The Osborne Case

by Diana Xarissa

  Robert swallowed a bite and then shook his head. “The good news is that we don’t have any bodies matching her description. None of the nearby hospitals have any patients that match, either, or any record of treating anyone by that name.”

  “That’s good to know,” Bessie said. “Did Beverly find a photo for you?”

  “No, but she was able to give me a pretty good description,” Robert replied. He flipped open his notebook. “Miss Falkirk is around eighty, with long white hair that she always wears in a bun on the top her head. She’s only about five feet tall and she’s slender. She needs reading glasses and her eyes are brown.”

  “We met some other people who know her today,” Janet said. She told Robert everything that Harriet and Clara had told her about the missing woman.

  “I’m going to have to have a word with Miss Hastings,” he said when she was finished. “I’m curious about this man she saw with Miss Falkirk. Miss Osborne didn’t seem to think that Miss Falkirk had any male friends.”

  “Can you tell us what else you’ve done to try to find her?” Janet wondered.

  Robert nodded. “As everything has been a dead end, I suppose it can’t hurt to tell you about it all. Maybe you’ll be able to suggest something I haven’t thought of, as well.”

  Janet didn’t think that was very likely. “Surely the police have a set routine for such things,” she said.

  “We do, but we often find missing people in unusual ways. Anyway, I’ve spoken to her bank and they do deal with all of her financial issues. She hadn’t been into a branch in many months, but that wasn’t unusual. She has a trust set up that receives income from her investments and pays her bills for her.”

  “My goodness, that’s odd, isn’t it?” Doona asked.

  “I believe it was originally established by Miss Falkirk’s father, when she was eighteen or around that age. As the bank put it, women weren’t necessarily considered capable of managing their own money in those days.”

  “What nonsense,” Janet scoffed.

  “Has she taken any money out of the bank since July?” Doona asked.

  Robert hesitated and then shook his head. “I probably shouldn’t tell you, but no, she hasn’t. Again, though, the bank didn’t feel that that was unusual. She generally only visited the bank once or twice a year. On those visits, she’d withdraw a substantial amount of cash for her expenses for the next six months or so.”

  “When was her last withdrawal?” Bessie asked.

  “June,” Robert replied.

  “So she might have had a significant amount of cash on her when she disappeared,” Janet said thoughtfully.

  “She may have. I’ll be searching her flat in another few days if I don’t make any other progress. We’ll see if I find a lump sum of cash,” Robert said.

  “Have you spoken to anyone else?” Doona wondered.

  “I visited her doctor,” Robert replied. “She was in very good health, especially for her age. She wasn’t taking any medications, aside from over-the-counter items as needed. He hasn’t seen her since last January and didn’t expect to see her again any time soon.”

  “What about her car?” Bessie asked.

  “It’s also missing, and I’ve put out an alert for it. I don’t know that anything will come of that, as the alert will only be noticed if the car gets stopped for some reason, but I’ve tried.”

  “What else can you do?” Doona wanted to know.

  “I’m trying to track down more of her friends,” Robert said. “Thank you for the leads on the two you spoke with today. They might be able to help me find others who can help. Tomorrow I’m going to speak to Beverly again, as well.”

  “Good luck with that,” Doona sighed. “I’m not sure you can trust anything she says. I’m a bit worried about her, really.”

  “I’m keeping a close eye on her,” Robert replied. “I’ve been in touch with her son, as well.”

  “I can’t imagine why she never reported Miss Falkirk missing herself,” Joan said. “Surely she can’t be that confused about everything.”

  “Perhaps she was too busy enjoying borrowing Miss Falkirk’s nice tidy sitting room to notice how much time had passed,” Doona suggested.

  Janet frowned. “That seems a bit harsh,” she said.

  “She did admit to using Miss Falkirk’s sitting room, television, and kitchen,” Doona reminded her. “Do you know if she’s been paying her rent while Miss Falkirk has been gone?” she asked Robert.

