The Rhodes Case

by Diana Xarissa

  “I keep hearing rumours that they’re going to start rebuilding the grocery shop any day now, but I still don’t think anything has actually been done yet,” Janet told her. “Once that’s reopened, you won’t have to leave the village.”

  Amanda nodded. “That will suit me perfectly.”

  “Was there anything else?” William asked Janet. “Can I interest you in some books, maybe?”

  “Books?”

  “I bought a desk and a bookshelf from someone and when I went to collect it, they hadn’t removed the books from the shelves. I packed them all into boxes for them before I moved the bookshelf. After I loaded up my van, they insisted that I take the books as well. They, um, didn’t want them.”

  Janet frowned. “Who doesn’t want books?” she demanded. “I mean, we didn’t keep every book from the library at Doveby House, but we only got rid of a very few, old textbooks mostly. Are these old textbooks?”

  “I believe they’re mostly murder mysteries,” William told her. “Come and have a look.”

  Janet followed him into the back of the shop. There were several boxes piled in one corner.

  “See if you find anything good,” William suggested.

  Half an hour later, Janet had been through all of the boxes. She’d carefully repacked them, leaving out a large pile of books that she wanted.

  “Anything?” William asked when he rejoined her.

  “Fourteen,” Janet said, blushing. “None of them are old or first editions or anything. They’re all just reading copies that appear to have already been well read, but there are a few here that I haven’t read by some of my favourite authors, and others that I read years ago but don’t own.”

  William glanced through her pile and then found her a box and stacked the books inside. “I’ll carry them out to your car,” he told her.

  “But how much do I owe you?”

  “As I didn’t pay for the books, I can’t possibly charge you for them,” he replied. “Honestly, I’m just glad to get rid of some of them. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest.”

  He walked Janet out to her car and put the books in her boot.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied. He glanced back at the shop and then took a step closer to Janet. “I miss you, but I’ve been really busy here. We should have dinner together, though, soon.”

  “Ring me,” Janet suggested.

  She climbed into her car and then glanced at the shop window. Amanda was staring out at her and William with a frown on her face.

  Chapter 6

  “I didn’t really think it would have any value,” Joan admitted over lunch. “You’re right. We should lock it up in the safe until we decide what we want to do with it.” While Janet loaded the dishwasher, Joan took the little figure, still wrapped in tissue, into her bedroom.

  Janet glanced at Aggie. “Did you know it was valuable?” she asked.

  “Meerooww,” Aggie replied.

  “Do you know who is behind the break-ins?”

  “Yowwwlll,” was Aggie’s response.

  “Is it Reuben Rhodes?”

  Aggie yawned and then jumped up and dashed away. Janet sighed. “That wasn’t much help,” she called after the animal.

  “What wasn’t much help?” Joan asked as she rejoined Janet.

  “Nothing. I was just talking to Aggie.”

  Joan raised an eyebrow and then nodded. Before she spoke, someone knocked on the door.

  “Susan told me that you wanted to speak to me,” Robert said as Janet let him into the house.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” Janet replied, leading the man to the kitchen, where Joan immediately switched the kettle on.

  “Susan told us that there was another break-in last night,” Janet said.

  “There was. Although this one was in Little Burton, there are a number of similarities in the cases.”

  “Have you found out anything about the item that was stolen?” Janet asked.

  “The couple had a photograph of it that allowed the Derby police to get an estimate of its value,” he told them. “If it truly was what the antique dealer in Derby thinks it was, it was worth as much as the painting, maybe more.”

  “So we have a thief who is an expert in antiques,” Janet said.

  “Or someone who is stealing to order,” Robert replied. “There are a number of possibilities and a number of suspects.”

  “Susan said that the second couple just had a new bathroom fitted, but by a different company to the kitchen fitters,” Janet said.

  “That’s true, but they did get a quote for a new kitchen by the same company that fitted the first couple’s kitchen,” Robert told her. “Right now, we’re just trying to find other connections like that one.”

  “William said both couples have shopped in his shop,” Janet said.

  Robert nodded. “They’ve both shopped with him, Owen, and Stanley. Nothing surprising there, really.”

  Janet tried to think of a way to suggest Amanda as a suspect. “He has a new assistant,” she said.

  Robert flipped through his notebook. “Amanda Hockensmith. I’ve spoken with her once or twice, although not about the break-ins. Do you have any reason to suspect her?”

  “I just don’t like her,” Janet admitted. “She’s been divorced twice, and I worry that she have set her sights on William next.”

  Robert made a few notes. “Was that what you wanted to discuss with me?”

  Janet thought about saying yes, but Joan was frowning at her. “No,” she replied. “We have guests at the moment and, well, we were watching television the other night. One of our guests looks quite a bit like Everett Fox, the man who escaped from that prison in Paris.”

  Robert stared at her for a moment and then began to laugh. “He’s here with Edward Bennett, correct?” he asked after a moment.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Janet confirmed.

