Aunt Bessie Joins (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 10) (27 page)

“I do worry that I drove him to it,” she
whispered.

“Drove him to what?” Bessie asked.

“Drove him to kill Christo and then
himself,” Carolyn answered.

“I thought you thought Richard killed
Christo,” Bessie replied.

“Oh, that was just a passing fancy,” Carolyn
said with a wave of her hand.
 
“Richard wouldn’t hurt a fly, really.”

The shop assistant returned from the back of
the store with a huge pile of gowns in her arms.
 
“This is all we have in your size,” she
told Carolyn.

Carolyn yawned.
 
“This is taking too long.
 
Send them all to my house and I’ll pick
one and send the rest back,” she said.
 
The girl frowned but nodded.

“I must get changed and get back to the
house,” Carolyn told Bessie.
 
“Natasha is coming over to help me redesign a few rooms.”

“Really?
 
I thought Mr. Hart did your whole house
last year.”

“He did, but some of the rooms are ready for
a change,” Carolyn said.
 
“See you
tomorrow.”

She disappeared behind a curtain, leaving
Bessie with the frazzled assistant.

“Did you need something?” the girl asked
Bessie, her look clearly suggesting that she doubted they would have anything
that might suit Bessie.

“No, thank you,” Bessie said politely.
 
She headed out into the cold and made
her way back to the taxi rank.
 
There she climbed into the first cab in the queue.
 
It wasn’t from her usual service and
Bessie didn’t know the driver.
 
She
found herself giving the man directions, first to
Laxey
and then to her cottage.

“This sure is pretty,” he said when he
pulled up in front of her home.
 
“I
didn’t even know this was here.
 
Maybe I’ll bring the wife and kids over to play on the beach in the
summer.”

“It’s a small beach and it can get quite
crowded,” Bessie cautioned him.
 
“But I think it’s the nicest beach on the island.”

“We’ve only just moved here from
Cumbria
.
 
The
kids are looking forward to splashing in the sea when it gets warmer.”

Bessie paid him, including a generous tip,
and then headed into the cottage.
 
Even though she was still quite full from lunch, she found herself
nibbling on the mince pies that she’d intended to give to her morning taxi
driver.
 
She was just finishing off
her ironing pile when someone knocked on her door.

“Hugh?
 
This is a lovely surprise,” she said.
 
“And Grace?
 
What brings you two here?”

“We were driving by and we thought we’d stop
and see how you are,” Hugh told her.
 

Bessie stood back and let the pair into the
house.
 
She smiled as Hugh stepped
back to let Grace enter in front of him.
 
His manners were certainly improving now that he was seeing the pretty
blonde teacher.

“Happy Christmas,” Grace said happily.
 
She handed Bessie a small bag.

Bessie looked inside, expecting to see cakes
or biscuits, but instead she found several small wrapped parcels.
 
“But what is all this?” she asked.

“Just a few little things to help make your
Christmas,” Grace told her.

“You shouldn’t have,” Bessie replied.

“But we had such fun shopping for you,”
Grace exclaimed.
 
“Didn’t we?” she
asked, turning her big blue eyes on Hugh.

“Oh, um, yes,
er
,
that is, it was really fun,”
Hugh
said unconvincingly.

Bessie laughed.
 
“I have a few little things for you two
as well,” she said.
 
She led the
pair into her sitting room and gestured towards the tree.
 
“They’re under there with a lot of
things for other people.
 
I was
hoping you two might stop in on Christmas itself, so I’m afraid I put your
things towards the bottom of the piles.”

“We can stop back on Christmas,” Grace said
quickly.
 
“We weren’t sure what your
plans were, but we’d be happy to stop by if you’re sure we won’t be intruding
on your celebration.”

“Oh, goodness, not at all,” Bessie told
her.
 
“
Doona
is coming for lunch, but I’ll be up at six.
 
You’re welcome any time from seven
until, I don’t know, nine or ten o’clock that night.”

Grace laughed.
 
“I think we’ll probably drop in on our
way back from Douglas.
 
My family is
having us for our traditional Christmas breakfast and then we’re having
Christmas dinner with Hugh’s family.
 