  “I’m not investigating Beverly, at least not at this point,” he replied. “Again, if nothing new comes to light in the next few days, I may have to reconsider several different things.”

  “From what you’ve seen so far, then, no one had any reason to want the woman to disappear?” Bessie asked.

  “Not at all. She was a harmless older woman just going about her business. I can’t imagine what anyone would gain by her disappearance,” Robert replied.

  “It’s worked out rather well for Beverly,” Doona suggested.

  “I get the feeling that you don’t like Beverly,” Robert said.

  Doona shrugged. “I don’t dislike her, but I wonder about her. It seems odd to me that she never reported the woman missing, for a start.”

  “She told me that she just assumed that Miss Falkirk had gone off to do something and would be back when she was ready to come back,” Robert said.

  “Even though she’d never done anything like that before? As I said, it just seems odd to me,” Doona replied.

  “And as I said, I’m keeping an eye on her,” Robert assured her. “For what it’s worth, there are no signs that anyone has been digging up the back garden at Miss Falkirk’s house.”

  Janet shuddered. “You don’t really think she was murdered, do you?” she asked.

  “At this point, I’m reserving judgment,” he replied. “People disappear every day, and the vast majority of them return home eventually, often with odd stories of their own to tell. Some of them meet with unfortunate accidents that prevent them from returning home. A very few get murdered, either by a friend or family member or, even more rarely, by a stranger. In this case, I’m still hoping Miss Falkirk may simply turn up one day.”

  “That seems unlikely,” Doona said. “She’s been gone for a long time.”

  “She has, which makes me suspect that she met with some sort of accident,” Robert answered. “I’ve checked the nearest hospitals, but there are thousands of other places I haven’t checked. Susan is working through a list, actually, hoping to find a trace of the woman.”

  “I really hope you’re right,” Bessie told the man. “It would be nice to have a happy ending to all of this.”

  “Yes, well, I’m sure we’d all like that,” Robert said.

  He and Janet had second helpings of apple crumble while Joan made coffee for everyone. The conversation turned back to more general topics for another hour, then Robert glanced at his watch.

  “I’ve been here for far longer than I’d planned,” he said, getting to his feet. “Tomorrow morning I’m going to speak to Beverly again and then I’m going to track down Harriet Lacey and Clara Hastings. Maybe Susan will have some luck tomorrow as well.”

  Janet walked the man to the door. “Thank you for coming over,” she said.

  “Thank you, and especially thank Joan for dinner,” he replied. “I’m happily stuffed.”

  Janet patted her tummy. “Yes, me, too,” she agreed, thinking that maybe she shouldn’t have had the extra helping of pudding.

  Bessie and Doona were clearing the table when Janet got back to the dining room.

  “You sit down and rest,” Doona told her. “Bessie and I will deal with the washing up.”

  “You just need to pile everything into the dishwasher,” Janet said. “Then you can add dish soap and simply push the button.”

  “I need a dishwasher,” Doona laughed.

  It wasn’t until several hours later, when they were all heading to bed, that Janet noticed the
flashing light on the answering machine.

  “How did I miss that?” Joan asked. “I hope it wasn’t someone wanting to make a booking. I won’t be able to ring them back now until tomorrow, which isn’t very good service.”

  “It’s probably an insurance salesman,” Janet laughed. She pressed play on the machine.

  “Janet? It’s Edward. How are you? I’m sorry I missed you, but I realised today that I haven’t spoken to you in months. You’ll have forgotten all about me, I imagine. I have been thinking about you, even if I haven’t rung, and I hope Aggie reminds you of me. Anyway, I’ll be ringing again soon as I need a small favour. In the meantime, remember that you are in my thoughts and my heart.”

  Janet stared at the machine and then sighed.

  “My goodness, what a message,” Bessie said.

  “Yes, indeed,” Janet replied. “He needs a favour? I can’t see why I’d want to do him any favours.”

