The Chalmers Case

by Diana Xarissa

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, his face full of concern.

  “I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Just a little spooked, that’s all.”

  Stuart laughed. “I’ve learned to always take a torch in the carriage house with me,” he told her. “Then if the lights go out, I can still find the door.”

  “That’s good advice,” Janet said. “I’ll try to remember it.”

  Back in the house, she spent a few minutes taking apart and cleaning the dusty picture frame. It seemed as if it had never been used. The photo behind the glass was merely a display photo. Janet slipped her price list into the frame and then put it all back together.

  “That looks lovely, though I say it myself,” she said as she stood the photo frame in the centre of her display. “And you shouldn’t be so frightened by a gust of wind that you’re talking to yourself,” she added. She wasn’t entirely sure how the wind had managed to switch off the light before it pushed the door shut, but that was the only logical explanation.

  “Of course you still can’t explain the shouting in your bedroom every full moon,” she reminded herself.

  “Janet? To whom are you speaking?”

  Janet flushed as she spun around. Joan and Michael were standing in the sitting room, their arms full of shopping bags.

  “I’ve just finished,” she said quickly. “I hope you like the display.”

  Joan gave her a funny look, but then walked further into the room to take a look. “Actually, it looks very nice,” she said after a moment.

  “I’m just going to take these bags through to the kitchen,” Michael said.

  “Oh, of course,” Joan said. She followed Michael into the corridor, leaving Janet to fuss over the table for a while longer. Finally deciding that it was as good as it was going to get, she followed her sister into the kitchen.

  Michael was sitting at the table with a cup of tea while Joan unpacked the shopping. Janet was very tempted to fix her own tea and join Michael, but she knew Joan wouldn’t approve. Instead, she opened the nearest bag and began unpacking it.

  “I hope I got enough of everything,” Joan said fretfully.

  “I’m sure there’s plenty,” Janet said soothingly. “What are we having for dinner tonight?”

  “I thought I’d made a beef stew,” Joan told her. “I’ll make enough for us, and for the Stones and the Harrisons as well. We can freeze whatever isn’t eaten tonight and have it next week when the house is ours again.”

  “That sounds good,” Janet said. “I’ll just go out and cut some flowers for the table. I probably should refresh the flowers in both guest rooms as well, don’t you think?”

  Joan looked at her for a moment and then frowned. “I don’t know,” she said after a moment. “It seems like we ought to, but both sets of guests said they didn’t need their rooms making up while they were here. Maybe we should give them their privacy.”

  “Surely just changing out their flowers isn’t invading their privacy,” Janet said. She was excited at the thought of having a peek in each of the rooms now and she was determined to convince Joan to let her do so.

  “I suppose not,” Joan said, clearly uncertain. “You should make up the vases down here and then just take them up and switch them for the ones that are already in place. That way you only have to spend a minute or two in each room.”

  “I’ll do that,” Janet replied. “But first I need to cut some flowers.”

  She headed out into the garden with a spring in her step. Changing out the flowers wasn’t snooping, she told herself. And if she happened to look around a tiny little bit while she was in the rooms, well, that was only to be expected, surely. She shook her head at her own sorry attempts to justify her own nosiness, but now that she’d had the idea, she wasn’t going to change her mind.

  It only took a few minutes to cut a sufficient number of flowers for the three vases she wanted to fill. Even though it was autumn, their gardens were still full of beautiful flowering plants and Janet was grateful again for Stuart and all of his hard work. Eventually the flowers would fade and she’d have to start buying flowers for the house, but for now she was happy to enjoy their own bounty.

  Back in the kitchen, Janet filled a vase and put it in the centre of the dining room table. Then she filled two smaller vases and carried them carefully upstairs.

  “Remember, just change out the vases and leave,” Joan called after her as she headed for the stairs. “We don’t want to anger our guests.”

  “I know,” Janet shouted back, already wondering what she might find in each room.

  When she got upstairs, she stood for a moment wondering what to do. She had a vase in each hand and no way to pull out her keys to open the door.

  “Well, you didn’t think this through, did you?” she asked herself. Shaking her head at herself, she put the vases down on the floor and dug out her keys. She decided to start with the west room, being more curious about the Stones than the Harrisons.

  Putting the key in the lock, she turned it slowly and quietly and then laughed out loud at herself. “No one is home,” she reminded herself, laughing again when she realised she was whispering.

  The smell of alcohol hit her nose as the door swung open. She frowned and switched on the light. The room was far tidier than she’d expected it to be. A quick glance revealed that the smell was coming from an empty wine bottle in the small bin in the corner of the room. While there were a few things scattered around the room, it appeared to be fairly well organised clutter. She peeked into the bathroom and found that it too was being neatly kept.

  Janet picked up the vase of half-dead flowers from the side table and replaced it with the fresh ones. Clearly no one had thought to add water to the original vase and the flowers had suffered for it. With the vase in hand, she walked quickly around the room, hoping to spot something interesting, but having no real idea of what she was looking for.

  In any event, she was disappointed to find nothing more than the sort of things she ought to have expected. There were a few tissues in one corner, a half-empty wine glass on the bedside table and a scribbled note on the desk with the phone number for WTC Antiques on it.

