Aunt Bessie Finds (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 6) (19 page)

“I had a wonderful time,” Mary told Bessie as she walked her to her
door.

“I did as well,” Bessie replied.
 
“Once I’m in Douglas, we’ll have to do
this more often.”

“I’d really like that,” Mary said with some intensity.

Inside her little cottage, Bessie quickly got ready for bed.
 
With all of the borrowed furniture in
place in her little flat in Douglas, all she needed to do was pack her clothes
and her kitchen things and she could move in.
 
She fell asleep thinking that there was
no reason to delay.
 
Tomorrow would
be moving day.

Chapter Nine

When she woke up the next morning with only a slight headache,
Bessie decided that she’d been right the night before.
 
If she started finding excuses to delay
the move, she would never actually do it.
 
After a quick breakfast of cereal and tea, she took a short walk on the
beach.
 
It felt different today,
knowing it would be her last walk on this particular beach for a while.
 

The holiday cottages were, for the most part, still quiet, but
Bessie saw a few lights on in a few windows.
 
A small child was drawing a picture on
the wall in one cottage and Bessie could only hope that he wasn’t using
permanent markers.
 
Thomas painted all
of the flats every autumn, after the rental season; he wouldn’t want to have to
do it mid-season as well.
 

Once she’d reached the stairs to
Thie
yn
Traie
, she turned around.
 
On her way home, she spotted Spencer on his
patio and she gave him a friendly wave.

“Oh, Bessie, it’s good to see you,” he called across the sand.
 

Bessie stopped as he was walking towards her.
 
“Good morning, Spencer,” she said.
 
“How are you this morning?”

“I’m wonderful,” he replied with a bright smile.
 
“I was offered the perfect job
yesterday.
 
Not only is it in my
field, doing what I love, but they’ve offered to pay some of the cost of moving
me back to the island, as well.”

“Oh, Spencer, how wonderful,” Bessie said, delighted for the man.
 

“And I have you to thank for it,” Spencer continued.
 
“One of the names you gave me, well,
when I rang him, he gave me the lead on the job.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Bessie said.

“You were wonderful and I owe you a huge
favour
,”
Spencer said.
 
“What can I do for
you?”

Bessie laughed.
 
“I
can’t imagine,” she said.

“I can,” Spencer grinned.
 
“Do you need a ride anywhere today, for instance?
 
I don’t have any plans for the day and I
have my car full of petrol and ready to go.”

Bessie started to shake her head and then stopped.
 
“I don’t want to impose,” she began.

“Oh, please, impose,”
Spencer
said with a
laugh.
 
“I owe you a lot.
 
Not only did you help me find the
perfect job, but, well, I met someone special as well.”
 
He flushed and looked at the sand.
 

“Someone special?
 
Do
tell,” Bessie said.

“When I went to the interview for this job, she was there.
 
She was actually interviewing for a
different job at the same company.
 
We were both really early, and we started talking about how we both
always feel like we need to be early for things.
 
Anyway, after I had my interview, I
waited for her to come out of hers and we got a coffee.
 
Her name is Beverly and she’s really sweet.”

“How wonderful for you,” Bessie said, feeling happy for Spencer and
relieved for Doona.
 
Bessie knew her
friend had been feeling bad about dumping the extremely nice man, even though
they weren’t well suited.

“As it happens, she didn’t get the job she interviewed for, but she
was offered a different one elsewhere that she’s really excited about.
 
We’re having dinner tonight to celebrate
both of our new positions.”

“It all sounds wonderful,” Bessie replied.

“But that leaves me with my whole day free to help you with
whatever errands you need to run,” Spencer continued.
 
“Where can I take you?”

Bessie hesitated for just a moment.
 
“Would you like to move me to Douglas?”
she asked.

Spencer quickly nodded.
 
“I’m happy to do it, but I only have a sedan.
 
I’m not sure how much furniture will fit
in it.”

Bessie laughed.
 
“All of
the furniture is already in Douglas,” she assured the man.
 
“I just need to move my clothes and my
kitchen things.
 
I can probably
manage that in just a few boxes and a suitcase or two.”

“In that case, we might be able to do it in one trip,” Spencer
said.
 
“Are you ready now?”

“No, not yet,” Bessie replied, feeling a strange mix of excitement
and dread.
 
“How about if you come
over for lunch?
 
I should be able to
get everything packed by then and I’ll make us a quick lunch from everything
perishable in my refrigerator.
 
Then
we have the afternoon to move me, if that works for you.”

“It’s perfect,” Spencer assured her.
 
“Are you sure you don’t want some help
with packing?”

“I can manage,” Bessie insisted.
 
“I’ll see you around midday.”

Bessie walked back to her cottage with a bit more urgency in her
step.
 
There was no going back now;
she was moving today, ready or not.

By the time Spencer arrived for lunch, Bessie had everything she
wanted to take to Douglas packed up and ready to go.
 

“I hope sandwiches are okay for lunch,” she told the man after
she’d answered his knock.
 
“And I
hope paper plates are acceptable, as well.
 
I’ve packed my everyday dishes.”

Spencer laughed.
 
“I
live alone.
 
Paper plates are about
all I have.”

Bessie pulled out all of the sandwich fixings, and the pair quickly
put their lunches together.
 
“Would
you like tea or coffee?” Bessie offered.

“I’ll just have something cold,” Spencer replied.
 
“You probably want to pack your kettle.”

