The Appleton Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 1) Read Free Page B

Joan
Markham,” Joan inserted herself into the conversation.   “My sister Janet and I are considering
purchasing this property.   I take it
you’re the neighbour who is currently looking after
the garden?”
    “Yes, that’s
right,” he said, smiling as he shook Joan’s hand and then Janet’s.   “I’m Stuart Long and I live across the
road with my wife, Mary.   I’m very
fond of the gardens here and I hope to continue looking after them once the new
owner has purchased the place.”
    “As far as I’m
concerned, if we end up buying the property, you’d be more than welcome,” Janet
said firmly.
    Joan frowned
at her.   “Of course, nothing has
been decided yet,” she said sharply.
    “Yes, well, if
you have any questions about the neighbourhood or
anything, I’m happy to answer them,” Stuart said.
    “That’s kind
of you, but I don’t think we have any questions at this point,” Joan answered
before Janet could say anything.   “We have a lot of talking to do between ourselves.”
    “In that case,
I shall walk you back to your car,” Henry said.   “I have a sheet with all of the
particulars of the property for you, if you’d like it.   I also have some information about other
bed and breakfast properties in the area, if you’d be interested in seeing what
else is out there.”
    Joan nodded
and the sisters fell into step with Henry, walking through the gardens back to
the property’s small car park.   Henry handed Joan an envelope and she handed it to Janet before the
sisters climbed into the car.   As
Janet began to open it, Joan pulled carefully away from Doveby House.
    “Well, that
was an interesting way to spend a morning,” Janet said after a moment.   She’d given up on the envelope, not willing to risk the inevitable car sickness she’d experience if she tried
reading while the car was moving.
    “It was
indeed,” Joan agreed.   “What did you
think of the house?”
    “It was very
nice and I loved the library.”
    “Can you see
us running a bed and breakfast?” Joan asked.
    “What’s put
this idea into your head?” Janet had to ask.   Joan had announced the previous day that
she’d made the appointment to see a bed and breakfast property that she thought
they ought to consider buying, but hadn’t been willing to answer any questions
from Janet.   Now that they’d seen the
place, Janet figured it was time for some answers.
    Joan
sighed.   “I don’t know really,” she
said after a moment.   “We’ve had
that bit of money from Great Aunt Mildred and we’ve no idea what to do with
it.”
    “I thought we
were going to travel and just enjoy being retired,” Janet replied.
    “I know we
were both looking forward to retiring,” Joan said, “but I guess, well, I
suppose I’m just the tiniest bit bored.   Travelling is all well and good, but we can’t simply travel all the
time.   I just started thinking about
trying something completely different.   I’ve always loved cooking and baking, so I thought about opening a
restaurant, but they’re very hard work with very long hours.   I thought a bed and breakfast would be
easier.”
    “Except that
you’re essentially on call twenty-four hours a day when you have guests,” Janet
pointed out.
    “Well, yes,
but we could be very careful about who we would accept as guests,” Joan
replied.   “We wouldn’t absolutely
need paying guests all the time, or even most of the time.   Most of the time we could use the guest
rooms for our friends, but once in a while we could extend that to friends of
friends or others who’ve been recommended to us.   We could still plan various holidays for
ourselves and just shut whenever we want to get away.”
    “I think it
will be much harder work than you realise ,” Janet
said.
    Joan
laughed.   “This is quite odd,” she
said.   “Usually I’m the one trying
to talk you out of doing silly things, but this time it’s the other way
around.”
    “Give me