“That wasn’t the way I was raised,” Bessie told him. “Ice cream was an indulgence, only for special occasions, not for every day. And it was only eaten as pudding if you ate all of your vegetables.”
“Bah, I was raised the same way and my wife did the same with our children, but whenever she went away to visit her family or whatever, the children and I always had ice cream for lunch or dinner one day. It was our special thing, and we never told my wife about it. Now I live alone and I have ice cream pretty much whenever I want. Life is too short to always eat your vegetables first.”
Bessie sighed. “Come on, then, let’s get ice cream,” she said. The sensible side of her wanted to argue, but being with Andrew made her feel younger and just the tiniest bit rebellious. A small treat would probably do her good.
Andrew got three scoops of chocolate chocolate-chip ice cream. Bessie got two scoops of strawberry with a scoop of vanilla in the middle.
“It’s very good,” Andrew said after his first taste.
“It really is,” Bessie agreed.
They found a bench and sat and ate their frozen treats while they watched the sea splashing on the rocks. A few seals were bobbing around in the water and Bessie was quick to point them out to Andrew.
“This is a little slice of heaven,” he sighed. “Ice cream, sunshine, sea, seals; this island has everything.”
“Unless you’re Ron and bored.”
“He won’t be less bored in London, just more poor,” Andrew said. “I could never be bored with the sea on my doorstep.”
After they finished their ice cream, they made their way up the steps to Peel Castle. Bessie knew the girl behind the ticket window and they chatted for a moment before she and Andrew took their audio guides and made their way into the castle grounds.
“I shall feel just a tiny bit rude, using this,” Andrew said, “but I truly do want to see everything.”
“Off you go,” Bessie told him. “I’m going to visit a few favourite spots and then find a bench in the sun and watch the seals some more. Take your time and find me when you’re finished.”
Andrew agreed. Bessie watched as he walked over to the first marker and listened intently to his audio guide. It had been a while since she’d taken the audio tour herself, but she knew the site well. After visiting her favourite spots and hearing their history, she returned her audio guide and talked to the girl in the booth for a while longer.
“Is your friend visiting from across?” the girl asked.
“Yes, he’s just here for the week,” Bessie replied.
“Is he from the island or did you meet him elsewhere?”
“I met him when I was on holiday in the UK.”
“Oh, that’s romantic, isn’t it? You met him on holiday and now he’s come across to visit you. Will you be going over to see him one day, then?”
Bessie flushed. “There’s nothing romantic about it at all. We became friends when we met, and when he felt he wanted a holiday, he decided to come here, that’s all.”
“Where does he live across?”
“London.”
“Oh, you should go and visit him, for sure. There are so many wonderful museums and things to see in London. It would be a great holiday for you.”
“I do enjoy a trip to London now and again,” Bessie admitted, “but I haven’t been there in five or six years now.”
“Now you have the perfect excuse. You can go and visit your handsome friend.”
Bessie smiled at the girl. “He is rather handsome, isn’t he?”
The girl laughed. “He might be a touch old for me, but he’s very distinguished looking.”
“Not to change the subject, but someone told me that Sandra Oliver was working out here now,” Bessie said.
“She is, yes. She’s working in the gift shop. Do you know Sandra?”
“Not really, but I know someone who knows her,” Bessie said, trying to sound offhand. “We’ll definitely want to visit the gift shop anyway.”
“She should be there. She’s here all day today. It’s her first day on her own, though, so be patient if you want to buy anything. She gets flustered easily, I hear.”
“I’m told new jobs are always difficult. I can’t quite imagine.”
“They are. I’ve moved around quite a lot myself, and every time I get a new job I hate how long it takes to adjust. The last job I had, I’d only just started to get the hang of it when they closed up shop. It’s better here, though. Everyone has been really nice and I’ve already learned a lot about Peel Castle. I’ve been told that I’m going to have to start learning about the other sites, too. They want to be able to move me around, which I’m not as excited about. I live in Peel and I don’t like to drive too far to get to work.”
“You should offer to learn about the House of Mannanan next,” Bessie suggested.
The girl nodded. “Yeah, that’s the next closest place, and I have to drive past it to get here every day. You’d think I’d like it better, really, but I like being outside. My little booth is covered for when it rains, but when it’s quiet and the weather is good, I can go and sit outside and just enjoy myself. And it’s quiet out here a lot, really.”
“It sounds as if it would be an almost perfect job.”
“It is at that,” the girl agreed.
Andrew wandered over a short while later. “That was excellent,” he said. “I loved every minute of it.”
“It’s a wonderful site,” Bessie agreed.
Andrew returned his audio guide and smiled at Bessie. “Maybe we should visit the gift shop,” he suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” Bessie replied.
Chapter 10
“Good morning,” the pretty brunette behind the counter in the gift shop said as Bessie and Andrew walked in.
“Good morning,” Bessie echoed. “How are you today?”
“Oh, I’m very well, thank you. How are you?” the woman replied.
“Fine, thanks,” Bessie told her.
“Is this your first visit to Peel Castle?” she asked.
“Oh, goodness, no. I’ve been here probably hundreds of times, but it is my friend’s first visit.”
