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

throughout the room, it might make the room more
interesting, without upsetting the rainbow theme.”
    “They’re wonderful,” Bessie said.   “And I think they’ll be perfect.”
    “That’s what Ms. Harper said, too,” Agnes
said.   “I told her I had these
baubles and she thought they’d be exactly what the room needed.   I hope she still thinks so when she sees
them.”
    “I’m sure she will,” Bessie said.   “But I’m worried about everyone,” she
told Agnes in a confiding tone.   “It
isn’t very pleasant, being mixed up in a murder investigation.”
    “Oh, I’m sure someone from across came over
and killed Mr. Hart,” Agnes said.   She picked up the box and stepped back from the car.   “If you could just shut the boot?” she
asked Bessie.
    Bessie complied and then fell into step with
her.   “So you don’t think Mr. Hart’s
murder has anything to do with ‘Christmas at the Castle ? ’”
she asked.
    “Oh, I can’t see how it could,” Agnes
replied.   “No one would get that
upset about a few Christmas decorations, would they?   But having met Mr. Hart, it wouldn’t
surprise me to learn that he upset people just about everywhere he went.   I suppose some of those upsets must have
been over things rather more serious than our holiday happening.”
    “And you think they followed him over here
and killed him?”
    “I should imagine they’d want to do it as
far away from their own home as possible,” Agnes said.
    Bessie couldn’t argue with the logic of
that.   She held doors open for the
other woman, stopping with her in the room Agnes had decorated.
    Agnes put the box down and quickly added a
few baubles to one of the trees.   “It does work rather well, doesn’t it?” she asked, looking at Bessie.
    “It really does,” Bessie agreed.
    She crossed Agnes off her mental list of
people to see and then made her way to the banquet room.   Mark had called a committee meeting for
first thing this morning.   Bessie
could only hope she’d have time to chat with some of the members before the
meeting got started.
      Mary
was standing in the centre of the banquet room when
Bessie arrived.  
    “Ah, I was starting to think I was in the
wrong place,” she greeted Bessie.   “It’s quite spooky in here when you’re all alone.”
    “As far as I know, there’s only one ghost in
Castle Rushen and she haunts the throne room,” Bessie
told her.
    Mary shivered.   “I can’t help but feel as if poor
Christopher Hart is haunting the castle now,” she said.   “I think I would, if I were him.”
    “I think, if I were able to come back as a
ghost, I’d haunt somewhere lovely and warm, like the French Riviera,” Bessie
said.   “I’d much rather watch people
enjoying themselves than skulk around an old castle that’s cold and damp.”
    Mary laughed.   “I wonder if ghosts get a choice,” she
said thoughtfully.
    “If I get a chance, I’ll let you know,”
Bessie said, laughing.
    “Oh, I do hope we get a choice and we can
haunt people together,” Mary said.   “I think I’d like to haunt a few houses and scare one or two people who
have been quite terrible to George and myself after all the unpleasantness.”
    George’s former business partner had
recently disappeared, taking a large amount of stolen money with him.   While George had been cleared of any
wrongdoing in the matter, there was a small segment of the island’s population
who were now avoiding the couple.   As George was a lively and gregarious man who thrived on social
interaction, he was struggling to accept a quieter lifestyle.   Mary was very shy, and Bessie had no
doubt that she didn’t miss their formerly active social life even the tiniest
bit.   But Mary loved her husband
enormously and Bessie wasn’t surprised that the woman resented the way he was
being treated.
    “Let’s go to the French Riviera instead,”
Bessie said.   “Or maybe somewhere
exciting, like New York City or