“I already did,” Bessie admitted.
 
“But I know exactly where it is.
 
I could have grabbed it back out if you
wanted a hot drink.”

“With the temperatures where they are today, the last thing I want
is a hot drink,” Spencer said.

After lunch, where Bessie filled Spencer in on all of her plans,
she quickly tidied her small kitchen.
 
She tied up her rubbish bag and put it in the bin outside her back
door.
 

“What day do the bin men come?” Spencer asked.
 
“I’ll pop over and put your bin out for
you.”

“Ah, thanks,” Bessie replied.
 
“But they’ll grab it from behind the cottage.
 
They always do.”

Spencer loaded the boxes full of kitchenware into the boot of his
car and then carefully added the two suitcases full of clothes as well.
 
“Is that everything?” he asked.

Bessie frowned.
 
“It
doesn’t seem like much,” she said, with a bit of a catch in her voice.
 

“But it’s only a holiday, right?” Spencer asked gently.
 
“If you decide to move properly, you’ll
have ever so much more to take.”

Bessie nodded.
 
“I
suppose so,” she said.

“Shall we go, then?”

Bessie took a deep breath and then took a long look around her
kitchen.
 
She felt tears beginning
to fill her eyes and shook her head.
 
“This is silly,” she said loudly.
 
“I can come home any time I want.”

“Of course you can,” Spencer replied.
 
“I’m not even clear on why you’re going
in the first place.”

Bessie laughed.
 
“Neither am I,” she said after a moment.
 
“But I must think of it as an
adventure.”

“Let’s get the adventure started then, shall we?”
 
Spencer held out an arm and Bessie took
it with a shaky smile.

“Let’s do that,” she agreed.

Spencer chatted all the way to Douglas about all sorts of
inconsequential nonsense.
 
While the
non-stop noise was irritating, Bessie was grateful that he didn’t give her time
to think about what she was undertaking.
 
By the time he pulled up at Seaside Terrace, Bessie was
focussed
on helping Bahey and enjoying the change of
scenery.

Spencer found a spot in the small car park and followed Bessie up to
the building.
  
She pushed the
main doorbell and then pulled the door open when the lock release buzzed.

“Ah, Ms.
Cubbon
, so nice to see you
again.”
 
The building manager jumped
to his feet and rushed over to the door to greet Bessie obsequiously.

“It’s good to be finally moving in,” Bessie said with forced
enthusiasm.
 
“I’ll just need my
keys.”

“Of course, of course,” the man said, beaming at her.
 
He went back behind his small table and
dug around in a box on top of it.
 
After a moment, he pulled out a small key ring.

“Here you are,” he told Bessie, handing her the ring.
 
“The large key is the front door to the
flat.
 
The slightly smaller one
opens the front door to the building.
  
The smallest key is the key to
your postbox.”

“Thank you,” Bessie said politely.
  
She turned and headed for the
lift, with Spencer on her heels.
 
It
arrived quite quickly and seemed to working much more smoothly than it had been
when she’d visited with Alan Collins.

“There was something about him I didn’t like,” Spencer told Bessie
as they rode the lift up to the first floor.

“Can you be more specific?” Bessie asked.

Spencer shrugged.
 
“Not
really, just something bothered me for some reason.
 
Maybe it was the ill-fitting suit or the
greasy hair.
 
Maybe it was because
he smelled like cheap cologne.
 
I
just wouldn’t trust him if I couldn’t see him, and even then I’d worry.”

Bessie smiled.
 
“I feel
much the same about him,” she replied.
 

On the first floor, Bessie quickly unlocked the door to her
borrowed flat.
 
She walked in and
gave her new home a good look.

“It’s nice,” Spencer said from behind her.
 
“Okay, the views aren’t great, but the
layout is efficient and the furniture is all gorgeous.”

“The furniture is all on loan from a friend,” Bessie told him.
 
“I’m sure it’s all much nicer than my
own things.”

Spencer shook his head.
 
“You have amazing antiques,” he said.
 
“These are all much more modern, but
they’re very well made and they really suit the space.”

Bessie laughed.
 
“I only
have antiques because I bought all sorts of new furniture when I first bought
my cottage.
 
I guess that makes me
an antique as well.”

“I’d call you a classic,” Spencer told her with a wink.
 
“And before I get myself into any more
trouble, I’ll go and get your things.”

While Spencer made several trips from the flat to his car and back
again, carrying in all of Bessie’s belongings, Bessie took another look at her
new home.
 
In the bedroom she patted
her new mattress that had already been put into place on the bed frame.
 
There was a large bag in the corner from
the same shop and Bessie checked that the bedding she’d purchased had been
delivered as well.
 
At some point,
she’d get the bed made up but for now she headed back into the main room.

It felt reasonably spacious, or at least not cramped, but that was
mostly because she had a limited amount of furniture.
 
Compared to her cottage, it was
considerably smaller.
 
She found the
box with the kettle in it and immediately set it up on the kitchen
counter.
 
Once she’d filled it and
switched it on, she located mugs and teabags.
 
The kettle boiled just as Spencer
carried in her last suitcase.

“Just in time for tea,” Bessie told him.

“Perfect,” Spencer replied.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any milk to go in it,” Bessie said
with a frown.
 
“I wonder if Bahey is
home and could lend me some?”

Bessie made the quick trip down the hall, knocking on both
Bahey’s
door and Howard’s, but neither was at home.