Guests and Guilt

by Diana Xarissa

  “So you never knew where the true story stopped and the fantasy began.”

  “Exactly. That was one of the happier stories, actually, as well. Sometimes the stories got really grim. I remember one where she was lost on her own in Manchester and a gang of men started following her. She got really upset, telling me about running and running and not being able to get away from them until she finally ran into a restaurant and started screaming.”

  “My goodness.”

  “But was it true?”

  “I don’t suppose you’ll ever know.”

  “No, I don’t suppose I will,” James sighed. “We were usually drinking, which didn’t help, really. She liked to drink wine and talk about her past. She always said she didn’t want to keep any secrets from me. I kept plenty from her, though.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, nothing serious, mostly things about other women that she didn’t need to know. I didn’t mention my inability to write to her, either. I didn’t want her to think that she was wasting her time working with me. I’m still convinced that I can take her ideas and write a good solid story from them.”

  “Maybe she was just trying to impress you with her stories.”

  “That’s probably it. I just wish I knew which ones to believe.”

  “Why?” Fenella asked, suddenly suspicious that there was more going on than James was admitting.

  “I don’t know. I feel as if I’m letting her down somehow. I should have taken the time to get to know her properly. I should have been able to tell when she was telling the truth and when she was creating fiction. I should have made sure that I knew the difference. She deserved a man who cared enough to know.”

  “You couldn’t have known that it was going to matter,” Fenella said. She moved over to sit closer to him, sliding her arm around him. “I know this is difficult for you. I wish there was something that I could say or do to make things better.”

  “I just want her back,” James replied. “I’d listen more and try to understand her better. I’d be a proper partner to her. I was, I mean, I feel as if I was sort of using her for my own ends. I wanted to write another book and it seemed that she might be able to help me do that. I never once thought about it from her perspective, though.”

  “That’s enough feeling sad for today,” Fenella said briskly. “Let’s walk back to the car and get out of here. It’s nearly time for dinner, anyway.”

  “Is it that late? I didn’t realize.”

  They walked back to Fenella’s car, nodding politely at the family that had emerged from one of the vacation cottages along the way.

  “I want to come back here again before I go home,” James said as Fenella started back up the steep hill to the main road.

  “We can do that,” she promised. “Maybe I’ll see if I can find another way down, though,” she added as a car suddenly appeared in the road in front of her. She pulled into a small space by the side of the road and held her breath as the car inched past her. She felt as if she didn’t start breathing again until they were halfway back to Douglas.

  “I don’t feel like much dinner,” James said a short while later. “Maybe we could just hit a grocery store and I could get some snacks or something.”

  “We can do that if you want. Or we can buy something easy, like a frozen pizza, and I can make dinner for both of us.”

  James looked over at her and shrugged. “Would you mind terribly if I said I’d rather be alone? I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed about everything.”

  “I’m not sure I want you to be alone.”

  “The thing is, I live alone. I do everything alone. I’m not used to being around other people all the time. Stephanie understood that. I know I said she used to stay out with other men and I never complained. One of the main reasons I never complained was because I enjoyed having my house to myself while she was gone. And as much as I’ve enjoyed your company today, I really need some time tonight by myself.”

  “If that’s what you really want,” Fenella said, feeling slightly relieved. She loved her brother and she was enjoying having the chance to spend time with him, but she quite liked the idea of taking a break from him, as well. They had three weeks to spend together. Time apart would probably be good for both of them.

  “It is what I really want. It’s what I need, too. I have a lot to think about and I can’t do that when I’m with other people. I need to go through the notes that Stephanie left with me and see if there’s actually a story there, and I feel as if I need to start on that immediately. I feel that the book will honor her memory, if I can bring myself to write it.”

  “I thought you gave the police all of her things.”

  “Everything except the notebook we were using together for the book. It’s just a bunch of notes for me to work from, nothing more. When I go through it tonight, I’ll make sure of that, anyway.”

  “Do you want to go to the grocery store near your house or the one that was built on the land where we used to live?” Fenella asked.

  “Oh, the one closest to the house where I’m staying,” James said quickly. “I think I’ve spent enough time on memory lane today. Let’s save something for tomorrow.”

  The store was quiet and it didn’t take James long to find some snacks. “I haven’t had any of these things since childhood,” he told Fenella excitedly. “I didn’t even think they’d still be available. I’m going to eat biscuits and chocolate until I explode.”

  “I don’t think biscuits go with lager,” Fenella told him, glancing at the packs of beer in his shopping cart.

  “They totally do,” he argued. “I have to wash them down with something.”

  When Fenella frowned at him, he sighed. “I lost my girlfriend today in the worst possible way. I think I’ve been holding myself together pretty well. If I want to have a few beers tonight to help numb the pain, I can’t see why you care.”

  “I care because I worry about you.”

  “I know you do, but I can’t get up to any trouble tucked up in the house with my beers and my biscuits. I’ll have my snack and then drink myself to sleep. The hangover will be worth it.”

