The Hampton Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 8) Read online

  The Hampton Case

  A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella

  Diana Xarissa

  Copyright © 2017 Diana Xarissa

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Author’s Note

  Letter to Bessie, part one

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Letter to Bessie, part two

  Glossary of Terms

  Other Notes

  Acknowledgments

  The Irwin Case

  By the Same Author

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Here we go again! Welcome to the eighth book in the Markham Sisters novella series. As always, I suggest you read my series books in order, but they can each be read on their own if you prefer.

  The novellas contain short introductions and conclusions in the form of sections of letters from Janet Markham to Bessie Cubbon (the protagonist in the Aunt Bessie – Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series). Janet and Joan met Bessie in Aunt Bessie Decides, and they have stayed in touch. You do not need to read that series in order to enjoy this one, however.

  Like the Bessie books, with these novellas I use English spellings and terms rather than their US equivalents. A glossary and notes are available at the end of the book to explain some of them to readers outside of the UK. As I’ve been living in the US for the last eight years, I suspect more and more Americanisms are sneaking into these stories. I am sorry, and I do try to correct them when I can.

  This is a work of fiction and all of the characters are fictional creations. Any resemblance that they may share with any real person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The sisters live in a fictional village in Derbyshire. Although some shops or businesses may bear some resemblance to real-life businesses, that is also coincidental.

  I love to hear from readers and welcome your comments and questions. My contact details are available on the About the Author page at the back of the book.

  22 March 1999

  Dearest Bessie,

  My goodness, things have been busy for you, haven’t they? The wedding sounds like it was lovely and I’m sure your wonderful surprise gift for the happy couple was the perfect present.

  We’ve been busy here as well. Paul is still staying with us, but otherwise we’ve been rather short on paying guests. Edward Bennett did come and stay for a short while, though, which was, well, interesting.

  He’d only just arrived when we all found ourselves wondering and worrying about an arsonist, of all things.

  Chapter One

  “He’ll be here tomorrow,” Janet said as she dusted the top of the bedside table in the smaller of the two guest rooms.

  “Yes, and the room is ready,” Joan told her. She’d only just switched off the vacuum cleaner, having vacuumed the room thoroughly.

  “I wish I felt ready,” Janet said. She glanced at herself in the mirror on the wall and frowned. She needed a haircut and was that a new wrinkle? Rubbing the side of her nose, she was relieved to discover that the wrinkle in question was simply a smudge of dust. But that didn’t help at all with her hair.

  “You look fine,” Joan said soothingly.

  Janet looked at her and shook her head. “I need a haircut.”

  “You’re worrying over nothing. It isn’t like you’re meeting the man for the first time.”

  That might be easier, Janet thought. She wouldn’t mind a chance to redo her first encounter with Edward Bennett, actually. She’d been rather rude to the man when he’d turned up on their doorstep only a few days after they’d purchased Doveby House, the bed and breakfast that she and her sister were now running as a more or less successful business.

  “I wonder if I could get an appointment for a haircut tomorrow morning very early?” Janet said.

  “You want to be here when Edward arrives,” Joan reminded her. “And you don’t know when that will be.”

  Janet frowned and nodded. Edward was either mysterious or secretive, depending on how Janet was feeling at any given time. Usually, just after she’d spoken to him, she felt that he was mysterious in an exciting way. When he wouldn’t answer simple questions or was deliberately vague, she was more inclined to think of him as secretive.

  “He said he’d be here as soon as he can be,” Janet replied. “But you never know what traffic coming out of London is going to be like.”

  “I certainly don’t,” Joan agreed. “I’ve never driven in London, and I don’t intend to start now.”

  It was unlikely that either sister would ever drive in the busy and bustling city of London. They’d lived in the northern part of England for their entire lives and neither had any intention of changing that. When they did travel to London, they did so by train, and then relied on the underground system to get them around the city. That was much easier and less costly than trying to take a car into the city.

  Janet ran her duster over the nightstand again, trying to polish away her nerves.

  “Come on,” Joan said. “The room is ready. We aren’t accomplishing anything in here now.”

  Joan marched out of the room, pushing the vacuum cleaner as she went. Janet followed her slowly, stopping to lock the guest room door before she returned her dust cloth to the storage cupboard on the landing.

  “We need to keep you busy,” Joan said. “You can help me with dinner.”

  Janet frowned as she followed her sister down the stairs and into the large kitchen. Joan was the cook in the family and she was very good at it. Janet was the eater, a role that she felt suited her perfectly. She patted a rounded hip and then sighed. Maybe she should eat a bit less and cook a bit more, she thought, as Joan handed her a potato peeler.

  “Please peel about six potatoes,” Joan told her.

  Janet made a face, but began to do what she’d been told. “Is Paul going to be here for dinner?” she asked as she worked.

  “He’s working late tonight,” Joan replied. “I’ll leave something for him to reheat when he gets in.”

