Fenella was hoping that some of the others might want to talk more, but as soon as Captain Howard stood up, everyone in the room seemed to be on their feet. In less than a minute, the room was nearly empty as people rushed out the door. Only Fenella and Charlotte remained behind. Fenella dawdled over picking up her handbag, waiting to see if the other woman would speak.
“That was very odd,” Charlotte said as she dug her car keys out of her bag. “It was almost like Stanley was trying to start a fight with Florence.”
“Perhaps they’re not getting along well at the moment,” Fenella said.
“Clearly they aren’t,” Charlotte said. “But I wonder why?”
“I was talking to Florence at a charity event last night and she seemed, well, unhappy,” Fenella said. “I think she spends too much time looking after Stanley.”
“She needs a hobby,” Charlotte remarked. “I sew and knit, and those keep me quite busy when I’m not traveling. Actually, they keep me quite busy when I am travelling as well. There’s nothing better than a knitting project to fill the time on a ferry journey.”
Fenella nodded. “I was planning to read,” she said. “After years of teaching and researching, it’s wonderful to read strictly for pleasure again.”
Charlotte nodded. “Must be off,” she said. Before Fenella could reply, she swept out of the room, leaving Fenella on her own.
Picking up her handbag, Fenella followed slowly behind the other woman, not wanting to catch up to her. Outside, it was cool and overcast, and Fenella thought she’d better hurry to get home before the rain started. As she walked, with her jacket pulled tightly around herself, she found it hard to believe that the weather had been so pleasant lately. At least there was the prospect of many more spring days to come.
The rain was just starting to fall when she reached her building. While she’d been walking, her brain had been replaying the conversation that had taken place after Daniel had arrested the Propers. As she opened the door to her apartment, an odd thought sprang into her head.
“She needs a hobby,” Fenella could hear the words replaying over and over again. Was it possible that Florence had a hobby, after all? But if that were true, it almost seemed as if Stanley was trying to get Florence into trouble, which made no sense at all. Fenella sat down and gave Katie a pat. The kitten curled up in her lap and Fenella petted her mindlessly while she tried to think.
“You’re lost in thought,” Mona said. “What happened at the Sea Terminal?”
Fenella gave her aunt a complete rundown of the afternoon’s events. When she was done, she looked at Mona curiously.
“I had an odd thought,” she said. “But I’m afraid you’ll laugh at me.”
“Tell me anyway,” Mona said. “Ghosts can’t laugh.”
Fenella narrowed her eyes, not quite believing the other woman. “What if the mastermind behind the whole burglary ring is Florence March?” she asked.
Mona burst out laughing, leaving Fenella frowning at her. “I thought you couldn’t laugh,” she said when her aunt finally stopped.
“Only in extreme circumstances,” Mona said, waving a hand.
“I don’t think the idea is that funny,” Fenella said crossly.
“I knew Florence March for a great many years,” Mona said. “She’s as bland and colorless a person as you can get. I can’t see her having enough imagination to put something like a burglary and smuggling ring together.”
“The more I think about it, the more it seems like Stanley was hinting at that, though,” Fenella told her.
“He was hinting at something and no doubt he knows something he hasn’t told the police, but it’s a long way from that to Florence being behind the crimes,” Mona said.
“So it’s a crazy idea,” Fenella said with a sigh.
“But it’s one you should share with Inspector Robinson,” Mona replied. “Maybe it will get him thinking outside the box, at least.”
“I’m sure Stanley will give him ideas,” Fenella argued.
“But he probably hasn’t spoken to Stanley yet,” Mona pointed out.
Knowing that Mona would nag her until she did, Fenella called the police station. She was put on hold for several minutes before Daniel came on the line.
“The conversation after you left was strange,” she told the man. While he listened, she did her best to repeat what was said.
“So Mr. and Mrs. March aren’t getting along very well,” Daniel said. “I’m not sure why that’s of interest to me.”
Fenella took a deep breath. “I was wondering if there’s any chance that Florence is the person behind the burglary ring and the murders,” she said.
The silence on the other end seemed to drag on for a very long time. At least he isn’t laughing, Fenella thought.
“I’m going to have both Marches brought in for questioning,” Daniel said eventually. “If anything interesting comes of it, I’ll let you know once it’s set to hit the papers.”
Fenella hung up and made herself some dinner. She fed Katie and then pottered around the apartment, wondering what was happening. When Shelly stopped by to suggest the pub, Fenella found that she wasn’t in the mood, but she went anyway.
15
Daniel finally stopped by two nights later. Fenella was sitting on the floor playing with Katie and Smokey, while Shelly watched, when he knocked on the door. Shelly was closer, so she let the man in.
“This is a surprise,” Fenella said, standing up quickly. She brushed cat hair off of herself, blushing as she realized how casually dressed she was. Her sweatshirt and jeans were covered in black and grey fur, and nothing she did seemed to help much.
“I hope it isn’t inconvenient,” Daniel said.
“Not at all,” Fenella replied, wishing she’d taken the time to shower and fix her hair and makeup before Shelly had arrived.
