Aunt Bessie Knows (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 11)

by Diana Xarissa

  Bessie walked him to the door. “I hope whatever Elizabeth bakes, it was worth the trouble,” she said.

  “Really, at this point, anything would be a nice change,” Jeremy said. “The cook we have is very good at meals, but hopeless at puddings. Anyway, it was nice for all of us to have a chance to get out of the house. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Hugh was in the kitchen almost before Bessie had the door shut behind the man. “So that’s everyone,” he said. “Have you worked out who the murderer is yet?”

  Bessie shook her head. She knew Hugh was mostly joking, at least she hoped he was. “John and Doona will be here soon,” she said. “Maybe between us we’ll be able to solve the case.”

  “I hope so,” Hugh said. He picked up another cookie so casually that Bessie could almost believe it wasn’t deliberate.

  “Put it down,” she said in her sternest tone.

  Hugh flushed and dropped the snickerdoodle. “How many did you save for later?” he asked.

  “Probably not enough,” Bessie sighed. “Come on, then, you can help me make another batch, assuming, that is, that I still have enough ingredients. I’ve sent an awful lot up to Thie yn Traie today.”

  Hugh was quiet as Bessie weighed and measured ingredients and mixed up a second batch of cookies. He found things in the cupboards for her and did some washing-up, but he didn’t speak. When Bessie finally put the first tray of dough balls into the oven, she gave him a hug.

  “Hang in there,” she said. “It’s all going to be okay in the end.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said miserably. “Sometimes I feel like that, but sometimes I start to worry. One of my mates at the station rang earlier. He thinks Inspector Lambert is nearly ready to arrest me.”

  “Then she’s considerably less intelligent than I’m prepared to give her credit for,” Bessie said. “She’s a senior police inspector. She won’t arrest anyone until she’s absolutely certain they’re guilty. As you didn’t do it, you’re in the clear.”

  “I wish it was that easy,” Hugh said.

  “It is that easy,” Bessie insisted. “John and Doona and I are going to look after you and get this case solved. You just need to be patient.”

  “I really miss Grace.”

  “Maybe you should ring her,” Bessie suggested.

  “I can’t. Not with this hanging over my head. She has enough to worry about anyway, without wondering if I’m going to get arrested at any moment.”

  “You know she’s worried about that anyway.”

  “Yeah, but I’d rather not get arrested in front of her,” Hugh said.

  Bessie nodded. She could understand his reasoning, and it made her sad. “You could still ring her, just to say hello,” Bessie said.

  “I’d never want to hang up,” Hugh said. He sighed and sat down at the table. This time, when he reached for a cookie, Bessie didn’t stop him.

  “I was thinking,” she said, deliberately changing the subject. “What if we put the rest of the dough away for now and put a tray in to bake while we’re having our pizza. I thought maybe a fresh hot snickerdoodle might be extra nice with cold vanilla ice cream on top of it.”

  “Maybe you could put one underneath and one on top, like a sandwich,” Hugh said, brightening slightly.

  “Yes, that’s an idea,” Bessie said. She took the tray of hot cookies out of the oven and switched the oven off. “I’ll do the rest when John and Doona are here. They’re best hot anyway.”

  “They are, at that,” Hugh said, eyeing up the tray in Bessie’s hand.

  “You may have one more,” she relented. “But only one.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Hugh was still wiping the crumbs from his lips when someone knocked. Bessie fancied she could smell the pizza through the door as she opened it. Doona and John came in with pizza boxes and bags, leaving Bessie inhaling the rich smells of garlic and tomato as she gave them each a hug.

  As she’d gone to open the door, Hugh had jumped up to get plates and glasses ready. By the time Bessie had locked up behind her guests, Hugh had everything organised on the counter behind her.

  “Hugh, do help yourself,” Bessie suggested as she considered the two different types of pizza and the garlic bread that was on offer.

  “You should start,” Hugh said. “It’s your cottage, after all.”

