Aunt Bessie's Holiday (19 page)

Bessie shrugged.
 
“Let’s not worry about it for tonight,”
she suggested.
 
“I’m starving.”

“Strangely for me, I’m not even a little bit
hungry,” Doona replied.

“Isn’t there a pizza delivery place?” Bessie
asked.
 
“Let’s get pizza and garlic
bread and just have a quiet night in.”

“This is supposed to be a holiday, and we’re
missing out on all the delicious food,” Doona complained.

“We have lots more days for delicious food,”
Bessie said.
 
“Once the murderer is
behind bars, we’ll both feel more like fine dining.”

Doona nodded.
 
She sat up and the stretched.
 
“She was very kind, under the
circumstances,” she remarked as she got out of bed.

“Inspector Hopkins?” Bessie asked.
 
“I thought she was quite nice, but I do
wish she’d be more forthcoming.
 
I’d
love to know what’s really going on.”

“I hardly think she’s going to share
anything with us.
 
Especially when
I’m her number one suspect.”

Bessie didn’t take the time to argue with
her friend.
 
She was far too hungry
to think about much more than food.
 
Doona insisted she didn’t want anything, but Bessie made sure to order
enough for two.
 
When the food
arrived a short time later, Doona changed her mind.

“That was really good,” Bessie said as she
finished her last slice of pizza.

“It was,” Doona agreed.
 
“I didn’t want to eat, but I’m glad I
did.
 
I’m feeling much better.”

“Excellent,” Bessie said.
 
“Now, how about that ice cream?”

Doona shook her head and then frowned.
 
“Oh, why not?” she exclaimed.
 
“This is a holiday.”

“Exactly,” Bessie agreed.
 
“Let’s go.”

There was a bit of a chill in the evening
air, but both women had pulled on jackets, so they didn’t mind.
 
At the ice cream stand, Bessie was
pleased to see a different man behind the counter.
 
It was silly, but she didn’t want to be
recognised as having already had ice cream earlier in the day.

“Two scoops,” she told the man.
 
“One vanilla and one chocolate.”

“I’ll have the same,” Doona added.

They walked slowly around the lake as they
ate their treat, enjoying the way the park felt as the sun was setting.
 
Most of the family groups were quieter
and many were on foot rather than on bikes.
 
Small children dozed in their parents’
arms and couples walked together hand-in-hand.

“Let’s stop in the grocery store and get
some things in for breakfast and lunch tomorrow,” Bessie suggested.
 
“Then we can have a very lazy morning
and go out for a nice meal after our watercolour class in the afternoon.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Doona
replied.
 
“I can lie in and then
soak in my jetted tub for a while with one of the books from the book
club.
 
I was thinking about trying
to get to the pool tomorrow morning, but a bath sounds better.”

“We can see how we feel in the morning about
having a swim,” Bessie suggested.

“I think I’m going to feel lazy,” Doona
replied with a laugh.
 
“But we’ll
see.”

In the grocery store, they quickly filled a
trolley with everything they wanted for meals in their lodge the next day.
 

“If you’re saving the croissants for
breakfast tomorrow,” the girl behind the till told Bessie, “the toaster in your
accommodation has a pastry warming feature.”

“I have the same toaster at home,” Doona
told her.
 
“That’s one of my
favourite things about it.”

Back in their comfortable sitting room,
Doona switched on the television and quickly found an American comedy she was
happy to watch.

“I’m just going to head to bed,” Bessie told
her.
 
“I’ll probably read for a
little while, but I’m feeling unbelievably tired.”

“It hasn’t exactly been a relaxing holiday,
has it?” Doona asked, sighing.

“Not yet, but we still have several days
left,” Bessie replied optimistically.

In her room she got ready for bed and then
quickly rang John Rockwell.
 
She
told him everything that had happened that day.

“I don’t like the idea that someone was on
your patio and took the knife,” he said when she’d finished.
 
“That sounds like someone was trying to
frame you or Doona for the murder.”

“I hadn’t thought of it quite like that,”
Bessie exclaimed.

“Who knew you two were visiting as Charles’s
special guests?”

 
“Mai
said Charles was very excited that Doona was coming,” Bessie replied
thoughtfully.
 
“But most of the
staff we’ve met haven’t seemed to know anything about her.
 
The man who took us on the walk this
morning and the girl who taught our drawing class didn’t give us any special
treatment or anything.”

“No one other than Mai, then?”

“Lawrence Jenkins must have known all about
Doona,” Bessie said.
 
“And Harold
Butler as well.”

“Anyone else?”

“I don’t know what Nathan Beck, the French
restaurant chef, knew,” Bessie said thoughtfully.
 
“He did ask Doona who she was when we
had lunch there the other day, though.
 
He’d been told to give us special treatment.”

“And he probably told his wife.
 
She’s called Monique, right?” John
asked.

“Yes, that’s right,”
Bessie
said.
 
“I don’t know if Joe Klein
knew we were coming.
 
I can’t really
see why the head of security needed to know.”

“But he might have,” John said.
 
“Of course, it’s a huge holiday park and
you’ve by no means met everyone.
 
What we need now is a motive for any of them to have killed the man.”

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Bessie said.

“I wasn’t suggesting that,” John replied
quickly.
 
“Remember, one of them is
a murderer.
 
I don’t want you
investigating, but if you do hear or see something that suggests a possible
motive for any of them, I’d like to know.”

