“I do a lot of the administrative tasks from my home office,” Sarah said defensively. “You wouldn’t believe how much paperwork is involved in owning a shop like mine. We import goods from all over the world and ship things on as well. I need to be home Monday to go over our orders for this new year. And I haven’t asked my parents for money for ages. They’re really making me do it all by myself now.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes but didn’t reply.
“We’re all eager to get home,” Jeremy said, placating. “But we all want the police to work out what happened to Gennifer, as well. Let’s just hope they can manage that before Monday.”
Another uncomfortable silence fell now and Bessie found herself looking at the clock on the wall. Time seemed to be standing still as she tried to think of something to say.
“I wish all of you could have visited the island in the spring or summer,” Mary said. “It’s so beautiful when the weather is warmer and drier.”
“Maybe we should have another party in the spring,” Elizabeth suggested.
Mary frowned at her daughter. “I don’t think that would be appropriate,” she said softly, glancing at Gennifer’s parents.
Elizabeth flushed. “I didn’t, that is, I wasn’t, I’m, oh, never mind. I think I need to go and lie down.” She rushed out of the room before anyone spoke.
“I am sorry,” Mary said, her cheeks turning pink. “She’s very upset about losing her friend, but that’s no excuse for her behaviour.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” Harriet said.
“What time is our flight?” James demanded suddenly.
“Six,” Harriet told him.
“Maybe we should get back to the airport, then,” he suggested.
Bessie glanced at the clock. She couldn’t imagine why the pair needed to be at the airport nearly three hours early, but she wouldn’t be sorry to see them go.
“I’ll have someone drive you down,” Mary said. “You can leave whenever you’re ready, of course, but you have time for a bit more to eat, if you’d like.”
“I have no appetite,” Harriet said in a monotone.
“I’m not much for fussy bits and pieces,” James said. “But we appreciate the hospitality, of course.”
“It’s the very least I could do under the circumstances,” Mary replied.
“It was kind of you to come and pay your respects,” James said to Bessie as he and his wife stood up.
Bessie rose to her feet. “I’m glad I had a chance to do that,” she told the man. “Again, I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”
Harriet gave Bessie a tight smile and then she turned and walked away. Mary followed quickly, with James on her heels. As soon as the trio was out of the room, Bessie sank back in her chair and blew out a long breath.
“That was awful,” Emma said.
“I have more sympathy for Gennifer now,” Jeremy told the others. “I can’t imagine she had a very happy childhood.”
“She did, actually,” Nigel said. “Her father was never home and her mother was always busy with charity things, so she was pretty much raised by a succession of nannies, most of whom she loved. I never heard her complain about her childhood, actually.”
“They aren’t any different to my parents,” Howard said with a shrug.
Bessie nibbled on a cake, listening intently. She was all but certain that Gennifer had been killed by one of the people in this room. Now she just had to work out which one did it. The conversation turned to idle chatter about the weather and UK politics. Bessie remained silent, taking it all in and forming her own impressions about the young people. It wasn’t long before Mary rejoined them.
“They’re gone,” she said, relief evident in her tone. “I’m not sure why they came, but I am pretty sure they were disappointed in what they found here.”
“They wanted to be where Gennifer spent her last hours,” Bruce said. “Morbid as that is.”
“As I said, I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for them,” Bessie said.
“Thankfully, neither can I,” Mary said. “If anything happened to any of my children, I know I’d be inconsolable for weeks or months.” She poured herself another cup of tea, her hands shaking slightly.
Bessie joined her at the tea trolley and got her own second cup. While she was selecting a few more treats, she patted Mary on the back. “If you need to get away at all, you know where I am,” she said, soothingly.
“Does that offer extend to all of us?” Sarah asked. She’d come up behind Bessie and was filling a plate.
“Of course,” Bessie said, surprised by the question. “I’m just down the beach, past the row of holiday cottages. You’re all welcome to come over any time and visit. I should warn you, though. I can manage tea and a few biscuits, but nothing like this beautiful feast.”
“Maybe, if it ever stops raining, we’ll all take a stroll down to your cottage,” Bruce said.
“As there’s nothing else to do on this rock,” Howard drawled.
“There are a number of fascinating historical sites,” Bessie told him. “Douglas has an excellent museum, and there’s a wonderful new one in Peel as well.”
“Yawn,” Howard said. “Where is the closest decent pub?”
“There are a couple of pubs in Laxey,” Bessie replied. “As I don’t frequent them, I couldn’t tell you any more than that they’re there, but as I understand it, they both do a pretty good trade.”
“That’s my evening sorted, then,” Howard said with a satisfied smile.
Mary frowned, but didn’t speak. After a few minutes, Elizabeth walked back into the great room. She’d clearly been crying.
“Have they gone?” she asked.
“Yes,” Mary replied.
“Thank goodness,” Elizabeth sighed. “I couldn’t take another minute with them. They just seemed to suck all of the life out of the room.”
“That’s an unfortunate metaphor,” Bruce laughed.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I suppose I should be more grateful for the parents I have,” she said, glancing at Mary. “It could be worse.”