  Feeling disappointed, she walked out and locked the door behind herself. The east room was almost more disappointing. Aside from two suitcases which were closed up tightly and sitting in the corner of the room, the east room might have been unoccupied. There wasn’t a single thing out of place. The bin was empty and there weren’t even any toiletries perched on the bathroom sink. Janet swapped the existing vase for the new one, noting that the flowers looked healthy and that someone had obviously been keeping the water topped up.

  With nothing to see, she returned to the hallway and locked the room. Carrying the two vases, she made her way back down to the kitchen to empty them.

  “Well, what did you find out?” Joan demanded as Janet walked into the kitchen.

  “I just changed out the vases. I didn’t snoop,” Janet said indignantly.

  “Of course you did,” Joan replied. “But really, what did you find out?”

  “Nothing,” Janet said with a sigh. “The Stones are much tidier than I expected and the Harrisons have left their room looking almost unoccupied.”

  Michael chuckled from his seat at the table. “You sound so disappointed,” he explained when Janet looked at him. “I would have thought you’d be pleased to have guests who are tidy.”

  “I suppose I am,” Janet said. “I just can’t help but feel like the Stones and William Chalmers are up to something they shouldn’t be, that’s all.”

  Michael frowned. “I don’t much like the man,” he told her. “But what do you think he might be doing?”

  “William has some sort of art studio in the back room of his shop,” Janet explained. “I think they might be making art forgeries.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow. “Art forgeries? Well, I suppose anything is possible.”

  Before Janet could reply the
y all heard the approaching footsteps.

  “I know we said we’d eat elsewhere,” Nancy said as she appeared in the kitchen doorway. “But we’ve come back with Mildred and Harold and we’d love to have dinner here if we may. Whatever you’re making smells wonderful.”

  Joan smiled. “It’s beef stew,” she told the woman. “And there’s plenty for everyone. It should be ready in about half an hour.”

  “Good, I’ll tell the others,” she said. She turned and walked away.

  “I suppose I should get out of your way, then,” Michael said, clearly reluctantly.

  “Oh, do stay for dinner,” Joan suggested. “We’ll feed the guests first, if that’s okay, and then we can have dinner ourselves.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Michael said happily.

  Janet made a salad and mixed up dressing while Michael tried to help with everything and mostly got in the way. When the guests came down, Janet took care of getting them drinks while Michael started serving the food.

  The guests all seemed quite subdued, and once everyone had been served, Janet couldn’t help but comment on it.

  “I do hope everyone is okay,” she said casually. “You all seem a bit down this evening.”

  “I’m just so sad that we’re leaving in the morning,” Nancy said. “We’ve had such a lovely time and made such wonderful new friends.”

  “But we’ll keep in touch,” Mildred said firmly. “And maybe the Markhams will be able to accommodate us again one day soon.”

  “Oh, I’d love that,” Nancy cooed.

  “There they go, spending money again,” George grumbled good-naturedly to Harold.

  “Hm, I wasn’t listening,” Harold said. “Don’t tell me Mildred is going on about that holiday in Paris again.”

  “I wasn’t,” Mildred said. “But now that you mention it, we really should all go on holiday to Paris. It’s lovely this time of year.”

  Harold rolled his eyes. “Is it time for the sweets yet?” he asked Janet, passing her his empty plate.

  “I’ll just go and see if Joan has it on plates yet,” she said.

  In the kitchen, Joan did indeed have the jam roly poly ready to go. Janet took the tray with the four plates and Michael followed with both cream and custard to give the guests their choice.

  “We’ll be leaving quite early in the morning,” Nancy told Janet as Janet poured tea and coffee. “If you don’t mind, we’d love breakfast at seven, but if it’s too much bother, just leave it. We can stop somewhere on our way home.”

  “It’s no bother,” Janet lied with a smile. “What about you two?” she asked Mildred. “Do you want breakfast at seven as well?”

  “Yeah, I suppose that’ll work,” Harold grunted.

  “Now we’re off to the pub,” George said. “Apparently there’s one quite nearby.”

  Janet carried all of the plates into the kitchen, where Joan was spooning up generous servings of stew for themselves and Michael.

  “They all want breakfast at seven,” Janet said, watching the happy look on her sister’s face fade.

  “Seven?” Joan echoed.

  “That’s what they said,” Janet told her. “But they’ll probably be late.”

  Joan made a face. “They’d better not be,” she muttered under the breath.

  “We’ll have an early night,” Michael said. “There’s nothing on telly anyway.”

  Joan smiled faintly. “This was all my idea.” Janet heard her say to herself as she went back to serving up their dinner. Janet couldn’t help but smile at the thought that she’d been thinking herself.

  Dinner was delicious, and Janet was surprised that the guests were back from the pub before they’d finished off the last of the jam roly poly.

  “We only had just one drink,” Mildred said as Janet walked into the sitting room when she heard their voices. “We all have a lot to do tomorrow, you see.”

