The Lawley Case

by Diana Xarissa

  Whenever she’d decided that he was out of her life for good, he’d ring out of the blue or send her a present in the post. Some months ago his sister had come to stay with them, and before she’d left, she’d given Aggie to Janet on Edward’s behalf. The man himself had even come and spent a weekend at the house, taking Janet to dinner a few times and helping her investigate a case of arson. In spite of all of that, Janet wasn’t sure how she felt about the mysterious man, and she was starting to think that she’d be better off without him in her life.

  “You’re not answering, which means you’re angry with me,” Edward sighed. “I’ve been in South America, dealing with, well, some issues. I sent you a little something, to let you know I was thinking of you. I hope my little bunny friend arrived safely?”

  “Yes, it did. Thank you,” Janet said.

  “You’re very welcome,” Edward replied. “And I don’t blame you for being cross, either. I should find a way to ring you more often. Even better, I should come and see you regularly. I keep trying and things keep coming up that get in my way.”

  “Perhaps you need to try harder,” Janet suggested.

  Edward chuckled. “I definitely need to try harder,” he agreed. “But tell me what’s been happening in Doveby Dale since we last spoke.”

  “Nothing much,” Janet replied. “Although Stuart thinks we might have someone trying to cultivate drugs here.”

  “It’s the perfect place for that sort of operation. Robert Parsons can’t keep an eye on every square inch of Doveby Dale and Little Burton on his own and there are acres and acres of unused farmland. You’re close enough to Derby that it would be easy to set up a distribution network. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stuart is right.”

  Janet sighed. “What a horrible idea.”

  “It is, rather. I like to think of Doveby Dale as a safe oasis in an increasingly unlawful world, although you’ve seen more than your fair share of criminal activity since you’ve been there, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, I believe we have, although things aren’t as bad here as they are on the Isle of Man. My friend Bessie keeps getting caught up in murder investigations.”

  “Yes, Miss Cubbon does seem to have a knack for finding dead bodies, doesn’t she, although I understand you found a few yourself when you were visiting her.”

  “I did, and I’d rather not think about it or talk about it,” Janet said quickly.

  “I understand,” Edward told her. “But what’s raised Stuart’s suspicions, and what does Robert think?”

  Janet took a deep breath and then launched into a complete account of everything that had happened since Stuart had first mentioned his visit to the garden centre to her. She didn’t leave out anything except for the personal remarks that had passed between her and William.

  “I’m a bit worried about William Chalmers,” Edward said when she was done. “He’s a little too smooth and charming. I don’t like him.”

  “He’s very nice, and I like him a lot,” Janet retorted.

  “That’s what worries me. But that’s beside the point. I suggest you tell Robert everything you’ve told me, if you haven’t already. I can imagine a few different possibilities from what you’ve said, and none of them are good.”

  “Does it sound as if it could be drug cultivation to you?”

  “No, that’s one thing it doesn’t sound like,” Edward said. “But that doesn’t mean that Robert shouldn’t check the farm for that as well.”

  “I think Robert needs more help.”

  “He’s doing an excellent job, and he has a lot of backup in Derby if he needs it,” Edward assured her. “How’s Joan?”

  Janet was surprised by the sudden change in subject. “She’s fine. Why do you ask?”

  “I want to know all about your life,” he replied. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I do care a great deal about you.”

  “How’s your sister?”

  “Ah, Margaret is fine. Still trying to change the world, and probably doing a better job than I am with it.”

  “The next time you talk to her, tell her I said hello.”

  “I will do. I might send her back up to see you and Joan again soon, actually. She could do with another holiday.”

  “I think we’re pretty well booked through the summer, but you’d have to talk to Joan about that.”

  “I suspect Margaret is too busy to take any time off during the summer anyway,” Edward replied. “But maybe in the autumn. Maybe we could both come and stay. I haven’t spent any real time with my sister in years.”

  “That would be nice,” Janet said, wondering if she meant it. It was bad enough only getting to see Edward once in a very rare while. She didn’t really want to have to share him with his sister on one of his visits.

  “And now I must go,” Edward sighed. “Make sure you talk to Robert today, won’t you?”

  “I’ll try,” Janet said. She sighed when she realised that Edward had already ended the call.

  “That was frustrating,” she told Aggie.

  “Mmerrooww,” Aggie replied.

  Chapter 10

  A quick look at the clock showed Janet that she was dangerously close to being late for dinner. She quickly combed her hair and then washed her hands before heading down the stairs.

  “I thought maybe you’d fallen asleep,” Joan said.

  “Edward rang.”

  “Really? What did he want?”

  Janet shrugged. “Just to say hello, I suppose. I told him all about Stuart and the men staying with Martin Lawley, though. He thinks I need to talk to Robert about the things I overheard today.”

  “You were already planning to talk to Robert, weren’t you?”

  “Well, yes, but I thought it was interesting that he agreed.”

  Joan served roast chicken with vegetables, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Janet tried to stop herself from eating too much as she didn’t want to spoil her pudding. The apple crumble was every bit as delicious as she’d hoped it would be.

