“Bessie? You're okay?” Doona was on the floor next to her in seconds, tears falling as she hugged her friend. “I would have never forgiven myself if you weren't okay,” she sobbed.
“I guess it's a good thing that I'm fine, then,” Bessie told her. “Now, someone needs to help me up.”
“I wouldn't advise that,” the paramedic said.
Bessie rolled her eyes at him. Hugh and Inspector Rockwell got on either side of Bessie and slowly brought her to her feet. She took a couple of cautious steps and then sank down in what used to be her favourite chair.
“I think I'll replace this chair,” she said softly. She couldn’t help but feel that now it would always remind her of Donny Pierce and his attempts to kill her.
“I'll buy you a new chair,” Doona told her. “It's the least I can do after putting you in all that danger.”
“Before we talk about how it all went wrong,” Bessie said. “What's happened to Donny?”
A sharp knock on the door interrupted the conversation. A uniformed constable standing in the doorway opened the door and allowed Dr. George Quayle to enter.
“I wasn't planning on seeing you again so soon,” he told Bessie. “What's this I hear about attempted murder?”
Bessie started to explain, but the man waved away her story. “I haven't really got time to hear it all now,” he told Bessie apologetically.
“Mrs. Christian is in labour and I need to get over there. She's insisting on another home birth and the midwife can handle it, I'm sure, but her husband is quite excitable. When she had her last one, she ended up delivering the baby herself while the midwife dealt with him. He was so nervous that he tripped over the birthing pool and fell and knocked himself out. I promised the midwife I would be there this time to keep Mr. Christian out of the way.”
Five minutes later he'd checked all of Bessie's vital signs. “Well, you don't seem any worse for whatever happened here tonight,” he told her. “The good news is that you still have plenty of tablets left from yesterday's misadventure, so I don't need to prescribe anything else. The tablets should be strong enough to let you sleep without any nightmares, as well.”
Bessie shivered as she thought about trying to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Donny Pierce looming over her with the pillow. That pillow was something else she suddenly wanted to replace.
Doona noticed the shiver and squeezed her hand. Inspector Rockwell followed the doctor out, talking quietly with him as they left.
When the inspector returned he smiled at Bessie. “Well, it looks like you're going to be just fine in spite of everything. I guess you’re tougher than you look.”
Bessie grinned at him. “You bet I am.”
Hugh sank down on the couch opposite Bessie and gave her a huge smile. “I was so worried,” he told her.
“You need to tell me what happened,” Bessie said.
“Tomorrow,” Inspector Rockwell insisted. “Dr. Quayle was quite clear that what you need now is a good night's sleep. We can all have breakfast together and go through the whole thing in the morning.”
Bessie wanted to argue, but she was overcome by a sudden wave of exhaustion. Tomorrow would be soon enough to hear all of the details, she decided, but there was one thing she needed to know immediately.
“Where's Donny?” she asked.
“Locked up tightly,” Rockwell assured her. “He won't be able to try to hurt you again, not tonight or ever.”
Bessie stood up shakily and gave both Hugh and the inspector quick hugs.
“I'll see you both at breakfast, then,” she told them. Doona helped her make her slow progress up the stairs. Once she was in her nightgown and tucked into bed, Doona brought her a tablet that Bessie took gratefully. Dr. Quayle was right; she slept deeply and dreamlessly, waking feeling amazingly refreshed in the morning.
Doona was already up and dressed and sitting by Bessie’s beside when she awoke. “Good morning,” she told Bessie. “Are you ready for some breakfast?”
“I’ve just realised that I never got any dinner last night,” Bessie answered. “I’m starving.”
Doona laughed and then helped Bessie out of bed. In spite of the previous day’s events, Bessie found that she was feeling less stiff this morning. She managed to shower on her own and only needed a minimum of assistance in getting dressed. Doona still walked in front of her down the stairs, holding tightly to Bessie’s arm.
Bessie was shocked to find that Hugh was already up as well. “What time is it?” she demanded.