We’ll try to stop here between the two.”

“That would be lovely,” Bessie said.
 
“I won’t worry about your gifts for now,
then.”

Bessie insisted that the pair sit down in
the sitting room where they could all enjoy the tree and the decorations.
 
“I’ll fix some tea and bring through
some Christmas cookies,” she told them.
 
When she returned with a tray, Grace was holding her Christmas
stocking.
 

“This is beautiful,” she said.
 
“It looks like you’ve had it for many
years.”

“It was mine when I was a child,” Bessie
replied.
 
“I won’t tell you how many
years ago that was, though.”

Grace chuckled.
 
“Too bad you don’t have anywhere to hang
it.”

“I had the fireplace in here removed when I
had central heating put in,” Bessie told her.
 
“At the time, it seemed sensible to
simply get rid of it, but I do rather miss it sometimes.”

The trio sipped their tea and ate their way
through a plate of cookies, although Hugh managed to eat most of those.

“This is another American tradition I’m
firmly in
favour
of, like Thanksgiving,” he said
after his fourth cookie.

“I’m happy to share the recipes with you if
you want to make your own next year,” Bessie told him.

“I’d love to have them, but I’m not sure I
want to wait for next Christmas.
 
It
seems like I probably want to practice making them between now and then,” he
replied.

Bessie and Grace both laughed.
 
“Why don’t you weigh twenty stone?”
Grace demanded.
 

“I don’t know, I’m just lucky I suppose,”
Hugh said, grabbing another cookie.

“You’ll probably have to be more careful
when you get older,” Bessie told him.
 
“But enjoy it now while you can.”

“I do,” Hugh assured her.

Bessie laughed again.
 
Anyone who knew Hugh knew that.

After the happy couple helped Bessie tidy up
from their impromptu tea party and left, Bessie found herself staring at the
pile of presents under her tree.
 
She’d bought gifts for a great many people and she had no idea when
she’d see most of them next.
 
She
needed to sort out how to deliver them all, and soon.
 
It was nearly Christmas.
 
In previous years she’d spent most of
December visiting various friends around the island and sharing gifts with
them.
 
This year she’d been so busy
that she hadn’t had the chance.

She made a list of everyone she’d bought a
gift for and then began to ring them all up, one after another.
 
When she was finished, some time later,
she’d spoken to nearly everyone or at least left messages on their answering
machines.
 
Feeling that such devices
were an excellent invention, she sat back and sighed.
 
Now that she’d invited everyone to stop
and visit her at home over Christmas or Boxing Day, she needed to bake again.

She took a quick walk up the hill to the
little shop at the top and bought the ingredients for more Christmas
cookies.
 
The girl behind the
counter was one Bessie had never seen before, but she rarely visited the shop
in the late afternoon or evening.
 
The shop assistant was polite, at least, and Bessie left carrying several
heavy bags.

“At least it’s downhill home,” she muttered
to herself as she began the walk back to the cottage.

“Let me give you a ride,” a voice called.

Bessie turned around and smiled at John
Rockwell who had stopped his car on the road next to her.
 
“That’s very kind of you,” she
said.
 
“But it’s out of your way.”

“Not far.
 
You can thank me with a few more
Christmas cookies if you feel you must,” he told her with a grin.

Bessie laughed and piled her shopping into
the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat.
 

“Should I ask what’s in the bags?” John
asked.

“I’ve invited nearly everyone I know to stop
and visit me on Christmas or Boxing Day,” Bessie explained.
 
“Now I need to make lots more Christmas
cookies so I have something to offer them all.”

“And you need to do it tonight as you’re at
the castle all of tomorrow,” John guessed.

“Exactly.
 
I don’t like to buy baking supplies at
the corner shop.
 
The prices are
much higher than they are at
ShopFast
.
 
But this was an emergency.”

“And it’s Christmas,” John added.

He insisted on carrying the bags into the
cottage for Bessie.
 
She put several
cookies on a plate for him before she started putting her shopping away.

“I don’t want to overstay my welcome,” John
said after the first cookie was gone.
 
