Friends and Frauds (An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Book 6)

by Diana Xarissa

  “We have to move,” one of the men guessed.

  “I’m afraid so. Apparently there is a rear entrance. We are not permitted to park on the street here,” the grey-haired man replied.

  “It’ll cost extra, but we’ll move,” the moving man replied.

  “I’m not worried about a bit of extra expense, not at this point,” the grey-haired man told him. “You should go and talk to the building manager and make certain you know where you’re going, though. I’ll not pay for you to drive my things all over the island.”

  The moving man shrugged and then climbed out of the back of the truck and walked into the building. Shelly and Fenella followed. Neither spoke until they were on the elevator.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Shelly said. “It appears we’re getting new neighbors.”

  “There was something odd about that man,” Fenella replied.

  “I believe he’s had too much cosmetic work done, but his suit was fabulous.”

  “I can’t argue with that. I wonder which apartment he’s purchased.”

  “It can only be one of two,” Shelly told her. “The couple in 406 decided to move down south a few months ago. I hadn’t heard that they’d sold their flat yet, but that’s one possibility. The other possibility is 312. My friend who owned that one passed away, but I was told that his son was going to be moving in there.”

  “Maybe that’s the son,” Fenella suggested.

  “I suppose that’s possible. I thought his son lived on the island, though. That man was clearly from across.”

  “Just because the truck was from across?”

  “That’s part of it, but he also just seemed, well, not from here.”

  The elevator doors pinged as they opened on the sixth floor. Fenella was looking at Shelly as she stepped forward, right into the man who was waiting for the elevator.

  “My goodness, I am sorry,” she said quickly.

  “It’s quite all right,” Peter Cannell laughed, his blue eyes twinkling as he slid his arms around Fenella. “I’ll just assume you wanted a hug.”

  Fenella hugged him back and then stepped away from him, feeling slightly awkward. She’d had a series of long-term relationships when she’d lived in New York, but now that she was on the island, she’d found herself dating three different men at the same time. The entire situation felt oddly uncomfortable to her, even though none of the men involved seemed to mind. Peter, her next-door neighbor, was one of the men.

  “You look especially handsome today,” Shelly told Peter, whose salt and pepper hair looked as if it had just been cut.

  “Why, thank you,” he said, giving Shelly a hug as well. “I’m having lunch with my former wife and I thought I should make an effort.”

  “Which former wife?” Shelly asked.

  Peter flushed. “My first wife,” he said. “I don’t have any contact with my second wife. We’re both happier that way.”

  “It’s nice that you and your first wife are still friends,” Fenella said.

  “Well, I’m not sure that I’d put it quite that way, but I’m trying,” Peter told her. “I treated the poor woman quite badly, really. I’m still trying to make it up to her.”

  As Peter boarded the elevator, Fenella and Shelly walked down the corridor to their apartments. “Do you want me to come over and help you find something to wear tonight?” Shelly asked at Fenella’s door.

  “Oh, yes, please.”

  “I’ll just give Smokey her lunch and I’ll be over.”

  “I’ll make us some lunch, shall I?” Fenella offered.

  “Don’t go to any trouble.”

  “I have a frozen pizza I could do with some garlic bread,” Fenella suggested. “I want to make sure I eat something fairly substantial in case I don’t like anything at the party tonight.”

  “That’s probably wise. Charity events can have wonderful food or completely inedible food, depending on the budget.”

  “As Donald is going, I suspect the budget for the event is substantial, only because they’ll be expecting the guests to donate generously, but the last time I went to one of these things they only had the food out for about twenty minutes before the auction started. I want to make sure I’m not going to be starving all night, at the very least.”

  “That’s probably for the best,” Shelly laughed. She let herself into her apartment, leaving Fenella to open her own door.

  “Hello, darling,” she said to Katie, the tiny kitten who had adopted her right after her arrival on the island.

