Aunt Bessie Likes

by Diana Xarissa

  “I’ll ring Mary after we’ve eaten and have a word with her,” John said. “What made her think you might be in danger?”

  “Margot Lane was here when Mary dropped me off,” Bessie explained. “Mary said she’d ring me in about an hour, but I must have missed her calls, maybe when I was vacuuming. I never expected her to ring the police.”

  “I appreciate her concern,” John said. “But she should have tried calling you more than once before calling the station.”

  There were actually three messages on the answering machine from Mary. Bessie noted the times of the increasingly frantic calls.

  “I was still sitting outside with Margot the first time she rang,” she told John. “The other two were while I was vacuuming. You can’t hear anything over that vacuum cleaner.”

  “I’ll give Mary my mobile number,” John said. “The next time she has a concern, she can ring me instead of the station.”

  “Give her mine as well,” Doona suggested. “Or maybe just mine.”

  John nodded. “Maybe that would be better,” he agreed.

  Bessie finished her meal, still feeling slightly cross with her friend. While she knew that Mary had acted out of concern, she hated when people fussed over her. Before pudding, John rang Mary and after he’d talked to her, he passed the phone to Bessie.

  “I’m so very sorry,” Mary said as soon as Bessie spoke. “I don’t know why, but there was something about that woman that made me nervous. I know I overreacted and I hope you can forgive me.”

  “It’s fine,” Bessie said. “Just don’t do it again.”

  Mary’s laugh sounded strained. “I won’t,” she said.

  As the foursome settled down with warm pie and ice cream, Bessie looked at John. “I assume you have lots to tell me,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  “As this is Hugh’s case, I’ll let him answer that,” John replied.

  Hugh looked up from his large piece of pie and blinked. “Oh, right, er, sorry,” he said. “You know we’ve been working at what was the Grantham farm. Well, we’ve found human remains.”

  “That’s sad,” Bessie said.

  Hugh nodded. “It will take some time to identify the bodies, of course.”

  “Bodies? Plural?” Bessie asked.

  Hugh shoveled a large bite of pie into his mouth and then nodded at Bessie. Bessie took her own mouthful as she waited for Hugh to swallow.

  “As of six o’clock tonight, we know we’ve found the remains of at least four people,” Hugh told her.

  “Four? But that’s one too many to be the Kelly girls,” Bessie said. “Who else have you found?”

  “As I said, identifying the remains will take time. We’ve taken DNA samples from all of the girls’ parents. We just have to hope we can get sufficient DNA from the remains to perform the necessary tests,” Hugh said.

  “But four bodies?” Bessie repeated. “I’m sure no one else went missing around that same time.”

  “We’ve reason to believe that the bodies were buried there over a number of years,” Hugh told her. “And we haven’t finished excavating. There may well be more remains still to find.”

  Bessie shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense,” she said. “At least not in connection with the Kelly girls’ disappearances.”

  Hugh shrugged. “All we can do is investigate what we’ve found. Preliminary comments from the coroner suggests that all four skeletons are female and that they were all in their late teens when they died, but that’s strictly preliminary.”

  “So that does fit,” Bessie said.

  “All of this will be in the local paper tomorrow,” John said. “We’re hoping that the general public might have some suggestions as to who else we might have found, assuming three of them are the Kelly girls.”

  “That seems a big assumption at this point,” Bessie said thoughtfully.

  “We’re also attempting to track down dental and medical records for the three girls,” Hugh said. “That isn’t proving easy, as so much time has passed, but we’re doing what we can.”

  “I know you can match dental x-rays with remains, but what good are medical records?” Bessie asked.

  “If any of the girls had any unusual injuries, that can help us with identification,” Hugh explained. “An arm broken in more than one place or something like that would leave marks on the bones.”

  Bessie nodded. “I didn’t know any of them well enough to know about such things, but I’m sure the families will remember.”

  “We’ve also found some clothing and other items,” Hugh added. “Apparently artificial fibres take a long time to decompose. Anyway, we’re working on getting those identified.”

  “How awful for the families,” Bessie said.

  “We’re hopeful that the DNA results will be conclusive, but they could take a week or more. Even after all this time, I can’t help but feel as if we need to keep the investigation moving as quickly as possible,” Hugh said.

  “Whoever you’ve found, they must have been murdered,” Bessie suggested.

  “We’re certainly treating the investigation as a murder investigation,” Hugh said. “It’s hard to imagine any other way the bodies would have all ended up there together.”

  “Unless the site is an ancient burial ground or something,” Doona said. “Maybe you’ve found an old cemetery?”

  Hugh shook his head. “We don’t have any definite answer on dating the remains yet, but they’ve been there less than fifty years, for sure.”

  “There certainly wasn’t a cemetery there when the Granthams owned the property,” Bessie said.

  “Tell me about them,” John invited. “Until we can date things more exactly, we have to consider the possibility that Michael Grantham buried the bodies.”

  “I barely knew the man,” Bessie said. “He inherited the family farm when he was fairly young, around the turn of the century. By the time I started visiting the farm to buy the limited crops they were still growing, Michael and Bethany were quite old. I think they both passed away in the sixties.”

