The Appleton Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 1)

by Diana Xarissa

  “That’s handy,” Joan said.

  The other door off of the television lounge opened into a small dining room. Beyond that was a reasonably large kitchen.

  “It’s nicely up-to-date,” Henry pointed out.

  “It is,” Joan agreed mildly.

  Janet hid a smile. The kitchen was probably twice the size of their current kitchen and much more modern. Joan would love cooking and baking in this beautiful space.

  The owner’s suite was next door with a small bedroom and equally tiny sitting room. A compact bathroom completed the suite.

  “I suppose I should have the owner’s suite,” Joan said. “As I’ll be one fixing the breakfast every morning, it just makes sense for me to be nearest to the kitchen.”

  Janet nodded. She’d expected her sister to claim the owner’s suite; at least she hadn’t used her usual “I’m the oldest” excuse for demanding the best.

  Upstairs there were two adequately sized guests rooms, each with its own small bathroom. The third guest room was larger, with its own fireplace and a spacious bathroom with a large and deep bathtub. It had wonderful views out across the dales from its many windows and Janet sighed with delight as she imagined herself living in the room.

  “This will do nicely,” she told her sister as they looked around the beautiful room. It was painted a lovely soft lilac colour that exactly suited Janet’s taste.

  “Oh, we should use this as a guest room, surely,” Joan protested. “You can have one of the other rooms.”

  Janet shook her head. “As this whole bed and breakfast thing is your idea, and you’ve already claimed the owner’s suite for yourself, it’s only fair that I get this bedroom,” she said firmly. “Half the money is mine, after all.”

  Joan opened her mouth and Janet glared at her. After a moment Joan shrugged and walked out of the room. After another look around the space that Janet was already beginning to think of as “hers,” she followed Joan back down the stairs into the sitting room.

  Chapter Two

  Henry had stayed on the ground floor while they’d explored the first floor. Now the women found him sitting in the conservatory, talking on his mobile phone.

  “So, what’s the asking price again?” Joan asked him once he’d hastily ended his call.

  “Um, you haven’t seen the coach house yet,” Henry reminded them.

  “Oh, yes, we must do that, mustn’t we?” Joan said. There was a door to the garden from the conservatory and the sisters followed Henry out onto the beautifully manicured lawn.

  “This is beautiful,” Janet said after she’d inhaled the scent of the gorgeous assortment of flowers that surrounded them.

  “It is quite nice,” Joan agreed.

  The coach house was off to the side of the property and Henry opened its side door.

  “There used to be large doors on the front, apparently,” he told them. “But when they no longer needed to store coaches inside, they walled up those doors and just left this side one.”

  Joan and Janet followed him into the building. Janet found herself blinking in the dimly lit space after the bright sunshine outside. After a moment, her eyes adjusted.

  “It is rather a mess,” she said. The building was essentially a large single room that was poorly lit by a single dangling bulb hanging from the ceiling. There were piles of old boxes lining every wall and a few pieces of broken furniture dumped into the middle of the room.

  Janet took a few steps forward and then sneezed.

  “Bless you, dear,” Joan said. She was offering Janet a tissue before Janet was even sure she was finished sneezing.

  “Thank you,” Janet muttered, taking the tissue. “It is quite dusty, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, rather,” Joan replied.

  “But it’s a very large space that you could use for many things,” Henry said brightly.

  He took a few steps forward and began to gesture towards the back wall. “You could easily fit an en-suite against this back wall and turn the main space into a large….”

  He was interrupted when the door suddenly slammed shut. Everyone jumped and spun towards it. Henry walked over and rattled the knob. The door remained firmly closed.

  “I left the keys in the lock on the outside,” he told the sisters. “We appear to be locked in.”

  “I suggest you ring someone, then,” Joan said. “In the meantime, we can spend rather more time than necessary inspecting the coach house.”

  Janet joined her and they made a slow circuit of the room while Henry made a few phone calls.

  “I have a colleague on his way with the second set of keys,” he said eventually. “But it will take him about twenty minutes to get here.”

  Joan and Janet exchanged glances. Janet could see that her sister was not pleased.

  “What did you say the asking price was?” she asked Henry, hoping to distract her sister.

  He named a price that made Janet wince. “But of course you’ll have the income from the bed and breakfast to help with the expense,” Henry added.

  “It seems quite dear, considering the amount of work the house needs. Not to mention the deplorable state of this coach house,” Joan said.

  “That is just the asking price,” Henry said. “There may be some negotiating room in there. I believe the property has been on the market for some months, since the previous owner’s unfortunate and unexpected passing.”

  “What happened to her?” Joan demanded.

  “Oh, I’m not quite sure,” Henry stammered. “I just know….”

  “Hullo? Is there anyone there?” a loud voice suddenly interrupted.

  “Hello, we’re locked in the coach house. Can you get us out?” Henry shouted back.

  “Oh, aye,” came a cheery reply. “Hang on a minute.”

  A moment later the door swung open. Henry was quick to exit and the sisters didn’t delay in following him.

