Aunt Bessie Decides (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 4)

by Diana Xarissa

  “I talked to the two bodyguards,” Hugh said. “I think I would have noticed if either of them had bent down towards Scott at any point, and I didn’t.”

  “No, I didn’t see them move,” Bessie said. “They were sort of big immovable objects in my peripheral vision. I think I would have noticed if one of them bent over low enough to stab Scott.”

  “I didn’t see them move, either,” John added. “And I’m certain I would have noticed.”

  Doona shrugged. “I didn’t see them move either, but this is boring. Let’s talk about motive.”

  Hugh laughed. “What about means?” he asked.

  “That is another point that seems to narrow down the suspect list,” John replied. “The knife was definitely the one that Penny gave William years ago. She identified it for us this afternoon.”

  “So it had to be one of the cast,” Doona said, snapping a biscuit in half.

  John shook his head. “We’re keeping an open mind,” he told her. “It is just about within the realm of possibility that someone from the audience or the extras snuck into the tent and found the knife where someone had hidden it, and then stabbed Scott. I think that’s extremely unlikely, but I never discount any possibility until it’s proven impossible.”

  “Yeah, well, you have to do that. You’re the one investigating. I’m just sitting on the sidelines and it seems to me that the knife proves that it was one of the main cast members,” Doona said defiantly.

  “I’m fine with that as a working hypothesis,” John replied.

  “As long as you’re including Candy in the list,” Bessie added. “She wasn’t one of the cast members, but she certainly could have taken the knife.”

  “Scott could have taken the knife as well,” John added. “Although it doesn’t seem terribly likely, since he ended up stabbed with it. I think it’s far more likely that the killer had the knife.”

  “So that brings us to motive,” Doona said. “And here’s where it all gets interesting.”

  Bessie sighed. “I think it’s all terribly sad,” she said. “They seem like a group of very unhappy people who’ve joined together to make each other even less happy.”

  John patted Bessie’s arm. “If you’d rather we just call it a night now, we can all go and you can get some sleep,” he said softly. “Figuring this out is my job, not yours, after all.”

  Bessie shook her head. “If you think I might be able to help in any way, I’m happy to talk it all through. Finding Scott’s killer is the most important thing right now.”

  “Okay, then,” the inspector said slowly, watching Bessie’s face intently. “Let’s talk about motives for the five main suspects.”

  “It seems to me that Sienna was better off with Scott alive,” Bessie began tentatively. “He was offering her a chance to leave the troupe and try her luck with Candy as her agent. I can’t see any reason why she’d kill Scott.”

  “And yet Candy picked her as the murderer,” John reminded Bessie. “Candy seemed to think that Sienna was still hurt because Scott dumped her.”

  “She didn’t act like she’d been dumped and badly hurt last night,” Doona said. “She was all over him, and he didn’t seem to mind.”

  “Which rather seems to give Adam a strong motive,” Hugh chimed in. “He had to have been furious when Sienna announced she was leaving.”

  “But she didn’t announce that until after the show,” Bessie pointed out.

  “Maybe she said something to Adam earlier?” Hugh shrugged. “Anyway, maybe he was still angry about the affair Sienna had with Scott in the past.”

  “William seemed to think Adam had the best motive,” John said. “He suggested that Scott was on track to replace Adam in the troupe as well as in Sienna’s affections.”

  “But surely none of that mattered once Scott left?” Doona asked.

  “Or maybe, when Scott turned up out of the blue, that was the last straw for Adam and he just snapped,” Hugh said, with a touch of melodrama.

  “William did say that he always suspected Adam of stealing the knife,” Bessie remembered.

  “And speaking of William, he had a very similar motive for killing Scott,” John said. “Allegedly, Penny had an affair with him as well.”

  Bessie shook her head. “But Penny said it never happened,” she said. “Apparently, she and Scott were just pretending, to make William jealous.”

  “It doesn’t really matter whether they had an affair or not,” John pointed out. “What matters is whether William believed that they were having an affair or not.”

