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

by Diana Xarissa

  Fenella didn’t even bother to reply. She tossed the card into the air and dashed away as he moved to catch it. She was inside the lobby of Promenade View Apartments before he could stop her.

  “If anyone comes in after me, keep them out,” she told the security guard at the front door.

  “Anyone?” he asked, looking confused.

  Fenella sighed. “I mean, maybe you could stop the men who were talking to me. I had trouble getting away from them. Don’t let them follow me into the building.”

  “But they’re with Mr. Thomas. Mr. Thomas has a flat here,” the guard replied. “I can’t stop them from coming in with Mr. Thomas.”

  A glance behind her showed that Lance and his friends were approaching the building. There was no way she wanted to be caught on the elevator with them. Swearing softly under her breath, Fenella crossed the lobby and pushed open the door marked “Staff Only.” Behind the door’s frosted glass she watched as Lance and the others walked across the lobby to the elevators.

  “Can I help you?” a surprised voice said from behind Fenella.

  “Is there a security guard who can walk me to my apartment?” Fenella asked.

  The man in the dark suit frowned. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

  Fenella frowned and then shook her head. “There were some men who were bothering me, but they’ve gone to their friend’s apartment now,” she explained.

  “Which apartment is that?” the man wanted to know.

  “I’m not sure which one, but it’s the one that Lance Thomas just bought,” Fenella explained.

  “Mr. Thomas seems to be causing all sorts of difficulties. Please let me know if you have any more problems with his friends.”

  Fenella nodded. “I’m sure it will all be fine.”

  “Let me walk you to your door,” the man offered. “Just in case it isn’t.”

  There was no one in the lobby or on the elevator that took Fenella and the man to the sixth floor.

  “Please ring me if you have any more trouble,” the man said at Fenella’s door. He handed her his card. “I’m Josh Witters, the building’s assistant manager. We want to do everything we can to look after Mona’s niece.”

  Fenella thanked the man and then let herself into her apartment. Mona was sitting on the couch, staring out at the sea.

  “What was going on outside?” she demanded as Fenella dropped into the first chair she came to. “I could see you talking to all those men just outside the building. It almost looked as if they were keeping you there against your will.”

  “It almost felt that way, too,” Fenella sighed. “But let me ring Shelly. She may as well come over and hear the whole story while I’m telling you.”

  6

  Shelly was at her door almost before Fenella put the phone down.

  “Tell me everything,” she demanded as she took a seat in the living room.

  “Lance was nice enough, I suppose,” Fenella began. “Although I didn’t get to ask him any questions. His friends were horrible, though.”

  “His friends came to the lunch?”

  “No, we ran into them after lunch.” Fenella sighed and then told Shelly and Mona the whole story.

  “It would have been weird if you’d asked Lance any questions,” Shelly said when Fenella was done. “I can see that. But now that you’ve talked to him, do you believe he’s who he claims to be?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I can’t see why he’d lie, really, but I still don’t trust him.”

  “If he is after me for my money, how did he even find out that I have any money? I mean, John’s been gone for a year. I can’t imagine that Lance has been planning this for that long. None of this makes sense to me.”

  “If you think you can, you should meet with him. You’ll be able to work out whether he’s telling the truth or not much more easily than I can,” Fenella pointed out. “You could probably work out whether he’s lying or not in just a few questions.”

  “Probably, but what if he isn’t lying? I’m not sure I can deal with one of John’s old friends right now. They’ve all been ringing, you know, checking in with me to see how I’m doing. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I sort of cut my ties with all of my old friends when I sold my house and moved in here. I suppose I was too busy to miss them.”

  “Now that you’re thinking about them, do you miss them?”

  “No, not really,” Shelly sighed. “They were my friends from when I was half of a couple. Many of them were John’s friends, or people with whom he worked, rather than actual friends. Some of the teachers who were my colleagues I considered friends at the time, but now that I don’t see them every day, I don’t really miss them. Goodness that sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t miss anyone from Buffalo at all. I miss my brothers, of course, and their families, but when I think back about my friends, well, most of them were work colleagues with whom I had nothing but work in common. Jack didn’t really have friends, and he didn’t encourage me to have them, either.”

  “John had lots of friends, but they were his friends, not so much mine. They used to play football at the weekend when they were younger. As they got older, that turned into Saturday afternoons at the pub. I didn’t mind. Most of them stopped going along once they had children anyway.” Shelly sighed. “I don’t know why I’m talking about all of this. I’m just feeling completely overwhelmed by this Lance Thomas person suddenly appearing in my life. Could you maybe just tell him to go away?”

  “I would if I could. And I’d tell all of his horrible friends to go with him.”

  “They do sound rather horrible. I’m almost mad enough about the way they treated you to insist on seeing Lance. I’d like to tell him and his friends exactly what I think of their behavior.”

  “I’m sure they all think they’re simply being friendly,” Mona interjected. “Men of a certain age haven’t learned to treat women as equals. They still think women should be flattered by any male attention.”

  Just in time Fenella remembered not to respond to Mona. While she understood what Mona was saying, she didn’t agree with the dead woman.

