The Private Eye

hands.
    “We've had continual problems with the furnace, although it was installed less than two years ago.” Maggie finally realized that her fingers were fluttering as she talked. She folded her hands in her lap. “Then one day I happened to do a routine test on the smoke detector in the basement and discovered that the batteries had been disconnected. That really worried me. The Colonel keeps all his equipment and files in the basement, you see. A fire that started down there would be disastrous.”
    “Equipment and files?”
    The Colonel shrugged modestly. “I do a bit of experimenting. We'll get into that later, if you like.”
    “I see.” Josh switched his gaze back to Maggie. “Anything else strange going on?”
    She bit her lip. She was afraid Josh wasn't very impressed so far. “As I said, there have been a variety of little, annoying breakdowns. The new hot-water tank went out. The guests were very irate over that, lean tell you.”
    “Some of them shouted at Maggie in the rudest possible terms. Very upsetting,” Odessa confided. “The Colonel was forced to speak to one man who was ex “Conduct unbecoming,” as we used to say in the military.” The Colonel shook his head with a frown. “I sent the fellow packing, of course.”
    Maggie smiled wryly. “Unfortunately you sent him packing before he had paid for his room.”
    “Maintaining standards is considerably more important than money,” Odessa declared.
    “Right,” Shirley agreed. “Gotta have standards.”
    “Very true,” the Colonel murmured. “Can't tolerate just any sort of behaviour, you know.”
    Maggie stifled a small sigh. It was much easier to take the high road on that subject when one wasn't trying to keep the books balanced. She realized Josh was watching her intently again. She hurried on with the rest of the tale. “In addition to the trouble with the hot water tank, we had trouble with the toilets. Then the rooms with fireplaces, such as yours, all developed problems in the chimneys. The rooms filled up with smoke whenever the guests lit their fires. The fire trucks were here every night for a week before we had to make a rule that no one could use the fireplaces.”
    Shirley shook her head grimly. “We finally got 'em cleaned out and working, but it was one thing after another and first thing you know, word started getting around.”
    Josh glanced at her. “What word?”
    “You know. Like the manor was not a nice place to stay anymore. Too many problems. Old-fashioned wiring. Inconvenient. In need of repairs, Folks said the new management was letting the place go down the tubes. Maggie started losing bookings.”
    Josh gave Maggie a thoughtful look. “Is that right?”
    She nodded unhappily. “After the trouble with the fireplaces, I decided it would be better to say we were closing for the off-season this year. I told everyone repairs were going to be made over the winter and that things would be back in tiptop shape by spring. But the truth is, the place is already in good shape. Great-Aunt Agatha saw to that.”
    “Who's Agatha? Besides being your great-aunt, that is,” Josh inquired.
    The Colonel answered that one. “Agatha Gladstone was one of the finest ladies you'd ever want to know. She owned this place for forty years. Died last year and left the manor to Maggie, here.”
    Josh absorbed that. Maggie could see questions in his eyes but he didn't ask them. Instead, he focused on his original line of inquiry. “Okay, let me get this straight. There have been a series of small but annoying mechanical and electrical problems here at the manor. The inn started getting a bad reputation and you decided to close the place down except for your three regular guests, here.”
    Maggie blinked at him in surprise. “Odessa, Shirley and the Colonel are not guests. They are permanent residents. The manor is their home, too. Aunt Agatha made that very clear.”
    The Colonel nodded. “Had an understanding, don't you see? We're a family. Agatha's gone, rest her soul, but now we've got Maggie.”
    Josh eyed Maggie. “Uh-huh. Just one big happy family.”
    Maggie frowned. “The point is, we don't believe all the incidents over the past few months have been due to sheer bad luck. We want you to find out who or what is behind them, and what his motive is. Before you begin, you should know that we alt have different theories you really ought to check out.”
    Josh sipped his whiskey. “Would anyone mind if we ate