“What did they fight about?” Bessie asked.
“You know, that was the one thing the kid never told me,” the man driving told her. “When we first met, I was trying to find a way to get my hands on his money and I wasn’t that interested in his background. Later, when I found out that he’d pretty much spent it all and we became friends anyway, it was too late to go back over ancient history.”
“So, if you aren’t Andrew Teare, what should I call you?”
The man laughed. “I guess you can call me Joe,” he said after a pause. “I mean, that was the name me mum gave me. We were Jack, John and Joe and me sisters were Jen, Jan and Jess. Mum had this thing about the letter J, you see. Me dad was called Jim and I think mum figured if she gave us names that started with J, he’d stick around and be our dad, even if he weren’t exactly sure that he was our father. You know what I mean?” The man gave Bessie an exaggerated wink.
“So, Joe, you were telling me about you and Andrew Teare,” Bessie changed the subject away from the man’s obviously difficult childhood.
“Oh, yeah,” he broke off as he slammed on the brakes as they reached the electric train tracks. A train was slowly making its way across the tracks and Joe anxiously tapped his fingertips against the steering wheel as he watched its slow progress.
Bessie briefly considered trying to climb out of the car and run away, but in spite of everything she didn’t feel like she was in any real danger from the man, and she really wanted to hear his story.
“Where was I?” he demanded as the train lumbered past and they were underway again. “Oh, well, I met young Andrew and we became fast friends. He was only a few years younger than me, but he always seemed like a kid. And his health was so poor that he always needed looking after, anyway. I guess it was the big brother in me, but I sort of took him under my wing.”
“What was wrong with his health?” Bessie asked.
“You know, he told me that no one on the island had a clue about him, but I never totally believed it. He had heart trouble, like his sister. But where Moirrey was coddled and spoiled and taken to see specialists and whatever, Andrew was sort of told to just get over it and toughen up. At least that was how he told the story.”
Bessie frowned. “I can just about see Ewan Teare being like that, but I can’t believe that Jane, Andrew’s mother, didn’t step in.”
“To hear Andrew tell it, his mum was totally under his father’s thumb, like. She was terrified of him and never argued. Once Andrew said he thought his mum had some mental problems, like depression or something, but he wouldn’t talk about it. From what I’ve heard, I guess Moirrey was the only thing that she ever paid attention to; she wasn’t really interested in Andrew.”
Bessie nodded slowly. What the man was saying fit in with her memories of the secretive family. She could well imagine Ewan keeping his depressed wife and sickly son tucked up under lock and key.
“Anyway, we did a lot of travelling, young Andrew and me. We really did see the world. We spent a few years in Oz and a long time in Canada. Everyone thought we were brothers, see, and we used that to our advantage.”
“How?”
“Oh, we ran scams. Andrew was always so weak and fragile-looking, well, he was just plain fragile, really. We didn’t have no trouble convincing folks that he was dying of something. And folks love to help the terminally ill, like. We never took no money that people couldn’t afford to give, you know. But it was pretty easy to get a few donations here and there as we moved around. People would put us up for a night or two as well if, say, ‘our wallets got stolen,’ or whatever.” He winked at Bessie again. “Our wallets got stolen a lot,” he grinned.
“Oh, my,” Bessie muttered.
“And Andrew taught me a lot, too,” Joe continued. “He taught me how to talk all posh like so people would believe that we were well off and just, you know, ‘in a spot of bother,’ like. For a kid who grew up with all the material blessings, he was a quick study for the con game, I have to say.”
“This is all terribly sad,” Bessie said unhappily. “I don’t really want to know about how you conned people and taught Andrew Teare to be a criminal. Maybe you could just let me out here and I’ll find my own way back home.”
“Ah, Bessie, but I have to tell you the rest of the story,” Joe insisted. “Whatever else happened in the past, I really have come to be very fond of Doona and I want her to understand. I really do.”
