1 Aunt Bessie Assumes (19 page)

Bessie hung up the phone and then thought about
picking it back up.
 
She probably
ought to let Doona know where she was going, especially since Doona had tried
to talk her out of this visit.
 

Her hand hesitated over the receiver and then
she changed her mind.
 
Doona would
try to persuade her not to go and she didn’t want to take the time to have that
argument.
 
Bahey would be at the Pierces’;
she would keep an eye on things.

Bessie pulled on her waterproof coat and Wellington
boots for the walk.
 
The rain was
steady, but there wasn’t much wind, so she added an umbrella to her
outfit.
 
“Here goes nothing,” she
muttered to herself as she locked the door to the cottage behind her.

The walk along the road felt longer than ever as
she stomped through puddle after puddle in the pouring rain.
 
At one point, behind the cottages, she
stopped for a second and then leaped into one particularly impressive puddle
with both feet.
 
She laughed like a
small child as the water splashed up around her.
 
She was already soaked; she might as
well have some fun.

The crowd of reporters in front of the Pierce
cottage had now dwindled down to a single car with a man and woman sitting
inside.
 
Bessie frowned at them as
she walked past, but they were both busy on their phones and barely glanced at
her.
 
At the gate she pushed the
call button, and a moment later Robert Clague emerged from the garage
door.
 
He grinned at Bessie as he
approached the gate.

“Nice to see you again, Aunt Bessie,” he greeted
her.

“You too, Robert,” she answered.
 
“But I don’t think I need security this
time.
 
There are only a few
reporters left and they don’t seem interested in me.”

Robert chuckled.
 
“You can never be too careful,” he told
Bessie.
 
“If we just buzzed the gate
open, those two might just charge forward and be in the house before we could
stop them.”

Bessie looked back over her shoulder as she
walked through the gate.
 
The two
reporters were still on their phones and neither seemed to have even noticed
the activity at the gate.
 
She
shrugged.
 
“I shouldn’t complain if
the Pierces want to keep paying you, should I?”

“Nope,” Robert grinned again.
 
“I’m happy to have the work.
 
We were told this was our last day about
two hours ago, and then about ten minutes ago they said we would be needed at
least until after the weekend.
 
I’m
not sure what’s going on.”

Bessie frowned.
 
“That’s strange.
 
I talked to Vikky a short time ago and
she said they were all heading back across tomorrow.”

“I guess that was the plan, but something has
come up,” Robert shrugged.
 
“It’s not
really my place to question it, or even talk about it, really.”

Bessie patted his arm as he escorted her to the
door.
 
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Bahey
will tell me absolutely everything.”
 
Robert smiled and then took her umbrella from her hand and folded it neatly
for her.
 

“I’ll leave this just inside the door,” he told
her as she entered the house.
 
“Don’t forget it on your way home.”

Bessie thanked him quickly as Bahey rushed up to
give her a hug.
 
She stopped short
when she saw that Bessie was dripping wet.
 

“Let me take that coat,” Bahey told her, holding
out a hand.

Bessie was happy to slip off the sodden and heavy
coat.

“I’ll just hang it by the door for you,” Bahey
told her.
 
After she did so, she
returned to Bessie’s side and gave her the hug that had been delayed.

“Oooo, Aunt Bessie, I didn’t know you were
stopping by,” Bahey told her.
 
“I
was just thinking about you.”

“I hope you were thinking nice things,” Bessie
replied.

“Oh yes, well, I was planning our lunch for next
week, you see,” Bahey replied.
 
“Mr.
Pierce told me that they were all heading home tomorrow, so I thought I could
start planning a day to have you and Joney over.
 
But then, just when I had the menu all
arranged in my head, he called me back in and said that they are staying until
Monday.
 
Now I’m all out of sorts.”

Bessie smiled at her friend.
 
“Never mind, I’m sure it will all be figured
out quickly enough,” she said reassuringly.
 
“In the meantime, I came to see
Vikky.
 
She called and said she had
my things to return.”

 
“Is
she the only one you want to see?” Bahey asked.

“Well, I suppose I should pay my respects in
regards to Samantha as well,” Bessie answered.
 
“So I guess a few minutes with Donny
would be useful as well.
 
I guess
he’s the right person to pay my respects to in this case.”

Bahey nodded.
 
“Let me tell them that you’re here.
 
You can wait in the great room.”

Bahey walked Bessie down the now familiar hall and
pushed open the great room door.
 
She flipped on several lights in the dark and empty room.

“I still don’t like this room,” Bessie remarked,
more to herself than Bahey, as she walked towards the windows.

“Oh aye, it’s just not a welcoming space, is
it?” Bahey replied as she left to find the others for Bessie.

“No, it most certainly isn’t,”
Bessie
said emphatically to no one.
 
She stood at the windows and watched the
rain that was still falling steadily.
 
She sighed and turned away from the view as the door behind her opened.

“Hey, Aunt Bessie,” Vikky called as she bounced
into the room with a plastic shopping bag in her hand.
 
“How are you?
 
It’s filthy out there, isn’t it?
 
I wish I’d known that the police were
going to change their minds and keep us here a couple more days.
 
I wouldn’t have bothered you today.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bessie answered.
 
“I didn’t have any other plans and I
often walk in the rain.
 
By why have
the police changed their minds?”

Vikky shrugged and looked out the window.
 
