1 Aunt Bessie Assumes (17 page)

“That was very nice,” Bahey said, as the pair
settled in for the twenty-minute journey.

“It was lovely,” Bessie replied.  “Your
sister's home is very nice and she's a wonderful cook.” 

“Next time you'll have to come to my apartment,”
Bahey told her.  “I'm a pretty good cook too and I buy better wine.”

Bessie laughed.  “I'm sure I won't be able
to tell the difference,” she said, “but I hope we can do it again soon.”

The pair lapsed into silence for a short while,
each lost in their own thoughts.  

“Bessie?” Bahey broke the silence.

“Yes?”

“I'm really worried about Mrs. Pierce.  She
seems so upset about Daniel's death, but she seemed weirdly pleased when the
police told her that Samantha had been killed.  I know she didn't like the
woman.  She's never liked anyone her sons have brought home.  But she
seemed, well, off somehow.”

“You said the doctor is keeping her medicated,”
Bessie said soothingly. “She's probably just a little bit out if touch with
reality, that's all.”  

“I don't know,” Bahey said doubtfully.  “She
told the police she was home all day yesterday, but I know she went out for a
little while.  I didn't see her leave, but I saw her when she was coming
back in.  She said she'd just gone for a little walk, but she was all windblown
and wet as if she'd walked a long way or something.”

Bessie was silent as she thought about the
"something" that Mrs. Pierce might have been doing.

“She wouldn't have killed her son,” Bahey said.
 “But if she thought Samantha had something to do with his death....
”
 
she
trailed
off, looking at Bessie with an anguished expression.

Bessie patted her hand, trying to reassure her
friend.  “Look,” she said finally, “Hugh is staying with me at the
moment.
 
Why don't I mention all of
this to him, and he can figure it all out?”  

Bessie wasn't sure why, but she didn't feel like
mentioning that she would also be talking to Inspector Rockwell about
everything she had learned that afternoon.  Perhaps that was because Bahey
knew Hugh.  She expected that the other woman would feel more comfortable
with the idea of Bessie talking to someone she knew, rather than to the inspector
from “across.”

Bahey sighed.  “I don't want to get Mrs.
Pierce into any trouble,” she told Bessie.  “But I do think her behaviour
has been rather odd since Danny died.”

Bessie nodded.  “I'll talk to Hugh tonight,”
she promised.  

The few minutes that were left in the journey passed
silently.  Back at her cottage, Bessie was quick to thank both Bahey and
the driver before they headed back to Thie yn Traie.

Inside her little home, Bessie checked her
answering machine.
 
She listened to
the ten messages, most of which could be immediately deleted.
 
The few that mattered were quickly dealt
with, including a call to Doona to confirm the plans for later.  

Apparently Inspector Rockwell
was bringing dinner and pudding tonight. Doona told Bessie to expect them all
around seven.  Remembering the dust and disorder at Joney's house, Bessie
spent a few minutes tidying her kitchen before sinking into a comfortable chair
with another book from her latest shipment.  Time flew past as she lost
herself in the pages and before she knew it the doorbell was ringing.

Chapter
Nine

“I brought Indian food,” Inspector
Rockwell announced as Bessie showed him and the others in.
 
“I got a bunch of different things, so
hopefully there will be something here that everyone likes.”

Bessie pulled out plates as the inspector
began to pull box after box of food from the bags he had brought in with
him.
 

“Did you invite the rest of the
constabulary to join us?” Doona joked as Rockwell ran out of counter space with
two bags still unopened.
 

“Just pile the rest on the table,” Bessie
suggested.
 
“We can fill our plates
and then move the boxes.”

Hugh’s eyes lit up when he saw the
generous spread.
 
“Wow, I’ve only
tried about half of these before.
 
This is great.”

Rockwell frowned at the man.
 
“Just remember that this meeting is
totally off the record,” he told him sternly.
 
“If word gets out at the station that
I’m buying dinner for certain members of my staff after hours, I could find
myself in trouble.”

“Why don’t Hugh and I contribute towards
the meal?” Doona offered.
 
“Surely
there’s nothing wrong with us all going in together to get some food after a
long day’s work?”

Rockwell hesitated and then nodded.
 
“I didn’t mean for you guys to chip in,
but it might make things less complicated if you paid for part of it.”

Doona and Hugh were both quick to offer some
cash to the inspector, who pocketed it with obvious reluctance.
 

“Shall I contribute as well?” Bessie
asked.

“Doona’s more than paid for your share,”
Rockwell answered with a grin.
 
“You
can take that up with her.”

