An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF

by Diana Xarissa

  “I did see Neil and his friends at the pub, actually.”

  “And did Neil try to talk you into going out with him again?”

  “Yes, although he was a bit more discreet this time, as Laura was with him.”

  Mona frowned. “I never liked that woman. She spent years pestering Timothy to make her something and then when he finally agreed, she complained to everyone about the finished product. She didn’t think her dress fit her as well as my dresses always fit me. She was right, of course, but it was hardly Timothy’s fault that he found her, well, less than inspiring.”

  “She was a little bit nasty to me,” Fenella said. “She told the others that I keep finding dead bodies.”

  “Which is, sadly, true,” Mona pointed out. “But she’ll have been trying to upset you. Nothing makes Laura happier than making someone else cry. I hope you didn’t cry in front of her.”

  “No, I did not. I simply got up and left.”

  “Good girl. I’m surprised Neil didn’t offer to walk you home. But who was the man in the corridor with you? I’m sure I’ve never seen him before.”

  “That was Adrian Graves.”

  “Ah, yes, another of Neil’s friends. What was he doing in the corridor?”

  “He insisted on walking Shelly and me home. He said he didn’t trust the security in this building, not after what happened to Lance.”

  “I can see his point, although I suspect Lance let his killer in. It had to have been one of his friends that killed him, surely?”

  “Neil thinks it was random. He suspects that someone tried to break into Lance’s apartment to steal things and found Lance at home.”

  Mona shook her head. “Those sorts of things simply don’t happen on the Isle of Man,” she said firmly.

  “I don’t believe it, either. I’m pretty sure one of Lance’s friends killed him, although they are all going to great lengths now to tell everyone that they weren’t actually friends with him. Apparently they were all simply business associates.”

  “Next they’ll be claiming they barely even knew him.”

  “They’re pretty much there, especially because it turns out the man’s name wasn’t Lance Thomas at all. Neil said he was really someone called Robert Hanson.”

  “Really? Does that mean he wasn’t really from the island, either?”

  “Not according to Neil. I don’t know where he’s getting his information from, but he seems to think the man was actually from Devon.”

  “Why would he pretend to have been from the island, then?”

  “I’ve no idea, but maybe it was all to do with Shelly,” Fenella suggested.

  “Ah, yes, of course. He was a conman of some sort and he was interested in getting his hands on Shelly’s money. She’s far too smart to fall for something like that, of course, but he wasn’t to know, was he?”

  “Anyway, Neil and the others are now insisting that they didn’t know Lance very well and that they were simply connected through their business interests.”

  “In spite of the fact that they were all here on holiday together as Lance was moving into his new flat.”

  “Yes, in spite of that. Although from what Adrian said, that might have more to do with Neil than Lance. He said something about Neil trying to sell them all various properties he owns around the island.”

  “Knowing Neil, they’ll all be in a terrible state. He never looked after his properties. I took very good care of mine, and I’m sure Doncan has been looking after them since my death. When you’re ready, you can take over as property manager if you want something to do.”

  “I can’t see me doing anything like that. I’m not really good at fixing things and I don’t much like painting or decorating.”

  “Yes, I know that, as you’ve done absolutely nothing in here,” Mona said, glancing around the spacious living room. “I thought you would at least paint or rearrange the furniture.”

  “I’ve thought about it, but it all just seems so perfect the way it is, I can’t bring myself to make any changes.”

  Mona nodded. “It is extremely well done, of course, but it’s yours now. Maybe over time you’ll change a few things. But for now, let’s make a list of suspects and see if we can solve Inspector Hammersmith’s case for him.”

  “This is a waste of time,” Fenella complained as she found a sheet of paper and a pen.

  “Start with Neil,” Mona instructed her. “I never liked the man. He should be at the top of the list.”

  Fenella wrote Neil’s name on the sheet of paper. “Can you suggest a motive for him?”

  “Lance must have been killed due to something going wrong with some business arrangement or another,” Mona replied thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine any other reason.”

  “And he did a lot of business with Neil, so if that was the motive, he may well be the most likely suspect.”

  “Maybe Lance made a play for Laura,” Mona said. “I can’t see Neil killing anyone over a woman, though. And he’s been chasing after you in front of Laura, which suggests he doesn’t much care about their relationship.”

  “If the business angle did provide the motive, then Neil’s other friends have to be equally suspect.” Fenella wrote the other three men’s names down on her list. Because she barely knew any of them, she simply listed them in alphabetical order under Neil’s name.

  “Tell me about them,” Mona asked.

  “Adrian seems the nicest. He apologized for Neil’s behavior once and he told Neil to leave me alone tonight, as well. He also insisted on walking me and Shelly home.”

  “It’s a shame about the moustache. It truly doesn’t suit him,” Mona sighed.

  “I don’t really know anything more about him, but Shelly and I are having lunch with him tomorrow. Maybe we’ll learn more.”

  “Who’s next?”

  “Eric Palmer,” Fenella replied. “He seemed nice enough until he made a very clumsy attempt to ask me out. He claims to have known Lance for the shortest amount of time.”

