The Bennett Case (A Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Diana Xarissa Page B

worry as we can lock the library.   I don’t know how Edward managed to get
in, but clearly the lock wasn’t able to stop him.”
    Janet had been
going through the desk drawers, but nothing seemed to have been touched.   She opened the bottom drawer and pulled
out the file folders inside it.
    “What do you
have there?” Joan inquired.
    “Some very
personal letters that Maggie Appleton received from various suitors,” Janet
told her.   “I haven’t read them, but
I did glance through them all.   One
set came from a man named Edward.   Maybe that’s what he was after.”
    Janet flipped
through the folders, but nothing seemed to be missing.   The letters from Edward were still
there.
    “Is anything
missing?” Joan asked.
    Janet
shrugged.   “I didn’t count the letters
or anything.   He could have taken a
few, I guess, but from what I remember everything is here.”
    “So why was he
in the library?” Joan wondered.
    Janet sat in
the desk chair and looked slowly around the room.   Nothing looked any different to the last
time she’d been in there.
    “Once he’s
gone, we need to make sure we take a proper inventory of the whole house before
we have any more guests,” Janet said.
    “That painting
is crooked,” Joan pointed out.   She
walked over to the small painting that Janet had barely noticed.   It was hanging on the wall, sandwiched
between shelves, not just on either side of it but also above and below it.
    Joan pushed up
on the bottom right corner of the picture, causing it to swing off-centre in the other direction.   She tried again, gently attempting to
straighten the artwork, but again she failed.
    Janet had
joined her by now and she reached over and pulled the picture off the
wall.   Both women gasped.   Behind the painting, built into the
wall, was a small safe.
    “I suspect we
might have just found what Edward was doing in the library,” Janet said in a
whisper.
    “How would he
even know this was here?” Joan asked.   “And why didn’t anyone tell us?”
    “He and Maggie
were very close, apparently,” Janet replied, aware
that she sounded quite cross as she spoke.   “And perhaps no one else knew about the safe,” she added.
    Joan reached
out and pulled on the safe’s door, but it didn’t open.   She spun the dial a few times and then
sighed.   “Want to guess the
combination?”
    Janet sighed
as well.   “We could guess a million
times and never get it right,” she said grumpily.   “We don’t even know how many numbers are
in the combination.”
    “You could ask
Edward,” Joan suggested.
    “No way,”
Janet replied.   “We’ll have to hire
someone to open it for us.”
    “That will
probably be costly and ruin the safe,” Joan argued.   “I’ll ask him if you won’t.   I’ll just mention that we found the safe
and wondered if he knew the combination, that’s all.   He doesn’t have to know that you saw him
coming out of here last night.”
    Janet sighed
again.   She couldn’t explain to her
sister exactly how she felt.   She
wasn’t even sure herself.   The
thought that Edward might know the combination to Maggie Appleton’s safe just
made her feel uncomfortable.   It
suggested an even greater intimacy than she’d already assumed they’d
shared.   The letters spoke of
physical closeness, but sharing the combination to a hidden safe suggested a
more serious commitment.
    Before the
sisters could discuss things further, they heard someone knocking on the front
door.  
    “I’ll tidy up
in here,” Janet told her sister.   “You go and see who’s at the door.”
    Joan headed
out while Janet quickly rehung the painting.   She collected the folders full of
letters and dropped them into the bottom drawer, sliding it shut.   After a quick glance around the room to
make sure she hadn’t missed anything, she switched off the light and shut the
door.
    “Hardly worth
locking it,” she muttered to herself as she turned the key in the