An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF

by Diana Xarissa

  Donald chuckled. “Tell me about your friends,” he invited.

  “You should meet them,” Neil replied. “They’re all business associates of mine. Lance is from the island, and he’s just retired back here, actually. He’s one of the reasons why I’m thinking about doing the same.”

  Neil glanced around the room and then waved at his friends, who were standing at the bar. A moment later, they crossed the room to where Fenella and the others were standing.

  “Come and meet one of my local business associates,” Neil told them. “Donald and I did a few deals together before I started focusing my energies in the UK. He stayed behind and made his money here.”

  Neil’s tone was dismissive, as if Donald’s fortune was insignificant, which made Fenella wonder about both men.

  “Donald, this is Lance Thomas,” Neil said. The pair shook hands.

  “And this is my friend, Fenella Woods,” Donald told Lance.

  “But you’re Shelly’s friend,” he exclaimed. “I must speak to you before the night is over.”

  Fenella nodded as Neil continued with the introductions. She shook hands with Eric Palmer, Adrian Graves, and Jared Welch in turn.

  “What brings you all to the island?” she asked once the formalities were out of the way.

  “Lance is retiring and we wanted to see for ourselves what island life was like,” Adrian replied. “The tax situation over here makes the island tempting.”

  Donald nodded. “That’s one of the reasons why I live here.”

  “I would have thought that Fenella was reason enough,” Neil said.

  “What do you think of the island so far?” Fenella asked, doing her best to ignore Neil.

  “It’s small, but lovely,” Jared said. “I can almost imagine settling into a flat on the Douglas promenade for the tax advantages, as long as I could fly back and forth to London on a regular basis, of course.”

  “I can’t see it,” Eric said. “There are other places in the world with low taxes and much better weather.”

  “Yes, I was trying to persuade Fenella that we should investigate the Canary Islands, but so far I haven’t managed it,” Donald said.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t the islands but the company she was objecting to,” Neil suggested.

  Donald stiffened but didn’t reply. Fenella forced herself to smile. “How long will you be on the island?” she asked.

  “Oh, a fortnight, maybe a bit longer,” Adrian replied. “We’re looking to mix business and pleasure while we’re here.”

  “Really? What sort of business?” Donald asked.

  “Nothing you need to worry yourself with,” Neil replied. “We’ve plenty of capital for funding it ourselves. We won’t be looking for any additional investors.”

  “I’m getting bored with this party,” Laura said in a loud voice from behind Fenella. “Perhaps it’s time to move on.”

  “I can’t imagine being bored in this company,” Neil said, staring at Fenella again.

  Laura laughed. “If you weren’t so adorably transparent, I’d probably be quite cross with you. Stop chasing after Fenella. You’re only interested in her because she has Mona’s fortune.”

  “Mona’s fortune? Are you related to Mona Kelly?” Neil asked.

  “I’m Mona’s niece,” Fenella replied.

  “Does that mean you have Mona’s car? I’ll give you fifty thousand pounds for it, in cash,” he said excitedly.

  “I’m not interested in selling Mona’s car,” Fenella said, trying to keep her voice firm and ignore how much money he was offering her.

  “It’s worth a good deal more than that, if you were selling,” Donald whispered in her ear.

  “A hundred thousand, then,” Neil replied.

  “I’m still not interested,” Fenella said, not entirely truthfully. A hundred thousand pounds sounded like a fortune to her, and if she sold the car she could cancel her driving test, which was even more incentive.

  “How much would it take?” Neil demanded.

  “It’s not for sale,” Fenella said firmly.

  Neil stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “Perhaps I could persuade you to let me take it for a drive one day, then,” he said in a low voice.

  Fenella stared back at him. “I don’t think so.”

  Neil sighed and then chuckled. “That’s a shame, but maybe once I get to know you better, you’ll change your mind.”

  “Darling, I think we should be leaving,” Donald said. “We did leave champagne on ice in your flat, and you know Katie will be chasing the ice cubes all over the kitchen.”

  Fenella laughed. They’d done no such thing, but if they had, Katie probably would chase the ice cubes. “Yes, we should go,” she agreed.

  “I’m sorry, but could I have a quick word?” Lance asked. When Fenella looked at him, he glanced around. “Maybe somewhere in private?”

  Donald frowned, but Fenella was just curious enough to go along. “Sure, let’s step outside,” she suggested.

  They walked a few paces away from the entrance to the tent, and Fenella felt as if she were in another world. Crumbling ruins loomed around them in the dark as Fenella waited to hear what Lance would say.

  “I’m sorry to drag you away from the party, but I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am that I upset Shelly. I feel as if I know her after all of the wonderful things John said about her in his letters, but clearly he never bothered to mention me to her. As I always swore I’d never return to the island, I suppose I can understand why.”

  “I’m sure Shelly will be fine. It’s difficult right now, with the anniversary of John’s death approaching.”

  “I wish I’d known,” Lance sighed. “I would have written to her first, asked her if we could meet, done something differently. I would have warned her about my appearance, as well.”

  “Your appearance?” Fenella blurted out, blushing when she realized she was probably being rude.

