An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF

by Diana Xarissa

  Fenella laughed lightly. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m simply not interested,” she replied.

  “I can change your mind, if you give me a chance,” he told her.

  “Leave the poor woman alone,” one of the men said. “She’s involved with Donald, and I know Donald well enough to know that he’ll be taking very good care of her indeed. Even if you do have more money than Donald, you don’t want to waste it all on a woman.”

  Neil frowned. “I wouldn’t consider it being wasted,” he snapped.

  “I’m not for sale,” Fenella said sharply. “I have quite enough money of my own. I don’t need a man to take care of me.”

  “I love it when kept women get defensive,” Neil laughed. “How much does Donald pay for your little flat overlooking the sea?”

  “As it happens, I own my flat myself,” Fenella told him. “And you are a loathsome and ignorant creature. If you’ll all excuse me, I have better things to do than stand here being insulted by you lot.”

  Fenella spun on her heel and began to walk away. Lance caught her arm after only a few steps.

  “Please don’t take out your anger at Neil on me,” he said quickly. “Neil simply can’t imagine why any woman would turn him down. It soothes his ego, telling himself that Donald is simply buying your affection. Please don’t let that influence what you say to Shelly.”

  “I question your choice of friends,” Fenella said.

  “Yes, so do I,” he replied. “I’ve known Neil for a great many years, and for all of those years he’s always had a woman on his arm. Yes, it was a different woman nearly every month, but he’s never had trouble finding women in quick succession. For some reason he’s having difficulty right now and he’s starting to get quite ugly about it. If you have any single friends who you think might go for him, let me know.”

  “I wouldn’t wish that man on my worst enemy.”

  “No, I understand. I’ll talk to him. He’s used to a certain type of woman, someone quite different from you, I’m sure. And he’s used to the games that women in London like to play. Again, not like you. I’ll do what I can to try to make him understand.”

  “And in the meantime, I’ll stay well away from him.”

  Lance nodded. “I don’t blame you for that. It might be good for you to get to know my other friends, though. I’m doing my best to persuade them to move over here. I’d like them to get to know the locals.”

  Fenella shrugged. “Let’s take this one thing at a time. I’ll see if I can get Shelly to agree to speak to you. If we can accomplish that, then maybe we can worry about spending time with your friends.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, a cultured voice said from behind Fenella. She turned around and looked at the man who was standing there.

  “I’m Adrian Graves. I’m sure Lance is apologizing for Neil’s behavior, and I wanted to assure you that we are all equally unhappy with the things that he said to you,” the man told Fenellla. “Neil is having a difficult time right now, both personally and professionally. That isn’t an excuse for the way he spoke to you, of course, but I hope it helps to explain it, at least partially.”

  “I’m not really interested in understanding why Mr. Hicks behaved the way he did,” Fenella replied. “I have no intention of ever speaking to him again, so it really doesn’t matter.”

  Adrian smiled. “Donald is a lucky man,” he said softly. “But I suspect you will have to see more of Neil, whether you like it or not. He and Donald will undoubtedly cross paths regularly. It is a small island, after all.”

  “If we do cross paths, I hope I can count on you and Lance to keep Neil well away from me, then,” Fenella said.

  Adrian nodded. “I’m sure we’ll do our best, but Neil is hard to keep in check, unfortunately, especially when he’s been drinking.”

  “I hope he hasn’t been drinking today,” Fenella said, glancing at the man who was standing a few paces away with the rest of his friends. “It’s barely past noon.”

  “We had a bottle or two of wine with lunch,” Adrian told her. “We were celebrating a very successful business deal.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m retired,” Lance said. “Otherwise I’d be feeling quite left out.”

  “There’s still room for more investors, if you want to get in,” Neil said.

  Fenella jumped. She hadn’t noticed him approaching them.

  “As I said, I’m retired,” Lance laughed. “I’m not looking to invest in anything new, at least not at the moment.”

  “If you’ve as much money as you claim to have, perhaps you should consider investing in our little scheme,” Neil said to Fenella. “You may not like me personally, but I can make you a lot of money, anyway.”

  “Thank you, but I’m not interested. All of my money is invested exactly where I want it,” Fenella replied.

  “If you change your mind, Neil is right,” one of the other men said. “This little project is going to make all of us a lot of money.”

  “That’s Jared Welch,” Lance told Fenella. “He’s much smarter than I am about money. Is this the project you were talking about last night?” Lance asked.

  “Yes,” Neil said. “We went back to them with a few refinements and they were happy to agree. We’re expecting a generous return on our initial investment, with scope for further investment and even larger returns down the road.”

  Lance shrugged. “You’re almost tempting me,” he said. “I really do want to be retired, though,” he told Fenella. “Now isn’t the time for me to start investing in new projects.”

  “I thought that myself,” the other man said as he joined the group. He smiled at Fenella. “I know we met last night, I’m Eric Palmer, and I retired three years ago at the age of sixty. It’s been lovely, doing nothing much, but I’ve become a bit bored with it, really. When Neil rang and told me about this opportunity, well, I simply couldn’t resist coming on board.”

  “As I said, I’m not interested, but I hope you all make a lot of money,” Fenella replied. “And now you really must excuse me.” She took a few steps away from the men and then frowned as Eric fell into step next to her.

  “I’m sorry if this is rude, but are you and Donald serious?” he asked.

  “I suppose that depends on how you define serious,” Fenella replied.

  “Yes, I imagine that’s true. The thing is, like Neil, I find you very attractive, and like Neil, I’m currently between relationships. Unlike Neil, however, I don’t want to do anything to upset Donald Donaldson. I’ve worked with him a few times over the years and I have a great deal of respect for the man and what he does. He has a brilliant mind for business and, I must say, wonderful taste in women.”

  Fenella frowned. What was wrong with these men? She was nearly fifty, at least ten pounds heavier than she ought to be, and incredibly ordinary in every way. The only thing attractive about her was Mona’s money, a little voice suggested. With that thought in mind, she gave the man a cold stare.

  “My relationship with Donald isn’t the least bit relevant to anything. I’m sorry, but you’re not my type. I hope you enjoy the island and that your investment is a success. Excuse me,” she said, talking too fast.

  Eric chuckled. “I wish I knew what Donald has that we’re all lacking,” he said. “It certainly isn’t money. Neil and I could each buy Donald out about ten times over, and Jared and Adrian aren’t far behind.”

  “You said yourself that Donald is brilliant,” Fenella reminded him, wishing she could be rude and just walk away, but feeling obliged to be polite.

  “He’s brilliant at business. Perhaps he’s brilliant in other areas that I’m not aware of, as well,” the man said with a knowing wink.

  Fenella felt herself blushing as she took another step away. Eric touched her shoulder.

  “Take my card,” he said, holding out the scrap of paper. “If you and Donald don’t work out, maybe you could ring me.”

  “As I said, you aren’t my type,” Fenella replied. �
��Whatever happens with Donald, nothing will change that.”

  “Ring me anyway,” he urged. “If you and Donald split up, I’ve many friends who I’m sure would love to meet you.”

  Fenella took the card, hoping that would be enough to get her away from the man. She glanced back at his friends, who were seemingly all watching the conversation with interest. “Did you just win a bet or something?” she challenged the man. “Is getting me to take your card some sort of group challenge?”

  Eric laughed. “Men are like that, aren’t we?” he replied. “But no, not this time. I’m just happy that you took it. I can’t promise that the others aren’t wagering on when one of us might get you into bed, though. Men can be terrible, can’t we?”

  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 you
r 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 rather 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.”