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

  The Ellsworth Case

  A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella

  Diana Xarissa

  Copyright © 2016 Diana Xarissa

  All Rights Reserved

  For Mom, who loves everything I write.

  Acknowledgements

  There are so many people who deserve thanks for their efforts.

  First, I want to thank my readers. You are the reason I keep doing this, even when I’d rather be eating chocolate in front of the television. (Which is what hubby thinks I do all day, anyway.)

  I need to (always) thank my editor, Denise, who puts up with all my grammar foibles and still keeps editing!

  My beta readers for this series, Charlene and Janice, are a huge help in so many ways. I always get great feedback from them both and truly enjoy the fact that we’ve become friends over the course of many books.

  I’d love to hear from you. My contact details are in the back of the book. Thank you for your continued support.

  Table of Contents

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  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

  The Fenton Case

  By the Same Author

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  I’m having way too much fun writing these novellas. Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love writing about Bessie and her friends, and there’s nothing better than helping a couple find their “happily ever after” when writing a romance, but there is something especially fun about this series. (For me, anyway.) I don’t know for sure what it is, but I hope all of you are enjoying it as much as I am.

  Having said that, this is the fifth novella in the series. I suggest you read them in (alphabetical) order, but you don’t have to; each novella should stand on its own. Those of you who have been with me from the first book will already know that the Markham sisters first appeared in Aunt Bessie Decides in my Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series.

  Janet, the younger of the two sisters, continues to write regularly to Bessie. This lets me open and close each novella with excerpts from those letters. I use this method to introduce and wrap up each story. You don’t need to read the Bessie books to enjoy this series.

  As the novellas are set in Derbyshire, England, I have used English spellings and terms. In the back of the book is a glossary of terms and some notes designed to help readers outside the UK with words that might be unfamiliar to them. The longer I live in the US, the greater the likelihood of Americanisms sneaking into the text, although I do try to eliminate them.

  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.

  Please feel free to get in touch with any comments, questions, or concerns. I have a monthly newsletter that provides updates on new releases and information about promotions and giveaways. All of the details for subscribing or getting in touch are available on the About the Author page at the back of the book.

  15th December, 1998

  Dearest Bessie,

  A very Merry Christmas to you. I do hope that you are enjoying the festive season. Joan and I have been enjoying decorating our new home for the very first time. I’m sure my sister thinks I’ve gone rather overboard, but I have insisted on putting trees in several different rooms. We have so much lovely space, compared to the tiny cottage where we used to live. If it were up to me, we’d have a tree in every single room in the entire bed and breakfast.

  Joan isn’t complaining as much as she might, though, as she’s busy with guests. We’ve had someone staying with us nearly all the time since my last letter. So far everything has gone fairly well, although I still haven’t become used to having strangers in the house.

  We finally got around to getting the coins we found inside Piggy looked at by an expert. We were ever so surprised with what we learned about the coins, but then we found ourselves learning a great deal about notes as well.

  Chapter One

  “I can’t believe we both forgot about those coins,” Janet said over breakfast one morning in early December.

  “You were rather more interested in the key,” Joan reminded her.

  “Yes, well, that turned out to be a waste of time, didn’t it?” Janet said glumly.

  “Perhaps the coins will be worth a bit more,” Joan suggested.

  “We should at least have someone look at them,” Janet replied. “Do you think they’d be able to tell us anything at the local bank?”

  “I suppose we could start there,” Joan said. “There aren’t any coin dealers in Doveby Dale. I suspect we’d have to drive to Derby to find a specialist.”

  “I don’t mind driving up there, if we need to,” Janet told her. “But I’d rather not make the effort if the coins are worthless. I do hope the bank can at least give us some idea of their value.”

  Half an hour later, Joan fixed breakfast for the young couple who were their current guests. The couple was heading to the nearest shopping mall for the day. The seventeenth-century manor house that the sisters had purchased some months earlier was in a quiet village, but it was close enough to several large cities to provide their bed and breakfast guests with various options if they were interested in shopping or big city nightlife.

  “Imagine, driving all the way from London to Derbyshire and then going to a shopping mall,” Joan tutted as she shut the front door behind them.

  Janet shrugged. “I guess, having driven this far, another thirty or forty minutes to get to a shopping mall isn’t much.”

  “But why would you want to shop?” Joan demanded. “There are so many wonderful historical sites to see in the area, not to mention the beautiful outdoors to explore. Surely they have shops in London.”

  Janet laughed. “Not everyone enjoys touring historical sites,” she told her sister. “And not everyone likes wandering around outside. It is December, after all, and the weather isn’t great.”

  “It’s only a little rain,” Joan replied.

