The Donaldson Case Read online

  “I am sorry,” Matthew said smoothly. “Head office is aware that the coverage in this shop hasn’t been the best. Again, that’s one of the reasons that I’m here.”

  Joan nodded. “Well, we’ll look forward to seeing you again,” she said. “Ready?” she asked Janet.

  Janet picked up her bag and nodded. She quietly followed her sister out of the store. When they were back at the car, she finally had to speak.

  “What just happened?” she asked Joan.

  Joan flushed. “I don’t know what got into me,” she said, a bit sheepishly. “I just started talking and I couldn’t help myself. I think I’m just so eager to help poor Michael that I got carried away.”

  “Well, you did very well,” Janet said. “I don’t think we learned anything, but it was interesting watching how the man reacted to the questions.”

  “He seemed like a very pleasant young man,” Joan said.

  “He did,” Janet agreed. “But that leaves us without any suspects at all.”

  Joan nodded. “Yes, I realise that,” she said, sighing.

  “But what’s going on now?” Janet asked. They’d been standing next to their car, talking, and Janet could still see the front of the chemist shop. She watched as Matthew walked out of the shop. He looked up and down the street and then went back inside.

  “It looks as if he’s locking the door,” Joan whispered.

  “And he’s turned off the open sign,” Janet said. “Maybe it’s time for his lunch break?”

  “I think he’s up to something,” Joan said. “Come on.”

  Joan walked off quickly, leaving Janet to catch up. “Where are we going?” Janet demanded.

  “To see what’s happening,” Joan told her.

  Janet shook her head. Her sister was behaving entirely out of character. Joan slowed her steps as they walked past the shop. The sign on the door now read “closed,” with no note of explanation. Joan kept walking, past the shop and then down past William Chalmers’s antique store. There was a small, single-lane road after that, which appeared to turn and run behind the row of shops.

  “Let’s go,” Joan whispered, pulling Janet along the road.

  Janet was about to object, but stopped herself. There was no way she wanted to start being the sensible sister. That was Joan’s job. If Joan wanted to start being more adventurous, Janet was going to simply go along.

  The road was more of a narrow lane with small parking spaces for each store. The first door along the back of the building had a small sign that read “WTC Antiques.”

  “It should be the next door, then,” Joan hissed.

  They crept forward slowly, with Janet hoping that Joan knew what she was doing. Janet didn’t have a clue.

  There was a low wall that separated the space between the shops. It was no more than three feet tall and about ten feet long. Now Joan ducked behind it. Janet rolled her eyes and then joined her sister, wincing as she crouched down.

  “Now what?” Janet demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Joan whispered. “I just wanted to see what Matthew is doing.”

  “He’s probably sitting in the back room, eating his lunch,” Janet said.

  Before Joan replied, the door at the back of the chemist shop swung open. Janet gasped, earning a stern look from Joan.

  “Of course I still love you,” Matthew was saying. As he emerged from the doorway, Janet could see the mobile phone in his hand.

  “I’m just stuck up in Doveby Dale, otherwise I’d be there for your birthday. You know that,” he said.

  Matthew lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “We can celebrate in a few weeks,” he said. “I’ll buy you something really special to make it up to you.”

  The sisters watched as he finished the call and then punched in another number. “Hey, I got your message. What’s wrong?”

  A second cigarette was lit from the first as he listened. “Ah, honey, you know me better than that,” he said after a while. “I’m stuck in Doveby Dale, working, otherwise I’d be there to go with you to your cousin’s wedding. You know I love you.”

  Janet looked at Joan and they both shook their heads. As Matthew paced back and forth, talking and smoking, Janet felt her leg muscles begin to cramp. After another minute, the smoke that was slowly filling the small lane began to make her nose tickle.

  “I need to move,” she hissed at Joan.

  Joan shook her head.

  “I’m going to sneeze,” Janet said, struggling to control her nose.

  Joan rolled her eyes and then went back to watching Matthew. He hung up from the call and punched in another number.

  “Hey, baby,” he said in a sexy voice. “I was thinking of you all morning.” He turned his back and then walked back into the store. The moment he disappeared, Janet jumped up and began to walk back the way they’d come. Joan followed.

  They’d only gone a couple of steps when they heard Matthew’s voice again. Janet glanced back. She could just see him standing in the doorway of the shop. Suddenly the distance between them and the end of the row of shops seemed enormous. They were going to get caught. Janet just hoped that Joan had an explanation ready when the man spotted them.

  Joan grabbed Janet’s arm and then pulled her towards the building. They heard Matthew still talking on his phone as Joan tried the handle on the back door to the antique shop. A moment later the sisters were staring at a very surprised-looking William Chalmers.

  “Um, good afternoon?” William Chalmers’s words sounded like a question rather than a welcome.

  Janet sneezed several times in a row. Joan handed her a tissue when she finished.

  “Sorry about this,” Janet said to William. “We were trying to find a shortcut back to our car and ended up in the lane behind the shops. Something or someone made a loud noise and startled us both so we just ducked in here.”

  “It was probably the guy on the end,” William said. “He’s always throwing things around back there.”

