“We’ll talk about it when I’m back on the island next,” Donald said. “Which should be fairly soon, I hope.”
“I don’t know about traveling, but it will be nice to see you,” Fenella said. She winced as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. They sounded lame when said aloud.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Donald said. “But what have you been doing to fill your days?”
“Working on my book,” Fenella said, which was only a huge exaggeration.
“I understand that Inspector Robinson is reopening some cold cases,” Donald said. “Someone told me the local paper was full of it.”
“Yes, he’s looking into two cases from thirty years ago. A missing woman and a murder.”
“I don’t know anything about any missing women, but I did know Christopher Manderly,” Donald said. “It would be nice to have that case solved. I’ve always wondered who killed my friend.”
“You were friends?”
“We were,” Donald replied. “I was living in London in those days, but I still had a few business interests on the island. Christopher was just starting out, but he was already proving very successful at managing investments. I gave him some money to help him get his business off the ground in the early days.”
“That was nice of you.”
“That was good business. I’ve made my money back many times over in the years since.”
“So you’re still an investor with Carl?”
“Oh, yes, and Carl has done nearly as well for me as Christopher did.”
“I met him on Saturday. There was a party for all of his investors and Shelly took me along.”
“I’m sorry I missed it. It’s always a nice occasion.”
“The food was delicious, but things seemed a bit tense between Sophia and some of the other guests.”
Donald laughed. “Things are always tense between Sophia and someone,” he said.
“You know Sophia, then?” Fenella asked.
“Ah, yes, well, it’s a small island,” Donald said, his tone suddenly cautious.
“She’s very beautiful,” Fenella said.
“She’s not my type,” Donald told her. “I find I’m quite enamored of American women lately.”
“So you’re in the right place.”
Donald laughed. “That wasn’t what I meant,” he said.
“Wasn’t it?” Fenella asked.
“I miss you,” Donald told her.
“You don’t know me well enough to miss me,” Fenella said, feeling argumentative.
“That’s what I’m missing,” Donald replied. “The chance to get to know you.”
“You’ll be disappointed,” Fenella said. “I’m very boring.”
Donald chuckled. “I don’t believe it. You’ve uprooted your entire life on a whim. You’re more adventurous than you give yourself credit for.”
“Perhaps,” was all that Fenella would concede.
“Anyway, when I’m back, and that will hopefully be later this month, I want to show you the rest of the island. I hope you haven’t done too much sightseeing while I’ve been away, which is terribly selfish of me, I know.”
“I haven’t done much,” Fenella admitted. “I’ve been to Peel Castle and Onchan Park, but there’s still so much more to see. Somehow my days seem to simply get away from me.”
“Well, start making a list,” Donald said. “When I get back, we’ll work our way through it.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m sure you’ll have better things to do than traipse all over the island with me.”
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,” the man replied. “But we can talk about it when I get back. For now, I think I’d better go and get some work done. The more I can get done, the sooner I can get back.”
“It was nice talking to you,” Fenella said, feeling stupid again.
“I enjoyed talking to you as well,” Donald told her. “Take good care of yourself until I see you again.”
“Um, sure,” Fenella muttered, not knowing how best to respond to the kind words. Donald disconnected before she decided that she should have said “you, too.” She sighed and put the phone down.
After a simple dinner of pork chops and vegetables, Fenella went into her bedroom to try to find something appropriate to wear to the pub.
“I don’t want to look like I think it’s a date,” she told Mona. “But I don’t want to look like I didn’t put any effort in, either.”
Mona made a few suggestions, but Fenella didn’t like anything in either her own wardrobe or Mona’s.
“You’re impossible to please tonight,” Mona said after a while. “What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing,” Fenella snapped. She sighed. “I’m sorry. Talking to Jack is always annoying, and talking to Donald didn’t help. He makes me feel awkward. I never know what to say. He’s so much more sophisticated than I am.”
“You must never feel that way,” Mona told her sternly. “He’s very smooth and can act the gentleman perfectly, but you mustn’t let him think you’re intimidated. You’re my niece, after all.”
Fenella chuckled. “I suppose that does give me some sort of cachet around here,” she admitted. “At least in certain social circles.”
“The fun circles, if not the best circles,” Mona told her. “I did, of course, live far too scandalous a life for a certain section of island society to accept me, at least in my younger days. By the time I hit eighty, though, just about everyone wanted to know me. I became an institution, in spite of my racy reputation.”
“I’m not sure I’d want to be an institution,” Fenella teased.
Mona shrugged. “It wasn’t like I had a choice,” she said. “And it wasn’t a bad way to spend my later years, really. I lived my entire life exactly the way I wanted to live it. I think it just took the rest of the island until I reached my eighties to catch up to me.”
“That I can believe,” Fenella said.
Shelly knocked on her door as Fenella was combing her hair.
“Are you ready?” she asked when Fenella opened the door.
