Free The Chalmers Case by Diana Xarissa

She
tried to pretend to be interested in the various items Joan inspected, but she
really wanted to go and listen in on the conversation in the back.  
    The two
couples that were their guests seemed like very unlikely friends, and Janet was
really curious what they were talking about.   As William’s friends, she supposed
Mildred and Harold were doing their best to sell the others as much as
possible.   After what felt like
hours, Joan finally selected a pair of lamps.
    “What do you
think?” she asked Janet.
    “They aren’t
bad,” Janet replied honestly.   They
were one of the few things in the place that she didn’t hate, at least.  
    “I thought
they’d go nicely on the bedside tables in my bedroom,” Joan told her.
    Janet
nodded.   The lamps were very much
her sister’s style, which made them not really something Janet would care to
own.  
    “While you pay
for those, I’ll just go visit my painting again,” Janet told her sister.
    Joan
laughed.   “I think I may have to buy
you that painting for Christmas,” she said.
    “I wouldn’t
say no,” Janet told her, even though she knew she really would if Joan actually
made such an offer.   Both sisters
were quite frugal and that extended to buying one another gifts.   Neither would ever dream of spending
that much money on themselves or each other.
    Janet walked
into the back room and looked around.   Harold was standing in one corner, talking on his mobile phone.   Otherwise the room was empty.   Janet turned slowly, looking for an
exit, but it seemed as if the only way in or out of the room was the way she’d
just come.   Where had the others
gone?
    Harold looked
up from his phone and muttered something under his breath.   “Oh, I didn’t think you’d be back,” he
said.  
    “Where did
everyone go?” Janet blurted out.
    “They’re just
in the loo,” the man replied hastily.   He gestured towards the door in the back wall that Janet had opened on
her last visit.
    “Oh, is there
a loo?   I could do with one,” she
said.   She crossed towards the door,
but before she got there it swung open.   Mildred emerged with George and Nancy on her heels.
    “Ah, still shopping?”
Mildred asked Janet in a bright voice.
    “I was just
looking for the loo,” Janet told her.   “Harold said it’s through there?”
    “Oh, no,
Harold is confused,” Mildred said with a laugh.   She took Janet’s arm and began to steer
her out of the room.   “That’s just a
storage space.   I saw a little chest
of drawers in the very back that I thought Nancy might like, and I just had to
show them.   Unfortunately, she
didn’t care for it, but I had to try.”
    While she’d
been speaking, she nearly dragged Janet back into the main room.   Joan was just picking up the large box
that William had packed her lamps into.  
    “Ready to go?”
Joan asked her sister.
    “Yes,” Janet
replied, knowing that Mildred wasn’t going to let her do anything but leave at
this point.
    “Excellent, perhaps
you can open doors for me,” Joan suggested.
    Janet smiled
at Mildred and William in turn.   “Thank
you,” she said.   “I’ll be back to
look at my painting again soon.”
    “I’ll look
forward to it,” William told her unenthusiastically.
    Janet grinned
and then rushed forward to open the door for Joan.   The box wasn’t large and Joan insisted
it wasn’t heavy, but it was unwieldy.   Janet walked in front of her sister as they made their way back to the
car.  
    “I do feel a
bit selfish,” Joan said once they were on their way back to Doveby House.   “Perhaps I should have
purchased something for the house instead of for myself.”
    “Don’t be
silly,” Janet told her.   “We’ve
spent a fortune on the house and anyway, you need lamps in your bedroom.   Mine came with such nice ones and I’ve
felt just the tiniest bit guilty about that ever since we moved in.”
    Joan
laughed.   “I don’t believe you’ve
given it a