“Hurmph,” Bessie pressed her lips together unhappily. As they were racing down the mountain road at a speed she didn’t want to know, it appeared she had little choice but to listen to the man’s story, no matter how unpleasant.
“Anyway, it was in Canada that Andrew got his medications mixed up,” the man continued. “We’d been drinking, you see. We were pretty much always drinking,” he chuckled to himself, presumably remembering his previous lifestyle.
“What medications did he take?” Bessie asked.
“Oh, all sorts, like Moirrey, really. He was almost as bad as she was, although he kept his in a bag next to his bed, wherever we were staying. He didn’t carry them around everywhere he went like his sister did with her stash.”
Bessie felt a chill as she wondered exactly how the man knew so much about Moirrey. No doubt Doona had filled him in, she told herself. “So what happened?” she asked nervously.
“One night he took the wrong tablets,” Joe shrugged. “He just went to sleep and never woke up. It was really sad, but that’s when I started thinking. I’d spent close to fifteen years with the man. I knew his story almost as well as my own. I knew the family had a lot of money. I just had to figure out how to get my hands on it.”
Bessie shook her head. “Did you not ever think that maybe you should get a proper job and earn your living honestly?” she demanded.
The man laughed. “You know, that thought never crossed my mind,” he chuckled.
A sharp reply sprang to Bessie’s lips, but she bit her tongue. After a moment, Joe continued his story.
“Anyway, I thought about it, and I made my plans, and then circumstances intervened.” He paused again as they rounded a sharp curve and began the descent into Douglas. The view was breathtaking, although Bessie didn’t really appreciate it in this instance.
“Sorry,” she said. “What circumstances?”
“Let’s just say that I spent some time as a guest of her Majesty, shall we?” Joe gave her another wink.
Bessie nodded, understanding the reference to time spent in gaol. “I see,” she replied.
“Anyway, I did my time in Canada and then headed back to London. Once I got there, I did my research and found out that Ewan and Jane Teare were both dead, as was Robert Hall. Only Moirrey was left, and from what I could find out, there was some sort of trust set up. That had to mean that Andrew was the heir, and I was all set to convince everyone that I was Andrew.”
“Except you could never convince Moirrey that you were her long-lost brother,” Bessie inserted. “So you had to wait for her to die.”
Joe laughed. “Not quite,” he told Bessie. “I figured it would be easier if I skipped pretending to be Andrew and just got her to fall in love with me.”
Bessie gasped. “You were the mystery boyfriend?” she asked.
“Mystery boyfriend? How did you know Moirrey had a boyfriend?” Joe demanded. “We never went out in public together and Moirrey promised me she wouldn’t tell anyone. Don’t tell me she told you about me?”
“No, she never said a word,” Bessie assured him. “But her housekeeper saw your car multiple times and some neighbourhood kids actually saw the two of you together.”
Joe laughed. “I should have known,” he shrugged. “Moirrey told me that there was no keeping secrets on the island, but I didn’t believe her.”
“I guess she was right and wrong,” Bessie answered. “People spotted you and Moirrey together, but no one knew that Andrew Teare had a heart condition.”
“I suppose it was easier twent
y-five years ago to hide things, and children were easier to control as well. No one had mobile phones and they couldn’t text their friends,” he shrugged again. “Everything I heard from Moirrey and Andrew suggested that Ewan went out of his way to keep his family isolated from everyone and everything. Andrew also told me that his father’s estate manager was fiercely loyal. I’m sure Robert Hall knew about Andrew’s medical condition, but he wouldn’t have shared that knowledge with anyone.”
“And he must have made sure his daughter kept quiet as well,” Bessie mused.
“I don’t understand that,” Joe told her. “Andrew never even mentioned that Robert Hall had a daughter, and yet as soon as we were introduced I could tell she knew I wasn’t who I claimed to be.”
“So you cut through her brake lines.”
Joe flushed. “I’m really not a bad guy,” he insisted. “I didn’t mean to kill her. I just wanted to get her on my side.”
