Aunt Bessie Joins (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 10) (14 page)

She was so busy chatting with guests that
she didn’t notice Richard’s return until he spoke to her.

“You’re to be congratulated,” he said.
 
“It’s much nicer than I imagined it
would be.”

Bessie smiled at the oddly worded
praise.
 
“Thank you.
 
Carolyn worked very hard, you know.”

“Carolyn flitted around and got in the way
and whenever there was real work to be done, brought in hired help,” he
corrected her.
 
“I know my wife and
her, um, limitations, shall we say.”

“We couldn’t have done it without her,”
Bessie replied truthfully.
 
Carolyn’s paid staff had done a great deal of the work over the last
month.

“Is Carolyn involved with that young man,
then?” he asked.

“You mean Michael Beach?
 
I hardly think so.”

“He’s only after her money and position in
Manx society,” Richard said.
 
“Although Carolyn doesn’t seem to mind being used if she also gets what
she wants.
”

Bessie bit back a dozen retorts.
 
“Maybe you two should have a holiday
somewhere,” she suggested after a moment.

“I’m too busy with work at the moment to
even consider that.
 
I was thinking
maybe we should simply go our separate ways.”

Bessie tried not to look as shocked as she
felt.
 
“I’m sure that would
devastate Carolyn.”

“Maybe I’m just tired of being used myself.”

“Bessie, what are you and my darling husband
chatting about?” Carolyn asked in an artificially light tone.

“Just telling her how much I enjoyed the
display,” Richard said.
 

Carolyn wound her arm through her
husband’s.
 
“You should be telling
me that,” she pouted.
 
“I worked hard,
too.”

“I’m sure you did, dear,” he said, patting
her hand.
 

“I have a hotel room all booked and paid
for,” she said to the man in a loud whisper.
 
“Why don’t we both go back there and
celebrate a successful grand opening together.”

“I’d rather sleep in my own bed, thank you,”
he replied stiffly.

“Did you enjoy the display?” Natasha asked
Richard as she joined them.

“I did, very much,” he replied.
 
“I understand you were instrumental in
fine-tuning every room.
 
You did an
excellent job.
 
Perhaps we could
talk about you doing some work for me.”

“I’m in charge of the decorating in our
house,” Carolyn said angrily.

“I’m thinking of redecorating my offices in
Douglas,” Richard told her.

“We just did those last year,” Carolyn
snapped back.
 
“Christo did them for
you.
 
They’re perfect.”

“They’re totally lacking in functionality,”
Richard replied.
 
“One conference
room looks like a prostitute’s bedroom, full of soft couches with pillows and
curtains and drapes everywhere, and the other one looks like a doctor’s surgery,
all stark white and stainless steel surfaces and hard plastic chairs.
 
I feel like every time I have a meeting
I have to chose between seducing my clients or trying to stick a knife in
them.”

“But that’s exactly what you do,” Carolyn
told him.

“Perhaps, but one must be subtle about such
things,” Richard replied.

Bessie hid a smile by taking a sip of
wine.
 

“I really must see those rooms,” Natasha
said.
 
“They sound awful, and
exactly like Christopher Hart.”

“He did amazing and interesting things,”
Carolyn said loudly.
 
“Anyone can
put a table and chairs in a room and call it a conference room.
 
Christo gave everything he designed its
own unique personality.”

“Are you staying in Douglas?” Richard asked
Natasha.

“I am, yes,” she replied.
 
“Actually, at the Seaside Hotel.”

“Why don’t I give you a ride back to your
hotel,” Richard suggested.
 
“We can
stop in my office on the way there and I can show you the rooms I want
redoing.”

“I’ll come, too,” Carolyn announced.

“Don’t be silly, darling.
 
You have a hotel room here for tonight,”
Richard said.

“I can cancel that,” Carolyn replied.
 
“I didn’t know you were coming down,
that’s all.
 
Of course I’ll come
home with you.”

“You know I hate to waste money,” Richard
told her.
 
“I’ve paid for that hotel
room.
 
I want you to use it.”

Carolyn stared at him for a moment and then
tossed her head.
 
“Of course, if
that’s what you want.
 
I’ll just
have Michael walk me over there.”

“Whatever you like,” Richard said, waving
his hand as if he wasn’t interested.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the castle will be
closing in thirty minutes.
 
If
anyone wants a last look around, now is your chance,” Mark announced from the
centre
of the courtyard.

A few people headed back towards the castle
entrance.
 
Bessie decided to join
them.

“I know I’ve seen it a hundred times,” she
said to no one in particular.
 
“But
I really want to see it again.”

“I’d love to show you around again,” Natasha
said to Richard.
 
“I can point out
some of the little changes I made.”

“That sounds interesting,” Richard
said.
 
He offered the woman his arm
and she took it with a satisfied smile.

“Shall we?” Michael asked Carolyn as he
rejoined the group.
 
Carolyn nodded
grimly and took Michael’s arm.
 
The
pair followed Natasha and Richard towards the castle entrance.
 

Bessie followed more slowly.

“May I join you?” Mary Quayle asked as
Bessie crossed the courtyard.

“Of course,” Bessie replied.
 
“I feel like we need to keep an eye on
those four,” she muttered as they entered the first room.