  “Hangovers are never worth it.”

  James took her hands and looked into her eyes. “Trust me on this, baby sister. I won’t do anything stupid. I just want to have a few beers and try to forget about everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours. Surely you can understand that.”

  Fenella nodded. “Okay, let’s go.” She insisted that he get a frozen pizza as well, and when they got back to the house, she put it in the oven for him.

  “You will remember to get that out in twenty minutes, right?” she asked anxiously.

  “As I don’t really want it, I’m tempted to leave it in there,” he replied. “But if I do, I’ll turn the oven off, okay?”

  “Eat the pizza. It will help soak up the beer.”

  “So will biscuits,” he argued. As Fenella opened her mouth to reply, he held up his hand. “I’m only teasing, honestly. I will eat my pizza first, although maybe not all of it, and then I’ll have a few beers and a few biscuits and an early night. I’m too old to do anything more ambitious than that, really.”

  Fenella gave him a hug. “I won’t worry anymore, then,” she lied. “What time do you want to get started tomorrow morning? Maybe we could visit a castle or something.”

  “How about if I call you when I get up? My body clock still isn’t functioning correctly. If you don’t hear from me by noon, come and pound on the door.”

  “You’d better call before noon,” Fenella warned him, “or I’ll send Inspector Hammersmith over to pound on your door.”

  James laughed. “I’ll set an alarm,” he promised.

  Fenella had to force herself to concentrate on the drive home. Her thoughts were bouncing around in every direction, making it hard to focus on other cars and unexpected pedestrians. When she finally parked in the garage under her building, she felt fortunate that she’d made it home safely
.

  “What is going on?” Mona demanded as Fenella walked into her apartment.

  “Meerooww,” Katie said.

  “Don’t give me that. I know that Shelly fed you.”

  “I did,” Shelly agreed as she walked out of the spare bedroom. “She had dinner not ten minutes ago. But what’s going on?”

  “I need some dinner,” Fenella replied. “I’ll tell you everything while I cook and eat.”

  James’s pizza had smelled awfully good, so Fenella turned the oven on and found a similar one in her own freezer. “There’s enough here for two, if you want to join me,” she told Shelly.

  “I wish I could, but Gordon is collecting me in half an hour. We’re going to get something to eat and then see a movie.”

  “I’d better talk fast, then,” Fenella sighed. She sat down at the counter. “I suppose I should start with when James called me this morning.”

  Fenella only stopped once, to get herself a cold drink, as she told Shelly and Mona all about her incredibly long day. They both gasped when she recounted opening the door to Mark Hammersmith, and Shelly gave her a quick hug when she told them about identifying the body. “And then I took James home, made him a pizza, and came back here,” she concluded.

  “I’m surprised Inspector Hammersmith didn’t arrest you,” Mona said.

  Fenella opened her mouth to reply and then remembered just in time that Shelly couldn’t see or hear the other woman. She snapped her mouth shut and then checked on her pizza. It was nearly ready.

  “So the police are investigating and you’re stuck in the middle again,” Shelly concluded.

  “I’m not, though, not really. James might be, but he’s the one who brought her to the island. I’d never even met her before yesterday.”

  “Do you think that will get you off the list of suspects?” Shelly asked.

  “No, of course not,” Fenella sighed. “I’m really hoping that when they investigate further, they find that it was just a tragic accident.”

  “Nonsense, she was murdered by one of her old friends. I vote for Annie. She sounds disagreeable,” Mona said.

  “If it was murder, it must have been one of her friends that killed her, mustn’t it?” Shelly wondered.

  “We don’t know who else she may have contacted while James was asleep. Maybe someone we know nothing about also had some sort of motive,” Fenella replied.

  “Do you have any idea which of her friends might have had a motive for killing her?” was Shelly’s next question.

  “Not at all. None of them seemed to be contemplating murder while I was at the pub with them, anyway.”

  “She probably stole Annie’s boyfriend way back when they were both fifteen or something,” Mona said. “And Annie has been waiting all this time for her chance to get her revenge.”

  “Not likely,” Fenella said. When Shelly gave her a startled look, she laughed. “I was thinking out loud,” she said, glaring at Mona. “I just meant none of the motives I can think of seem likely.”

  A knock on the door kept Shelly from responding. After a quick greeting from Gordon, he and Shelly left for their evening out. Fenella shut the door behind them and then sat down on the couch and stared out at the sea.

  “Go on, then, let’s talk about the suspects,” Mona said.

  “I don’t want to talk about the suspects,” Fenella protested.

  “I never heard about last night. Tell me everything that happened at the pub.”

  Fenella sighed and then began yet another retelling of her evening at the pub. She was only just getting started when the phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Fen? It’s James.”

  “Are you okay? You sound out of breath.”

  “I had to run home. And I fell down a few times.”

  “Run home? Fell down? What are you talking about?”

  “I wanted some fresh air,” he said, and then went silent.

  “Yes, and?”

