Aunt Bessie's Holiday (9 page)

Bessie was about to give him an earful, but
Harold interrupted.

“I’ve rung Joe.
 
He’s on his way,” he said.

“Excellent,” Lawrence said.
 
“Joe Klein is our head of security.
 
When he arrives, he will escort you and
your friend out of the staff area, and, if I have anything to say about it, off
Lakeside Holiday Park property altogether,” Lawrence told Doona haughtily.

Doona rolled her eyes at Bessie and then
leaned back against the wall again.
 
Bessie felt as if she might go mad listening to the large clock on the
wall as it ticked off the minutes while they waited.
 
Each tick seemed reluctant to follow on
from the previous one and Bessie was certain at one point that several minutes
went by before she heard another reluctant tick.

When the hallway door opened again, Bessie
was eager to inspect the new arrival.
 
The man who walked towards them had the look of a career policeman.
 
His eyes were cool and assessing as he
took in the scene.
 
Bessie would
have guessed that he was probably in his sixties.
 
He was wearing a brown uniform and
carrying an extra twenty pounds, mostly around his waist.
 

“Is there a problem?” he asked, his voice
low.

“These ladies need to be escorted out of
this area,” Lawrence said loudly.
 
“They aren’t meant to be back here.”

“I’m sorry, ladies, but Mr. Jenkins is
correct.
 
This is a staff area.
 
If you’ll just come along with me,” the
man said.

“I told the police that I would stay here
and make sure no one entered the crime scene,” Doona told him.
 
Bessie was surprised at how steady her friend’s
voice sounded.

“Crime scene?” the man repeated.
 
“I’m Joe Klein, the head of security at Lakeview
Holiday Park, so if there’s a crime, I suppose I ought to know about it.”

“Charles Adams has been murdered,” Doona
told him.
 
“I found the body when I
went to meet with him a short time ago.”

“Murdered?
 
That’s a pretty serious accusation.
 
Maybe I better check it out,” Joe said.
 

“The police aren’t going want the scene
compromised,” Doona said.

“I was a cop for nearly forty years,” he
told Doona.
 
“I think I know what
I’m doing.”

Bessie could tell that Doona was reluctant
to let the man look into the office.
 
If only the police would hurry up and get there, Bessie thought.

“Joe, get them out of here,” Lawrence said
tightly.
 
“We can sort out whatever
has happened to Charles once they’ve gone.”

The security officer shook his head.
 
“I think I’d better see what she’s
talking about before I chase anyone away,” he told Lawrence.
 

Doona stepped back reluctantly and let Joe
open the office door.
 
Bessie was
standing in just the right place to see far more than she wanted to see.
 

Joe glanced into the room and then looked
hard at Lawrence.
 
“We’ll all be
waiting nice and patiently for the police to get here,” he told him.

“Ridiculous,” Lawrence snapped.
 
He pushed Bessie to the side, heading
towards the still open office door.
 

Joe put out his arm to stop him.
 
“You can have a look if you really want
to,” Joe said.
 
“But I think you’ll
be sorry you did.”

Harold also appeared to take that as an
invitation and he quickly crowded forward as well.
 
The two men stared into the small office
and then both spun around.

“Can’t you take care of this?” Lawrence
asked Joe.
 
“I mean
,
you were with the police.
 
Surely you can handle something like
this.”

Joe shook his head.
 
“Murder is well outside of the remit of
our security team,” he said firmly.
 
“You know as well as I do that we have to notify the local constabulary
for serious issues.
 
I can’t think
of anything more serious than this.”

“There could be sensitive documents on the
desk in there,” Lawrence said.
 
“At
least let me go in and collect the papers that Charles was working with.”

“I think just about everything on the desk
is covered in blood,” Joe told him.
 
“Anyway, the police aren’t interested in how he was running Lakeview.
 
All they’ll want to do is work out who
killed him.”

“But he wasn’t just managing this site,”
Lawrence argued.
 
“We were working
on purchasing some other properties.
 
I can’t have news of that leaking out before we’re ready.”

“You aren’t going in there,” Joe said
firmly.
 
“Maybe you and Harold
should go and sit in his office for a while.
 
You did say that the police are on their
way, right?” he asked Doona.

“That’s what they said, but it seems to be
taking a long time for them to get here,” Doona replied.

Joe nodded and then pulled out his mobile
phone.
 
He took a few steps away
from the group and spoke quietly into it for several minutes.
 
Bessie couldn’t make out what he was
saying, but at least the noise covered up the incessant slow ticking of the
hallway clock.

As Joe spoke, he walked further back up the
corridor.
 
Bessie was startled when
Lawrence suddenly ran towards Charles’s office door.
 
Doona grabbed his arm, but he pushed her
backwards, hard.
 
As she fell to the
ground, Joe managed to get his hand on Lawrence’s shoulder.

“Trying to hide the evidence?”
 
A cool voice that sounded amused floated
down the corridor.

Bessie turned and looked at the pretty,
fifty-something woman who was walking towards them.
 
She was wearing a blue suit and her
brown hair, caught up in a tidy bun, was streaked with grey.
 
Her eyes were the same colour as the
streaks in her hair.
 
Now she looked
at each of them in turn, a faint smile on her face.
 