“I guess they can’t prove that the guy
they arrested actually did it, at least not yet.
 
Anyway, here, and thanks.”

Vikky handed the bag she was carrying to Bessie,
who glanced inside at her clothes.
 
“You’re welcome,” she said formally.
 

“Anyway,” Vikky told her.
 
“I can’t wait to get out of here and
back home.
 
I hated the island when
I was kid, and I hate it even more now.”

“And yet your husband loved it,” Mrs. Pierce
said sternly from the doorway.
 
“And
if you had made any effort to be a good wife to him, you would have tried to
love it for his sake.”

Vikky rolled her eyes at Bessie before turning
to her mother-in-law.
 
“I did try,”
she said with tears in her voice.
 
“I tried everything I could to be a good wife for the few short days
that Danny and I had together.”

Mrs. Pierce just looked at her and then turned to
Bessie.
 
“It’s kind of you to pay
another visit,” she said.
 
“Bahey
said you wanted to pay your respects for Samantha.”

“Yes, that’s right,”
Bessie
answered.
 
“I don’t know anything
about her family, but Donny’s the closest thing she had to family on the island.
 
It seemed appropriate to offer him my
sympathy, especially since I talked to him just that afternoon.”

“I’m sure he’ll be down shortly,” Mrs. Pierce
said.
 
“I’m sorry my husband won’t
be joining us.
 
He’s started taking long
drives around the island lately and he doesn’t let the weather stop him.”

Bessie nodded slowly.
 
That was what he was meant to be doing
when Samantha was killed.
 
“I
understand that you were planning to leave tomorrow, but that’s changed?” she
asked the other woman.

Mrs. Pierce sighed and made her way into the
room.
 
She headed towards the bar,
but at the last minute she turned and took a seat in a small seating area just
in front of it instead.
 
“Please,
join me,” she said.

Bessie walked across and tentatively took a seat
on the couch opposite the one where Mrs. Pierce was sitting.
 
“You have a lovely view,” she remarked
politely, unable to think of anything else to say.

“I always loved it,” Mrs. Pierce replied.
 
“But now, every time I look out there, I
see the spot where my son died.”

Bessie winced.
 
“That must be very painful,” she murmured.

“We’ll be selling the house,” Mrs. Pierce told
her.
 
“I expect someone will turn it
into a bed and breakfast or something.”

“It’s awfully isolated isn’t it?” Vikky asked as
she flopped down into a chair between the others.
 
“I mean, who would want to stay all the
way out here?”

Mrs. Pierce and Bessie both bristled at the
comment and when their eyes met a rare moment of understanding passed between
them.
 
Neither bothered to address
Vikky’s remark.

“I’d love to see another family buy it,” Mrs.
Pierce said.
 
“It was a great summer
home for the children.”

“I’m sure it was,” Bessie answered.
 

The conversation was interrupted when the door
suddenly burst open and Donny came crashing into the room.
 
Bessie could tell at a glance that he’d
been drinking heavily.
 

“Hey, Aunt Bessie, my Laxey Wheel buddy, how the
blazes are you?” he asked, sliding onto the couch next to her.

“I’m fine,” she answered primly, pulling her
knees to the side away from the man who was now sprawling across most of the
couch.

“Good, good, good,” he muttered.
 
“I’m not so good, you might have
guessed.”

“I’m very sorry about Samantha,” Bessie
answered.
 

“Oh, thank you, yes,” the man’s face reflected
his struggle to try to figure out what he should say next.
 
“That is, thank you for your simmm, er,
shimm, er, sympathy.”

“Donald, you’re drunk,” his mother said
sharply.
 
“I don’t think you should
be spending time with guests right now.”

Donny rolled his eyes at Bessie.
 
“I’m not drunk,” he whispered loudly to
her.
 
“I just had one little drinky
to help me forget about Sam and Danny.
 
Just the one, or maybe it was two.
 
I forget.”

Mrs. Pierce shook her head.
 
“I apologise for my son’s behaviour,”
she said tartly.
 
“He hasn’t been
himself since Samantha died.”

“I’m sure it was a huge shock to you all,”
Bessie replied.

“Shocking,” Donny agreed.
 
“Simply shocking.”

Mrs. Pierce frowned at her son.
 
“Donny, why don’t you go and lie down
for a little while?” she asked.
 
“I
think you could do with some rest.”

“Have to get packed,” Donny told her.
 
“Police said we
can
go tomorrow.
 
I need to pack my
things.”

“Haven’t you heard?” Vikky drawled.
 
“They’ve only gone and changed their
minds.
 
We’re stuck here until
Monday, earliest.”

Donny’s face went pale for a moment then he sat
up and glared at Vikky.
 
“You’re
lying,” he said harshly.

“I’m afraid she isn’t,” Mrs. Pierce interjected
smoothly.
 
“Apparently the police
haven’t yet received all of the information they need.
 
We have been asked, politely, to stay
here for just a few more days.”

Donny sank back in his seat, an angry look on
his face.
 
“What do you know about
this?” he demanded of Bessie.
 
“I
see the police going in and out of your cottage all the time.
 
What’s going on?
  
You have to tell me.”

Bessie shook her head.
 
“I don’t know anything,” she said
truthfully.
 
“I came over because
Vikky said you were leaving and I wanted to get the things I’d loaned her back
and pay my respects.”