“Well, reckon I’ll call it a day,” he remarked. “It’ll take me all tomorrow to finish the job. That is, if I can arrange to get back.”
“You have another job?” Penny inquired.
“I’ve been doing a little work for them folks that moved into the monastery,” the carpenter explained. “The man that owns the place pays well, but he’s mighty fussy. Wants the work done the minute he says!”
“I suppose a great deal should be done out there, the building is so old.”
“It’s a wreck!” Jake Cotton said, picking up his tool kit. “A dozen workmen couldn’t put it in liveable shape in two weeks! They want such trivial things done too, while they let more important repairs wait.”
“For instance?”
“Well, the first job the monks had me do was fix the old freight lift into the cellar!”
“I didn’t know the building had one,” said Penny in surprise. “Is it on the first floor?”
“In the old chapel room off the cloister,” Jake explained. “Least, that’s what I took it to be. They’re using it for a bedroom now. I ask you, what would any sensible person want with a freight lift in a bedroom?”
“It does seem unusual. Why was it originally installed in the chapel?”