“I have to say, you chose a very strange method for doing so,” Bessie commented.
“I was desperate,” he admitted. “I’d spent years planning for this job. This was meant to be my retirement plan, like. I knew Andrew Teare’s life story better than my own. And yet, there she was, standing in my way.”
“So you tried to get rid of her.”
“So I tried to warn her, like. I followed her across the mountain and I went to see her at Noble’s before the police got there. I told her if she kept her mouth shut, I’d make it worth her while.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me that she’d keep quiet if I signed her cottage over to her.”
“And you agreed?”
“Well, sure. I still had the big house and the rest of the property. I thought she’d want more, really.”
“And maybe she would have in time,” Bessie sighed. “What happened between you and Moirrey?”
Joe sighed. “Oh, I tried,” he told Bessie. “I came to visit her and told her how I’d known her brother. He’d never called or written home after he left, so I, um, didn’t mention what all Andrew and I had done over the years. Getting her to fall for me was so easy, it was scary.”
“She was a very lonely woman,” Bessie told him. “And I don’t think she ever dated.”
“No, she definitely didn’t,” Joe replied. “Anyway, I wasn’t me, I was Chuck Powers, a handsome American businessman.”
Bessie couldn’t help but stare at the man as he slipped easily into an American accent while he talked about the identity he had used while dating Moirrey.
“She fell hard and fast for my charms and believed everything I told her about my company in the US and how successful I was. And I did try, I tried to make myself fall in love with her and when that didn’t work, I tried to at least like her a little bit. I was hoping I could marry her and get access to her fortune that way, but in the end I just couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Bessie demanded.
Joe frowned as they hit a long queue of traffic heading into Douglas. From what Bessie could see, there were ambulances and police cars up ahead.
“I better not miss my ferry,” he muttered. “What I mean is that I had to give up,” he told Bessie. “I couldn’t take any more of her whining and whinging all the time. She hated everyone and hated everything and in the end I just couldn’t stand it.”
“So you switched her tablets for something else,” Bessie concluded. “I’m guessing you got the idea from Andrew’s accidental death.”
“Um, yeah,” the man glanced at Bessie and then looked back at the road. “And I’m not actually the least bit sorry I did it. I wasn’t sure it would kill her, but I didn’t care anymore. She was just a horrible woman.”
“She didn’t deserve to die,” Bessie said quietly.
“But while she was alive, I couldn’t become Andrew Teare,” he told Bessie. “And I’d put so much effort into becoming him.”
“And then, once you’d tried it, Anne Caine stood in your way.”
Joe sighed. “It wasn’t just her,” he told Bessie. “I mean, I think I could have kept her quiet, but Matthew Barnes became a problem, too.”
“Why?”
“He never believed I was Andrew,” the man admitted. “He never actually came out and said that, but he was openly hostile when I arrived and he only warmed to me when I offered to try to find a solution that might work for both of us.”
“But if you were really Andrew Teare, you shouldn’t have had to do that.”
“Exactly, but he had already figured that out. The better question is why he was willing to make a deal with me anyway. I suspect that once the Teare family estate is settled someone is going to discover that Matthew Barnes was stealing from Moirrey in a big way. I already suspected that when Moirrey and I were together, but I couldn’t do anything about it at that point.”
“I thought you submitted a sample for a DNA test,” Bessie questioned. “What was going to happen when the results came back?”
“I’d have been vindicated,” Joe grinned. “The sample I gave came from Andrew Teare, after all.”
Bessie stared silently out the window, processing that fact. “You took hair from Andrew Teare when he died?” she asked eventually, shocked that the man had been planning all of this for so long.
“I told you, by the time Andrew died, I had figured out that he was my retirement plan. His health was so bad, it was just a matter of time before he’d pass on and I could take his place.”
The queue of traffic moved up a few feet and then stopped again. Bessie decided that once they reached the police she was going to jump out. In the meantime, she settled in to find out as much as she could.
“If you have the DNA on your side, why leave now?” she asked.