  “He bought you a car,” Joan reminded her. “Although you really should have refused to accept it. When you do finally speak to him, you are going to insist that he take it back, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Janet said, frowning at the quaver in her voice. “Right now I’m going to bed.”

  She turned and stomped out of the room, feeling annoyed with Joan and Edward in equal measure. Once she was ready for bed, she crawled in next to Aggie and stared at her.

  “He wants you to remind me of him,” she told the kitten.

  “Meeroooowww,” Aggie replied, patting Janet’s arm with her paw.

  “And now he wants a favour. What could he possibly want?”

  Aggie blinked and then curled up on her pillow.

  “I usually ask you about the investigations in which I get involved,” she said conversationally. “This isn’t a normal investigation, though. Would you tell me if something bad had happened to Gretchen Falkirk?”

  Aggie shut her eyes.

  “What about Beverly Osborne? Did she do something to Miss Falkirk?”

  The kitten didn’t move.

  “What about Harriet Lacey?”

  “Yowwll,” Aggie said.

  “Does that mean she’s a criminal or just that she’s unpleasant?” Janet asked.

  “Yowwll.”

  “You really need a bigger vocabulary.”

  Aggie glared at her for a minute and then shut her eyes tightly. Janet tried a few more names and then repeated the ones she’d already said. Aggie simply ignored her. Sighing, Janet slid under the covers and shut her own eyes. The alarm would be going off soon, anyway.

  Chapter 9

  The next day was sunny and warm, at least for October. The foursome toured two stately homes, stopping for lunch between them. Then they headed back towards Doveby Dale. As Doona and Bessie insisted, they dropped into the small café near Doveby House for dinner.

  “Ah, Janet and Joan, how nice to see you,” Ted said as they walked into the café. “These must be your friends from the Isle of Man. I’m so glad you decided to have dinner with us during their visit.” He showed them to a table near the back and then took their drink order. Ted was a slender man with ginger hair and an infectious smile.

  “Ted is in charge of the dining room,” Janet explained. “His partner, Todd, is the excellent chef who does everything in the kitchen.”

  “Not everything,” Ted corrected her as he passed out drinks. “Stacey has been making a lot of the puddings lately. She’s very talented.”

  The girl in question walked out of the kitchen just then. She waved at Janet as she crossed the room to speak to a couple who had just arrived.

  Ted told them the dinner specials and then they ordered. It was Todd who delivered the food a short time later as the women were discussing everything they’d seen that day.

  “I just wanted to come out and meet your friends,” the tall plump man with dark hair said as he served their dinners.

  Janet introduced everyone before she began to eat. Todd grinned as she smiled at him. “It’s delicious, as always,” she said.

  “I can go back into the kitchen happy, then,” he laughed.

  After they’d all enjoyed pudding, they headed back to Doveby House.

  “I don’t know if we’ve ever been away from home for so many hours,” Janet said as Joan parked in the car park. “Aggie probably doesn’t know what to think.”

  “You left extra food out for her, didn’t you?” Joan asked.

  “Yes, but knowing her, she ate it all first thing this morning and now she’ll be starving,” Janet sighed.

  “I saw an automatic cat feeder in a catalogue once,” Doona told her. “It had a built-in timer. You loaded it up with food and at the appropriate times it would dispense a serving, or something like that.”

  “If I thought this sort of thing was going to become a habit, I might look into that,” Janet said. “Today was unusual, really.”

  “I thought we were going sightseeing again tomorrow,” Joan said.

  Janet opened the door and walked into the house. Aggie was sitting on one of the couches. When she spotted Janet, she jumped down and dashed away, up the stairs.

  “She’s mad at me,” Janet sighed as she headed for the kitchen. She filled up Aggie’s food and water bowls and then walked back into the sitting room. “Dinner is served,” she called out in a loud voice.

  “She’ll be down when she’s hungry,” Joan said.

  “I’m sure she’s hungry now,” Janet retorted as she headed for the stairs.

  “Give her a few minutes to come around,” Joan suggested. “We have another message on the answering machine.”

