The Bennett Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Book 2) (9 page)

“I like him,”
Joan told her.
 
“But I’m not sure I
trust him.”

“I like him as
well,” Janet admitted.
 
“And I’m
very sure that I don’t trust him.”

The sound of
the bell on the French doors startled them both.
 

“It’s just
going to be one of those days, isn’t it?” Joan muttered as the sisters headed
towards the conservatory.
 

Stuart smiled
at them through the glass as he waited for them to open the door.

“Have you seen
James?” he asked as Janet opened the door.

“No, have you
lost him?” Janet asked.

“We went in
for dinner and then we were going to do some weeding in the flower beds on the
south side of the garden.
 
I gave
Mary a hand with the washing up and James said he was going to get
started.
 
I can’t seem to find him
anywhere, though,” Stuart replied.

“Maybe he’s
weeding in the wrong bed and you missed him behind a tree or something,” Janet
suggested.
 
“I’ll come and help you
look.”

She stepped
through the door and followed Stuart down the path that ran through the
centre
of the garden.
 
“You go that way and I’ll go this way,” she suggested, gesturing to the
left.

Stuart headed
off as Janet suggested, leaving Janet to slowly make her way along the right
side of the small grounds.
 
She
walked along the side of the house, where low hedges separated their property
from the road.
 
Constable Parsons
drove past in his police car and gave her a small wave, which she returned
cheerily.
 

She was making
her way between the various
flower beds
, enjoying
their
colours
and scents, when she heard her name
being called.

“Janet?
 
I’ve found him,” Stuart shouted.

Quickly
retracing her steps, Janet found the two men standing together near the coach
house.
 

“Is everything
okay?” she asked, looking intently at James, whose face was flushed.

“It’s fine,”
James said sharply.
 
“I just took a
short walk around the
neighbourhood
while I was
waiting for Stuart, that’s all.”

Janet
shrugged.
 
“If you’d like a
cuppa
later, ring the bell at the back,” she suggested to
the men.
 
“Or we could fetch you
cold drinks, as it’s still rather warm tonight.”

“I doubt we’ll
do much more today,” Stuart told her.
 
“We got most of what needed doing sorted out this afternoon.”

“Well, the
offer is good whenever you’re out here,” she replied.
 
“I’m sure we aren’t paying you enough.”

Stuart
laughed.
 
“I’m quite happy with our
arrangement,” he assured her.
 
“And
if I don’t stop in for tea today, I’m sure I will another time.”

“James is
welcome as well, if he’s still staying with you,” Janet said.

“Thanks,”
James muttered, turning away.
 
He
took a couple of steps towards one of the flower beds and then crouched down
and began to poke and prod at something that Janet could only assume was weed
by the way he was treating it.

“That’s meant
to be there, mate,” Stuart said quietly.
 
“I did these beds yesterday.
 
Let’s move over to the other side.”

James stood up
and followed Stuart across the grass.
  
Stuart waved to Janet as they
disappeared from view.
 
She frowned
and then turned and headed back to the house.
 
Four strange men in the area, all
behaving oddly, she thought to herself.
 
Any one of them could be Peter Smith.
 

Chapter
Nine

Janet and Joan
settled down in front of the
telly
.
 
Neither was properly
focussed
on the American comedy show that was on, however.
 
Janet could tell that her sister was on
edge, waiting to see if Michael turned up.
 
She herself was wondering where Edward had rushed off to and when he
might be back.
 

“I’m going to
make some popcorn,” Janet announced during the advertisements.
 

“That sounds
good,” Joan said.
 
“I’ll come and
help.
 
This is boring, anyway.”

Joan switched
off the television and the sisters went into the kitchen where Janet pulled a
box of microwave popcorn from the cupboard.

“I never
thought we’d eat all of that,” Joan told her.
 
“It isn’t anything we’d normally buy.”

Janet
laughed.
 
Right after they’d moved
in, while Joan had been on her first date with Michael, Janet had made a late-night
run to the grocery store for custard cream biscuits.
 
She’d ended up filling a shopping
trolley with all sorts of snacks that she and Joan rarely ate.
 
A few bags of popcorn were just about
the only things left from the excursion, now.

Janet
unwrapped a bag and put it in the microwave.
 
Joan got them each a cold drink while
Janet pulled out a large bowl.
 
The
loud popping noises that filled the kitchen made conversation impractical.
 
Once Janet had emptied the bag of hot,
buttery popcorn into the bowl, the pair sat down at the table.

“You didn’t
get out separate bowls for each of us,” Joan chided, starting to get to her
feet.

“Oh, just help
yourself,” Janet suggested.
 
“It’s
just us at home.
 
We don’t need to
be formal.”

Janet could
see her sister’s indecision.
 
While
she watched Joan’s face, she reached into the bowl and grabbed a handful of
popcorn.
 
