to check into her past a bit
and see exactly what her first husband has left her with.”

“William isn’t my
favourite
person,” Janet admitted, “but I’d hate to see him taken advantage of by that
woman.”

“Yes, well, I’ll see what I can do to make
sure that doesn’t happen,”
Robert
replied.

Janet hung up the phone and headed for the
kitchen.
 
No doubt Joan was busy
with the preparations for lunch.
 
She’d only gone a few steps when someone knocked on the door.
 

“Ah, Jean, right, or are you Julie?” Karen
asked in a bright voice when Janet opened the door.
 
“A little bird told me you have an
unexpectedly empty guest room.
 
I do
hope you’ll be able to accommodate me now.”

Chapter Ten

Janet simply stared at the woman for a
minute.
 
Who had told her about the
Walters leaving early?
 
And how
could she and Joan get out of letting her stay?
 

“Can I come in, then?” Karen asked, smiling
broadly.
 
“I’m so eager to see more
of your lovely home.”

“I guess,” Janet said, stepping backwards.

“Janet?” Joan’s voice came from behind
her.
 

“Ah, there you are, Jeannette,” Karen said,
crossing the room to Joan’s side.
 
“I was just telling your sister, Janice, that I’d heard you have an
empty room.
 
I do hope you’ll let me
stay for a few days.”

“It’s Janet,” Janet said, trying to catch
Joan’s eye.
 
There was no way she
wanted this woman in their house, but she didn’t know how to tell Joan that
without Karen noticing.

“I don’t know,” Joan said.
 
“The other guests have only just left.
 
We haven’t had time to make up the room
or anything.”

“You have all day,” Karen said with a
laugh.
 
“I’m going down to the store
to spend the day with William.
 
As
long as it’s ready by, oh, maybe ten o’clock tonight, that will be fine.”

“I don’t think we can do that,” Joan
said.
 
“We have other things to do
today besides get that room ready.
 
Anyway, we’re just about to close up for Christmas, as soon as our other
guests leave.
 
We really don’t want
to take on any new guests right now.”

“Money’s no object,” Karen said, opening her
handbag.
 
She pulled out a wallet
and slid out a stack of twenty-pound notes.
 
“I’ll pay double your normal rates, just
for a few nights,” she told the sisters.
 
“I need to be closer to William, you see.”

“And he doesn’t have a guest room?” Janet
asked.

Karen frowned.
 
“Oh, I couldn’t stay with him,” she
said.
 
“It simply wouldn’t be
proper.”

“I’m sorry, but we simply can’t accommodate
you at the moment,” Joan said.
 
“We
have some openings in January, if that’s any good to you.”

The woman frowned.
 
“How much?” she demanded.
 
“I’ll pay you three hundred pounds a
night.
 
Surely that’s enough?”

“It isn’t about the money,” Joan said.
 
“We’re closing for Christmas.”

“I’ll just stay until your other guests
leave,” Karen offered.
 
“A couple of
nights should be enough.”

“Enough for what?” Janet asked.

“Oh, I mean long enough, long enough for me
to figure out how I really feel about William,” Karen replied.
 
“I think I’m really falling for him, you
see, but I need to be sure.
 
I said,
after Lester died, that I’d never marry again.”

Janet and Joan exchanged looks.
 
Neither was quite sure how to deal with
the situation.

“Look, just let me stay one night,” Karen
said.
 
“William and I are having
dinner together tonight and we’re going to have a long talk.
 
That should go a long way towards
helping me work out my feelings.”

“One night,” Joan said tightly.
 
“We’ll put fresh bedding on the bed, but
we won’t have time to air it properly.”

“That’s fine,” Karen said happily.
 
She counted out fifteen notes and held
them out to Joan.
 
“I’ll be the
perfect guest, I promise,” she said.
 
“Thank you, too, Jennifer,” she said to Janet.
 
“I’ll see you both later.”
 
She turned and let herself out, leaving
Joan and Janet to stare after her.
 

“She didn’t get the keys,” Joan said after a
moment.
 
“I guess we’ll have to wait
up for her.”

“You will,” Janet said grumpily.
 
“Janice, Jennifer and I are all going to
bed early.”

Joan laughed.
 
“It’s only one night,” she told Janet.

“What about the notes?
 
Are they fakes?” Janet asked.

Joan looked at money that was still in her
hand.
 
“I don’t know,” she
said.
 
“But I think we should have
Robert take a look.”

Janet rang the police station for the second
time that day.
 
Robert agreed to
stop at
Doveby
House some time in the afternoon.
 
With that sorted, after a quick lunch,
Janet headed to the library.
 
She
was just counting how many titles on the first bookcase were mysteries when she
heard the front door open.
 

Paula Ellsworth was sitting on the couch in
the sitting room when Janet walked in a moment later.
 
She looked as if she’d been crying.

“Are you okay, my dear?” Janet asked.

“Oh, I didn’t hear you come in,” the woman
replied.
 
“I’m fine.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Janet said.
 
“You’ve been crying and you’re clearly
upset.
 
It’s not my business, of
course, but if you want someone to talk to, I’ll be in the library at the back
of the house.”

She’d only just finished one shelf when
Paula appeared in the doorway.
 
“This is amazing,” Paula gasped.
 
“Look at all the books.
 
I
could spend forever in here, just reading my way around the room.”

Janet smiled.
 
“It’s my
favourite
room in the house,” she told the woman.

“You’re very lucky to have it,” Paula
replied.
 
“It’s just about perfect
in every way.”

