Cars and Cold Cases

by Diana Xarissa

  “She’s been running all around the place,” Mona said. “She even had a go at jumping, but she isn’t quite ready for that yet.”

  “I’m so glad she’s okay,” Fenella replied. “I was awfully worried about her.”

  “I assume your lunch went well, based on the steamy kiss in the doorway,” Mona said.

  Fenella blushed. “It was very nice,” she muttered.

  “So Daniel can cook, can he?”

  “He’s a really good cook,” Fenella said. “Much better than I am. He made a roast chicken with all sorts of sides, and then while I was sitting there watching, he threw together an apple crumble like it was nothing.”

  “You shall have to invite him here for dinner and cook something truly impressive.”

  “Yeah, that’ll work out great, since I don’t really know how to make anything impressive. I wonder if he likes spaghetti sauce from a jar.”

  Mona frowned. “Everyone should have a signature dish,” she told Fenella sternly. “It’s fine if it’s something fairly simple like a roast chicken, if it’s also truly delicious, but you should be able to make something nice for the men you invite here.”

  “Jack and I were together for too long,” Fenella said. “And he was a fussy eater as well. He didn’t like much beyond basic meat and potato meals. He didn’t even like onions or garlic. Once or twice a week he would stay at his house and I would stay at mine, and then I could cook with garlic or add onions to a dish, but often I ended up getting fast food or ordering a pizza because he wouldn’t do those things either.”

  “Tell me again why you stayed with him for so long,” Mona requested.

  “He has his good qualities,” Fenella said. “He was kind and he never cheated on me. Those are two things he had over my first boyfriend, anyway.”

  “But you were in love with your first boyfriend,” Mona pointed out. “You and Jack were just friends.”

  “It’s all ancient history now, anyway,” Fenella said.

  “But Daniel isn’t. When are you going to see him again?”

  “I don’t know. We didn’t make any plans.”

  “That isn’t good,” Mona frowned.

  “We’re both busy people,” Fenella said.

  “You’re busy? Since when?”

  Fenella stuck her tongue out at her aunt. “I have a driving lesson in the morning,” she said. “I’ll probably call Daniel after that, or I will if Mel says anything about his missing wife.”

  “You must make sure to ask,” Mona told her. “Then you’ll have to ring Daniel.”

  “I thought you wanted me to go out with Peter?”

  “Peter would be another good choice. By all means, go out with Peter, too.”

  “Too? I don’t know if I want to date anyone, but I certainly don’t need two men in my life.”

  “There’s Donald, as well,” Mona said thoughtfully. “I wonder when he’ll be back from America.”

  “I haven’t heard from him lately,” Fenella said about the handsome and very wealthy man who’d taken her out a few times. “Maybe he’s found himself a woman in the US.”

  “No doubt, but that doesn’t mean he won’t still pursue you when he gets back.”

  “He’s a complication I don’t need,” Fenella said firmly.

  She spent the rest of the evening playing with Katie and chatting idly with Mona about nothing in particular. For once Mona didn’t seem particularly interested in talking about the two cold cases that Daniel was investigating. Instead they talked more about Mona’s life on the island and Fenella’s childhood in the US. Fenella ate a cold sandwich for dinner in penance for the huge lunch and generous dessert she’d eaten earlier.

  “If you dream about Daniel again, be nice to him,” Mona told Fenella as she got ready for bed.

  “I don’t want to dream about anyone,” Fenella said. “I just want a good night’s sleep before I have to drive again tomorrow. I’m dreading it, you know.”

  “You’re worrying far too much about driving,” Mona told her. “It isn’t that difficult.”

  Fenella didn’t bother to reply. Instead she climbed into bed and looked over at Katie, who was already snuggled up in her bed. “Good night, Katie,” she said softly.

  “Mer-ew,” Katie told her.