“I just brought Smokey over for a kitty play date,” Shelly told Daniel. “But it’s just about time for us to head home for our dinner.”
“MERROW,” Smokey said emphatically.
“I think somebody is hungry,” Shelly laughed. She picked up the cat and held her up, nose to nose. “Are you hungry, my precious?” she cooed.
“Merrow, merrr, merrr, yowww,” Smokey said in a conversational tone.
“I believe that means yes,” Fenella laughed.
“I’ll stop back in a few hours,” Shelly said. “I’ll be on my way to the pub by then.”
Fenella nodded. They’d fallen into the habit of going to the pub nearly every night. Sometimes Fenella opted for a soft drink, but a single glass of wine each evening wasn’t going to hurt her. Some doctors even suggested that it was healthy.
“I don’t want to get in the way of your dinner,” Daniel said after Shelly and her pet had let themselves out.
“Have you eaten? We could order pizza or Chinese,” Fenella offered.
“If you’re sure I’m not in the way, I’d love Chinese,” Daniel said.
There was a Chinese restaurant only a few doors away and they were happy to deliver to their neighbors. After a few minutes with the menu, Fenella called in the order for them both.
“So, how are things?” Fenella asked as she handed Daniel a can of soda.
“Things are good,” Daniel said with a grin. “Tomorrow’s papers will be full of news.”
“Really? I kept expecting to hear things, but the usual gossips don’t seem to know anything.”
“Stanley and his advocate have been doing everything they can to keep things very quiet,” Daniel explained. “I’ve been interviewing him and Florence at their home rather than the station and only formally arrested her earlier this evening.”
“So Florence was involved in something criminal?” Fenella asked in surprise.
“She was behind the burglary ring, just like you suggested,” Daniel confirmed.
Fenella glanced around the room, but Mona was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t wait to tell her aunt that she’d been right.
&n
bsp; “I’m shocked,” Fenella said.
“But you suspected it,” Daniel countered.
“But I thought I just have an overactive imagination,” Fenella explained. “Tell me everything, please.”
“I’ll tell you what I can. As I said, a lot of this will be in the paper tomorrow. It all started some time ago. It seems that Florence found herself bored once her children left the nest. She tried doing more volunteer work, but found that wasn’t fulfilling enough. At a party one night, one of her wealthy friends was talking about going away for several months and leaving her house empty. She asked Florence to stop by and check on the house for her. While she was doing that, Florence found a pair of diamond earrings she liked.”
“Her poor friend,” Fenella remarked. “Did she just help herself, then?”
“She did, but so cleverly that no one ever suspected. She found herself someone else to do the real dirty work.”
“Nick Proper,” Fenella guessed.
“Apparently she knew Brenda from one of the charities she was involved with,” Daniel explained. “And she knew the couple needed a bit of extra money. She gave Brenda the code for the security system and told her that she and Nick could keep everything they took. By the time Florence’s friend got back to the island and discovered that she’d been burgled, Florence had been wearing the earrings for several months.”
“But surely her friend was suspicious?” Fenella asked.
“Florence was clever about it,” Daniel explained. “She took the earrings within days of her friend leaving. About a month later she managed to ‘accidently’ leave a tap running when she was there checking on the place. A whole crew of cleaners had to come in to clear up the mess and they were able to tell the police that there was no sign of a break-in when they were there. Just a few days before the friend was due back, the Propers went in and made a huge mess as they stole nearly everything of value in the house.”
“That is clever,” Fenella admitted.
“Yes, and it was enough excitement for Florence that she couldn’t help but do it again a few months later when another friend went away. This time, she took a share of the proceeds rather than any one item, and her terrible partnership with Nick and Brenda was born.”
A knock on the door interrupted the story. Daniel helped Fenella as she opened carton after carton of delicious-smelling Chinese food. When it was all spread out across the counter, the pair fixed plates and then dug in.
“This is excellent,” Daniel said after a few bites. “I like it better than the food at the Chinese place near me.”
“I love it,” Fenella told him. “But you were telling me about Florence and the Propers.”
“Yes, well, those first incidents were something like fifteen years ago,” Daniel said. “It seems that Florence was very careful, only staging one or two break-ins a year. From what she’s told us, some years she didn’t manage any. Nick and Brenda took care of disposing of the stolen property at first, but Florence didn’t trust them. After a while, she found a man across that was able to get her better prices. She still used Nick and Brenda for the burglaries here, though.”
“So what happened?” Fenella asked.
“A few different things,” Daniel said. “First, Stanley retired and started taking an active interest in how his wife was spending her time.”
“Surely he’d noticed that she had more money than she should, didn’t he?”
“Every penny she made went into a Swiss bank account that he knew nothing about,” Daniel told her.
“Wow,” Fenella said.
“That was another problem, as Swiss banks are working with UK tax authorities now. She started to worry about keeping that account hidden.”
“So she had Nick start breaking into more houses?” Fenella asked.