  “I don’t want you worrying about Lance’s friends,” she told Shelly. “You have enough on your plate worrying about Lance. I’m sure his friends will grow bored with the island and head back to the UK before too much longer.”

  “I hope so. They aren’t improving anything being here.”

  “So you just have to decide if you want to see Lance or not.”

  Shelly took a deep breath. “I feel as if I should,” she said. “If only just to try to work out what he really wants from me. Besides that, if I don’t, I’ll probably bump into him in the building. Right now I feel as if I want to hide out up here just to avoid him. That won’t work in the long term, though. I’d miss the Tale and Tail too much.”

  Fenella laughed. “So let’s arrange something and then you can forget about it until then,” she suggested.

  “How about lunch tomorrow?”

  “I have my driving test at eleven,” Fenella reminded her. “I’ll either want to celebrate after or hide somewhere and cry. Either way, I’d rather not be around Lance.”

  “I’m so sorry. I forgot all about your driving test. Are you okay? Are you losing sleep over it?”

  “Not yet, but I probably will tonight. In a way, I’m almost glad that this mess with Lance and his friends has come up. It’s keeping my mind on other things.”

  “Right, so tomorrow afternoon is out. I’ll meet you back here at midday to help you celebrate or commiserate, whichever is necessary. I don’t really want to have dinner with Lance, though. Dinner takes too long.”

  “Maybe we should simply meet him in a pub somewhere,” Fenella suggested.

  “Not the Tale and Tail,” Shelly said quickly. “I’d rather he not even know about the Tale and Tail.”

  Fenella nodded. “I don’t think we can keep it a secret from him, but I’d rathe
r not meet him there, either. How about the pub next door? It’s nice and it’s usually quiet.”

  “That sounds good. It’s close to home for all of us and, as you say, it’s usually not too busy. Now I just have to work up the nerve to answer his call the next time he rings.”

  “I have his number,” Fenella told her. “Do you want me to ring him and arrange everything?”

  “That would probably be better. Then I can’t chicken out.”

  Fenella pulled the man’s card out of her handbag. “I hope I just get voicemail,” she said. “How’s seven?”

  “Fine. We can celebrate your driving test and then I’ll buy you dinner somewhere to apologize for not going with you today.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. I set up today’s lunch without talking to you first. You had every right to decide not to go.”

  “But I still feel bad about it, so you’ll have to let me buy you dinner anyway.”

  “I’ll go to dinner with you, but I won’t let you buy,” Fenella countered.

  “Maybe you could just argue about this later,” Mona suggested. “It’s quite dull to listen to.”

  Fenella glanced at her aunt. “We can argue about it later,” she told Shelly.

  She dialed the number on the card and then held her breath, hoping that a machine was going to pick up.

  “This is Lance Thomas. I’m not available at the moment. Please leave a message.”

  “It’s Fenella Woods. Shelly and I will meet you for a drink tomorrow night at seven at the pub next door.” She glanced at Shelly, who reminded her of the name of the place. “Call me back if that isn’t convenient,” Fenella added after she’d repeated the pub’s name. She added her phone number as well, even though she’d given it to him. She didn’t want him to have any excuse to ring Shelly.

  “So that’s that arranged,” she said as she put the phone down. “I hope you’re feeling up to it tomorrow, but if you aren’t, I’ll go alone again.”

  “I’m not letting you do that,” Shelly said firmly. “Especially not after the way that man’s friends treated you today. I wonder if we should ask a few other friends to join us, actually. There’s safety in numbers.”

  “We could ask Peter,” Fenella suggested. “He usually enjoys a trip to the pub.”

  “He seems to be busy all the time at the moment,” Shelly told her. “But I’ll ring him later and see if he’d like to come. I was wondering about asking Gordon, but I’m not sure that would be appropriate.”

  “He knew John, though. Maybe he could help you work out if Lance is a fraud or not.”

  “There is that, but, well, with things as uncertain as they are between us, I’m not sure I want to take Gordon along to somewhere where I know I’m going to be talking about John. It just feels wrong.”

  “So let’s hope Peter can come.”

  “I wish Daniel were here,” Shelly said. “He’d be able to work out exactly what Lance is after and chase away his annoying friends as well.”

  Fenella swallowed a sigh. She had her own reasons for wishing that Daniel was back on the island, but she wasn’t ready to put them into words. “Yes, well, he’ll be back in another month or so. By that time we’ll have worked out what Lance Thomas is after.”

  “I certainly hope so. I don’t suppose you can ring Daniel and have him investigate Lance?”

  Fenella shook her head. “He’s on a course, so he wouldn’t be able to do anything, anyway. He’d have to have someone on the island do the work. I think it’s too soon to start having the man investigated, though. So far all he’s done is try to talk to you.”

  “And his creepy friends have all harassed you.”

  “Yeah, but that isn’t Lance’s fault, and it isn’t something I want to discuss with Daniel.”

  “When did you talk to him last?” Shelly and Mona both asked at the same time.

  “He sends the odd text now and again,” Fenella replied. “I haven’t actually spoken to him in a few weeks.”

  “You should text him once in a while,” Shelly said. “Just to say hello and see how he’s doing.”

