“Are you suggesting that they don’t exist?” Hugh wondered.
“I don’t know what I’m suggesting,” Bessie replied. “It was just something that caught my attention. I’m not even certain why, but it feels as if it might have some bearing on what happened to Phillip. No one seems to know why he came back to the island. What if he’d discovered that some of the people who’ve been given grants by the fund didn’t actually need them or weren’t what they claimed to be? Maybe he came back to talk to Oliver about his concerns.”
“And Oliver killed him because he’s been pocketing the money from the fund,” Doona concluded.
“It’s a possibility,” John said. “For what it’s worth, The Liliana Fund has a spotless reputation on the island. I couldn’t find any hint of any complaints or issues with the fund since it was established. Having Dan poke around a bit is probably a good idea. Without any complaints, I’ve no reason to begin a formal investigation into the charity, and my informal efforts have turned up nothing thus far.”
“Dan would only agree to investigate if I’d agree to give him an interview. I refused, of course, which means it’s highly unlikely he’ll be doing anything. He did give me the name of the woman who covers good causes for the paper. I left her a note. I don’t know if she’ll follow up on it or not.”
“Perhaps I should ring Dan and make a suggestion of my own,” John said. “I’m going to give the idea some thought, anyway.”
A loud buzzing noise startled everyone. Aalish, who’d been fast asleep, jumped in her mother’s arms and then began to scream. Grace frowned and then dug her mobile out of her handbag.
“It’s my mother,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Hello?”
“Yes, you can hear the baby crying, actually. That’s because she was fast asleep until the phone went off and woke her.” Hugh took the baby as Grace frowned at her phone.
“We’ll be home when we’re done here. I didn’t realise I had a curfew tonight.”
“Aalish will be up all night because she’s a baby who sleeps whenever she wants and gets up whenever she wants, not because we’ve kept her out too late.”
“We’ve decided on Aalish, but we’re spelling it with two a’s.”
“Can we have this conversation later? We’re here on police business, after all.”
Grace listened for a moment and then pushed a button on her phone and dropped it back into her handbag.
“Are we in trouble with your mother?” Hugh asked.
Grace rolled her eyes. “I love her dearly, but Aalish is our baby and our responsibility. I really appreciate everything Mum’s done to help, but maybe it’s time for her to go home.”
“Already?” Hugh asked, looking concerned.
“Not tonight, but maybe before too much longer. We have to learn to look after Aalish by ourselves at some point. Maybe it will easier if we have to start now, rather than later.”
Hugh looked doubtful, but he nodded anyway. “Whatever you want is fine with me,” he said.
Doona chuckled. “More marriages would succeed if all men felt that way.”
Everyone laughed.
“He doesn’t always give in to me,” Grace said. “In this instance, though, I’m the one who wanted Mum here. I wasn’t expecting her to take over so completely, though. She makes me feel as if I’m a child again, rather than Aalish’s mother.”
“We’ll talk to her when we get home,” Hugh said. “We’ve both been letting her do everything since the baby arrived. Maybe if we ask her to back off a bit, she’ll agree.”
Grace shrugged. “We have to do something. I won’t have her ringing me to demand that I bring the baby home, not when the baby is my baby, for heaven’s sake.”
“She demanded that you bring Aalish home?” Bessie asked.
“Not exactly demanded, but she was pretty insistent,” Grace replied. “I probably would have made a joke of it if I weren’t so tired and so overwhelmed by everything.”
“Maybe we should get Aalish home,” Hugh suggested. “I think you and your mother need to talk.”
“You aren’t getting out of it that easily,” Grace told him. “All three of us need to talk, although I think you’re going to have to change the baby first.”
“She needs changing?” Hugh asked.
“Not yet, but she probably will soon,” Grace replied.
She got to her feet and took Aalish back from Hugh. He grabbed the car seat and together they managed to get the baby safely buckled inside. Aalish was vocal with her disapproval as they worked.
“Sorry about the noise,” Grace said as Hugh picked up the car seat and they headed for the door.
Bessie had also stood up, and while the couple were securing the baby in her seat, she’d filled a small bag with chocolate chip cookies. “It’s up to you whether you want to share them with your mother or not,” she told Grace as she handed her the bag.
Grace laughed. “She probably needs some sweetening up after that phone call, but Hugh may have them all gone before we get home.”
Bessie let the little family out of the house and then sat back down at the table with John and Doona.
“It feels quite empty in here now,” Doona remarked.
“It’s certainly a good deal quieter,” Bessie laughed.
“Right, let’s talk about motive and means and opportunity,” John suggested. “I know we did all of that recently, but it can’t hurt to go over everything again.”
“I’ll just put the kettle on,” Bessie replied.
She was halfway to the sink when another loud noise filled the room. John frowned and then pulled out his mobile. He looked surprised when he checked the display.
“Hello?”
“Yes, speaking.”
Bessie watched as John’s face went pale. “Can you clarify that, please? In laymen’s terms.”
Several minutes passed and Bessie could tell from the expression on John’s face that whatever he was hearing wasn’t good news. All thoughts of tea were pushed aside as she sat down next to him and rested a hand on his arm.