  Janet took several deep breaths of fresh air. She felt as if she were covered in dust herself after being trapped in the grimy coach house, even though they’d only been in there a few minutes.

  “Thank you so very much,” Henry was saying to the tall man who had opened the door.

  Janet inspected him as she waited for Henry to stop babbling so she could add her own thanks.

  He had to be nearly six feet tall, with dark brown hair that was clearly dyed. There was no way he’d managed to get to his age without going grey, she decided. He appeared to be somewhere in his sixties and his dark eyes sparkled with amusement as Henry continued to thank him.

  “It’s fine,” he said when Henry paused for a breath. “I was just going to do a bit of weeding and I heard voices. I figured I’d better check things out.”

  “I’m just a tiny bit claustrophobic,” Henry explained. “I was feeling quite, um, unhappy in there. I don’t understand how the door came to blow shut, though, it isn’t windy.”

  “No doubt it was the ghost,” the man told him. “I shouldn’t worry about it.”

  “But where are my keys?” Henry demanded, looking around on the ground outside the coach house door.

  “I didn’t see any keys when I got here,” the man said. “Luckily I have my own set. I store some of the gardening things in the coach house, you see.”

  “I’m Joan Markham,” Joan inserted herself into the conversation. “My sister Janet and I are considering purchasing this property. I take it you’re the neighbour who is currently looking after the garden?”

  “Yes, that’s right,” he said, smiling as he shook Joan’s hand and then Janet’s. “I’m Stuart Long and I live across the road with my wife, Mary. I’m very fond of the gardens here and I hope to continue looking after them once the new owner has purchased the place.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, if we end up buying the property, you’d be more than welcome,” Janet said firmly.

  Joan frowned at her. “Of course, nothing has been decided yet,” she said sharply.

  “Yes, well, if you have any qu
estions about the neighbourhood or anything, I’m happy to answer them,” Stuart said.

  “That’s kind of you, but I don’t think we have any questions at this point,” Joan answered before Janet could say anything. “We have a lot of talking to do between ourselves.”

  “In that case, I shall walk you back to your car,” Henry said. “I have a sheet with all of the particulars of the property for you, if you’d like it. I also have some information about other bed and breakfast properties in the area, if you’d be interested in seeing what else is out there.”

  Joan nodded and the sisters fell into step with Henry, walking through the gardens back to the property’s small car park. Henry handed Joan an envelope and she handed it to Janet before the sisters climbed into the car. As Janet began to open it, Joan pulled carefully away from Doveby House.

  “Well, that was an interesting way to spend a morning,” Janet said after a moment. She’d given up on the envelope, not willing to risk the inevitable car sickness she’d experience if she tried reading while the car was moving.

  “It was indeed,” Joan agreed. “What did you think of the house?”

  “It was very nice and I loved the library.”

  “Can you see us running a bed and breakfast?” Joan asked.

  “What’s put this idea into your head?” Janet had to ask. Joan had announced the previous day that she’d made the appointment to see a bed and breakfast property that she thought they ought to consider buying, but hadn’t been willing to answer any questions from Janet. Now that they’d seen the place, Janet figured it was time for some answers.

  Joan sighed. “I don’t know really,” she said after a moment. “We’ve had that bit of money from Great Aunt Mildred and we’ve no idea what to do with it.”

  “I thought we were going to travel and just enjoy being retired,” Janet replied.

  “I know we were both looking forward to retiring,” Joan said, “but I guess, well, I suppose I’m just the tiniest bit bored. Travelling is all well and good, but we can’t simply travel all the time. I just started thinking about trying something completely different. I’ve always loved cooking and baking, so I thought about opening a restaurant, but they’re very hard work with very long hours. I thought a bed and breakfast would be easier.”

  “Except that you’re essentially on call twenty-four hours a day when you have guests,” Janet pointed out.

  “Well, yes, but we could be very careful about who we would accept as guests,” Joan replied. “We wouldn’t absolutely need paying guests all the time, or even most of the time. Most of the time we could use the guest rooms for our friends, but once in a while we could extend that to friends of friends or others who’ve been recommended to us. We could still plan various holidays for ourselves and just shut whenever we want to get away.”

  “I think it will be much harder work than you realise,” Janet said.

  Joan laughed. “This is quite odd,” she said. “Usually I’m the one trying to talk you out of doing silly things, but this time it’s the other way around.”

  “Give me some time to think,” Janet said after a moment. “Let’s listen to some music and relax for the drive home.”

  Neither sister was worried about maps and directions for the journey back to their cottage. Joan had an excellent sense of direction, so simply reversing their earlier journey was easy for her. Janet was okay with finding her way to and from most places, but she sometimes found that her mind wandered and she missed turning at the right junction or drove right past her destination. Either sister was happy to drive their shared car, but Joan usually drove when they went anywhere outside of what was familiar territory to Janet.

  Now Joan turned on the radio, tuned to a station they both liked. Classic hits from the sixties filled the car for the next twenty minutes. They were nearly home when the news began.

