Aunt Bessie's Holiday (15 page)

“Interesting,” the man said.
 
“I’d almost guess that she suspects him
of something, maybe not murder, but something, certainly.”

“He was eager to get into the office where
the body was to get some papers,” Doona said.
 
“He definitely seemed like someone with
something to hide.”

“Of course, that could have nothing to do
with the murder,” Andrew said thoughtfully.
 

The threesome ate their way through their
meal and then tackled the plate of pastries.
 
Between them, they managed to eat every
last delicious bite.

“I appreciate your talking to me,” the man
said after he’d washed down the last of the final biscuit.
 
“I hate being on the outside of
this.
 
I wonder of the good inspector
would let me be a special consultant on the case?”

“You could ask,” Bessie suggested.

“I just might do that,” he told her.
 
“But for now, I promised to meet
everyone over the age of eighteen for a moonlight walk around the park.
 
Let’s hope my children have finished
their meal and haven’t drunk too much.”

“That sounds lovely,” Bessie said.
 
“I hope you have fun.”

“I’ll see you both tomorrow,” he said as the
two women walked him to the door.
 
“We haven’t even begun to discuss how the two of you fit into this
murder investigation.”

He was gone before Bessie could reply.
 
She looked at Doona, who was pale and
looked exhausted.

“You need some sleep,” Bessie said
firmly.
 

“I wasn’t very good company, was I?” Doona
asked.

“You were very quiet, that’s all,” Bessie
said.
 
She put her arm around her
friend.
 
“Now I think you should get
ready for bed.
 
It’s been a very
stressful day for you, hasn’t it?”

“I kept putting it all out of my mind,”
Doona said numbly. “The blood and the body and the fact that someone killed
Charles.
 
As long as we kept busy I
felt okay, but once I sat down it all just came flooding back.”

“I’m sure things will look brighter in the
morning,” Bessie said, even though she wasn’t sure of any such thing.
 
“Go and get ready for bed and I’ll make
you a cup of milky tea for you.”

Doona nodded and then disappeared into her
bedroom.
 
Bessie made the tea,
adding extra sugar as well as a great deal of milk.
 
When Doona came into the kitchen in her
pyjamas, robe and slippers, Bessie had it ready.

“Drink this and then straight to bed,”
Bessie said firmly.
 
“And don’t set
an alarm.
 
If we wake up in time for
the woodland walk, we’ll go, but if you can lie in, that’s more important.”

“If I don’t get up, go without me,” Doona
told her.
 
“I don’t want you to miss
out on everything just because of me.”

“None of this is your fault,” Bessie pointed
out.
 
“Anyway, we’ll worry about it
tomorrow.”

Doona nodded and then headed back into her
bedroom.
 
Bessie washed up the
plates and things from dinner and Doona’s tea and then double-checked that the
door to the patio was locked.
 
She
stood outside Doona’s door for a moment, listening to see if her friend was
asleep.
 
When she heard Doona crying
softly, Bessie wasn’t sure what to do.
 

After pacing around the small lodge for
several minutes, Bessie listened again.
 
This time she heard nothing but silence.
 
Satisfied that her friend had fallen
asleep, Bessie headed into her own bedroom.
 
Once she was ready for bed, she pulled
out her mobile phone to plug it in to charge.
 
She was surprised to see that she’d
missed a call.
 
It took her several
minutes to work out how to retrieve the message that had been left.
 
When she finally accessed it, the
message was short and to the point.

“Ring me,” Inspector Rockwell’s voice demanded
in his most senior policeman’s voice.

Bessie settled back in bed and dialled the inspector’s
home number.
 
It rang twice before
he picked up.

“Bessie?
 
What on earth is going on over there?”

At the sound of the kindly voice, Bessie
felt tears begin to stream down her face.
 
“Oh, John, it’s just awful,” she said sadly.
 
“And Doona might even be a suspect.”

“Slow down,” John said calmly.
 
“Tell me exactly what’s going on.”

Bessie slid down under the covers and walked
John through her entire day, from the time she woke up until she’d climbed back
in bed a few minutes earlier.
 
John
was silent throughout.

“Now you need to take me through yesterday,”
John told her when she’d finished.

Bessie frowned.
 
“I didn’t think about that,” she said.
“Of course I do.”

Again, John was silent as Bessie spoke.
 
When she was finished, he sighed.
 

“What a mess,” he told her.
 
“I’m going to ask you a few questions,
and I want you to be totally honest and not get offended on Doona’s behalf,
okay?”

“I’ll try,” Bessie said cautiously.

“Is there any chance that she knew Charles
was going to be there?” John asked.

“Absolutely not,” Bessie said
emphatically.
 
“She wouldn’t have
come if she’d known.”

“You mentioned him in passing, but what do
you know about Andrew Cheatham?” John asked next.

“He’s our next-door neighbour on the street
where we’re staying,” Bessie replied.
 
“But that’s about all I know.
 
Why?”

“He has some very important connections,”
John told her.
 
“And he has a solid
reputation as an excellent investigator.
 
If Doona has anything she doesn’t want him to know, she’ll do well to
stay away from him, but I would suggest he’ll be a powerful ally if you can get
him on your side.”

“He seems like a very nice man,” Bessie
said.
 