“It looks like you’re going to have a busy evening.”

“I’m glad you’re here, actually,” Bessie
told him.
 
“I was going to ring you,
but I forgot.
 
I had lunch with
Laura today and she told me something I thought you should know, and I also had
a chat with Carolyn.”

“You’ll have to start by reminding me who
Laura is,” John replied.

“Oh, sorry.
 
I mean Laura Meyers.
 
She works for Manx National Heritage and
was working at Castle
Rushen
until recently.”

John nodded.
 
“Pete interviewed all of the staff
members there,” he told Bessie.
 
“I’ve read through his notes, but I didn’t remember the name.”

Bessie repeated everything that Laura had
said about the conversation she’d had with Natasha.
 
After a few minutes, John started taking
notes.

“Interesting,” he said as he slid his
notebook back in his pocket after Bessie had finished.
 
“I’ll follow up with Pete and then with
Natasha.”

“If you can avoid telling her that Laura
repeated the story, I’d appreciate it,” Bessie said.
 
“I don’t want Natasha angry at Laura.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he replied.
 

“I don’t think anything Carolyn said is at
all helpful, but I tried,” she said before she recounted her chat with the
woman.

“So now she’s settled on Michael as the
killer,” John mused.
 
“That’s very
convenient for her and Richard.”

“It’s also convenient for the killer,
assuming Michael didn’t do it,” Bessie said.

“Yes, and it’s a solution that the Chief
Constable is leaning towards as well,” John said.
 
“It would be nice to think that it’s
that simple.”

“But you don’t,” Bessie said.

“It’s almost too neatly packaged,” John
replied.
 
“But I’m going to get out
of your way now.
 
Good luck with
your baking.
 
I need to ring Pete.”

Bessie spent her evening baking dozens of
cookies in several different varieties.
 
She finally went to bed much later than normal, feeling both exhausted
and as if she’d accomplished a great deal.

Chapter Fourteen

Thursday morning was Christmas Eve.
 
Bessie woke up and felt a small thrill
of excitement.
 
Even at her age, perhaps
especially at her age, Christmas was something special.
 
She showered and lavished on her dusting
powder, thinking about Matthew and also about a Christmas long ago when another
man had asked her to be his wife.
 
I
wonder where I’d be now if I’d said yes, she thought.
 
The most likely answer was Australia, as
that was where the man was living when he’d visited the island and met
Bessie.
 
She shook her head to chase
the memories away.
 
Everything had
worked out for the best.
 
He’d
eventually married someone else and she’d stayed on the island she loved, in
the cottage that was home.

By the time she’d finished her walk, she was
anxious to get to
ShopFast
and get her
groceries.
 
Although Christmas Eve
was usually quiet, as most people preferring to get their shopping done early,
this year might be different.
 
She
didn’t want to waste time waiting in long queues if at all possible.
 
She was so eager to get going that she
didn’t mind that her driver turned out to be Mark again.
 
He always drove too fast, and for once
she wasn’t unhappy about that.

“I’ll be back in an hour,” he told Bessie
when he dropped her off.

“I just hope I’m done by then,” she replied.

“I can wait,” Mark assured her.

Assuming his unexpected courtesy was due to
his desire for a large Christmas bonus, Bessie nevertheless hurried around the
store.
 
It wasn’t nearly as busy as
she’d feared and as she waited behind a harassed mum with two toddlers at the
checkouts, Bessie remembered why she liked to shop on Christmas Eve.
 
Her turkey had been marked down to
half-price, the sprouts had been marked down even further than that and the
bakery was practically giving away apple pies.
 
The store would be shutting early this
evening and be closed on Christmas Day.
 
They needed to get rid of anything that wouldn’t keep or be wanted for
Boxing Day.
 

Bessie had a house full of Christmas cookies
and mince pies, but she bought several of the discounted apple pies to take to
Castle
Rushen
.
 
She was back outside the store with two minutes to spare, her trolley
full of very full grocery bags.
 
Mark was waiting at the agreed-upon spot.

“Let me help,” he said, climbing out of the
taxi to help Bessie load her bags into the boot.
 