Bessie smiled at her friend, who quickly
waved away any notion of Bessie giving her money.
 
When plates were filled, Bessie and Hugh
moved the now nearly empty boxes from the table and the foursome sat down to
eat.
 

“Did this come from the new Indian place
in Laxey?” Bessie asked.

“Yes,” Rockwell answered.
 
“I figured it was best to get dinner
from somewhere close by so it would be good and hot when I got here.
 
No one I talked to knew anything about
the place, though, so I wasn’t sure what we would be getting.”

“They’ve only been open a few weeks,”
Doona told him.
 
“I had lunch there
last week one day and it was pretty good.
 
So far everything I’ve tried tonight has been excellent.”

“It’s really great,” Hugh agreed, talking
around a mouthful of food.
 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Bessie
told Hugh, almost without thought.
 
Manners these days were so neglected.

“Sorry,” Hugh answered, ducking his head
when he realised that his mouth was still full.

Doona choked back a laugh as Bessie rolled
her eyes.
 
In spite of the huge
amount of food on offer, it was only a short time before all of the boxes were emptied
and only scraps remained on plates.
 
Hugh had done most of the work, eating as if he hadn’t seen food in
weeks, but Bessie had found that in spite of her large lunch she was starving.
 

“My hands were so full that I had to leave
pudding in the car,” Inspector Rockwell told them as he rose to his feet.
 
“I’ll just go and collect it.”

While he was gone Doona and Hugh cleared
the table.
 
Doona made Hugh start on
washing up the dishes while she dug out clean plates for pudding.
 

“I’m not an invalid,” Bessie had protested
as Doona waved her back into her seat.

“But you have opened up your home to us
for three nights in a row,” Doona answered.
 
“The least we can do is a bit of washing
up.”

The inspector had brought apple pie and
custard for pudding, and Bessie dug in with an enthusiasm that surprised
her.
 
She shouldn’t have been hungry
after everything she had eaten earlier.
 
Perhaps all the unaccustomed excitement was making her body crave food.
 
She wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the
pie.
 
Hugh stopped just short of
licking his
plate
as he finished not one, but two
slices of pie, both topped with generous dollops of custard.

“Right,” Inspector Rockwell smiled as
Bessie served everyone tea.
 
“That
was very nice, but now I’m afraid we have to get down to business.
 
I’m really hoping that you found out
something interesting at lunch today,” he told Bessie.

“I found out several things that I found
interesting,” she answered.
 
“Let’s
see what you think.”

“Don’t tease,” Doona urged her friend.

Bessie grinned.
 
“So first of all,” she began, “did you
know that Donny is married?”

Doona’s jaw dropped and she gasped.
 
“Not to Samantha?” she asked.

“No,” Inspector Rockwell supplied the
answer.
 
“He’s actually married to
Inspector Kelly’s sister.”

Now it was Hugh’s turn to gasp.
 
“How come I didn’t know that?” he
demanded.

Rockwell frowned.
 
“Inspector Kelly isn’t exactly bragging
about it,” he told the others.
 
“He
told me about the connection when we found Daniel Pierce’s body, but as it
seemed highly unlikely that his sister had anything to do with the murder, he
remained on the case.”

“Why is it ‘highly unlikely’ that she’s
involved?” Doona demanded.

“She moved off the island only a few years
after the wedding and hasn’t been back since,” Rockwell answered.

“Bahey saw her last week in Douglas,”
Bessie informed him.
 

Rockwell frowned.
 
“Is she sure about that?” he demanded
tensely.

“She said that Maeve ignored her, so I
suppose it might not have been her, just someone who looks like her, but I
think it’s something that needs looking into,” Bessie answered.

“Oh, definitely,” Rockwell answered,
writing furiously in his small notebook.
 
“And soon.”

“What else did you learn?” Doona asked
excitedly.

“Bahey doesn’t believe that Daniel was
taking drugs,” Bessie shrugged.
 
“But she hadn’t seen him in three years, and people change.”

“We’re checking very carefully into the
man’s recent past,” Rockwell informed her.
 
“If he had developed a drug habit, we should be able to find traces of
it.
 
At the moment all we have to go
on is what Donny told us.”

“What did Vikky say when you asked her
about it?” Bessie asked.

“You know I can’t repeat what was said in
interviews,” Rockwell answered.
 
“Let’s just say that, no matter what she said, we’re taking the
allegations very seriously.”

“The only other interesting thing from this
afternoon is that Bahey is worried about Mrs. Pierce,” Bessie told them all.

“Worried, why?” Hugh asked.

“She’s upset and acting out of character,”
Bessie answered.
 
