Aunt Bessie Observes (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 15)

by Diana Xarissa

  “Jonathan and Nathan?” Bessie echoed, her heart racing.

  “Yes, they’re lovely men. They’ve done a lot of different things in their lives, but they both ended up doing professional fundraising by the end of their careers. Now that they’ve retired, they do odd bits of work as consultants, but mostly they just enjoy life. Nathan’s wife isn’t well and her doctor recommended an extended holiday.”

  “And now they’re helping with your fundraiser?”

  “It was just dumb luck,” Agnes replied. “Nathan saw the signs advertising the event and rang me up. He had some brilliant ideas for getting more donations for the auction and after that, well, he and Jonathan just kept turning up, offering more and more advice. I’m sure we’re going to make double what we usually do with this event, and we may make even more than that.”

  Bessie sighed. She wasn’t sure she wanted to break the bad news to her friend. “When did you last see Jonathan?” she asked.

  “He went back across for a few days,” Agnes told her. “He’ll be here on Thursday, though. And I’m finally going to meet Nathan’s wife at the fundraiser as well. He’s pretty sure she’ll be well enough to come, anyway.”

  “It’s just possible that the men aren’t who they claim to be,” Bessie said. “They sound very like two men who scammed some friends of mine at a similar event.”

  “Oh, Bessie, I’m sure you’re wrong about them. They’re both lovely and so interested in the work we do.”

  “I’m going to have John Rockwell come and talk to you,” Bessie told her. “Are you going to be at home all day?”

  “Actually, I’ll be on my way into Douglas in half an hour. I have a few things to do at the office and then I’m meeting Nathan and the rest of the auction committee for lunch. We have some things to go over before Thursday.”

  “Where are you having lunch?” Bessie asked.

  Agnes named one of Bessie’s favourite restaurants. “I just love it there,” Agnes said.

  “I do as well, and I’m going into Douglas with my friends this morning. Maybe we’ll see you there.”

  “That would be nice. I can introduce you to Nathan and he’ll be able to set your mind at rest,” Agnes said.

  “I’ll tell John to try to catch you at your office,” Bessie said. “It’s important that he speak to you soon.”

  “I’m sure you’re wrong about Jonathan and Nathan,” Agnes said. “But I’m happy to speak to John Rockwell if it will make you feel better.”

  “It definitely will,” Bessie told her.

  After she finished with Agnes, Bessie rang the police station.

  “Laxey neighbourhood policing, this is Doona. How may I help you?” a familiar voice said.

  Bessie grinned. Although on the surface she and Doona were unlikely friends, over the past three years they’d become very close. Doona was in her forties, twice divorced, and a civilian employee at the station. Bessie had helped Doona get through her difficult second divorce, although she’d later learned that that divorce had never been finalised. Over the past year, as Bessie had found herself involved in several murder investigations, Doona had taken her turn in helping her friend get through difficulties.

  “I need to talk to John,” Bessie said.

  “He’s on his phone at the moment. Can I have him ring you back?”

  “Yes, please, but quickly,” Bessie said.

  “If it’s that important, I’ll interrupt him,” Doona offered.

  “But whatever he’s doing might be important, too,” Bessie said hesitantly.

  “Wait here a minute,” Doona said. “I’ll stick my head in his office and see if he can be interrupted.”

  Bessie listened to a slow and slightly jazzy version of an old sixties classic. While she quite liked it at the start, after the first minute it began to annoy her. Too many trombones, she thought to herself as the song droned on and on.

  “Bessie? What can I do for you?” John’s voice cut through the music.

  “You could change the dreadful music that you play while people are waiting,” Bessie suggested.

  “Is it awful?” he asked. “I’ll have Doona check into where it comes from and how we can change it. Was that all?”