  “They never had children?” John asked.

  “They did,” Bessie replied. “But none of survived to adulthood.”

  “How sad,” Doona murmured.

  “I don’t suppose they buried their children in the rose garden?” Hugh asked quickly.

  “No, they buried their children in Lonan cemetery,” Bessie said. “I remember talking to Bethany once about the roses and her mentioning how much she enjoyed taking piles of them to her children’s graves in the old churchyard.”

  “You don’t know whether they had boys or girls?” John asked.

  Bessie shut her eyes and tried to think. “I simply don’t recall,” she said eventually. “Bethany used to talk about her children once in a while, but I didn’t know at the time that it might be important one day. I seem to remember at least one boy, and maybe two girls, but I may be wrong. Anyway, as I recall, they all passed away fairly young, certainly before their teens. You should be able to find all of it in the old church records, anyway.”

  “Yes, and we have someone checking into that tomorrow,” John said. “I was just wondering what you could remember.”

  Bessie nodded. “I have to say, I can’t imagine them being involved in any murders. They were simply ordinary farmers.”

  “And sometimes ordinary people commit extraordinary crimes,” John said.

  “Yes, I know,” Bessie said sadly, thinking about some of the investigations she’d been involved with in the last year. “But killing four young women and hiding the bodies seems like the work of a serial killer or something. It doesn’t seem possible, really.”

  “Serial killers don’t usually stop,” Doona said, sounding a bit nervous.

  “It’s far too early to be speculating about such things,” John said, patting Doona’s hand. “It could be quite some time before we can be sure exactly what we’ve found at the farm. In the meantime, we’re taking a good look at all of the pos
sible suspects from the Kelly case.”

  “Matthew Kelly, Peter Clucas and Jonas Clucas,” Bessie said. “Those are the names that keep coming up whenever anyone talks about the case. Are there any other suspects?”

  “We’re considering a great many other people,” John said. “From the family members of the missing girls to local shopkeepers and land owners, but it is true that those three were the original investigating officer’s chief suspects.”

  “And he knew his job,” Bessie said.

  “But he never managed to make an arrest,” Doona pointed out.

  “It is hard to arrest someone if you don’t have any bodies,” John said. “Anyway, we are taking a hard look at those three, as well as considering nearly everyone who lived in the area in those days.”

  “What about means, motive, and opportunity?” Doona asked.

  “At this point we haven’t any idea what killed the girls whose bodies we’ve found,” John said. “We have to assume that everyone had access, therefore, to whatever weapon or weapons might have been used.”

  “Or that they were killed without weapons,” Hugh added.

  Bessie shuddered. “Whoever it was had to get the girls somewhere alone,” she said. “But I don’t think that would have been difficult.”

  “I would have thought that by the time Karen disappeared, Helen would have been on her guard,” Hugh said.

  “Which suggests that the killer was someone she trusted,” Doona said.

  “Maybe,” John said.

  “From everything I know about her, she wouldn’t have taken the warnings seriously,” Bessie said. “Remember, too, we all really thought the girls had gone voluntarily. I doubt Helen thought she was in any danger, whatever her parents or the police said.”

  “And that’s often true for teenaged girls,” John said. “Or teenagers in general, I should say. They feel as if they’re immortal and that their parents worry too much about things that will never happen. Even if we have found the Kelly girls, we’ve also found another girl that fits the same profile.”

  “So that’s means and opportunity,” Bessie said with a sigh. “What about motive?”

  Bessie looked around at the other three. For a long time no one spoke. Eventually, John cleared his throat.

  “As we don’t know for sure whom we’ve found, that a really difficult question,” he said.

  “If it was the Kelly girls, I can’t imagine any motive, anyway,” Bessie said.

  “Because of the gender and age of all four sets of remains, we have to consider that someone was targeting teenaged girls,” Hugh said. “There are any number of reasons why that might be the case.”

  “You’re suggesting they were sexually assaulted before they were killed,” Doona said flatly.

  “That’s not something we’ll be able to determine from the remains,” John told her.

  “There must be other motives,” Bessie said.

  “There could be,” John agreed. “Sometimes these things escalate as well. Maybe the first girl died accidently, and the perpetrator discovered that he or she enjoyed watching someone die and began to actively seek out victims.”

  “This is a horrible conversation,” Bessie said. “Let’s talk about something pleasant instead.”

  Hugh was kind enough to fill the next half hour with everything he could remember about Grace’s wedding plans. The menu for the reception was discussed in great detail, as that was one thing he could recall quite clearly. Eventually, over tea and biscuits, Bessie brought the conversation back around to the Kelly girls.

  “Maybe one of the girls found out something she shouldn’t about someone,” she suggested.

  “It’s possible,” John said. “And the others might have been killed because the killer thought they knew his or her secret as well.”

  “If we consider our three main suspects,” Doona said, “which one would have had a secret that important?”

  “It didn’t have to be all that important,” Hugh argued. “The killer just had to think it was.”

