The Passport Mystery: Introducing Gray and Armstrong Private Investigations

By Eve Grafton

James Armstrong left London to join his wife, Alicia, after her grandmother had a bad fall and called for her granddaughter to help in a southern coastal city.

James was working at that time on a passport scam involving his wife without her knowledge. Percy Gray is the father of the surgeon who operated on Alicia’s grandmother’s arm who called his father, a retired police detective, to have a look at the situation that caused the fall, thinking foul play had played a part, so fate stepped in to introduce Percy Gray and James Armstrong to solve the granny’s fall affair.

The passport scam was also solved by James, with help from Alicia. It had caused some angst between them when Alicia was told of her part in the passport affair, but she eventually could see why James had not told her. He now had to make up his mind whether to stay in London for his job or take up Percy Gray’s offer as a partner in a private investigation business. Granny would be incapacitated for several years, and Alicia wanted to help her out, so they decided to stay in the southern coastal city permanently and take up the investigations partnership.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Apr 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796000863

Eve Grafton

Eve Grafton is a Western Australian, and proud to be so. Over the years Eve and her husband and family have travelled to many countries around the world, coming back to Australia when it became necessary for their children’s education. After their children left home, Eve and her husband bought a hobby farm, farming sheep and making their own wine and growing their own vegetables so that they were practically self-sufficient. The couple now live in Perth, Western Australia and Eve writes fictional novels to replace the many hobbies she has had over the years.

Book preview

1

Alicia Newton Armstrong stepped from the aircraft, breathing a sigh of relief. It was her last flight as a flight attendant. Tonight she could sleep, happy in the thought of a peaceful night. She would not have to get up at four in the morning for a flight, feeling tired before she left, knowing how tired she would be at the completion of the flight. This also was the last time she would be known as Alicia Armstrong. From now on, she would revert to her maiden name of Alicia Newton.

Her doctor blamed the break-up of her marriage on overwork for her wish to sleep all the time. He gave her a prescription for antidepressant tablets, which helped her keep herself together, although she often felt she wanted to cry when she thought of James. He had been a loving husband, she thought.

She came home one morning because her flight was cancelled when bad weather set in. She opened the apartment door and went down to the bedroom and found him in their bed with a pretty woman. The woman sat up in the bed and said, ‘Who is this, James, and why is she in your bedroom?’

What a surprise for them all! Alicia looked at James, who admittedly looked alarmed, then at the woman, whom she recognised as a girl from one of the apartments on the floor below them. She lowered her flight bag to the floor and looked at her husband. ‘Answer her, James! I would like to hear your explanation as well!’

He reached out to the bedside table where his bathrobe lay and turned away to put it on, saying to the girl in the bed, ‘Come on, Estelle, we have been caught. This is my wife, who was supposed to be somewhere over the Channel by now. I am afraid you will have to leave us while we discuss the situation.’

Estelle blurted out, ‘You said you were divorced and your former wife spent some nights here because she did not have a flat of her own and needed somewhere to stay on the occasional times she spent in town, you were only friends, not lovers any more!’

Alicia looked between the two on the bed. ‘Not lovers any more? You said this, James? Thinking ahead to now, were you? Because that is true from this moment. You have unfortunately been found out because of bad weather over the Channel. It appears as if this is not a one-time event by the way Estelle tells it. How long has it been going on, Estelle?’

‘At least three months now. He swore you were divorced, and as you never seemed to be around for long, I believed him! I am sorry, I would not have gone out with him if I had known he was still married! I am not in the habit of stealing other women’s husbands. In fact, he is the first man I have made love with. I thought he was so honourable when he said that he was helping you out with accommodation when you were in town. I would never have gone out with him if I had known the truth.’

Alicia turned to her husband. ‘I thought you were honourable too, James. It was you who insisted I kept my job because we needed my money to purchase a house, and this is what you do on a daily basis while I am out of town. Where is the honour in that? Do you have anything to say?’

James looked upset and astonished at Alicia and Estelle carrying on a conversation above his head, and did not quite know how to answer the two women looking at him, both hostile! Speaking earnestly, he said to Alicia, ‘I love you, Alicia, and I would never want to hurt you. I did not see Estelle or anybody else, whether you were in town or not. You are all I ever wanted in a woman. This is not what it looks. You have to believe me!’