“Just before seven,” Hugh answered. “Inspector Rockwell will be here any time now so that he can get your statement.”
Doona made tea and toast. “I’d make a proper breakfast today, if I could,” she said apologetically. “Unfortunately, I didn’t think to get eggs or bacon at the store yesterday.”
“Toast is fine,” Bessie assured her. “I told you I’m not much of a breakfast eater.”
She changed her mind a few minutes later when Inspector Rockwell arrived bearing bags crammed full of muffins and pastries.
“This is delicious,” she said around a mouthful of chocolate croissant. “Thank you.”
“I figured it was the least I could do,” Rockwell answered with a grin. “Especially since now I have to ask you to relive everything that happened here yesterday.”
Bessie closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “I know you need a statement,” she told him. “I’ll do my best.”
The inspector had her start from the time she left the hospital, slowly taking her forward until her confrontation with Donny Pierce. Bessie did her best to remember everything as clearly as she could. She was interrupted the first time when she explained Donny’s entrance.
“He was watching the cottage and waiting for us to leave?” Doona demanded. “That sneaky little, well, I don’t like to say what he is. I can’t believe we didn’t think about that when we made our plans. We thought we had at least fifteen minutes for Bahey to tell everyone what was happening and then for the killer to get over here. If he was just waiting for us to leave, that means he was here for a lot longer than I realised.”
“It felt like he was here for a very long time,” Bessie told her with a shiver.
Doona got up and gave her a warm hug. “I feel like I can never say ‘sorry’ enough.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Bessie insisted. Doona stayed on her feet, with her arm around Bessie as Bessie continued with her story. When she got to the part where Donny complained about the blood on his favourite coat, the inspector interrupted.
“He actually told you that?” Rockwell shook his head. “Once we had him on attempted murder charges, we were able to get a search warrant for his suite at Thie yn Traie in spite of his father’s connections. We found the coat he must have been wearing rolled up in a ball in the back of his closet. We’re having the stains on the coat checked out, but it sounds as if they’ll come back as a match for Danny’s blood type.”
“Did you find anything else interesting?” Bessie asked.
“We’ll talk about that once you’ve finished your statement,” was all that she could get out of the man.
He didn’t interrupt again until she mentioned how she had scratched Donny’s face when he first approached her.
“That was very clever of you,” he said. “He gave me three different excuses for how his cheek got scratched when I questioned him, but none of them were believable.”
Doona was in tears when Bessie finished talking.
“And to think, you could have died,” she said sadly. “It would have been all my fault.”
“I’m fine,” Bessie replied. “Don’t fuss.”
Rockwell laughed and closed his notebook. “I guess that’s all I need from you,” he told Bessie. “I suppose you have a few questions for us, though.”
Bessie shook her head. “A lot more than a few,” she told him.
“In that case, I suggest we get another round of tea and pastries.”
/> A few minutes later they were all settled in with their second lot of breakfast.
“Okay,” Bessie said. “Off you go. Tell me what happened from where Hugh left onwards.”
“I guess I’d better start, then,” Hugh told her. “You heard me leave. I was just going to drive straight over and park at the cottages, but then there was a car crash on the coast road and I got tagged to head over and help sort things out. It wasn’t much more than a fender bender, really, but one of the cars was pretty much inoperable and blocking the road, so it took a while to sort through. I guess it was probably getting close to an hour before I got back to the cottages. Doona’s car was there, but she wasn’t, so I parked up and walked across as quickly as I could. I got here just in time to see Doona and Inspector Rockwell going in the back door.”
“My turn,” Doona picked up the story. “I followed Hugh out and drove over to the cottages, but I took a roundabout route, stopping at the corner store to grab a few things. The whole journey took a bit longer than I expected. I got caught behind a bus after the shop and it stopped on every single corner. I couldn’t get around it, either.”
Now Bessie patted Doona’s arm as she heard the frustration in her voice. “Really, it’s okay,” she assured her friend. “I’m sure you did your absolute best.”