  Joan was studying a few of the pictures on the easels that were spread around the small storage room.

  “These are very good,” she said.

  Janet looked at the nearest picture, happy that her sister had changed the subject. She was surprised to find that she agreed with Joan. “I know just where this is,” she exclaimed. “Joan and I went walking the other day and we were right there.”

  “I love painting the dales,” William said, his face bright red with embarrassment. “I take photos of scenery I like and then paint them back here. I don’t try to paint outside.”

  “You’re very talented,” Joan told him. “Do you have anything that’s finished?”

  William shook his head. “I never seem to, that is, well, finishing is the hard part,” he told her. “I get them nearly done and then, for some reason, I can’t bring myself to do those last few touches. I keep starting new paintings rather than finish the old ones.”

  “Well, if you finish these two,” Joan said, gesturing, “I’ll buy them from you, assuming we can agree on a fair price.”

  William flushed. “Oh, you could have them,” he told her. “I don’t, that is, I’m not really ready to start charging for my work.”

  “They’re quite good,” Janet said. “You said you know a lot of artists. Have you ever shown them anything you’ve done?”

  “That’s just it,” William told her. “I’ve never finished anything to show anyone. I think it’s my way of avoiding having to find out what others think of my work. I’m generally very confident and self-assured, but when it comes to my art, well, I never think it’s good enough.”

  “Finish these two,” Joan said. Janet recognised her elder sister’s “stern teacher” voice. “I’ll be back at the end of the month to collect them. We can discuss prices then.”

  William looked as if he wanted to argue, but Joan didn’t give him a chance. “I think we probably should be going,” she said to Janet.

  Janet nodded. “Our guests might be back by now and it’
s definitely time for some lunch.”

  “And I want to ring Robert and have a word,” Joan said as they walked through the shop to the front door.

  Chapter Ten

  Joan was quiet on the drive back to Doveby House. Janet was curious to know what her sister wanted to talk to the police constable about, but she didn’t want to ask. It had been a strange day, with Joan acting all out of character. Janet drove silently, wondering what her sister was thinking.

  There was no one at the house when they arrived home. Joan fixed a quick lunch and then rang the police station. Janet could only hear Joan’s end of the conversation, which was short.

  “Hello, Susan, how are you?” Joan began.

  “Yes, well I’d be ever so grateful if you’d ask Robert to ring or stop by Doveby House when he has a minute.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  When she disconnected, she smiled at Janet. “She’s going to ask him stop by,” she told her. “He’s out with the investigator from Derby now.”

  “He isn’t going to bring the investigator here, is he?” Janet demanded.

  “She didn’t say,” Joan said.

  Joan seemed unconcerned, but Janet wasn’t sure the investigator from Derby would appreciate their interfering in the case.

  As it happened, it was only Robert who turned up a short time later.

  “Good afternoon,” he said. “What can I do for you ladies today?”

  Joan insisted on fixing him a cup of tea. She’d piled dozens of biscuits on a plate before he’d arrived and now she urged him to take several. Once he was settled in with his snack, Joan began.

  “I want you to make sure you take a very close look at Matthew Rogers,” she told the young constable. “I think he’s behind whatever’s gone wrong at the chemist shop.”

  Robert nearly choked on his biscuit. “Well, that’s very, um, interesting,” he said. “I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with me.”

  Janet didn’t think he appreciated it at all, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I’m quite worried about Michael, you see,” Joan went on in a confiding tone. “But I’m certain he hasn’t done anything wrong. That Matthew Rogers, though, he isn’t an honest person.”

  “His company thinks very highly of him,” Robert told her. “They sent him here because there were issues with the store. I can’t quite see how he could be behind the problems as he’d only just arrived when they were discovered.”

  Joan shrugged. “I’ll leave the detective work to you,” she said. “I’m just telling you where to look.”

  Robert swallowed a sip of tea and then nodded. “And do you share your sister’s opinion?” he asked Janet.

  Janet nodded slowly, trying to think of how to word her reply. “He seems like a very nice man when you meet him,” she said after a moment. “But he’s not nearly as nice as he appears. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was doing something criminal. Besides, the other suspects are all such lovely men.”

  “They are very nice and I hate having to investigate them,” Robert admitted. “But that’s my job. I must say, they’ve all been very cooperative.”

  “What about Matthew? Has he been cooperative?” Joan demanded.

  “Very,” Robert replied.

  Joan frowned. “Well, I do think if you dig a little bit beneath the surface, you’ll find all sorts of nastiness there,” she said.

  “Thank you for sharing your thoughts,” Robert said again. “I’ll definitely take a closer look at the man.”

  Janet showed Robert out while Joan tidied in the kitchen. When she rejoined her sister, Joan was humming quietly.

  “You seem to be in a better mood,” Janet remarked.

  “That’s because it won’t be long now before the whole unpleasant business is wrapped up and Michael’s name is cleared,” Joan replied. “In the meantime, we have guests to keep us busy.”

  The guests didn’t keep them all that busy, but Janet did tidy and vacuum their room every day. Joan kept trying to find things they might enjoy for breakfast, but they never ate more than dry toast, no matter what she offered.