Alicia looked amazed at this statement. ‘I have only been gone two hours. You say you love me, and as soon as I turn my back, you have another woman in my warm bed! What kind of love is that! I would have been happy to stay at home with you, but it was at your insistence that I kept my job. Did you plan this affair way back then? Estelle says you have been seeing her for three months. Did you have someone else before that? We have been married twelve months. That would give you other affairs to own up to, if you are honest. This is my apartment, paid for with my flight pay. I want you out of here, both of you, in ten minutes. There is nothing here that belongs to you except your clothes, James. My earnings have paid for everything else! I want you gone, and the only time I want to see you again is when we attend the divorce court. I will send your mail to Estelle’s flat downstairs. She, I presume, will be the next woman you will con into paying your bills.

‘Ten minutes!’ She felt like screaming but controlled herself. ‘You have ten minutes to dress and leave. If you are here a minute longer, I will start screaming, and everyone will come running to find out what is happening. That will be very embarrassing for you both! I have many good friends in this apartment block, I have lived here far longer than both of you, and I am sure they will be happy to throw you down the stairs if you are still here.’

Alicia grabbed James’s clothes from the drawers and the wardrobe, and she grabbed a suitcase to put them in. She was so angry. Estelle looked at her and disappeared out the door fast. Keeping her eye on her watch for the ten minutes she allowed for James to get dressed, Alicia put the suitcase out the door then closed and double-locked the door after him.

She pulled the sheets and pillows from the bed and threw them into the washing machine, followed by any used towels in the bathroom, and set it going she was so upset! She made herself a cup of tea and some toast and found herself choking on the toast, along with her tears. After taking a hot shower to wash off any residue of her one-person tantrum, she took two pills to help her sleep and went to bed on the clean sheets she pulled from the linen cupboard.

What a miserable day altogether, and it had not only been the weather. There had been no warning about James’s affairs. He must have cleaned up after each woman left, leaving nothing suspicious behind. He was always most solicitous to her when she was in town, acting the perfect lover and husband, and not once did it enter her mind that he was play-acting. She had been his landlady, wife, and money bag!

He needed her far more than she needed him, and he would need to find a job quickly so he would not slip lower. He owned nothing, as far as she knew. Before they met, he had worked in an office using a computer, and a nervous breakdown kept him unemployed for a time. They had met at a party and seemed to click right away. He was a tall handsome young man with blonde hair and bright-blue eyes; he had a contagious smile and was very attentive to her, handing her drinks and nibbles as they moved around the room. She took pity on him and offered him a place to stay until he got back on his feet. She soon found herself falling in love with him, her first love. She had never felt like this before; it was new for her. He professed his love for her and suggested they get married, and she agreed. They were married in a registry office because Alicia’s flight schedule did not leave her much time for wedding preparations.

He was always going to job interviews, or so she thought; perhaps he had been out looking for new marks! She realised that she never really knew him. She never dreamed he would bring other women into her apartment and into her bed when she was away. A busy roster left her in town only two or three days a week, plenty of time for him to entertain his other lady friends. Alicia tried hard to remember anything out of place in their relationship. She came to the conclusion that he was too polished in his affairs, or she had just been too tired from working whenever she came back to the apartment and never noticed anything wrong.

She went to sleep at last, tired out by the emotion of the day and her early-morning awakening. She slept for most of the day, not bothering to eat; she felt as if food would choke her.

Next morning, she got up early and arranged with the apartment concierge for a locksmith to change the locks on her door, making special note that no key was to be given to her husband, who was soon to be her ex-husband. She went to the head office of the firm she flew with and put in a letter of resignation, giving one month’s notice as required by her contract, and then went with the other aircrew to the airport to catch the flight that was cancelled the day before, now given clearance to fly. How quickly everything could change in twenty-four hours.

All she felt when doing this was emptiness, but there was some satisfaction. She could now please herself. So far there had been no thoughts of what she would do after the month’s notice was completed. That would have to wait until she was free of James. She did not want to let him know what she would be doing or where she would be going; she felt too betrayed and hurt to forgive and forget. It would only be her way from now on.