With the bags safely stowed away, Bessie
climbed into the passenger seat and settled back with a sigh.
 
It was only the very beginning of what
was going to be a very long day.

“So, do you have big plans for the rest of
the day?” Mark asked as he drove.

“Tonight is the last night of ‘Christmas at
the Castle,’” Bessie told him.
 
“We’re auctioning off all of the decorations in the rooms and several
other prizes that have been donated to Manx National Heritage.”

“I hope no one else gets themselves killed
down there tonight,” Mark said.
 

Bessie stopped herself from snapping back at
the man.
 
In a weird way, she felt
like he was genuinely trying to be nice.
 
“I’m sure we’ll have a lovely evening,” she said after a moment.
 

Back at her cottage, Mark insisted on
parking and carrying Bessie’s shopping inside for her.
 
“This is really nice,” he said, looking
around Bessie’s kitchen.
 
“I don’t
think I’ve ever been inside before.”

“No, I don’t think you have,” Bessie said,
thinking of all the times he’d sat in the car and honked rather than come to
her door.
 
“Let me pack you up a few
Christmas cookies to keep you going,” she said.
 
She quickly filled a small bag with
cookies and handed it to the man.
 
“Happy
Christmas.”

“Ah, thank you,” he said.
 
He gave her a crooked smile and then
ducked his head.
 
“Happy Christmas
to you, too,” he said.
 

Bessie watched him walk back to his car,
surprised to find that she didn’t dislike him quite as much as she usually
did.
 
She even decided to add a
larger than normal tip to his fare when she received the bill from the company.
 
She laughed at herself.
 
Mark had clearly been hoping for just that,
but for today, she didn’t mind.

After she put her shopping away, she
carefully packed up several boxes with the things she needed to take to Castle
Rushen
.
 
By the
time Mark Blake arrived to collect her, she was more than ready.

“It’s been a long morning,” he complained as
he loaded Bessie’s boxes into his boot.
 
“I was starting to think it would never be time to head south.”

“You’ll be relieved when tonight is over,”
Bessie suggested as she settled into the passenger seat.

“I will,” Mark agreed.
 
“It’s been much more successful than
we’d hoped, but it’s also been incredibly stressful.”

“Two unexplained deaths and an act of
vandalism didn’t help,” Bessie said dryly.

“That’s certainly true.
 
But in less than twelve hours it
will
all be over, bar the tidying up, at least, and I can
get back to my other responsibilities.
 
I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to boring meetings.”

“Our committee meetings were never boring,”
Bessie said with a laugh.

“Not with Carolyn on the committee,” Mark
agreed.
 
“I do think she managed to
disagree with someone about nearly everything.”

“I think she’s a very unhappy woman,
really,” Bessie said.
 
“Volunteer
work doesn’t suit her.”

At the castle, Mark insisted that Bessie
head inside while he made multiple trips with her boxes.
 
“We’re all meeting in the banquet room,
of course,” he told Bessie.

Bessie wasn’t surprised to find that she was
the first to arrive.
 
Mark had been
a few minutes early and the drive hadn’t taken as long as it sometimes
did.
 
The roads had been quieter
than normal.
 
It wasn’t long before
the others began to wander in, though.

“Hello, Bessie,” Marjorie called as she
walked in carrying a large box.
 
“How are you this lovely Christmas Eve?”

“I’m well,” Bessie replied.
 
“How are you?”

Before Marjorie could reply,
they were joined by Mary and Natasha
.
 
The charity volunteers trickled in as
Bessie chatted with first one person and then another.
 
Once Carolyn arrived, Mark called them
all to order.

“I want all of our volunteers to spend some
time making sure their rooms look their absolute best,” he told them.
 
“The committee is going to start by
going through the auction room, making sure that’s ready, and then we’ll be
coming around and helping with each room.”

“I do hope I’m in the right place,” a voice
said from the doorway.
 
“I’m
Lawrence Wright.
 
I’m a volunteer
from the Alzheimer’s Research Fund.
 
Someone asked me to come down and help out tonight.”

“You are absolutely in the right place,”
Mark assured him.
 