  Bessie didn’t bother to object. It’s difficult to speak when your mouth is watering.

  Within minutes the foursome was sitting around Bessie’s small kitchen table with steaming plates of food and cold drinks.

  “This is very good,” Bessie said after a few bites.

  “It’s from the new place that just opened up near the station,” Doona said. “I hope they stick around longer than the others have. It seems like something new goes in there every month.”

  “I’ll eat there every day,” Hugh said. “Once I’m back to work, that is.”

  “That won’t be long,” John said. “The investigation is moving along very quickly. Anna’s under a lot of pressure to get this solved.”

  “Pressure from where?” Bessie asked.

  “Gennifer’s parents are friends with their local Member of Parliament,” John said. “He’s rung our Chief Constable and suggested that perhaps the Chief Constable himself should be conducting the investigation.”

  Bessie laughed. “I’m sure Anna loved hearing that.”

  “He’s given Anna until Tuesday morning to have a full report on his desk, preferably with the killer clearly identified. Otherwise, he’ll be taking over the case,” John reported.

  “I don’t like Anna Lambert, but I almost feel sorry for her,” Bessie said.

  “I would, if I didn’t think she was getting ready to arrest me,” Hugh said glumly.

  “You’re not to worry about that,” John told him. “We won’t let that happen.”

  “It isn’t like you could stop her,” Hugh pointed out.

  “But once we solve the case, she won’t have any reason to arrest you,” Doona said with determination in her voice. “We’ll work it out tonight, after we finish off the last of that garlic bread.”

  “Don’t fill up on garlic bread,” Bessie cautioned. “I’m going to put some snickerdoodles in the oven in a minute. I think they’ll be wonderful served hot with vanilla ice cream.”

  “Should I ask what a snickerdoodle is?” John asked.

  “It’s just a sweet cookie that’s rolled in cinnamon and sugar before it’s baked,” Bessie explained.

  “They’re amazingly delicious,” Hugh added. “I’ve probably eaten two dozen of them so far today and I can’t wait for more, and I’m still not even all that hungry.”

  Bessie glanced at Hugh’s now empty plate. He’d started with four slices of pizza and three pieces of garlic bread. Clearly his appetite was returning.

  “Maybe we should get started on everything we have to discuss,” John suggested as Doona cleared away the dinner plates and Bessie got a tray of cookies ready for the oven.

  “There does seem to be rather a lot to go over,” Bessie replied. “Why don’t you start?”

  “I spent a good deal of today with George Quayle,” John said. “He was kind enough to agree to have a chat with me about his friends and business associates who were at the party on Thursday evening.”

  “Was it just Thursday?” Doona asked. “It seems longer ago than that.”

  “It seems like forever since I saw Grace,” Hugh said.

  “It was just Thursday night and Friday morning,” John said. “Anyway, George shared the guest list with me and gave me some background on each of the guests. He was incredibly helpful, as I have no official standing in the case.”

  “He’s a good person, really,” Bessie said. “Just a bit loud and, well, you can tell he was a salesman his entire life, can’t you?”

  “Definitely,” Doona said. “He’s also a little too friendly, but he was better at the party.”

  “I suspect Mary gave him strict orde
rs about his behaviour that night,” Bessie said. “She tries to keep him in line.”

  “Not a job I’d be interested in,” Doona muttered.

  “Sorry, we’re wandering off topic,” Bessie said to John. “Did you learn anything interesting about George’s guests?”

  “Not really,” he said with a sigh. “For the most part, I’ve at least tentatively crossed them all off the list of suspects. One of them might have had some sort of history with Gennifer that I don’t know about, but I’m not in a position to dig that out right now. I’m sure Anna has a team working on that very thing.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it,” Hugh said darkly. “She’d rather just pin it on me and close the file.”

  “She’s a good investigator,” John insisted. “You don’t have to like her as a person to believe that.”

  Bessie exchanged glances with both Hugh and Doona. She knew they were both biting their tongues to avoid further criticising the woman.