The empty feeling stayed with her for some time, the feeling that all she wanted to do was sink into her bed and sleep, which was mostly what she did on her days off. She did not answer her telephone or the knocks on her apartment door during these times. The antidepressant tablets helped a little so that she could sleep and go to work when rostered on, although she did not like to take them, thinking it was something she should fight by herself. Time seemed to go by so slowly until her contract was finished. At last, she was free from her job. She filed for a divorce from her husband and now only needed to find another job, something else to cheer her up and keep her busy.

* * *

A letter from her grandmother was in her letter box when she arrived home one day, soon after finishing with her flight attendant career. She had rung her grandmother when she knew her marriage was over. As time was always limited by her roster, somehow Alicia had never introduced James to her granny, who lived in a city on the south coast. She ran a little bookshop of mostly second-hand books. Some well-selling authors also called her to ask her to take a few books to sell for them.

Alicia turned the letter over in her hands before opening it. It was not her grandmother’s writing on the envelope, but it had her granny’s address on the back. She opened the letter, which also was not in Granny’s writing. It said she was writing to say she was sorry about the divorce Alicia was planning. It was also a call for help from Granny, saying she had fallen while walking across a pedestrian crossing. A small yellow car had come out of nowhere, nearly knocking her over and causing her to trip on the kerb of the road. She had smashed her elbow, and the fall had also caused a slight concussion due to a bang on her eyebrow. She was laid up in the hospital, awaiting an operation on her arm and being watched to see that her concussion did not cause too much damage. She was sure the concussion was not too bad, as she felt fine except for the pain in her arm, which was in plaster at the moment.

Her face was swollen and black and blue from the fall nd she knew she would not be able to return to her bookshop for several weeks. The doctor said it would be perhaps two to three months until she would be able to use her arm again, and she possibly had permanent damage and would only have partial use in the future because the bones were so shattered. She did not want to frighten her clients away with the way she looked. With so many black-and-blue bruises, it might appear to people as if she had been beaten up. Could Alicia come and help her? ‘You will note that this is not my handwriting. My friend Percy is writing for me.’

Alicia was alarmed that her grandmother was in hospital. She was the only relative she had. Granny had brought her up after her parents had died in a car crash when Alicia was a small child, so her granny had become everything to her. Her immediate reaction was to pack a bag and catch a train to take her to the hospital so she could be there that evening to help her beloved grandmother.

* * *

She arrived just in time for the visiting hour in the evening and was shown where to find her grandmother, Valerie Newton. Granny was sitting up in bed, entertaining half a dozen friends standing around her while she told the story of her fall again. Just as Alicia arrived, she was saying that she had called in the troops to help her in the bookshop. Alicia laughed. It was just like her grandmother to make merry of all the things that went wrong. She was not a complainer and made the most of everything. There were five other ladies in beds in the large ward who seemed avid to find out what had happened to the lady in the first bed of the ward, who looked as if she had been in a fight.

Alicia spoke a little louder than her grandmother. ‘Trooper number one here for you, Granny.’

‘Oh, my darling girl, that was quick. I did not expect you yet. I did not know your flights for the week.’

‘No more flights, Granny. I have resigned from the airline, and I am free to take care of you and the bookshop from now on. I will need a few keys, and off I will go to make myself at home. I hope you have packed all your secret little things away, because I am moving into your house this evening. You can come home whenever they have had enough of you here or need your bed for someone else. I promise I will look after you and the shop until you are able to do it for yourself. If you were going to have a fall, you could not have timed it better. I have no job and no one else to look after, and I am as free as a bird to take over for you.’

Her grandmother wiped a tear from her blackened eye. ‘Thank you, my darling, I will love having you stay as long as you wish. You know I miss you. I haven’t seen you in so long. I wasn’t sure what you were doing nowadays and whether I was asking too much for you to come.’

‘For you, my darling granny, anything, at any time.’ Alicia looked at the people around the bed. ‘I guess by now you realise I am the recalcitrant granddaughter who has been too busy with her own life and I now realise where my life should be—right here with my granny. My name is Alicia, same surname as Granny. My father was her son.’ Which of you is Percy?’

