“It sounds tempting, though,” Janet admitted.
Edward chuckled. “I was counting on you to be the voice of reason.”
“We can’t go anywhere until the burglar is behind bars, anyway. I can’t leave Joan on her own if there’s a chance the burglar might target Doveby House.”
“I suspect if you left, it wouldn’t be long before Michael moved in,” Edward said with a wink.
Janet gasped and then shook her head. “Joan would never live with a man.”
“What about a husband?”
The idea had surprised Janet much more than it really should have, she decided on the drive home. Joan and Michael were spending a great deal of time together. Getting married was probably a logical next step. The thought of Joan getting married, though, was an odd one.
“Thank you for a lovely meal,” Janet said as she and Edward walked back up the steps to Doveby House.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He stopped her and pulled her close. “I feel as if I’m sixteen and your father is waiting behind the door,” he whispered as his lips lowered onto hers.
Janet let herself get lost in the kiss, safe in the knowledge that Joan would, no doubt, be waiting for her in the sitting room. There was no way Edward would dare make any improper suggestions in front of Joan.
“We need to go away somewhere,” he told her as he lifted his head. “Paris would be nice, but maybe you’d like Rome better.”
“I’m not ready to go anywhere with you,” Janet replied, wincing at how prim she sounded.
“Yet?” Edward asked.
Janet wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She was old-fashioned enough to believe that a man and a woman should be married before they slept together, but she felt silly telling Edward that. She was saved from having to reply when the door suddenly opened in front of them.
“Oh, goodness, I didn’t know you were out here,” Michael said, his eyes twinkling at Janet as she took a step out of Edward’s arms.
“How was dinner?” she asked.
“Lovely as ever. Your sister is a wonderful cook, along with all of her other special traits,” he replied.
“Did you eat all of the apple crumble?” Edward asked.
“Joan insisted that we save enough for you each to have some when you got home, even though I argued that you’d both be too full to properly enjoy it,” Michael replied.
“I think we both saved just enough room for a bit of crumble,” Edward laughed.
Michael stepped out of the house and said his good-nights before heading back across the road to his own house. Janet and Edward found Joan in the sitting room with Reuben. She was reading a book, while he was looking through a newspaper.
“Michael said you’ve saved us some crumble,” Edward said happily.
“Just a bit,” Joan replied.
The foursome went into the kitchen, where Joan gave everyone a small portion of Janet’s favourite pudding.
“That was the perfect end to the evening,” Janet said as she and Joan checked all the doors and windows on the ground floor after the men had gone upstairs to bed.
“Did you enjoy your dinner with Edward, then?” Joan asked.
“Very much,” Janet admitted.
She crawled into bed next to Aggie and fell asleep immediately.
Her alarm dragged her out of bed much earlier than she would have liked. Edward joined her and Joan in the kitchen at eight.
“Reuben is going to stay in bed for another hour,” he said. “If you’d rather, you can wait and make breakfast for both of us at the same time.”
“I’m happy to make yours now,” Joan replied. “I’ll make Janet’s as well, as she hasn’t eaten yet.”
Edward told the women some stories about his travels while Joan cooked. They were still talking and laughing together when Reuben came down shortly after nine.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I overslept, and I’m not moving too quickly this morning, either. I banged myself up pretty badly yesterday.”
Joan went back to work at the cooker while Janet found the man some headache tablets. “Do you think you need a doctor?” she asked as he swallowed the medication.
“No, I just need to stop being stupid,” the man sighed. “I’m not twenty-one any longer and I shouldn’t try to behave as if I am.”
“I’m as much to blame,” Edward interjected. “I’m meant to be here to stop you behaving badly.”
Reuben shrugged and then dug into his breakfast. It seemed to disappear at an astonishing rate as Janet watched.
“What are your plans for today?” she asked as Reuben shovelled in his last bite of toast.
“I think we may stick to Doveby Dale today,” Edward told her. “Maybe we’ll visit the local shops and have lunch at the café up the road.”
“The food there is excellent,” Janet said.
“So I’ve heard,” Edward replied, winking at her.
Reuben stood up slowly. “Right now, going anywhere seems awfully ambitious,” he said, wincing as he took a step. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe we should just stay home today. We could watch mindless television all day.”
“We have a library,” Joan said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to read among the books there.”
“I’d rather just watch telly,” Reuben told her. “I’ll probably get bored in an hour and try to find a book, but right now, I don’t even want to have to turn pages. Everything hurts whenever I move.”
Janet walked the men into the television lounge and made sure they were settled. “I’ll unlock the door to the library, in case you do decide you’d like to read,” she told them.
Joan was finishing the washing-up when Janet rejoined her.
“They’re watching a cookery programme. They’ll probably both end up hungry again in half an hour,” she told Joan.
“I can throw together a shepherd’s pie for lunch. If they don’t want to stay, we can have the rest another day, but if Reuben truly doesn’t want to go out today, I can manage lunch and dinner for four.”
“I hope you’re charging Edward extra for all of the meals and snacks you’re providing.”