  Fenella did dream about Daniel, but probably not the way Mona had expected. In her dream, Fenella was driving around the island and Daniel was in a police car chasing after her. The police car’s lights were flashing and the siren was wailing, but for some reason Fenella couldn’t work out how to stop the car she was driving. She kept going up and down the same streets, over and over again, unable to remember how to work the brakes or to change gear. When her alarm went off, Fenella was delighted to wake up and find herself at home.

  “Good morning,” she said to Mel with as much enthusiasm as she could muster as she climbed into the car a few hours later.

  “Morning,” he muttered back at her.

  He drove a short distance to a large parking lot and then stopped the car. “First, I want you to work on parking,” he told her. “And then we’ll hit the streets and do some reverse parking and turns in the road, that sort of thing.”

  The next hour was a nightmare for Fenella as she practiced pulling into and out of parking spaces before spending ages trying to park the car in a huge space between two other vehicles.

  “You have done this before, haven’t you?” Mel asked as she wiggled her way into the space. He opened his door and sighed. “You’re about six feet away from the curb,” he told her. “That would be a fail on your test.”

  Turning the car around in the road was slightly easier, although Fenella did hit the curb once or twice as she attempted the maneuver. “I haven’t had to do any of this in years,” she complained as Mel reminded her of the steps she was meant to work her way through.

  “It isn’t just about learning to do the maneuver,” he told her. “It’s about showing the examiner that you know how to control your vehicle and understand where your tires are on the ground.”

  As Fenella bumped the curb again, she sighed deeply. Putting the car into reverse, she looked over the wrong shoulder for the twentieth time and frowned. “Maybe I don’t want to drive, after all,” she muttered.

  “Not everyone does,” Mel said. “I’m sure you can do it, if you really want to, but you’re going to have to put the time in behind the wheel. It would be helpful if you went out with a friend now and again and worked on your maneuvers.”

  Fenella shook her head. “I’m barely managing to do them with you in the car. I’m not ready to subject a friend to this sort of torture.”

  Mel chuckled. “You are not the worst student I’ve ever had,” he told her. “Not even close.”

  “So tell me about your worst student,” Fenella said. “Maybe I’ll feel better if you tell me some horror stories.”

  “I did have one young man who drove my car into a stop sign while on his test,” Mel said. “And another who drove over someone’s front garden while trying to do a turn in the road. I think my worst student ever, though, was probably my wife.”

  “Did you teach her to drive before or after you were married?”

  “We started before we got married and carried on after the wedding,” he replied. “I’m surprised our relationship survived the experience, really.”

  “She wasn’t very good at driving?”

  “She wasn’t very good at listening,” he corrected her. “And she could never remember right from left. I’d tell her to turn left at the stop sign and she’d turn right about half the time. She actually did the same thing on her driving test, and she and the examiner ended up driving around for nearly an hour because she got them so far off his usual route that he couldn’t work out how to get back.”

  “How many times did she have to take the test?”

  “Oh, she passed anyway,” Mel said with a chuckle. “Apparently they can’t fail you if you simply don’t know right from left.”

>   “I suppose that’s something,” Fenella said.

  She was slightly less nervous about driving home along the promenade this time, possibly because she was too exhausted to care. All of the difficult maneuvers had completely worn her out, but at least simply driving in a straight line now seemed easy by comparison.

  “Same time Wednesday?” Mel asked as she climbed out of the car.

  “I suppose,” Fenella agreed reluctantly.

  “Like I said, you’ll progress faster if you go out driving with a friend once in a while.”

  “Yeah, but I think I’d rather keep my friends,” Fenella replied.

  Safely back in her apartment, she made lunch for herself and Katie.

  “She managed to jump up on the chair today,” Mona said with a frown. “I was enjoying being able to sit there, you know.”

  “I suppose that means she’ll be back to sleeping on my bed again, too,” Fenella said. “I’m just glad she’s feeling better.”

  “Yes, I suppose,” Mona said. “But how was your lesson? What did you learn about Kay?”