  Lance just laughed. “I suppose I simply appear to have had too much cosmetic surgery or something, but in truth I was in a bad car accident a few years ago. The work I had done was meant to repair the worst of the damage, but it has, well, altered my appearance to the extent that I hardly recognize myself.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you. It’s been surprisingly difficult, and I’d never thought of myself as particularly vain. One of the reasons why I was hoping to see John again was because I was hoping he might have some photographs from our childhood. After the accident and the first of the surgeries, I, well, I was rather upset about what I saw in the mirror. In a fit of anger, I destroyed every photo I had, from my childhood through to right before the accident. I even shredded my passport and declared it lost.” He blew out a long breath. “As I said, I’d never thought of myself as vain.”

  “I don’t know if Shelly has any photos from John’s childhood or not,” Fenella said apologetically.

  “It doesn’t much matter, really. What I’d like most of all is a chance to get to know Shelly. The way John described her, she sounds like an amazing woman. Do you think she’d agree to have lunch with me? Maybe even as early as tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose you’ll have to ring her and ask.”

  “I have a better idea,” he said with a grin. “Will you have lunch with me tomorrow? I’m happy to buy you lunch anywhere you’d like, as long as you invite Shelly to come along.”

  “I won’t do anything behind her back.”

  “I don’t want you to do anything behind her back,” he assured her. “Tell her that you’re having lunch with me, by all means, just ask her to join us as well. What’s her favorite restaurant?”

  Fenella thought for a moment. “There’s a nice Chinese restaurant not far from our apartment building. They do wonderful combination platters for lunch. I know Shelly likes those.”

  “And do you?”

  “I do.”

  “Excellent. Meet me there at midday, with or without Shelly.”

&
nbsp; Fenella hesitated and then nodded. She didn’t trust Lance. Maybe she would be able to find out more about him over lunch. It would be up to Shelly to decide if she wanted to come along or not.

  “And now I should get you back to your friend. He doesn’t look very happy,” Lance said, looking over Fenella’s shoulder.

  Donald was standing in the tent’s doorway, frowning at Fenella.

  4

  “Sorry about that,” Fenella said as she reached Donald.

  “I was just worried about you. After the way that Neil behaved towards you, I didn’t trust his friend,” Donald replied. He put his arm around Fenella and began to lead her away from the tent. “I hope everything is okay?”

  “He wants me to persuade Shelly to have lunch with him.”

  “I see. And have you agreed to do so?”

  “Yes, because it seemed a reasonable request when I was talking to the man, but now I’m already having second thoughts.”

  “Perhaps it would be best if you left it up to Shelly.”

  “But if I don’t talk her into coming along, I’ll have to have lunch with Lance by myself tomorrow,” Fenella replied with a sigh.

  “You’ve arranged to meet him for lunch tomorrow?”

  “Yes, that also seemed like a good idea when I was talking to him.”

  “You could always ring him and cancel,” Donald suggested as he helped Fenella into his car.

  She waited to reply until he was settled behind the steering wheel. “I didn’t get his number, or else I’d probably do just that.”

  “You could simply not turn up.”

  “That would be incredibly rude. No, I’ve agreed to have lunch with him. I have to go. At least I chose a restaurant that’s very quick.”

  “The Chinese place near your flat?” Donald guessed as he began the drive back to Douglas.

  “Exactly. They produce delicious food faster than any other restaurant I’ve ever been in, and the prices are low enough that I won’t feel guilty about his buying me lunch, even if I don’t deliver Shelly.”

  Donald took her hand. “I hope it all works out. If Neil gives you any trouble, do let me know. I can stop him.”

  “That sounds very ominous,” Fenella said with a nervous laugh.

  “He was out of line with you, especially in front of me, and he knows it. I assume he was trying to upset Laura for some reason, but that’s certainly no excuse. I never liked Neil anyway; he needs to tread more carefully around me.”

  “But he’s so much wealthier than you, at least that’s what he implied.”

  Donald laughed. “I would put my bank balance up against his any day. Neil is all flash and no substance. I suspect he’s moving back to the island because he’s having financial difficulties. I can find out more if you’re interested.”

  Fenella thought about it for a moment. “I’m not really interested,” she said eventually. “All things considered, I’d prefer to never hear the man’s name again.”

  “I won’t mention it,” Donald promised, squeezing her hand and then releasing it to shift gears. “I’m not sure that his friend Lance will be so considerate.”

  “I’m more worried about what Lance might say about John Quirk than anything else.”

  “Perhaps it would be better if you went alone to the lunch tomorrow. Maybe then you could convince Lance to stay away from Shelly.”

  “I suspect that Shelly will want to talk to him eventually. He’s a link to John, after all. I simply don’t trust the man.”

  “You don’t think he really knew John?”

  “I don’t know,” Fenella said, feeling frustrated. “Maybe after everything that has happened since I’ve been on the island, I’m extra suspicious of everyone, but there’s something about him that doesn’t ring true.”

  “Why would he lie?”

  “That’s the big question, isn’t it? Perhaps Shelly has a great deal of money.”

  “She bought a flat in your building and retired from her job. That suggests that she inherited quite a bit when her husband passed away.”

