Free The Donaldson Case by Diana Xarissa Page A

young woman interrupted.    “If you’re not going in, do you
think you could move along?   I need
some nappies.”
    Janet flushed
and then stepped back, holding the door open for the young woman and her large
pushchair.   The baby inside was
adorable, but as Janet smiled at him she got a whiff of something that
suggested the mum needed the nappies quite urgently.
    The shop was
only a little bit larger than the one in Doveby Dale,
surprisingly small for a big city store.   Janet and Joan wandered around for a few minutes while the woman bought
what she needed.   Janet found
herself watching George as she pretended to browse the shelves.
    He was probably
somewhere in his sixties.   As he
walked back and forth through the shop, helping the woman find what she needed,
he mumbled constantly to himself, often stopping to rub the top of his head,
which was completely lacking in hair.   He had a pair of glasses in his hand and he was forever putting them on
to study something and then pulling them back off again.
    “Now, what can
I help you ladies with?” he asked, smiling vaguely in their direction after the
woman left.
    “We just need
some headache tablets,” Janet said a bit desperately.
    “Headache,
headache, headache,” the man muttered as he walked around the counter.   “This is what we have,” he told Janet,
gesturing to the appropriate shelf.  
    “We usually
shop in Doveby Dale,” Janet said as she looked over
the choices.   “But the store there
is shut for some reason.”
    “Is it?”
George replied.   “I suppose there
must be a good reason.   Derby’s a
long drive for you, though.   Surely
you could have found headache tablets somewhere closer.”
    “We were coming
up to visit a sick friend,” Janet told him.
    “Oh, well, I
suppose that makes sense,” he said.  
    Janet selected
her usual brand and handed them to the man.   “I’ll take these,” she said.
    “Very good,”
he replied.   He rang up her purchase
while still talking quietly to himself.   “Thank you,” he said loudly at the end.
    “Thank you,”
Janet replied.   She glanced at Joan,
who shrugged, and then they exited the shop.
    “Well, that
didn’t go well,” Janet said with a deep sigh as they
headed back to their car.
    “On the other
hand, you won’t need to buy any more headache tablets for the next five years,”
Joan retorted.
    Janet
chuckled.   “I know.   It was a dumb choice, but I couldn’t
think of anything else.   I suppose
I’m just not cut out to be a detective.”
    “You did
better than I did,” Joan admitted.   “I didn’t do or say anything, after all.   And I’m the one who’s concerned about
Michael.”
    “Yes, well, I think
we did our best.   Maybe we’ll have
to just leave everything up to the police,” Janet said.
    “I really want
to meet Matthew Rogers,” Joan said in a thoughtful tone.   “Maybe he’s the one behind all of this.”
    “He’s only
just arrived in the area,” Janet pointed out.
    “Which makes
him the perfect suspect,” Joan replied.   “We don’t know him, so we don’t like him and we won’t mind if he’s
arrested.”
    Janet
laughed.   “I suppose, when you put
it that way, he’s the perfect suspect.”
    “Yes, he is,” Joan said.
    Janet drove to
the restaurant they’d agreed to visit for lunch.   The food was excellent and Janet was
pleased to see her sister relaxing, at least a little bit.   The drive back to Doveby Dale was uneventful.

 
    Chapter
Eight
    “So what do we
do now?” Joan asked over their light evening meal.
    “I suppose we
should be getting ready for our guests,” Janet replied.
    “But what
about Michael?” Joan demanded.
    “I don’t
know,” Janet said.   “We’ve talked to
all three of the suspects.   What did
you think of them?”
    Joan’s reply
was interrupted by a knock on the door.  
    “I’ll go,”
Joan said, jumping up from the table.
    “It must be
Michael,” Janet muttered as she took