Aunt Bessie Invites (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 9) (18 page)

Bessie laughed.
 
“We all are,” she said.
 
“We think we want something, but then we
get it and it isn’t at all what we were expecting.
 
Anyway, you know where I am whenever you
need a break from George.”

“I might just take you up on that,” Mary said.
 
“But for today I’d better get back up to
the house and see what he’s doing.
 
If
I’m not there to point out all of the wonderful things about the house, he
might decide he doesn’t want to move after all.”

Bessie watched her friend climb back up the
steep steps.
 
She returned the
gesture as Mary waved to her from the top of the stairs.
 
A few minutes later, she found herself
waving at Thomas Shimmin as she walked past the cottages.
 
Back at her cottage, she felt as if
she’d been out for hours.
 
The light
on her answering machine was blinking frantically.

“Bessie, we were just talking here at the
station and we thought maybe it was time for a group chat about things,”
Doona’s voice said.
 
“John’s offered
to host at his new house so we can all have a look.
 
I’ll pick you up at six, unless you ring
me back.
 
Hugh’s offered to bring
dinner, so you don’t have to worry about that, either.”

As it was already half five, Bessie didn’t
have time to do much of anything.
 
She sat down with a book, but found that she couldn’t concentrate on the
plot.
 
Instead, she found herself thinking
about the dead man and wondering about his connection with the Clague
farm.
 
Doona was at her door a short
time later.

“I can’t wait to see what John’s done with
the house,” Bessie told Doona as Doona drove the short distance.

“I never saw it before he bought it, but the
layout was similar to mine when it was first built.
 
I don’t know how much they changed when
they updated it, though.”

“They changed a lot,” Bessie told her.
 
“You’ll love his kitchen.”

“I was thinking I might redo mine, now that
I have a little bit of spare money,” Doona said thoughtfully.
 
“Or maybe I’ll just pay down my mortgage
and be sensible,” she added with a sigh.
 
“It isn’t like I cook all that often, anyway.”

“I think, if you’re going to spend money on your
house, that you should renovate your bathroom,” Bessie told her.
 
“You’ve always wanted a fancy
bathtub.
 
You enjoyed the one on our
holiday, didn’t you?”

“I suppose,” Doona replied.
 
“There was a lot on my mind at the
time.
 
I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it
a lot more under more normal circumstances.”

“Think how nice it would be to have one of
those tubs in your own bathroom,” Bessie said.

“What would you do if you suddenly inherited
a bunch of money?” Doona asked.

“I’d add a library to my cottage,” Bessie
told her.
 
“Although I probably
wouldn’t get planning permission.
 
I
had enough trouble getting permission for the changes I’ve made over the
years.”

Doona pulled to a stop in a parking space in
front of John’s house.
 

“I still don’t like the exterior,” Bessie
grumbled as she climbed out of the car.

“It is a bit, well, different,” Doona
said.
 
“It makes the house stand out
a bit in our neighbourhood.”

Doona’s home was just a short distance
away.
 
Bessie glanced up the street
towards the house that had belonged to Nancy King, Sarah’s mother.
 
After her mother’s death and the
discovery of a body behind a false wall, Sarah and her brothers had taken the
property off the market while they discussed what to do next.
 
The house was too far away from John’s
for Bessie to see if they’d been working on it, though.

The pair made their way up the walk to
John’s front door.
 
Doona knocked
and they waited patiently.

“Ah, good evening,”
John
said as he pulled the door open.
 
He
glanced back into the house, obviously distracted by something.

“We did say half six, didn’t we?” Doona
asked as she and Bessie entered the house.

“Yes, of course,” John said.
 
“It’s just, I was trying, that is,” he
shook his head.
 
“I was just trying
to get some last-minute cleaning done and I’ve left the can of furniture polish
somewhere,” he told them both.
 
“I
can’t for the life of me remember where I had it last, so when you trip over it
or knock it over, I’m awfully sorry.”

Bessie and Doona both laughed.
 
“You shouldn’t worry about cleaning for
us,” Bessie told him.
 
“I couldn’t
care less if there’s a bit of dust around the place.”

“But your cottage is always spotless,” John
replied.
 
“I couldn’t have welcomed
you to a mess.”

Bessie glanced around the large sitting room
that the door opened into.
 
“This
space looks wonderful,” she said, changing the subject slightly.
 
“I love the colour you’ve used in here.”

John looked around at the room.
 
“It isn’t bad,” he said after a
moment.
 
“It looks darker on the
walls than it did in the can, but I think the room is large enough that it
works anyway.”

“So show us the rest,” Bessie demanded.
 
“And we’ll see if we can find your
furniture polish on the way.”

“So the dining room is just...” he was interrupted
by a knock on the door.

“That’ll be Hugh,” he said.
 

But when John pulled the door open, there
was a young blonde woman standing there.
  
She smiled brightly at John and
then frowned at Bessie and Doona.

“I didn’t realise you had company,” she
said, her voice light and airy.
 
“I
was hoping I might be able to borrow some sugar.”

“Of course,” John said.
 
He looked over at his guests and then
back
at the new arrival.
 