“I wonder how much Jessica Howe knows about
Doona,” Bessie said.

“That’s a good question.
 
I believe you said she was threatening
to kill him at the welcome dinner?”

“She was.
 
I suppose that means she had a motive.”

“Indeed.
 
Didn’t you say her husband threatened
him as well?”

“Yes, I’d assumed because he’d found out
about the affair.
 
I’m not sure why Jessica
was so angry.”

“Maybe Charles dumped her because Doona was
coming to visit,” John suggested.

“I don’t know,” Bessie said, letting her
frustration into her tone.
 
“I was
hoping Inspector Hopkins would have everything worked out by now.
 
Why can’t these things ever just be obvious?”

John chuckled.
 
“That would be nice,” he agreed.
 
“But it’s beginning to seem as if this
murder was carefully planned.
 
I’m
starting to think I ought to come over and try to help.”

“I’m not sure Inspector Hopkins would like
that,” Bessie said.
 

“She probably wouldn’t,” John agreed.
 
“In the same way I wouldn’t want her
interfering in a murder investigation here.
 
But I could come as Doona’s friend, just
for moral support.”

“I don’t think things are that bad yet,”
Bessie told him.
 
“Doona seems to be
holding up so far.
 
If I start to
feel like the inspector is looking at Doona as a serious suspect, I’ll let you
know.”

After the call, with her mind racing, Bessie
slid down under the covers and tried to relax.
 
The idea that someone could have been on
their patio and taken the knife without her ever hearing them worried
Bessie.
 
She couldn’t find a
comfortable position and every noise had her sitting up in bed and listening
intently.
 
Finally she got up and
walked out into the corridor.
 
She
was nearly run over by Doona, carrying one of the dining area chairs, when she
did so.

“What are you doing?” she asked her friend.

Doona flushed.
 
“I keep thinking about how someone must have
been on the patio the night of the murder.
 
I was going to put this chair under the door handle so that whoever it
was can’t actually get inside the cabin.
 
What are you doing up?
 
I
hope I didn’t wake you?”

“No, I was just thinking almost the exact
same thing,” Bessie told her.
 
“I
rang John to give him an update and after I hung up, that was just about all I
could think about.”

Together the women shoved the chair up
against the door.
 

“It’s the wrong height to wedge under the
doorknob,” Bessie said.

“It’s the wrong type of knob, anyway,” Doona
said.
 
“But at least, if someone
does open the door, they’ll hit the chair.
 
Hopefully that will wake us up.”

“It should wake me.
 
I’m right down the hall,” Bessie
said.
 
“Maybe I’ll sleep with my
door open.”

“I intend to the do the same,” Doona told
her.
 
“I also put a row of chairs in
front of the sliding door to the patio.
 
They won’t stop anyone coming in, but hopefully if someone has to move
them, it will make noise.”

“I want to go home,” Bessie said
angrily.
 
“This is supposed to be a lovely
holiday, and instead we’re having to blockade ourselves in our cabin.”

“I’m sure we’re overreacting,” Doona said
soothingly.
 
“Even if someone did
steal the knife from the patio, there’s no reason for them to break in here.”

Unless they want to kill again, Bessie
thought.
 
Or plant some sort of
evidence here to help with framing Doona.

“You’re thinking too much,” Doona said.
 
“I can see it on your face.”

“What if the killer wants to plant something
here that makes you
look
guilty?” Bessie had to ask.

“Inspector Hopkins and two of her men
searched the entire place after she questioned me today,” Doona replied.
 
“The inspector knows we have nothing to
hide.”

“She didn’t tell me they’d searched our
cabin,” Bessie said with a frown.

“I gave them permission to do so,” Doona
said.
 
“I should have checked with
you first, but the inspector wouldn’t let me talk to you.
 
I was afraid if I didn’t agree right
away, that she’d think I was hiding something.”

“It’s fine,” Bessie assured her friend.
 

“I should have told you earlier,” Doona
said.
 
“But I’ve so much on my mind,
I completely forgot.”

“It’s fine,” Bessie repeated herself.
 
“We should get some sleep.”

“Or at least try.”

With the cabin as secure as they could make
it, the two women headed back to their bedrooms.
 
For Bessie it was a long night.
 
It was very quiet, but that didn’t seem
to help.
 
She still slept very
little and felt even more tired at six than she had when she’d gone to bed.

After a shower, she dressed and then headed
to the kitchen.
 
Doona was already
there, making coffee.

“I thought you were going to have a lie-in,”
Bessie exclaimed.

“So did I,” Doona replied.
 
“But I couldn’t sleep.”

“I was going to walk around the lake this
morning,” Bessie told her.
 
“Not the
one in the middle of the park.
 
I’ve
been around that a dozen times.
 
I
was going to walk around the big lake behind us.”

“You go and enjoy the peace and quiet,”
Doona told her.
 
“I’m going to run a
bath and soak in my tub for a while with one of the books for Saturday.
 
I haven’t read any of them yet, and it’s
already Wednesday.”

After a cup of coffee and a warmed
croissant, Bessie headed out.
 
The
weather was a bit cooler, and she was glad she’d brought her jacket, as a
strong wind seemed to be blowing as she left the building.
 
The map of the park showed a paved
footpath all the way around the lake, and Bessie found that it was relatively
unoccupied at this hour of the morning.