An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF

by Diana Xarissa

  “It’s a good building,” Walter snapped. “The management company is hoping to redo the front steps and paint the whole building this year, aren’t they?”

  “That would help,” Gordon said.

  The group filed out of the apartment and headed back toward the elevator. “Feel free to ring me if you have any questions about the building,” Walter said when they reached the lobby. “I’m always happy to work with our residents and our potential residents, you know?”

  But you don’t actually recognize their pets, Fenella said to herself.

  “Thank you for showing us around,” Gordon told Clive. “I don’t think either of these flats are what I’m looking for, though.”

  “I have another dozen flats in Douglas and half a dozen in Onchan,” the man replied. “I can ring a few people and we can look at any or all of them today.”

  Gordon glanced at Shelly and shook his head. “I don’t want to try to do too much at once. The flats will just get muddled up in my head. Let’s try again tomorrow, shall we? Maybe you can find two or three flats nearby that we can look at tomorrow?”

  “I’ll do that,” Clive promised. “I’ll ring you later with the details.”

  “Excellent,” Gordon said. He turned to Fenella. “Thank you for coming along. I appreciated your input. You’re welcome to join us again tomorrow.”

  “I may just do that,” Fenella smiled at him.

  Shelly leaned in and whispered something in Gordon’s ear. He looked surprised and then nodded. “If you’d like,” he said softly to her.

  “Gordon and I are going to take Fiona and Winston off your hands for an hour,” Shelly announced. “We’ll take them for a good long walk and wear them out. You go and relax at home or do some shopping or something.”

  “I don’t want to impose,” Fenella began.

  “Don’t be silly. These dogs are an imposition that I thrust upon you. The least I can do is give you a short break from them. Gordon and I will enjoy the walk,” Shelly insisted.

  Fenella thought about arguing further, but the prospect of an hour to herself was too good to pass up. “Thank you both so much,” she said, handing the leashes to Shelly. “Where shall we meet in an hour?”

  Shelly looked at her watch. “It’s nearly ten. We’ll bring the dogs back to your flat around half eleven.”

  Before Fenella could point out that that was considerably more than an hour away, Shelly and Gordon were gone, crossing the road with the dogs.

  “Well, that’s given you a bit of break, hasn’t it?” Clive said in Fenella’s ear.

  She’d forgotten the man was standing behind her. “Yes. I’d better get going and get some shopping done before they get back,” she said, taking a few quick steps away from the man.

  “Why don’t you let me buy you a coffee instead?” the man asked, putting his hand on her arm.

  “I don’t dare take the time,” Fenella replied. “I really must get some things done while I don’t have the dogs.”

  “Then I’ll come with you on your errands,” Clive said. “I’d really welcome a chance to get to know you better.”

  “That’s very kind, but I’m, well, I’m not available,” Fenella said a bit desperately.

  “You’re married?”

  “No, but I have a boyfriend.”

  “If you don’t have a ring on your finger, you’re available,” the man argued. “In fact, even if you did have a ring on your finger, I’d still want to get to know you better. I’m married, but that isn’t stopping me.”

  Fenella stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the man. “You’re married?” she echoed.

  “Yes, but not happily. We’ve been having issues for years. Divorce is so costly and difficult, though, I’m sure you understand.”

  “Actually, I don’t,” Fenella said icily.

  “We’re separated,” the man said quickly. “That is, we live separate lives, although we still live in the same house. Property is so expensive on the island, and it’s better for the children that way.”

  “Children?”

  “Oh, um, yes, well, that is, we had them in happier times, of course.”

  “Really? How old are they, then?”

  “Six and three, and then there’s the baby. She’s three months old,” the man said, sounding slightly sheepish.

  “I’m going to go and do my shopping now,” Fenella said tightly. “I don’t want you to follow me, speak to me, or come anywhere near me. I shall be suggesting to Gordon that he find another estate agent to help him with his house-hunting.”