  “I learned she often confused left and right,” Fenella said. “Do you think that’s significant?” She was joking, but Mona seemed to take the question seriously.

  “Maybe she simply got lost,” she said after a moment. “Maybe she had directions to go and visit someone and she got lost along the way.”

  “You’d think she’d have turned up somewhere at some point in the last thirty years,” Fenella said.

  “You should still ring Daniel and tell him what Mel said,” Mona told her.

  Happy to have an excuse to call the handsome man, Fenella called the station. Of course he wasn’t in the office, but he called Fenella back almost immediately. She told him everything that Mel had said about teaching Kay to drive.

  “Thank you for telling me all of that,” Daniel said when she was done. “I can’t see how it’s relevant, but it’s interesting and it isn’t in the files, so it’s new information. I really appreciate it.”

  “I hope it helps in some way,” Fenella said.

  “Are you going to the Tale and Tail tonight?” Daniel asked.

  “Probably; I haven’t been for a few days. The cats will all be missing me.”

  Daniel laughed. “Maybe I’ll see you there,” he said. “I’m going to try to stop for a drink before I head home.”

  Fenella put the phone down and frowned at it. “Firm arrangements would have been nicer,” she complained.

  “Yes, that was a bit vague, wasn’t it?” Mona asked. “Maybe Peter will be at the pub. Perhaps if Daniel sees you with another man, he’ll start making more of an effort.”

  “I don’t want to play the two men off one another,” Fenella said.

  “Why not?” Mona asked. “It’s such fun, being fought over by two handsome gentlemen. Why, I remember a night in the ballroom here when one particular man, who really should have known better, very nearly came to blows with someone who was paying me a bit too much attention. Of course, both men had their wives with them, which further complicated the entire situation, but...” She was interrupted by the telephone.

  “Hello?” Fenella said, wondering how much of what Mona told her was actually true.

  “Ah, Maggie, my darling, there you are,” Jack said.

  Fenella sighed. She’s always gone by Margaret when she’d lived in the US, but she’d never been fond of being called Maggie. That Jack had always insisted on doing so anyway was another strike against him. “What do you want, Jack?” she said sharply.

  “Well, I know you’ve probably been losing sleep over it, so I wanted to let you know that the doctor doesn’t think I have cancer after all,” Jack said. “He’s run a whole series of tests and he hasn’t had all of the results yet, but so far it doesn’t look as if my problems are life-threatening. He does think my iron levels are somewhat low, and also he’s concerned about my cholesterol, but he hasn’t worked out exactly why I feel so unwell just yet.”

  “Maybe you need a hobby,” Fenella said dryly. “Or a pet.”

  “It’s funny you say that, actually, because the doctor did suggest that I find a hobby or interest to help occupy my time. You know I don’t like animals, so a pet is out of the question, of course, but I was thinking about trying my hand at learning to play the trumpet.”

  “The trumpet?” Fenella echoed.

  “Yes, the trumpet. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to play an instrument. Don’t you agree?”

  “Oh, by all means,” Fenella said. And now that I don’t have to deal with you, try the trumpet or the drums or anything you like, she added silently.

  “Hazel’s brother plays the trumpet,” Jack told her. “She thinks he might have an old instrument that he doesn’t need anymore that he might let me try. And he can provide a few basic lessons as well. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a natural.”

  Fenella swallowed a laugh. “Good for you,” she said.

  “I’ll have to play something over the phone for you once I’ve learned a song or two,” he said.

  “Yes, well, maybe you could record yourself and email me the file,” Fenella suggested. “That would be much more sensible than playing something down the phone.”

  “I suppose so,” Jack said. “But I’m not totally sure I know how to do that.”

  “Why don’t you worry about it after you’ve tried the trumpet,” Fenella suggested. “You may not like it, you know.”

  “Oh, I’m quite sure I will,” Jack countered. “And I think I’ll have a real aptitude for it as well.”

