The Irwin Case Read online

  THE IRWIN CASE

  A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella

  DIANA XARISSA

  Copyright © 2017 Diana Xarissa

  All Rights Reserved

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Letter to Bessie, part one

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Letter to Bessie, part two

  Glossary of Terms

  Other Notes

  Acknowledgments

  The Jackson Case

  Also by Diana Xarissa

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Welcome to the ninth Markham Sisters novella. I hope you’ve been having as much fun reading them as I have been having writing them. If this is the first one you’ve picked up, I do recommend that you read them in order, but they should stand on their own if you prefer not to do that.

  The novellas begin and end with parts of Janet’s letters to Bessie Cubbon, Janet’s friend on the Isle of Man. You don’t need to read the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series in order to enjoy these novellas, though.

  The stories are set in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom, and I do use English spelling and terms. There is a short glossary at the end of the book to help readers with some of the words I use frequently. There is also a page of notes about things that might not be familiar for readers outside of the UK. As I grew up in the US and have now been living back there for several years, I’m afraid more and more Americanisms are sneaking into my books. I do my best to eliminate them, however.

  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 hearing from my readers. Please get in touch if you have any comments or questions. All of my contact details are available in the back of the book.

  17th April 1999

  Dearest Bessie,

  I can’t quite believe that less than a month from today we will be arriving on the Isle of Man for a lovely holiday. Joan was reluctant to close the bed and breakfast, but I twisted her arm. As far as I’m concerned, we both need a holiday before the busy summer seasons starts. We’ll probably need another one after the summer, but I’m not going to mention that to Joan yet.

  Paul has gone back to London, which makes the house feel quite empty, although we have had guests nearly every weekend since Edward’s visit. My darling kitten, Aggie, seems to prefer the house when it is just us, a sentiment you know I share. Still, the business seems to be doing well and Joan enjoys it, so I mustn’t complain.

  We had another little bit of excitement here lately, although nothing like what you’ve been dealing with. It all started when a very nice older couple asked if they could stay an extra night.

  Chapter 1

  “As we’re both retired, we have the luxury of indulging ourselves,” Jacob Mills told Joan. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, we’d really like to stay an extra night.”

  “I don’t mind,” Joan told him. “We’ve no one else arriving for a few days. You and Harriet are welcome to stay tonight.”

  “Thank you,” the man beamed. “We’ve at least two more stately homes we want to visit. We should be able to get to them both today.”

  “I’m glad we can accommodate you,” Joan said.

  “I’ll just go and tell Harriet she doesn’t need to pack,” the man replied. “We’ll be down for breakfast in about ten minutes, if that’s okay.”

  “It’s fine,” Joan replied.

  The man walked out of the room. Janet got to her feet and peeked out of the kitchen doorway to make sure that he’d gone.

  Joan and Janet Markham were both retired primary schoolteachers. Neither had ever married, and they had planned to travel and enjoy life once they’d left work. Janet had been shocked when Joan had admitted to having had a lifelong desire to own a bed and breakfast. When the sisters had stumbled across Doveby House, a seventeenth-century manor house with its own small library, Joan had been able to persuade her sister to use their recent inheritance to purchase the place. After several months of welcoming guests, Janet still wasn’t sure they’d made the right decision.

  “I don’t want them to stay another night,” Janet said to her older sister. “You’re going out tonight, which means I’ll have to deal with them.”

  “They’re a lovely couple,” Joan said, beginning to assemble the ingredients she needed to make breakfast for their guests.

  “They are lovely,” Janet admitted. “But they talk so much. I thought I was going to fall asleep last night when they insisted on telling us every single detail of their day.”

  “Jacob did go on a bit, didn’t he?”

  “And when he finally finished, Harriet jumped in with another twenty minutes about furniture and paintings and probably other things, but I stopped listening.”

  Joan sighed. “I can cancel my plans for tonight if you want me to,” she said. “I know the bed and breakfast is mostly my concern. I’ll take care of the guests.”

  “You’ve been looking forward to tonight for weeks,” Janet said. “Michael will never forgive me if I make you cancel.”

  “Michael understands that my work comes first.”

  “No, he doesn’t. And as the property and the business belong to both of us, I should do my fair share of the work. You do all of the cooking and most of the cleaning. I suppose I can listen to boring guests drone on and on about their lives.”

  Joan gave her sister a hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I really would hate to disappoint Michael, especially on such short notice.”

  Janet had had a few boyfriends in her youth, but Joan had never dated. Both sisters were still slightly surprised that Joan was the one who’d found a boyfriend when they’d settled into their new home. Michael Donaldson was a widower who lived in a semi-detached property across the road from Doveby House.

  He was a retired chemist, and tonight he was being given some sort of award from some company with which he’d formerly done regular business. Apparently, it was rather important, and Michael was excited but nervous. He’d been delighted when he’d been told he could bring a guest. Joan had spent ages trying to work out what to wear. There was no way Janet could make her sister miss the evening.

