Aunt Bessie Understands

by Diana Xarissa

  “What about Liam?”

  “I can’t see him coming,” Madison said. “He’d hardly be able to claim that he was mourning Phillip in any way.”

  “Did Phillip and Liam know each other at all before Phillip found out that Nicole was seeing him behind his back?”

  “I don’t believe so. Phillip wasn’t the type to try kick-boxing and Liam isn’t the type to do much else,” Madison replied.

  “How well do you know him?” Doona asked.

  Madison shook her head. “I’ve never even met him.”

  “I have,” Luke offered.

  Madison stiffened. “You have?”

  “When I first moved to the island, I wanted to join a gym,” Luke replied. “I went around three different ones in Douglas. Liam gave me the tour and sales pitch at his gym.”

  “What did you think of him?” Bessie wondered.

  “At the time, I simply thought that he was much the same as the men who gave me tours at the other two gyms. He wasn’t terribly bright, but he knew a lot about fitness and exercise. The facilities were okay, but not the newest or nicest that I saw. That wouldn’t have put me off, but it was clear that the emphasis was on the various martial arts and that wasn’t what I wanted.”

  “Did he mention his wife at all?” Bessie had to ask.

  Luke frowned. “Give me a minute. All three places are sort of jumbled up in my head at the moment.”

  While he was thinking, Bessie turned to Harry. “Have you ever met Liam?”

  “Once, when he came with Nicole to collect her things from Phillip’s flat. Saying that I met him is an overstatement, though. I was there when they came over and I stood and stared daggers at the pair of them as Nicole grabbed the box that Phillip had packed and left.”

  “He did mention his wife,” Luke said. “We were talking about the benefits of joining a gym and he said something about it being a good place to meet women. He said he’d met his wife at his gym and then he said something about her being attracted to him because he was the owner, or some such thing. I didn’t pay that much attention, sorry.”

  “You couldn’t possibly have known it would matter,” Madison said, patting his arm.

  He beamed at her and then covered her hand with his.

  “Is there anything else any of you want to discuss?” Bessie asked.

  The trio exchanged glances with one another. After a moment, Madison shrugged. “Maybe you’ll learn more at the memorial service tomorrow.”

  “I certainly hope so,” Bessie replied. “Don’t be surprised if Inspector Rockwell rings any or all of you with questions based on what you’ve told me. He often notices little things that turn out to be significant.”

  “It’s peaceful here,” Madison said, looking around the kitchen. “I feel better here than I have since I heard about Phillip.”

  “You’re welcome to come and stay for a few days,” Bessie told her, feeling a rush of sympathy for Madison. “I have a spare room, one that used to be occupied on a fairly regular basis by guests who wanted to escape from something.”

  Madison nodded. “I’ve met a fair few people who grew up in Laxey. They all talk about running away to Aunt Bessie’s to get away from their parents and their problems. I may take you up on that offer one of these days. I’ll ring first.”

  “You could always stay with me for a few days,” Luke suggested.

  “Maybe,” Madison replied, flushing and looking at the ground.

  “I have a spare room at the moment, too,” Harry said. “Although I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to stay with me, not after the way I treated Phillip.”

  “I don’t blame you for being angry with Phillip. We were all upset with him for leaving the way he did, really. I was quite annoyed that he wouldn’t come back, as well. I hated having to deal with Mum and Dad on my own.” Madison sighed and then slowly got to her feet. “We’ll get out of your way,” she told Bessie.

  “You’re always more than welcome,” Bessie replied.

  “But your friend must be tired of listening to our troubles,” Luke said, nodding at Doona.

  “Your troubles make mine seem small indeed,” Doona replied.

  Bessie walked the trio to the door and then let them out. Doona joined her in the doorway, and they watched them walk to the car that was in the small parking area next to the cottage. Luke helped Madison into the passenger seat as Harry climbed into the back. Once Luke was behind the wheel and had started the car, Bessie shut her door.

  “You need to ring John,” Doona said as Bessie began gathering up plates and cups.

  “I may ring Joney first,” Bessie replied. “She knows everyone in Foxdale, after all.”

  Doona nodded. “I thought of her when Harry first mentioned Foxdale. Wasn’t she a teacher?”

  “She was, so she may well know a great deal about Nicole, anyway.”

  Doona started the washing-up while Bessie dialled Joney’s number.

  “Hello?”

  “Joney? It’s Bessie Cubbon.”

  A loud laugh greeted her words. After a moment, Joney cleared her throat. “I was just saying it wouldn’t be long before Aunt Bessie rang me,” she said. “I reckon you want to know all about Nicole Carr, don’t you?”

  “I do indeed.”

  Joney chuckled again. “I should make you buy me tea and a cake somewhere nice in exchange for that information, but I’m too busy right now for such things.”

  “I’d be happy to buy you tea and cake anytime.”

  “It’ll have to wait at least a fortnight,” Joney told her. “My William is taking me on holiday tomorrow. We’re going to Greece, him and me and his girlfriend. He said I deserve a treat for all the years I spent looking after him. I reckon it’s his girlfriend who’s putting ideas in his head, but I’m not complaining, am I?”