  “I’d never really thought about that.”

  “She’s not in your league, of course, but she’s probably wealthy enough to attract the sorts of men who might try to take advantage of her.”

  “My league? What do you mean by that?” Fenella demanded.

  “I mean you inherited Mona’s fortune. You’re a very wealthy woman now.”

  “I am? I’m not actually certain about that.”

  Donald pulled to a stop in front of Fenella’s building. He turned and looked at her curiously. “Mona was incredibly wealthy by the time she died. What did Doncan tell you about the estate?”

  Fenella frowned and tried to remember exactly what the lawyer had said. “He said that I’d inherited everything, including the apartment and several bank accounts. He told me that he would leave everything exactly as it was until I was ready to sit down and go through the accounts. Thus far, he’s simply been depositing money into my bank account each month and I’ve been using that as spending money.”

  “You need to talk to Doncan. If nothing else, you’ll probably want to make changes to how the various funds are being managed. I can help you with some of the options if you want a second opinion, but I know that Doncan can be trusted completely. Beyond that, though, you may want to sell some of Mona’s other properties or even think about moving into one of the houses elsewhere on the island.”

  “She had houses on the island?”

  Donald chuckled. “Max liked to buy Mona presents, especially after they’d argued. He used to give her real estate for her birthday, Christmas, and after every quarrel. She usually got some fabulous jewelry as well. My dear girl, you’re probably one of the wealthiest women on the island.”

  Fenella sat back in her seat, feeling stunned. She’d been told before that Mona owned other properties besides the apartment, and that Mona had been well off, but no one had given her any hint of the scale of Mona’s fortune. Fenella knew she should have followed up with Doncan months ago, but as long as he’d kept her bank balance steady, she hadn’t felt any need to rush to see him.

  “Are you okay?” Donald asked after a minute.

  “Yes, I’m just surprised. I didn’t realize that there was that much money.”

  “As I said, talk to Doncan. He’ll be able to tell you more and help you work out what you want to do with everything.”

  Fenella nodded. “I’m actually seeing him on Wednesday. I’m awfully glad I made the appointment last month. At the time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother.”

  “It isn’t that late. Why don’t you invite me up for a drink?” Donald suggested, picking up her hand again.

  Fenella blushed and then pulled her hand away. “After everything you’ve just said, I have to wonder if you’re just after my money,” she replied, only half joking.

  “I have plenty of my own, thank you,” Donald replied tightly.

  “I was only teasing,” Fenella told him. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Donald nodded. “Let me walk you to your door, then,” he said.

  Fenella climbed out of the car and then took the arm that Donald offered. They walked together into the beautiful lobby of her building. It was only a few steps to the elevators. Donald was silent on the journey, leaving Fenella struggling to think of something to say to lighten his mood. At her door, he waited while she found her keys.

  “Good night, then,” he said as she pushed her apartment door open.

  Fenella turned around, ready for the kiss that she knew was coming. Donald was already halfway back to the elevators. “Good night,” she said flatly to his back. He didn’t even acknowledge her words. She stomped into her apartment and very nearly slammed the door. She’d only been teasing. He’d overreacted. What was wrong with the man?

  “Oh, dear, and I thought Donald would be spending the night for sure,” Mona said from the kitchen doorway. “Especially after you sent Katie away.”

&nbs
p; “I didn’t send Katie away,” Fenella snapped. “Shelly offered to let her have a sleepover next door. Katie loves staying with Shelly and Smokey. That’s the only reason I agreed. Donald had nothing to do with my decision.”

  “And now you’ve quarreled with Donald. What sort of jewelry do you like? I think he should apologize with diamonds, but if the argument was your fault, perhaps rubies or emeralds are more likely.”

  “I don’t want any jewelry,” Fenella exploded. “I don’t want anything from Donald. Anyway, apparently I’m rich enough to buy my own diamonds if I want them.”

  “Well, of course you are, but what fun is that?”

  Fenella sank into the nearest chair and buried her head in her hands. She wasn’t sure why she felt so much like crying or maybe screaming, but there wasn’t any reason not to indulge herself. A few tears squeezed their way out before she decided that she was more angry than sad.

  “I was only teasing,” she said loudly.

  “Of course you were,” Mona replied in a soothing voice. “Donald probably doesn’t have a sense of humor, that’s all. His father didn’t.”

  Fenella sighed and then got up and went into the kitchen. While she’d eaten at the party, the plates of finger foods hadn’t been terribly filling, or at least that’s what she told herself as she put a bag of popcorn into the microwave.

  “Do you want to tell me all about it?” Mona asked.

  Fenella looked at her and then shook her head. “I thought you were going to do something different with your appearance,” she changed the subject.

  “I did. I aged a few years. You don’t notice the difference?”

  Fenella studied the woman closely. “Not at all. You look exactly the same.”

  Mona shrugged. “I always took very good care of myself. No one ever thought that I looked my age.”

  “Did you really own property all over the island?” Fenella asked.

  “I did. It’s all yours now, of course. There are several houses, a few commercial spaces, and some farmland that is rented out to various farmers. Why? Are you thinking of moving out of this flat?”