  Bessie flushed. “No, sorry, I didn’t mean to blurt that out. The music was just rather, well, anyway, I was just talking to Agnes Clucas. You’ll never believe how fortunate they were to have two wonderful volunteers join them to help plan the fundraiser on Thursday.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Two men called Jonathan and Nathan. Apparently they’re on the island because Nathan’s wife needs a long holiday. Anyway, they’ve been working with Agnes and her team, and she’s sure they’ve already raised twice as much money as usual.”

  “What did you tell Agnes?”

  “I told her that she should be careful of the men, but I didn’t mention the murder,” Bessie said. “I didn’t want to upset her.”

  “Thank you,” John said. “I’d rather tell her myself anyway. It will be in today’s local paper, but we haven’t released the identity of the victim.”

  “She’ll be in her office in Douglas this morning and then she’s having lunch with Nathan,” Bessie told him, adding the name of the restaurant.

  “She’s not expecting Jonathan to be there?”

  “Apparently he had to go across for something,” Bessie replied.

  “I’ll ring Pete and have him go and talk to Agnes,” John said, referring to Pete Corkill, a CID inspector stationed in Douglas. “What are your plans for today?”

  “Janet, Joan, and I were planning a day in Douglas,” Bessie replied.

  “Should I guess where you’ll be having lunch?” John asked dryly.

  Bessie laughed. “It is one of my favourite restaurants,” she countered. “We probably would have eaten there anyway.”

  “I’ll ring you after I’ve spoken to Pete,” John said. “I think it would be a good idea if he was there when you went for lunch.”

  “Yes, it probably would be,” Bessie agreed.

  “If Nathan is who we think he is and Janet and Joan can identify him, then Pete can arrest him. The man is wanted for plenty of reasons, in addition to my wanting to question him about his partner’s murder.”

  Bessie put down the phone and sighed. When she’d been planning many interesting things to do with Janet and Joan, investigating a murder hadn’t been on the list. Still, if they could spot Nathan, and he was the dead man’s former partner, maybe the murder would be solved today. That would leave plenty of days for sightseeing with the sisters.

  Upstairs, Bessie ran a comb through her short grey hair and added a touch of lip balm to her lips. That was as much makeup as she usually wore and she didn’t see any reason to change anything today. The clouds looked uncertain as to their intentions, so Bessie grabbed a light rain jacket before she headed out across the beach to the nearest holiday cottage. Joan was watching for her and slid open the patio door as she approached.

  “I think it’s going to rain,” she said as Bessie walked into the cottage.

  “It certainly might,” Bessie replied. “But that’s pretty much true every day here.”

  “Yes, but that’s just part of the island’s charm,” Joan said.

  Bessie wasn’t sure that the other guests in the holiday cottages would agree with Joan’s sentiment, but she certainly did.

  “Janet should be ready soon,” Joan told her. “I was just making breakfast. Have you eaten?”

  “Yes, although that was some time ago,” Bessie said. “If you could spare a piece of toast, I’d be grateful.”

  “Don’t be silly. You can have a full English breakfast. I’m cooking for Janet and myself. It’s no bother at all to do a bit more.”

  “Only if you’re sure,” Bessie said.

  “I make breakfast for six or more people nearly every day at the bed and breakfast,” Joan replied. “Cooking for three will be easy.”

  Bessie settled into a chair nea
r the kitchen and chatted easily with Joan as the other woman began scrambling eggs and frying potatoes. Janet came down just before the food was ready to be served.

  “Perfect timing,” Joan said, glancing at her sister.

  “I’m sorry I overslept,” Janet said to Bessie. “I was exhausted by the time we got to bed last night, but then I simply couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I could see, well, it wasn’t pleasant.”

  Bessie stood up and gave the woman a hug. “I can promise you it does get better. You just have to give it some time.”

  Janet nodded. “I’m sure I’ll feel better once the killer is behind bars.”

  “John’s working on that,” Bessie assured her. “Did Joan tell you that they’ve identified the body?”

  “No, was I right?”

  “It appears so. The man in the cottage had a long list of aliases, including Julian Snyder.”

