The Ellsworth Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 5)

by Diana Xarissa

  “I’ll just take a look,” Robert said. “Keep in mind that, if any of them are fakes, she might have received them herself in some innocent way.”

  Joan handed him the notes. As he inspected them, Janet found herself staring at his face. Was it her imagination, or did he look more and more interested as he shuffled through the stack?

  “Well, now, I suppose I’d better get back to the office and ring a few people,” he said after a moment.

  “They’re fakes,” Joan said.

  “They’re suspicious,” Robert clarified. “I’ll need to get the experts to take a look at them, though.”

  “All of them?” Janet asked.

  “Certainly most of them,” Robert replied. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to keep the lot.”

  “Does that mean we can tell Karen she can’t stay?” Joan asked.

  Robert hesitated. “I’d rather she didn’t stay here,” he said, “but I really don’t want you two to confront her, either. I’ll ring or stop back as soon as I know anything for sure.”

  An hour later Robert rang. It was a short conversation.

  “Karen won’t be staying with you tonight,” he told her. “We have her in custody.”

  “So she’s the person behind the counterfeiting?” Janet asked.

  “At the moment all I can say is that she’s a person of interest in the case,” Robert replied.

  Janet and Joan were watching television when the Elllsworths arrived back at Doveby House around nine. Paula stopped for a quick chat.

  “Thank you again for earlier,” she said to Janet. “Peter and I have had a long talk and we’re going to take a break from everything and just enjoy life for a few months. I know time is part of the problem, in that I’m getting older, but I just can’t face any more procedures at the moment.”

  “I hope everything works out for you,” Janet said.

  “We thought we might come and stay for a few days around Valentine’s Day,” Paula said. “We could have a nice romantic weekend away, if you have the room.”

  “I’m sure we do,” Joan said. “I’ll make the booking for you before you leave.”

  At ten the sisters switched off the telly and headed for bed. In the sitting room, Janet checked that the front door was locked. She was just turning away when someone knocked.

  “Who could be visiting at this hour?” Joan demanded.

  “Maybe Robert has come by with some news,” Janet suggested.

  “He’d have waited for morning,” Joan replied. “Maybe we shouldn’t open it.”

  “Maybe,” Janet said, looking at the door. Their visitor knocked again, more loudly.

  “Or maybe we’d better open it before whoever it is wakes the guests,” Joan muttered angrily. The door was too heavy to talk through and lacking in windows, so opening it was the only option for seeing who was knocking.

  Janet pulled open the door, confident that her sister’s very angry face would stop just about anyone in his or her tracks. William Chalmers was standing on the doorstep.

  “I’m so sorry to come by so late,” he said. “But, well, I just needed someone to talk to.”

  “Do come in,” Janet said in a kindly voice. The man looked upset and she had a feeling she knew why.

  He walked in and sat down on the edge of the couch, a largish parcel in his hands. “I gather Karen gave you a pile of fake twenty-pound notes,” he began hesitantly. “And you rang the police.”

  “We’ve been watching for counterfeit notes for the last week or more,” Janet said. “We’ve been having Robert check every note we get.”

  William nodded. “We, that is the merchants in Doveby Dale, have been taking all of our notes over to the bank every afternoon and having them checked. I never thought, it never crossed my mind that Karen was involved, though.”

  “We were worried that she was after your money,” Janet said bluntly.

  William laughed. “I haven’t all that much of that,” he told her. “But I can see why you might think that. She is very young and very attractive, isn’t she?”

  “I do hope you weren’t falling for her,” Joan said.

  “Oh, no, I might have, but I guess I’m too old. I kept suspecting that she was up to something and kept my emotions firmly in check,” he replied. “I just kept pretending to be smitten, even when she was horrible to me, so that I could find out what she was really after.”

  “I don’t understand what she was even doing in Doveby Dale,” Janet said.

  “She was trying to set up a, well, distribution point for her fake notes,” William told her. “I didn’t find out any of this until this evening, by the way. Robert came by and interrupted by arresting her. I gather she’d already found a small craft shop in Little Burton to help her out and she thought I would be another good partner, especially since I already have a criminal record. She assumed that I wasn’t bothered about breaking the law, you see.”

  “What did she want you to do?” Janet asked.

  “She wanted me to buy twenty-pound notes from her. I would pay ten pounds each for them, even less if I bought lots at a time, and then I would give them out as change when people bought things in my store. She was trying to work with lots of small shops that mostly cater to tourists, assuming that the tourists would then take the notes back to wherever they’d come from and no one would be able to trace them backwards successfully.”

  “It’s a clever idea,” Janet admitted.

  “Unfortunately, she wasn’t very clever herself. Her dearly departed husband, Lester, left her several boxes full of fake money, and she didn’t pay much attention to what she had, she just started spending it. The first lot all had the same serial number, which made them easy to spot. The others were better quality fakes, but she was overconfident in their ability to evade detection. Or maybe she’d just stopped caring. She was leaving in the morning, anyway. I don’t think she expected you to ring the police while she was still here.”

  “I guess she misjudged us,” Janet said sharply.

  “She misjudged me as well,” William told her. “I was going to ring Robert as soon as she left me tonight. She seemed to think that she could charm or threaten me into doing just about anything. She knew all about my past. Lester was a London associate of mine, you see. She assumed no one in Doveby Dale knew, though.”

  “I’m glad she was wrong about you, and I’m glad she’s behind bars tonight,” Janet said.

  “I’d better go. It’s awfully late. I hope you’ll forgive me for coming over at this time,” William said as he stood up.

  “We were still up,” Janet told him as she followed him to the door. “And I’m grateful to you for filling us in on the rest of the story, as well.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” he said suddenly. “I brought this, in case you still want it.” He handed Janet the parcel he was carrying.

