“Let’s just order a pizza, then,” Fenella suggested. “We can talk about the case while we wait for the delivery and then, after we eat, you can go home and get some sleep.”
“That sounds great,” Daniel agreed without opening his eyes.
By the time Fenella ordered the food, Daniel was snoring softly on the couch.
“I shouldn’t wake him,” Fenella told the mother cat. The kittens were nowhere to be seen, even after they’d spent most of the day chasing one another through the living room. The mother cat shrugged and then leapt into Daniel’s lap. He jumped and then grinned at her.
“Did you tell her wake me?” he asked.
“Not in so many words.”
“Right, you heard what Clyde said at the café. He mostly just repeated that back at the station. He still seems to think that he did the right thing by not telling us years ago. His sister’s reputation seems to mean more to him than finding her killer.”
“It was all he had left to protect,” Fenella suggested in a low voice.
Daniel nodded. “I spent the afternoon talking with both Howard and Patricia Quinn.”
“I’m sure that was interesting.”
“I can’t tell you anything that was said, of course, but the case is still wide open at this point.”
“I was hoping one of them might be shocked into confessing.”
“So was I, but they’ve both spent fifty years keeping secrets. They aren’t going to give them up that easily.”
Daniel’s phone blasted an annoying ringtone into the room. He frowned as he pulled it out of his pocket. “I’m on my way,” he said a moment later.
“What’s wrong?” Fenella asked.
“I’ll explain later. Maybe not today, though,” he replied as he headed for the door.
Fenella ate the pizza on her own, refrigerating the leftovers. She was still watching old movies when someone knocked on her door just after one in the morning.
“You look completely exhausted,” she told Daniel when she opened the door.
“I was hoping there might be some pizza left,” he replied. “I wouldn’t have knocked if I hadn’t seen lights on, though.”
“Come on into the kitchen and I’ll reheat your pizza.”
“I can eat it cold,” he offered.
“Sit and relax. It won’t take long to reheat.”
Daniel didn’t argue. He slid into a chair and rested his chin on his arm.
“Can you tell me what’s happening?” she asked after a minute.
“Howard and Patricia are dead,” Daniel told her.
Fenella felt dizzy for a minute. “What?” she asked, grabbing the back of a chair for support.
“You’ve gone very pale,” Daniel said, getting to his feet and guiding Fenella into a chair.
“I’m okay. What happened?”
“They both overdosed on sleeping tablets. Apparently, Patricia was prescribed them years ago and, from what we can determine, she’s been getting the prescription filled regularly but not taking many tablets.”
“That’s odd.”
Daniel shrugged. “Her doctor speculated that the couple were stockpiling them in case one of them became incapacitated and wanted to end things. Apparently this wasn’t the first time he’d seen such behavior.”
“They both committed suicide?”
“That remains to be determined. It might have been a case of murder and then suicide.”
“Who died first?”
“Again, still to be determined, but also, it won’t necessarily be conclusive.”
“One of them killed Mabel, then.”
“Howard left a note,” Daniel told her. “I can’t reveal the contents, but I can tell you that we’ll be closing the investigation into Mabel’s death.”
Fenella swallowed her frustration. Daniel had to follow the rules, no matter how much she wanted to know what was in the letter. She fed him pizza and then sent him home, finally crawling into bed many hours later than normal.
On Monday she took the mother cat and kittens to visit Jeanne.
“Can I keep her?” Jeanne asked as she cuddled the mother.
“Mr. Stone wants her to be kept indoors at all times.”
“I have no intention of letting her out. She’s had a hard enough life outside. She’ll have a wonderful life in our little home now.”
“In that case, she’s yours,” Fenella replied. “That’s one down and four to go.”
The pair deliberately avoided discussing anything that had happened with the case or with Howard and Patricia. Fenella ran into Crystal on her way out.
“I was going to ring you,” Crystal said. “We’ve had something of a shock here, and that’s upset everything.”
“I heard.”
“We’ve decided we want all four kittens, though,” Crystal added. “We’re hoping that they’ll serve as a distraction from everything else that’s happened.”
“They’re a long-term commitment, not a distraction,” Fenella said sharply.
Crystal nodded. “I do appreciate that. I promise you that they’ll have a good home here. You’re welcome to come back and visit them at any time.”
Fenella might have argued further, but one of the home’s residents walked past and then stopped and came back over. “Have you brought the kittens again?” he asked. “We’re all hoping they’ll stay one of these times. My wife never leaves our room except when the kittens are here, you see.”
Before she could second-guess herself, Fenella handed the carrier to Crystal. “I’ll bring the rest of their things over tomorrow,” she said as she headed for the door.
“Thank you,” Crystal called after her.
Moving back to her apartment felt like coming home. Fenella happily collected Katie from Shelly and then unpacked.
“You need to get a local paper,” Mona told her a short while later. She faded away before Fenella could argue.
The headline was shocking enough to make Fenella do a double take in the shop. “Suicide Note Confession to Double Murder,” it read. Fenella paid for the paper and then rushed home to read the article.
“Douglas native Howard Quinn sent his suicide letter to us here at the Isle of Man Times,” the article began. After a short paragraph about Mabel’s murder, the paper printed the confession in whole.