“I’m not home right now, but I can be in ten minutes,” he said eventually. “I’ll ring you as soon as I’m with the children.” He dropped the phone into his pocket as he got to his feet.
“What’s wrong?” Bessie asked.
“That was Harvey,” John replied, sounding shocked. “Sue has taken a turn for the worse. He doesn’t know if she’s going to make it, and he wants me to have the children ring her so she can talk to them one more time.”
Bessie gasped as Doona stood up. “I’ll come with you,” she told John. “The children are going to need all the support they can get.”
“Do you want me to come, too?” Bessie asked.
John looked at her for a minute and then shook his head. “I’m hoping Harvey is overreacting. He gave me a lengthy medical report that meant nothing to me before he said simply that he thinks she’s beyond any further treatment. I don’t know what to think, but I’ll worry about that later. For now, I need to get home to the children.”
“Do you want me to drive you home?” Doona asked as they headed for the door.
“It isn’t far, and I probably need something else to concentrate on anyway,” John said. “Just follow me, okay?”
“Sure,” Doona agreed.
Bessie watched as they walked to their cars and then drove away. She was left feeling rather helpless, her heart aching for Thomas and Amy. Still, maybe Harvey was overreacting. Perhaps Sue would recover, and the whole scary situation would have a happy resolution.
Feeling too wound up to sleep, Bessie curled up with Onnee’s next letter. It was short and talked a great deal about how difficult pregnancy was proving to be. They’d moved into a larger flat, but were still looking for a house to purchase. Faith’s name wasn’t mentioned once.
Bessie was yawning when she finished the letter. While she was tempted to continue, wondering about Faith, she knew she was too tired to transcribe the difficu
lt handwriting properly. Instead, she carefully put everything away and headed for bed.
While she was tempted to ring Doona to find out what was happening with Sue, she knew that she was simply being nosy. Doona would tell her what she could when she had the chance. Bessie was sure that she’d never be able to sleep, not with both Sue and Phillip’s murder on her mind, but she was asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow. The next morning she was very aware that she’d had a number of unpleasant dreams, but they faded quickly as she showered. After a bowl of cereal with milk, she went out for her walk, determined to walk to the new houses and back.
She hadn’t gone far past Thie yn Traie when she changed her mind. If she saw Hugh or Grace, she might be tempted to say something to them about Sue, and it wasn’t her place to pass that news along. She walked for a short while longer and then turned around when she was still some distance from the new houses.
A light rain was starting to fall when she reached the steps to Thie yn Traie. She’d only gone a few additional paces when she was surprised to hear someone calling her name.
Chapter 12
“Aunt Bessie?”
Elizabeth Quayle was making her way down the stairs from Thie yn Traie.
“Be careful,” Bessie shouted, wincing as Elizabeth jumped from one rickety staircase to the next. “The stairs are slippery when they’re wet,” Bessie reminded the girl. Bessie knew firsthand how dangerous they could be, too, as she’d fallen, or rather been pushed, down them herself.
“I’m fine,” Elizabeth laughed as she leapt to the ground, ignoring the last several steps. “How are you?”
“I’m quite well, thank you,” Bessie told her. “I did forget my umbrella, though, which is unfortunate.”
Elizabeth laughed again and then opened the large umbrella she was carrying. “I have one, but I didn’t think to open it,” she said. She got closer to Bessie, holding the cover over both of them.
“What are you doing up so very early?” Bessie asked.
The girl blushed. “I don’t always lie in until midday,” she said. “Okay, I often lie in until ten or eleven, though.” She giggled and then shrugged. “Today I’m working. It’s nearly Christmas and suddenly everyone wants to have parties and special events, and I’m almost overwhelmed.”
“Your new business is doing very well, then.”
“It is, almost too well. I’ve no time for anything else. I had planned to go across for a few days to visit some friends, but I’ve had to cancel, which was disappointing.”
Bessie wondered whom Elizabeth had been planning to visit. Andy Caine was at culinary school across. He and Elizabeth had spent quite a lot of time together during his recent summer holidays and Bessie knew he’d been coming back to the island much more regularly lately than he had in the first year of his studies. Andy was a hard-working young man who had recently come into a completely unexpected fortune. Bessie thought he was a good match for Elizabeth, a rather spoiled girl who’d have her own fortune one day. “That’s a shame,” Bessie said.
“Yes, well, never mind. I mustn’t complain. This year, for the first time ever, I’m actually going to buy presents for my parents with money I’ve earned myself. It’s weirdly liberating, even though neither of them actually needs anything.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I should have started working years ago, of course, but I was a spoiled brat who didn’t appreciate all of the advantages I’ve had in life. I have to say, though, I don’t think I was ever as bad as some of my clients. The demands that I get are incredible. People seem to think that if they throw enough money around they can have anything they want.”
“Oh, dear.”
“But I didn’t rush down here to see you to complain about anything,” Elizabeth said quickly. “For the most part, life is good, and my little business is turning out to be much more successful than I ever dreamt. Andy will be home for Christmas, too. What more could I want?”