  “Then there’s no way he’s Everett Fox. If Edward knew where Mr. Fox was, he’d have him back in prison in a heartbeat. Look, I don’t know very much about Edward, aside from the fact that he’s very well connected in the government, but I do know that he would never do anything that might bring danger to Doveby Dale. I don’t know the man with whom he’s travelling with at the moment, or why they’re hiding in Doveby Dale, but I do know it isn’t Everett Fox.”

  Janet blushed and then glared at Joan. She never should have mentioned Reuben to Robert.

  “What is Edward’s friend called?” Robert asked.

  “Reuben Rhodes,” Janet told him.

  “I’ll do some discreet checking on the man, just to set your mind at rest,” he told her. “I’m sure he’ll turn out to be some sort of minor government official who needed to be removed from London on short notice. No doubt some sort of scandal is about to break. You should be watching the papers for that sort of thing, either here or on the continent.”

  “He does have something of an accent,” Janet said thoughtfully.

  Robert made another note and then got to his feet. “I haven’t seen Edward yet, and I’ve been told, if we do meet, that I must act as if I don’t know him. I won’t be making any effort to see him.”

  Janet blushed again. “That’s good.”

  She led him to the front door and then watched as he walked back to his car. She was angry at Joan for insisting that she tell Robert about her suspicions, but she was angrier at herself for giving in to Joan. She also felt more than a little guilty for doubting Edward, although when she was honest with herself, she had to admit that it was difficult to trust the man.

  “I checked the directory. There is only one firm in Doveby Dale that fits kitchens,” Joan said when Janet rejoined her. “The owner is a man called Adam Lloyd.”

  “So?” Janet asked, feeling confused.

  “So, Adam must be the main suspect in the burglaries, don’t you think?”

  Janet stared at her sister. “Maybe. I don’t know. What difference does it make,
anyway?”

  “I thought maybe you’d like to go and talk to Mr. Lloyd about a new kitchen,” Joan suggested.

  “We don’t need a new kitchen.”

  “No, but he doesn’t know that.”

  “You hate when I stick my nose into police investigations.”

  “Yes, but I’d rather have you being nosy than angry at me for insisting that you tell Robert about Reuben.”

  Janet smiled. “I’m not angry, not really. It’s very hard to trust Edward, especially when he insists on being so mysterious all the time. I’m mostly just glad that Robert was so certain that Reuben isn’t Everett Fox.”

  “I am, too, but now I’m curious about the break-ins. If Reuben isn’t behind them, who is? I thought maybe we could talk to the kitchen fitters and see how much they know about antiques.”

  “You never want to get involved in these things,” Janet protested.

  “Maybe having Edward here is making me crazy,” Joan told her. “The break-ins are worrying, though. We don’t want people to start thinking that Doveby Dale isn’t a safe place for a holiday.”

  Janet nodded. She really needed to stop arguing with her sister and be happy that Joan was willing to do some snooping. “So we’ll tell them we want a new kitchen?” she asked, glancing around the beautiful modern kitchen that Margaret Appleton had installed when she’d first turned Doveby House into a bed and breakfast some years earlier.

  “I thought maybe we could tell them that we’re considering turning the carriage house into a self-catering unit,” Joan said, flushing.

  Janet frowned. “You’ve been thinking about turning the carriage house into a self-catering unit?” she demanded.

  “It was just a random thought,” Joan said defensively, staring at the floor as she spoke. “We could hire it out to families, as the rooms here aren’t really suitable for children.”

  “I’m not sure the carriage house is large enough for a kitchen. I thought, when we talked about using it, that we were simply going to turn it into a bedroom.”

  “It needs its own en-suite as well, obviously. I just thought, if we were adding plumbing anyway, that maybe a small kitchen wouldn’t be that much more money.”

  “We’d have to measure the carriage house.”

  “I already did,” Joan admitted. “Wait here.”

  She was back a moment later with several sheets of paper. “These are the approximate dimensions of the building,” she told Janet, handing her a sheet of paper. “Michael helped me sketch them out, and I think we could just about fit everything self-catering guests would need along this wall.”

  Janet looked at the drawing. It was clear that Joan had given the idea a great deal of thought. This wasn’t something she’d simply dreamt up today to give them an excuse to visit the kitchen fitters. Instead, she was using the break-ins and Janet’s inherent nosiness as her excuse to mention the carriage house project.

  “It looks cosy,” Janet said after a minute. “But what’s this?” She pointed to a second drawing.

  “That’s the loft bedroom,” Joan said. “I’ve no idea what any of this would cost, but if we could add a second bedroom in a loft, we could charge a lot more for guests.”

  Janet wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. Joan had been nagging her about clearing out the carriage house since they’d bought Doveby House. Janet had known all along that Joan wanted to add additional guest space there, but she hadn’t had a hint of the scale of Joan’s plans. “It seems as if it would all be very expensive,” Janet said.

  “We wouldn’t have to do it all at once, though. We could start using it once we’d had the en-suite installed. The kitchen could be added later, as could the loft bedroom. We could decide over time, based on how popular the carriage house is, whether either of those things would actually be worth doing.”

  “What about the ghost?”