  “I don’t want to bother him. He’s working.”

  “Not all the time, surely. Anyway, one text wouldn’t be a bother. It would just be a little reminder that you’re still around, that’s all.”

  Fenella shook her head. “He’ll be back soon. I don’t feel comfortable texting him, not without a good reason, anyway.”

  “Maybe you should text him about Lance, just in case he does turn out to be something other than what he claims,” Shelly suggested.

  “Let’s see how tomorrow goes. You’ll be able to ask him some questions. If his answers don’t add up, maybe I’ll text Daniel about him.”

  “In the meantime, do you want to go out for a drive?” Shelly asked. “We could even take Mona’s car, if you want. Have you tried driving it yet?”

  “No, I, well, I don’t want to try driving it until I have my license. Mel suggested several times that we should take it out for a drive so that I could practice in it, but I’m not ready for that yet.”

  “It’s such an awesome car. You’re going to love driving it,” Shelly predicted.

  “I have to pass the darn test first,” Fenella sighed. “And the thought of that is enough to make me sick.”

  “Okay, time to talk about something else. What are you doing for dinner?”

  “I thought I might heat up a frozen pizza. I had a large lunch, though, so maybe just cold sandwiches.”

  “Let’s go out,” Shelly suggested. “Let’s go to Port Erin or something.”

  “Are the historical sites open on a Sunday?”

  “They are in the summer months. Did you want to go and visit one?”

  “I’ve been thinking about Peel Castle since last night,” Fenella told her. “It was gorgeous in the dark, but I’d really like to see it again in daylight. If you’re prepared to drive all the way to Peel, I’ll buy you dinner to thank you.”

  “You don’t have to buy dinner. I think Peel Castle sounds like fun. Let me get some trainers and a jacket and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “Trainers?” Fenella repeated.

  “Trainers, you know, shoes for walking or running in.”

  “Oh, sneakers,” Fenella replied. “Or athletic shoes. There are probably a dozen different words for them, but I don’t think I’ve heard trainers before.”

  “Well that’s what I call them,” Shelly laughed. “I’ll be right back.”

  “English is a difficult language,” Mona said as the door shut behind Shelly. “I hope you aren’t really worried about your driving test, though. You’ll be fine. You should take the test in my car.”

  “I can’t possibly do that! I’m worried enough about taking it in Mel’s car, and it has two sets of controls.”

  “You don’t need two sets of controls. I’m sure you’re a very careful driver. Which probably means that my car isn’t the best one for you.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have left it to me,” Fenella snapped. She really loved Mona’s car and she was excited that she might be able to drive it soon.

  “I probably shouldn’t have done a great many things in my life,” Mona chuckled. “Leaving you my car was probably not my biggest misjudgment. Anyway, you may surprise me. You certainly have thus far.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You should get ready to go. Shelly will be back any minute now. I must dash, anyway. I have an afternoon appointment at the spa. They’re going to realign my body and spirit.”

  Before Fenella could react, Mona slowly faded away. “Realign your body and spirit,” she muttered under her breath as she went into the bedroom to touch up her makeup. “Ghostly spas sound just like real ones, charging too much for services that are mostly useless.”

  “Peel Castle was always one of my favorite places to go when we used to take the kids on class trips,” Shelly said a short while later as the pair made their way across the island. “They did some exc
ellent programs for the children and they always had tea and biscuits for the teachers.”

  “I can’t imagine going on a class trip to a real castle,” Fenella sighed. “We went to our local zoo and a large commercial bakery, neither of which was particularly exciting.”

  “Did you get free samples at the bakery?”

  “Yes, we did, actually,” Fenella laughed. “That was the best part, of course. I couldn’t have cared less about the various machines that mixed up the dough for hundreds of loaves of bread at a time.”

  “I should have thought the ovens would have been interesting.”

  “As I recall, we never got anywhere near the ovens. They gave us these little cakes when we first arrived and Jimmy Harrison managed to eat about ten in the first two minutes. He threw up all over one of the mixing machines. The rest of us were escorted into an office somewhere and our tour was cut short.”

  Shelly laughed. “Why does every school have a kid like that? I’m surprised the teachers didn’t stop him, though. They should have.”

  “His regular teacher called in sick that day. The substitute teacher didn’t know any better. Anyway, castles are much more exciting.”

  “I don’t think Peel Castle is as interesting as Castle Rushen, but then I prefer a standing structure to ruins,” Shelly said. “The kids always loved Peel because of the crypt.”

  “I very nearly didn’t go into the crypt on my first visit, but it wasn’t as creepy as I thought it might be,” Fenella said. Then again, I live with a ghost. That might have helped, she added to herself.

  Shelly parked near the castle and the pair walked to the entrance. They both took audio guides, and Fenella spent two happy hours walking around the site, learning everything that she could about the castle.

  “I seem to forget everything I learn after every visit,” she sighed as she sat down next to Shelly on a bench overlooking the sea. “I should buy some books about the site’s history.”

  “They have several in the gift shop.”

  “I love the gift shop,” Fenella laughed.

  A short time later she and Shelly exited the castle. Fenella was carrying two large bags full of books as they went.