‘That would be me,’ said an older gentleman dressed in a grey suit with a bright-blue shirt and no tie.

‘Very good penmanship, Percy. May I call you that?’

‘Nowadays nobody uses the mister or missus titles. Percy Gray is the name. Welcome home, Alicia.

Alicia acknowledged all the other visitors around the bed and told her grandmother, ‘I will come back at eleven in the morning to get instructions. I have checked that time with the staff, and they said it will be fine. All I need now are the keys, and I will find my way around the house and shop before coming back in the morning. You can fill me in on the bookshop dealings when I come back tomorrow, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, after going through the bookshop so I know what you are talking about.’

Her grandmother said, ‘Ask at the desk for my things. They have them in a locker. In my bag are the keys and my money purse. Take them with you, and I will give you the pin numbers to operate the cards tomorrow. I will need some more nightdresses with loose sleeves or no sleeves at all. It is so awkward trying to dress with one arm not working. I even need help showering, which is a first for me. It was a bit embarrassing at first, but I am getting used to it. The only time I shirked was when a male nurse turned up to shower me, and I decided I could manage by myself after all. It was a lick-and-a-promise shower that day, as they used to say in the old days. Is it all right to ask you to go shopping for me, Alicia?’

‘Of course, Granny. Any colour you prefer?’

‘Nothing too outrageous, Alicia. Remember my age. I do not want to shock anyone!’

Alicia kissed her on the cheek. ‘I will leave you with your friends for now and be back at eleven in the morning. Sleep tight. I have arrived and will stay as long as you need me. I love you, Granny.’

The visitors around her granny’s bed eyed her slim figure with interest. The general opinion was she was certainly an attractive girl. She had such lovely smooth brown hair in a shoulder-leng bob and hazel-green eyes that were large, with long lashes, and she was beautifully dressed. The general consensus amongst the visitors was that Alicia would add to the attraction of the bookshop.

She asked for her granny’s things at the desk, saying she would be back at eleven in the morning. She asked them to ring for a taxi for her and was directed to the taxi rank at the entrance of the hospital.

* * *

Her grandmother’s house was in the old part of town, with the bookshop next door to the house. It was in darkness, of course, which seemed a bit creepy at first. Every other time she came and when she lived here, there had always been a bright light for her to see by, left on for her by her grandmother. In the first few moments, it shocked her to see the dark house and shop, and she told herself, Do not be silly. Of course, Granny will be back!

She knew which key to open the door and was inside within a few minutes, turning the lights on as she walked down the hall to the kitchen and then up the stairs to her old room. Her grandmother always kept her room made, as if she was going to appear any day. This knowledge made her smile and feel so loved. There was only the two of them in the family. I should not have waited to have children. Granny would have liked to see them and hold the babies. I am twenty-six and without a husband. I am not likely to have any children soon, and Granny is not getting any younger. I have been very selfish. Then again, seeing how my marriage has ended up, she thought with a sigh, it is just as well that there are no children!

Now that was a bad sign: talking to herself and even answering herself. Too often alone, she observed

Settling in for the night, she ate a couple of boiled eggs and some wholemeal bread and butter soldiers to start. Next, she had a hot bath, then rummaged the house for a book to read. There was always the latest novel somewhere in the house. She retired to bed after turning off all the lights she had turned on when she arrived, except the one in her bedroom. Snuggling with her book, she had expected to read for a couple of hours but found herself yawning and her eyes drooping after only half an hour. I must be getting old, she said to herself as she laid the book on the bedside table and drifted off to the best sleep she had had in a while.

She slept through the night peacefully and awoke bright and chirpy, ready for the day ahead. Something to keep me busy and take my mind off myself and on to Granny, she said to herself as she tidied the house, which was an easy thing to do, as Granny always kept a tidy house; everything had its place, and after being used, things were placed back where they belonged. It was a trait that Alicia kept in her own life as well, taught to her by her grandmother at an early age.

After tidying the house and inspecting the cupboards and refrigerator for items needed and writing out a list for supermarket shopping, she walked next door to the bookshop to check the answering machine. She listened to several queries and promised herself she would do her best to answer them after her visit to the hospital.