“I’ll show you
your room when we’re done here.”

Bessie smiled at the new arrival, grateful
that he would be dealing with Michael’s room tonight.
 
The man had grey hair that matched his
beard and mustache, and Bessie thought that he could have passed himself off as
Father Christmas with the right clothing.
 
He certainly had the little round belly, she thought, trying not to
giggle at the idea.

“If anyone has any questions or concerns,
please ask.
 
Henry is here from Manx
National Heritage if anyone needs a ladder or any tools,” Mark told them.
 
“We’ll meet back here at five for
dinner.
 
From the looks of all the
different boxes, it seems that we have a great many Christmas treats as well.”

A few people clapped and then the group
began to disperse around the castle.
 
Bessie joined the rest of the committee as they headed down to the room
that was set up for the auction.
 
It
didn’t take them long to iron out a few small issues.
 
Carolyn was unusually quiet as they
worked.

“Are you okay?” Bessie asked her as they
crossed paths.

“I’m fine,” she said with a tight
smile.
 
“I have a headache, that’s
all.”

Bessie offered her some tablets, but Carolyn
refused.
 
“I have to be careful what
I take,” she said.
 
“I might just go
home.”

Bessie knew that Mark was counting on
Carolyn to cajole her wealthy friends into spending a lot at the auction.
 
If Carolyn left now, it could have a
serious impact on the evening’s success.

“Maybe you’ll feel better after we eat
something,” Bessie suggested.

Carolyn shrugged.
 
“We’ll see.”

The committee spent some time checking the
room that they’d decorated, and then they split up to help the others.
 
Bessie found that most of the charity
volunteers were simply sitting in their rooms, waiting.

“We really didn’t need to come in this
early,” Agnes said.
 
“That isn’t a
complaint, though.
 
I didn’t have
anything better to do.”

“I think Mark was afraid the rooms would
suffer from the crowds more than they did,” Bessie replied.
 
“Everything looks good everywhere,
though.”

As Bessie headed back up to the banquet room
to see if she could find Mark, her mobile rang.
 

“Bessie, it’s
Doona
.
 
I’m bored and I was wondering if you
could use a hand down there.”

“Oh, goodness, we don’t have enough for us
to do,” Bessie said with a laugh.
 
“But it’s nearly time for dinner.
 
Why don’t you come down and join us?
 
I’m sure there will be plenty, and I’d
love to see you.”

“Oh, I can’t invite myself to your dinner,”
Doona
protested.
 
“But I will come down a little early.
 
I’ll plan to be there around six, if
that’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” Bessie said.
 
“Ring me when you arrive and I’ll come
and get you.
 
Henry will probably be
at the entrance anyway.”

“Great, I’ll see you soon.”

In the banquet room, the caterers were
setting up for dinner.
 
Bessie lent
them a hand as everyone else trickled in.
 
Before anyone started eating, Bessie passed out the small wrapped gifts
she had for everyone.
 
She was happy
when no one opened them immediately, which would have spoiled the surprise for
everyone else.

For the next hour everyone enjoyed the
delicious food, but Bessie felt as if there was something odd in the
atmosphere.
 
While everyone was
superficially festive, there were tensions everywhere.

“Mary, what’s wrong?” Bessie hissed to her
friend.
 
Bessie had noticed her
frowning whenever she didn’t think she was being watched.

“I’ve had a bit of a falling out with
Natasha,” Mary said.
 
“It isn’t
anything serious, but I think I might need a new designer.”

Bessie looked over at the woman, who was
standing very close to Mark and talking.
 
The pair looked very
cosy
all of the sudden.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bessie
asked.

“Not tonight,” Mary replied.
 
“It isn’t anything, really, but I don’t
think we can keep working together.”

“That sounds quite serious,” Bessie said.

Mary shrugged.
 
“She’s very
focussed
on her career.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not if it gets in the way of proper
behaviour
,” Mary replied.

Bessie gave her a questioning look, but Mary
ignored it.
 
“I’ll tell you about it
another day,” she said.
 
“Now isn’t
the time.”

“She’s suddenly very friendly with Mark,”
Bessie said.