“We have an excellent range of books about the history of the castle and the history of the island,” the woman said, waving towards the back of the shop.
“I could do with a book or two,” Andrew said. The woman walked out from behind the counter and led Andrew towards the shelves at the back.
“I didn’t realise you were carrying this title,” Bessie exclaimed as she picked up a copy of the book containing the papers that had been given at the previous year’s Manx History Conference.
“What makes that one interesting?” Andrew asked.
“Oh, I have a paper in it, that’s all,” Bessie said, blushing.
“Really?” both Andrew and the woman said at the same time. Andrew picked up another copy of the book and flipped to the table of contents.
“I shall have to buy a copy and you shall have to sign it for me,” he told Bessie.
“Oh, I couldn’t,” she exclaimed.
“Of course you can,” he replied. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist. There’s nothing better than having a book that’s been signed by the author.”
“I only wrote a tiny part of that book, and it’s hardly a bestseller or anything,” Bessie protested.
“Well, I’m impressed,” the woman said. “I’d love to contribute something to the study of the island’s history, but I imagine I won’t be able to do that for ages yet.”
“Are you in school now?” Bessie asked.
“I’m trying,” the woman sighed. “I take classes at night and work during the day, which sounds manageable until I add in my three children. They’re all under the age of seven and quite a handful.”
“I hope your husband helps a lot,” Bessie said.
The woman flushed. “I’m not, that is, we never married, their father and I. He didn’t really believe in marri
age, or so he told me. That was after he’d failed to tell me that he was already married when we met, of course.”
“I am sorry,” Bessie told her.
The woman nodded. “Yeah, so am I. He swept me off my feet and then, ah, but never mind. You don’t want to hear about my problems.”
“I’m always happy to listen,” Bessie replied. “Sometimes simply talking about a problem helps make it seem smaller.”
“But you’re Elizabeth Cubbon,” the woman said. She’d picked up a copy of the book and had been flipping through it. “I should have recognised you when you came in. As soon as I saw your name on the chapter in here, I realised.”
“Please, call me Bessie.”
“Oh, thank you. I’m Sandra Oliver. You can call me Sandra or even Sandy, although I don’t really use Sandy very often. My, er, ex, he used to call me Sandy because he knew it annoyed me, but I got rather used to it over the years. Now I’m tempted to use it all the time, just to show him. Except I doubt he’d even notice.” She shook her head. “I’m babbling about my problems again.”
“And you’re welcome to do so,” Bessie said firmly. “It sounds as if you’ve had a difficult time lately.”
“I’ve heard all about you, of course, and how you keep solving all those murders. I’ve always wondered how you find out so much about people, and here I am, telling you everything about me. It would be wonderful if you could solve the murder case that I’m tangled up in. I would happily tell you my life story if you could do that.”
“If you’re talking about Jeanne Stowe, everyone seems to be telling me about her lately,” Bessie said.
“I never should have given Kenny Wilkins the time of day,” Sandra sighed. “First he got me pregnant without telling me about his wife and then he got me tangled up in a murder investigation. I should have seen the look in his eye the day we met and realised right then and there that he was nothing but trouble.”
“He never told you about Jeanne?” Bessie asked.
“Oh, he did, eventually, after I’d fallen head over heels in love with him and found out I was knocked up. When I told him about the baby and suggested that it was high time he came up with a ring, that’s when he told me that he was already married.”
“What a huge shock for you.”
“It was. And I did the right thing, too. I broke up with him and told him I never wanted to see him again. And I didn’t see him again until he turned up on my doorstep with a signed divorce decree.” She sighed. “Maybe I should have insisted on getting a wedding ring right then and there, but I was so surprised that he’d actually divorced his wife for me that I didn’t think marriage really mattered. I should have known better, though.”
“It’s easy to make bad choices when you’re in love,” Andrew suggested.
Sandra nodded. “And I was crazy about Kenny, I truly was. And he was so excited about the baby. He wanted it even more than I did, although I hate to admit it. He told me that Jeanne didn’t want children. That was one of the reasons why they’d been having problems. He wanted our baby badly enough to leave Jeanne. I should have realised he didn’t leave her for me, he left her for the baby. At the time I didn’t see the difference.”
“You weren’t happy together?” Bessie asked.
Sandra shrugged. “I suppose, if I’m honest, that we were happy at first. Jeanne was badly hurt by the divorce, or so Kenny told me. She took up with some guy called Ron almost immediately, and I moved into the house that she and Kenny had once shared. That was uncomfortable, by the way, but it was a nice house and moving is costly, so it made sense, at least financially.”
“And Jeanne moved to Ramsey,” Bessie said.
“Yes, she got herself a flat up there. For a short while it was all good and then she and Ron split up and she started ringing Kenny all the time. The first time he dropped everything and ran up to Ramsey to help her with some DIY should have been a warning to me, but I felt so bad about coming between them that I didn’t say or do anything to stop him.”
“And then it became commonplace,” Andrew suggested.