Someone, possibly Percy, had left a note on the door: ‘The shop is closed until further notice because of staff illness. Please keep trying, because it is uncertain how long staff will not be available.’ Alicia took that note off the door and put in its place a new note saying the shop would be open the following day.

It was time to shop for nightdresses and go to the hospital. She wanted to go early to see if she could speak to a doctor or the nurse in charge. After finding three nightdresses and a dressing gown whose sleeves could be cut, she made her way to the hospital.

* * *

Her grandmother’s black-and-blue bruising had not diminished. If anything, she looked like a kitten with her two black eyes. Her voice, though, was unchanged as she recited a list of things that needed to be done. She gave Alicia a thorough briefing, apologising for so much trouble she was causing her granddaughter.

Alicia assured her she had no problem with staying for as long as Granny needed so she could get better. ‘I have rented out my apartment on a six-month lease, and if I am still wanted in your life for your care, I could extend the lease. I am an unemployed flight attendant, and if I want my job renewed, my bosses intimated to me that I would always be an asset to have back. At this stage, I am looking forward to having a long break from early-morning flight times.’

With those explanations out of the way, Granny smiled and said she was enjoying a holiday as well, but it was such a shame it had to be in a hospital bed, although the nurses were lovely and she was getting to know the other patients in her ward. The operation for her broken elbow was scheduled for three weeks’ time; she had to make sure her arm was not used until then, so she would be staying in hospital. Alicia would be on her own in running the bookshop.

* * *

Arriving back at the house, Alicia put the groceries away and went next door to the bookshop. Walking down the aisles of books, she worked out that the new books were in a special section by themselves, near the front door with their advertising banners and business cards, and the second-hand books took up most of the shelves at the back of the store. There was a nook close to the window at the front of the shop where someone could sit and browse through a book. It had been made into an attractive corner with a pot plant and bright cushions on the chairs and a table to lean on. At the rear of the store was a small kitchen area with a sink and a small refrigerator and bench-top hotplates, newly built by the look of it. To the side of the kitchen area was a toilet, which also looked as if it had a makeover recently.

Alicia applauded her grandmother for the work she put into the shop. The last time she had been here, it had been a quite dingy shop overcrowded with outdated books. The atmosphere had changed; it had become a very attractive place to browse the shelves. The walls and shelves had been painted cream over the dark brown they were previously, and the lights overhead had been increased to give more light. She could imagine her grandmother’s happy face as the dingy-looking shop had turned into a light, inviting space.

Her grandmother had inherited the shop from the previous owner just three years ago, when the elderly man who had owned it retired to a nursing home. She had obviously taken pleasure in doing the place over, and what a great job she had done. Alicia was sure the sales of books had grown since her granny took over the shop. Living in the house next door was a bonus. The house had been passed down in their family for many years, and she presumed that she would one day inherit it as well.

Her first duty was to answer the queries on the answering machine. She had arrived home too late the previous evening, and she apologised to each caller, telling them of her grandmother’s accident and of her turning up to take over with no previous experience.

Most of the callers expressed their best wishes for a good recovery for her grandmother and were polite about Alicia’s lack of knowledge. She told them she was a quick learner and would have an answer to their queries by the end of the day, when she would ring them back, hopefully with their questions answered. This gave her a lot to do, in addition to getting acquainted with each customer who came into the shop. By closing time, she was exhausted!

She was turning off the lights prior to locking up when a knock came on the closed door. She opened it warily. The closing times were evident on the door, and she felt annoyed that someone would appear after the designated time.

She was relieved to see Percy Gray at the door. She opened the door wider, welcoming him in, and offered him a cup of tea.

‘That would be nice, Alicia. I have something to talk over with you. It is something that is worrying me, and I think you should be aware of it.’

‘Okay, Percy, wait until I boil the water for the tea. Have a seat in the nook, I will only be a few minutes. Would you like a biscuit with your tea?’

‘That would be nice, thanks.’

After a couple of minutes she brought the tea tray to the nook and sat down opposite him. ‘What is it, Percy, that you feel I should know about?’

‘I do not want you to be too anxious about what I say. So far, it is only a suspicion, but a fairly strong one. I think the little yellow car tried to knock your granny over on purpose! The two witnesses