The Chalmers Case Read Online Free

painting,” Janet called to them as she headed towards
the back room.  
    She stood in
front of it for a long moment, studying it.   If she could work out why she liked it
so much, maybe she could persuade herself that she wasn’t all that fond of it,
she told herself.   After a while,
she gave up.   There was just
something about it, the colours , the shapes, the textures, something that she really liked.  
    Glancing back
into the main room, she saw that William and Joan were still talking.   With a sigh, she turned and did another
circuit of the gallery space, studying each painting in turn, but finding
nothing else she especially liked.   After a few minutes, she noticed that there was a door along one
wall.   Undoubtedly it led to storage
space or an employee loo.
    Firmly telling
herself that it was none of her business anyway, she turned and walked briskly
away from temptation.   A moment
later, she was back in front of the door, her hand itching to try the knob.   It wasn’t that she was nosy, she reminded
herself, just incredibly curious.   She looked back towards the main room and saw nothing.   Already chiding herself for her
“curiosity,” she tried the knob.
    The door
opened easily and Janet was quick to find the light switch right inside the
door.   The room in front of her was
small, but still larger than she’d been expecting it to be.   There were perhaps half a dozen easels
scattered around the space, a partially finished canvas on every one of them.   A small table in the centre of the room was covered in painting supplies.   Janet was struggling to resist the urge
to walk into the room when she heard a sound behind her.   Switching off the light, she quickly
pulled the door shut again before she turned around.
    “That’s just
storage space,” William told her as he strode into the room.
    “I was just
looking for a loo,” Janet said, hoping William didn’t realise that she had actually already opened the door.
    The man
frowned.   “I’m afraid we don’t have
customer, er , facilities,” he said.
    “Never mind,
we aren’t far from home,” Janet said.   She walked quickly past him, back into the main room where Joan was
standing near the door.
    “There you
are,” Joan said.   “I was starting to
think you’d gone out a back way.”
    “Just admiring
that painting one more time,” she told her sister.   “There’s just something about it I
like.”
    “But not the
price tag,” Joan replied.
    “No, I don’t
like the price tag at all,” Janet agreed with a laugh.
    “I might be
able to let it go for, let’s say, half the price on the tag,” William
interjected.
    Janet shook her
head.   “That’s still far more than I
can afford to spend on something for just me.   If it were for a guest room or one of
the public spaces in the house, I might think about it.   But if I were to buy it, I’d want it in
my room for sure.   Thank you for the
generous discount, though.   I wish I
could use it.”
    “Think about
it,” William told her.   “The offer
is good for the rest of this week, at least.   If you find you can’t live without the
picture, stop back.”
    Janet nodded
and then smiled at Joan.   “We should
get going,” she suggested.
    “As we have
guests arriving on Wednesday, we definitely should,” Joan agreed.
    The pair made
their way out of the shop and back down the pavement in front of the small row
of stores.   Janet forced herself to
keep her mouth shut as they walked, even though she felt as if she might burst.

 
    Chapter
Three
    “Well, that
was interesting,” Joan said as she pulled the car out
of its parking space.   “William
seemed like he was trying quite hard to be nice.”
    “He did,
didn’t he?” Janet replied.
    “I suppose,
now that he’s having to deal with customers, he’s found he must be nicer.”
    “But didn’t
William say that he didn’t know any local artists?” Janet asked.
    “He did, but
he said he’d