The Chalmers Case Read Online Free Page B

open.
    “Ah, it looks
like you’re in the perfect place to take a break,” Joan said brightly, as she
watched Janet slide the last book into place.  
    “If you mean
take a few minutes to sit down with my feet up and read a book, I am,” Janet
replied.   “If you mean stop cleaning
in here and come and clean somewhere else, well, that’s a lot less appealing.”
    Joan actually
smiled before she spoke.   “I’m
sorry, my dear,” she said.   “I know
this whole bed and breakfast thing was my idea and I know you don’t share my
enthusiasm for it, but I’d really like to give it a good try.   If you really hate it after we’ve had a
few guests, we can talk about selling Doveby House
and doing something else with our lives.”
    Janet thought
for a minute before she replied.   “It’s a little late now for me to start voicing objections,” she said
finally.   “And I’m sorry I haven’t
been more supportive of your plans.   I just hate cleaning and tidying, and it seems like we have an awful lot
of that to get done.”
    “I know you
hate cleaning,” Joan said.   “I
thought you might like to go and do the grocery shopping instead, while I start
tackling the cleaning?”
    “Oh, yes,
please,” Janet said eagerly.   She didn’t exactly like grocery
shopping, but if Joan wasn’t with her, she could at least add a few treats to
the trolley as she went.   Joan gave
Janet a detailed list of everything she wanted from the shops and Janet headed
out with the promise of apple crumble for pudding after dinner if she managed
to find everything on the list.
    Janet drove
rather slowly to the large supermarket that was some distance away.   She wasn’t exactly eager to get the
shopping done and get home and it was a lovely day for a drive.   Groceries were less expensive at the larger
shop than at the smaller store in Doveby Dale, but
sometimes the bigger store was unpleasantly busy.   Today it wasn’t too bad, and Janet found
herself in a fairly good mood as she pushed her trolley up and down the aisles.
    “We need a
cat,” she said aloud as she unexpectedly found herself in the pet food aisle
after making a wrong turn.   She’d
always wanted a pet of some kind, but when she and Joan had both been working
full-time it seemed unfair to adopt an animal and then spend very little time
with it.   When they’d retired,
they’d discussed the idea briefly, but as they planned to travel, again the
thought was dismissed.   Now,
however, they were clearly staying in one place for a while and the large manor
house seemed the perfect place for a cat.   Determined to discuss the idea with Joan, Janet carried on with the
shopping.
    She did very
well sticking to her sister’s list until the very end.   From what Joan had requested, it seemed
as if her older sister was anticipating that their guests would be eating their
evening meals at Doveby House in addition to
breakfast.   Perhaps that was part of
the arrangement that Joan had made with William Chalmers.  
    Janet was
nearly finished when she reached the ice cream.   Joan had requested vanilla, presumably
to offer with apple crumble and other puddings.   Janet added it to her cart and then
found her favourite ice cream in the freezer.   Joan wouldn’t mind if she brought home a
container of that as well, she decided impulsively.
    Back at Doveby House, it took Janet three trips to get everything
from the car into the house.   Janet
could hear Joan working hard on the first floor, presumably cleaning the guest
rooms.   No doubt Joan would put the
couple in the east room, as it was somewhat larger than the west room.   It was just a shame that they hadn’t
found any art for the walls yet.   Janet was still hoping to come up with better names for the rooms eventually.
    Once she’d put
the shopping away, Janet climbed the stairs and found her sister in the east
room.
    “I’m back and
the shopping is all away,” she told Joan once Joan had