  “Oh, I went for a walk around the neighborhood.” Another long silence had Fenella nearly screaming.

  “And then what happened?” she demanded.

  “It was dark and there was this car. It nearly hit me when I crossed the road.”

  “Are you okay?” Fenella gasped.

  “I thought it was an accident, but it kept following me. I started running, but I wasn’t as fast as a car.” This time Fenella used the silence to find her car keys and her handbag.

  “I’m on my way to the house,” she told James.

  “I fell over a hedge and into someone’s yard. I got pretty banged up. I ran home from there. My head hurts.”

  The phone went dead in Fenella’s hand. She glanced at Mona and then headed for the door.

  “What’s going on?” Mona asked.

  “It sounds as if someone tried to kill James,” Fenella replied with tears streaming down her face.

  9

  Fenella tried to keep calm as she made her way out of the garage under her building. She hadn’t been driving on the island long enough to be able to make the journey on automatic pilot. She had to focus. While she drove, she tried to decide whether she should have called for an ambulance or the police before she’d left home. If only Daniel were on the island. He lived right across the street from the house where James was staying. He could have walked over and checked on James for Fenella.

  The neighborhood was dark and Fenella felt uneasy when she parked in the driveway. As she walked to the front door, a single car drove slowly down the street behind her. Fenella shivered and then knocked sharply. After a minute, she knocked again and then glanced around. There were lights on in a few houses, but most of them seemed to be dark. The evening had flown past, and as Fenella knocked again, she glanced at her watch. It was after ten o’clock, which surprised her. No doubt Shelly would be coming back to the apartment soon. Fenella realized she should have left her friend a note.

  Somewhere in the bottom of her handbag, Fenella knew there was an extra key for the house. Doncan had given her two and she’d only given one of them to James. She dug around, pulling out seemingly everything but the house key. When she finally found it, she slid it into the lock and turned it. When she tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge. She turned the key again and then sighed. She’d been knocking all this time on a door that hadn’t been locked.

  “James? James? Where are you?” she called from the doorway. As she took a few steps into the house, she thought again about calling the police. “Hello?” she yelled again, digging back into her bag for her mobile phone. A loud groan answered her call. All thoughts of calling for help vanished as Fenella followed the sound into the kitchen.

  “James!” she exclaimed. He was lying on the kitchen floor, holding his head and moaning softly. His clothes were all badly torn and Fenella could see blood seeping through in more than one place.

  He looked up at her and sighed. “My head hurts,” he said in a low voice.

  Fenella bent over him and took a better look. There was a large lump on his forehead and she could see blood in his hair. “What happened to your head?”

  “I tripped and I hit it on the curb,” James replied. “It hurts a lot.”

  “I’m going to call for an ambulance.”

  “No, I don’t need an ambulance. Help me sit up. I just need to get cleaned up and I’ll be fine.”

  “You need a doctor. Head injuries can be very serious.”

  “Why are both of you shouting at me?” James asked, frowning.

  “Both? You’re seeing double?”

  “I’m so very tired,” James replied, lying back down on the floor.

  “Right, I can’t pick you up, so you can get up and walk out to my car or I can call for an ambulance. Which will it be?”

  “I don’t want to cause any trouble. I can walk. I’m sure of it.”

  James sat up again and then very slowly made his way onto his feet with Fenella’s help. She supported him as he took a couple of very cautious steps.r />
  “It isn’t too bad,” he said. “I’m only a little bit dizzy.”

  “We can rest for a while if you want.”

  “Maybe I could just sit down for a minute.”

  He dropped into the nearest chair and took a few shaky breaths. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out.”

  “Let’s worry about that later. For now I just want to get you checked over.”

  “They’re going to want to keep me overnight. I’ll need clothes and things.”

  Fenella nodded. “Will you stay right there if I go and get your things?”

  “Yeah.”

  Upstairs, Fenella simply threw just about everything she could find into the large suitcase that was in the corner of the bedroom. She left the pile of clothes in one corner, which she assumed were dirty, and a few spare T-shirts and pairs of jeans, but everything else went into the bag. Back in the kitchen, James had his head on the table.

  “James? Wake up,” she said loudly.

  He jumped and then nodded. “I’m awake. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I do need a doctor.”

  “Should I call an ambulance?”

  “I’m not that bad. I can make it to the car.”

  He got back to his feet and then, with Fenella doing her best to keep him upright, the pair made their way through the house. In the living room, James stopped. “Maybe I could just sit again for a minute.”

  “Maybe you could keep going and then sit in the car,” Fenella suggested. He was proving easier to move than to get going and she really didn’t want to stop again.

  “Yeah, okay,” he muttered, gritting his teeth and taking another slow step. Time seemed to slow down as Fenella struggled to get him out the door and down the three steps outside. Once he was safely loaded into her car, she went back for his suitcase.

  “Right, the hospital isn’t far away,” she told him as she put the car into gear. “I’m taking you to the emergency room.”

  “I’ve never been to an emergency room before,” James replied before falling silent.