  When Jacob and Harriet came down for breakfast a few minutes later, Janet was still on her feet. “Right, well, I’ll go and get the shopping done, then,” she said brightly. “I hope you two have a lovely time today. I’ll see you tonight.”

  “I forgot all about paying for the extra night,” Jacob said. “Is it okay if we put it on our credit card?”

  Joan looked at Janet, who sighed. Their guests didn’t often pay by credit card, but the sisters had recently arranged things to allow them to more easily process card payments, just in case guests started asking. The little machine that processed the cards wasn’t terribly complicated, but for some reason Joan simply couldn’t get it work, at least not usually. Janet didn’t have any trouble with it, so she usually handled the transactions.

  “I can do that for you,” Janet said, hoping she might still slip away before either Jacob or Harriet started talking.

  Joan told her the amount, and Janet took the card into the library. They’d felt it was best to have the equipment in a more public area than one of the sisters’ bedrooms, and the library
was able to be locked, so that was where it had been installed. Janet ran the card through the machine and entered the amount. She waited patiently for the receipt to print. Nothing happened. She peered at the machine’s screen.

  “Card Declined,” it read.

  Janet frowned and sat down in the nearest chair. How was she going to tell sweet Jacob Mills that his credit card had been turned down? The man was in his seventies and a little bit hard of hearing. This was going to be uncomfortable, she thought.

  Harriet and Jacob were digging into their breakfast when Janet walked back in. “I’m awfully sorry,” she said. “But the card has been declined.”

  Harriet looked up at her and blinked several times. “But that doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “We’ve only put a few meals on it since we’ve been here, and I paid it off before we left home.”

  “I’m sorry,” Janet said. “I can only tell you what the little machine said. It doesn’t give any reasons.”

  Harriet looked at Jacob and frowned. “We’d better ring the credit card company,” she said. “There must be something wrong.”

  “Maybe we should go home,” Jacob replied. “I don’t want to try to ring them from here, and I won’t be able to stop worrying until we know what’s going on.”

  “Yes, I think you’re right,” Harriet said sadly. “We were meant to be going home today anyway. We should go home and get this sorted.”

  “I’m awfully sorry,” Jacob said. “I suppose we won’t need the extra night after all.”

  “That’s no problem,” Joan said. “I just hope you can get everything worked out quickly and easily.”

  “Yes, me, too,” Harriet said worriedly.

  The pair seemed too upset to talk as they finished their breakfast and then headed back up to their room to pack. Janet helped her sister clear the table.

  “I wonder what’s wrong with their credit card,” Joan said. “Are you sure you didn’t do something wrong with the machine?”

  “I’m quite sure,” Janet replied. “The machine said ‘card declined,’ which I’ve never seen before. It didn’t tell me anything more than that.”

  “It looks as if you’ll get your quiet evening on your own tonight, then,” Joan said, sounding faintly accusatory.

  “I didn’t want a quiet evening alone at the expense of Jacob and Harriet,” Janet told her. “I just hope everything is okay with their card.”

  “Maybe their payment didn’t process properly,” Joan mused.

  “Or maybe the company saw that the card was being used in Derbyshire and got worried that it had been stolen,” Janet suggested.

  “I hope it all works out,” Joan said. “Would it be strange if I asked them to ring me and let me know?”

  Janet thought about it for a minute. “I think it might be,” she told her sister.

  Joan nodded. “You’re probably right.”

  A few minutes later the sisters walked the couple to the door. “I hope you enjoyed your visit,” Joan said.

  “Oh, we did, very much,” Harriet replied. “We’re hoping to come again soon, maybe in the summer. We’ll ring you once we’ve made plans.”

  “We’d enjoy having you again,” Joan told her.

  Janet shut the door behind the pair and blew out a sigh. “The house always feels a little bit different when we have guests,” she told her sister.

  “You didn’t complain when Edward was here,” Joan remarked.

  Janet flushed. “Edward is more like a friend than a guest,” she said, hoping that would end the conversation about the man who’d been to stay twice. He was handsome, intelligent and more than a little mysterious. He’d told Janet that he worked for a secret government agency, and she had no reason to doubt him.

  “Yes, well, I hope you’ll come to enjoy having guests more, as it looks as if we’re going to have a busy summer.”

  “At least we get a week away before we get too busy,” Janet said.

  “I was thinking, actually, that maybe we shouldn’t go away in May,” Joan told her. “I’m sure we could book guests here if we decided to stay.”

  “No.” Janet said firmly. “I’m happy to help you run the bed and breakfast and happy to welcome guests whenever we can get them, but I’m not giving up my one week of holiday this year. We used to get six or seven weeks of holiday every summer when we were teaching. One single week isn’t too much to ask.”