  “Meerow,” Katie replied. She rubbed against Fenella’s legs and then let Fenella pet her for a moment before dashing into the kitchen. Before Fenella had even slipped off her shoes, Katie began to shout loudly.

  “I know, I know. It’s time for your lunch. Shelly and I were having a nice walk and I didn’t want to rush back,” Fenella explained. “And we saw Harvey with Winston and Fiona, as well.”

  “How are those lovely animals?” a cool voice asked from behind Fenella’s back.

  She spun around and smiled at the woman in the doorway. “They’re fine,” she replied. For a brief moment Fenella wondered if she’d completely lost her mind. The woman she was talking to was either a figment of her imagination or the ghost of her dead Aunt Mona. She wasn’t sure which explanation was crazier, really.

  “I quite miss having them around,” Mona said. “You should offer to have them for a few days again. The flat felt warmer with dogs in residence.”

  “Meeroooww,” Katie said in an injured tone.

  “Don’t argue, you two,” Fenella said. She opened a can of food for Katie and refilled her water bowl as well, before switching on the oven for the pizza.

  “Where is Donald taking you tonight?” Mona asked.

  “Another charity fundraiser, where else?” Fenella sighed.

  “If you want him to take you to more interesting places, you’ll have to start being more interesting,” Mona suggested.

  “You mean I should sleep with him,” Fenella said flatly.

  “I’m sure he’d take you to Paris for a weekend if he thought you’d do so.”

  “I don’t want to go to Paris for a weekend.”

  “Really?”

  Fenella sighed again. “No, not really. I’d love to go to Paris for a weekend, but I don’t want to go with Donald. I’m not ready to sleep with anyone other than Katie. I was with Jack for too long.”

  “That was true after your first date,” Mona told her.

  “Yes, I know, but that doesn’t change anything.”

  Fenella had spent ten long years with Jack Dawson. He’d been a history professor at the same university that she’d first attended and then taught at herself. It had never been a great romance, but it had been comfortable, and there were times when Fenella missed the man who’d known her well. Mostly, though, she was grateful that her move to the island had given her the push she’d needed to end the relationship that was going nowhere. They’d been more like brother and sister than lovers, especially in the past few years, and Fenella was terrified of the idea of being intimate with anyone again.

  “You could simply go to Paris by yourself,” Mona suggested. “Maybe you’d meet a wonderful Frenchman.”

  “I don’t want to meet anyone else. I’m quite happy on my own.”

  “Waiting impatiently for Daniel to get back.”

  “I’m not waiting for him,” Fenella snapped. “I don’t even miss him, not really.”

  “You shouldn’t lie to your Aunt Mona. It isn’t nice.”

  Fenella shook her head. “Daniel may have met another woman on his course or at the grocery store or anywhere. I like him a lot, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to end up together.”

  Mona looked as if she wanted to argue, but she pressed her lips together and then smiled. “Let’s talk about more important things. How do I look?”

  “The same as ever, really. Young, beautiful, slightly transparent.”

  Mona nodded. “I was con
sidering aging a little bit more. My thirties were incredibly wonderful. I thought maybe I should try being thirty-five again.”

  “If that will make you happy, why not?”

  “I thought it might discourage a certain young ghost who’s become rather too attached to me, as well,” Mona said.

  “Really?”

  “The poor young man crashed his car on the promenade right outside of the building,” Mona explained. “He mostly spends his time wandering around the lobby, watching everyone as they come in and out, but he’s rather too attentive to me at the moment. Max is quite annoyed.”

  Fenella nodded. Mona loved to tease her about life in the afterworld. What she was saying now might be true or it might just be Mona making things up. “You don’t want to upset Max,” she suggested.

  Mona nodded. “That’s very true. I owe Max so very much.”

  Maxwell Martin had owned the luxury hotel that had become the apartment building where Fenella lived. As Fenella understood it, Mona had been involved with Max for many years. Initially, she’d occupied a room in the hotel, but when the building had been converted into apartments, Max had given Mona the largest and most luxurious one in the building. Mona had said before that she and Max were able to spend time together again now that they were both dead, but again, Fenella wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not.

