Cars and Cold Cases
Page 24
“I’ll stop back when I have news,” he muttered as he pulled the door open. He was gone before Fenella could catch her breath.
15
“You were right on all counts,” Daniel said in the evening, three days later, as he sat down on the couch.
Fenella joined him and frowned at Mona who was actually jumping up and down in excitement.
“I solved a murder, no, two murders,” she crowed. “I told you I would be good at this sort of thing. Go me, go me, go me,” she chanted, dancing around the room.
Act your age, Fenella thought but didn’t say. Mona turned around and stuck her tongue out at Fenella. Oh, great, now she can read my mind, Fenella thought.
“What was I right about?” she asked Daniel, suddenly realizing that he was watching her with an odd look on his face.
“Herman killed Christopher and Roger,” Daniel said. “He actually confessed once we confronted him with some evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“We found Roger’s account at the beer and wine shop,” Daniel said. “Roger bought whatever he wanted and the bills went straight to Herman.”
“Poor Roger was never going to be able to get sober that way, was he?”
“No, which suited Herman. He was sure that Roger had seen him with Christopher on the night Christopher died. As it happens, I don’t think we’ll ever know whether Roger saw anything or not, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what Herman believed.”
“So Sophia really was helping Roger out of the goodness of her heart?” Fenella asked.
“I can’t get her to admit to anything, but I think Sophia knew who killed her husband and kept quiet about it.”
“Why would she do that?”
“We didn’t find any letter to the police in Roger’s things, but we did find a letter from Christopher to Sophia. In it, he tells her he wants a divorce, and because he has evidence of her infidelity, he tells her that she won’t get a penny from him. I don’t think Sophia had an actual hand in the murder, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t sorry that Christopher was killed.”
“How awful,” Fenella said with a shudder. “How did Roger get his hands on the letter, though?”
“I don’t know if we’ll ever know the answer to that, either,” Daniel said. “Sophia denies ever having seen it, but even if she never saw the letter, she must have known that Christopher was thinking about leaving her. Being a rich widow was a much more pleasant alternative, I’m sure.”
“But you don’t think she talked Herman into the murder?”
“Herman was adamant that she didn’t know anything about it,” Daniel said. “And I’m inclined to believe him, under the circumstances. At this point, he has nothing to lose by telling the truth.”
“What about Jennifer? How much did she know?”
“We’re still working on that,” Daniel said. “She claims she was crazy about Christopher and devastated by his death. She may be telling the truth as well.”
“And she was married to Herman for all those years and never suspected anything?”
“She may have had some suspicions about Roger’s death. Apparently that was part of what they’d been fighting about lately. Herman wanted her to provide him with an alibi for the night Roger died and she refused.”
“You wouldn’t have believed her, anyway,” Fenella said. “Wives aren’t reliable witnesses. But how did Herman know that I’d spoken to Roger?”
“He was looking for him and saw you two together. Apparently Roger was pressuring Herman to be a bit more generous and Herman wanted to discuss the issue with him. When he saw Roger talking to you, he decided that Roger was more of a serious loose end than he’d realized. He took Roger back to his house so that they could talk and things escalated from there,” Daniel explained.
“I should have dragged Roger to the police,” Fenella said sadly.
Daniel shook his head. “He wouldn’t have told us anything and Herman would have taken care of him once we let him go. The important thing is that both murder cases are officially closed. I can’t thank you enough for your help.”
“He should be thanking me,” Mona said from her seat. “I’m the one who worked it all out. But do go ahead and take all the credit. See if I care.”
“I’m glad I was able to help,” Fenella said, trying to ignore the faces that Mona was making at her. “If you have any more cold cases you want to discuss, I’d be happy to hear about them.”
“I will, probably soon,” he said. “But I haven’t told you about Kay.”
“Oh, goodness, you haven’t found her, have you?”
“I have,” Daniel said.
“I had a driving lesson this morning, and Mel didn’t say a word,” Fenella told him.
