by Morgana Best
“Yes, it was all very sudden,” I said. “Did you know him?” I realised it was a silly question as soon as I said it.
The man did not appear to mind. “My name is Alec Aldon.” He held out his hand.
I shook his hand, and it was the most limp handshake I had ever experienced.
“I am a neighbour,” he said, gesturing back down the road.
I realised he was the man tending to his roses outside the cottage I had passed on my way to Beckett’s. “Is that your lovely rose garden?”
He gave me the ghost of a smile. “Yes,” he whispered. “I’m a retired schoolteacher, so I spend most of my time in the garden.”
I had to strain to hear him. He was certainly a suspect in Beckett’s murder. I figured he had time to get to the house and murder Beckett after I drove past him. And if it wasn’t the murderer, then he should have seen someone fleeing from the scene, if they had gone back the way I had come. I came straight to the point. “Did any cars come from the direction of Beckett’s house after I drove past you?”
He shook his head, and quickly added in a soft tone, “I’m not a gossip. Why do you ask?”
I shrugged. “No reason.”
Someone had murdered Beckett, I was sure of it. If this strange man wasn’t the murderer, and had not seen anyone driving along the road, then the murderer must have left by way of the road behind Beckett’s house.
It was all too strange. If no one had followed me to Beckett’s, then why was he murdered? Whoever murdered Beckett had decided to do so when I arrived. This was clearly a spur of the moment decision. So how did the perpetrator just happen to have a murder weapon within easy reach at the right time? None of this made sense. Nothing added up.
Chapter 4
The aunts were sitting around the kitchen table sipping goblets of Witches’ Brew. A large glass bowl of tossed avocado salad sat in the middle of the table.
“Tell us everything, right from the beginning,” Aunt Agnes said. She emptied some salad into a glass bowl for me and slid it across the table. “Bread?” she added.
I nodded, and thanked her. I told them everything between bites of salad, but of course, I kept quiet about Lucas.
“It’s the new cleaner,” Dorothy said loudly.
Agnes leant over to her and tapped the table in front of her. “Hush, Dorothy.”
“We sent her home,” Dorothy protested. “She can’t hear us.”
“If she was here after I left, then she couldn’t be the murderer,” I said. I thought about the new cleaner, Molly Myles. She seemed a timid woman, rather birdlike, very slim with sharp features, and hunched over. She looked something like a crow, or a small bird of prey. There was a harmless air about her, but I certainly wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
“She left as soon as you did,” Agnes said. “Considering our last cleaner, Bella Barker, murdered two men, it would surely be too much of a coincidence to have another cleaner who is also a murderer.”
I nodded. “Yes, two murdering cleaners in a row. What are the chances?”
Agnes shrugged one shoulder. “Still, she did leave as soon as you did, but then again, it was the time she was due to leave. Hmm, come to think of it, she did seem to leave in a hurry. I didn’t think it strange at the time, only in hindsight, so maybe I’m reading things into it.”
“I know it’s early days yet as far as suspects go,” I said, “but my money is on his housekeeper. I didn’t see her at all, and Beckett thought she should still be in the house. I find it suspicious that she disappeared.”
“Maybe she’s dead,” Dorothy said cheerfully. “Then she wouldn’t be guilty, as being dead would give her an alibi, if that makes sense.”
Agnes rolled her eyes. “It makes no sense at all. More salad, anyone?”
“I’d love some sourdough bread, please,” I said. I spread two slices liberally with vegemite and peanut butter. I figured it was a combination of the shock of the day’s events and having had a light breakfast. I took a large gulp of Witches’ Brew.
“What does Lucas think?” Aunt Agnes said, fastening her beady eyes on me.
I shifted in my seat. Why did I suddenly feel guilty? “He’s been called away on an important case, and he said he’d look into it as soon as he got back. He ordered me not to investigate.”
The aunts burst into laughter, as if that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. “And what did you say to that?” Aunt Agnes asked me.