  “Can you read music?”

  “Well, no, not yet, but how difficult can it be? I’m a PhD, after all.”

  Fenella smiled at his pompous tone. She felt a rush of sympathy for Hazel’s brother, who probably had no idea what his sister was volunteering him for. “Well, good luck with that,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Jack said. “I knew you’d support me in whatever I decided to try,” he said. “Sue isn’t being at all helpful. She doesn’t like the trumpet, apparently.”

  “If there’s nothing else, I really must go,” Fenella said.

  “Oh, do you have company?” Jack asked, sounding hurt.

  “Just my kitty,” Fenella replied. “But I’m going out later, so I need to get ready.”

  “You have a cat?”

  “Oh, didn’t I mention her before? I didn’t go looking for her, she adopted me,” Fenella explained. “Her name is Katie, and she’s incredibly sweet.”

  “I didn’t think you were an animal lover,” Jack said crossly.

  “As I said, Katie adopted me, not the other way around,” Fenella told him. “But I do like animals and I’m very fond of cats, really.”

  “Hm, perhaps it’s best we aren’t together anymore, then,” Jack said.

  “Yes, I’m sure it is,” Fenella said firmly.

  “Where are you going tonight?” he asked.

  “Just down to the pub with some friends.”

  “Male friends or female friends?”

  “Yes, both,” Fenella said.

  “I’m not sure you should be going to the pub on a Monday night,” Jack said stiffly. “Surely people have to work in the morning.”

  “Many of my friends here are retired,” Fenella told him. “And some of them stop for a single drink before they head home. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “You don’t seem to be the same person you were when you were here,” Jack said. “What’s happened to you?”

  “I’m finding out who I am. Instead of being a college professor or your girlfriend or whatever, here I get to be Fenella Woods, and you know what? She’s turning out to be a terrific person.”

  “Hm, well, I quite liked my Maggie,” Jack said. “If you see her, tell her I send my love.”

  He disconnected before Fenella could reply. She put the phone down and then sat back in her chair. A single tear slid down her cheek before she could stop it. She was torn between feeling sad a
nd feeling angry, but sad seemed to be winning as she swallowed a huge lump in her throat. The phone rang again before she had time to get her emotions under control.

  “Hello?”

  “Fenella, my dear, how are you?” the smooth voice that came down the line caused a sudden rush of completely different emotions for Fenella.

  “Donald, hello,” she said, feeling flustered.

  “Did I catch you at a bad time?” he asked.

  “No, not at all,” she replied quickly. “I was just talking to an old friend back in the US, that’s all.”

  “Ah, as opposed to a new friend who is also, sadly, in the US,” Donald laughed.

  “The last time we spoke, you were heading back to California,” Fenella recalled. “Is that where you are now?”

  “No, I’m in New York City again,” he said. “Spring has sprung and the city is lovely. I was wishing I had someone special to share it with. I don’t suppose you fancy a long weekend in New York?”

  Fenella’s heart skipped a beat as she thought about spending a weekend away with the sophisticated and sexy man. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly.

  “I probably don’t have the time to spend with you properly anyway,” he said with a sigh. “I have far too many business interests. Maybe it’s time to start cutting back and thinking about retirement.”

  “You’d get bored,” Fenella predicted.

  “Not if you and I went traveling together,” he said. “We could see the world, maybe take one of those year-long cruises or something.”

  “As tempting as that is, I got seasick on the ferry and we never even left the dock,” Fenella said. “I’m not sure that cruising is for me.”

  “We’ll talk about it when I’m back on the island next,” Donald said. “Which should be fairly soon, I hope.”

  “I don’t know about traveling, but it will be nice to see you,” Fenella said. She winced as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. They sounded lame when said aloud.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” Donald said. “But what have you been doing to fill your days?”

  “Working on my book,” Fenella said, which was only a huge exaggeration.