  “Let’s not argue,” Janet suggested. “Mr. and Mrs. Bradford didn’t ask us what we thought they should do while they’re here. Anyway, they’re going home tomorrow.”

  “Yes, and we have two new couples arriving tomorrow as well,” Joan told her.

  “Two?” Janet asked. “I didn’t realise. Isn’t it awfully close to Christmas for people to be doing all this travelling?”

  Joan shrugged. “Why don’t you ask our guests when they arrive?” she suggested.

  Janet laughed again. “I might just do that,” she replied.

  The sisters quickly worked their way through the handful of chores that needed doing. Once those were out of the way, they were ready to head for the nearby bank.

  “I do love our new house,” Joan said as Janet drove their car from the small car park onto the road.

  “I love the house, too,” Janet told her. “I’m still not sure about the business, though.”

  The sisters had both recently retired from a lifetime of teach
ing primary school. After doing some travelling, Janet had been surprised when Joan suggested that they sell their small cottage and purchase a bed and breakfast. When the pair found Doveby House, with its fully stocked library, it seemed like the perfect property.

  Joan, the older sister by about two years, had always wanted to run a bed and breakfast, and as an excellent cook and baker, she was happily responsible for the “breakfast” part of the business. The sisters shared the rest of the jobs associated with keeping their guests satisfied between them. Janet felt as if she was still adjusting to their new lifestyle, but it was obvious to her that Joan was enjoying it a great deal.

  A few weeks earlier, hidden in the library behind a sliding panel, the sisters had found a small piggy bank. The bank had held a key as well as a handful of unusual coins. Joan had put the coins on a tray in her bedroom while Janet worked to find out what the key was for. Both women had pretty much forgotten about the coins until Joan spotted them on her dresser while she was looking for something else. Now both sisters were eager to find out their value.

  The nearest bank was a small branch of one of the large chains and was located in the tiny centre of Doveby Dale. Janet parked behind the small strip of retail shops and they crossed the street to the bank.

  “I don’t know,” the young girl behind the teller’s window told them, wrinkling her nose. “I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

  “Is there someone else here that might know more?” Joan asked.

  The girl shrugged. “I can ask,” she said, her tone doubtful.

  Joan and Janet exchanged glances. “Please do,” Joan said after a minute.

  The girl got up from her seat, seemingly reluctantly.

  “No points for customer service,” Janet muttered.

  “You’d think she’d be happy to have something to do,” Joan suggested, glancing around the nearly empty room.

  A second teller was filing her nails at a window a few feet away. They could see a few men and women working at desks behind the teller stations, but no one seemed especially busy. When a telephone began to ring, it seemed as if everyone jumped. A moment later a man in a dark business suit walked towards them, the young teller at his elbow.

  “How can I help you ladies?” he asked when he reached the window.

  “We were wondering if you could tell us anything about these coins,” Janet told him.

  The man nodded and then picked up the coins from the counter in front of him. After studying them for a moment, he smiled at the sisters. “I’m going to get an associate, if that’s okay with you,” he said.

  Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked back into the maze of cubicles behind him. The teller sat back down on her seat and glanced at the coins again with slightly more interest.

  “Where did you get them?” she asked.

  “They were in a piggy bank,” Janet replied.

  The girl looked as if she might ask more, but seemed to decide not to bother. Instead, she looked down at her nails and frowned. The first man returned a moment later with another man in tow.

  “Ladies, this is Jack Hawkins,” he said.

  The new arrival was probably in his mid-forties. When he smiled, Janet wondered if he might be American. His teeth were bright white and perfectly straight. He was handsome in a sort of bland and boring way, with dark hair and eyes. The suit he was wearing appeared to have been made for him and Janet wondered how an employee of a small bank branch could afford such an expensive outfit.

  “Good morning,” Jack said. When he spoke, Janet discarded the notion that he might be American. His accent was definitely a London one. “Thank you for stopping in. Let’s see what you have here, then,” he continued.

  As he examined the coins, Janet found herself watching him closely. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him exactly, but something about him made her uneasy. After a full minute, she looked over at Joan and found that her sister was staring hard at the man.

  “We aren’t actually able to offer you a formal valuation,” Jack said eventually. “But I’m something of a collector myself, so I can tell you a little about what you have here.”

  Janet felt her eyes glazing over as the man began to describe each coin in detail. She was just about interrupt when Joan saved her the trouble.

  “I’m sorry, but we really don’t need all of the details,” Joan told him. “We can get them from the proper valuations when we have them done. We were just hoping for a rough idea of their value.”

  The man flushed. “I am sorry,” he said with a small chuckle. “I’m so interested in my little hobby that I often forget that other people aren’t. Valuing coins is difficult, though. If you were to send them to an auction, they could go for very little or a great deal, depending on who is in the audience, as it were.”

