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

  “If
Gavin Appleton had found you snooping around his garage, there’s no telling
what he might have done.”
    “I wasn’t
really snooping,” Janet said defensively.   “I stopped because I saw the lights were on and I wanted a quick word
with Gavin.   I was hoping to get a
better idea of what papers he was looking for, as we’d found so many boxes full
of paperwork.”
    “Yes, well, I
know exactly what he was looking for,” Robert told her.   “And he wouldn’t have told you.”
    “I wasn’t to
know that,” Janet said.   She sipped
her tea, hoping the man believed her.
    “Gavin could
press charges against you for trespass if he wanted to,” he said.
    “I wasn’t trespassing,”
Janet insisted.   “The lights were on
and the door was open.   I just
walked in, looking for someone, and while I was doing that someone locked the
door behind me.”
    “Well, you
must never do anything like that again,” Robert said
sternly.   “If you have concerns
about someone, you must come to the police and let us handle things.   I’d be even more angry if there hadn’t
been such a successful outcome, of course.”
    “The cars in
the garage were all stolen?” Joan asked.
    “Yes, and one
of the young men who was working for Gavin has filled us in on the whole
scheme.   Gavin hired a number of
young men and used them to modify the stolen vehicles.   He usually did the actual stealing
himself, apparently, but in the box of parts that you found were vehicle
identification plates.   Gavin was
making his own and replacing the genuine ones with his.”
    “Wow, it’s
like something from telly , not real life,” Janet
remarked.
    “It is
rather,” Robert agreed.   “He started
out small and at some point his mother found out what he was doing.   Apparently that’s when she cut him out
of her will.   Anyway, lately he’d
increased his little operation, bringing in more staff and stealing more cars.”
    “So he was
after that box of parts,” Janet said.   “That’s why he wanted to get into the house here.”
    “Not just that
box of parts,” Robert told her.   “Where are those boxes of papers you found?”
    Joan carried the
boxes in from her sitting room.   He
quickly flipped through the first box, pulling out several sheets of paper as
he did so.
    “Blank registration
papers,” he explained, showing the sheets he’d taken to the women.   “All Gavin had to do was fill in the
blanks and he could claim to be the owner of each stolen car.   Somehow Margaret got her hands on a large
number of these and that box of parts.   Gavin won’t tell us how she got them, but apparently she used to visit
him at the garage from time to time before their falling out.”
    “But he didn’t
kill her to get them back?” Janet asked.
    “No, Margaret
wasn’t murdered,” Robert told her.  
    “So how did
Margaret die?” Janet demanded.
    Robert
frowned.   “I’m afraid I can’t answer
that question,” he told her.   “You’d
have to ask Gavin.”
    “But he’s
locked up,” Janet said with a sigh.   “I know it isn’t really any of our business, but I can’t help but be
curious about it.”
    “Well, rest
assured that Gavin had nothing to do with it,” Robert told her.   “He wasn’t anywhere near her when she
died.”
    The policeman
took a few photos of the wardrobe where they’d found the box of car parts and
went through all of the boxes of papers, removing several more of the car registration
pages.
    “These are
issued by the DVLA.   The Derby CID
is working with them to find out how Gavin managed to get his hands on blank
ones,” he commented as he slid all of the sheets into a large envelope.
    “So it was
good that I was stuck in the garage last night,” Janet suggested as the man was
preparing to leave.   “Otherwise you
wouldn’t have found the stolen cars.”
    “Actually,
we’d requested a search warrant, based largely on the box you’d given me and
the papers I