  “But surely he didn’t steal his own knife,” Doona said.

  “No, but maybe he got it back somehow and didn’t bother to tell anyone. Maybe he found out that Scott had it, and he got it off him and stabbed him with it,” Hugh suggested.

  “That’s a lot of maybes,” Bessie pointed out. “And we aren’t even sure if William even suspected that Penny and Scott were having an affair. Penny said he never gave her any hint that he suspected.”

  “Can we think of any other possible motive for William?” John asked.

  “Professional jealousy?” Bessie suggested. “I think everyone in the troupe was jealous of Scott’s big break.”

  “Seems a bit of a stretch to murder him over that, though,” Doona said. “I mean, it isn’t like Market Square is going to offer William Scott’s old job or anything.”

  “But maybe he just couldn’t stand that Scott was so happy and so famous,” Hugh said. “Some people are like that. They hate to see other people happy.”

  “He was certainly not pleased to see Scott,” Bessie said. “But I didn’t get the feeling any of them were, except maybe Sienna.”

  “Penny seemed happier, once she talked to him for a bit,” Doona offered.

  “Yeah, but only after Scott offered to help her and William,” Hugh pointed out.

  Bessie shrugged. “That just leaves Candy to discuss. Like Sienna, I think she was better off with Scott alive, wasn’t she?”

  “Did someone say that Scott was going to fire her, though?” Doona asked.

  “Someone said it, but I don’t know how you could prove such a thing,” Bessie answered.

  “And didn’t she have a big insurance policy on his life?” Doona added.

  “She did admit to having insurance on his life,” John replied. “But she also claimed to have a contract with him that meant he couldn’t fire her. We need to find out how much the insurance is worth to get a better idea of her possible motives.”

  “It seems like he was sleeping with everyone else. Did he sleep with Candy?” Hugh asked.

  “We aren’t sure that he actually slept with any of them,” John said. “Penny denies that they were having an affair. Sienna keeps saying she barely knew the man. Candy said he was like a little brother to her. We’re looking into what was going on in London and on the set of Market Square now to find out if he was seeing anyone there.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Bessie asked.

  “If he had a serious girlfriend in London, it might suggest that he wasn’t really interested in getting back together with Sienna, assuming they were ever together in the first place,” John tried to explain, and then shook his head. “I guess it’s all part of trying to see the bigger picture,” he told Bessie. “It might not have any relevance at all, but we won’t know for sure until we try.”

  Bessie nodded. “So are we any closer to figuring out who killed Scott?” she asked.

  Everyone looked at her with tired eyes. “I don’t think my brain is up to figuring that out right now,” Doona said with a sigh. “I keep fantasising about my pillow.”

  Hugh laughed. “I’m not quite there yet,” he said with a grin, “but I’m pretty tired.”

  John nodded. “At the moment, they all seem equally likely, or unlikely, if you prefer,” he said. “I think after we’ve all had some sleep, we’ll be able to see things more clearly.”

  Bessie stood up and started to gath
er up coffee mugs and plates. Everyone else jumped up to help and they had Bessie’s kitchen tidied up in no time.

  “I’m not comfortable with the idea that murder suspects are visiting you,” John told Bessie as the group headed towards the door.

  “It isn’t like I invited the woman,” Bessie said. “She just turned up on my doorstep.”

  He frowned. “I want you to promise me that you’ll call me if she comes back,” he told her sternly.

  “I’m not sure how I can do that without being rude,” Bessie said with a frown. “I mean, I can’t very well open the door and say, ‘Oh hi, come in while I call the police and tell them that you’re here,’ can I?”

  Doona laughed. “That would be awkward,” she agreed. “How about if you say ‘Hi, come in. Let me call Doona and invite her over. I know she’d love to see you.’ Would that work?”

  Bessie nodded. “I guess I could do that,” she agreed.