“I said I wouldn’t be able to resist investigating, but I did promise him I would try to stay out of trouble.”
Aunt Agnes reached over and patted my hand. “Good work, Valkyrie.”
I swallowed my mouthful of vegemite and peanut butter covered bread and spoke again. “I forgot something. Beckett told me that the faction is called The Other.” I looked around the table to see the impact of my disclosure.
I was met with three blank faces. I knew from experience that meant they already knew, so why hadn’t they told me? Sometimes the aunts were just a little too much. I was about to say something, when Aunt Agnes spoke. “Did you see anyone else at all?”
I nodded. “Alec Aldon, Beckett’s neighbour. Have you ever heard of him?” They all shook their heads, so I pushed on. “There was something strange about him, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was very quiet, so quiet I could hardly hear what he said. He was awfully pale, ghostlike even.”
“Did you see anyone else at all?” Aunt Agnes asked me.
I shook my head. “Not a single soul. What’s more, I didn’t pass any cars on the way there, although I thought I heard a car leaving about the time that it happened. After the police came, I walked out the back and saw a parking area. The road continues on, so someone could have driven out that way.”
“I don’t suppose Beckett gave you the name of his housekeeper?” Aunt Maude said.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No such luck.”
The aunts exchanged glances. “We’ll have to find out who that housekeeper is,” Agnes said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find out.”
Aunt Maude chopped an avocado in half with a flourish. “If it wasn’t his housekeeper and it wasn’t our new cleaner, then it must be someone who’s been living in town.”
“What do you mean, Maude?” Aunt Dorothy said.
Maude set the knife down on the table with a thud. “It has to be someone who has been staying in town for a while. It would be too much of a coincidence if someone just happened to come to town on the very day that Valkyrie found that old envelope. No, that can’t be the case, so it must be someone who’s been living in town for a while.”
“That adds up,” I said. “That hadn’t occurred to me.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it, Valkyrie,” Aunt Agnes scolded me. “That means someone is keeping an eye on us.”
Aunt Maude nodded. “Yes, there must be someone who is posing as a normal townsperson, but keeping an eye on us. Someone who is allied with The Other. As we said, it couldn’t have been a random stranger.”
“Maybe our housekeeper overheard what we were saying about the envelope,” Aunt Agnes said. “Did we read that address out loud?”
“No, I’m sure we didn’t,” Dorothy said.
Aunt Maude disagreed. “Yes, I’m sure we did.”
I actually couldn’t remember whether we did or we didn’t. I changed the subject. “You know, I didn’t pass a single car on the way out there and it was a long drive to his house. His creepy neighbour said he hadn’t seen another car, either.”
Aunt Agnes snorted. “Of course you didn’t pass another car, because our housekeeper was following you, or maybe the perpetrator was following you.”
I shook my head in exasperation. “No, I just told you that his neighbour said there wasn’t another car on the road. I still think it was Beckett’s housekeeper, because Beckett was surprised that his housekeeper had left.”
Aunt Dorothy frowned deeply. “And you think the housekeeper drove
in the other direction when she left the house? If his housekeeper was innocent and had driven back to Lighthouse Bay, you would have passed her on the way.”
“That’s correct.” I nodded. “The road did continue right past his house. When I say road, it was just a dirt lane, but it looked to be a well travelled one. And there’s something else we haven’t talked about—why was Beckett Maxwell murdered? What was the motive?”
Aunt Dorothy answered at once. “Someone murdered him to stop him telling Valkyrie where her parents were.”
“He said he didn’t know where my parents were,” I protested. “That can’t be the reason.”
Aunt Agnes agreed with me. “If someone really did think that Beckett knew where your parents were, they would have taken him and made them tell him. They certainly wouldn’t kill him. Therefore, it stands to reason that they thought he had told you everything he knew.”
I was exasperated once more. “Then why would they kill him? It doesn’t make sense.”
Agnes looked at me over her bifocals. “It’s obvious.”