  The sisters were just heading for the television lounge when someone knocked on the door.

  “Robert, this is a surprise,” Janet said as she opened the door to the young police constable.

  “Susan said you want to speak to me. As I’d spent a lot of today on the telephone for various reasons, I thought maybe I could talk to you in person,” he replied.

  “Well, you’re just in time for apple crumble,” Joan said. “Come on back to the kitchen and I’ll put the kettle on, as well.”

  Robert dropped into a chair as Joan filled the kettle. Janet sat down opposite him. “I know you said you’d check into what Nick and his friend Jim are doing at Martin’s farm, but I saw both of them today and, well, I overheard some things that I thought you should know.”

  As Joan put a plate of crumble in front of him, Robert pulled out a notebook. “Thank you,” he said to Joan. “You spoil me when I come here.”

  “It’s only leftover crumble,” Joan replied. “And tea,” she added as the kettle boiled.

  “Tell me about your day, then,” Robert said to Janet. “Start with breakfast and go from there, please.”

  Janet did as he’d asked, taking him through cleaning the guest rooms and then her trip into the village. When she was done, she took a long drink of the tea Joan had given her.

  “That’s all very interesting,” Robert said. “I’m going to have to take a closer look at all three men, I think. Jasper Jones can be a prickly character, though, so I’ll have to tread carefully when it comes to his son.”

  “I don’t think we’ve met Jasper,” Janet said.

  “You’d remember him if you had,” Robert replied. “But he doesn’t leave his farm very often.”

  Robert finished his tea and crumble and then got to his feet. “Thank you for the information. I’m going to check on a few things tonight and then follow up on the rest tomorrow. From what you’ve said, the men are planning to be around for a few more days, at least.”

 
; “That’s certainly how it sounded today,” Janet agreed.

  She and Joan walked to the front door with the man. As Janet opened it to let him out, Judith, who was standing on the step outside, screamed.

  “Oh, my goodness. I wasn’t expecting the door to open in my face,” she gasped. “I was just waiting for Malcolm. He’s parking the car.”

  Robert frowned at her. “You look familiar,” he said.

  Judith shrugged. “This is our first visit to Doveby Dale, so I doubt we’ve met before. I’m Judith Armstrong.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Constable Robert Parsons,” he replied.

  “Constable? As in police constable?” Judith asked, glancing into the car park.

  “Yes that’s right. I’m in charge of the local station,” Robert told her.

  “But what are you doing here?” Judith asked.

  “Talking to Joan and Janet. I visit them regularly. I think it’s important to keep track of what’s happening in the village,” Robert replied.

  Judith nodded. “I’m just going to go and see what’s keeping Malcolm,” she said. She rushed down the steps, nearly knocking Malcolm over as he was coming up the path from the car park. “I left something in the car,” she said loudly as she dragged Malcolm away.

  “What can you tell me about those two?” Robert asked as he watched the pair walk back to their car.

  “They complain a lot,” Janet said, “to the point where they manage to get their meals and things for free. They’ve done their best to manipulate us into refunding their stay, but we’ve managed to stay one step ahead of them thus far. They’re deeply unpleasant people and nothing would make me happier right now than if you arrested them both and took them away.”

  Robert chuckled. “I get the feeling you don’t like them,” he said. “But I can’t arrest them without cause. I am going to see what I can find out about them, though. Give me their full names and where they’ve come from, please?”

  Joan supplied the information while Janet watched the Armstrongs. They were standing together behind their car, clearly arguing.

  “Should we keep them here if they decide to leave early?” Janet asked.

  “No, let them go. I’ll note their plate number when I leave. I’m sure I can find them again if I need to,” Robert said.

  Janet nodded. He walked down the steps and headed for his car. As he got closer to the Armstrongs, they quickly dashed towards Doveby House.

  “How was your day?” Janet asked brightly as the pair nearly tripped over each other in their haste to get inside.

  Edgar pushed the door shut and then leaned against it. “It was fine,” he said in a clipped voice. “Just fine.” He glanced at his wife. “We need to go upstairs and finish our conversation,” he said.

  “Yes, let’s,” Judith agreed. The pair scurried up the stairs, leaving Janet and Joan behind.

  “That was odd,” Janet said after a moment.

  “It was, indeed. I’d hate to think that we’re harbouring criminals.”

  “Me, too, but I do like the idea of them leaving early,” Janet said.

  “I think I might just stay in here with a book,” Joan told her sister. “I think the Armstrongs might be back down soon.”

  Janet agreed. She went and pulled a random title from the mystery section in the library and then settled on a couch in the sitting room. Only a short while later, the Armstrongs came down the stairs with their suitcases in hand.

  “As we’ve been saying all along, Doveby Dale simply isn’t for us,” Judith said. “We’ll be leaving now.”

  “I’ll refund you for the nights you won’t be staying,” Joan said.

  “No, no, that’s okay,” Malcolm told her. “We don’t need a refund.”

  Janet’s jaw dropped as the couple headed for the door.

  “Here are the keys,” Judith said, dropping them onto the table near the door. “Thank you for everything.”