  “Don’t be like that,” Clive said. “My wife and I really are separated. You can ring her and ask her if you’d like.”

  For a moment Fenella was tempted to take the man up on the offer, just to see what he’d do. If he was telling the truth, she quite fancied the idea of having a word with the poor woman who was unfortunate enough to be married to him, as well. Instead she shook her head.

  “It’s an interesting offer, but even if you were single, I wouldn’t be interested in you,” she said, wincing as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. They were honest, but she’d never been so direct with anyone before. Maybe that was part of her problem, she thought as she spun on her heel and strode away from Clive. Maybe she needed to be more honest with people, even if it meant being rude.

  It took her less than an hour to make a trip around the nearest grocery store. Considering that Shelly had been shopping for her twice in the past two days, she still bought an awful lot of stuff. While the shopping bags she had to carry home were heavy, for once she didn’t really mind. She was just thrilled that she’d had time to shop. While she was enjoying having Winston and Fiona around, getting a break from them felt like a mini vacation. Back in her apartment, she called Daniel’s mobile.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was next door with Gordon, looking at some apartments that are for sale over there, and the building manager said that Mortimer had a doctor’s appointment on Friday,” she blurted out when he answered.

  “Hello,” Daniel replied. “I’m fine, thanks. How are you today?”

  Fenella laughed. “I’m sorry. I was so excited about my news that I forgot to be pleasant. I’m fine, too. Shelly and Gordon have taken the dogs for a walk, so I did some grocery shopping, and now I’m standing in my apartment feeling as if it’s awfully quiet. Katie is asleep in the sun or ignoring me, I’m not sure which.”

  “She might be feeling a bit grumpy about the unexpected houseguests,” Daniel suggested.

  “She might, but I hope not.”

  “Here it is,” Daniel said. “I’ve just dug out my copy of Gloria’s report from her conversation with Walter Blake. That’s who you mean, right?”

  “Yes, that’s who I mean.”

  “He told Gloria the same thing he told you. That he saw Mortimer on Friday and that Mortimer finally left his office stating that he had a doctor’s appointment to get to.”

  “So you already knew about it,” Fenella said, feeling disappointed.

  “Gloria did, anyway. I think she might have assumed that the appointment in question was the one with Mr. Stone.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Fenella said, feeling even more deflated.

  “You’re thinking there might be a connection between the doctor that Mortimer was seeing and the one that Harvey was seeing,” Daniel said. “It’s an idea, certainly. I’ll ring Gloria and see if she’s found out anything about either man’s medical care.”

  “You always tell me to pass along anything I think might help,” Fenella reminded him.

  “And I’m grateful to you for passing this along. If anything comes of it, I’ll let you know.”

  He disconnected, and a moment later there was a knock on the door. Fenella could hear Winston barking before she’d opened it.

  “There you are,” she exclaimed as the dogs raced into the apartment, past Fenella and into the kitchen where she’d only just refilled food and water bowls.
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  “They’re hard work,” Gordon said with a laugh. “But awfully good fun,” he added.

  “I’m glad you had fun,” Fenella told him. “Feel free to come by anytime and take them again.”

  “I think next time we’ll take them one at a time,” Shelly said. “Fiona tries hard to keep up, but she doesn’t have as much energy as Winston. Her legs are a lot shorter, as well. I ended up carrying her for a while, as she didn’t want to let Winston out of her sight but she was too tired to chase after him any longer.”

  “Shall I make you some coffee or tea?” Fenella offered.

  “Gordon is going to buy me lunch,” Shelly replied. “But thank you, anyway.”

  “Thank you,” Fenella countered. “I enjoyed my trip around the grocery store incredibly.”

  “You’re welcome to join us for lunch,” Gordon offered. “I appreciated your coming along on the house hunting this morning.”

  “Thank you, but I think I’d better stay home with the animals,” Fenella replied.

