“It’s lovely. Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. I’m glad that you like it. Now, how about dinner?”
Fenella’s stomach rumbled loudly, making Donald laugh. “We’d better hurry,” he suggested. “I’ve made a booking at my favorite place in Laxey. I thought that might make a nice change.”
“Anything is fine with me, even fast food,” Fenella told him.
“I couldn’t possibly take you out for fast food when you’re dressed like that,” Donald laughed. “But I’ll keep it in mind for next time.”
The drive to Laxey didn’t take long in Donald’s fancy sports car. He slid it into a parking space and then climbed out to open Fenella’s door for her.
“As I’m driving, I shall have to stick to water or a soft drink, but please have wine if you’d like,” he remarked as they walked toward the restaurant’s door.
“I had more than enough wine last night to last me a while,” Fenella replied. “I’m more than happy to stick to soft drinks tonight.”
Donald had made a reservation, so they were quickly shown to their seats. They’d only just settled into their table for two by the window when a noisy group of men were escorted into the room. Fenella frowned as she recognized Neil Hicks at the front of the group. A moment later, Neil and the rest of Lance’s group of friends were shown to the table right next to Fenella and Donald.
10
“What a lovely surprise,” Neil said as he glanced over at Fenella and Donald. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two here tonight.”
“Fenella and I wanted a nice romantic evening away from Douglas,” Donald replied, putting his hand over Fenella’s.
“But now you must join us. We’re having a celebration of Lance’s life,” Neil told him.
“A celebration of Lance’s life?” Donald repeated.
“Has the body been identified, then?” Fenella asked.
“I identified it for the police,” Neil told her. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“Body?” Donald squeezed Fenella’s hand.
“Sadly, someone broke into Lance’s flat and, well, they killed him. The police think it was a burglary gone wrong,” Neil told Donald. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it. I’d have thought everyone on the island would be talking about it.”
“Perhaps they are,” Donald replied. “I’ve been in London all day. I only just got home in time to collect Fenella for dinner.”
“You will join us, won’t you?” Neil asked. “I can’t help but feel as if we all need to be together to mourn Lance’s passing.”
“As Fenella and I didn’t even know the man, I can’t see how that would be appropriate,” Donald replied.
Neil shrugged. “He was alone in the world. I just think it would be nice if he could have more than just a few former business colleagues mourning his passing.”
“Will there be a memorial service?” Fenella asked.
“I don’t know. We were discussing it, but none of us feel as if we were close enough to him to organize such a thing. As I said, he was alone in the world, really,” Neil replied.
“He must have had other friends in London,” Fenella suggested.
Neil shook his head. “I don’t know that he had any friends, really. As I said, we were all business associates rather than friends. I suspect that’s all most of us have time to be, really. I don’t have friends, either, and I’ve never considered that a problem until today.”
“I think we all feel that way at the moment,” Adrian said.
“Of course, you have children who will miss you when you’re gone,” Neil replied.
“I do, and I’d like to think that my former wife will feel a moment of sadness as well,” Adrian grinned. “If only because she won’t be able to complain about me anymore.”
“I’d always hoped for children,” Eric said. “But I never found the right woman to have them with.”
“You can have some of mine,” Jared offered. “I’ve almost lost track of mine.”
“That’s because you keep having more with every woman you meet,” Neil laughed. “I mean, you’ve had four wives and six children in the last twenty years. I think you should stop now.”
“I don’t plan to have any more children,” he replied. “But I might try another wife. The current one isn’t any fun anymore, that’s for sure.”
Fenella frowned at Donald, who squeezed her hand, and then leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Do you want me to see if we can move to another table or would you rather just leave?”
While both suggestions had their appeal, Fenella was also tempted to stay where she was. Even though she knew she shouldn’t care, she wanted to learn more about Lance Thomas and his friends.
“It’s fine,” she replied in a low voice.
“Are you all together?” the waiter who had approached asked.
“Yes,” Neil said at the same time that Donald said “No.”
The waiter looked confused.
“We aren’t together, not really,” Donald told him.
“Can I get any or all of you drinks, then?” the waiter asked, still clearly confused.
Donald ordered a soft drink and Fenella followed suit. Neil frowned at them. “That’s hardly appropriate for toasting old friends,” he said before he ordered two bottles of wine for the four men at his table.
“I hope none of you are driving,” Fenella said as the waiter walked away.
“We took a taxi here,” Neil replied. “And we’ll take one back to Douglas again. We all felt as if we needed a drink or two after last night.”
“What happened exactly?” Donald asked.
Neil shrugged. “We all had lunch together and then Lance said he needed to get home. He was meant to be meeting someone at his flat later in the evening and he wanted to get it ready for visitors. He hadn’t finished unpacking yet and he didn’t want his guest or guests to see the mess.”
Fenella wondered if that was why Lance had invited them to his apartment rather than meeting them at the pub. Maybe he was hoping to impress them in some way.
“And someone broke in and killed him?” was Donald’s next question.