  The four guests made their way upstairs, leaving Janet and Joan to finish tidying the kitchen and then have an early night themselves. Janet headed upstairs as soon as she’d helped Joan with the few breakfast preparations they could do the night before, leaving her sister with Michael.

  In her room, Janet read for a short while and then switched off the light. She fell into a dreamless sleep, waking at six and wondering for a moment why she’d set such an early alarm. After a quick shower, she dressed and headed down to the kitchen to help Joan.

  Joan had all of the preparations done and was just waiting for the guests to arrive to actually start cooking. The sisters sipped coffee while they waited. At quarter past seven, Janet began to feel cross.

  “They said seven,” she told Joan. “And actually, I haven’t even heard their showers running yet.”

  “Maybe we just can’t hear them in here,” Joan said. “Or maybe they aren’t bothering with showers as they’re travelling today. Or maybe they’ve changed their mind and they’re all lying in.”

  Before Janet could reply, they heard the front door bell.

  “Did you invite Michael for breakfast?” Janet asked as she got to her feet.

  “No, and he’s said many times that he isn’t an early riser,” Joan replied. She stood up as well and the sisters walked quickly to the front door.

  “If it’s a potential guest, tell them no,” Joan hissed to Janet as she reached the door.

  Janet swallowed a smile at the words and then pulled the door open.

  “Constable Parsons? What brings you here?”

  Chapter Ten

  The young man smiled. “Mr. Chalmers has some concerns about some of your guests,” he told Janet, gesturing towards the man who was standing behind him looking miserable.

  “But they’re his cousins,” Janet replied.

  “Not the Stones,” William growled. “The Harrisons.”

  “They haven’t come down for breakfast yet,” Joan told their visitors.

  Janet took a step backwards. “Please come in,” she invited them. “They asked us to have breakfast ready for seven, but they haven’t actually come down yet.”

  “They’re long gone,” William told her. “And you’ll be lucky if they didn’t take a few of your more portable valuables with them.”

  Janet and Joan both gasped.

  “Now, now, let’s not start throwing unsubstantiated accusations around,” the young policeman said sternly. “Could one of you check to see if your guests are still here, please?” he asked the sisters.

  “I’ll go,” Janet volunteered quickly. She dashed out of the room before Joan could argue. With her keys in hand, she approached the door to the east room. She knocked quietly, fully expecting the Harrisons to answer the door. When they didn’t, she knocked again, more loudly. After a third attempt, she tried the knob. The door opened under her hand.

  She pushed it open and stuck her head inside the room. It appeared to be empty.

  “Please don’t touch anything,” Robert said from behind her.

  Janet jumped. She’d been so focussed on what she was doing that she hadn’t heard him coming up the stairs.

  “They seem to have gone,” she said.

  The only thing out of place in the room was a small pink envelope that was sitting on the table by the door. Someone had written “Joan and Janet” in neat handwriting on it. Without thinking, Janet reached for it.

  “Ah, I’d rather you didn’t touch that,” Robert said. “Or anything else in here. We may well have to have the whole room dusted for fingerprints.”

  “But what happened?” Janet asked.

  “We can talk downstairs,” the man told her.

  As they exited the room, Janet gestured towards the west room. “We should probably see what’s keeping them,” she said. “They were meant to be at breakfast at seven as well.”

  “I suspect they’ve also gone,” Robert replied. “And we’ll be wanting to dust that for prints as well.”

  Janet just stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. “I knew there was something f
unny going on,” she exclaimed.

  Back in the sitting room, Joan was fussing over William Chalmers.

  “I’m sure Robert will sort everything out,” she was saying. “You should have a cup of tea and try to calm down.”

  “I’ve worked so hard,” he replied. “Everything was going so well. First Harold showed up and tried to ruin everything and then, when I thought that problem was all sorted out, the bloo, er, blasted Harrisons come in and ruin my life.”

  “Exactly what happened?” Janet asked, looking from William to Robert and back again.

  William buried his head in his hands. “I can’t talk,” he moaned from behind them.

  “And I can’t tell you much,” Robert said. “We’re still investigating exactly what happened, but I’ll tell you the basics, at least, in exchange for your cooperation with our investigation.”

  The sisters nodded. Janet reckoned they had little choice but to cooperate, and she was dying to hear the story.

  “Firstly, Mr. and Mrs. Stone were former business associates of Mr. Chalmers,” Robert explained.

  “They were the ones behind the mislabeled things at my last store,” William said. “I didn’t realise what they were up to until it was too late, or I would have stopped them. We all ended up spending time in prison, even though none of it was my fault.”

  “Anyway, we were concerned about their visiting with Mr. Chalmers, and it seems our concern was warranted,” Robert continued.

  “I told you, they were blackmailing me. I’ve worked hard to achieve a certain social standing here in Doveby Dale and if the good people of the village discovered that I have a criminal record, that would ruin everything. Harold and Mildred threatened to tell everyone about my past if I didn’t help them out.”

  “Help them out how?” Janet asked, ignoring the “keep quiet” look from her sister.

  “They still had some questionable merchandise from our London operation,” William explained. “They wanted me to sell it in my shop here. I didn’t feel as if I had any choice but to agree.”