  “I suppose I must go and see what I can do,” Mona sighed. “Wear the blue dress tonight, the one with the dark blue skirt and the lighter blue top. It will be perfect with Donald’s tie.”

  “How do you…” Fenella began, but her aunt faded away before she could even finish the question. When Shelly rang the doorbell a minute later, Fenella was still annoyed with Mona.

  “That was delicious,” Shelly said a short while later, pushing her empty plate away from her. “I ate far too much, of course, but I can’t seem to resist pizza or garlic bread.”

  “Me, either,” Fenella sighed. “I’ll have to walk the promenade twice tomorrow.”

  “But now you have to find something to wear for tonight. I just love going through Mona’s things. I never seem to see the same dress twice, even though we must have seen everything by now, mustn’t we?”

  “I don’t know. It does seem as if more clothes are in there every time I open the door,” Fenella admitted. That was just one more thing about Mona and the apartment that Fenella couldn’t explain.

  Shelly began to flip through the dresses, sighing over nearly every one of them. Eventually she stopped. “This one,” she said, pulling out a dress that Fenella was certain she’d never seen before. The top was a soft blue, but the color darkened very gradually as it moved down the bodice. By the time it reached the waist, it was a dark blue that got darker and darker all the way to the floor.

  “It’s gorgeous,” Fenella said grudgingly. This had to be the dress that Mona had mentioned. Fenella had been hoping she wouldn’t like it. “I wonder if it will fit.”

  Of course, it fit perfectly, showcasing Fenella’s curves while making her appear more slender than she felt, especially after eating half of the pizza and more than half of the garlic bread. Mona always had matching shoes and handbags for everything in her wardrobe. It only took Fenella a moment to find them both.

  “Perfect. Donald will love it,” Shelly told her. “Do you want to leave Katie with me tonight, in case Donald stays over?”

  Fenella felt herself turning fuchsia as she shook her head. “He isn’t staying over,” she said firmly.

  “Do you want to leave Katie with me anyway, in case it’s a late night?” Shelly asked. “Smokey would love the company, I’m sure.”

  Fenella was about to shake her head again, but before she did so, Katie dashed into the room. Shelly picked her up and gave her a cuddle. “Do you want to stay with Aunty Shelly tonight?” she cooed at Katie. “You and Smokey could play together all night and then snuggle up with me at bedtime.”

  “Mmerrooww,” Katie said happily.

  “There, you see? Katie wants to stay with me tonight,” Shelly said.

  Fenella laughed. “It seems more like you want Katie to stay with you tonight than the other way around.”

  “Either way, it will be fun for me and Smokey. Gordon is tied up at work, so we can curl up and watch telly, just the girls.”

  “If you’re sure you want her, you may have her, but not because Donald will be staying here.”

  Shelly had some errands to run, so Fenella pretended to work on her book for a few hours. When she’d first moved to the island, Fenella had been excited to think that she could finally write the book she’d always wanted to write. Unfortunately, actually putting words to the pages of the fictionalized autobiography of Anne Boleyn that she’d always planned was proving harder than she’d expected. One of the reasons why she was looking forward to talking to her lawyer, Doncan Quayle, was so that she could find out exactly how much money she had. If it was enough to support her for the rest of her life, maybe she wouldn’t bother writing the book after all.

  When it was nearly time to get ready for her evening out, she headed next door with Katie.

  “Here you are,” she said when Shelly opened the door. She handed the cat to Shelly. “One rambunctious kitten who will make your life miserable.”

  Shelly laughed. “I love having her, and she definitely doesn’t make my life miserable.”

  Fenella followed Shelly into the apartment and the pair watched as Katie and Smokey, a somewhat older and more refined animal, chased each other in circles for several minutes. When Smokey stopped and curled up for a nap, Katie jumped into Shelly’s lap.