Doona climbed back to her feet as
Lawrence spoke.

“I was just hoping to retrieve some
important papers,” he said, clearly frustrated.

The new arrival glanced into the office and
then shook her head.
 
“You should
know better,” she said sternly.
 
“We
shouldn’t have to keep talking about what your security team can and can’t do.”

“I’m more worried about keeping my business
confidential than in arguing over jurisdiction,” Lawrence said.

“And I’m more interested in finding out who
murdered Charles Adams than I am in your business,” the woman shot back.
 

The hallway was now becoming crowded with
men and women, some in police uniforms and others who must have been crime
scene team members.
 
The woman glanced
at all the new arrivals and then took a deep breath.

“Right, I’m Inspector Margaret Hopkins, for
those of you who don’t know me,” she said, addressing her comment towards
Bessie and Doona.
 
“Those of you who
do know me,” she said, looking directly at Lawrence, “will know I take the job
of investigating very seriously.
 
This is murder and my job doesn’t get more serious than that.”

She pointed to someone in the crowd of new
arrivals and a man came forward.
 
After a quiet conversation, he disappeared back into the crowd.

“Margaret, please, I know that finding out
what happened to Charles is important, but if I could just have five minutes in
his office, I’d really appreciate it,” Lawrence said.

“Call me Inspector Hopkins,” she said.
 
“And no, you may not have five minutes
in the office.
 
In fact, I think
it’s probably in everyone’s best interest if you go down to my office and wait
there.
 
I’m sure we’ll have plenty
to discuss once I’ve had a chance to inspect the scene.”

“Your office?
 
I don’t think so,” Lawrence said
stiffly.
 
“I have a holiday park to
look after.”

“What exactly is your title here?” the
inspector asked, voicing the very question that Bessie was thinking.

“I’m, well, that is, I’m a business
associate of the park’s general manager,” he said.

“So you don’t actually work for Lakeview
Holiday Park?” the woman asked.

Lawrence flushed.
 
“No, not as such,” he muttered.
 

“Then I can’t imagine anyone will miss you
if you’re not here,” the woman said with a satisfied smile.
 
“And as it’s your partner who’s been
brutally murdered, I’m sure you’ll want to do everything you can to help us
find the man or woman responsible for such a horrific crime.”

“Well, yes, but, I mean….”

Inspector Hopkins held up her hand.
 
“I think you need to gather your
thoughts,” she said in a kindly voice.
 
“I’m going to have someone take you down into town.
 
I’ll be there in a few hours and we can
talk then.”

Lawrence opened his mouth, presumably to
protest, but she deliberately turned her back on him and began a whispered conversation
with one of the men in a white lab coat.
 
A uniformed constable stepped forward and smiled nervously.

“Sir, if you’d like to come with me,” he
said to Lawrence.

“I’d rather not,” Lawrence told him.
 
“But your bi, er, boss, doesn’t seem to
have given me much choice.”

“No, sir, she hasn’t,” he agreed.

Bessie and Doona exchanged glances and
Bessie quickly looked down to hide a smile.
 
It was nice to see the unpleasant man
being dealt with.
 
When Lawrence and
his escort had disappeared through the door at the top of the corridor,
Margaret Hopkins turned back to them.

“Joe, thanks for keeping him under control
until I got here,” she said to the security chief.
 
“Goodness knows what evidence he would
have trampled all over in order to find whatever he’s after.”

“Just doing my job,” Joe said with a
shrug.
 
“I’d still be doing your job
under other circumstances.”

The woman smiled.
 
“Most days you could have it,” she told
him.

He laughed.
 
“Yeah, well, maybe not,” he replied.

“Do you have anything to report before I
start?” she asked him now.

“Nothing that needs discussing before you’ve
gone through the scene,” he told her.

“Great.
 
If you have other things to do, you’re welcome to leave.
 
I’ll find you when I’m ready for a full
report.
 
If you want to stay and
help, that’s okay, too,” she said.

“I’ll stay and work the scene, if I may,” he
replied.
 
“It’s been a while, but I
think I still remember how.”

The inspector nodded and then turned her
attention to Harold Butler.
 
“Mr.
Butler, it looks like you just got your old job back,” she said.

Harold blushed and then turned pale.
 
“I hope you aren’t hinting that I had
anything to do with, well, that,” he said hotly, gesturing towards the open
office door.

“I wasn’t hinting anything,” she replied in
a measured tone.
 
“Merely making an
observation.
 
If you’d like to wait
in your office, I’m sure I’ll have a great many questions for you shortly.”

“Yes, of course,” he said sulkily.
 
He stomped off down the corridor,
eventually turning into one of the offices.
 
A moment later that office door swung
noisily shut.

“That just leaves you two,” the inspector
said, her eyes moving from Bessie to Doona and back again.
 
“I assume one of you is the woman who
found the body.”

“That would be me,” Doona admitted.

“How far into the room did you walk?” the
inspector asked.

“Not very far at all,” Doona replied.
 
“I knocked but didn’t get a reply.
 
I was just going to leave, but then I
decided I’d leave Charles a note if the office
wasn’t
locked.
 
I tried the handle and it
wasn’t locked, so I pushed the door open and, well, you know what I saw.”

The other woman nodded.
 
“And you immediately rang the police?”