Bessie watched as Mary pressed her lips firmly together.
“We’re all going down to the pub later,” Howard told Elizabeth. “You’ll get us a driver, won’t you?”
“Sure,” Elizabeth shrugged. “Why don’t we just go now? There’s no reason to stay here. We can get fish and chips or something in the village.”
Bessie wasn’t sure she’d ever seen that particular group of young people move so quickly. Within seconds, they had all left the room, leaving cups and half-full plates balanced on the arms of chairs and stacked in piles on the floor.
“Bye, mum,” Elizabeth shouted as she disappeared. No one else bothered to acknowledge Mary or Bessie.
“I’m sorry about their manners,” Mary said with a sigh as the eager footsteps faded away.
“They seem very young for their age,” Bessie replied.
“They’ve all been spoiled with too much money,” Mary told her. She began to pick up cups and plates and stack them neatly on one of the tea trolleys. Bessie was quick to join in the effort.
“You shouldn’t help. You’re my guest,” Mary protested.
“I don’t mind,” Bessie told her. “I can’t just sit here and watch you work. That isn’t the way I was raised.”
Within minutes they had the room tidied and the trolleys ready to go back to the kitchen
“I’ll have someone come and deal with them,” Mary said. “Let me get someone to take you home.”
“I can walk,” Bessie protested.
Mary glanced out the window. “It’s still pouring,” she pointed out. “Anyway, we have extra staff around because of the party last night. It will be good to put at least one person to work.”
Bessie was going to argue, but Mary was right. The rain was still falling heavily and she really didn’t want to walk home in that.
Within minutes, she was following a young man through th
e house to the garages.
“I do like having garages when it’s raining,” Mary said as she led Bessie to one of the cars.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Bessie said.
“Oh, you’re welcome. I know it was ghastly, and I’m ever so grateful that you came. It would have been much more dreadful without you.”
Bessie shook her head. “I don’t think I was much help at all,” she protested.
“You were wonderful and I owe you a huge favour,” Mary said. “But now I’m going to take some headache tablets and go to bed. I’ve had a migraine all day and it’s just getting worse.”
Bessie gave her a hug. “I’m not far away if you need to talk,” she reminded her friend.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Mary said. “When my head clears.”
Bessie climbed into the large and comfortable car and settled back on the leather seat. The driver pulled out into the rain and drove slowly towards Bessie’s cottage. Bessie felt exhausted by everything that happened over the last forty-eight hours, but she still had guests coming for dinner. It was time for another pot of coffee, she thought as she watched the windscreen wipers sliding back and forth. It was almost hypnotic and Bessie felt herself being lulled to sleep as the car purred along.
Chapter Six
Someone needed some water or maybe a throat lozenge, Bessie thought as loud coughing penetrated her tired brain. When the coughing didn’t stop, she forced her eyes open.
“We’re at your cottage, Miss Cubbon,” the man behind the wheel said.
Bessie felt herself blushing bright red. The drive couldn’t have taken more than five minutes, but she’d fallen into quite a deep sleep.
“Oh, my goodness,” she exclaimed. “I’m ever so sorry. I didn’t get very much sleep last night, you see, and it’s been such a busy day.”
“It’s no problem,” the man assured her. “No harm done and no one need know.”
Bessie thanked him for the ride and climbed out of the car as quickly as she could. Before she had gone more than a step or two, the man was at her side, holding an umbrella over her head. Of course, Bessie then struggled to find her keys, which insisted on hiding at the very bottom of her bag. Then she couldn’t get the right key to fit into the lock properly. Mary’s driver was well and truly soaked by the time Bessie pushed open her cottage door.
“Thank you again,” she said, unable to meet the man’s eyes.
“My pleasure,” the man replied.
Bessie pushed the door shut behind her before she began to laugh. His pleasure indeed, she thought. A glance at the clock told her that she had nearly two hours before her friends were due to arrive. She could almost hear her pillow calling to her. A short nap might be just the thing to perk her up. But then, it also might cause havoc with her body clock and leave her unable to sleep that evening. Being tired didn’t help make Bessie more decisive. She wavered for a moment and then remembered that she’d promised to provide pudding. Cookies took a long time to bake. She’d better get started.
When John finally knocked on her door just after six, Bessie was feeling much better. Fuelled by an entire pot of coffee and a great many chocolate chip cookies, she felt almost like her normal self. She greeted the man with a hug.
“I’m just about to start another pot of coffee,” she said as he settled in at her kitchen table. “Unless you’d rather have tea?”
“I think maybe tea would be a better choice,” John replied. “I’ve drunk an awful lot of coffee today, trying to stay awake.”
Bessie’s hand hesitated over the coffee pot. John was right. If she kept drinking coffee, she’d never get to sleep later. With a sigh, she filled the kettle and switched it on.
“How are you doing?” John asked.
“I’m just tired,” Bessie replied. “It’s been a strange sort of day, as well.”
“How so?”
“It’s just been busier than normal. I usually spend New Year’s Day on my own, being self-indulgent as it’s the first day of the year. This year I’ve been dashing about.”
