Cars and Cold Cases

by Diana Xarissa

  Fenella laughed. “I don’t think that was what she was hoping for.”

  “No, it clearly wasn’t, but she didn’t argue. I took her home this morning right after breakfast. She tried to get me to commit to having dinner with her again soon, but I, well, I…” he blushed and took a drink of wine.

  “You what?” Fenella asked.

  “I told her that you and I were a couple and that you weren’t happy about my spending so much time with her,” he said, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “It’s fine,” Fenella said. “Especially after my performance last night.”

  Peter chuckled. “I quite enjoyed your performance last night,” he said softly.

  Fenella blushed and took a sip of wine before she could say something stupid.

  “This is more like it,” Mona said from the living room. “I’ll just disappear for the night in case things get romantic.”

  Only just managing to not reply to Mona, Fenella washed her thoughts down with another sip of her drink. The oven timer buzzed as she put the glass back on the table.

  The food was every bit as delicious as Mona had promised, and Fenella made a mental note to buy the same sort of meals more often. She’d bought a small tray of chocolate brownies from the store as well and she served them with vanilla ice cream as dessert.

  “Wonderful,” Peter said as he pushed his empty dessert plate away. “Everything was wonderful. We should do this more often.”

  “Yes, we should,” Fenella agreed.

  “Perhaps we should invite Shelly next time,” he added. “I don’t want her to feel left out.”

  “No, of course not,” Fenella said, feeling disappointed. Cleary Mona was worried about nothing. Peter just wanted to be friends.

  They finished the last of the wine with a casual conversation about nothing much. When Peter finally emptied his glass, he smiled at Fenella. “I suppose I should go,” he said. “You have a driving lesson in the morning, I believe.”

  “Oh, goodness,” Fenella exclaimed. “I’d completely forgotten about that.”

  “I saw Mel earlier today and he mentioned it,” Peter said. “He said you’re doing really well.”

  “I’m not sure I’d agree, but he was kind to tell you that, anyway,” Fenella replied. She walked the man to the door and stood, feeling awkward as he said his goodbyes.

  “Dinner was lovely, and I don’t think I ever thanked you for rescuing me from Anne, either. Thank you,” he said.

  “You’re welcome,” Fenella replied. “I was happy to do it, really.”

  “Does that mean you didn’t like Anne any more than Shelly did?”

  “I didn’t really get to know her, but what I did see of her wasn’t terribly likeable,” Fenella said. “And Shelly and I both wondered about her intentions.”

  Peter nodded. “I will say that she seemed less interested in me after I told her that my two divorces were financially crippling. I’d like to think that I’m still irresistible to women, but I’m old enough to know better.”

  “You’re charming and kind and handsome,” Fenella said. “I know there are plenty of women out there who would love to spend time with you.”

  “Does that include you?” he asked, staring into her eyes for a moment.

  Fenella only had time to nod before he kissed her. With no audience this time, she let herself get lost in the rush of emotions that swelled up inside her. When he finally raised his head, he gave her a gentle smile.

  “That was nice,” he said. “Let’s add that to the list of things we should do more of.”

  “Okay,” Fenella said softly.

  He gave her another kiss, this one soft and gentle, and then let himself out of the apartment. Fenella felt as if she were stuck in place, still recovering from the kiss, as the door shut behind him.

  “Honestly, I’d like to see you safely married off to someone, but that’s not going to happen if you keep behaving like that,” Mona complained.

  “I thought you’d gone for the night,” Fenella said.

  “I stopped back to check that things were going well. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that Peter was leaving.”

  “We’re taking things slowly,” Fenella told her aunt.

  “Slowly is fine, but, oh, never mind,” Mona sighed.

  “Besides, what makes you think I want to get married?” Fenella demanded.

  “It’s the proper thing to do,” Mona said. “And I think being married would suit you. Anyway, it would probably get Jack off your back, finally.”

  Fenella laughed. “I’m not worried about Jack,” she said. “He’ll never work out what he needs to do to get a passport, so I’m safe from him.”

  “I hope you’re right, although I do think I’d like to meet the man,” Mona said. “If he ever does come to visit, you have to promise me that you’ll have your big confrontation here, in my flat.”

  “Let’s worry about that if it ever happens,” Fenella suggested. “For now, I need some sleep.”

  Katie was already curled up in the exact center of the bed, and it didn’t take Fenella long to join her. After her busy day, she managed to fall asleep without taking time to worry about her driving lesson in the morning.

  “Don’t get in,” Mel said to her as she opened the passenger door to his car the next morning. “You’re driving,” he added as she looked at him in confusion.

  He climbed out of the driver’s seat and into the passenger side. Fenella reluctantly walked around and slid behind the steering wheel. She checked her mirrors, signaled her intentions and moved out into the street.

  “At the roundabout, take the first exit,” Mel told her.

  For the next forty minutes, Fenella drove all around Douglas, negotiating roundabouts and traffic lights and starting to feel as if she might just be able to manage driving on the island after all. Mel finally had her stop in a quiet neighborhood not far from where Daniel lived.

  “Let’s take a two-minute break,” Mel said. “I think you’ve earned it.”

