The Appleton Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novella Book 1) by Diana Xarissa Page B

if fattening
food didn’t taste so good.”
    Janet
laughed.   There was no way she could
argue with the girl.  
    “Let me get
Jack to walk you out,” the girl insisted.   “He can load up your car.”
    Janet
protested, but the girl had already buzzed the office for assistance.   Jack turned out to be a tall and gangly
young man who looked no more than sixteen.   He blushed bright red when the cashier spoke to him.
    “Jack, can you
please help this lady to her car and load everything into her boot?” she asked
    “Sure,” he
muttered.   He walked ahead of Janet
out of the store, pushing her trolley for her.  
    She unlocked
the car and then opened the boot for him.   It only took Jack a few moments to load the bags into it.
    “Thank you
kindly,” she told the boy.
    “You’re
welcome,” he mumbled.
    “My sister and
I have just bought Doveby House,” Janet said.   “I suspect you’ll be seeing a lot of us
here in the future.”
    “ Doveby House?   From Gavin Appleton?”
    “Well, from
his mother’s estate,” Janet replied.   “Do you know Gavin?”
    “Not really,
but I know a few of the guys who work for him,” Jack said.   “I’d advise you to stay away from them,
really.    They aren’t nice
guys.”
    “They aren’t?”
    “I thought
about applying there.   Gavin seems
to pay really well, but he hired some old schoolmates of mine that I’m not
eager to spend time with,” Jack explained.   “This place doesn’t pay nearly as well, but I like everyone I work
with.”
    Janet wanted
to ask the boy a dozen more questions, but he glanced back at the store and
then grabbed the now empty trolley.
    “I’d better
get back to work,” he said.   “I
guess I’ll see you around.”
    Janet
nodded.   “I’m sure you will.”
    She climbed
into her car and sat behind the wheel for several minutes, thinking about what
Jack had said.   She was surprised to
hear that Gavin paid well.   The
garage didn’t look as if it were that successful.   Shaking her head, she started the engine.   She’d met some of Gavin’s staff, and she
had to agree with what Jack had said.   They didn’t seem like nice young men.
    She headed for
home, eagerly anticipating not only custard creams, but a few other little treats while she waited for her sister.   Almost unconsciously, she found herself
slowing down slightly as she approached Gavin’s garage.   She was startled to see one of the
overhead doors open and lights on inside the building.   Slowing down even further, Janet tried
to see who was at the garage and what they were doing.  
    Without giving
herself time to think, Janet indicated and then turned into the car park for
the garage.   She drove to the far
end of the lot, pulling into a space as far from the building as she could
get.   None of the light from inside
the garage reached this far and there were no streetlights along this stretch
of road.   Janet turned off her car’s
engine and sat in the darkness, trying to figure out what she was going to do
next.

 
    Chapter
Nine
    After watching
the garage for several minutes, she didn’t see anyone moving around inside
it.   Rather quickly, she began to
get bored.   The sensible voice
inside her head told her to go home and eat biscuits.   Janet chose to listen to the other voice
that suggested she should check things out.  
    She opened her
car door and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her as quietly as she
could.   The noise felt loud to her,
and she waited for someone to come rushing out of the garage to investigate,
but no one appeared.   She walked
quickly from her car towards the edge of the building, trying to keep to the
shadows.   Feeling somewhat
ridiculous, she crept along the building’s side wall ,
stopping to listen every few seconds.  
    When she
reached the open garage door, the third one, that was
furthest from the office end of the building, she stopped and listened
carefully.   She couldn’t