  They were gone before either sister could do much more than get to their feet. Janet walked to the door and watched as they threw their suitcases into their boot and drove away.

  “I’m going to ring Robert and tell him that they’ve gone,” she told Joan. “They must be wanted for something, the way they rushed out of here.”

  Janet had to settle for leaving a message on Robert’s voice mail.

  “Is it just me, or does the house feel happier now that they’ve gone?” Janet asked her sister after she’d put the phone down.

  “I’m sure it’s just you,” Joan replied.

  Janet made a face at her and then went back to her book feeling a good deal happier with life.

  Robert paid them a visit a few days later.

  “Come in and have tea and biscuits,” Joan invited the man.

  “I will, if you can spare them,” he replied.

  “You know we always have tea and biscuits for you,” Joan replied.

  Janet filled a plate with several different types of the homemade biscuits that Joan had been busy baking over the last few days. Joan made the tea and then they all sat down together to talk.

  “I’ve quite a few things to tell you, actually,” Robert began. “Where should I start?”

  “Start with Martin Lawley’s farm,” Janet suggested. “Is anyone trying to grow anything illegal there?”

  “No, at least not as far as we can determine. After Nick and Jim were arrested, a specialist drug squad went over the entire farm, and they didn’t find any evidence of anything drug related.”

  “But Nick and Jim were arrested? For what?” Janet asked.

  “It seems they were part of a scheme to defraud Jasper Jones of a great deal of money,” Robert replied. “Jasper’s son, Joseph, was behind it all, but he was using the other two men to help.”

  “He was planning on stealing from his own father?” Janet said, in shock.

  “According to him, he was simply trying to access his inheritance a little bit early,” Robert replied. “The three of them were trying to find ways to sell many of Jasper’s antiques and his coin collection.”

  “So the coins they showed William were stolen from Jasper?” Janet asked.

  “It certainly seems that way. Jasper has a huge collection that he keeps in special trays. It seems that the two men simply grabbed a few coins from each tray without having any idea what they were taking.”

  “What would have happened when Jasper noticed?” Janet wondered.

  “It’s highly unlikely that he would have, actually. The coins are kept in a safe in a first-floor bedroom. Jasper can’t easily climb stairs anymore, so they probably could have cleared out the safe over time without Jasper ever realising.”

  “And were they going to do the same thing to Martin?” Joan asked.

  “We aren’t sure what their plans were. We do know that they’ve been working their way around the country, doing a variety of unscrupulous things to enrich themselves at the expense of other, often vulnerable people.”

  Janet sighed. “How can people behave in that way?”

  “Most of the victims were formerly involved with Nick’s mother,” Robert said. “Nick has a long list of stepfathers, although we don’t think most of his mother’s marriages were legal ones. In one place, he and his friends managed to sell off entire rooms of antique furniture from upstairs rooms that the owner could no longer visit. In another, they helped themselves to a collection of old snuff boxes that were stored in a crawl space under the house. The owner had nearly forgotten that he had the collection. Apparently he’d inherited it from his own father and had never given it much thought. Nick, or one of his friends, found it and sold it all for a great deal of money.”

  “I hope you can lock them all up for the rest of their lives,” Janet said.

  “We may be able to do something like that, anyway,” Robert chuckled. “Joseph was quite upset that Jim had pocketed a few of his father’s coins. Apparently, everything they stole from Jasper was meant to go to Joseph alone since it was his f
ather they were stealing from. Once Joseph found out that Jim had been helping himself to coins, he decided to tell us everything he knew about Jim’s part in the schemes. Once Jim found out that Joseph was talking, he started doing the same. When Nick heard that the other two were talking, he gave us his version of events. We now have a long list of cases to investigate and a whole plethora of charges we can make against all three men.”

  “That is good news,” Janet said. “I hope Martin isn’t too upset about everything that’s happened.”

  “I talked to him yesterday and he seems to be taking everything in his stride. He didn’t seem terribly surprised by what I told him. I believe he was also happy to have Nick and Jim out of his house.”

  “I must pay him another visit,” Janet said.

  “Stuart said the same thing when I talked to him about everything,” Robert told her.

  “But what about the Armstrongs?” Janet asked. “Why did she look familiar to you and why did they rush off once they’d met you?”

  Robert shrugged. “I worked out why she looked familiar later that night.” He named a popular soap opera. “I’m embarrassed to admit that I watch it, but it’s usually on when I get home from work at night, so I watch while I eat my dinner. Anyway, if you’ve ever seen it, there’s a minor character who I think looks a lot like Judith Armstrong.”

  Janet thought for a minute. “The woman who lives next door to the loud-mouthed blonde?” she asked. “Now that you mention it, there is a resemblance.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s why she looked familiar to me,” Robert said. “Why she and her husband rushed away after meeting me, I can’t tell you.”

  “Maybe they were afraid that one of the local businesses complained about their behaviour,” Janet said. “I know they demanded free meals just about everywhere they went. Perhaps they suddenly realised that what they were doing was bordering on fraud?” She told Robert about the sausage they’d hidden in the wardrobe and the missing thermostat knob.