  Paul Nichols was a pleasant young man in his twenties. He was staying with the sisters for a few months while he was working for their friend William Chalmers. William owned a small antique shop in the centre of Doveby Dale. Paul had found himself in some trouble in London, and his father had sent him to Doveby Dale to work with William as a punishment. The young man was thoroughly enjoying his northern exile, however, and everyone was sorry that he was due to return to London at the end of the month.

  “Merrowww,” a voice said from the kitchen doorway.

  “Ah, Aggie, I did wonder when you’d turn up,” Janet said. She stopped what she was doing to get the kitten some dinner.

  “She always turns up when she’s hungry,” Joan pointed out. “And she’s hungry every few hours.”

  Little Aggie, short for Agatha Christie, had been an unexpected surprise gift from Edward Bennett only a month or so earlier. Janet loved the little kitten a surprising amount, considering she’d never had a pet before and had never felt as if she were missing anything. Joan was less fond of little Aggie, but Janet didn’t care, as Aggie was her pet.

  Once dinner was cooking, Joan set to work on making pudding. “I’m making apple crumble,” she told Janet.

  “My favourite?” Janet asked, suddenly suspicious. “Why?”

  “I thought you needed food
that will make you happy tonight,” Joan said.

  “You think Edward is going to make me unhappy?”

  “I’m just not sure about the man,” Joan said. “He turned up out of the blue, knew more about Margaret Appleton and Doveby House than we do, and then disappeared after telling you he was some sort of secret government agent. I don’t trust him.”

  Margaret Appleton had been the previous owner of Doveby House. She had something of a wild reputation, and if Edward was to be believed, she had occasionally allowed him to use Doveby House as a sort of safe house for hiding witnesses and other people that needed a place to stay where they wouldn’t be recognised. Janet wasn’t sure what to believe about Edward or about his relationship with Maggie Appleton.

  “I don’t trust him, either,” she told her sister. “But he did give me Aggie and the beautiful painting in my room. I have to be nice to him.”

  Edward had a habit of ringing Janet unexpectedly, and during one such phone call she’d mentioned that she’d seen a painting she liked. A short time later, the painting had been delivered to her, courtesy of Edward. She couldn’t remember ever mentioning wanting a kitten, but Aggie had been delivered by Edward’s sister, who’d stayed with the Markhams for a few days.

  “I should have told him we’re full,” Joan said.

  “He probably would have found out that you were lying,” Janet replied. “And then we’d probably be in all sorts of trouble.”

  “We don’t have to welcome guests if we don’t want to. I could have simply told him not to come.”

  “But I want to see him,” Janet argued. “I want the combination to the safe in the library, if nothing else.”

  “There is that,” Joan admitted. “It will be nice to see what’s in that safe.”

  Thus far Doveby House had been giving up its secrets a little bit at a time. The sisters had found several hidden panels in the library, but only managed to open some of them. They also knew about the safe in the library wall, and they knew that Edward had opened it on his previous visit. For some reason the combination he’d given them when he left didn’t open the safe, however.

  “Maybe the contents will be so valuable that we won’t have to take on paying guests anymore,” Janet said.

  “But I’d miss our guests.”

  Janet bit her tongue. Owning a bed and breakfast had been Joan’s secret dream for her entire life. She hadn’t ever mentioned it to Janet until they’d both retired from teaching primary school and suddenly come into a small and unexpected inheritance. Doveby House, a seventeenth-century manor house in Derbyshire, had come on the market at the same time, and once the sisters toured the home, they’d fallen in love with it. Actually, Joan had fallen in love with its possibilities as a bed and breakfast. Janet had only fallen in love with the fully stocked library.

  After dinner and an enormous helping of apple crumble, Janet made herself a bowl of microwave popcorn and took it into the small television lounge at the back of the house.

  “I’m just going over to Michael’s for half an hour,” Joan told her, as Janet settled in with one of her favourite programmes.

  “I’ll watch you walk across the road,” Janet offered.

  “It’s fine; Michael is here,” Joan assured her.

  Janet shook her head as her sister left the room. After sixty-plus years as a single woman, Joan was in her first relationship with a member of the opposite sex, and it still felt odd to Janet.

  Michael Donaldson lived in one half of the semi-detached property across the road from Doveby House. He was a retired chemist who’d been widowed some years earlier. While Janet thought he was handsome, she also thought he was a little bit dull, but that was part of what made him perfect for Joan.

  An hour later, when the popcorn was gone and the programme was finished, Joan wasn’t home yet. Janet wandered into the large sitting room with Aggie on her heels. The door swung open as they turned to go into the kitchen.

  “Ah, there’s my little Aggie,” Paul said. Aggie yelled a greeting and rushed at the man.

  Janet forced herself to smile as the kitten wound herself around Paul’s legs, purring loudly. Janet was only the tiniest bit jealous of how much Aggie loved Paul. The man was leaving soon anyway, so it hardly mattered.

  “How was your day?” Janet asked as Paul picked up Aggie and cuddled her close.