“Just let me find my handbag,” Fenella said. She grabbed her bag and checked her lipstick in the mirror by the door. “I’ll have to do,” she said, wondering for the twentieth time if her outfit was right.
“You look nice,” Shelly told her. “I like the lilac jumper. You should wear more pastels. They suit you.”
“Thanks,” Fenella said. “You look great, too.” Shelly was wearing bright colors, as usual. Tonight her top was a light cranberry with large blue polka dots. The dots matched Shelly’s trousers and her shoes matched the top. For Shelly the look was almost demure, but Fenella felt as if no one was going to even notice her next to her more flamboyant friend.
“Is Peter coming?” Fenella asked as they rode the elevator down to the ground floor.
“Maybe,” Shelly said with a frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, really,” Shelly said. “Peter said he might stop in later, after dinner, that’s all.”
“And that’s a problem because?” Fenella asked.
“Because Anne,” Shelly sighed. “He’s having dinner with Anne. He said he and Anne might stop at the pub later. I simply don’t like the woman.”
“I didn’t like her much either, but she’s been friends with Peter for many years,” Fenella pointed out.
“But she’s after his money,” Shelly said as the pair walked out of the building and headed down the street. “I’m certain of it.”
When they walked into the pub a minute later, Shelly’s frown deepened. Fenella looked at the bar and had to force herself to smile. Peter and Anne were already sitting at the bar, and from the looks of it, they’d already had at least one round of drinks. As she and Shelly crossed the room toward them, Anne finished her drink and waved to the bartender.
“I need another,” she said loudly.
“I’m still working on this one,” Peter said as
the bartender gave him a questioning look.
“Oh, dear, you really should try to keep up,” Anne told him. “You don’t want me getting drunk on my own, do you? Or maybe you do.” She winked at him and then laughed loudly.
Peter smiled tightly and shook his head. “I think we’ve both probably had enough. I should get you a taxi home.”
“I thought I could just stay on your couch again,” Anne protested. “It’s actually more comfortable than my bed, you know, and the views are incredible.”
“Yes, well, I suppose, if you really want,” Peter said with little enthusiasm.
“You’re the best,” Anne said, giving Peter a hug. As she leaned over from her barstool, she nearly fell off of it.
“How many have you had?” Shelly asked her pointedly.
“Only two or three,” Anne said, shooting Shelly a nasty look.
“It’s nice to see you here,” Fenella said to Peter. “And you,” she added, glancing at Anne.
“Yeah, likewise,” Anne said. “It’s a nice little pub, isn’t it?”
“It’s wonderful,” Shelly said. She caught the bartender’s eye and he nodded. He knew what both Fenella and Shelly wanted and he made their drinks quickly.
“Thanks,” Shelly said as he handed her the glasses.
“Hey, where’s mine?” Anne demanded.
“I’m getting it now,” the man said.
“So, what have you two been doing today?” Shelly asked Peter.
“I accompanied Anne to the police station so that she could talk to Daniel Robinson about Kay,” Peter said solemnly.
“Which is why I’m drinking so heavily tonight,” Anne said brightly.
“I hope I didn’t make things too unpleasant for you,” Daniel said as he joined the group.
“No, it’s just so hard, talking about Kay,” Anne said, blinking several times as if trying to repress tears. Fenella stared at her, trying to work out whether the action was simply for effect or genuine.
“I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but you did well,” Daniel said. “And you’ve given me some new information to work with, which is wonderful.”
“I’m glad I could help,” Anne said, licking her lips and smiling at Daniel. “But I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight. Do you come here often?”
Daniel shrugged. “It’s a nice pub with a great atmosphere,” he said.
“Yes, and it seems to be getting better all the time,” Anne told him.
Daniel flushed and then caught the bartender’s eye. “Lager shandy,” he requested from the man.
“Yes, sir,” the man said.
“And don’t forget mine,” Anne called after him.
A moment later, Daniel had his drink. He turned to Fenella. “I hope this isn’t rude, but I really need a few minutes of your time, privately,” he said to her. “Can we get a table upstairs for a short while?”
Fenella was surprised, but she simply nodded and then followed the man across the room to the winding stairs. What could he possibly want to talk to her about privately? Feeling guilty for everything she’d ever done wrong in her entire life, she climbed the stairs behind Daniel. She knew that Shelly, Peter, and Anne were all watching them as they went.
11
Daniel led Fenella to a table in the back corner of the room. She sat down and let her eyes run along the row of books on the shelf next to her. Her hand itched to pull out a few of the more interesting titles so that she could read the back covers, but she forced herself to resist and focus on Daniel instead.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she watched the man sip his drink.
“Nothing,” he said with a sigh. “I just didn’t feel like talking to Anne anymore today. I’m sorry I dragged you away from your friends. I simply couldn’t think of any excuse to get away from her, short of leaving.”
“It’s fine,” Fenella assured him. “I didn’t really want to talk to her either. She’s, well, she’s not my favorite person.”
“Peter seems to like her.”