“More or less,” Daniel said. “They switched their focus from one or two big hits every year to several smaller ones. But that meant a lot more stolen property to get off the island. Robert Grosso was brought in to help, as he had access to large shipping containers and could conceivably get almost anything across. Robert used George Mason as his accomplice on the ferry. George would let Robert load his containers first and then George would sign off on the paperwork. But more accomplices meant more people to pay and that meant more burglaries had to happen. After a while, things started to get a little out of control. Nick started breaking into houses at random, which increased the chances of his getting caught. Apparently, Robert started demanding a larger cut of the profits, which was a problem as well.”
“And poor Florence had to deal with all of this with Stanley watching her every move,” Fenella suggested.
“Exactly,” Daniel said. “When things finally got too out of control and Robert got too demanding, she told Nick to get rid of him. They were supposed to throw the body overboard once the sailing got underway. Of course, when the body was found, George worked out what had happened and tried to blackmail Nick.”
“So Nick killed him.”
“Actually, although she won’t admit it, we think Florence killed George. A woman matching Florence’s description was seen leaving the building where his flat was located on the night before the body was found.”
“I never did hear how he died,” Fenella said.
“He was poisoned,” Daniel told her. “He was given a massive overdose of medication that just happens to be a drug that Stanley March takes. It was in a bottle of expensive wine that was completely out of place in George’s flat.”
Fenella shuddered. “I’d suspected Florence of being involved in something criminal, but I never thought she’d killed anyone.”
“As I said, she hasn’t admitted it, but she has told us a lot of the story. She seemed weirdly proud of it, actually.”
“Someone told me Florence needed a hobby,” Fenella said. “Little did she know.”
“Florence was far too successful, really,” Daniel said. “We’re going to be going back over the reports for every burglary on the island in the past twenty years. It bothers me that she and Nick were able to get away with it for so long.”
“But you weren’t here,” Fenella pointed out.
“No, I would like to think I would have solved the case years ago,” Daniel said with a laugh.
“I’m sure you would have,” Fenella replied.
She served them both scoops of ice cream for dessert before putting all of the dishes into the dishwasher.
“Why did you focus on cabin passengers?” Fenella asked the question that had been bothering her since the investigation started.
“Robert had a note in his pocket that read, ‘Once we are all in our cabins, we’ll meet in 212 to talk.’ It wasn’t signed, but we’re pretty sure Nick wrote it. It seems as if he tried to disguise his handwriting, though.”
“So you knew it was a cabin passenger, but not which one,” Fenella said. “And so many of the cabin passengers were on board early as well.”
“Yes, Captain Howard isn’t very happy about that. I suspect quite a few crew members were supplementing their income by letting passengers board early in exchange for a small gratuity. I hope that’s going to stop now. Our investigation was raising questions about Nick and Brenda,” Daniel told her. “I’d like to think that we would have found Florence eventually, as well, but I have to congratulate you for putting it all together like that.”
“It was just dumb luck,” Fenella said.
“I don’t know about that. Some people just have good instincts for such things. Maybe it helps that you don’t really know anyone here, so you can look at them all with the same critical eye.”
“You haven’t been here long, either,” Fenella pointed out.
“No, but in this case I was told to go softly on Stanley and Florence, as they have friends in high places.”
“Oh, dear, but it really did feel to me like Stanley was trying to implicate Florence when we were at the Sea Terminal.”
“Yes, I think he was,” Daniel agreed. “
From what I can see, he’s more than a little afraid of Florence. After the second murder, he started putting two and two together and he didn’t like the answer he was getting. I was going to question them both again about the murders, and I suspect he would have dropped several very large hints into that conversation if we weren’t already suspicious.”
“Why didn’t he just go to the police?”
“I think he was hoping he was wrong. He also probably felt some loyalty to his wife of forty years and the mother of his children. I’m not sure he even knows why he didn’t, though, especially after the second murder.”
“Are there any charges you can press against him?” Fenella asked.
“We’re negotiating that,” Daniel told her.
The next half hour of conversation was more general and by the time Shelly knocked on the door, Fenella was feeling incredibly at ease with the handsome police inspector.
“Pub?” Shelly asked.
“Oh, I suppose so,” Fenella replied. She turned to Daniel. “You will come, won’t you?”
“Not tonight,” Daniel replied. “I have some paperwork to finish up at the office. Maybe another night.”
Fenella was disappointed and sorry she’d agreed to go.
“You need to change,” Shelly told her friend. “Maybe you can find something to put on that isn’t covered in cat hair?”
Fenella looked down at her outfit and blushed. She should have changed for Daniel’s benefit.
“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” Shelly told her before she turned and walked back to her own apartment. “Peter is feeling better, so he might be coming as well,” she added over her shoulder.
Fenella shut the door and looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry,” he said, taking a step closer to her. “I really shouldn’t have stayed as long as I have.”
“It was nice, dinner and all,” Fenella said.
“Yes, I enjoyed it a lot,” Daniel told her. He took another step toward her. “As I said earlier, you did well to spot Florence as the culprit. You seem to have good instincts.”
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - ABC Page 47