  Janet unwrapped the painting that he had been working on in his storage room. It was finished now and it was truly lovely. She held it up for Joan to see.

  “It’s beautiful,” Joan said. “We definitely want it for one of the guest rooms. How much do you want for it?”

  William shook his head. “You take it and enjoy it,” he said. “I’m going to start working on another one for your other room.”

  Joan opened her mouth to protest, but William held up a hand. “Really, I insist,” he said firmly. “If you want to thank me for it, Janet can let me buy her dinner one night.”

  With that, as both women stared at him, William let himself out.

  So what do you think of that, Bessie? I’d never thought of William in that way, but he has been trying so hard to be nice, I must admit I’m rather tempted to take him up on the offer. If it weren’t for Edward Bennett, I probably wouldn’t hesitate. We haven’t seen William since, so I haven’t had to address the issue, at least.

  We’ve been keeping busy, getting the baking done for Christmas and shopping for one another. I do think I’m going to get Joan that armoire, thou
gh, so I shall have to see William at some point in the near future. I’m thinking of asking Joan for a kitten, but I haven’t quite worked up the nerve yet.

  I’ve taken to calling this little adventure the Ellsworth Case, not because Peter and Paula were involved, but because that poor young couple made quite an impression on me and I’d rather forget Karen Holmes. I do hope Peter and Paula manage to work through their difficulties.

  I hope your Christmas is a lovely and quiet one in your beautiful cottage by the sea. Please plan to visit us in the new year. We’d both love to see you.

  With my very best wishes,

  Janet

  Glossary of Terms

  bin

  trash can

  biscuits

  cookies

  booking

  reservation

  boot

  trunk (of a car)

  car park

  parking lot

  chemist

  pharmacist

  cuppa

  cup of tea (informal)

  fizzy drink

  carbonated beverage (pop or soda)

  fortnight

  two weeks

  high street

  the main shopping street in a town or village

  holiday

  vacation

  jumper

  sweater

  lie in

  sleep late

  midday

  noon

  pavement

  sidewalk

  petrol

  gasoline (for a car)

  plug socket

  electrical outlet

  pudding

  dessert

  push chair

  stroller

  queue

  line

  saloon car

  sedan

  shopping trolley

  shopping cart

  telly

  television

  till

  check-out (in a grocery store, for example)

  torch

  flashlight

  Other Notes

  In the UK dates are written day, month, year rather than month, day, year as in the US. (May 5, 2015 would be written 5 May 2015, for example.)

  When telling time, half six is the English equivalent of six-thirty.

  When talking about money, paper money is generally referred to as “notes” where in the US we might say “bills.”

  A “full English breakfast” generally consists of bacon, sausage, eggs, grilled or fried tomatoes, fried potatoes, fried mushrooms and baked beans served with toast.

  A semi-detached house is one that is joined to another house by a common center wall. In the US they are generally called duplexes. In the UK the two properties would be sold individually as totally separate entities.

  A wardrobe is a large piece of furniture that, in UK bedrooms, takes the place of built-in closets.

  A tantalus is a small cabinet designed to hold decanters of alcoholic drinks. They allow the drinks to be displayed, but the cabinets lock so that, without a key, no one can access the liquor. (The one on the cover is one that my husband purchased many years ago.)

  Coming September 16, 2016

  The Fenton Case

  A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella

  With Christmas out of the way, the sisters are ready to reopen for guests, but it seems as if guests are far and few between in cold and wet January.

  Joan and Janet are happy to welcome a young couple for a weekend stay, although Janet has mixed emotions about their other visitor, Margaret Burns, an older woman sent to Doveby House by the mysterious Edward Bennett.

  A series of break-ins around the village of Doveby Dale worries all of the small business owners in the area, including the sisters and their friend William Chalmers. When the burglar strikes at one of the homes right across the street from Doveby House, Janet and Joan are even more concerned.

  Can the sisters help their local constable, Robert Parsons, find out who has been breaking and entering? Is it possible the young couple staying at Doveby House is involved? And can Janet resist asking Margaret Burns far too many nosy questions?

  Also by Diana Xarissa

  The Markham Sisters Cozy

  Mystery Novella Series

  The Appleton Case

  The Bennett Case

  The Chalmers Case

  The Donaldson Case

  The Ellsworth Case

  The Fenton Case (release date: September 16, 2016)

  The Green Case (release date: December 16, 2016)

  The Aunt Bessie Cozy Mystery Series

  Aunt Bessie Assumes

  Aunt Bessie Believes

  Aunt Bessie Considers

  Aunt Bessie Decides

  Aunt Bessie Enjoys

  Aunt Bessie Finds

  Aunt Bessie Goes

  Aunt Bessie’s Holiday

  Aunt Bessie Invites

  Aunt Bessie Joins (release date: July 15, 2016)

  Aunt Bessie Knows (release date: October 14, 2016)

  The Isle of Man Romance Series

  Island Escape

  Island Inheritance

  Island Heritage

  Island Christmas

  About the Author

  Diana Xarissa lived in Derbyshire, and then on the Isle of Man for more than ten years before returning to the United States with her family. Now living near Buffalo, New York, she enjoys writing about the island and the UK.

  Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future under the pen name “Diana X. Dunn” and fantasy/adventure books for middle grade readers under the pen name “D.X. Dunn.”

  She would be delighted to know what you think of her work and can be contacted through snail mail at:

  Diana Xarissa Dunn

  PO Box 72

  Clarence, NY 14031.

  Or find her on Facebook, Goodreads or on her website at www.dianaxarissa.com.

  You can sign up for her monthly newsletter on the website and be among the first to know about new releases, as well as find out about contests and giveaways and see the answers to some frequently asked questions.