Aunt Bessie’s X-Ray: An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery by Xarissa Diana

Author:Xarissa, Diana [Xarissa, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Bessie rang John while Harry was still at the cottage. She gave him a rundown of everything that Pamela had said, only leaving out the more personal conversation that she’d had with the police constable.

“I don’t think there’s anything new there,” John sighed when she was done.

“I didn’t think so either. Maybe I’ll have better luck with Brooke or Rachel.”

John chuckled. “I thought you didn’t want to be involved.”

“I really don’t, but I feel so sorry for Kelly that I keep agreeing to do just one more thing,” Bessie said, feeling cross with herself for being so easily manipulated. “After I speak to the other two flatmates, I’m truly going to be done.”

She gave Harry the rest of the Victoria sponge and then, after he’d left, did the washing-up and tidied the kitchen. It was getting late, but she wasn’t feeling especially tired. Still feeling annoyed with herself, she paced around the kitchen before going outside to sit on the rock behind the cottage.

For years she’d walked on the beach at all hours of the day and night, but since someone had broken into her cottage some months earlier, she’d been reluctant to leave it empty after dark. Sitting on the rock was a compromise. She could see the doors to the cottage, but she was still able to enjoy the sea air and the night sky.

Half an hour later, feeling more settled, she went back inside and took herself off to bed. When her internal alarm woke her at six, she was vaguely aware of unsettling dreams about walking on the beach while mysterious men appeared and disappeared in the holiday cottages’ windows. A hot shower drove most of the uneasiness away. She kept her walk short, stopping at the stairs to Thie yn Traie before returning home. As she opened her door, she admitted to herself that she’d deliberately avoided looking at the holiday cottages while she’d walked.

After breakfast, she curled up with a book and tried not to think about the people who would be ringing her later in the day. When that proved impossible, she gave up on the book and dug out a notebook. It only took her a few minutes to make a list of the questions that she wanted to ask both women. It was still nowhere near ten o’clock, so Bessie dug out a book of logic puzzles and spent a frustrating hour working on one of the puzzles rated as most difficult. No matter what she did, Bessie couldn’t make the clues fit together. When the clock stuck ten, she happily shut the book and headed for the kitchen, vowing to never look at that particular puzzle again.

The phone rang a few minutes later.

“Miss Cubbon? This is Brooke Buchanan. Hello.”

“Hello. Please call me Bessie.”

“Thank you. And you must call me Brooke, of course.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to speak to me today. I’m trying to help Kelly, Kara’s younger sister. She’s hoping that someone might remember something new that might help the police work out what happened to Kara.

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