  Janet sighed. “I guess what we need to know is whether we are talking about coins worth tens of pounds, hundreds of pounds or thousands of pounds,” she said bluntly.

  The man nodded. “I would suggest that thousands is the closest estimate.”

  Janet gasped, but Joan simply nodded.

  “Excellent, thank you for your time,” Joan said, holding out her hand. The man put the coins in it, clearly reluctantly.

  “If you want to sell any of them, you should be careful,” he said. “I’d suggest, if you want the best price, that you place them with a coin dealer in Derby. I can give you a few names.”

  The sisters waited while he wrote on a piece of paper. “Thank you again for your time,” Janet said, once Joan had slipped the paper and the coins into her handbag.

  “You’re very welcome,” he replied.

  “Did you know they were that valuable?” Janet demanded as she and Joan headed towards the car.

  Joan shook her head. “Michael noticed them the other day and he said he thought they might be worth something. He collected coins as a child, but he didn’t keep it up.”

  Janet nodded. Joan was cautiously working her way into some sort of romantic relationship, her first ever, with the handsome retired chemist who lived across the road from them. Michael Donaldson had been widowed many years earlier and he seemed quite happy to let Joan set a very slow pace for their courtship.

  “So I guess we need to plan a trip to Derby,” Janet said.

  “I suppose so,” Joan replied.

  “Maybe after Christmas,” Janet suggested. “It must be awfully busy there during December.”

  “You’re probably right,” Joan said. “I suppose it won’t hurt to wait.”

  “I wonder if William could tell us more,” Janet remarked as they reached the car.

  “William Chalmers?” Joan asked. “What made you think of him?”

  “Well, his shop is right there,” Janet pointed out. “And he deals in antiques. He might know something about coins.”

  Joan was silent for a moment and then she shrugged. “I suppose we could ask him,” she said. “Although I’m not sure I’d trust anything he told us.”

  Janet laughed. “Okay, that’s true,” she agreed. “But since we’re already here, why don’t we stop in and see what he says. If nothing else, if he tells us the coins are worthless, we’ll know we’re right to not trust him.”

  “While I don’t like the notion that we’re testing the man, I wouldn’t mind getting a second opinion,” Joan said. “Especially as we are already here and I’ve been thinking about stopping at WTC Antiques anyway. I want to see how he’s doing with the painting we wanted to buy and I have to find you a Christmas present as well.”

  “And I you,” Janet replied.

  WTC Antiques had only been open for a month or so and the sisters were still wary of its owner. William Chalmers had been in trouble previously for overvaluing antiques, and Joan and Janet had already met some of his questionable friends. It didn’t help that the man could be abrasive and rude as well as pompous. Only recently the women had discovered that he loved to paint but had no confidence in his abilities. Both sisters
felt he had some real talent and Joan was determined to purchase some of his art to hang on the walls at Doveby House. The problem was persuading William to actually finish a piece.

  The loud buzzer announced their arrival at the antique shop. There was no sign of anyone in the large front room that was jammed full of antiques and collectables.

  “Maybe he’s in the back,” Janet muttered. William had the smaller room at the back of the shop set up as an art gallery. Janet headed towards the doorway between the rooms while Joan walked off in the opposite direction.

  “That armoire is lovely,” she said to Janet.

  “Ah, visitors,” William’s booming voice filled the space as he appeared in the doorway between the rooms. “It’s the Markham sisters, some of my favourite people.”

  Janet smiled automatically as the man walked in, his arm around a stranger. The smile faltered slightly as she studied the woman who was clinging tightly to William’s arm.

  “Oh, goodness, customers,” the woman giggled. “And I’m only wearing one shoe.”

  Chapter Two

  Janet glanced down at the woman’s feet. She was, indeed, only wearing one shoe, a plain black flat that had scuffed toes. Her dress was a floral print that Janet felt would have better suited a younger woman, but she knew she was possibly being unfair. As she was in her mid-sixties, Janet considered much of what the younger generations wore as inappropriate.

  William’s new friend probably wasn’t forty yet, but Janet guessed that she wasn’t too terribly far from that birthday, either. William, on the other hand, was also in his sixties, and Janet found herself wondering if the woman was his daughter. The way the stranger was holding William’s arm suggested a different type of relationship, however.

  “I’ll go and find your other shoe,” William said with an uncharacteristic chuckle. “I can’t imagine how you lost it.”

  “The door buzzer startled me,” she explained. “I jumped right out of my shoes, and then you rushed me over to see who was here and I didn’t quite manage to get them both back on again.”