  “I’ll be back later to help some more,” Shelly told her. “Ring me if you need me sooner.”

  “I’ll be fine. I have lots of food now and two tired dogs. I’ll probably have time to get some research done this afternoon.”

  Fenella was almost disappointed to find that she was right. After she’d had lunch, the dogs curled up together for a nap, with Katie in the middle of the pile. With nothing else to do, Fenella grabbed the nearest book and began to take notes.

  An hour later, just as she was getting bored, her phone rang. Grateful for the interruption, she picked up the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  “Ah, there you are, Maggie, my dear,” Jack’s voice came down the line.

  Fenella frowned, wishing she hadn’t picked up the call. She’d gone by Margaret when she’d lived in the US, but Jack was the only one who’d called her Maggie. She hated it. “What do you want?” she asked.

  “I miss you,” the man replied. “Surely you’re bored with life on a small island by now. You must be ready to come back to Buffalo and resume your old life.”

  “I love it here,” Fenella replied. “I have no interest in moving back to Buffalo.”

  “What happens when the money runs out?” Jack demanded. “I’m still prepared to support you if you come back now, but I might not feel that way in another month or two.”

  “Jack, you need to move on with your life,” Fenella said. “I’m not coming back. Find someone else or learn to live on your own, but stop calling me.”

  “I would hope that we can still be friends, after everything we’ve been through together,” Jack said stiffly.

  “Of course we can still be friends,” Fenella said on a sigh.

  “So I shall continue to call you, just as friends,” Jack announced. “And I shall tell you all about the wonderful woman I met as well.”

  “You met a woman?” Fenella asked, feeling surprised.

  “I did. Are you jealous?”

  Fenella actually thought about her reply for a moment. “I’m not,” she said truthfully. “I’m really happy for you. Tell me about her.”

  “Oh, she’s wonderful. She’s quite a bit younger than me, which worried me at first, but she keeps insisting that age doesn’t matter and she’s just about convinced me to see it her way.”

  “Does she work at the university?”

  “Um, no, we met at the grocery store,” Jack said. “She’s a lawyer.”

  “Really? How interesting. What’s her name?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  Fenella frowned. “I was just asking, but if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine.”

  “I just don’t want you looking for her on social media or whatever,” Jack said. “I understand that you’re jealous, especially since she’s younger and more successful than you are, but you mustn’t feel bad. I truly did love you, back in the day.”

  “Yes, well, thanks for that,” Fenella said dryly. “And congratulations on finding a younger and more successful woman. I’m sure Sue and Hazel are quite upset.”

  “Oh, they don’t know about, um, her, yet,” Jack said. “It’s all fairly new, the relationship, that is.”

  Sue and Hazel were two other professors in the department where Fenella had formerly worked with Jack. They were both divorced, and Fenella had always felt like they were both interested in Jack and jealous of her relationship with him. She knew that they’d both been chasing after him since she’d gone. No doubt Jack’s new relationship would disappoint them both.

  “Anyway, I thought it was only fair to let you know that I’m probably going to be unavailable soon. You might want to reconsider moving back in the very near future, if you’re going to do so.”

  “I’m not,” Fenella said flatly. “But good luck to you and your new friend. I hope it all works out for you.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Jack said.

  After an awkward pause, Fenella spoke again. “Bye, then.”

  “Oh, bye.”

  “He hasn’t found a new girlfriend,” Mona said. “He’s making her up to try to make you jealous.”

  “Well, he hasn’t succeeded. And I hope you’re wrong. I’d love for him to move on.”

  “He’ll be ringing to tell you that he’s coming to visit next,” Mona predicted.

  “I hope not. I really don’t want to see him again.”

  “Enough about him,” Mona said. “We need to talk about Mortimer’s murder. Tell me everything you know.”

  Fenella gave her aunt a quick rundown of the case, which took no time at all. “I don’t actually know anything,” she concluded.

