The Norman Case

by Diana Xarissa

  The Norman Case

  A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella

  Diana Xarissa

  Text Copyright © 2018 Diana Xarissa

  All Rights Reserved

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Letter to Bessie, part one

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Letter to Bessie, part two

  Glossary of Terms

  Other Notes

  Acknowledgments

  The Osborne Case

  Also by Diana Xarissa

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Welcome to the fourteenth novella in the Markham Sisters series. At the moment, I have every intention of going all the way through the alphabet, but The Z? Case seems a long way off. I always recommend reading the series in order (alphabetically) to watch the characters as they change and develop, but each story should be enjoyable on its own, as well.

  I start and end each novella with brief excerpts from Janet’s letters to Bessie Cubbon in the Isle of Man. The sisters first appeared in Aunt Bessie Decides in my Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series, and Janet has remained in touch with Bessie since then. Janet and Joan even revisited the island in Aunt Bessie Observes, and Bessie is due to visit Derbyshire soon. You do not need to read those books in order to enjoy this series, though. The snippets from the letters are simply there to help start and finish the stories.

  Because these novella are set in Derbyshire, in the fictional village of Doveby Dale, I use UK English spellings and terms. A short glossary and notes are available at the back of the book for readers outside the UK. I’ve been living in the US for nearly ten years now, and it is getting increasingly difficult to keep Americanisms from sneaking into my writing. When they are pointed out to me, I do try to eliminate them.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters are fictional creations and any resemblance that they may bear to real people, either living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The shops and other businesses in the story are also fictional and are not meant to resemble any real shops or businesses in any way.

  One of my favorite parts of being a writer is hearing from readers. I invite you all to get in touch at any time. My contact details are in the back of the book. I hope you enjoy the story.

  12 September 1999

  Dearest Bessie,

  My goodness, the summer has simply flown past. Actually, it hasn’t. It dragged rather badly, but I was too busy with guests to notice. I’ve told Joan that we need to do something different next summer so that we aren’t so busy. Perhaps we will simply take a summer holiday of our own, right in the middle of the busy season.

  I’ve still not heard anything from Edward, so I continue to enjoy my little red car, in spite of Joan’s thoughts on the matter.

  Beyond dealing with far too many guests, many of whom were incredibly demanding, we’ve had to deal with a few other issues, as well. William Chalmers seems to have decided to step up his efforts to turn our friendship into a romance for some reason, and we found ourselves caught up in another police investigation as well.

  Chapter 1

  “I don’t really like it,” Janet said apologetically.

  “Not at all?” William asked. The look on his face suggested that he felt hurt.

  “It’s lovely,” Janet lied. “It just isn’t what I was picturing for my room.”

  She picked up the small lamp again and turned it over in her hands. Why anyone would make a lighthouse out of glass and then put a light bulb inside it was beyond her. When she’d told her friend William Chalmers that she was looking for a lamp to put on her bedside table, this was not what she’d been imagining at all.

  William owned a small antique shop in the village of Doveby Dale. While he’d seemed pompous and unlikable when he’d first moved to the village, he’d dropped the façade after a short while and begun to work at becoming friends with everyone. He sometimes talked of being interested in being more than just friends with Janet, but aside from taking her to dinner once in a while, he did little to actively pursue her. That was fine with Janet, who wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the man.

  She was sure how she felt about the lamp, though. “I’m sorry. I appreciate your ringing me to tell me about it, but it simply isn’t going to work for me. Do let me know if you get anything else in, though, please.”

  William nodded. “I should have brought it out to you at Doveby House instead of making you drive into the village.”

  “I didn’t mind. Now that I have my own car, I’m not inconveniencing Joan, either. I helped her with the guest rooms before I came out.”

  Janet and her older sister, Joan, had purchased Doveby House a little more than a year ago. They were both retired primary schoolteachers in their sixties. Neither had ever married; Joan had never even been in a relationship with a man. Instead, they’d lived and worked together happily for all of their adult lives. Their plan when they retired was to continue living quietly in their small cottage and to travel as much as possible.

  An unexpected inheritance had changed that plan. When Joan spotted a “for sale” flyer for Doveby House in an estate agent’s window, she’d finally told Janet that her lifelong dream had been to own a bed and breakfast. Janet knew her sister loved to cook and bake. In fact, Janet greatly enjoyed letting her sister do nearly all of the cooking for the pair, but she hadn’t realised that Joan dreamed of cooking and baking for others.

  Once Janet had seen Doveby House, she’d agreed that they could buy it and try running it as a bed and breakfast. Joan took the largest bedroom, the only one on the ground floor. It was right next to the kitchen, which was convenient for the sister who spent most of her time there. Janet moved into the largest bedroom on the first floor, a much more spacious room than she’d ever expected to enjoy. That the bedroom had its own en-suite made it perfect.