  “It was tiring,” Paul said. He sat on the nearest sofa and smiled up at Janet. “Tiring, but good. We made a few big sales, which is good news for William, as things had been quiet for a while.”

  “You’re still leaving at the end of the month?” Janet asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Paul said. “My father is insistent. This was meant to be a punishment, after all. I’m afraid I’m enjoying myself too much for him to be happy.”

  “Maybe you should start complaining about Doveby Dale,” Janet suggested. While she was jealous of the man’s relationship with her kitten, she genuinely liked him, and she knew she would miss him almost as much as Aggie would.

  “He wouldn’t believe me now,” Paul laughed. “Not after all the nice things I’ve said about it for the last month or so. I need to go back, really. I need to start learning how my father’s business operates. It’s going to be mine one day, after all.”

  “Joan is over at Michael’s, but she left you some dinner to reheat,” Janet told him.

  “I should make you and your sister move to London with me,” Paul said. “I’m getting very used to being spoiled rotten by you two.”

  Janet opened her mouth to reply, but yawned instead. “Oh, dear, I am sorry,” she said. Anticipation of Edward’s visit had been interfering with her sleep for the last few nights.

  “Why don’t you go up to bed?” Paul suggested. “I’ll wait up for Joan. She probably won’t be too much longer, anyway. She’s never out late.”

  Janet hesitated and then nodded. “If you’re sure you don’t mind,” she said. “I would like to have an early night. We have a guest arriving tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Joan told me,” Paul said. “I’ll try to stay out of his way.”

  “There’s no need for that,” Janet assured him.

  She headed up the stairs, with Aggie walking behind her reluctantly. She always slept with Janet, but that didn’t mean that she always wanted to go to bed when Janet did. No doubt she would have preferred to stay with Paul for a while longer, given the choice.

  In her room, Janet brushed her shoulder-length grey bob and stared at herself in the mirror. Everyone they ever met insisted that the sisters looked alike, but Janet never saw the resemblance when she looked in the mirror. Joan wore her hair in a shorter bob and her grey was more silvery than Janet’s. They did both have the same bright blue eyes, but Joan was two years older, considerably thinner, and slightly shorter than her younger sister.

  Aggie was already stretched out on one of the Janet’s pillows when she walked back into her bedroom. There were three books on Janet’s nightstand, and she opened the top one as she snuggled under the duvet. After forty minutes lost in a fictional world where handsome men and beautiful women were never exactly who they appeared to be, Janet was ready for some sleep. She switched off her light and put her head down on her pillow. Her brain instantly began to fill with thoughts of Edward, and her heart began to race as she remembered their romantic dinner together and the feel of his lips on hers.

  She tossed and turned for what felt like hours, annoying Aggie and herself, until she finally fell into a restless and dream-filled sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Unusually for Janet, she was up before her alarm the next morning. “You’re getting yourself all worked up for nothing,” she told her reflection as she combed her hair after her shower. “Edward is just another paying guest and you are far too old to be getting this giddy about seeing a man.”

  She stuck her tongue out at herself, annoyed that she’d called herself old. Sixty was the new forty, wasn’t it? And she wasn’t much past sixty, well, not t
oo much past sixty. Feeling like she was closer to sixteen than sixty, Janet headed down the stairs with Aggie on her heels. She could hear Joan in the kitchen, humming softly to herself.

  “Good morning,” Joan said brightly when Janet joined her. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Not really,” Janet admitted. “I’m a bit nervous about seeing Edward again.”

  “Well, you look lovely,” Joan said.

  Janet flushed. She was hoping her sister might not notice just how much extra effort she’d put into her appearance today. “I’m not sure about the skirt,” Janet said. “Maybe I should just put trousers on.”

  “The skirt is very pretty, and it doesn’t look like you’ve dressed up for the occasion,” Joan told her. “I think it’s just right.”

  Janet made a face. She’d always hated getting fashion advice from her older sister.

  “Stop fussing and sit down,” Joan said. “I’ve made pancakes as a special treat today.”

  “May I have chocolate chips in mine?” Janet asked, feeling more like she was six again as she waited for Joan’s reply.

  Joan hesitated and then chuckled. “I suppose I may as well indulge you,” she said. “Will you still want maple syrup?”

  “Yes,” Janet told her. Of course she still wanted syrup.

  Joan mixed a handful of chocolate chips into the pancake batter while Janet bit her tongue. Asking her sister to add more would have been pushing her luck, even if Janet did think Joan was being incredibly stingy with the chips. A few minutes later, Joan slid a plate full of beautifully cooked pancakes in front of her.

  “They look almost too good to eat,” Janet said as she picked up her knife and fork. A moment later she continued. “And they taste wonderful.”

  Joan nodded. “Paul liked his as well, although he didn’t get chocolate chips.”

  “I’m glad you like me better than Paul,” Janet laughed.

  “I didn’t say that,” Joan told her. “He just didn’t think to ask.”