  “I should hope not.”

  “She’s lovely, anyway, and she lost her own mother a few years back, so she appreciates me in a way that William doesn’t.”

  “I’m glad things are going well for you,” Bessie said sincerely. She liked Joney and her sister, Bahey. The sisters were more than a decade younger than Bessie, but they had grown up in Laxey and knew many of the same people. Bahey had never married, although she did have a man in her life now. Joney was a widow who’d taught school both before her marriage and after her husband’s death. William was her only child.

  “Better for me than for young Nicole, I reckon,” Joney said. “I never did like her, and I can say that now that I’m retired.”

  “You did teach her, then?”

  “I tried to teach her, but she wasn’t much interested in learning. As I said, I didn’t care for her, but she was just one of hundreds of children who didn’t like school and made no effort to hide that fact. Her parents had a house about four doors from mine, though, which means I got to know her rather better than most.”

  “Did you get on with her parents?”

  “They were okay. Again, not much for book learning, but her father worked hard at the local garage and her mother kept the house clean and tidy. They were pleased when she took up nursing and from what I’ve heard she did okay with her studies at that, anyway.”

  “What else can you tell me about Nicole?”

  “She was ever so pleased with herself when she started seeing Phillip Tyler,” Joney said. “He’d been to uni and everything. She seemed to settle down, too, not that she’d been all that wild, to be fair. I was surprised when it came out that she’d been cheating on him. I’d spoken to her once or twice about Phillip and she always seemed to be crazy about him.”

  “What about Liam Kirk?”

  “That man should have a warning label tattooed on his forehead,” Joney replied.

  “Why?”

  “He’s some sort of boxer, but that hasn’t hurt his handsome face. He’s superficially charming, but it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that he smacks Nicole around now and then. Not that anyone has suggested that he does. I just think he�
��s the type that would. You may have guessed that I don’t like him.”

  “Do they live near you?”

  “Thankfully, no. They’re almost as far away from me as anyone can be and still be in Foxdale. Nicole’s parents moved away a while back, so I don’t really see Nicole or Liam very often. I’ve heard stories, though.”

  “That’s why I rang you,” Bessie laughed.

  Joney chuckled. “I have a friend who lives across the road from them. She told me that they fight nearly all the time. Not just little disagreements, either, but huge screaming rows where one of them ends up slamming out of the house and driving away with tyres squealing.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I don’t suppose your friend knows what the fights are usually about?”

  “Well, last year a lot of them seemed to be about whether or not they should have children, or at least that’s what my friend told me. She said Nicole wants kids but Liam doesn’t. He likes being able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants and he reckons kids might get in the way.”

  “He’s probably right about that.”

  “Unless he simply ignored them and let Nicole handle it all on her own, which is likely.”

  “You said that was last year. Have the fights changed, then?”

  “Just in the last few months my friend said they’ve been fighting more about other things. She said it’s almost always something different every time they argue. One night they fought about the brand of toothpaste that Nicole bought at the shops and another night Liam stormed out because Nicole hadn’t ironed the shirt he wanted for the next day.”

  “My goodness. It sounds as if they’ll argue about anything and everything.”

  “Apparently they do just that. Lately, as in the past week or two, my friend reported hearing Nicole say that she was sorry she’d ever met Liam and that she should have stayed with Phillip, who’d treated her much better than Liam does.”

  “And what did Liam have to say to that?”

  “My friend said that he told her to get on the ferry and go find Phillip if that was how she felt. He said he’d happily file for divorce once she’d gone.”

  “She should have gone.”

  “I agree. Liam already has a flat in Douglas that he uses several nights a week. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he has at least one girlfriend who is staying over at the flat when he’s there.”

  “I’ll never understand women who sleep with married men.”

  “As I said, he’s superficially charming. I’m sure Nicole thought he was wonderful before she married him.”

  “Enough so that she was willing to cheat on Phillip.”

  “Yes, exactly that.”

  “Has your friend ever seen any evidence that Liam is physically abusive?” Bessie asked.

  “No, she hasn’t. I keep expecting it, really, but so far the abuse has all been verbal.”

  “And Nicole just lets him yell at her?”

  “Oh, no, she gives as good as she gets. The abuse goes both ways in that relationship.”

  Bessie sighed. “Why don’t they just divorce and move on with their lives?”

  “I didn’t think you’d approve of divorce.”

  “I don’t, usually. Many times I think couples see it as an easy answer, far easier than working together to make their marriage work, but when either or both parties are abusive, for whatever reason, divorce seems justified.”

  “Yes, well, as I said, this is all secondhand information, but from what my friend says, the relationship is pretty grim.”

  “Can you tell me anything else about them?”

  “Just that things have been very quiet at the house since Phillip’s murder. My friend thinks Liam has been staying in Douglas, and she hasn’t seen Nicole except from a distance. She’s been trying to think of an excuse to go over and try to talk to her, but she hasn’t come up with one yet.”

  “I suggest she stay away from both Nicole and Liam until Phillip’s killer is behind bars.”