  The pair usually went out each morning and were back at the house by seven or eight. They’d watch a bit of telly and then head to bed just as Janet and Joan were getting tired. By the time they left, Janet had decided that if all guests were like Fred and Molly, she and Joan should welcome guests more often.

  Joan was back to her normal self, cooking and baking nearly perfect meals and treats every day. Michael visited often and seemed to share Joan’s conviction that the police would have the matter sorted very soon. Janet found herself eager to investigate further, but with no clear idea of what to do.

  A week after their visit with Robert Parsons, the day after their guests had checked out, Janet found him on their doorstep again.

  “Come in,” she invited the man.

  She shouted for Joan, who quickly invited the man to have a cuppa.

  “I can’t stay long,” he told them. “But maybe just a quick one.”

  Janet fixed a plate of biscuits while Joan arranged the tea things. Within minutes, they were all sitting together at the kitchen table.

  “What can we do for you?” Joan asked the young man.

  “I just came to tell you that you were right,” he told her.

  “About Matthew Rogers, you mean?” Joan asked.

  “Yes, he’s been arrested, and the charges will be significant,” Robert replied.

  Joan nodded. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

  “But how did he manage it, if he’d only just arrived?” Janet asked.

  “Ah, it was all tricked up on the computer,” Robert said. “From what we can tell, he had access to the store’s computer records and he started making changes in them many months ago, about the same time that Owen told the head office that he was going to need several months of sick leave.”

  “He really planned ahead, then,” Janet remarked.

  “He did,” Robert agreed. “He changed orders, created phantom returns and did a lot of other things to make it look as if there were problems in the store. Then he persuaded his manager that he should come up here and sort everything out.”

  “Clever,” Joan murmured.

  “He was a bit too clever,” Robert said. “He made so many changes to the drugs records that even he didn’t know what the store had. He was stealing from their inventory before it was shipped and then altering the records so that the store here didn’t notice, but as I understand it, he started getting overconfident and ended up making a few mistakes. When he arrived here, the first thing he did was an inventory which showed what a mess he’d made of it.”

  “But why ring the police?” Janet asked. “Why not just fix the records?”

  “I gather his boss ordered him to do the inventory before he did anything else and there were so many mistakes in it that he knew he didn’t have time to fix it. I’m not totally clear on how it all works, but he said something about not having access to the company’s main computers here, so he couldn’t change things on that end. Anyway, apparently he decided to ring the police, thinking that he couldn’t be blamed as he wasn’t even here when the drugs went missing.”

  “But you were able to find evidence,” Joan said happily.

  “Well, no,” Robert replied. “After I talked with you, I started watching him more closely.” The young man flushed. “The investigator from Derby was convinced that someone else was guilty and he was concentrating on that angle, so I just kept my mouth shut and watched Matthew Rogers. After a few days I started to notice a few things about how he was running the shop. Let’s just say it didn’t take long for me to catch him doing something illegal. After that, his story began to fall apart.”

  “Well, that’s one mystery solved,” Joan said briskly. “Michael will be pleased that he isn’t a suspect any more.”

  “He was never a suspect in my eyes,” Robert told her.

  “Yes, well, I suppose O
wen and George will feel better as well,” Joan said.

  “And that just leaves us with this mysterious key,” Janet said, pulling it out of her pocket. She’d taken to carrying it around with her just in case she happened to find herself at a different bank where she could ask about their deposit boxes. So far, that hadn’t happened.

  “Mysterious key?” Robert said. “Why is it mysterious?”

  Janet handed him the key. “We found it inside a piggy bank in a hidden compartment in the library,” she explained. “But we don’t know what it’s for.”

  Robert turned the key over his hands. “I haven’t seen one of these in a few years,” he told the sisters. “See the stamp on this side? It says ‘DDBS’ in very faint letters.”

  Janet took the key back and studied it. She thought she’d inspected the key in great detail, but she hadn’t been able to make out the very small and lightly etched letters.

  “What does it mean?” she asked Robert.

  “It’s a key for the safe deposit boxes at the Doveby Dale Building Society,” he told her.

  “But where is that?” Janet asked excitedly.

  “They tore it down about five years ago,” Robert replied.

  Janet sat back in her chair, feeling crushed. “So it’s a key for nothing?” she asked.

  “The place was old and in bad repair,” Robert told her. “By the time they tore it down, everyone was happy to see it go. If Maggie Appleton had anything stored there, she moved it elsewhere before the demolition.”

  “At least now we know,” Joan said. “Thank you.”

  Janet muttered something similar, but she wasn’t feeling grateful. She’d had such high hopes of finding a great treasure when they discovered what the key was for, and instead it turned out to be worthless.

  Joan showed Robert out while Janet tidied up. She popped an extra biscuit into her mouth in an effort to improve her mood. It didn’t help much.

  So after all that the key was worthless, which still irritates me slightly. Joan is now convinced that she’s a very clever detective, but we both knew Matthew Rogers wasn’t a very nice man after all those phone calls to different women. Still, she’s claiming all of the credit for his arrest. I don’t really mind as it means she can’t complain when I want to investigate something in the future.