  Fenella put the car into park and switched off the engine with a sigh. “I’m going to stretch my legs,” she told the man. He nodded, and when she’d climbed out of the car, followed suit.

  “I understand you’ve been spending a lot of time with Anne Maxwell,” Mel said, seemingly offhand.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Fenella replied. “She was at the pub with Peter the other night when I was there, but we didn’t spend much time together.”

  “She’s told the police her story about Kay and some bloke she was seeing before me,” Mel said. “I’m not very happy with Anne right now.”

  “I can understand that,” Fenella said. “She really should have told the police about the other man thirty years ago. Maybe the police could have found Kay somehow.”

  “It isn’t true,” Mel said softly. “Kay wouldn’t have left me for another man. We were happy together.”

  “I’m sorry,” Fenella said.

  “I wish the police would just drop the whole thing,” Mel said. “There’s no need to drag it all back up now. All it’s doing is upsetting me and Anne and, well, everyone.”

  “Inspector Robinson is just trying to do his job,” Fenella said. “Reinvestigating cold cases is one of his responsibilities.”

  “He should focus on Christopher Manderly,” Mel said. “That case should have been solved a long time ago. Too much money changed hands and too much was kept quiet, that’s for sure.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It was easier in those days to buy your way out of trouble,” Mel said. “The police could be persuaded to lose evidence or wrap up an investigation if enough money changed hands.”

  “You think someone bribed their way out of a murder charge?”

  “I think someone bribed the police to simply drop the entire investigation,” Mel said. “I don’t think the police were anywhere near working out who’d done it, so they were probably happy to let the whole thing slid
e.”

  “Well, Inspector Robinson isn’t bribable,” Fenella said.

  “It wasn’t just about money,” Mel said. “The Manderlys had a certain social position on the island. They still do, for that matter. No one wanted to see any of them charged with murder.”

  “But surely no one wanted to see one of them get away with murder, either,” Fenella argued.

  Mel shrugged. “It wasn’t anything to do with any of us,” he said. “I always assumed that Christopher was killed by an angry husband. They all slept around on one another. I never thought anyone else was in any danger from whoever killed Christopher Manderly.”

  “But whoever it was still shouldn’t have been able to get away with murder,” Fenella insisted.

  “And maybe they won’t yet,” Mel said. “Maybe your Inspector Robinson will find out who killed him after all these years.”

  “I hope so,” Fenella said.

  “Let’s get back on the road,” Mel suggested. “We’ll do a few maneuvers and then head for home.”

  Fenella found it difficult to focus for the next several minutes as she tried to turn the car around in the road, parallel park, and reverse around a corner. She could tell that Mel was losing patience with her as she tried to park and hit the curb.

  “That’s probably enough for today,” he said. “Turn left at the end of the road.”

  Fenella followed his directions back to the promenade. She was relieved when she could finally pull the car to a stop in front of her building.

  “At least you don’t have to worry about reverse parking here,” he said as she stopped in the no parking zone.

  “I don’t plan on reverse parking ever again after my driving test,” she said.

  “You may find you don’t have much choice,” Mel told her. “There are lots of places on the island where that’s the only option.”

  Fenella frowned. “Maybe I just won’t visit those places,” she said grumpily.

  Mel laughed. “Let’s do this again on Friday,” he said. “We’ll start with maneuvers, so you can do them when you’re fresh.”

  “Okay, great,” Fenella muttered. She climbed out of the car and headed inside. She’d only gone a few steps when Mel called her name.

  “You’re doing really well,” he told her when she turned around. “Stop being so hard on yourself. You’re going to be driving in no time.”

  Fenella forced herself to smile at the man, but she still felt miserable. After all her years of driving, this shouldn’t be this difficult, she thought as she rode the lift to her floor. Katie made a huge racket as Fenella walked into the apartment.

  “Ready for your lunch?” she asked the kitten.

  “Meeeewwwww,” Katie said.

  In the kitchen, Fenella made lunch for both Katie and herself.

  “You don’t look happy,” Mona said, when she appeared while Fenella was nibbling listlessly at a sandwich.

  “I’m just frustrated,” Fenella admitted. “I thought driving over here would be easy, but it isn’t. I’m doing okay on the going forward part, as long as I have Mel to tell me which lane to be in and when to get on and off the roundabouts, but all this reversing and parking is hard work. I don’t remember it being this difficult when I learned to drive the first time.”

  “You only have to do it well enough to get through the test,” Mona told her. “Then you can forget it all again.”

  “Mel said there are lots of places on the island where you have to parallel park,” Fenella said.

  “There are some,” Mona told her. “But there are usually other options. Don’t worry about that for now. Surely you have enough other things to worry about?”

  “Like what?” Fenella asked.

  “Like who killed Christopher Manderly,” Mona said. “You don’t seem to be doing anything to help poor Daniel solve the case.”

  “Mel told me that the killer probably paid the police to lose evidence and drop the investigation,” Fenella told her.

