Aunt Bessie Joins (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 10) by Diana Xarissa Read Free Book Online Page A

man
snapped back.   “Your decorations can
wait a few hours, I’m sure.”
    This time no one argued.   A moment later, the uniformed men walked
into the room, ushering the volunteers and the site staff in with them.
    “That’s everyone we could find,” one the men
told the senior policeman.   “But
this place is like a maze.   There
could be someone hiding somewhere that we’ve missed.”
    “Who’s in charge?” Inspector Corkill asked everyone.
    “I suppose that would be me,” Mark said
after a moment.
    “Is this everyone who’s here today?” the
inspector asked.
    Mark looked around the room.   “Yes, I believe it is,” he said.   “The volunteers sometimes bring other
people with them, but they’d know if anyone from their rooms was missing.”
    “Is anyone missing?” Corkill demanded.  
    Everyone looked around, but no one
spoke.   After a moment, Agnes Clucas cleared her throat.
    “Um, Michael isn’t here,” she said softly.
    Mark nodded.   “Michael Beach is one of the people who
decorated a room,” he told the inspector.   “He had a bit of a disagreement with Mr. Hart yesterday and said he
wouldn’t be back.   I haven’t seen
him this morning.”
    “And
Carolyn isn’t here,” Bessie added.
    “Carolyn Teare is on the committee for the event, but she
didn’t come down today to help,” Mark said.
    Inspector Corkill said something to one of the uniformed men, who then left the room.   Now the inspector addressed them as a
group.
    “As I said, a body has been found in
Douglas.   I’m head of CID there, so
I will be the primary investigator on the case.   Because we believe the body to be that
of Mr. Christopher Hart, and Mr. Hart was on the island to work on the event
here, I shall be questioning each of you and anyone else who has any connection
with the event happening at the castle.   I appreciate your patience as I speak to you each in turn.   Does anyone have any questions before I
start?”
    “Will we still be able to open on Friday?”
Mark asked.
    The inspector shrugged.   “At the moment, I can’t see any reason
why not, but I’m making no promises at this point.”
    Mark nodded.   Bessie could see that he was upset and
worried.
    “Miss Cubbon , I’d
like to start with you,” the inspector said.
    Bessie swallowed hard and then put down the
lights that she’d been stringing on the tree in front of her.   She was conscious that all eyes were on
her as she followed the policeman from the room.   They walked down the corridor and
through a door marked “staff only” before the man stopped.   He pushed the door shut behind them and
then turned to Bessie.   His
formidable frown was replaced by something like a smile as he gave her a quick
hug.
    “Looks like you’re tangled up in another
murder,” he told her.   “I’m really
sorry.”
    “Not half as sorry as I am,” Bessie said
with a sigh.   “I don’t suppose
there’s any chance it was an accident?”
    “No, no chance,” the inspector replied.
    “That’s awful.   I mean, he wasn’t a very nice man, but
no one deserves to be murdered.”
    “He wasn’t nice?   Can you expand on that?”
    “Maybe we should sit down,” Bessie
suggested.   “This might take a
while.”
    “Oh, sorry,” the man flushed.   “Do sit down.”
    Inspector Corkill sat down behind the small desk and Bessie took the chair across from him.   She glanced around the room.
    “I’ve been in this castle hundreds of times
and I didn’t realise this little office was here,”
she remarked.
    “Apparently, they aren’t using it at the
moment, so they offered it to me as a space for interviews.   Henry told me that it used to be a guard
station when the castle was a prison.   I’ve no idea what it was used for before that.”
    “It’s quite small.   It was probably used for storage,”
Bessie guessed.
    “As much as I’d love to talk about the
history of Castle Rushen all day, we really need to
focus on