“The police aren’t saying exactly what happened, but that must be it,” Neil replied. “From what I heard, his guests arrived and found the door to the flat ajar. Instead of going inside, they rang the police, and the constable who arrived to investigate found Lance’s body.”
“Who was Lance meant to be meeting?” Donald wondered.
Me, Fenella thought but didn’t say.
“I’m not sure. He said something about reconnecting with old island friends, but he wasn’t any more specific than that,” Neil replied.
Which meant that Neil and the others didn’t know that she and Shelly had found the body, Fenella thought. That was interesting.
“Was anything taken from the flat?” Donald wanted to know.
“We aren’t sure. The police wouldn’t let us go through it, not yet. They’re still processing evidence, whatever that means. But I’m not sure I’d know if anything had been taken anyway. I’d only been to Lance’s London flat a few times and I never took a formal inventory of it or anything.”
“He was a collector,” Adrian said. “Of coins and stamps and other small and potentially high-value items. He usually kept such things in a safe deposit box or in the safe in his flat, but he would have had them with him in his new flat. He’d complained to me about there not being a safe in the flat, and he hadn’t had time to get a safe deposit box at a local bank.”
“Would you know what was taken if the police let you go through the place?” Fenella asked.
“I remember a few of the things he showed me, but not much, really. I’m not a collector myself. He did mention that he was planning to sell some things before he moved, as well. I don’t want to tell the police that things were stolen if they were simply sold before he moved,” Adrian replied.
The waiter arrived with
Fenella and Donald’s soft drinks as another waiter opened the first bottle of wine and began to pour it into glasses.
“Here,” Neil said, handing Fenella a glass. “Have one for Lance’s sake.”
Fenella wanted to refuse, but couldn’t think of a polite way to do so. She took the glass and put it on the table in front her. Donald sighed quietly.
“To Lance, who was a good businessman. He deserved friends, but he was stuck with us. We’ll miss him,” Neil said loudly, raising his glass.
Fenella lifted her glass as the others did the same. As they drank, she took a tiny sip and then put the wine back on the table.
“To Lance,” Adrian said. “I wish I had taken the time to get to know him better.” Everyone drank again. Fenella took another sip of wine and started to think that getting drunk might be preferable to staying sober under the circumstances.
“To Lance,” Eric said. “He found some of the best deals I’ve ever been involved in and made me a lot of money. I’m going to miss him.”
Donald’s eyes met Fenella’s as she took another sip of her wine. He looked amused.
“To Lance,” Jared said. “He’d just about convinced me to retire here, and now I’m afraid to stay another night. I can’t believe he was murdered in his bed.”
Fenella thought about arguing with the man. The island was a very safe place, really. But after all of the murders that had taken place in the past six months, maybe he was right to be worried. All the more reason to drink, Fenella thought as she finished off her glass of wine. Neil quickly refilled it for her.
“We should order,” Donald suggested as the waiter hovered near their table.
“Yes, let’s,” Fenella agreed. While she wasn’t planning to drink any more, no matter what Neil thought, she’d only had a light lunch and that had been hours ago. The glass of wine she’d already consumed was beginning to make her feel a bit giddy.
Donald ordered several appetizers and urged Fenella to have whatever she wanted from the extensive menu. She finally settled on a steak in a red wine sauce that sounded delicious.
Neil and his friends ordered right after them and Fenella found herself second-guessing her choices as she listened to their requests. She sat back and sighed as the waiter walked away.
“What’s wrong?” Donald asked quietly.
“Nothing, really. We can talk later.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to move?”
“I don’t want to be rude. And I’m fascinated to hear more about Lance.”
Donald nodded. “So how long had you known Lance?” he asked Neil, winking at Fenella.
“A very long time,” Neil replied with a laugh. “We met when I first went to London, maybe thirty years ago? He was not long out of university and I was trying my luck in the big city. We hit it off immediately.”
“What about the rest of you?” Donald asked.
“Neil introduced us about ten years ago,” Adrian said. “I was putting together a little project and Neil suggested bringing Lance into it. I wasn’t sure at first, but it turned out to be the right move.”
“I met him around the same time,” Jared said. “I believe Lance was expanding his business interests at that point. He jumped into a project I was working on as well. I met Neil through him, actually.”
“That makes me the odd man out,” Eric laughed. “I only met Lance about five years ago. I’ve known Neil for years and he brought Lance into something I was putting together. It worked out well for all concerned.”
“He was very good at making money,” Neil said. “And I think he would be happy with that as his epitaph.”
“What about hobbies or interests outside of work?” Fenella had to ask. She wanted to understand Lance as a person.
“Hobbies? As Adrian said, he collected stamps and coins. I don’t think he thought of it as a hobby, though. He did it because he could make money buying and selling them. Everything Lance did was about making money,” Neil told her.
Which made his interest in Shelly all the more worrying, Fenella thought. Now that the man was dead, it probably didn’t matter, but it still bothered Fenella.