  “I don’t agree,” Mona said. “I was friends with the Chief Constable at the time, and there was no way he could have been bribed. If he suspected that any of his men were behaving in such a fashion, he would have been rid of them immediately as well. I know whenever the very wealthy are involved in anything like this it’s popular for people to think that they’ve purchased their way out of prosecution, but I don’t think that happened in this case.”

  “If it was possible, which of the suspects had enough money to buy their way out of trouble?” Fenella asked.

  “I’ve no idea what it would cost to buy a police inspector,” Mona said thoughtfully. “Sophia inherited a fortune, and she might have used her other questionable charms as well if she needed something suppressed.”

  “You didn’t like Sophia, did you?” Fenella asked with a grin.

  “Carl took over the business,” Mona continued, ignoring Fenella’s remark. “So he had plenty of money. Herman wasn’t as wealthy in those days as he is now, but his parents had money, so he probably had access to funds. Douglas and Roger were the only two suspects who would have struggled in those days, I think, assuming a police inspector was for sale.”

  “Although Douglas is quite well-off now,” Fenella said.

  “Yes, which is interesting as well,” Mona replied.

  “Why?”

  A knock on the door interrupted Mona’s reply.

  “Daniel? What brings you here?” Fenella asked, pleasantly surprised to find the man on her doorstep.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Of course,” Fenella stepped back and let the man into the room before shutting the door behind him. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she studied the grim expression on his face.

  “Let’s sit down,” he suggested.

  Mona had hastily moved to a chair near the windows when Daniel arrived. Fenella and her guest sat down together on the couch. Katie jumped up into his lap as soon as Daniel was seated.

  “Something bad has happened,” Fenella guessed.

  “An anonymous caller rang the station about an hour ago,” Daniel said in a flat tone. “They’d seen something floating in Douglas Bay.”

  Fenella put her hand to her mouth. “I don’t think I want to hear the rest,” she said softly.

  “The constable on duty rang for backup after he arrived on the scene. The man we pulled from the bay had been dead for some time.”

  Fenella gasped and then swallowed hard. “Why are you telling me this?” she asked. “Who’s dead?”

  “The body has been identified as Roger Starr,” Daniel told her. “And as far as I know, you’re the last person he spoke to before he died.”

  13

  Tears sprang into Fenella’s eyes as she closed them tightly and tried to think. She’d barely spoken to the man, but she was still upset to hear that he was dead.

  “Was he murdered?” she asked.

  “We don’t know yet,” Daniel told her. “He may have simply lost his footing and slipped into the water. I suspect that he was drunk, maybe very drunk.”

  “He wasn’t all that bad when I spoke to him,” Fenella said. “He was making sense, at least some of the time.”

  Daniel nodded. “I’ve already spoken to a few people who knew him. They told me that Roger usually got up around eleven. On a typical day, he’d wander into Douglas and sit in the sun somewhere for a few hours before heading home. Once he got home, he’d start drinking, and he’d drink until he either passed out or ran out of alcohol. I think you saw him at his best, although that might not be the most accurate term.”

  “If he usually went home to drink and just stayed there, when did he fall into the water?”

  “That’s one of the questions we’re trying to answer,” Daniel said.

  Fenella sighed deeply and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Do you think he was murdered?” she asked.

  “I don’t have enough information yet to answer that,” Daniel said.

  “Oh, stop being so c
areful and by the book,” Fenella snapped. “You’ve been a police inspector long enough to have a gut feeling about this, even if you aren’t sure. You know I’m not going to repeat anything you tell me, but what do you really think happened to the poor man?”

  Daniel frowned. “I understand that you’re upset,” he said. “I wish I had answers for you.” He put his hand on top of hers, but Fenella pulled hers away and stomped off to the bathroom for a box of tissues. She stood in the master bedroom and had a short cry before she rejoined the man. As she walked back into the room, Katie jumped off his lap and ran over to her.

  “Meerroowww?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” Fenella assured her. She picked the kitten up and gave her a hug. That seemed to reassure the animal, who immediately began to squirm in Fenella’s arms. When she was set back on the floor, Katie looked over at Daniel and then deliberately turned away from him and stalked off into the kitchen.

  “She’s mad at me, too,” Daniel said with a sigh.

  “I’m not mad at you, exactly,” Fenella said. “I’m just frustrated. I know you aren’t meant to talk about active investigations and all of that, but I didn’t ask you to. I just want to know what you really think.”

  “I really think Roger was murdered,” Daniel said softly. “And I’m going to do everything I can to prove that, and to find his killer.”

  Fenella felt fresh tears welling up in her eyes, but she blinked them away impatiently. “He said he’d told Sophia that he’d left a note with what he’d seen for the police to find after his death,” she said. “I don’t suppose you found anything?”

  “It’s going to take a while to go through his house,” Daniel told her. “While most of it is fairly tidy and clean, his bedroom is stacked full of boxes and piles of papers. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to go through everything, but I left two very unhappy constables there when I came here.”

  “I’m surprised the killer didn’t go looking,” Fenella said.

  “He or she may have,” Daniel told her. “There were no signs of a break-in, but as I understand it, he rarely locked his door. As I said, most of the house was fairly tidy, but if someone was careful, they could have searched it easily. The bedroom is such a mess that I can’t tell you if it was searched or not.”