“I’m not sure if he likes her or if he can’t work out how to get rid of her,” Fenella said. “She seems to have latched onto him and I’m not sure he knows how to deal with her.”
“He’ll work it out,” Daniel said.
“Did she tell you the same thing she told us about Kay?” Fenella asked.
“She did. And we’re working on tracking down the man in question. Anne only knew his first name, so that’s complicating things slightly. I’ve no doubt we’ll find him eventually, though.”
“Couldn’t Mel supply his name?”
“He’s still denying that the man exists,” Daniel replied. “At this point I’m not sure if Anne made up the entire story or if Kay never told Mel about her past.”
“Or some combination of the two,” Fenella suggested.
“Which is probably the most likely,” Daniel sighed.
“At least you have some new information to investigate.”
“Yes, and I’m hoping that Anne’s information will be the key to finding Kay. Even if it isn’t, it’s a promising lead that was missed the first time around. The head of CID is happy that my approach is working.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, now I just need a break in the Manderly murder,” Daniel told her.
“You certainly have everyone talking about it again. I still find it hard to imagine that someone knows something but has kept it a secret for such a long time.”
“Anne never said anything about Kay’s former boyfriend before,” Daniel pointed out. “She said she’s only talking about it now because she can’t imagine that it matters anymore. She thought she was protecting Kay in the past, I gather.”
“But murder is considerably more serious than just a missing person. If I thought I knew something about a murder, I’d tell the police straight away.”
“People keep secrets for many reasons. In a case like this, where there’s so much money involved, there can be even more reasons.”
“You think someone has been bribed to keep their mouth shut for all these years?”
“Not necessarily bribed, exactly, but perhaps someone has a large financial incentive to keep quiet. If you owned shares in a company that was providing you with a very generous income, you might choose to ignore any niggling suspicions you have about the man running the company, for example.”
“So you think Sophia knows that Carl killed her husband, but she’s kept quiet because of the money?”
“At this point I don’t think anything,” Daniel said quickly. “That was just an example that happens to fit this case. Remember, I haven’t questioned anyone other than Sophia. I’ve not even met Carl. I’m a long way from coming up with any theories about the case.”
“After you’ve met them all, we can compare notes,” Fenella said. “I didn’t really like any of them.”
“Having read all of the notes from the original investigation, I doubt I’ll like any of them, either, but I don’t have to like them to get the job done.”
They chatted for a while about the weather, Katie’s recovery, and American politics as Daniel finished his drink.
“That’s my one for the night, maybe for the week,” he told Fenella as he got to his feet. “Thank you for keeping me company while I drank it.”
“I enjoy spending time with you,” Fenella said, blushing as the words came out of her mouth. No doubt Mona would have said something witty and intelligent instead of blurting out her feelings.
“Good,” Daniel said. “We should do it again soon.”
He walked Fenella back down to the bar where her friends were still sitting. “Good night, everyone,” he said as he paused next to Shelly.
“You aren’t leaving already,” Anne said. “The fun is just getting started.”
“I have to be at work early tomorrow,” Daniel told her.
“Are you still trying to track down Liam?” Anne asked. “I have this feeling that he moved to Australia or New Zealan
d. Maybe it was Canada. You should look those places.”
“First I have to work out his surname,” Daniel said. “I don’t suppose you have any idea?” he asked Peter.
“Any idea about what?” Peter asked, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening.”
“According to Anne, Kay was involved with a man named Liam before she and Mel were married,” Daniel explained. “I wondered if you’d ever met Liam and if you could recall his surname?”
Peter shook his head. “I didn’t see much of Kay in those days,” he said. “We were all doing different things with our lives. I do remember hearing that she was involved with someone from across, but I can’t even tell you for certain what year that was. It might have been the same man, but it might not.”
“He was from across,” Anne said. “And he went back right quick when Kay started getting serious about him.”
“But you don’t remember where they met or what he was doing on the island?” Daniel asked.
“Kay was kind of secretive about him,” Anne said in a defensive tone. “She didn’t want to talk about him when they were together, and then after he broke her heart, she really didn’t want to talk about him.”
“And there isn’t anyone else that she might have confided in at the time?” was Daniel’s next question.
“Maybe her mum,” Anne said with a shrug. “She told her mum some things, but not everything.”
“I may have to try talking with her, then,” Daniel said with a frown.
“She won’t be able to help,” Anne said. “I saw her the last time I was across and she didn’t have a clue who I was. She doesn’t remember anything about the island and she seemed surprised when I told her that she had a daughter at all.”
“How sad,” Shelly said.
“Yeah. At least she’s well looked after. The place she’s staying is really posh and the staff was good with her. I hope I get to go somewhere that nice when I get old,” Anne said.
“I’d better get home,” Daniel said. “Thank you for answering my questions.”
“No problem,” Anne told him. “I’m even half sober, as I can’t seem to get a drink at the moment.” The last ten words were shouted toward the bartender, who waved and nodded at her.
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - ABC Page 64