Bessie grinned. “You and Andy are still together, then?”
“I’m not sure what we are, actually, but that’s okay, too. We’ve survived him being away for the last several months and now we get to spend Christmas together. He has to go back for a few more classes and exams, but then he’ll be done in February. I suppose the real test of our relationship will come when he’s back on the island for good, but I really don’t want to talk about him. I always feel as if things are going far too well and if I talk about it, everything will go wrong.”
“So what did you want to talk to me about this morning?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Elizabeth laughed. “I was reading in the paper about Phillip Tyler’s death. It’s so very sad.”
“You knew Phillip?”
“A bit. You know Mum is always going along to charity events. I believe she supports every single charity on the island, at least a bit. She hates going to the events, even though Daddy loves them. Whenever he’s busy or away, I usually go with Mum so she doesn’t have to go alone. That’s probably where I got the idea for my business, actually. I’ve been to an awful lot of events that were clearly arranged by amateurs.”
“I suppose our local charities can’t really afford to hire you to help, either.”
“Oh, I’m doing a lot of volunteer planning for local charities. In fact, I’m up early today to spend some time with a local charity, helping them plan their next fundraiser. I don’t charge good causes for my time, and I do my best to get them good prices for catering and whatever else they need. The big parties I do for my mother’s friends and mine pay me well enough that I can afford to be generous with my spare time.”
“Whether you can afford it or not, it’s still very kind of you,” Bessie said, patting the girl’s arm.
Elizabeth blushed. “It’s something that Andy and I talk about a lot, actually. When he gets back and opens his restaurant, he wants to find a way to help with the catering side of things for the charities that I help. But that’s another conversation for another day. I can witter on, can’t I?”
“What did you want to tell me about Phillip?” Bessie asked.
“Oh, nothing particularly, I just wanted to talk about him, I suppose. I know you’re involved in the investigation and I heard that you even found the body. It’s all rather horrible, really.”
“It’s very sad, yes. What did you think of Phillip?”
“He was rather quiet and very focussed, although he kept changing jobs, which meant his focus changed all the time, if you see what I mean.”
“I’m not sure that I do.”
“I remember meeting him at some event for one of the island’s children’s charities. He spent ten minutes talking to Mum and me about how crucial it was for the island’s children to get the right start in life. They were raising money for a literacy programme, I believe. Anyway, a few months later I saw him at another event. It was for one of those charities that raises money for disaster relief overseas. He was passionate about how desperately our money was needed to save lives after some flood or famine, I forget which.”
Bessie nodded. “He did change jobs several times, I believe.”
“The last time I saw him, he was working for yet another charity. Mum got a long spiel about supporting medical research for children’s cancer. His stories were heartwarming and I know Mum wrote a big cheque on the spot.”
“I suppose, when you work for good causes, you need to shift your passion as you change jobs.”
“I suppose so, but I found it odd. I even asked him, at the party for that cancer charity, about a natural disaster that had happened recently, one that I knew his former employers were trying to support. He gave me a blank stare, as if he was completely unaware of the situation.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just felt it was odd how completely he’d switched from one cause to another. Maybe it’s just me, but if I spent a year of my life trying to drum up support for a good cause, I’d still follow their efforts, even if I moved on to a new job.”
“I’ve never really thought about it,” Bessie admitted. “I don’t get invited to a lot of charity events, of course, but I’ve learned a bit about good causes through Christmas at the Castle. Everyone I’ve spoken to there seems completely devoted to his or her particular good cause. Most of them are volunteers, though. Perhaps it’s different if you’re actually employed by the charity.”
“Maybe. I just thought I’d mention it to you,” Elizabeth replied. “I suppose I’m contrasting Phillip with Oliver in some ways. He’s completely and utterly devoted to The Liliana Fund.”
“But he started The Liliana Fund. It was his idea from the start.”
“Yes, I know,” Elizabeth sighed. “I know all about The Liliana Fund, in tremendous detail.”
“Really?”
“I met Oliver at one of his Liliana Fund events. It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve started going with Mum to more things. My older brother used to take Daddy’s place when Daddy was away, but now he’s invited to just about everything on his own accord, so I’ve stepped in. Anyway, I met Oliver at some party a few years ago.”
“And he told you all about The Liliana Fund?”
Elizabeth flushed. “Not really, not at the party, anyway. We only talked for a few minutes at the party, but that was long enough for him to ask for my number. I was, well, flattered, really. I hadn’t been on the island for long and I didn’t know many people. Oliver was handsome and charming.”
“So he rang you?”
“He did, the very next day, which was also flattering. We had dinner together a few nights later.”
“And that’s when he told you all about his charity?”
Elizabeth laughed. “I’m telling this story badly. No, that first night we talked about me, mostly. He wanted to hear every last detail about my life, and he seemed to hang on my every word. I’m sure he must have been bored to bits, but I told him all about my family, my friends, all the universities I’d been to, et cetera, ad nauseam. He pretended to be fascinated.”
Aunt Bessie Understands Page 18