“He never married?” Fenella wondered.
“I don’t believe so. I know he had a couple of near misses in his younger days, but he was too focused on his work to give women the time and attention that they demand,” Neil replied.
Donald chuckled and gave Fenella’s hand another squeeze. She met his stare and smiled at him. The smile he gave her back made her heart skip a beat. Sometimes she forgot how attractive he was.
“Here we are,” the waiter announced as he began to pile plates full of appetizers onto the tables. Everyone fell silent for a few minutes as they enjoyed the food.
“Why did Lance want to come back to the island after all these years?” Fenella asked after a while.
“He was ready for a change. London is expensive, and the island has a much more favorable tax structure. He was missing his childhood home,” Neil rattled off the list in rapid succession. “You can take your pick from those options. They’re just some of the reasons that he gave me when we talked about it.”
“He told me that he still had friends on the island, even after all the years that had passed since he’d lived here,” Jared said.
“And he told me he missed living by the sea,” Adrian added. “Living near the Thames isn’t quite the same thing, and it costs a great deal more.”
“I’m surprised he managed to persuade you all to come over with him,” Fenella remarked as the waiter cleared the appetizer plates. “I mean, since you were just business colleagues, rather than friends.”
Eric laughed. “That’s the exact reason why I came,” he told her. “I don’t travel to see my friends, but Lance hinted that there might be some business opportunities here, and, in fact, we were working on one before he died. I’m not sure what will come of it now, of course.”
“It will still happen,” Neil said confidently as he refilled all of the glasses. He frowned at Fenella. “You aren’t keeping up,” he scolded, gesturing toward her still full glass.
“I’ll have to try harder,” she said lightly, lifting the glass and putting it to her lips. As soon as Neil looked away, she put it back down without drinking.
“Lance got me here by talking about the tax structure,” Jared said. “And it is very favorable, especially when compared to London. As I said, I might be tempted under different circumstances.”
“Neil’s been telling me about the island for years,” Eric said. “I knew he kept all of his money here and got away with paying next to nothing in taxes on it, so when Lance started talking about it as well, I paid attention. Coming over for a fortnight seemed a good idea a few days ago.”
“It really is a lovely and very safe island,” Fenella said. “It has some wonderful historical sites, as well.”
“Maybe you could show me some of the sights, then,” Eric suggested. “Perhaps you could tempt me to retire here, if you tried hard enough.”
Donald opened his mouth to reply, but Fenella caught his eye and shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a tour guide,” she said. “And I’m rather busy with the book I’m writing, as well.”
“You’re writing a book? How fascinating,” Neil said in a patronizing tone. “What is it about?”
“Anne Boleyn,” Fenella replied. “I have a PhD in history.”
“Really?” Neil said. “Smart and beautiful. When you get bored with Donald, you know where to find me.”
“That’s out of order,” Donald said quietly.
Neil laughed. “After all the women you’ve lured away from me over the years? I think I’m entitled.”
Donald stared at the man for a moment and then nodded. “Touché,” he said.
Fenella had to bite her tongue to keep from asking any questions. The matter was probably best discussed when she and Donald were alone.
“And when you get bored with Neil, because you will, I’m not too f
ar away,” Eric said, winking at Fenella.
“Tell me about Lance’s accident,” she said, deliberately changing the subject.
“His accident?” Neil repeated. “What accident?”
“He told me that he’d been in a car accident,” Fenella replied.
Neil glanced around the table at his friends. “That may have been during a time when we weren’t in contact,” he said after an awkward pause. “I mean, we were business colleagues. Months or even years would go by when we wouldn’t see one another. It all depended on what deals we were all working on.”
Fenella nodded. “So none of you knew about the accident?”
All four men shook their heads. Their meals were delivered before Fenella could ask any more questions. Neil poured out the last of the second bottle of wine and ordered a third as everyone began to eat.
“He never mentioned the accident to any of you?” Fenella asked after her first bite.
Again, the men all shook their heads. Donald raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised he told you about it, if he didn’t normally discuss it,” he said.
“As I said, we worked together, but we weren’t exactly friends,” Neil said. “We didn’t talk about personal things, really.”
Fenella took a few bites of her delicious dinner while her mind raced. Lance had explained away his odd appearance by saying he’d been in an accident. Surely his friends would have noticed the change in the man’s appearance and asked questions? Unless Lance had been lying to her, which seemed likely. But why lie?
“How is everything?” Donald interrupted her thoughts.
“It’s excellent,” Fenella said, reminding herself to taste her food. “How is yours?”
“Wonderful. Would you like to try it?”
Fenella glanced at his chicken and then sighed. It looked too good to resist, even if that meant that she’d have to share her steak. “Yes, please,” she replied.
Donald cut her a small piece and held it out to her on his fork. She took the bite and nodded. “It’s really good, too. Did you want to try mine?”
“I’ve had the steak here before,” he replied. “You enjoy it.”
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF Page 63