  There were two guest rooms on the first floor, just down the corridor from Janet. They were both en-suite as well, and the sisters had taken to calling them the “Alberta Room” and the “Montgomery Room” in honour of one of the home’s former residents. Janet was convinced that Alberta haunted her bedroom, screaming in the night whenever the moon was full, but Joan didn’t believe in ghosts. She wouldn’t sleep in Janet’s room during a full moon, either, and Janet preferred to stay in a guest room on full-moon nights whenever she could.

  At the moment, moving into a guest room was out of the question, however. Their first summer season of running the bed and breakfast was proving incredibly busy. Janet couldn’t even remember the last night she and Joan had enjoyed without any guests. Occasionally only one guest room might be occupied on any given night, but for the most part, both rooms were full and Joan had a waiting list of people who were hoping for cancellations.

  “You’ve been awfully busy this summer,” William said.

  “We have. I shouldn’t complain, because the money we’re making now should see us through a slow winter, but I do miss having the house to ourselves. I’m never fully comfortable when we have guests.”

  “I can’t imagine it. But I’ve lived alone for most of my life, aside from a few periods when I was married, of course.”

  “I’ve always lived with Joan. I’m quite used to her, but having strangers in and out all the time is, well, odd. Anyway, I hope you’ve been having a good summer, too?”

  “It’s been better than I dared hope, really. I could almost justify hiring someone to help out here a few days a week, except I’m sur
e once September or October arrive it will be quiet again.”

  “Maybe you can do more painting,” Janet suggested.

  William was a gifted amateur artist who’d painted a couple of pictures that hung in the guest rooms at Doveby House. His lack of confidence in his abilities meant that he didn’t allow himself to spend much time on his hobby, however.

  “Maybe I will. Or maybe I’ll try something completely different.”

  “We just have to get through a few more busy weeks.”

  “I’ve already made more than I expected for the summer. Everything else I make now is simply a bonus.”

  “We’re the same, thankfully. I keep telling Joan that we should shut for the whole month of October or something, but she won’t listen to me.”

  William chuckled. “She knows that you’d both be bored and restless within a few days. Even though you complain about the bed and breakfast, you’re enjoying it. If you weren’t, you’d have given up by now.”

  Janet frowned. William was probably right, but it made her uncomfortable to think that he understood her that well. “I should get back, actually,” she said, glancing at her watch. “We’ve more guests arriving this afternoon, having just seen off two couples this morning. I like to be there when guests arrive so that I can meet them.”

  “I hope they’re all model guests. You’ve had your share of difficult ones, haven’t you?”

  “We have,” Janet agreed. “Most of them have been fine, if a bit demanding. Joan’s list is getting longer all the time, though.”

  Joan kept a list of guests who had stayed and would no longer be welcome at the bed and breakfast. If Janet had been the one keeping the list, it would have been longer than Joan’s was, but at least Joan had agreed to refuse some of the most difficult people they’d encountered.

  “I’m driving into Derby tomorrow morning to see Stanley, and maybe visiting another place as well. If I see anything that I think you might like, I’ll ring you.”

  Janet knew that Stanley Moore owned a huge warehouse just outside of Derby that was full of antiques and secondhand items. Maybe once things were quieter at home, she could have William take her there so that she could look for a lamp herself. She opened her mouth to suggest it, but William spoke before she did.

  “I don’t suppose you’d want to come with me?”

  “I probably shouldn’t, not when we’re so busy.”

  “Is that a no?” he asked, grinning at her.

  She laughed. “It’s a maybe, actually. Let me talk to Joan tonight. I’ll ring you later and let you know, if that’s okay?”

  “That’s fine. I want to leave around eight so I can get there and back before midday.”

  “Joan would have to make up the guest rooms on her own or wait until I get back. A lot will depend on what time our guests want their breakfast, I suppose. I’d like to come along, though. Maybe I can find the lamp I want myself. I’ll let you know.”

  William took a step closer to her and then pulled her into a hug. When she looked up at him, he gave her a gentle kiss. “I’d really like you to come along,” he told her. “I’d like it a great deal.”

  Janet flushed. “I’ll ring or text,” she muttered as she took a step backwards. William held the door for her as she rushed outside.

  “You’re far too old to be flustered by a simple kiss,” she told herself as she climbed into her little red coupe. The car was part of the problem, of course. She and Joan had always shared a car, which worked perfectly well when they’d both lived and worked together for all those years. Since they’d purchased Doveby House, however, it had been less convenient. Running a bed and breakfast seemed to involve a great deal of shopping and other errands, and having only one car between the sisters had meant they’d both had to make compromises.