I waited, and then waited some more, but she didn’t respond. “What’s obvious?” I finally said through gritted teeth.
“It’s obvious that he was going to tell you something else. It would be something that would be helpful to you, but something that the murderer already knew. Does that make sense?”
I shook my head. “No, not at all, to be honest.”
Aunt Agnes leant forward. “Valkyrie, the murderer did not want Beckett to tell you something. If it was something that the murderer didn’t already know, then the murderer would have taken Beckett and forced him to tell all. Therefore, one can only conclude that the murderer already knew what Beckett was about to tell you, but didn’t want you to know whatever it was.”
It took me a while to process that information. After a few moments, I figured it out. And then I remembered. My face filled with heat as I spoke through gritted teeth. “There’s something else that Beckett said that I had completely forgotten until now. He said my mother is on the Council.”
The aunts looked suspiciously unconcerned.
“Did you know that?”
Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Maude shook their heads vigorously, while Aunt Agnes said, “Your mother is my heir if something were to happen to me, but I am the one with the seat on the Council, not your mother.”
“But Beckett said my mother has a seat on the Council, too.”
“That’s just not possible.” Aunt Agnes’s tone was firm. “The poor man was clearly mistaken.”
“He seemed absolutely certain. In fact, my mother probably told him that. Why would she lie?”
“I’m sure your mother wouldn’t lie,” Aunt Agnes said, her eyes darting from side to side. “I’m sure he was confused. It was five years ago, after all. Or perhaps your mother told him that because she didn’t want to tell him that I was on the Council and that she was my heir.”
I stared at her, but she didn’t look away. Was she telling the truth? I had no way of knowing. Still, I knew from experience that Aunt Agnes’s eyes flitted from side to side when she was lying. I could hardly come out and accuse her of lying, so there was nothing I could do. I simply grimaced, and filed that piece of information away for the future.
There was a loud knock at the door. We all exchanged glances. Aunt Agnes rose, but Maude pulled her back down to her seat. “Don’t answer it, Agnes. It could be the murderer.”
“I hardly think that murderers knock on doors,” Agnes said snarkily. Maude protested further, but Agnes marched away. Maude shrugged and followed her.
I was not concerned. I, too, did not think Beckett’s murderer would knock on the door. Agnes and Maude presently returned with Linda. “I heard you found another dead body, Pepper.”
I put my head in my hands. “Why did you have to say another?”
Linda smiled ruefully. “Sorry, but you know what I mean.”
“How did you find out?” Agnes asked her.
“I just picked up the keys to my new house.” Linda held a set of keys in the air and jangled them happily. “The real estate agent knew I was a friend of yours, and she told me.”
“How did she know?” Agnes asked her.
Linda shrugged. “It’s all over Lighthouse Bay by now. At least it wasn’t a murder this time.”
“Yes, it was,” I said without thinking.
Linda looked shocked. I realised that Linda did not know anything about the Council or Agnes’s position on it, so I had certainly put my foot right in it.
Luckily, Aunt Agnes recovered before I did. “He was a friend of Valkyrie’s parents,” she said smoothly. “Earlier today, we found a letter from him that we had overlooked for the past five years. Pepper went to see him because she thought he might know what happened to her parents.”
“And did he?” Linda asked me.
I looked to Aunt Agnes for guidance. She continued. “He said Valkyrie’s parents were still alive, but they had to disappear for their own reasons. He was supposed to get the message to us, but we accidentally stored the envelope away with assorted bills and only found it today.”
“And so you think someone murdered him because he knew about your parents?” Linda asked me.
I nodded. “Something like that.” I noticed that all the aunts were visibly relieved. I thought Aunt Agnes quite clever, taking part of the truth and focusing on that. I didn’t like to keep anything from Linda, but this wasn’t my secret to keep, and what’s more, it was a secret that needed to be kept for the sake of people’s lives.
“Do the police know it was murder?”