  “And that doesn’t just apply to Penny,” John added. “If any of the suspects turn up on your doorstep, you call Doona right away, okay?”

  “Okay,” Bessie sighed.

  “Promise?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

  “I promise,” Bessie said with a deep sigh. “Honestly, you’re starting to fuss over me almost as much as Doona. Thank heavens Hugh is more sensible.”

  Hugh flushed. “I was just thinking that maybe I should stop over on your couch for a few nights, just until we figure out who killed Scott,” he admitted sheepishly.

  Bessie shook her head. “Out with you all,” she said mock-sternly. “Leave me alone and let me get some sleep.”

  “What happens next?” Doona asked as she picked up her handbag. “I mean what’s everyone doing tomorrow, and are we going to meet up again tomorrow night to try talking it all through again?”

  “I’m going to spend most of tomorrow going over everyone’s statements,” John replied. “I’m hoping I can find something we’ve missed, some little discrepancy or oddity that can point me in the right direction.”

  “I spent the day today working,” Hugh said. “I was thinking I might spend at least some of tomorrow with Grace. She’s still really upset about being a witness to murder.”

  “And understandably so,” Bessie replied. “I think she’s a lovely girl,” she told Hugh, who blushed at her words. “Make sure you take good care of her.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Hugh replied. “I’m trying to do just that.”

  Bessie grinned at her friends. “Anyone who wants to is welcome to join me tomorrow afternoon,” she said. “I have tickets for the matinee performance of Much Ado About the Shrew.”

  Doona groaned. “I really don’t want to have to watch that again,” she said.

  “I think it might be quite interesting to see it again,” Bessie told her. “They’ve been rehearsing, apparently. Anyway, I can’t see how it could be any worse, and it means I can check out all of the suspects again.”

  John was frowning. “I’m not sure I’m happy for you to be spending time with the suspects,” he said seriously.

  Bessie laughed. “You can’t mean that,” she told him. “I’ll be in the middle of Peel Castle, surrounded by dozens of other people.”

  “So was Scott,” the inspector said soberly.

  “But it was dark,” Bessie argued. “And he seems to have had quite a few people who didn’t like him. Tomorrow’s show will be in broad daylight, and I’ll be surrounded by friends. Or at least as many friends as want to come with me?”

  She ended the last sentence as a question, which made everyone smile.

  “I’ll come,” Doona said, sighing. “Maybe I’ll be able to follow the show more now that I’ve seen it once.”

  Hugh snorted with laughter. “I doubt it,” he said gloomily. “But I’ll come as well. I’ll ask Grace if she wants to join us, but I doubt she’ll say yes.”

  “I don’t blame her one bit,” Bessie said. “And I do understand if you’d rather spend the day with her.”

  “And miss out on the fun?” Hugh grinned. “Something exciting always happens when you’re around,” he told Bessie.

  Bessie frowned. “That has rather been the case lately,” she said. “But tomorrow may well be uneventful and boring.”

  “Famous last words,” the inspector said gloomily. “Just in case it isn’t either of those, I’ll come as well.”

  The foursome agreed that the two o’clock start time meant they didn’t need to bring much in the way of a picnic.

  “I’ll bring a couple of packets of biscuits, and we can buy tea from the vendors, assuming they’re still there.” Bessie said.

  “They’re still there,” John confirmed. “And I didn’t mention it, but they are all being looked at as possible suspects. As far as we can tell, though, they all packed up and left as soon as the interval was over, while there was still just enough light for them to see by.”

  “I can’t see any of them having any sort of motive,” Bessie said. “They’re all long-term residents of the island.”

  “Everyone has to be considered,” John reminded her. “But they come very low on my list.”

  With the arrangements made for the next day, Bessie let her friends out and then locked up her little cottage. She switched off the phone’s ringer and checked that the volume on the answering machine was as low as it could go. Upstairs, she changed out of her clothes, crawling into her favourite nightgown with a small sigh of satisfaction.