“It very quickly became commonplace,” Sandra agreed. “I was getting bigger and bigger and having more and more trouble getting around and doing jobs around the house, but Kenny was off spending his nights and weekends at Jeanne’s flat, repairing leaking taps and rehanging doors. Every time I complained, he reminded me that he’d kicked her out of what had been their home together and that helping her out was the least he could do.”
“And did that continue until she died?” Bessie asked.
“Not exactly. Jeanne cut back on her demands when I first had the baby. I suspect she’d run out of things that needed doing, really. It was only a small flat. Anyway, for a while she left Kenny alone. She found herself another boyfriend and they were together long enough that I found myself pregnant again. But then, when that boyfriend left her to move across, she started ringing Kenny again. I was furious, but Kenny didn’t see anything wrong with leaving me with the baby so that he could change light bulbs at Jeanne’s flat.”
“Change light bulbs?” Bessie repeated. “Surely Jeanne could manage that little job on her own.”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but it was one of the things that she used to ask Kenny to do for her. She claimed that she had really bad vertigo and couldn’t stand on a chair to change the bulbs in the ceiling lights on her own.”
“Was that true?” Bessie asked.
“I’ve no idea, but I doubt it. I’m pretty sure Jeanne just liked having Kenny jump whenever she rang. She was very good at getting men to do what she wanted, I’m not sure how. Most of her men seemed to get tired of her demands after a while, but for some reason Kenny simply kept putting up with her for years and years.”
“And that went on until she died?” Andrew wondered.
“Off and on, yes. Whenever she found a new man, she’d stop ringing as much, maybe only once a week or so if she was in a new relationship. Then when she was single again, she’d be back to ringing three or four or five times a week.”
“How often did Kenny see her in the week before she died?” Bessie asked.
“Maybe once, which was less than it had been in the weeks before that last week. I was actually joking with Kenny a few days before the body was found that she must have landed a new boyfriend, actually.”
“Do you know who the man was?” Andrew asked.
“I don’t even know if there was a man. Sometimes Jeanne wouldn’t ring for a few days or even a few weeks, for no obvious reason. I always simply assumed that she’d found herself another man, but maybe she simply didn’t need any new light bulbs in those weeks. Kenny was actually starting to worry about her a day or two before the body was found, because she hadn’t rung. He may have even rung her flat to check on her, I’m not sure.”
Bessie nodded. “Was he terribly upset when she died?”
Sandra frowned. “He was very badly shaken up, but, well, I don’t know how he felt otherwise. I mean, he was upset that she was murdered, but I’ve never really understood how he felt about her otherwise. I’m not sure I’m making sense now.”
“Do you think he was still in love with her?” Bessie asked.
“Maybe. Let’s just say that she had an odd hold over him. That’s the only way I can explain it, really. He cheated, he threw her out of the house, but he never seemed to stop caring about her. It was odd, and I should have done something to put a stop to it, really.”
“But you stayed together after Jeanne’s death,” Bessie said.
“Yeah, I was naïve and thought things would get better,” the woman replied bitterly. “I’d always thought Jeanne was the biggest problem in our relationship. It turned out she was just one small part of what was wrong with our relationship. Kenny was the real problem.”
“I’m sorry,” Bessie said.
Sandra shrugged. “We’ve been separated for six months now and I’m just starting to feel as if I’m doing the right thing. The big
gest problem is that Kenny is devoted, truly devoted, to the kids. He loves them far more than he ever cared about me, that’s for sure. And I’m happy for them, but it means we fight about them constantly. He reckons he never gets to see them enough and I reckon he’ll just spoil them even more if he sees them more often.”
“It sounds as if it’s a difficult situation,” Bessie remarked.
“I keep thinking I should just get back with him to make life easier,” Sandra sighed. “I don’t really mean that,” she added hastily, “but I really hate being a single mother. It’s going to sound terrible, but I almost wish the police would arrest Kenny for Jeanne’s murder. That would take care of the biggest of my problems, anyway.”
“I am sorry,” Bessie told her.
Sandra shrugged. “He might have killed her, you know. He was getting pretty tired of rushing all the way to Ramsey all the time. I told him once that every minute he spent with Jeanne was a minute he was missing out on in his children’s lives. That made him really think about Jeanne’s place in his life, anyway. Maybe it pushed him over the edge and he killed her.”
“It’s a possibility,” Bessie said. “If it wasn’t Kenny, who do you think it might have been?”
“Probably some other man that she’d managed to enslave. I really don’t know how she did it. She wasn’t even all that pretty, but once she got her hooks into a man he’d do just about anything for her. It never lasted for all that long, at least not for most men. It was just my bad luck that the effects never seemed to wear off on Kenny, I suppose.”
“But he’d left Jeanne for you,” Bessie pointed out.
“Except he never really left her,” Sandra sighed. “Anyway, if Kenny didn’t kill her, then you should look at whomever she was seeing when she died. She was never without a man for long, although sometimes she was very discreet, like if the man was married or whatever.”
“Can you suggest anyone she might have been seeing?” Andrew asked.
“There was talk about her and her supervisor at the bank. His name was Nick something or other. He left the island a few years ago, though. I suppose if he did it the police will struggle to find him now.”
Aunt Bessie Solves Page 15