  “Yes, that’s rather apparent,” Mona said. “We must work out who wanted to kill the man. He must have had friends or family members on the island. You need to find them.”

  “How am I meant to do that?” Fenella asked.

  “You should go to the memorial service,” Mona suggested.

  “Is there going to be a memorial service?”

  “I’m sure there will be something,” Mona said. “Check the local paper.”

  Glad that she’d thought to grab a local paper on her trip around the store earlier, Fenella quickly glanced through it.

  “Ah, here it is. His advocate, Doncan Quayle, will be holding a small memorial service for friends of the deceased on Saturday afternoon,” Fenella reported. “Dogs are welcome.”

  “There you go,” Mona said. “You can take Winston and Fiona with you.”

  8

  Shelly was back to help walk the dogs a short while later. “Let’s order Chinese food with extra fortune cookies,” she suggested when Fenella opened the door to let her in. “We can pick it up on our way back from the walk.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Fenella told her.

  They walked the dogs for a short while and then Fenella took Winston for a run as far as she could manage. Breathing heavily, she walked back to Shelly and Fiona, feeling as if she was dripping with sweat.

  “He loved that,” Shelly said, patting Winston, who looked pleased.

  “It nearly killed me,” Fenella told her. “But at least I won’t feel guilty about having extra rice and double fortune cookies.”

  Back in Fenella’s apartment, she fed the dogs and Katie while Shelly spread out the feast they’d ordered from the restaurant that was only a few doors away. Fenella was just spooning sweet and sour chicken onto her plate when someone knocked.

  “How much of a mess am I?” she asked Shelly as she headed to the door.

  “You’re just a little bit windblown,” Shelly told her.

  “Like you got caught in a hurricane yesterday and haven’t bothered to comb your hair since,” Mona added.

  Fenella stuck her tongue out at Mona as she opened her door. “Daniel, hello,” she said with forced cheer. “We were just going to have dinner and we ordered plenty of extra. Come and join us.”

  “I love Chinese,” he said as he looked over the food on the counter. “Bu
t are sure you have enough?”

  “More than,” Shelly laughed. “I ordered one of just about everything because it all sounded good. Help yourself.”

  A few minutes later the trio was enjoying their dinner.

  “Ask him about the murder,” Mona hissed as they ate. “Ask him if they’ve found Harvey.”

  “How are the plans for your trip going?” Fenella asked.

  “Good, thanks,” he replied. “There’s going to be a class in DNA retrieval that I’m really looking forward to.”

  The women ate in silence as Daniel told them about the various things the classes were going to cover. When Shelly yawned for the second time, he stopped and shook his head. “I’m boring you both, sorry.”

  “You aren’t,” Shelly said quickly. “I’m just overtired, that’s all.”

  Daniel looked skeptical and changed the subject. They had a lively debate about current US and UK politics while they finished their meal. When the fortune cookies had all been eaten, Daniel stood up.

  “I’ll take Winston, then,” he said. He clipped the dog’s leash onto his collar. Winston could barely contain his excitement as they headed for the door.

  Fiona was stretched out in the corner. She watched as Daniel and Winston left the apartment.

  “I guess she’s feeling more secure here now,” Fenella said.

  “But she’ll still want one last short walk before bed,” Shelly predicted.

  A short time later, Fiona got to her feet and began to bark at the window. Fenella took that as her cue. “Off we go, then,” she told the dog.

  “Do you want company?” Shelly asked.

  “It’s entirely up to you, but you do look tired. Maybe you should go home and get some sleep.”

  “If you truly don’t mind, I think I will. I haven’t been sleeping well the last few nights.”

  “I hope nothing is bothering you,” Fenella said.

  “I think something is, but I’m not sure what,” Shelly replied with a shrug. “Maybe I’m just worried about Harvey.”

  Shelly walked out with Fenella and Fiona and then let herself into her apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said in the doorway. “I’ll come over at seven and take the dogs for their morning walk.”