The kettle boiled just as someone knocked on Bessie’s door. John got up to answer the door while Bessie concentrated on tea.
“I didn’t realise I was so hungry,’ Bessie exclaimed as Doona carried in a large box filled with takeaway containers. “But it smells wonderful.”
“I brought enough for us and for Hugh, but I’m not sure if he’s coming or not,” Doona replied. “I’ve left about ten messages on his mobile and the answering machine in his flat, but he hasn’t rung me back.”
“I hope he’s okay,” Bessie said, suddenly concerned about the young man.
“If he doesn’t turn up here, I’ll go and track him down after we’ve eaten,” John said. “I’m sure he’s very upset about everything that happened last night.”
“I don’t suppose anyone has spoken to Grace?” Bessie asked.
Both John and Doona shook their heads.
“Maybe I’ll give her a ring tomorrow,” Bessie said. “I’m sure she could use a sympathetic ear.”
“If she doesn’t think you’ve sided with Hugh over their quarrel,” Doona said.
Bessie sighed. “I hope she knows I haven’t taken sides, and that all I want is for both of them to be happy.”
“I’m sure she does, really,” John said. “But she might be feeling too upset to see it that way at the moment.”
Doona spread out the boxes of food and everyone filled a plate. They ate silently for several minutes, with Bessie feeling too tired to make small talk. She decided to save her energy for the more serious conversation that she knew would come after the meal.
“That was delicious,” John said as he pushed his empty plate away.
“I made cookies for pudding,” Bessie said.
“That’s why you’re my best friend,” Doona told her.
Bessie laughed. When the plates were cleared and the rest of the food was packed away into Bessie’s refrigerator, she put a plate of cookies in the centre of the table and refreshed everyone’s tea.
“I suppose we should talk about the murder,” John said.
“Even though we don’t want to,” Doona said.
“I want to,” Bessie interjected. “It’s horrible and tragic and I want to see it solved quickly.”
“So let’s talk about possible motives,” John suggested. “I’m going to start by saying that I think we should assume that all of Elizabeth’s friends had some sort of motive.”
“Based on Gennifer’s personality,” Doona said.
“Let’s just say Gennifer seemed like she might be a difficult person to like,” John said.
“But surely that isn’t a motive for murder,” Bessie objected.
“Not in itself,” John agreed. “But we don’t have any background information on those young people. I think, for the sake of argument, that we have to take it as given that they each had a motive.”
“Are we including Elizabeth in that list?” Doona asked.
Bessie opened her mouth to object. She didn’t know Elizabeth well, but she knew her better than the others. She couldn’t imagine the girl killing anyone, even the disagreeable Gennifer. Before she could speak, John held up a hand.
“I think we have to include her at this early stage,” he said. “I know I would if I were the investigating officer.”
Bessie frowned, but she nodded her agreement.
“What about George’s business colleagues?” Doona asked. “Are we assuming motives for them as well?”
“What do you think?” John asked. “I’d rather not make the suspect list overly long at this point, but I also don’t want to cross off anyone who might be a possibility.”
Bessie was surprised to hear John asking for opinions. “You’re the expert here,” she pointed out.
“On this case, I’m as much a suspect as you and Doona,” he replied. “I’d like our efforts to be as collaborative as possible.”
“I didn’t see a lot of interaction between Gennifer
and George’s guests,” Doona said. “George took her off to talk to someone, though. I don’t suppose either of you know who he was?”
“George called him Robert, but that was all he said,” John replied.
“I can ask Mary about him,” Bessie suggested.
John nodded. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to ask a lot of questions this time around,” he said. “I can’t talk to any of the suspects myself, not unless I bump into them at ShopFast or something.”
“But I can be a nosy old lady, just like I always am,” Bessie said with a laugh.
“You’ll need to do it very carefully,” John cautioned. “Anna isn’t going to be happy if she thinks you’re interfering in her investigation.”
“I don’t like that woman,” Bessie said.
“I don’t think she’s particularly fond of you, either,” Doona said wryly.
“Officially, I’m telling you to stay out of the investigation,” John said in a serious voice. “It might be best if you stayed away from Thie yn Traie and limited your conversations with Mary to the telephone, or at least a neutral meeting place.”
“I had tea at Thie yn Traie today,” Bessie told him.
“Did you now?” John asked, sighing deeply.
“Mary invited me,” Bessie said, feeling defensive. “Gennifer’s parents came over and she didn’t want to have to entertain them on her own.”
“What were they like?” Doona demanded.
“I can’t rightly say,” Bessie told her. “They barely spoke. I suppose they were just keeping up appearances, you know, stiff upper lip and all that.”
“Surely it’s acceptable to be upset when your child is murdered?” Doona asked.
“Maybe not in their social circle,” Bessie said. “It isn’t one I’m very familiar with. Anyway, they weren’t there for long. They were in a rush to get back to the airport in plenty of time.”
“Did you see anyone else at Thie yn Traie?” John asked.
“Just about everyone,” Bessie replied. “Elizabeth and all of her friends had tea with us.”
Aunt Bessie Knows (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 11) Page 9