“He confesses to killing Mabel because she was threatening to tell Patricia about their affair,” Fenella told Mona, who’d reappeared as soon as Fenella had returned with the paper. “He also confesses to killing Patricia so that she would never know what had happened.”
“I still think Patricia did it,” Mona replied.
“Howard wrote the letter.”
Mona shrugged. “You can believe what you like. I knew Patricia and Howard. He didn’t have the courage to kill anyone, and Patricia would have done it without batting an eyelash.”
Daniel rang later that evening as Fenella was getting ready to go to her class.
“I assume you saw today’s paper,” he began.
“I did. I was shocked but not shocked, if you understand what I mean.”
“I do understand. It’s all very sad, anyway.”
“Do you really think he killed Patricia so that she wouldn’t find out what had happened?”
Daniel sighed. “You mustn’t repeat this to anyone for the next twenty-four hours, but we’ve had a handwriting expert go over the suicide note. The paper has done the same, and they’ve had the same results. Expect another shocking headline tomorrow. The note that was sent to the papers had been signed by Howard, but the note itself was written by Patricia.”
Fenella gasped. “So she did know.”
“It seems so. I don’t think we’ll ever really know which one of them killed Mabel, but at least we can close the file now, one way or another.”
Donna was quiet throughout the class that evening. When it was over, she stopped Fenella.
“I just wanted to thank you for having us all get together again,” she sa
id. “I’m glad the police have finally worked out what happened to Mabel, even though I’m shocked and saddened by what’s been revealed.”
Fenella nodded. “It’s all terribly sad.”
“We’re meeting again this Friday,” Donna added. “We may even try making it a regular thing. Just the girls. Clyde doesn’t want to see Marilyn or Jeanne right now. He and I are having dinner together tomorrow, though.”
“How nice for you. I hope you have a pleasant evening.”
Donna nodded. “I hope so, too.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my beta reading team – you know who you are and how much I appreciate you.
Thank you to my wonderful cover artist, Linda, at Tell-Tale Book Covers. She continues to be a joy to work with and has become a friend.
Thank you to my editor, who has always worked incredibly hard to make these books better. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
And thank you, readers, for continuing to spend time with Fenella and Mona. I love sharing their stories with you.
Letters and Lawsuits
Release date: October 18, 2019
Along with everything that she left to her, Fenella’s aunt Mona left instructions for her own birthday party. Doncan Quayle, Fenella’s advocate, is in charge of arranging the party, following Mona’s detailed plans. He gets a little sidetracked, however, when a woman turns up on the island claiming to be Maxwell Martin’s daughter.
Max had been Mona’s benefactor for most of her life. He’d showered Mona with gifts, and now Rosemary Ballard is demanding a share in Mona’s estate. She claims to have letters that prove that Mona had blackmailed Max for years. When Rosemary turns up dead, Fenella is the number-one suspect.
Inspector Daniel Robinson has to keep Fenella at arm’s length, no matter how he feels about her. As Rosemary’s family threaten to continue with the planned lawsuit, Fenella finds herself trying to prove her innocence in the murder investigation, and to find evidence that Rosemary was lying about her parentage.
Mona, Fenella’s ghostly roommate in her luxury apartment, is insistent that the letters are fake. As she reveals more to Fenella about her relationship with Max, Fenella works to find a way to protect her fortune and find a killer.
Is it possible that Mona badly misjudged Max? Who else besides Fenella had a motive for wanting Rosemary dead? Mona is sure that Max’s sister is behind the whole thing, but proving that might be an impossible task. As Mona’s birthday party gets closer, Fenella begins to wonder if there is actually going to be anything to celebrate.
Also by Diana Xarissa
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 Likes
Aunt Bessie Meets
Aunt Bessie Needs
Aunt Bessie Observes
Aunt Bessie Provides
Aunt Bessie Questions
Aunt Bessie Remembers
Aunt Bessie Questions
Aunt Bessie Solves
Aunt Bessie Tries
Aunt Bessie Understands
Aunt Bessie Volunteers
The Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Mysteries
Arrivals and Arrests
Boats and Bad Guys
Cars and Cold Cases
Dogs and Danger
Encounters and Enemies
Friends and Frauds
Guests and Guilt
Hop-tu-Naa and Homicide
Invitations and Investigations
Joy and Jealousy
Kittens and Killers
Letters and Lawsuits
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 Jackson Case
The Kingston Case
The Lawley Case
The Moody Case
The Norman Case
The Osborne Case
The Patrone Case
The Quinton Case
The Rhodes Case
The Isle of Man Romance Series
Island Escape
Island Inheritance
Island Heritage
Island Christmas
About the Author
Diana grew up in Northwestern Pennsylvania and moved to Washington, DC after college. There she met a wonderful Englishman who was visiting the city. After a whirlwind romance, they got married and Diana moved to the Chesterfield area of Derbyshire to begin a new life with her husband. A short time later, they relocated to the Isle of Man.
After over ten years on the island, it was time for a change. With their two children in tow, Diana and her husband moved to suburbs of Buffalo, New York. Diana now spends her days writing about the island she loves.
She also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future as Diana X. Dunn and middle grade and Young Adult books as D.X. Dunn.
Diana is always happy to hear from readers. You can write to her at:
Diana Xarissa Dunn
PO Box 72
Clarence, NY 14031.
Find Diana at: DianaXarissa.com
E-mail: [email protected]
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