  “Yes, I suppose that’s good advice. I can’t see Nicole killing anyone, but Liam might. Phillip wasn’t killed with some weird martial arts technique that doesn’t leave a mark, was he?”

  “No, he wasn’t.”

  “What a shame. I suppose if he had been, Inspector Rockwell would have already had the case all wrapped up, though. I’ll ring you back if I think of anything else or if my friend rings again before I go. Otherwise, you owe me a cuppa when I get back from Greece.”

  “That sounds good. I’ll look forward to hearing all about Greece.”

  Bessie put the phone down and then told Doona what Joney had said. “And now I must ring John and tell him all of that again,” she sighed when she was done.

  When she reached him, John offered to come to Bessie’s cottage. “It will probably be easier to speak to you in person, rather than over the phone,” he said.

  Bessie put the kettle on while they waited for John to arrive. When he did turn up, she did her best to repeat everything that Madison and the others had said before telling him about her talk with Joney. John took extensive notes.

  “What did Harry and Luke have to say while Bessie and Madison were outside?” John asked Doona when Bessie was done.

  “Nothing much,” Doona replied. “Mostly they talked about football. I made coffee and kept quiet.”

  “That isn’t like you,” John teased.

  Doona chuckled. “It wasn’t easy, but I was hoping one of them would say something relevant to the murder investigation.”

  “But they didn’t?” John checked.

  “Not unless the defensive line in the England squad has something to do with the murder,” Doona sighed.

  “A few new things to consider, anyway,” John said as he shut his notebook. “The memorial service tomorrow may be interesting. Take Doona with you,” he told Bessie. “I’ll be there as well, officially.”

  “So we’ll see you tomorrow around two,” Bessie said as John got to his feet.

  Doona stood up and followed John to the door. “I should go and get some dinner,” she said.

  “You’re welcome to come home with me,” John invited. “Amy is making shepherd’s pie again. Last time it was only barely edible. If there are more of us, we can make it look as if more was eaten this time.”

  Doona laughed. “What a tempting invitation.”

  “Is that a no?”

  “It’s a yes. I’d love to have dinner with you and the kids,” Doona told him.

  Bessie studied the pair as they walked back to their cars. Doona said something that made John laugh and left Bessie thinking that they were good together. Hopefully they’d both reach the same conclusion soon.

  She made herself some dinner while she went back over everything that she’d learned that day. An idea had occurred to her while she’d been talking to Madison, but she wasn’t certain it was a good one. The more she turned it over in her head, the more it sounded as if it were worth pursuing. That meant talking to one of her least favourite people in the world, though.

  It was too late to worry about anything for that evening, so Bessie curled up with a book for a few hours. Unless she could think of an alternative, she’d make a final decision in the morning.

  Chapter 9

  Bessie woke up with a sick feeing in the pit of her stomach. Her subconscious had been unable to come up with a better plan, which meant she was going to have to seek out someone she generally tried to avoid. She made a face at herself in the mirror as she combed her hair.

  “It doesn’t matter what you wear,” she told herself as she stood in front of her wardrobe. She was aware that she’d pulled out a slightly nicer jumper than what she might normally have chosen. After a quick breakfast, she headed out for her walk.

  Having reaching Thie yn Traie in what felt like only a few steps, she continued onwards at a rapid pace. It was only when the new houses came into view that she slowed down and had stern words with herself.


  “It’s no use trying to walk away from the idea,” she scolded herself in a low voice. “If the idea has merit, you’ll simply have to grit your teeth and get through it. Otherwise, just drop the whole thing.” The more Bessie thought about, the more she felt that the idea was a good one. After briefly considering discussing it with John, she decided it would be better not to mention it to him. He’d probably feel as if Bessie was meddling in the investigation, even though she was simply trying to find out more about something that was bothering her.

  She’d walked past the new houses by the time she’d reluctantly decided it was time to return to Treoghe Bwaane. She turned around and retraced her steps, smiling as Grace’s mother slipped out of Hugh and Grace’s home through the sliding door at the back. She was carrying the baby, and Bessie picked up her pace to join the woman as she dropped into a chair on the small patio.

  “Good morning,” Bessie said softly. The baby was wrapped up warmly against the cold December air, which meant Bessie couldn’t see if she was awake or asleep.

  “Good morning. No need to whisper. Baby Watterson doesn’t seem to need very much sleep,” Grace’s mother replied with a sigh. “You’re welcome to join us,” she added, nodding towards the other chairs.

  Bessie sat down and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I take it you’re not getting much sleep?”

  “I went to bed around nine and got a few good hours of sleep while Hugh and Grace were still up. Grace was then up and down with the baby every two hours or so until I finally took her away at four. When my children were small, we fed them on a schedule, which meant mums could get a few hours of sleep between feeds. I appreciate that feeding on demand is kinder to the baby, but sometimes I think babies just cry when bored or windy, not hungry. Grace is making herself crazy trying to feed the baby every time she whimpers.”

  “I can’t imagine,” Bessie murmured.

  “Anyway, Grace fed her at four and then I took her into my room. She just woke up a short while ago, and we’ve come outside for some fresh air so that she can’t wake her mother until she’s properly hungry.”