  “Did George have anything else interesting to say?” Bessie changed the subject.

  “We went over the list of staff who worked at the party. I simply can’t imagine any motive for any of them. Every one of them was born and raised on the island and as far as I know, this was Gennifer’s first visit,” John said.

  “Maybe she just made one demand too many and someone snapped,” Hugh suggested.

  “That can’t be ruled out,” John agreed. “But I would be surprised if that was what happened. According to the party planner that Mary was using, everyone on the staff was accounted for all evening and none of them disappeared, even for a short time, and came back with wet hair.”

  “So we cross them off, at least for now,” Bessie said with a sigh. “Does that just leave us with Elizabeth and her friends, then?”

  “There were a few other guests around, like Liz and Bill Martin,” John said.

  “But, of course, they didn’t do it,” Bessie said dismissively.

  “I’ll agree to draw a pencil line through Liz and Bill on my list of suspects,” John said. “But only pencil. As for the other handful of guests, Mary and I discussed them and none of them seem at all likely. She was sitting with many of them for quite a lot of the time that Gennifer was out of the room, and she’s certain that none of them were away for more than a few minutes here or there.”

  “So, we’re back to Elizabeth and her friends,” Bessie concluded.

  “It looks that way, at least for now,” John agreed.

  “Maybe we should discuss them in turn,” Bessie said. “I spoke to each of them individually today.”

  “Before we start on them, let me tell you what I’ve learned,” Doona said.

  The oven timer interrupted, and Bessie was quick to jump up to remove the cookies from the hot oven. She slid two for each person onto individual plates and then added large scoops of vanilla ice cream to the plates as well.

  “Here we are,” she said. “What do you think?”

  Hugh immediately slid his ice cream onto one of the cookies and put the second one on top. He squeezed the whole thing together and then took a bite. Ice cream oozed out from everywhere, but he grinned at them. “Good, but I have to eat fast as the hot cookies are melting my ice cream.”

  It seemed only a moment later that his pudding was gone. Bessie and the others ate at a more leisurely pace before the conversation resumed.

  “Okay, so I rang a few of the guys down at the station and found out a few things,” Doona said, glancing over at John nervously. “I can’t tell you who I spoke with, but well, I’m sure they told me things they shouldn’t have and I don’t care. They are as concerned as I am about poor Hugh.”

  “Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be happy hearing that my constables are sharing information about an ongoing investigation,” John said. “But in this case, and under these conditions, I’m prepared to ignore it.”

  Doona blew out a relieved breath. “Right, so as I understand it, they’ve been working on recreating everyone’s movements around the house that night based on all of the statements, but that’s proving virtually impossible.”

  “I can’t even imagine,” Bessie murmured.

  “What’s more interesting is what they found in the room that had been disturbed,” Doona reported. “It appears that Gennifer had a physical encounter with someone in that room.”

  “Someone male?” John asked.

  “Yes, they found, um, traces of a male partner,” Doona replied.

  “Can’t they get a DNA sample from something like that?” Hugh asked.

  “Yes, but they still need someone to compare that sample with,” Doona said. “They can’t ask for DNA samples from every man at the party, not without being able to connect that room with the murder in some way.”

  “At this point, we can’t be certain that whoever was with Gennifer in that room had anything to do with her murder,” John conceded.

  “What about fingerprints?” Bessie asked. “Surely they can take everyone’s fingerprints and match those to the ones in the room?”

  “Gennifer’s were scattered around the room, but they didn’t find any from her partner,” Doona said.

  “Someone was being very careful,” Hugh suggested.

  “Or they simply didn’t touch any surfaces that might take fingerprints,” Doona replied. “Gennifer opened the door. Her prints are on the knob. They might have gone straight to the bed and done the deed. Gennifer’s prints are on the knob on the inside of the door as well. She must have let him out, either before or after she used the en-suite.”

  “But he didn’t,” Bessie sighed.

  “Not unless he did so without touching anything in the room,” Doona said.