  Joan looked as if she wanted to argue, but she pressed her lips together and simply nodded.

  “Anyway, I’ve booked our holiday cottage and asked for the cottage closest to Bessie’s,” Janet said. “I’m sure we’re going to have a wonderful time.”

  “I’m sure it will be nice,” Joan said a bit stiffly.

  “And now I really am going to the supermarket,” Janet said.

  “There isn’t much of a list,” Joan told her. “Our next guests aren’t due until Saturday, and I’m out tonight and tomorrow night as well.”

  “So I need to get myself something for dinner both evenings,” Janet said. “And maybe a few small treats as well.”

  “I don’t know that you need any treats,” Joan said, giving her sister a sideways glance.

  Janet flushed. The sisters were about the same height, but for some reason Joan always managed to remain thin, even while she cooked and baked every day. Janet, on the other hand, was curvier, even though all she did was eat what her sister had prepared.

  “I’ll be back for lunch,” Janet promised as she found her car keys and checked that her wallet was in her handbag.

  “Meeroww?” a small voice said.

  “Yes, darling, the guests have gone,” Janet told the kitten who was peering around the corner into the room. “You can come out and play now.”

  “Meerreewww,” Aggie replied, leaping into the air and then bouncing her way across the floor and into the kitchen.

  “I think you must be training her to dislike guests,” Joan remarked.

  “She liked Paul,” Janet said, referring to the young man who had left recently after an extended stay. “And she liked Edward.”

  “As she was a gift from Edward, it’s just as well that she liked him. And everyone likes Paul. He’s a lovely young man.”

  “He is,” Janet agreed. “And the house still feels rather empty without him.”

  A recent fire had closed the local Doveby Dale grocer’s, which meant that Janet had to drive a bit further to get to the larger supermarket on the road towards Derby. Most of the time she didn’t mind the extra drive, as the large shop had a better selection and better prices, but sometimes she missed the convenience of having a shop close to home.

  Simon Hampton, the local shop’s owner, was currently involved in a messy divorce. No one seemed to know if or when he might start rebuilding the fire-damaged structure.

  It didn’t take long for Janet to find everything on the shopping list. Once she’d ticked off everything that Joan had requested, she started looking for something for herself. Biscuits and ice cream were easy selections to make, but finding something for her dinner for the next two nights was more complicated.

  She often chose frozen pizza when making dinner for herself, as that was something Joan didn’t approve of, but she’d recently purchased a great many pizzas on sale and she was still working her way through them all. Joan tutted about it every time she opened the freezer. One of them would do nicely for dinner tomorrow, she decided as she studied the various meal options on display. Perhaps tonight she ought to treat herself to a meal out somewhere.

  While Janet didn’t really mind eating alone, she did feel that she had limited options if she did so. She couldn’t exactly take herself to dinner at the fancy French restaurant in Doveby Dale. But there was a small café just a short distance from Doveby House. The food was always good and Janet quite liked the owners. It was perfect for a Monday night on her own.

  Chapter 2

  When she got back to Doveby House, Joan helped Janet put away the shopping. Jane
t made sure she emptied the bag with the ice cream in it. Joan didn’t approve of ice cream, either, and listening to her sister complain about both ice cream and frozen pizza was more than Janet was prepared to do.

  “I’ve just made soup and sandwiches for lunch,” Joan said when they were done unpacking. “I wasn’t sure what you were planning for tonight, but obviously I’ve going to have a large evening meal.”

  “I’m going to the café,” Janet said.

  “On your own or with friends?” Joan asked.

  “On my, er, well, I’m not sure,” Janet replied. She’d been planning to go on her own, but she had made a few friends in Doveby Dale now. Maybe she should ring a friend and invite her to come along.

  Janet thought about it while she ate her lunch, and after they were finished and the kitchen was tidied up, she rang a friend.

  “Edna? It’s Janet Markham. Joan is going out tonight and I thought I might have dinner at the café. I was wondering if you’d like to join me?”

  “Oh, that’s terribly kind of you,” Edna Green replied. The women were both members of the Doveby Dale Ladies’ Club, which was where they’d met. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline, though. My son and his fiancé are ringing later for a long talk about the wedding. I can’t miss that.”

  “Another time, then,” Janet said.

  “I’d really like that,” Edna told her.

  Janet thought about trying her other friend from the club, Martha, or even one of the other women, but decided not to bother. The club was meeting again later in April; that would be soon enough to see the others.

  She filled her afternoon in one of her favourite ways, curled up in the library, reading a good book. Aggie sat on her lap and purred softly while Janet enjoyed a classic Sherlock Holmes story. When Aggie decided it was time for her dinner, Janet was happy to put the book down.

  “I’ll finish it later,” she told her kitten. “I already know what’s going to happen, of course, so there’s no need for you to wait for your meal.”