  Janet shuddered. “I didn’t like the man, but I didn’t want him dead. It’s terribly sad, really.”

  “He did cheat an awful lot of charities out of money that could have done a great deal of good,” her sister reminded her.

  “Yes, there is that,” Janet replied. “I’m still not glad he’s dead, but at least he wasn’t a nice person.”

  Joan piled generous helpings of breakfast onto plates and then put them on the small dining table. Bessie and Janet were quick to take seats around the table. Bessie took a few bites before she spoke.

  “This is delicious,” she said. “I’m sure your guests must love your cooking.”

  “Most of them seem to,” Joan said. “But breakfast is easy, and we don’t do dinner, at least not usually.”

  “But what are we going to do today?” Janet asked after a while. “We were talking about Castletown yesterday, but I feel as if we should do something to help John solve the murder, since we knew the victim.”

  Bessie nodded. “Let me tell you what else I found out,” she said. Both sisters listened closely as Bessie told her what she’d learned from Agnes.

  “I can’t believe those two horrid men were trying the same thing on the island,” Janet said angrily when Bessie was finished. “Now I’m not even sorry Julian was killed.”

  “As we don’t have firm plans for today, maybe we should make our way into Douglas,” Joan suggested. “We could do some shopping and then have lunch in that restaurant where you said your friend was meeting with Norman, now called Nathan.”

  Bessie nodded. “I think that would be a good idea. If you can identify the man, Pete can arrest him for what he did in Doveby Dale, at the very least. And then John can ask him all about Julian’s death.”

  Janet took care of the washing-up. “It’s my job, as Joan made breakfast,” she told Bessie. “You’re our guest.”

  “Tomorrow you must come to my cottage for breakfast, then,” Bessie said firmly. “I’ll make American-style pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Janet said happily.

  A short while later, the trio was in the car heading for Douglas. Janet drove, with Bessie navigating the shortest route. Once they were parked in one of the multistorey car parks, they made their way down to the high street.

  “Where should we start?” Janet asked, looking up and down the street.

  “I doubt we’ll see Nathan just wandering around in the street, so we may as well just visit whatever shops you’d like to visit,” Bessie suggested. “John is going to ring me if he learns anything important otherwise, we’ll shop and then go to lunch.”

  They spent a happy hour in the local bookshop, browsing the shelves, and then headed for the large department store at the far end of the street. Bessie needed some socks and Janet wanted to see if they had any jumpers left on the winter clearance racks. They were nearly at the shop when Bessie’s phone rang.

  “Pete just rang,” John told Bessie when she answered. “Agnes was able to identify the man we found as the man she knew as Jonathan Symons. Once Pete explained how the men operate, she was able to identify a few things that had happened thus far that had worried her.”

  “Like what?”

  “Instances where one or the other of the two would offer to take care of some detail or another, but then the job wouldn’t get done, that sort of thing. Also, the men were meant to be in charge of the catering, but they never booked anything. They promised that the food and drink would be donated by a friend of theirs, but they never gave Agnes the name of this generous friend. Agnes is scrambling now to get everything into place for Thursday, but at least she has a few days to get everything arranged. She’s taking control of all of the financial matters herself.”

  “Maybe I can help,” Bessie said. “I’ll have to try to catch her after lunch and offer.”

  “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that. The lunch today includes the entire organising committee, which is made up mostly of some of their donors, apparently. No doubt they’ll be happy to help as well.”

  “We’ll see. If there’s actual work to do, it might be better if I help than any of them.”

  John laughed. “Maybe some of the major donors will send their staff to help,” he suggested.

  “Yes, that’s probably more likely,” Bessie agreed.

  “Anyway, Pete will be at the restaurant before you get there. The meeting is set for midday and Pete will there by half eleven. Make sure you spot him and make sure Joan and Janet are sitting facing away from the centre of the room. Agnes and her party will be seated in the centre. All I need is for the sisters to take a sneaky look at the man when they can. If they recognise him, they should give Pete a sign. He’ll take it from there.”