“It’s just too risky,” Joe shrugged. “If anyone had any reason to take my fingerprints, I’d be sunk.”
“Oh.”
“Besides, you probably won’t believe me, but I’ve really fallen for Doona. She’s an amazing woman, she is. But I can’t be with her and live a lie. She deserves someone special, not an old con like me.”
“She certainly does,” Bessie couldn’t help but reply.
“Yeah,” Joe sighed. “You know I only started taking her out because I thought she might be able to give me an inside line with the police. Then she got suspended and wasn’t any use to me, but I didn’t want to stop seeing her. And now I’m chucking it all in and running away because I’ve fallen hard and she deserves better.”
An ambulance left the scene in front of them, closely followed by two police cars. Suddenly traffic began to move again, albeit slowly. Within a few minutes, they were sailing through the previously blocked junction and back on their way to the Sea Terminal, before Bessie had a chance to get out of the car.
“Anyway, I just wanted you to tell Doona all of that,” Joe continued as he steered through the streets of Douglas. “I want her to know that I really did care and I really wish things could be different.”
“I’ll tell her,” Bessie promised, wondering exactly how she’d word things when she had the chance to talk to her friend.
“I’m really not a bad guy,” Joe continued. “I’m just a con man who never learned to make an honest living. If I’d known Doona was in my future, I guess I would have tried harder.”
Bessie stayed silent as they reached the car park for the Sea Terminal. She had no idea what she could possibly say to the man.
“What is that?” Joe asked her, gesturing towards the small structure in Douglas Bay.
“The Tower of Refuge?” Bessie asked, confused by the sudden change of subject.
“I guess,” Joe shrugged. “I kept seeing it every time I was down here with Doona and I always wondered what it was, but I figured I probably ought to know since I was meant to have grown up here.”
“It’s a small structure that was built to be a safe place for shipwrecked sailors to find shelter during storms in the bay,” Bessie explained. “It’s been
there since the 1830s, so you would have known about it if you actually grew up here.”
“I guess I’m glad I never asked Doona then,” he told Bessie. “Anyway, this is my last stop. It’s Andrew Teare’s last stop too, I guess,” he grinned at Bessie. “It’s good news for Matthew Barnes though, I suppose. There’s no one left in the family to sue him for mismanagement.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he’s caught and punished,” Bessie assured him. “There must be a distant relative somewhere who can benefit.”
Joe shrugged. “He never would show me Ewan Teare’s will. I’m not sure what he’s hiding, but if you can get a look at it, I would bet it’s interesting.”
“I’ll get my advocate on it first thing,” Bessie said.
“Is your mobile phone in your handbag?” he asked.
“Yes,” Bessie nodded. “Do you need to make a call?”
“Not at all,” he grinned. He reached onto the floor and picked up Bessie’s handbag. He glanced inside and then pulled out her mobile. He turned it over in his hands and then shrugged and dropped it back in her bag.
“Come on, then, you can come in and see me off,” he told Bessie.
Bessie climbed out of the car, her legs stiff from the long journey. She watched as Joe emerged as well, still holding her handbag.
“Sorry about this,” he told Bessie. “But I need to keep you from calling anyone until I sail.”
He opened the boot of the car and pulled out a suitcase. Then he dropped Bessie’s handbag into the now empty space. He slammed the boot shut and pocketed the car’s keys.
“By the time the ship docks I’ll be a totally different person,” he told Bessie. “I’ve got a handful of identities to choose from and I’ve booked a cabin so I’ll be able to change my hair and clothes as well.”
“You will get caught,” Bessie told him.
“Maybe, some day,” he shrugged. “Come on,” he told Bessie, taking her by the arm. “You can keep me company if I have to wait for a bit.”
They walked into the Sea Terminal together. Bessie tried to look around casually, hoping to spot a familiar face, but she recognised no one. With Joe still holding her arm, they made their way to the ticket desk.
Aunt Bessie Believes (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery) Page 21