“I didn’t really rush,” Doona said apologetically. “I assumed that Hugh would be in place and I thought we had lots of time. When I got to the cottages and Hugh’s car wasn’t there, that’s when I started to worry.”
Hugh got up and poured everyone another cup of tea. Doona was obviously finding telling her story difficult and everyone welcomed the distraction. As Bessie stirred a second spoonful of sugar into her cup, she patted Doona’s arm again.
“You really must stop blaming yourself for what happened,” she told Doona. “Firstly, I’m absolutely fine, and secondly, if you want to blame someone, blame Donny Pierce. He’s the one who turned out to be a murderer, after all.”
Doona nodded and then sniffed loudly. “I’m sorry, I just keep remembering seeing him standing there with that pillow….” she trailed off and drank the rest of her tea. Then she took a deep breath.
“Okay, I got to the cottages and no one was there, so I tried calling Hugh’s mobile, but he didn’t answer.”
“I was tied up at the accident and couldn’t hear my phone,” Hugh explained.
Doona nodded. “I wasn’t sure what to do next. I couldn’t decide if I should head for your cottage on my own or wait for Hugh or what. After a few minutes, I gave in and called Inspector Rockwell. I figured that was in everyone’s best interest.”
Inspector Rockwell nodded. “She was right about that,” he muttered under his breath. “My turn to pick up the story,” he said. “Doona called and told me about your, um, plan. I immediately headed up from Ramsey. I had told Doona to wait at the cottages for me, so I headed straight there. We were still assuming that the killer was going to drive over from Thie yn Traie after Bahey talked to everyone, so Doona was watching for anyone leaving. We weren’t too worried about you because no one drove past the cottages while she was there.”
“What about Bahey?” Bessie asked suddenly. “I thought she was going to come across to stay with me. What happened to her?”
“She was still trying to find someone to bring her over when I called and told her not to bother after Donny was arrested. She was stunned when I told her what had happened. I’m sure she’ll be in touch soon to hear all about it from you.”
“Maybe,” Bessie answered, “and maybe not. I’m pretty sure she saw or overheard something that made her suspect Donny, but she kept it to herself to protect the ‘son she never had.’ I suspect she’s feeling very guilty about that right about now.”
“I think I need to have another chat with Ms. Corlett,” Inspector Rockwell said, making a quick note in his notebook.
“Sorry, I interrupted,” Bessie said.
“It’s fine,” the inspector told her. “Anyway, as soon as I got to the cottages, Doona and I headed across the beach. We got here just in time to see Donny waving a knife around. At that point we just watched and waited. I didn’t want to barge in and startle the man. I was afraid he would shove the knife into you without thinking. It was hard to watch him threaten you, but we couldn’t figure out what else to do. Doona tried calling you, hoping to distract Donny, but your phone never rang.”
Bessie frowned. “I guess the ringer must have been turned off and forgotten,” she said.
“I turned it off,” Doona confessed. “I turned it off after we got you home from the hospital because I wanted you to get some sleep. And then I just forgot all about turning it back on.”
“Anyway,” Rockwell continued the story, “once we saw him put the knife down and grab the pillow, we came in through the back door. I called for backup and an ambulance at the same time.”
“Did Donny try to get away?” Bessie wondered.
“At first he just stared at us, like he couldn’t believe that we were there. And all the while, he was holding the pillow over your face,” Doona told her. “He didn’t let go of it until Inspector Rockwell grabbed his arm.”
“By that time I was coming in the front door,” Hugh told her. “I got to see the ending.”
Doona smiled. “Donny ran towards the front door and then tripped over his own feet and fell over. By the time he managed to get back up, Inspector Rockwell had handcuffs ready, and that was the end of that.”
“He demanded his lawyer right away, of course,” Hugh told Bessie. “But once we searched his room and found the bloody coat, Samantha’s phone and enough illegal pharmaceuticals to keep Noble’s going for a year, he decided to confess.”
