Guests and Guilt

by Diana Xarissa

  “I’m not sure Mark would agree with that.”

  “Surely you don’t need the man’s permission? Schedule it for Saturday and put a notice in the local paper about it. No doubt dozens of nosy people will turn up simply because Stephanie was murdered, but I’m sure her friends will attend as well. They’ll be afraid not to, in case it makes them look guilty.”

  “They could just say they never saw the notice, if anyone asks,” Fenella pointed out. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

  “Tell me again about Annie Lawrence,” Mona said. “She was single and bitter, wasn’t she?”

  “I suppose you could say that. She had been in an abusive relationship that ended badly and hasn’t dated since. I remember now, she works at the hospital, in the records department.”

  “You should have looked her up when you were there visiting James.”

  “Sure, because I’m sure she would have had plenty of time for a chat.”

  “You could have arranged to meet on her break.”

  “I could have, but I didn’t. Anyway, I don’t think she killed Stephanie. By the time I left the pub, she was nearly too drunk to move.”

  “Maybe she was exaggerating her level of drunkenness as a cover.”

  “Maybe. I wish we knew more about what actually happened. Mark said Stephanie was hit by a car. I’m not sure why they think it was murder. I do know that Annie wasn’t in any fit state to drive when I left the pub.”

  “If they stayed for two or three more hours, she would have had time to recover, at least somewhat. And maybe she was counting on using her drunkenness as an excuse if she got caught driving away from the accident.”

  “The killer used a stolen car,” Fenella reminded Mona. “He or she had to be sober enough to work out how to steal it in the first place.”

  “The keys may have been in it. People on the island can be incredibly casual about such things sometimes.”

  “Really? I was hoping that the stolen car was significant. I couldn’t steal a car. I wouldn’t even know where to start. I can’t really imagine any of Stephanie’s friends being capable of doing so, either.”

  “You may be right, but for the sake of argument, let’s just assume the keys were in the vehicle, shall we? That suggests that everyone on the island had access to the means to kill Stephanie.”

  “And we have what seems like a fairly strong motive for Stephanie’s three friends,” Fenella said.

  “Unfortunately, we don’t know anything about opportunity for them. When you left, they were planning to get a taxi together to get home, right?”

  “Yes, Courtney offered to pay for a taxi and for someone to drive Annie’s car home, as well.”

  “And they were going to bring Stephanie home as well?”

  “Courtney told her that she could share their taxi. She was going to have Stephanie dropped off first.”

  “So we need to find out what happened after you left that led to Stephanie being out on the street on foot,” Mona mused. “Maybe the killer deliberately started a fight with her to get her to leave.”

  “And then what? Rushed after her, stole a car, and then ran her down before returning to the pub to get a ride home with the others?”

  “We simply don’t know enough. Did the others all leave together, or did something else happen? This was easier when Daniel was here. He could be persuaded to share information. Inspector Hammersmith isn’t as forthcoming.”

  “I doubt Daniel will be, now that he has a girlfriend,” Fenella sighed, “but I really don’t want to talk about that right now.”

  “Let’s talk about Maureen and Courtney, then. If you had to pick one of them as the killer, which one would it be?”

  “Probably Courtney,” Fenella said after a moment. “Mostly because she was the most sober of the group, though, not for any other reason.”

  “Maureen sounded dull, wanting babies and getting engaged all the time, but never married. I can’t see why she’d want to kill Stephanie. Doing so won’t have made her boring life any better.”

  “We have to assume that the killer wanted to make sure that Stephanie didn’t tell anyone about Arthur Beck,” Fenella said. “Surely none of the women want that story to come out.”

  “Including Stephanie, I would argue. She didn’t tell James the whole story, only bits and pieces of it. I can’t imagine that she was planning on repeating it to anyone else, can you?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure why she told James, but I can see all three women feeling threatened when they found out that she’d done so.”

  “Maybe they did all work together to kill Stephanie, then.”

  “From what I could see at the pub, they didn’t seem to be getting along very well, though. I’m not sure they could have worked together, especially after the amount of drinking that they were doing.”

  “All except for Courtney?”

  “She was drinking, just not as heavily as the others.”

  “If I were Inspector Hammersmith, I’d be taking a really good look at Annie,” Mona said.

  “Annie? Why?”

  “She sounded very bitter about the way her life has turned out. Some of the things you said made me think that she might even blame Stephanie for her unhappiness. You did say that they were very close as children. I’m sure she must have felt abandoned when Stephanie left.”

  “She did say something along those lines.”

  “So maybe Stephanie’s murder has nothing to do with Arthur Beck. Maybe Annie was just angry at her for leaving the island. When she saw her again, she was so upset that she killed her.”

  “Maybe,” Fenella sighed. “There’s just too much we don’t know.”

  “So find out,” Mona told her. “Have a memorial service or go and visit Annie when you next visit James. You could try tracking down Courtney, as well. Didn’t you say she works for one of the banks? There aren’t that many of them, really.”

  “I’m not going to start calling random banks, asking for her. I don’t even know her married name.”

  “That shouldn’t be too difficult to find out. She married a wealthy man about a year ago. I’m sure there are plenty of women on the island who’ll be happy to gossip about her. I could name half a dozen who probably know the whole story.”

  “I can hardly call up any of your old friends and start asking, though, can I? They don’t even know who I am.”

  “Oh, they know. Make no mistake about that. You’ll be one of the island’s favorite topics for gossip, or skeet, as they call it here.”