After a moment, Joan
picked up a few kernels herself and ate them carefully.

“So, who do
you think is Peter Smith, assuming he’s one of the new arrivals to the area?”
Janet asked after a sip of soda.

“Leonard,”
Joan answered firmly.

Janet
laughed.
 
“You just don’t like him,”
she said.

“I don’t like
him, but he could still be Peter Smith,” Joan pointed out.

“I think
William Chalmers is more likely,” Janet told her.

“Let’s discuss
them one at a time,” Joan suggested.
 
“We can start with Leonard Simmons.”

“The poor
man’s only fault is that he’s keeping you and Michael apart,” Janet said.
 

“He said he
was hiding up here,” Joan reminded her.
 
“What is he hiding from exactly?”

“I don’t
know.
 
But he seems too dull and
uninteresting to be a conman.
 
I
barely notice him when he’s in the room unless he talking loudly about events
from forty years ago.”

“But that
could be an act,” Joan said.
 
“He
could be just pretending to be boring.”

Janet shook
her head.
 
“I’m pretty sure he
really is boring,” she said firmly.
 
“I think he’s just an ordinary and dreary man who is currently taking
advantage of his friendship with Michael.”

“What could he
be hiding from, then?” Joan asked.

“His
wife?
 
His children?
 
The tax man?”

“It’s hard to
imagine that he’s married,” Joan said pensively.
 
“But I suppose he might have been
attractive many years ago.”

“There’s
someone out there for everyone,” Janet said.
 
“If they want to find someone, that is.”

“Yes, well,
assuming he’s married, why would he need to hide?”

“Maybe he
forgot their wedding anniversary or something,” Janet said with a shrug.
 
“I don’t know enough about marriage to
understand its finer points.
 
Maybe
he goes away for a week every year, just to give his wife a break from his, um,
charming personality.”

“Did Michael
say what Leonard does for a living?” Joan asked.

Janet frowned
thoughtfully.
 
“I don’t think so,”
she said after a moment.
 
“I don’t
think he said much of anything about the man except that he was an old school
friend.”

“Interesting,”
Joan murmured.

“Let’s talk
about William Chalmers,” Janet said.
 
“I don’t like him even a little bit and he was very upset that Constable
Parsons visited him.”

“Yes, but
surely the constable would have arrested him if he really were Peter Smith,”
Joan replied.

“Maybe Robert
didn’t
recognise
him, at least not well enough to be
certain.
 
I don’t think the police
can just arrest someone because he might be a conman in disguise.”

“He is
certainly unpleasant,” Joan said.
 
“I wouldn’t mind him leaving
Doveby
Dale, either
to go to prison or just to go away.”

“I’ll second
that,” Janet said.
 
She looked down
at the bowl of popcorn.
 
She and
Joan had been munching steadily and it now contained little more than a few
unpopped
kernels.
 
“And I’ll make more popcorn,” she added.

While she was
making the popcorn, Joan refilled their drinks.
 
“I can’t believe we ate the whole
bowlful after our big dinner,” Joan remarked as they sat back down.

“Me either,
but it was delicious,” Janet replied, setting the refilled bowl between them.
 
“Now, where were we?”

“We were just
trying to get rid of William Chalmers,” Joan reminded her.

“Yes, well, if
we could find a way to convince Robert Parsons that he’s the conman, I’d be
happy.”

“But I’d still
be stuck with Leonard,” Joan said sadly.

Janet
laughed.
 
“Well, they can’t both be Peter
Smith,” she said.

“Unless they
are,” Joan said.
 
“Maybe the conman
is actually more than one person.
 
That would help explain how he can look so different all the time.”

“I suppose
anything is possible,” Janet said slowly.
 
“But it doesn’t seem likely, somehow.
 
I’d like to think the police are smart
enough to have figured that out if it were the case.”

“I suppose,”
Joan said with a sigh.
 
“It would be
nice to be rid of both of them, though.”

“Leonard is
leaving soon,”
Janet
told her, patting her hand.
 
“Hang in there.”

“What about
James Abbott?” Joan asked.

“I don’t mind
him in the slightest,” Janet replied.
 
“He can stay as long as he wants.”

Joan
smiled.
 
“But could he be the man
Robert is looking for?”

Janet
shrugged.
 
“I guess so.
 
Stuart said he was an expert gardener,
but he didn’t seem to know the difference between plants and weeds when I saw
him earlier.”

“Why couldn’t
Stuart find him when he first looked?” Joan asked.

“He said he’d
gone for a walk,” Janet told her.

“I don’t know
if that’s suspicious or not,” Joan replied.

“I did see
Robert Parsons drive by while I was looking for James,” Janet said
thoughtfully.
 
“Maybe James was
trying to avoid Robert.”

“That would
certainly be suspicious.”