“We had dinner with him
tonight and he told us he’d spoken to you.”

“He did, and he asked very smart
questions.
 
So did Margaret Hopkins.
 
I think the investigation is in good
hands with her, at least so far.”

“Doona will feel better when she hears
that,” Bessie said.

“Having said that,” John added, “if you have
any reason to believe that Doona is in any danger of being arrested or even
seriously considered as a suspect, you must ring me right away.
 
I can be on a flight across within a
couple of hours if I have to be.”

“Surely it won’t come to that,” Bessie
argued.
 
“She didn’t have any reason
to kill the man, after all.”

“On the contrary, some would suggest she had
several good reasons to kill him,” John disagreed.
 
“Luckily, she isn’t the only one, and we
both know for certain that she didn’t do it.”

The pair talked for several more minutes,
but fairly pointlessly.
 
John was
too far away to properly assess the situation.

“Please ring me every night with an update,”
John told her.
 
“I don’t want to ask
Doona to do so.
 
She has enough to
worry about.”

“I’ll ring,” Bessie promised.
 
“And I’ll be careful what I say to our
friendly neighbour in the meantime.”

After the call ended, Bessie switched off
the bedside light and slid further under the covers.
 
The night had a definitely autumnal
chill and she was grateful for the thick duvet.
 
Convinced that she’d never manage to get
to sleep, she was surprised when her internal alarm woke her at six.
 
She felt as if she hadn’t moved a muscle
the entire night.

A hot shower did a lot to relax the
tightness in her back and neck after so many hours of lying still.
 
Bessie patted on her dusting powder and
got dressed for the woodland walk she’d missed the day before.
 
When she emerged from her room, she
found Doona in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee.

“You look as if you didn’t sleep much,”
Bessie said sympathetically.

“I didn’t,” Doona replied.
 
“The shower helped a little bit and the
coffee is trying hard.
 
I’m hoping a
brisk walk in the woods will wake me up even more.”

“It certainly can’t hurt,” Bessie said with
determined cheerfulness.
 
She poured
herself a bowl of cereal with milk and her own cup of coffee while she told
Doona about her conversation with John Rockwell.

“At least he knows what’s going on,” was
Doona’s only response when Bessie was finished.

They put on their trainers and made their
way into the village centre.
 
A
small sign outside the main doors of the Squirrel’s Drey told them to assemble
next to the ice cream stand just past the French restaurant.
 
It was too early for either to be open,
although there were people wandering in and out of the Squirrel’s Drey.
 
Bessie didn’t even glance inside, not
wanting to be reminded of the events from twenty-four hours earlier.

At the ice cream stand, a young man was on
the ground doing press-ups.

“Ah, there you are,” he said, leaping to his
feet.
 
“I’m Brett. Welcome to
Lakeview Holiday Park and welcome to our woodland walk,” he said
enthusiastically.

“I’m Bessie and this is Doona,” Bessie
replied.

“It’s so nice to meet you both,” he
responded.
 
“Are you ready to learn
about our woodland flora and fauna?”

Bessie felt as if he was disappointed with
her somewhat muted reply, but she couldn’t possibly imagine manufacturing his
level of enthusiasm for any reason.
 
Doona remained silent as Brett pulled a clipboard out of his backpack.
 

“I thought I was right,” he said.
 
“You two are the only ones that signed
up for today’s walk.
 
You were the
only ones signed up for yesterday as well, so I was very sorry when you had
cancel.”

“So were we,” Bessie told him.
 
“But we’re here now.
 
It’s a shame it’s just us, though.
 
I’d have thought such walks would be
popular.”

“I’m busier in the summer,” he told
her.
 
“But this time of year I suppose
no one wants to get up this early when they’re on their holidays.”

“That makes sense,” Doona muttered.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we?” Brett
asked, giving them both a dazzling smile.

For the next two hours, Bessie learned far
more about the plants and animals of the Lake District than she’d ever wanted
to know.
 
Brett told them all about
which plants were safe to eat and which ones to avoid.
 
He showed them the nearly invisible
signs that the various animals in the area left behind.
 
Finally, he showed them around the
ranger station that was tucked away in a quiet corner of the park.
 
There they nursed injured animals back
to health, taught classes for groups of all sizes and ages, and monitored
forest conditions.

“Thank you,” Bessie said when Brett finished
the tour.
 
“It’s been very
interesting.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Brett
replied.
 
“I love what I do, working
in the forest and looking after the animals.
 
I have the coolest job in the world.
 
We do a lot of other walks and
experiences.
 
If you’re interested,
I’m sure they’ll be spaces left on most of them.”

“We’ll check the brochure,” Bessie told him.

“Would you like some tea before you walk
back to your accommodation?” he offered.
 
“I brew my own from some of the areas grasses and weeds.”

“Gosh, that sounds interesting,”
Bessie
said, looking at Doona desperately.
 
“But I think we’ll have to decline for
today.
 
Maybe another time.”

Doona took Bessie’s arm.
 
“Thank you so much,” she said, speaking
for almost the first time since they’d started the walk.
 
“But we need to get back.
 
I’m sure Bessie would like a rest.
 
I know I would.”

Brett showed them out of the small station,
still burbling on about his tea and how they should sign up for more walks as
they walked away.
 
Bessie turned
back after several paces and waved.