  “So he was careful or lucky,” Hugh concluded. “But who was it?”

  “It must have been one of Elizabeth’s group of friends,” Bessie said. “Gennifer wouldn’t have been intimate with one of George’s guests, would she?”

  “None of them were away from the party for long enough to make their wives suspicious,” John said. “I think we should focus on Elizabeth’s group as the most likely place to find both the killer and the lover, whether they are the same person or not.”

  “So let’s start with the men,” Bessie suggested. “We know the, um, lover was a man, whichever the killer was.”

  “It seems the most obvious candidate for that would be Nigel, as he was Gennifer’s boyfriend,” Doona said.

  “But he was with Emma, doing much the same thing, during the time Gennifer was missing,” Bessie replied.

  “Are you certain?” John queried.

  “Both Emma and Nigel told the same story,” Bessie said. “I suppose they could both be lying.”

  “You said all of the young people visited you today. What was your impression of Nigel?” John asked.

  “He’s arrogant and self-absorbed, but he seems really upset by Gennifer’s death, as well,” Bessie replied.

  “How so?” asked Doona.

  “He told me they were soul mates. He seemed genuinely distraught, at least as much as a rather shallow person can be.”

  “But he was with Emma on New Year’s Eve?” John wondered.

  “Yes, that confuses me as well,” Bessie admitted. “He said it didn’t mean anything, his time with Emma. According to him, he was drunk and upset, Emma has been chasing him for years, and he finally just gave in.”

  “Do you think he knew Gennifer was with another man?” Hugh asked.

  “He certainly didn’t say anything to suggest that he knew,” Bessie said. “He and Emma were in her room, which is on the opposite side of the house from the wing where Gennifer and her, um, friend were.”

  “Do we know anything about his background?” John threw the question out to everyone.

  “Elizabeth said he comes from old money, but that there may not be that much of it around, actually. He certainly seems to think he’s something quite special, though,” Bessie said.

  “Yes, and he was very possessive
of Gennifer,” John said. “He did threaten her at the party.”

  “They definitely weren’t getting along,” Doona said. “I don’t think it’s very likely that he was the man with Gennifer in that empty room.”

  “Which makes him seem all the more likely as the murderer,” Hugh suggested.

  “Except according to Emma, he was with her from right after Gennifer left until just before midnight,” Bessie said.

  “That seems a little too convenient to me,” John said. “Would she lie to protect him?”

  “Absolutely,” Bessie said. “She’s crazy about him. As I understand it, he’s never given her a second look, at least not before the party.”

  “That alibi is looking shakier and shakier,” John said. “I’m going to put Nigel on the top of the list as potential murderers, but I do agree that it seems unlikely he was the man with Gennifer earlier in the evening.”

  “Doesn’t it seem more likely that the killer and the lover are the same person?” Hugh asked. “I mean, we aren’t talking about a very long time. If the two aren’t the same person, they must have almost collided in the corridor when the lover was leaving the room where they’d had their tryst.”

  “I don’t suppose the coroner could work out an exact time of death?” Bessie asked.

  Doona shook her head. “He couldn’t narrow it down any closer than what was already known from people’s statements. She was last seen right around eleven and found not long before one. That was actually a shorter time frame that what the coroner could determine from the body. It was bitterly cold, windy and raining, and the body landed in a large pool of water. All of those things complicate matters when it comes to determining time of death, apparently.”

  “Anyone else have anything to say about Nigel before we move on to the next suspect?” John asked, having made a few notes in his notebook.

  “He scared me when he was shouting at Gennifer,” Doona said. “It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he was the killer.”

  John nodded. “If she’d just been pushed off the cliff, I’d be inclined to agree with you. The fact that she was stabbed first, though, suggests more intent. Nigel seems like a bit of bully with a temper. If they fought and he got mad enough, I can picture him giving her a shove, not realising, perhaps, that there was a huge drop behind them. But I’m having difficulty seeing him stabbing her first. He may have cared about her too much to have done that.”