  Joan frowned. “You know I don’t believe in such things. Obviously, as part of converting the space from storage into a guest room, we’d have additional lighting added and a new door, as well. That should stop the wind from blowing the door shut when people are inside.”

  Janet did believe in ghosts. She’d never given them much thought before they’d bought Doveby House, but now she shared a bedroom with one who screamed in the middle of the night every time the moon was full. She usually slept in one of the guest rooms during the full moon, whenever she could.

  The carriage house ghost was a different matter, and Janet couldn’t help but wonder if he or she might object to them making big changes to the building. Janet liked to think of the ghost as mischievous. He or she seemed to enjoy locking people in the carriage house and switching off the lights. Janet and Joan knew enough to take a torch with them when they ventured into the building, and they always kept the key with them rather than leaving it in the door.

  “I’m not suggesting we do anything right away,” Joan continued. “We have a lot of work to do to get the building ready for renovations, for a start. I just thought, knowing how much you enjoy sticking your nose into police investigations, that we might go and talk to the kitchen fitters, that’s all.”

  “As we keep finding ourselves in the middle of police investigations, I think it’s perfectly logical for me to be curious,” Janet defended herself. “I’m also curious as to how much adding a kitchen to the carriage house would cost. Maybe, if we remodel that space, I could move out there. That would give you another room in the house for guests and give me my own private space.”

  Joan frowned. “Let’s not worry about that for today,” she muttered.

  Janet grinned to herself as she headed for the stairs. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of having her own little house, just a few steps away from the bed and breakfast. She wouldn’t need much in the way of a kitchen, as she could still eat all of her meals with Joan, but it might be nice to have the ability to make herself snacks once in a while. Maybe she’d even cook her own meals once or twice a week. She’d never really done that over the years, but since Joan had been seeing Michael, Janet had had a few occasions to try her hand at cooking and she’d quite enjoyed herself.

  She combed her hair and touched up her makeup. “We’re going to look at kitchens,” she told Aggie. “Joan thinks we should add a kitchen to the carriage house.”

  “Yooowwwwllll,” Aggie shouted.

  “I know you didn’t like the carriage house, but it will be much nicer if we do it up properly.”

  Aggie shook her head and then buried it under the covers.

  Janet sighed. “Maybe I should forget about moving into the carriage house, then.”

  Joan was ready to go when Janet got back downstairs.

  “Which car should we take?” Janet asked as they walked down the steps towards the car park.

  “Mine is much more comfortable,” Joan said.

  Janet nodded. “But mine is much more fun.”

  “We can take your car if you prefer.”

  Janet thought for a minute and then shrugged. “I don’t mind either way.”

  Joan unlocked her car and they both climbed inside. It was a fairly short drive through Doveby Dale to the neighbourhood where the business for which they were looking was located.

  “What was the address again?” Janet asked as Joan drove slowly down the road.

  Joan told her the address.

  “It has to be here somewhere,” Janet muttered. “Wait, is that it?” She pointed to a small cottage that looked out of place between two office buildings.

  “Lloyd’s Expert Kitchens,” Joan read off the very small sign by the road. “This is the place.” She turned into the tiny car park and parked in one of the three available spaces. A single white van was parked near the side of the building; otherwise the car park was empty.

  “It doesn’t look open,” Janet said tentatively. It also didn’t look much like a successful business. There weren’t any windows at the front of the cottage and the door was a solid wooden
one. That meant there was no way to see inside.

  “I suppose there’s only one way to find out,” Joan replied.

  “We should have rung first. Maybe they only see people by appointment.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Joan sighed. “Since we’re here, though, we should at least try the door.”

  Janet wasn’t sure that she agreed. Sitting there, she could help but wonder if they were about to walk in on men who’d already burgled two houses in the area. Were they simply inviting the men to burgle Doveby House next?

  Before Janet could voice her concerns, Joan opened her door and climbed out of the car. Janet shook her head and then followed more slowly. Clearly, Joan was determined to find out what the carriage house kitchen would cost, no matter what.

  Chapter 7

  As Joan pulled on the door, a loud buzzer sounded. Janet frowned. “They know we’re here now,” she muttered as she followed Joan into the cottage.

  “This isn’t what I was expecting,” Joan said as she stopped a few feet inside the door.

  Janet almost let her jaw drop. The back wall of the cottage was nearly entirely made up of windows, which flooded the single room with light. The room felt large, even though there were cupboards and countertops everywhere. Janet ran her hand across the nearest countertop and sighed. It was some sort of stone and it was beautiful. No doubt it was also very expensive.

  “Hello,” a voice said from behind a small partition wall. A moment later a man walked out and smiled brightly at them. Janet would have guessed him to be around thirty-five. His hair was brown and he had a small and neatly trimmed beard and moustache. “Good afternoon,” he said. “What brings you in today? Ready for a whole new kitchen or just in need of a replacement cupboard or two?”

  “We wanted to talk to someone about adding a small kitchen to our carriage house,” Joan replied. “It wouldn’t be much more than a few units along a wall, really.”

  “You must be the Markham sisters,” the man replied. “Unless you’ve driven here from Derby or further afield, that is.”