  “I suppose that means I should go,” Fenella laughed. “I’ll let myself out.”

  Shelly picked up Katie and followed Fenella to the door. “I’ll bring her over around midday tomorrow,” she said. “That way you can sleep late if you want to.”

  “Midday is noon, right?” Fenella checked.

  Shelly laughed. “It is, yes.”

  As Fenella reached for the doorknob, someone knocked on the door.

  Shelly shrugged. “I’m not expecting anyone. I hope they aren’t selling something.”

  Fenella was surprised to see the grey-haired man in the expensive suit standing at Shelly’s door. He glanced at her and then looked over at Shelly.

  “You must be Michelle,” he said. “Although John told me that everyone always calls you Shelly. I’m Lance Thomas. I’m sure John’s mentioned me. I can’t wait to see him again.”

  Shelly stared at the man and then slowly shook her head as the color drained from her face.

  2

  Fenella took Shelly’s arm. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  The man in the doorway frowned. “I’m sorry. Have I upset you in some way? I certainly didn’t intend to do that. I should have rung John and told him that I was coming across. I had a job tracking you down as it was, but I never imagined that you’d move house. John always told me he loved that house.”

  As even more color drained from Shelly’s face, Fenella only just stopped herself from slamming the door in the man’s face. “Enough,” she said harshly. “I don’t think this is a good time for a visit.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Shelly said softly. “I was just surprised, that’s all. I thought that all of John’s friends knew.”

  “Knew? Knew what?” the stranger demanded.

  “John passed away, well, just about a year ago now. I’m doing my best to not think about the anniversary of his death, actually, which is just a few weeks from now,” Shelly said.

  Fenella put her arm around her friend. “We’ll spend the day together,” she promised. “With the cats and wine and chocolate.”

  “And ice cream,” Shelly added, giving Fenella a small smile.

  “John’s dead?” Lance repeated slowly. “I can’t believe I wasn’t notified.”

  “It was in the local paper,” Shelly said. “And I rang everyone in John’s address book. His office let all of his work colleagues k
now.”

  “How did you know John?” Fenella asked.

  “We were friends many, many years ago now,” Lance said with a sigh. “I’m afraid we’d rather lost touch recently, however. I never thought I would want to move back to the island and I was, well, careless about my friendships here. I was stupid enough to think that I had all the time in the world to amend that, of course.”

  Shelly nodded. “I’m sorry that I had to break the news to you.”

  Lance shook his head. “It is I who is sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have turned up here unannounced as I have. I certainly didn’t mean to upset you in this way. I am incredibly sorry, actually.”

  “It’s fine,” Shelly told him.

  “But it isn’t fine at all,” Lance said. “I was so looking forward to seeing John and meeting you that I never even gave any thought to how rude I was being, just showing up on your doorstep. I was even proud of myself for tracking you down once I’d learned that you weren’t still at the old address I had for John. I should have realized, when I saw the directory listing in just your name, that, well, things had changed, but I haven’t been on the island in twenty years or more and I couldn’t resist the idea of surprising my old friend.”

  “I’m sure he would have been happy to see you,” Shelly said. “John loved surprises.”

  “Really?” Lance laughed. “When we were younger, he never seemed that fond of them, but maybe he changed as he grew older.”

  Shelly nodded slowly. “When did you say you knew him?”

  “We grew up near one another in Douglas,” Lance explained. “And we suffered through school together. We talked about going to the same university as well, but in the end we went in different directions.”

  “And you moved off the island?” Fenella asked.

  “Really, I never came back after university. I went to Oxford and found that I liked it there very much. I ran a series of successful businesses there until recently.”

  “And now you’re back on the island for a visit?” was Fenella’s next question.

  “Oh, no, I’m not visiting. I’ve moved back, right into this building, actually. I’d have preferred a flat on the highest floor, but for now I’ve taken what was available, which is on the third floor,” Lance replied.