“I guess she went
out for a walk yesterday and when the police questioned her, she said she’d been
in the house all day.
 
Things like
that.”

Rockwell flipped back through his
notebook, checking something.
 
“I’ll
have to have another little talk with Mrs. Pierce, I guess,” he said, almost under
his breath.

“She couldn’t possibly have killed her own
son,” Bessie said firmly.
 
“I saw
how devastated she was after he died.”

“We can’t rule anyone out based on how you
feel, Aunt Bessie.” Rockwell’s smile softened the words.
 
“Anyway, it’s always possible that we’re
dealing with two different murderers.”

Doona gasped again.
 
“Like I wasn’t having enough trouble
sleeping when I thought there was one running around?”

Rockwell patted her hand.
 
“We do think the same person killed them
both, but we can’t be sure,” he told her.
 
“I’m trying to keep an open mind about every possibility.”

“Maybe Samantha killed Daniel and then
Mrs. Pierce killed Samantha,” Hugh suggested.

Rockwell held up a hand.
 
“We could start speculating now and be
here all night coming up with increasingly crazy solutions.
 
I would rather gather evidence and
testimony before I start trying to assign labels to the players.”

Bessie grinned.
 
While she really agreed with the
Inspector, it was sort of fun throwing out all of the different ideas that were
bouncing around and seeing how they sounded.
 
It was almost like trying to solve the
murder in one of her books before the detective managed it.
 

“What about alibis?” Bessie asked.
 
“I know we talked about them before, but
surely some of the suspects must have alibis for one or the other murder?”

Rockwell shook his head.
 
“The Chief Constable gave an interview
today with the local press.
 
He told
them that, actually, no one in the family has an unbreakable alibi for the
first murder.
 
We had ruled Mrs.
Pierce out for Samantha’s death, but now, based on what Bahey told Bessie, that
might be questionable.”

“So none of them can be ruled out for
either murder?” Bessie questioned.

“Not really.
 
Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have alibied each
other for the first murder, but we don’t usually put much faith in spouses
supporting one another.
 
 
There wasn’t any
staff
staying in the house before Daniel was killed, and from what I’ve heard
everyone else was up and down and all over the place during the night that
Daniel died.
 
Add to that the fact
that everyone was asleep for at least some of the relevant period and wouldn’t
necessarily have noticed where anyone else was and it all adds up to no
alibis.”

“Vikky said that she and Daniel had a
fight,” Bessie said.
 
“She told me
that he had taken off somewhere.”

“Theirs wasn’t the only fight,” Rockwell
remarked.

“You’d think, with all that money, that
they would happy,” Doona sighed.
 

“Money attracts its own troubles,” Bessie
told her friend.

“I guess I should stick to poor but
happy,” Doona laughed.

“Surely there’s a much smaller time frame
for the second murder?” Bessie asked.

“Much smaller,” Rockwell agreed.
 
“But that doesn’t mean that anyone can
prove they didn’t do it.
 
Vikky and
Donny are obvious suspects; we know that they were there, but Mr. Pierce was
out for a drive and could have stopped anywhere.
 
As I said, we thought Mrs. Pierce was
accounted for, but perhaps not.
 
Even most of the staff at the house seems to have been in and out for
much of the afternoon, although none of them appear to have any motive for
killing either of the victims, at least not at this point.
 
Unfortunately, Thie yn Traie is close
enough to the Laxey Wheel that someone could have driven
over,
killed Samantha and returned almost without their absence being noticed.”

“Bahey doesn’t drive,” Bessie told the
inspector.

“And she’s the only staff member who the
security team has said was definitely in the house all day.
 
Of course, they said the same about Mrs.
Pierce, so now I’ve got to consider that they were lying or weren’t keeping
track of people as carefully as they claim.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,”
Bessie
remembered.
 
“Did you know that
Vikky grew up in Foxdale?”

The Inspector tilted his head and Bessie
could almost see him searching through his memories.
 
After a moment he flipped through his
notebook, examining several pages carefully.
 

“Well, now,” he said eventually, “that
seems to be something that must have slipped her mind when we spoke.”

“I guess they moved when she was still
pretty young,” Bessie told him.
 
“Maybe she didn’t think it was relevant.”

“It’s relevant,” Rockwell answered.
 
“And it might even be important.”

“So what do we do now?” Bessie asked after
a sip of tea.

“’We’ don’t do anything,” Rockwell
answered.
 
“This investigation is police
work.
 
I appreciate everything
you’ve done so far, but now the Isle of Man Constabulary need to do their job
and solve these murders.”