  Janet sighed and then turned and walked to the table. She pressed play on the machine, hoping for an insurance salesman or a wrong number.

  “Oh, dear, my goodness, I’m not sure about these things,” a voice said. “It’s Beverly Osborne. I just wanted to ring and see if you wanted to come over for a visit. I’m awfully lonely, even though the police keep visiting. I’m not sure what to do about anything. Never mind.”

  That was the end of the message. Janet looked at Joan. “Maybe we should go over to see her,” she said hesitantly.

  “Maybe we should ring Robert,” Joan countered.

  “Maybe we could do both,” Doona said.

  A few minutes later, they were all climbing into the car. Joan drove while Janet tried the number for the police station. It was after hours, so the call was routed to the central office in Derby.

  “I can take a message for Constable Parsons for you,” the woman who answered offered.

  “No, that’s okay. I have his mobile number,” Janet replied.

  She disliked ringing the man on that number, though, she thought as she ended the call.

  “You really should ring him,” Joan said, glancing at her sister.

  “I hate to bother him. What am I going to tell him? We thought you should know that we’re going to visit Beverly?”

  “Tell him that she rang us and that she sounded upset,” Doona told her. “Then tell him that we’re on our way over to see her.”

  Janet sighed and then dialled the man’s mobile number.

  “Thank you for letting me know,” he replied when she’d done as Doona had suggested. “I’m just in the middle of something, but I’ll take a drive out that way when I’m done. I don’t want to upset Beverly, but if your car is still there, maybe I’ll wait outside to chat with you when you’re leaving.”

  “That sounds good,” Janet told him.

  Beverly had the front door open before the women were out of the car.

  “I was watching for you,” she said. “I was really hoping you’d come over.”

  “Are you okay?” Bessie asked gently.

  “I don’t know,” Beverly replied, her eyes filing with tears. “Come in and sit down,” she said, turning away. She led them into the sitting room and waved them into seats.

  Janet sat on the couch next to Beverly and took her hand. “Wha
t’s wrong?” she asked.

  Beverly shrugged. “I can’t stop thinking about Gretchen,” she said. “I was sure she was okay, you see. I wasn’t even the slightest bit worried, but now, well, now I can’t seem to stop worrying.”

  “We never meant to upset you,” Janet told her. “We only rang the police because we were worried about Miss Falkirk.”

  “Yes, and I should have been worried, too,” Beverly sighed. “I get confused sometimes and lose track of time. I should have realised that Gretchen hadn’t been here in a long time, though. I’ve rung my son. I might go and stay with him for a short while.”

  “That sounds nice,” Janet said encouragingly.

  “It might be,” Beverly replied. “Now that his horrid wife is out of the picture, it might be very nice indeed. He wanted me to move closer to him when I retired, you see, but I wanted to be well away from her. Of course, I didn’t tell him that. He thought she was wonderful, but I could see through her very obvious charms.”

  “Mothers often know best,” Doona said.

  “But you have to let your children make their own mistakes,” Beverly sighed. “Even when those children are in their forties and already have two divorces behind them.”

  “I’m sure that wasn’t easy,” Janet said, patting the woman’s arm.

  “No, it wasn’t easy at all, but I did it. I bit my tongue and let him marry the woman, even though I knew it wasn’t going to end well. Now I shall have my son back for a few weeks or months until the next gold-digging tramp comes along.”

  Janet sat back, feeling slightly stunned. Beverly seemed far less confused and far angrier tonight than she had the day they’d met.

  “Are you planning on moving back to York, then?” Joan asked.

  “Oh, my son lives in Dorset, not York,” Beverly replied, “but I’m not sure about moving. I do like it here, you know. And I hate the thought of packing and moving again.”

  Janet glanced around at the number of boxes that were still packed from when the woman had moved into this house. Surely packing wouldn’t be that difficult; most of it seemed to be already done.

  “Perhaps your son could move here,” Bessie suggested.