“I only found her this afternoon,” Daniel explained. “She was going to ring Mel after she spoke with me.”
“Oh, dear, poor Mel,” Fenella said. “I hope she’s kind to him. He did her a huge favor and she ran away.”
“Yes, well, there are two sides to every story,” Daniel pointed out.
“What did she say, then?”
“Her story is much the same as the one Mel told you,” he said. “All of the history with Liam was true, and she did spend the night with him without telling Mel and then found that she was a missing person the next morning. In her version, she wanted to ring the police and tell them she was okay, but Mel begged her not to so that no one would know that he’d been left. She went along, reluctantly, because she felt so guilty about leaving him after he’d been so kind to her.”
“Either version of the story fits,” Fenella admitted. “But I like Mel and I don’t know Kay, so I’ll believe his version.”
Daniel chuckled. “Anyway, they did move to New Zealand. According to Kay, she never lost contact with her parents, and they used to come out and visit her at least once a year before her father died.”
“Why didn’t they tell anyone that she was okay, then?”
“Kay reckons that they always liked Mel more than her,” Daniel said. “She thinks they kept the secret for his benefit. Once they moved off-island, it was a lot easier for them, of course. No one across even knew that their daughter was supposedly missing.”
“So is she still in New Zealand?”
“She is, but she’s thinking about moving back. She knows her mother’s health is failing and she’d like to be closer to her. She and Liam split up about ten years ago, and two of her three children are in the UK, so she’s tempted.”
“I wonder how Mel will feel about that,” Fenella said.
“You’ll have to ask him at your next lesson,” Daniel suggested.
“Or maybe not,” Fenella said. “He’s switching back to the other car, the one with the manual transmission, for my next lesson. I suspect I’ll be too busy stalling and cursing to think about Kay.”
“Would you like to have a go in my car?” Daniel asked. “We could go for a short drive if you’d like.”
Fenella shook her head firmly. “If I’m going to destroy someone’s transmission, I’d rather it was someone I’m paying for the privilege,” she said. “Maybe once I’ve started to get the hang of it, I’ll take you up on the offer, but for now I’m going to pass.”
“Let me know,” he said.
A knock at the door interrupted them. Shelly smiled brightly at Fenella when she opened the door. “Ready for the pub?” she asked. Peter waved from behind her.
Fenella glanced back at Daniel, who rose to his feet to join the women. “The pub sounds like a good idea,” he said.
“I haven’t been for a while,” Fenella told him. “Not since you warned me.”
“I should have rung you and told you everything was okay,” Daniel said. “I’m awfully sorry.”
“It didn’t hurt me to miss a few nights,” Fenella said. “Shelly and I had drinks here the first night, and I used the time to get some extra work done on my book, as well. I think I’m going to head across before the end of the
month to do that research I wanted to do last month.”
“In that case, we’d better enjoy your company while we have it,” Daniel said. “And the first round is on me as an apology for not ringing.”
“I won’t argue,” Fenella said.
“Me, either,” Shelly chimed in.
“I never say no to a free drink,” Peter laughed.
They were halfway across the building’s lobby when Fenella suddenly thought about Katie. “I need to dash back and give Katie some food,” she told the others. “You go and I’ll see you there in five minutes.”
“Have you come back to congratulate me?” Mona asked as Fenella rushed back inside her apartment.
“I came back to feed Katie,” Fenella said. “But congratulations. You spotted Herman’s mistake and solved two murders.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Mona said, beaming.
“Yes, and this time you didn’t even put me in any danger,” Fenella said dryly.
“Now that Daniel is falling in love with you, he’ll be keeping a much closer eye on you,” Mona said. “You’ve no chance of getting into any trouble.”
“Daniel is what?”
“You heard me,” Mona said. “Do you really think he forgot to ring you to tell you that you were safe to go back to the pub? I think he didn’t want you to know so that you’d stay at home for a few nights, well away from Peter.”