“Confess?” Bessie said.
“Yeah, I think he’s going to claim insanity or something,” Hugh shrugged.
“I suppose some high-priced lawyer will step in and he'll end up in a nice private mental hospital for a few years and then be out,” Bessie sighed.
“I doubt it,” Rockwell answered. “When I told Mr. Pierce that we'd arrested his son, he told me to call the public defender's office. Apparently he's cutting Donny off without a penny.”
“Can he do that?” Doona asked.
“According to his lawyer, absolutely. Donny's income was paid to him through a generous trust. There are numerous clauses within the trust that were meant, I suppose, to encourage good behaviour. Donny's drug abuse was already enough to get him cut off, but the trust specifically states that its funds cannot be used for legal representation in a criminal case. If Donny's found innocent, he might be able to fight his way back into some of the money, but since he's confessed, I think he's out of luck.”
“Surely he has to realise that?” Bessie asked.
“I think Donny believed that his father would do everything in his power to help him, regardless of the specifications within the trust,” the inspector replied. “He looked stunned when I told him that his father wasn't sending his lawyer to help.”
“So he killed Danny so that his father wouldn't find out about his drug problem and cut him off, but now he's cut off anyway,” Doona summarised the situation.
“Pretty much,” Rockwell said. “I suspect his drug use had escalated to the point where he wasn’t thinking very clearly, and poor Danny and Samantha died for nothing.”
“I think I feel most sorry for Mrs. Pierce,” Bessie said. “She's lost both of her sons now.”
“She had to be sedated again after we told her that Donny had been arrested,” Rockwell told Bessie. “But I think she was mostly surprised that he was caught and arrested, rather than anything else. I think she knew he was the killer, but expected our incompetence and her husband's money and influence to protect him.”
Everyone was silent while they digested the thought.
“What about Jack White? What happens to him now?” Bessie questioned.
“We have plenty of evidence that he was supplying prescription drugs illegally back i
n the UK as well as here. He was dumb enough to keep very complete records of every transaction. We can even trace Donny’s addictions back through Jack’s records. I think it’s safe to say that he’s going to be behind bars for a very long time.”
“Where does Vikky fit into all of that?” Bessie asked.
“There doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to prosecute her for her part in the crimes,” Rockwell told her. “It does seem clear that she knew what was going on. I suspect she might testify against her former lover in return for immunity from prosecution for the part she played. Anyway, White claims that the two of them were still a couple, in spite of her marriage to Danny.”
“So she never really loved Danny?” Doona asked. “That's so sad.”
“She still claims that she loved him,” Rockwell told her, “but when she came across, supposedly on her honeymoon, she made arrangements to get together with Jack again.”
“She did?” Bessie asked.
“Yep, the racy text that Danny got so angry about was actually a reply to a message Vikky had sent earlier in the day,” Rockwell explained. “She’d suggested that they meet at midnight on the beach, and Jack was simply confirming the time and place.”
“So Jack was on the beach that night, expecting to meet Vikky?” Doona asked.
“Apparently so,” the inspector answered. “Instead he ran into Vikky's angry new husband. By that time, though, the drugs Donny has slipped him were taking effect. Jack claims that Danny shouted at him a bit and then staggered off, back towards Thie yn Traie.”
“And right into Donny's arms,” Bessie guessed.
“Exactly. Jack says he took off as soon as Danny turned his back, and I'm inclined to believe him. If he witnessed anything on the beach that night, I think he would be trying to use it as leverage for a reduced sentence on his own charges.”
“So Vikky caused all the trouble and gets away with it all, including some share of Danny’s money?” Doona asked.
“Apparently she’d already signed away her claims to Danny’s estate. She’s now arguing that she signed the documents under false pretenses.” Inspector Rockwell shrugged. “It's a case for the lawyers now. I expect they'll do very well out if it anyway.”
Aunt Bessie Assumes: An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Page 22