“I know what you mean,” Mary whispered.
 
“My children were less work when they
were toddlers.”

Bessie chuckled.
 
Across the room, Natasha was whispering
to Richard while Carolyn glared at her.
 
Michael was talking to her, but she didn’t seem to be listening.

The same pattern continued around the
castle.
 
By the time they reached
the banquet room, Bessie had had enough.

“I’m going home,” she announced to everyone.

“There’s only my room left,” Carolyn
said.
 
“I do wonder what people have
had to say about it.”

“Unfortunately, the door has been locked all
evening,” Mark said.

Bessie hadn’t seen him come up behind them
all, but she felt relieved when she saw him.
 
Surely he could calm the volatile
situation.

“Locked?
 
How did that happen?” Carolyn demanded.

“We were concerned that some of the items
you used for decorating might be valuable, so we locked the door while everyone
was getting ready for this evening,” he explained.
 
“Unfortunately, no one remembered to
unlock it once everything got underway.”

“Someone should lose their job over this,”
Carolyn said darkly.

“That would be me,” Mark replied.
 
“You are, of course, free to share your
thoughts with my supervisor at MNH.”

“I didn’t mean you,” Carolyn replied.
 
“Who was responsible for unlocking the
door, exactly?”

“As site supervisor, the ultimate
responsibility was mine,” Mark said smoothly.
 
“I was tied up at the front gate, but I
should have come through and checked that everything was done before we opened.
 
As I said, you can complain to my
supervisor.”

Carolyn flushed, but didn’t speak.

“No one will be complaining about you,”
Richard called from where he was whispering with Natasha.
 
“You’ve done a good job with this whole
thing.
 
But if the room can be open
now, let’s take a look.”

Mark nodded.
 
“I’ve brought up the key,” he told
them.
 

Mark crossed the room and walked down the
short corridor to the room that everyone had worked so hard on decorating that
day.
 
He turned the key in the lock
and then pulled the door open.
 

“Don’t switch on the lights,” Carolyn
shouted.
 
She pushed past him.
 
“I’ll plug in the trees.
 
They should be the only light in the
room.
 
Oh, ouch.”

“What’s wrong?” Mark called from the
doorway.

“I fell over something,” Carolyn shouted
back.
 
“And I can’t find the main
plug for the trees, either.
 
I was
sure it was right at the doorway.”

Mark switched on the overhead lights and
gasped.
 
Bessie crossed to him
quickly, ready to help preserve what she was sure was going to be a crime
scene.
 
She looked into the
room.
 
Trees had been toppled to the
ground, and smashed ornaments were everywhere.
 
In the
centre
of the room, the four wise men and their horses were in pieces on the
table.
 
Black crepe hung in tatters
where it had been torn from the walls.
 
Carolyn was sitting on the floor just inside the door and as she looked
around, she began to scream.

“We need to ring the police,” Bessie told
Mark.

“My beautiful room,” Carolyn sobbed.
 
“All my hard work, gone.”

“Come on,” Mark said.
 
He offered Carolyn his hand and pulled
her to her feet.
 
“We shouldn’t
touch anything.
 
The police need to
investigate.”

“Oh, sure,” Carolyn said sarcastically.
 
“Maybe they can learn something from
fingerprints.
 
Oh, that’s right,
there were a dozen people in there today, decorating.”

“We still need to ring them before we touch
anything,” Bessie told her, even though she agreed with the woman’s words.
 
She couldn’t imagine that the police
would be able to do much.

“Who had access to the keys?” Richard asked
Mark as they all stood around awkwardly waiting for the police to arrive.

“The main site custodian keeps a set with
him and there is a second set kept in the desk in the ticket booth,” Mark
explained.
 

“Who is the site custodian?” Richard asked.

“That would be me,” Henry said from the
doorway.
 
“Please don’t tell me you’ve
found another body,” he added.

“No, nothing like that,” Mark assured
him.
 
“But someone has destroyed the
decorations in this room.”

Henry stuck his head in the room and then
shook his head.
 
“I didn’t even look
when I locked everything up,” he said.
 
“I just shut the door and locked it.”

“What time was that?” Carolyn asked.

“About four, I think,” Henry said,
frowning.
 
“The charity volunteers
had all gone down to the press conference and everyone else went off to get
changed.
 
Mark didn’t want any doors
that could be shut and locked left open when the site was deserted.”

“Why didn’t you reopen it before the guests
began to arrive?” Carolyn demanded.

“I wasn’t aware that it was ready to be seen,”
Henry said.
 
“I opened up the rest
of the site and then I went to find Mark to ask him about this room, but he was
busy with a group of people and I never got a chance.
 
I thought it was better to leave it
locked up than open it if it wasn’t ready.”

“And you were right,” Mark said firmly over
whatever Carolyn began to say.
 
“Why
don’t we all move back into the banquet room?
 
It’s far more comfortable than standing
around in the corridor.”

The group walked back to the large
room.
 
Everyone stood alone, and
Bessie thought she saw more than one suspicious look on various faces.
 
A few moments later a uniformed
constable arrived.
 
He took a look
at the room and then shrugged.
 
“It’s a mess,” he said.
 
He
pulled out his mobile and made a call.
 
While he was doing that, Bessie quietly made a call of her own.