“Peter lives next door,” Fenella pointed out. “There’s nothing to stop me from having Peter over for drinks whenever I want.”
“But you didn’t,” Mona said. “Which is very telling.”
“It is not. It simply never came up.”
“Yes, dear,” Mona said.
Fenella thought about arguing, but she didn’t bother. Instead, she filled up Katie’s bowls and then turned to leave.
“I’m going to be away for a few days,” Mona said as Fenella crossed the room.
“Where are you going?”
“I just have a few things to do,” Mona said. “People to visit, that sort of thing.”
“What people?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just wanted you to know that I’ll be gone for a few days. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I’m probably going to go to London before the end of the month,” Fenella said.
“Well, we might just miss each other then, if you leave before I get back.”
“But you are coming back?”
“Oh, yes,” Mona said with enthusiasm. “Things are just starting to get interesting around here.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my editor, Denise, who works far too hard on my behalf.
To Linda at Tell Tale Book Covers for another fabulous cover.
To my beta readers who are painfully honest when they read each first draft. The final book is much better thanks to their input.
And mostly, to my readers, who are why I keep doing this!
Fenella’s story continues in…
Dogs and Danger
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy
When Fenella Woods decided to cut all of her ties in Buffalo, New York to move to the Isle of Man, she didn’t even give pets a single thought. Not long after she’d settled in, however, she’d found herself with a kitten. Just back from a fortnight of research in London, the last thing she’s expecting is that she’s going to find herself looking after two dogs as well.
When Fenella and her good friend, Shelly Quirk, find a stray dog on Douglas Beach, Shelly quickly recognizes him and knows where he belongs. The problem is, his owner, Harvey, seems to have disappeared. Shelly’s cat won’t let Winston into Shelly’s apartment, but Fenella’s Katie is more welcoming.
When a second neighbor goes missing only a few days later, Fenella finds herself in the middle of two missing person cases, and looking after two dogs. When one of the missing men turns up dead and a third person goes missing, life begins to feel more dangerous for Fenella and Shelly.
Inspector Daniel Robinson is reluctantly on the sidelines as he’s busy getting ready to go away for a two-month training course. Missing persons isn’t really his area of expertise, either. Can Fenella and Shelly work out what’s going on before anyone else ends up dead?
Also by Diana Xarissa
The Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Series
Arrivals and Arrests
Boats and Bad Guys
Cars and Cold Cases
Dogs and Danger
The Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series
Aunt Bessie Assumes
Aunt Bessie Believes
Aunt Bessie Considers
Aunt Bessie Decides
Aunt Bessie Enjoys
Aunt Bessie Finds
Aunt Bessie Goes
Aunt Bessie’s Holiday
Aunt Bessie Invites
Aunt Bessie Joins
Aunt Bessie Knows
Aunt Bessie Meets
Aunt Bessie Needs
The Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novellas
The Appleton Case
The Bennett Case
The Chalmers Case
The Donaldson Case
The Ellsworth Case
The Fenton Case
The Green Case
The Hampton Case
The Irwin Case
The Isle of Man Romance Series
Island Escape
Island Inheritance
Island Heritage
Island Christmas
About the Author
Diana Xarissa grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, earned a BA in history from Allegheny College and eventually ended up in Silver Spring, Maryland. There she met her husband, who swept her off her feet and moved her to Derbyshire for a short while. Eventually, the couple relocated to the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man was home for Diana and her family for over ten years. During their time there, Diana completed an MA in Manx Studies through the University of Liverpool. The family is now living near Buffalo, New York, where Diana enjoys writing about the island that she loves.
Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future under the pen name “Diana X. Dunn” and fantasy/adventure books for middle grade readers under the pen name “D.X. Dunn.”
She would be delighted to know what you think of her work and can be contacted through snail mail at:
Diana Xarissa Dunn
PO Box 72
Clarence, NY 14031.
Find Diana at:
www.dianaxarissa.com
diana@dianaxarissa.com