“He paid us more than twice our usual rate for the rooms, and he paid for the entire month even though he’s only going to be here for a week. We can afford to feed him and his guest a few meals.”
Janet thought about arguing, but someone knocked on the door.
“Good morning,” Robert said when she opened it. “I’d like a word with you and Joan and also with Mr. Bennett, please.”
Chapter 10
“Edward and Reuben are in the television lounge,” Janet replied as she let the man into the house. “Do you want to talk to him on his own?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. Let’s see how the conversation goes, though.”
Janet nodded. She walked into the kitchen to collect Joan and then they all made their way to the television lounge.
Edward was sitting in the corner with a book while Reuben stared at the screen. A chef was whipping cream and shouting instructions to someone as they walked in. Reuben muted the television but didn’t get up from his chair.
Janet introduced Robert to both men, trying to act casual so that Reuben wouldn’t know that Edward and Robert were already well acquainted.
“The police?” Reuben said. “I hit the lamp post with my face, not my car. Please don’t tell me that it has filed a police report against me.”
Robert shook his head. “There was another break-in last night,” he said. “I’m talking to everyone in the area, hoping someone might have seen something.”
“We were back here rather early last night,” Edward told the man. “That is, I brought Reuben here and then Janet and I went out for dinner.”
“What time was the break-in?” Reuben asked.
“Some time between eleven and four,” Robert replied. “Unfortunately, the homeowners can’t pin it down any better than that.”
&nb
sp; “I’m afraid I was tucked up in my bed well before eleven and I didn’t get up until nearly nine,” Reuben said. “I didn’t have a chance to see anything.”
“We were all in bed before eleven,” Joan said. “Can you tell us who was burgled this time and what was taken?”
“An older couple who live not far from the first couple who were hit,” Robert said. “That’s why I’m here. I was hoping maybe someone happened to look out a window and see someone walking down the road sometime last night, or something like that.”
Janet shook her head. “My bedroom is on that side of the house, but once I was in bed, I didn’t get up until seven.”
“Had these victims had a new kitchen fitted recently?” Edward asked.
“Not a new kitchen, but they had a couple of new cabinets fitted by the same company that did their neighbours’ kitchen,” Robert told him.
“Which points once again to Adam and Gilbert,” Edward said thoughtfully.
“What was taken?” Janet asked.
“A pair of silver candlesticks. Apparently they were Victorian and worth a considerable amount,” Robert replied.
“Six figures again?” Joan wondered.
“The owners believed so. They’re incredibly upset, as they were getting ready to hold an auction on many of their belongings.” Robert said.
“An auction?” Janet repeated. “Did you give us their name?”
“Stanley and Ethel Wagner,” Robert told her.
“I just met them a few days ago,” Janet exclaimed. “They’re planning to move onto a cruise ship, aren’t they?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Robert agreed. “Where did you meet them?”
“They were in the antique shop, talking to William about valuing their furniture and things,” Janet explained. “He was going to go through the house with them the next day.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Janet flushed. “I’m sure William doesn’t have anything to do with the break-ins,” she added quickly.
Robert made a note in his notebook. “I asked Mr. and Mrs. Wagner to give me a list of everyone who has been to their home in the past six months. They didn’t mention William’s name.”
“Maybe they forgot about him or didn’t think it was significant,” Edward suggested.
“Maybe. I’m going to have to go and talk to them again,” Robert sighed.
“He is an expert in antiques,” Edward pointed out.
“Who would never do anything criminal,” Janet said stoutly.
“He did serve prison time,” Robert reminded her.
“Amanda!” Janet shouted.
“William’s assistant?” Robert asked.
“Yes, her. Maybe she’s behind the break-ins,” Janet said.
“I don’t think she knows very much about antiques,” Robert replied. “I was in the shop looking for something for my mother a few days ago and she kept having to ask William about everything I considered.”
“Maybe she’s just pretending not to know anything,” Janet suggested.
“Or maybe William has been inadvertently helping her work out what to steal,” Edward said. “You can see them having a chat about paintings and him casually mentioning that one of their customers has a painting worth a fortune just hanging on the wall in his home.”
Robert nodded. “I’m not certain that William has been to all of the homes that have had break-ins, but I’m going to find out.”
He got to his feet and headed for the door. “Thank you for your time,” he called over his shoulder.
Janet followed him through the house. “Good luck,” she told the man before she shut the door behind him.
After the delicious lunch that Joan prepared, Reuben insisted on taking the sisters out for dinner. They ended up driving into Derby to a small Italian restaurant that would have been very romantic under different circumstances.
“We’ll come back one night,” Edward whispered in Janet’s ear as they walked back to the car after dinner. “It will be lovely just the two of us.”
Janet couldn’t disagree, although she’d enjoyed herself anyway. Reuben had travelled a great deal and he spent much of dinner talking about cities around the world that Janet assumed she’d never get to see herself.