“I’m trying to
organise
it,” Janet explained.
 
“At the
moment the books are just shelved randomly.
 
I’m trying to sort them into
categories.”

“What a wonderful job,” Paula said.
 
“It would take me forever, though, because
I’d keep stopping to read the books.”

Janet nodded.
 
“That’s why it’s taking me a long time,”
she said.
 
“But I guess there really
isn’t any rush.”

“Do you have children?” Paula asked.

Janet blinked at the unexpected question.

“Oh, goodness, I didn’t mean to be rude,”
Paula
said, blushing.
 
“It’s just, that is, I mean, I am sorry, just ignore me.”

Janet looked at her curiously.
 
“I don’t mind,” she said softly.
 
“When I was young, maybe in my teens, I
was sure I’d get married and have children one day.
 
But then I started teaching and I loved
it.
 
I didn’t really want to have to
give that up, you see.”

“Why would you have had to give up
teaching?” Paula asked.

“In those days, married women didn’t work,”
Janet
explained.
 
“Once you were married, you were meant to stay home and start a
family.
 
Perhaps, if I’d found the
right man, I would have done just that, but I never seemed to find the right
man.”

“I’ve found the perfect man,” Paula
said.
 
“Peter is amazing and he
makes me so happy.
 
But we want
children so badly, and…” she trailed off and looked at the ground.

Janet put down the book she was holding and
crossed to her side.
 
She put an arm
around the woman and patted her back gently.
 
“Not everyone finds making babies easy,”
she said softly.
 
“I’m sorry.”

The woman began to cry.
 
“We always thought, that is, I mean, we
were so worried for so many years about not getting pregnant that we just
assumed that once we stopped trying to prevent it, we’d be pregnant right
away.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about getting
pregnant,” Janet said.
 

The woman managed a small chuckle.
 
“I know everything about it,” she told
Janet.
 
“And we’re planning to try
everything, whatever it costs.
 
Our
doctor suggested a short holiday before we start with hormone treatments.
 
She said we needed to relax and get rid
of all of our stress before we start.”

“Nothing like being told to relax to make
you tense,” Janet said dryly.

Now Paula laughed.
 
“Absolutely,” she said.
 
“Peter and I are driving each other
crazy trying not to talk about babies or children or anything and we’re both so
worried about what might happen or not happen that we can’t even talk to one
another.”

“I’m afraid your doctor was quite right,”
Janet said.
 
“You really do need to
try to relax.”

Paula nodded.
 
“I know you’re right and so was she, but
it’s so hard.
 
It’s like watching
the future I was planning for disappearing in front of me.
 
We always thought we’d have three kids,
a boy and then a girl and then a bonus baby that could be either.
 
We even bought a four-bedroom house so we’d
be ready for everyone when they arrived.”

Janet could hear the suppressed tears in the
woman’s words.
 
“And you might still
need them all,” she said.
 
“Or maybe
not.
 
But as you can’t see the
future, you can only work on today.
 
Today you need to relax and rediscover some joy in your life just the
way it is, not the way you want it to be.
 
Come with me.
 
We’ll have tea
and cake.”

Paula managed a small smile.
 
“Tea doesn’t fix everything,” she said
softly.

“But it doesn’t hurt, either,” Janet said
firmly.

In the kitchen, Joan was bustling around,
fussing over the Christmas puddings and her homemade mincemeat.
 

“We need tea and cake,” Janet
announced.
 

“I’ve just finished a jam
roly
poly,” Joan said.
 
“It was going to be for after dinner, but I’m prepared to pretend not to
notice if you each want a slice now.”

Janet put the kettle on while Joan served
the pudding.

“Don’t you want any?” Paula asked as Joan
put out two plates with generous cake slices on them.

“Oh, well, maybe just a small piece,” Joan
said, looking a bit guilty.

The trio sipped their tea and ate their cake
while they talked about the weather and the approaching holidays.
 
Janet was pleased to see the younger
woman relax, at least a little bit, as they did so.

“Oh, hey, no one said there was cake,” Peter
said from the
doorway
as the women were finishing up
their last bites.

“Only for the girls,” Janet told him.

“That isn’t quite fair,” Peter said.
 
“But as you’ve made my lovely wife
smile, I won’t complain.”

Paula stood up.
 
“It’s nearly time for dinner and I’m not
the least bit hungry,” she said, winking at Janet.
 
“Maybe we could go for a long walk and
I’ll be able to work up an appetite.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Peter said.

“Thank you,” Paula said to Janet.
 
“You’re right.
 
I need to enjoy right now more, instead
of obsessing over the future.
 
Everyone keeps telling me that, but somehow you’ve made it sound
eminently sensible.”

The couple left the kitchen hand in hand.
 
Janet followed them to the door and
watched them walk away together.
 
She sighed and hoped she’d been able to help.
 
Before she could close the door behind
them, she spotted Robert’s police car turning onto their street.

“Ah, good afternoon,” she called to the man
as he climbed out of the car.

“Good afternoon,” he replied as he reached
the steps to the front door.
 
“I’m
sorry I didn’t get here earlier.
 
It’s been a busy day.”

“Does that mean you’ve caught the
counterfeiter?” Janet asked.

“I wish,” Robert replied.
 
“It turns out the man they arrested in
Derby was nothing to do with the fake notes.
 
Oh, he’s guilty of plenty of other
things and we’re all glad he’s been arrested, but we were all really hoping he
was behind the counterfeits as well.
 
Now we’re back to square one, really, on that case.”