“Ah, Doona and Bessie, this is
Holly.
 
She’s just moved in next
door.”

Bessie smiled at the woman.
 
“Nice to meet you,” she said
politely.
 
“What do you need the
sugar for?”

The woman blinked at her.
 
“The sugar?
 
Why, that is, I’m baking biscuits,” she
said after an awkward pause.”

“I love to bake,” Bessie said.
 
“What sort of biscuits are you making?”

The girl frowned and then looked at the
ground.
 
“Um, just digestives,” she
muttered.

“Really?” Bessie asked.
 
“You must share your recipe.
 
I find digestives ever so difficult to
get right myself.
 
It’s so much
easier to buy them than make them.”

The girl shrugged.
 
Before she could reply, Hugh came up
behind her on the walkway carrying several large boxes of food.

“Oh, more company,” she said.
 
“You know what, never mind about the
sugar.
 
I’ll just get out of your
way.”

“I can get your sugar if you want to wait a
minute,” John protested.

“No, I’m not really in the mood for baking
any more,” Holly replied.
 
“Thanks
anyway.”

Bessie and the others watched her as she
quickly crossed the grass back to the small house next door.

“If she wanted sugar, I want my head
examined,” Doona exclaimed as Holly disappeared inside.

Bessie laughed, but John looked at them with
a confused frown. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Doona is suggesting that your lovely
neighbour was, perhaps, just making an excuse to visit you,” Bessie told him
gently.

“Why would she do that?”
John
asked, sounding genuinely baffled.

Bessie smiled.
 
“She’s new to the island, right?
 
I reckon she’s single, and you’re an
attractive single man.
 
I would
imagine she’s looking to make friends.”

John blushed.
 
“But I’m not really single, not
yet.
 
And even if I were single, I’m
certainly not looking.
 
Anyway,
she’s far too young for me, don’t you think?”

“Let’s not worry about that right now,”
Bessie suggested.
 
“We were going to
take a tour, but maybe we should eat first, since the food is here.”

“The kitchen is straight ahead,” John told
them.
 

Hugh and Doona headed in the right direction,
while Bessie stopped John.
 
“The
lovely Holly could be a problem, if you aren’t careful,” she said quietly.

“I hope not,” John replied.
 
“I have quite enough problems right
now.”

“Just make sure you don’t encourage her,”
Bessie suggested.
 
“Be polite, but
don’t invite her in, don’t accept any invitations to her place and try not to
be alone with her if you can help it.”

John nodded.
 
“I should have realised,” he said.
 
“But I never expect women to be
interested in me.”

Bessie laughed.
 
“You’re a very attractive man,” she told
him.
 
“If I were a few years
younger, I’d be giving Holly a run for her money.”

Now John chuckled.
 
“If you were a few years younger, I
think I’d be chasing you,” he told Bessie.

The pair linked arms and John escorted her
into his shiny new kitchen.
 
Doona
and Hugh were laying out the food and John quickly found plates for them.

“We can sit in the formal dining room if
you’d like,” John said as everyone filled
their
plates.
 
“Or we can just sit in
here.”

“Let’s just stay here,” Bessie said.
 
“It’s warm and cosy.”

They all took seats around the small round
table in one corner of the room.
 
John got everyone drinks and then they all turned their attention to
eating.
 
After several minutes of
silence, Bessie spoke.

“This is delicious,” she said.
 
“Thank you, Hugh.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.
 
“I’ve been wanting to try this
place.
 
It just opened near the station,
but they’re only open in the evening; they don’t do lunches.
 
Grace has been too busy to go out much
lately, so tonight was a good excuse to try it.”

“Well, it’s very good,”
Bessie
said.
 

“I brought a cake from the bakery next to it
as well,” Hugh told her.

“Cake?
 
You are spoiling us,” Bessie said with a laugh.

“I decided we needed a treat, since we have
to talk about murder,” Hugh told her.

“Or at least unexplained death,” John
interjected.
 
“We have no real
evidence that our dead man was murdered, at least not yet.”

“But someone hid the body,” Hugh said.
 
“That seems like murder to me.”

John nodded.
 
“We’re investigating it as murder, at
least until we hear otherwise,” he said.
 

“Have you made any progress on identifying
the body?” Bessie asked.

John shook his head.
 
“We’re still waiting on the DNA
tests.
 
Because of the very
distinctive watch, we suspect that the body is Jacob Conover’s, but we can’t be
sure, of course.”

“He still hasn’t turned up alive anywhere,
then?” Bessie wondered.

“No.
 
He’s been listed as a missing person in Liverpool and London for forty-odd
years,” John replied.
 
“His sister
is pretty certain it must be him.”

“That poor woman,” Doona said.
 
“Imagine not knowing where your brother
was for all that time.”

“She’s coming over to the island if it does
turn out to be him,” John said.
 
“She’s mentioned wanting to meet anyone who might remember him.”

Bessie nodded.
 
“I’d be happy to talk to her,” she
said.
 
“I didn’t know him well, but
I do remember him.”

 
“I’m sure she’d appreciate that,” John
told her.

“So where are we with means and motive and
opportunity?” Hugh asked.