  “That all sounds good,” Bessie said. “What if he spots them, though, and tries to get away?”

  “Pete will have constables in place at the exits. Agnes has given Pete a lengthy description of the man as he looks now.”

  “I’ll let Janet and Joan know the plan,” Bessie said. “I just hope we can catch him.”

  “I do as well. I’m understandably eager to talk to him about his partner.”

  Bessie put the phone down and then repeated nearly everything to the sisters. They both nodded when she’d finished.

  “This is exciting,” Janet said. “We’re part of a sting operation.”

  “I’m not sure that’s exactly what this is,” Joan said. “Have you considered that the man in question could be dangerous, as well? I’m not sure exciting is the right word.”

  Janet made a face that only Bessie noticed. “I just hope it works,” she said. “And that he was the killer. I’ll sleep so much better with him behind bars.”

  The threesome did some more shopping, but without any enthusiasm.

  “I need socks, but I can’t even focus on which ones I want,” Bessie complained a short time later. “I’ve too much on my mind.”

  “Maybe we should just go for a walk on the promenade while we wait,” Janet suggested. “I’m far too nervous to shop.”

  They walked up and down the promenade for a while, chatting about nothing much, as the minutes ticked slowly past. At quarter to twelve, Bessie decided that she’d had enough.

  “Let’s go and get seated,” she said. “We need to be in place before Agnes and the others arrive, anyway.”

  The restaurant was in the basement of a large building on the promenade. Always very popular, about half of the tables were already full when the women made their way down the stairs.

  Two tables had been pushed together in the centre of the room, making a table for eight. No one was sitting there as Bessie requested a table along the wall. As Joan and Janet settled into seats facing the back of the room, Bessie caught Pete’s eye and grinned at him. He was sitting at a table for two with a pretty blonde woman that was most definitely not his fiancé, Helen Baxter. Bessie could only assume that the woman was a police constable. She looked considerably younger than Pete, who was in his fifties.

  Bessie and her friends ordered drinks and garlic br
ead while they studied the menu. “Maybe we should keep the menus for now,” Bessie suggested. “You can hide behind them while you look at Nathan.”

  The words were barely out of her mouth when Agnes walked into the room. She spoke to the woman at the door and then made her way to the table for eight. After putting her handbag down on one of the chairs, she glanced around the room and caught Bessie’s eye.

  “Bessie, what a lovely surprise,” she called as she crossed the room. “What brings you here?”

  Smiling, Bessie introduced the woman, a pleasantly plump woman in her mid-sixties, to Janet and Joan. “John said you might need some help with getting things ready for Thursday,” she said. “I’m happy to do what I can.”

  “We can help, too,” Janet said.

  Bessie could only hope that she was the only one who saw the surprised and not happy look that flashed across Joan’s face. It was almost immediately replaced by a resigned smile. “Of course we can,” Joan said.

  “I’d be hugely grateful for any help you can give,” Agnes said. “But first I want to see that horrid man behind bars. Imagine stealing money from charities. How does he sleep at night?”

  “With his partner dead, he might not be sleeping very well at all,” Bessie suggested. “I would think he either killed the man or is worried he might be the next victim.”

  Agnes shivered. “What a horrible thought,” she said. “Ah, but here comes my committee. I must go.”

  “I’ll ring you later to see what we can do to help,” Bessie told her as the woman walked away.

  “Thanks,” Agnes called over her shoulder.

  The waiter delivered their drinks and garlic bread as Agnes hugged the new arrival.

  “Tell us who everyone is,” Janet told Bessie.

  Bessie nodded. “The thirty-something brunette is Nicola Cotton,” Bessie said. “She’s been a volunteer with the charity for the last few years. It started as something to get her out of the house for a few hours while her children were at nursery. Now she works there while her children are both in school. Agnes is lucky to have such a dedicated volunteer. The organisation could never afford to pay her what she’s worth.”