  When their car had been hit from behind and needed a week at the garage, the garage owner had let the women borrow the coupe. Janet had fallen in love with it the first time she’d driven it and had been sad when it was time to give it back. She’d been surprised and delighted when Mack, the garage owner, told her that the car had been purchased for her. Edward Bennett had paid for the car and had the title put in her name. He’d even paid for a year’s worth of insurance on it.

  Edward had been the first guest at Doveby House after the sisters had moved in. He was handsome, sophisticated, and mysterious. Before he’d left, he’d told Janet that he worked for a top-secret government agency. Now, nearly a year later, she still wasn’t certain what to believe about the man who’d been back to visit once, rang infrequently, and occasionally sent gifts, both large and small. Joan, of course, thought that Janet should refuse the car, but Janet hadn’t agreed. In the end, she’d promised her sister to discuss it with Edward at the earliest opportunity. Several weeks later, that opportunity had yet to arrive, and Janet was more in love with the car than ever.

  She drove back to Doveby House and parked in its small car park. As she climbed the steps to the front door, she found herself smiling. Whatever she thought about running the bed and breakfast, she did love the seventeenth-century manor house that was so much more wonderful than anything she’d ever thought she’d own.

  The sisters had purchased the house fully furnished with gorgeous antiques. Janet paused in the sitting room and looked around. She hadn’t seen anything in William’s shop that was as nice as their furniture.

  “Merrow,” Aggie said conversationally.

  Janet smiled. “Good morning,” she greeted the tiny kitten. Aggie, short for Agatha Christie, after Janet’s favourite author, had also been a gift from Edward. She was a clever animal who slept on the pillow next to Janet’s unless the moon was full. She used her cat bed in the television lounge on those evenings.

  “You’re back,” Joan said from the doorway between the kitchen and the sitting room. “And you’re empty-handed. Did you not like the lamp, then?”

  “It was pretty horrible,” Janet replied. “I’m not sure what William was thinking, really. It was nothing like what I told him I wanted.”

  “Maybe he was just using it as an excuse to see you.”

  Janet shrugged. “He wants me to go into Derby with him tomorrow to look around a few shops.”

  “Are you going?”

  “I told him I’d have to talk to you first. We’d be leaving around eight, to be back by midday.”

  “You should go,” Joan said, surprising Janet.

  “Really? But what about our guests?”

  “I can manage for one morning. Really, I think we both spend far too much time and effort worrying about our guests. We both need to get out and do other things sometimes.”

  “What does Michael want to do now?” Janet asked, guessing why her sister was suddenly so keen on them getting out of the house.

  Joan flushed. “Nothing special, he’s just been complaining again because I’ve been so busy.”

  Michael Donaldson was a widower who lived in one side of the semi-detached house across the road from Doveby House. He’d surprised both sisters by starting to court Joan not long after they’d moved in. Now the pair had settled into what seemed a comfortable relationship, but they hadn’t seen much of one another during the busy summer.

  “I keep telling you to invite him to dinner here,” Janet said. “You know he’s always welcome.”

  “I think he’d prefer taking me out. He knows that I do all of the cooking here, so he likes to give me a break from that.”

  Janet nodded. “Then go out with him. Go tomorrow night. I’ll spend the morning with William and you can spend the evening with Michael.”

  “We’ll see,” Joan replied. She started to turn around and then stopped and laughed out loud. “Did you ever imagine that this would be our life when we retired?” she asked Janet. “Running a successful bed and breakfast while trying to find time for the handsome suitors in our lives?”

  Janet grinned. “It’s definitely not what we’d planned, but I am rather enjoying it.”

 
; Chapter 2

  The sisters had cold sandwiches for lunch. Joan was planning a roast chicken with all of the trimmings for dinner, so they didn’t want to spoil their evening meal.

  “I’m going to make an apple crumble if I have time,” Joan told Janet. “A lot will depend on what time the guests actually arrive.”

  “I can take care of the guests. You work on the crumble.” Apple crumble was Janet’s favourite pudding. She was willing to do whatever it took to get Joan to make it for her.

  “We’ll see,” was all that Joan would say.

  While they were waiting for the their guests to arrive, Janet headed to the library to find a book. The library was the other reason why Janet was prepared to endure the continuous round of guests at Doveby House. The room wasn’t large, but its walls were completely lined with books. Janet had spent many hours rearranging those books to suit her. Her arrangement was unorthodox, but it put her favourite books closest to her favourite chair, which was perfect, at least for her.

  After spending a few minutes looking through the mysteries that were usually her first choice, she opted instead for a romance novel. Joan was something of a snob when it came to reading material, preferring classics over everything else. After many years of trying, Janet had finally managed to persuade her sister to try reading classic mysteries, starting her off with Agatha Christie and moving on from there. Joan had conceded that the books Janet had given her were perfectly readable, but Janet doubted she’d ever convince her sister to try reading a romance novel.