  Bessie couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy to crawl into bed, unless you counted the previous night. She set an alarm for seven, just in case her internal alarm didn’t wake her. She turned off her light and nestled down under the covers. After a couple of minutes of tossing and turning, she sat back up and switched on the light. She quickly reset her alarm for eight and then grinned to herself as she turned off the lamp again. Snuggling under the covers for the second time, she was asleep almost before she had time to think.

  Chapter Nine

  Bessie’s eyes opened just seconds before her alarm began to ring. She switched it off and then cautiously stretched. Pushing back the covers, she climbed out of bed and grinned at herself in the small mirror that was on the wall across from her. She felt a million times better than she had the previous morning. It was amazing what a good amount of sleep could do.

  If she could have whistled, she would have done so in the shower, but since that was a skill she’d never quite managed to acquire, she hummed to herself instead. She dressed quickly and made herself a light breakfast. A nice long walk on the beach left her feeling happy with the world, in spite of the crowd she had to negotiate her way through.

  It was really only crowded in front of the section that ran behind the new cottages that had been built recently as holiday homes. Bessie was pleased to see them busy. Thomas Shimmin, who owned them, had spent a lot of money making them nice, and he needed them to be full to capacity during the fairly short summer season. By October, they would be empty again and they would remain so until spring. As it was still only June, most of the families on the beach were busy with quite small children. The schools wouldn’t break up for the summer until sometime in July. Then the beach would feel even busier as families with school-aged children crowded on to them.

  Bessie pushed on, past the crowds, walking towards the home she still thought of as the Pierce mansion. Doncan Quayle was in the process of trying to get the property sold, and while he wouldn’t give her any details, he’d mentioned that he had several showings over the last few weeks. She was still hoping that whoever bought it would live in it full-time, rather than using it as a holiday home the way the Pierces had. She paused at the base of the cliff that ran up to the house, wondering if anyone would mind if she slipped up the steep steps and had a peek at the house.

  Glancing at her watch, Bessie decided against being nosy for today. She needed to get some lunch before too much longer so that she’d be ready for Doona to collect her at one o’clock. That
would give them plenty of time to get to the castle for the two o’clock show. It wasn’t like they needed to worry about fighting their way through crowds to find a good place to set out their blankets. Bessie couldn’t imagine that there would be a sudden rush to see Much Ado About the Shrew, not after the disastrous opening night.

  Back at home, Bessie curled up with her friends from the previous evening, finishing the Nero Wolfe book she’d read many times before. With Wolfe and Archie safely back in New York, she made herself some lunch. The picnic hamper looked quite empty with just a few packets of biscuits in it, so Bessie found herself adding some sandwiches and the rest of the box of pork pies from the packet she’d opened for the picnic for the first performance of the play. A few packets of crisps and a store-bought chocolate Swiss roll helped fill in the gaps.

  Doona arrived in the passenger seat of John Rockwell’s car, but she quickly swapped it for the back so that Bessie could have the front.

  “I don’t mind a bit,” she insisted when Bessie tried to argue. “I was just keeping John company in the front, since he was nice enough to drive.”

  “No point in wasting petrol,” John replied easily. “I was coming from my flat anyway, which is practically next door to Doona’s house. It isn’t far out of the way to drop you ladies off after the show before I head back to Ramsey.”

  “How are the kids?” Bessie asked. “I hope they weren’t too upset by what they saw.”

  “They’re doing okay,” John assured her. “Actually, Thomas now wants to be a forensics specialist and Amy wants to be an actress, so I think the only one who’s truly upset is Sue.”

  Everyone laughed, and the group made their way across the island in good spirits.

  “What are you doing for Tynwald Day?” Bessie asked the inspector as they drove past Tynwald Hill.

  “I hadn’t thought about it,” John admitted. “I just have it marked as a day off in my diary.”

  “It’s your first one on the island,” Bessie protested. “You should attend the ceremony and then stay for all of the fun.”

  “There’s fun?” he asked.