“But it seems
just as likely that James was just walking off his dinner,” Janet said.
 
“Besides, he’s related to Mary in some
way.
 
Surely she wouldn’t have him
in the house if he were a criminal.”

“We don’t know
Mary well enough to answer that,” Joan replied.

Janet
sighed.
 
“We aren’t very good at
this detecting thing.”

“No, I suppose
not,”
Joan
answered.
 
“At least we haven’t managed to get
ourselves locked in anywhere this time,” she added, staring at Janet.

Janet
blushed.
 
“I didn’t mean to,” she
replied weakly.
 
“Besides, you agreed
that we wouldn’t talk about that ever again.”

“And you
agreed to stop snooping,” Joan retorted.

“We aren’t
snooping, we’re just talking,” Janet answered.

“And we still
haven’t talked about Edward Bennett,” Joan pointed out.

Janet felt
herself blushing again.
 
“Surely he
can’t be Peter Smith.
 
He was one of
Maggie’s boyfriends.”

“I’m not sure
why that lets him out,” Joan replied.

“Stuart and
Michael both know him from before anyway.
 
Neither of them seems to think he’s anything other than what he claims
to be.”

“Which is what
exactly?” Joan asked.
 
“I’ve barely
spoken to the man.
 
Where is he
from?
 
What does he do for a living?
 
Is he married?
 
Does he have children?”

Janet held up
a hand to stop the flow of questions.
 
“He works in imports and exports,” she told her sister.
 
“Although I’m not sure I know exactly
what that means.
 
And he doesn’t act
as if he’s married, but I haven’t actually asked him.”

“Why on earth
not?” Joan demanded.

Janet
shrugged.
 
“It simply never came
up,” she muttered.
 

“Well, it
should have,”
Joan
said stoutly.
 
“You might be dating a married man.
 
That would never do.”

“He wouldn’t
have been dating Maggie if he were married,” Janet said as the thought occurred
to her.

“He might have
been,” Joan argued.
 
“We don’t know
much about Maggie Appleton, but what we do know suggests she led a rather
different life to ours.”

Janet
nodded.
 
It was a good thing Joan
hadn’t read the letters in the desk yet.
 
Once Joan read them, she’d think Maggie would have been capable of just
about anything.

“He did behave
oddly tonight,” Joan said.
 
“Dashing
off like that without any explanation.”

“You’re
right,” Janet said miserably.
 
“Maybe it was his wife calling.”

Joan shook her
head.
 
“I don’t think he’s married,”
she told Janet.
 
“But I don’t trust
him, either.
 
He’s hiding
something.”

“Everyone
seems to be hiding something,” Janet replied.
 
“Leonard has admitted that he’s hiding
from someone or something.
 
James
did a disappearing act this afternoon and doesn’t seem to be who he says he
is.
 
William was upset that we told
anyone he was
here,
with an excuse I didn’t believe as
to why.
 
And now Edward is dashing
about Derbyshire with no explanation as to why he had to leave so suddenly.”

“So where does
that leave us?” Joan asked.

“Nowhere,”
Janet told her.
 
“We’re no closer to
figuring out which man is Peter Smith than we were when we started.
 
The only thing we’ve managed to
accomplish is eating two big bowls of popcorn.”

Joan looked
into the bowl and shook her head.
 
“Where did it all go?” she asked.
 
“I don’t feel as if I ate much at all.”

“Me either,”
Janet told her.
 
“But there’s
nothing left but a few kernels that didn’t pop.”

“Maybe we
should gather all of the suspects together and question them,” Janet said after
a moment.
 
“That always works in
detective stories.”

“You know I
don’t read such things,” Joan said.
 
“But I thought the detective got everyone together to dramatically
announce who the criminal was.
 
We
don’t have any idea which man is Peter Smith.”

“Who might
just as well be hiding in London or Scotland or the Isle of Man,” Janet said.

“Indeed, maybe
we should alert Bessie,” Joan said with a grin.

Janet
laughed.
 
“I guess you’re right,”
she admitted.

“I know I’ll
sleep better at night once Peter Smith is back behind bars,” Joan said.

“You mean
you’ll sleep better once you know he isn’t sleeping in our house,” Janet told
her.

“Well, yes,
that’s part of it,” Joan admitted.
 
“I’m happy we have our very first paying guest, and he’s paying
handsomely, but if he is a convicted conman, I’d rather not have him in the
house.”

“And I’d
rather not be dating him,” Janet added.

“Are you
dating him?” Joan asked.
 
“You’ve
been out with him once, but you seem to be trying to avoid him most of the
time.”

“I don’t trust
him,” Janet told her.
 
“But I wish I
could.”

Joan
nodded.
 
“I think you’re better off
avoiding him, then,” she
counselled
.

“He’s quite
interesting, and rather attractive,” Janet replied.