I shook my head. “They’re sure it was natural causes. Oh, that reminds me. He had a plate of biscuits, and I wondered if maybe he had eaten one of them. I took a sample and thought we could get them tested for poison somewhere.” I pulled the crushed and cling-wrapped biscuits from my pocket and put them on the table.
“Good work, Valkyrie,” Aunt Agnes said. “We’ll get these tested.”
I didn’t want to ask her how she would, not in front of Linda. “I almost forgot. The paramedics told me he was wearing a diabetic medical alert bracelet.”
“Insulin could well be the murder weapon,” Aunt Agnes said. “It’s deadly in overdose, and he would have had some in the house, given that he was obviously a bad enough diabetic to warrant a medical alert bracelet. Did you see any sign of a syringe?”
I shook my head. “No, not at all. I took plenty of photos of the scene, so if there was a syringe, it would show up in the photos.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Linda said, “Pepper, do you have time to come and see my new house now? We could do some sleuthing later.”
“That’s a good idea,” Aunt Agnes said.
I shot her a look of suspicion. Was she up to something? Did she want me out of the way? Still, Linda did want me to go with her. “I suppose we could go to all the housecleaning services in town and ask if any of them were cleaners for Beckett Maxwell.” I looked at Linda. “Are we leaving now?” She nodded. “I’ll fill you in on the way.”
Chapter 5
Linda’s new house was beautiful. It was within walking distance of the town shops, and would afford her some privacy, being at the end of a battle-axe block. That is, it was a block of land behind another, and the access from the street to the house was down a narrow driveway.
“The house is brand new, so the garden hasn’t been done yet,” Linda said rather apologetically, indicating the bare patches of dirt.
I waved my arms. “It’s beautiful! It doesn’t need a garden to look good. This is magnificent.” The house was rendered and white, with large wooden and glass double doors at the front. I had seen photos of it online, but the sellers would not allow anyone else to inspect it when Linda had made her initial and then follow-up inspections.
“I’m going to get some iron gates that I can lock to give me even more privacy,” Linda said.
“You’re not expecting any troubl
e, are you?” Her comment made me rather anxious.
Linda laughed. “No, but murders have the habit of popping up in this town. You can’t be too careful. I’m even going to get a security system, and I’ll bet I’m the first person in town to have one.”
It was my turn to laugh. Most people in town left their doors unlocked.
Linda fiddled with the locks and then opened the doors. I gasped. The inside was even more impressive than the outside. I hadn’t realised at first glance that the house was built on a slight rise, and the wide entrance hall had steps that led to the rest of the house. “When is your furniture due to get here?”
“At some ridiculous hour late tonight,” Linda said with a sigh.
“How come?”
Linda shrugged. “Who knows?” She held up her hands. “It’s going to be after dark. I’ll have to be here to let in the men and then go back to the motel. Or maybe I’ll just camp here overnight. My coffee machine’s at the hotel, so I have the necessities.”
“If you do want to camp here overnight, I can fetch you some blankets and stuff from the manor. Or better still, why don’t you come back and stay with me overnight?”
Linda looked doubtful. “I don’t want to cramp yours and Lucas’s style.”
I laughed. “We don’t have a style—not yet, anyway. At any rate, he’s away on a case.”
“I might do that. Can I let you know later? It might be quite late.”
“That’s fine.” I poked my nose into her ensuite bathroom. “Wow, it’s lovely.” There was a freestanding bath next to a wall of glass with a rainforest shower. The large white tiles on the walls contrasted nicely with the chocolate brown tiles on the floor. “I love your bathroom.” Still, I wasn’t going to stand there too long and look at it, because the smell of disinfectant was pungent.
“So do I.” Linda clapped her hands together. “Come and see the rest of the house. It’s just as nice.” I followed her out the door and through the door opposite. “I’ll use this room as a study,” Linda said. She walked back up the stairs at the end of the entrance hall, which opened onto a huge open plan living room and kitchen. The bench tops were granite with a waterfall drop. “I’ve never seen anything like this in this town,” I said. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