  “I don’t like Jonas Clucas,” Bessie said. “And I find it very suspicious that he’s planning to leave the island right now.”

  “I spoke to him today,” John told her. “When I suggested that the police would appreciate his cooperation in remaining on the island for the time being, he actually thanked me. He said his wife was desperate to get away but he really didn’t want to go.”

  “That matches up to what we heard,” Bessie said. “But I still don’t like him. He seems thoroughly unpleasant.”

  “What about the other two?” Hugh asked. “We all know you’re a good judge of character.”

  Bessie thought back to the different investigations she’d been involved with recently. Overall, she felt as if she’d suspected the wrong person far more often that the right one, but she didn’t say that to Hugh. “I saw Matthew Kelly yesterday,” she told them. “He’s rather unpleasant as well.”

  “How did you happen to run into him?” John asked.

  Bessie explained about Jake’s truck and then recounted the conversation she’d overheard. “He didn’t seem that interested in what was found at the Grantham place,” she concluded. “He just said it wasn’t anything to do with him.”

  “Which is a strange thing to say,” Doona argued. “If someone told me that the police had found a body somewhere, I wouldn’t even think to bother denying any involvement.”

  “He’s somewhat odd,” Bessie said. “And slightly scary.”

  “Stay away from him,” John advised. “And everyone involved in the case,” he added.

  Bessie shrugged. “Margot Lane came to see me,” she reminded him. “And I just happened to stumble across Jonas Clucas twice.” She hadn’t mentioned that Mary had deliberately suggested lunch where she knew the man would be.

  “We haven’t discussed Peter Clucas,” Hugh said. “What do you think of him?”

  Bessie shook her head. “I haven’t seen the man in many years,” she said. “I know he ran a bit wild back when he was younger, but I understand that he straightened himself out and now works on drug and alcohol counseling. Claire spoke very highly of him.”

  “I’ve worked with him and I like him,” John said. “I would hate to think he was involved in whatever happened.”

  “I don’t feel as if we’ve made any progress,” Bessie said as she nibbled her way through a biscuit.

  “I don’t know if we can at the moment,” Hugh said. “Not before we’re sure exactly who we’ve found.”

  “Bessie, I’d appreciate any suggestions you can make as to people I can talk to about the Granthams,” John said, pulling out his notebook. “As the bodies were found on their property, they have to be considered people of interest.”

  Bessie listed the names of a few of the men and women who used to own farms in the area. “Some of them are still farming the same land,” she told John. “Others gave up years ago and moved into Douglas or across.”

  She found her address book and gave John the best contact information she had for each of them. “When you ring them,” she told him about one couple, “make sure you talk to her. He’s more than a little senile and likely to tell you anything.”

  John made notes as she gave him similar information about each of the others. When she was done, he smiled. “And that’s why I didn’t simply start by canvassing the neighbourhood,” he said. “Your local knowledge has saved me many frustrating hours of knocking on doors.”

  “You know I’m always happy to help,” Bessie replied.

  She let them all out, locking the door behind them. Doona had insisted on taking care of the washing-up before she left. Now Bessie dried the plates and cups and put them back into the cupboard. She was tired, but her brain was racing, trying to work out what the police had found at the Grantham farm. Unable to settle herself enough to read, Bessie decided she needed some fresh air.

  Up until she’d found her first murder victim, almost a year earlier, Bessie had never
hesitated to walk on the beach at night. Now, however, she didn’t feel quite as safe as she had before. She argued with herself for a minute before grabbing a jacket and sliding on shoes.

  “Life is too short to worry about nothing,” she told herself sternly as she unlocked the door at the back of the cottage. She walked out and breathed in the sea air as deeply as she could. The tide was too far in for her to reach the rock she’d sat on earlier with Margot, so Bessie turned and wandered slowly down the beach, using a torch to illuminate her way. When she reached the bottom of the stairs to Thie yn Traie, she turned around and walked slowly home again.

  The walk had been exactly what her body and soul had needed, she decided as she prepared for bed. The fresh air had cleared her mind and the exercise had tired her enough that she was asleep only moments after she laid her head on her pillow. Her internal alarm woke her promptly at six and she sat up feeling refreshed and determined to help John and Hugh with their difficult case.

  Feeling as if she were the only person awake on the whole island, Bessie had a quick breakfast and then set out on her usual morning walk. The sun wasn’t up yet, but she was happy with her torch as she strode down the beach. The walk to Thie yn Traie seemed too short today, so Bessie continued on, breathing deeply and keeping her mind firmly focussed on Hugh’s upcoming wedding and other happy subjects. After some time she found herself on a stretch of beach that ran behind a new housing estate that she was only vaguely aware of. She blinked in surprise at the row of brand new houses in various stages of completion.

  “You should really pay more attention to these things,” she told herself as curiosity pulled her away from the water and closer to the new homes. They all had large sliding doors at the back of the properties, which gave them gorgeous views of the sea. Bessie stood and stared into one of them, trying to imagine how the property was laid out.

  “This must be the dining room,” she said eventually, trying to imagine the empty space filled with furniture.

  “The one on the end is a model home,” a voice said from her left.