“I’m exhausted,” she told Aggie as she curled up in bed. “I’m also a little bit worried about William. I’m sure he’s innocent, but he’s going to feel guilty if he did help Amanda choose her victims.”
“Yeeoowwll,” Aggie told her.
That seemed to confirm to Janet, anyway, that Amanda was behind the break-ins. She went to sleep hoping that Robert would be back in the morning to confirm her suspicions.
Reuben and Edward had breakfast and then headed out to explore Doveby Dale and Little Burton.
“We may be back before long,” Edward said dryly.
With nothing else to do, Janet let her sister drag her back out to the carriage house to sort boxes.
“It’s a jar filled with buttons,” she told Joan after she’d opened another box. “I’m not sure why it needed its own box, but at least it was an easy one to clear out.”
They found a few other small trinkets in three more boxes, none of which seemed valuable.
“Maybe I should take them all to William,” Janet suggested over lunch.
“You’re just looking for an excuse to snoop,” Joan replied.
“You’re just as curious about Amanda as I am. I just want to see if she’s still working with William or if she’s been arrested.”
“I think we would have heard something if she’d been arrested.”
Janet didn’t argue any further. She just made plans. Once lunch was over and the dishwasher was loaded, she grabbed her car keys. “I’m going to pop to the chemist’s for some shampoo,” she told Joan. “Do you want me to have William look at any of the things we found this morning?”
Joan glanced over at the objects that they’d left on the kitchen counter. “I don’t think any of them are worth his time,” she sighed. “I’ve no idea what we’re going to do with all of the rubbish from the carriage house.”
“Maybe we could take it all to a car boot sale. That might be fun.”
Joan just shook her head.
There weren’t any lights on in the antique shop when Janet pulled into the car park a short while later. The door was locked and the sign on it read “Closed.”
“What’s going on next door?” she asked Owen as she looked for her favourite shampoo.
“I’m not sure,” he told her with a frown. “Robert was over there for a long time yesterday. When he left, William locked up the shop and he hasn’t been back since.”
“I hope everything is okay.”
“I did wonder if it was anything to do with the break-ins,” Owen said in a low voice. “I’m sure William isn’t involved, but maybe he knows something about them.”
“I wondered if Amanda might be involved.”
Owen stared at her for a minute and then laughed. “Amanda? She’s the nicest woman I’ve met in a long time. I can’t imagine her even attempting to break into someone’s home, let alone succeeding and then stealing something valuable. She wouldn’t have any more idea of what to take than I would. Everything she knows about antiques, she learned from William in the past few weeks.”
That’s a worrying thought, Janet said to herself as she paid for her purchases. “If you see him, ask William to ring me when he has a minute,” she told the man on her way out of the shop. “Joan and I found some things in the carriage house that we’d like him to value.”
“I’ll tell him,” Owen promised.
Reuben and Edward were back at Doveby House when Janet returned home. She found herself forgetting all about the break-ins and William over the next few days as she and Joan agreed to accompany the men to a number of different historical sites in the area. Michael sometimes came along as well, and Janet often found herself strolling hand in hand with Edward, enjoying his company and feeling as if she didn’t have
a care in the world.
“I’ve enjoyed my stay here more than I thought I would,” Reuben told them on his last night at Doveby House. “I may have to come and visit you again one day.”
“Make the arrangements through me,” Edward told him.
Reuben laughed. “You’re determined to keep an eye on me, aren’t you?”
“I’m going to take Reuben to the airport in the morning,” Edward told Janet later that evening. “Assuming he gets on his plane without incident, I’ll be back in time to take you anywhere you’d like for dinner.”
“Let’s not assume anything at this point,” Janet suggested.
Edward laughed. “You’re right, of course, but I’m looking forward to spending a few days with you once Reuben is gone.”
The next morning Reuben came down for breakfast clean-shaven.
“You’re almost unrecognisable,” Janet told him.
“That was rather the point,” he laughed. He gave both sisters hugs before he followed Edward out to Edward’s car.
“Do you think we’ll ever know who he truly was?” Janet asked her sister.
“Maybe Edward will tell you one day.”
“I’m still not convinced that he’ll be back this afternoon,” Janet muttered.
“He left his things in his room, didn’t he?”
“I believe so.”
They cleaned the guest rooms, and then Janet went grocery shopping. She was restless and out of sorts, wondering if Edward would truly be back or not. She got her answer when she returned from the shops.
Edward was standing in the sitting room with his suitcases when Janet walked in laden down with carrier bags.
“You’re leaving,” she said flatly as she walked past him to the kitchen.
“There’s something of a crisis brewing in Botswana,” he told her as he followed her. “They tried to get someone else to deal with it, but, well, I’m rather too good at what I do, I suppose.”
Janet put the bags on the counter and turned to face Edward. “So this is goodbye.”
“Temporarily,” he told her. “I’m going to do everything in my power to get back to Doveby Dale quickly. I’ve already told my handler that this is my last emergency assignment. As I told you, I have a few other little things to wrap up, but those can be done more slowly and with frequent trips here in between.”
The Rhodes Case Page 8