  “Here are the headlines. A man’s body has been discovered in a flat in Derby. Police are on the scene. Reports of stolen cars are up twenty-five per cent throughout the county. Police are reminding everyone to keep their cars locked whenever they are parked. A three-year-old has gone missing from her child minder’s home in Clowne. Police are investigating. The weather will….”

  Joan turned the car off and shook her head. “Why is the news always bad news?” she asked Janet.

  Janet figured it was a rhetorical question. She climbed out of the car that Joan had parked in front of their cottage and headed towards the front door. It was nearly time for lunch and she was starving.

  Half an hour later Joan had lunch ready. Janet sat down at their kitchen table and frowned. It looked as if Joan had prepared all of her favourites.

  “What’s for pudding?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Apple crumble with custard,” Joan answered.

  “You really want to buy that house, don’t you?” Janet asked.

  “I certainly want to discuss it,” Joan replied.

  “You don’t make my favourite pudding for discussions. You only make apple crumble when you want something.”

  “That’s not true. I make apple crumble a lot. It’s quick and easy and delicious and almost good for you, with all those oats and apples.”

  “Do you think we should look at a few other bed and breakfast properties that are for sale?” Janet asked.

  “I really liked Doveby House,” Joan replied.

  “But there could be other places that are just as nice,” Janet said.

  “But Doveby House has a library.”

  Janet opened her mouth to reply and then shut it again. Joan was right; the library was a powerful attraction.

  “I’ve been going over the numbers,” Joan said after she’d served the crumble. “If we get a decent selling price for this house, we can afford Doveby House and have enough left over to paint and redecorate, on a small scale anyway.”

  The sisters had both been very frugal during their working years. Aside from a short holiday each summer break, they’d spent little on anything other than necessities. Their current cottage, while small, was in an area that was increasingly in demand. With their recent inheritance and what they had saved over their long working lives, they wouldn’t need to worry about keeping the bed and breakfast full of guests.

  “Buying a bed and breakfast just seems like a rather surprising thing to do, that’s all,” Janet said after a moment.

  “So? Let’s be impulsive for once,” Joan replied.

  Janet stared at her sister for a long time. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  “No, I can’t quite believe it myself.”

  The sisters talked for some considerable time about the proposed move. Janet had always like their little cottage, but Doveby House was much larger and would be far more comfortable. The chance to have her own en-suite was enough to tempt her away from their current home. She was tired of sharing their single bathroom with her sister.

  “How did you even come to find out about Doveby House?” she asked Joan.

  “I was in town the other day and I walked past the estate agency on the high street,” Joan replied. “I always glance in their windows to see if there’s anything interesting on the market. Doveby House was in the centre of the commercial property section, looking exactly like something out of a BBC drama about village life.”

  “Or an Agatha Christie mystery,” Janet interjected.

  “Exactly, it’s the perfect seventeenth-century manor house and it’s within our budget. I couldn’t resist having a look at it.”

  “I’m still not sure about actually running it as a bed and breakfast,” Janet said with a frown.

  “I suppose we wouldn’t have to,” Joan replied. “Although I think it would be fun and interesting. I would much rather run it as a bed and tea, though, if such things existed. I hate getting up early in the morning, even though I love to cook and bake. I’d be much happier fixing a fancy tea for our guests every afternoon than making them breakfast.”

  Janet laughed. “W
e could advertise it as the world’s first bed and tea establishment and see how many guests we get,” she suggested.

  “Let’s start by putting in an offer,” Joan replied. “We’ll worry about the finer details later. I’m more than a little worried about the previous owner’s son.”

  “I’m more concerned about the ghost,” Janet said. “I can’t believe you didn’t ask Stuart about the ghost.”

  Chapter Three

  After some additional discussions, the pair agreed to put in a rather low offer on Doveby House. While they waited to hear back about that, they asked Henry to give them another tour of the property. Janet was determined to find time to chat with Stuart Long this time around.

  “But what’s going on?” Joan asked as she pulled into the car park at Doveby House the next morning.

  Henry was standing on the small front garden. He was waving his arms and seemed to be shouting at a large man whose back was to the car park. Joan and Janet were quickly out of the car.

  “You had your day in court,” Henry was saying. “If you want access to the property, you’ll have to contact the Doveby Trust. They own it now, at least until these ladies buy it.” He gestured towards the Markham sisters, who were approaching cautiously.

  The man who turned to face them was scowling. He looked to be in his forties and was of medium height and nearly as wide as he was tall. He seemed to be made of solid muscle and Janet found her steps faltering as he glared at her. His jet-black hair seemed to match his eyes. She noticed that his fists were clenched as she stopped and grabbed her sister’s arm.

  “You aren’t buying me mum’s house,” the man told them. “You’ve no right.”

  “They’ve every right, I think you’ll find,” Henry said, his voice only quavering slightly as the man glanced back at him. “The courts have already decided the case. Doveby Trust owns the property and they’ve just accepted an offer from these two ladies.”

  Janet and Joan exchanged glances. While she was glad to hear that their offer had been accepted, Janet couldn’t help but wish she’d been told under different circumstances.