  “Interesting. Maybe he didn’t like Lance and got rid of him straight away.”

  “As I said, if the murder had something to do with Lance’s business concerns, any of the men could have been the killer.”

  “What about the last man? What was his name again?”

  “Jared Welch,” Fenella replied. “I’ve barely spoken to him, really, but at least he’s not tried to talk me into going out with him.”

  “How long had he known Lance?”

  “I think he said they’d started working together about ten years ago,” Fenella replied.

  “But he didn’t know Lance’s real name?”

  “If he did, he isn’t admitting to it now.”

  “Who else is on the list?”

  “I can’t imagine anyone else who could be involved,” Fenella replied.

  “You should add Laura,” Mona told her. “Maybe she decided to end things with Neil and take up with Lance, and he turned her down.”

  “So she killed him? That seems a bit extreme.”

  Mona shrugged. “Put her on the list anyway. I don’t like her. It will amuse me to see her name on the list.”

  Fenella wrote the woman’s name under the list of men. “Is there anyone else you can think of to add?”

  “What about Donald?”

  “Donald? Why would Donald have killed him?”

  “Maybe Lance and Donald did business together at some point.”

  “Donald told me he didn’t know Lance.”

  “But he only saw Lance at the party, and you said yourself that he appeared to have had cosmetic surgery. Maybe after the party Donald realized that he knew him and that he’d been waiting for years to get back at him.”

  “So he killed him?” Fenella asked incredulously. “Anyway, I thought you liked Donald.”

  “I don’t dislike him, but it will amuse me to see his name on the list as well.”

  Fenella chuckled as she wrote Donald’s name under Laura’s. “Is that it
, then? Have we exhausted the possibilities?”

  “We haven’t talked about means and opportunity,” Mona said. “How did the man die?”

  “I’ve no idea.”

  “Ring Daniel and ask him. We can’t possibly solve the case if we don’t know how Lance died.”

  Fenella shook her head. “First of all, I’m not calling Daniel ever again, and second of all, even if I did call him, he’d never tell me. He might not even know himself. It isn’t his case and he isn’t even on the island, remember?”

  Mona sighed. “Then we’ll have to assume that everyone had the means to do the job. But maybe we can get somewhere with opportunity. When did Lance die?”

  “I don’t know that, either,” Fenella replied “I believe someone told me that the men all had lunch together, but I can’t quite recall exactly what was said.”

  “You should start taking notes when you talk to people.”

  “Yeah, because that wouldn’t be weird or anything.”

  “So he died some time after lunch and before you and Shelly and Peter arrived at his door. Do you think he was already dead before you got there the first time that night?’

  “If he wasn’t dead, surely he would have answered the door.”

  “Not if he was prevented from doing so,” Mona said thoughtfully.

  “Someone must have been in the apartment while we were knocking, I suppose,” Fenella said. “They must have left after we did, leaving the door open on their way out.”

  “I wonder if the security cameras caught anything.”

  “There are security cameras?”

  “Of course, but they tend to focus on the lobby. There’s one on every floor, monitoring the lifts, but the killer could have used the stairs.”

  “I wonder if the police know about the security cameras.”

  “You should ring Daniel and tell him.”

  Fenella laughed. “Nice try, but I’m not ringing Daniel. If I see Inspector Hammersmith again, I’ll mention it to him, though.”

  “Why did the killer leave the door open?” Mona asked.

  Fenella stared at her aunt for a moment. “I’ve no idea,” she said eventually.

  “I’ve no idea, either, but it’s an interesting question. Surely the killer had to realize that the body would be found much faster that way. I would have thought they would have preferred that the body not be found for as long as possible.”

  “If we’d gone back and not received an answer to our knocks, we would have simply walked away and left it,” Fenella said. “Who knows when the body would have been found?”

  “You should ask Neil’s friends about their plans for that evening,” Mona suggested. “Or ring Daniel and tell him to do it.”

  Fenella shook her head. “Anything else? Because it seems to me that we aren’t getting anywhere.”

  “We’ve come up with three separate reasons why you should ring Daniel,” Mona countered. “Which is two more than I was hoping for.”

  Fenella opened her mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut. Arguing with Mona was always a waste of time.

  “You should get some sleep,” Mona said. “I’ve been invited to a party at Peel Castle. I really must hurry so that I’m not late. We’re having a tour of the Derby apartments tonight, which will be fascinating, as they were long gone before I was born. I can’t wait to see what they looked like.”

  Mona faded away before Fenella could question her about anything. “That’s an interesting new slant on ghost tours,” she told Katie as she got ready for bed. “I suppose if ghosts can come back, then they should be able to visit buildings that no longer exist, shouldn’t they? Or maybe not. Maybe Mona was just teasing like she always does.”

  Katie tilted her head and looked thoughtful for a minute before jumping on the bed and making herself comfortable. Fenella wasn’t far behind.

  Unusually, the next morning she woke up before Katie. She slid out of bed as quietly as she could and took a shower and got dressed before Katie stirred. After giving the kitten her breakfast and eating a bowl of cereal herself, Fenella stood at the windows and looked outside. It was overcast but dry.

  “Just do it,” she told herself loudly.

  “Meerroow?” Katie asked.

  Shaking her head, Fenella found the keys and then headed out of the apartment. The huge garage under the building was devoid of people as Fenella walked through it to the spaces assigned for her apartment. One was empty and the second held Mona’s gorgeous and expensive shiny red convertible.

  “It probably won’t even start. It’s been sitting for months,” she told herself as she let herself into the car. She slid behind the wheel and sighed deeply. Just sitting inside the car felt amazing. The owner’s manual was in the glove compartment. Fenella quickly read through the basic instructions and then pushed the key into the ignition. “Here goes nothing,” she said softly.

  The engine roared to life, startling Fenella. “Oh, goodness, now I have to drive the darn thing,” she exclaimed. She took several deep breaths and then cautiously put the car into gear. It stalled immediately.

  She closed her eyes and breathed in and out for a full minute before she tried again. This time she managed to get the car moving, and a few moments later she’d managed to drive out of the garage and onto the promenade. With no destination in mind, she found herself retracing one of the routes she’d most often taken with Mel. It wasn’t until she’d actually driven past Daniel’s house that she remembered that the route took her there.

  The house was dark and looked as empty today as it had every time she’d passed it since the man had left. “I am not stalking the man,” she said loudly as she drove down the street and randomly turned left.

  “It seems as if you might be, just a tiny bit,” Mona said from the passenger seat.

  Fenella shrieked and then slammed on the brakes. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Going for a ride in my car,” Mona replied. “And you shouldn’t stop in the center of the road. You’ll annoy the other drivers.”

  Luckily for Fenella, it was still quite early, and no one else had witnessed her sudden stop. She put the car back into gear and continued on her way.

  “Are we going home, then?” Mona asked after a minute.

  “I think so. I think I’ve had enough excitement for one morning.”

  Mona chuckled. “I hope you don’t mind my dropping in. I’ve missed this car.”

  “It is a pretty cool car,” Fenella admitted. “I think I’m going to like it a lot. I may need another one for things like grocery shopping, though.”

  “You’ll be surprised how much you can actually fit in the boot,” Mona told her. “It’s practically magic back there. I never had a problem getting my shopping in.”

  Fenella thought about everything she’d heard about Mona. The word magic came up frequently. “Is it really magic, then?” she asked.

  When Mona didn’t reply, Fenella looked around. The woman had disappeared again. Sighing, Fenella pulled the car into the garage and then carefully returned it to its parking space. She climbed out and then patted the little car’s hood.

  “Thank you. I enjoyed that. We’ll start going out regularly, I promise.” Fenella probably only imagined the sharp “toot” of the car’s horn that followed her words.

  Back in her apartment, she paced restlessly for a short while and then forced herself to sit down with her research. Not having to worry about money meant that she could write the book on her own terms. Maybe she didn’t have to worry so much about research, not if she didn’t care if the book sold or not.

  She fired up her laptop and began to type. When someone knocked on the door, she jumped.

  “Ready for lunch?” Shelly asked.

  “What time is it?”

  “About five to twelve.”

  “My goodness, I’d completely lost all track of time,” Fenella exclaimed. “Give me two minutes to comb my hair and freshen up.” She dashed into her bedroom and did
what she could with the time she had.

  “I gave Katie some lunch,” Shelly said when Fenella came back out. “She told me that you’ve been ignoring her since breakfast.”

  Fenella flushed. “I decided to stop researching and just write,” she explained as she found her handbag. “And then I got quite caught up in the story. Thank you for feeding Katie.”

  “It wasn’t a problem. Let’s just hope we aren’t late.”

  “And let’s hope Adrian shows up,” Fenella added as they made their way to the elevators.

  “At least we know the food will be good,” Shelly said.

  “I almost wish we were going somewhere further afield,” Fenella told her as they walked out of their building. “I took Mona’s car for a drive this morning and now I want to go everywhere in it.”

  Shelly smiled at her. “It’s a really great car, but if you drove to the Indian restaurant, you’d have to park it further away than it already is parked.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Fenella sighed as they walked into the restaurant that was only a few doors away from home.

  “Ah, ladies, there you are,” Adrian said, getting to his feet. “I hope this table works for you both?”

  The restaurant was small and Adrian had taken a table near the back. The ones near the windows had views of the promenade and the sea beyond, but as both Shelly and Fenella had better views from their apartments, they didn’t argue as they sat down on either side of the man.

  “You’ll have to tell me what’s good,” Adrian said as they all opened their menus.

  “I’ve never had a bad meal here,” Shelly told him. “Just make sure you know how spicy you want things and order accordingly.”

  Adrian nodded. “I’m lucky that I like my food just about any which way, as long as I don’t have to cook it,” he laughed.

  The waiter took their orders and then brought them drinks. When he’d gone, Shelly smiled at the man.

  “So how are you?” she asked.

  “A bit fed up with the situation, but otherwise fine,” he replied.

  “You were planning to stay for a fortnight or more, though, weren’t you?” Fenella asked.