  “Why would anyone want to gossip about me?”

  “Your nights out with Donald, for one thing, and then there’s your tendency to get tangled up in murder investigations. Beyond that, you are my niece, after all.”

  Fenella sighed. “Now I’m getting depressed. I think I need to go for a long walk or something.”

  “While you do that, I’m going to see if I can track down Arthur Beck. If he was murdered on the island, he may well be haunting it somewhere. It might be interesting to have a word with him.”

  “Can you really...” Fenella began. She trailed off as Mona disappeared.

  The bedding in the spare bedroom needed to be changed, and the room needed to be prepared for James. She had laundry that needed washing, dishes in the dishwasher, and a million other household chores that didn’t appeal in the slightest.

  “I’m going for a walk,” she told Katie. The kitten didn’t look impressed.

  Fenella marched from one end of the promenade to the other, breathing deeply and trying to clear her head. Mona was right. They didn’t have nearly enough information to even begin to try to work out what had happened to Stephanie. Maybe the police should be focusing on what had happened to James, instead. The only person who had any sort of motive for killing James had to be Stephanie’s killer. Wondering what alibis Stephanie’s three friends might have for the night of the attack on James, Fenella made her way home. The light was flashing on her answeri
ng machine when she got there.

  “Ah, Ms. Woods? Fenella? I hope I have the right number. This is Annie Lawrence. The girls and I were talking and we were wondering if your brother was planning to have any sort of memorial service for Stephanie? We’d really like a chance to pay our last respects, as it were, and if he isn’t planning anything, we’d like to do something ourselves. Can you ring me back?”

  The message concluded with the woman’s telephone number. Fenella quickly wrote it down and then frowned at it. “I don’t know what James wants to do,” she said, “and I don’t know where the police investigation is at, either. You might not feel like honoring your friend’s memory so much once you find out that James has told the police about Arthur Beck.”

  Katie had been staring at her all while she’d been talking. Now she shrugged and left the room. Fenella watched her go and then chuckled.

  “I’m not losing my mind,” she called after the animal. Katie didn’t bother to reply. Fenella paced around the apartment for several minutes, trying to decide whether to call Annie back or not. When she finally did pick up the phone, she called James’s mobile phone instead.

  “What?” he said when he answered the call.

  “That’s not a very nice way to answer,” Fenella told him.

  “I didn’t know it was you,” he replied. “I’ve had three wrong numbers in the past hour and I’m afraid the nurses are going to take my phone away if it keeps ringing. I’m probably not allowed to have it.”

  “Three wrong numbers in an hour? That is odd.”

  “It’s someone calling from somewhere overseas. I suspect they’ve written the number down wrong or something, but I can’t seem to make them understand that. They don’t seem to speak any English.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “It’s a good thing I paid extra for international calling before we left the US,” James said. “Otherwise the calls would be costing me a fortune. But what can I do for you? Are you coming back to visit again? If so, bring food and something for me to do. I’m bored to tears in here.”

  “You’re meant to be resting,” Fenella reminded him.

  “I’ve been resting. Now I’m bored. I don’t suppose you can break me out of here tonight?”

  “I thought you weren’t getting released until tomorrow?”

  “That’s why I said break me out. I’m fine. I don’t need constant monitoring and I don’t need to be here. You said I could stay at your apartment, so I won’t be going back to an empty house. They need to let me go.”

  “You need to wait until the doctor is sure you’re okay. I’ll come and get you in the morning. You’ll just have to rest and watch television for tonight.”

  “I’ve been watching television. I’ve no idea what’s happening on any of the programs, though. And I can’t understand half of them, either. There are a lot more regional accents than I remember and some of them are unintelligible.”

  “I know what you mean, but it’s only a few more hours. I’ll be there in the morning.”

  “If you aren’t going to rescue me, why did you call?”

  “Annie called me. She and the other women were talking about having some sort of memorial service for Stephanie. She was wondering if you were going to have one or if they should start planning something.”

  “I was going to have something, but not here. I was going to do something when I got home. Stephanie made a few friends in the small village near my house. They’ll all want to pay their respects, I assume.”

  “So should I tell Annie that she and the others should plan something on their own?”

  “That might be for the best. They’ll know who else on the island to invite, won’t they? I’d like to attend, of course, but that might be awkward, as I’m the one who told the police about Arthur Beck.”

  “She didn’t say anything about that, so I don’t plan to mention it, either,” Fenella replied. “I’ll let her know your thoughts and see what she says. I think we should both attend the service, but I suppose that will be up to Annie and the others.”

  “Call me back if there are any issues,” James said, “or just to chat. I can’t begin to tell you how bored I am.”

  “Ask the nurse for some paper and a pen and write a book,” Fenella suggested, “or at least start a rough outline for one.”

  “Very funny. You know I can’t do that without the right inspiration. I had such high hopes for my collaboration with Stephanie. Now I’m right back where I started from, unless she left really good notes for me.”

  “Try not to worry about any of that for now. Focus on your recovery. I’ll let you know what Annie says when I see you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, okay,” James said with a sigh.

  Fenella put the phone down. She was worried about calling Annie back. After pacing for a while longer, she looked at Katie. “I have to call her,” she told the cat.

  “Meerreewww,” Katie replied.

  “Yes, I’ll get your dinner as soon as I’m done on the phone,” Fenella promised.

  Katie nodded and then curled up in a ball and watched her owner. Feeling as if this might be easier without an audience, Fenella picked up the phone.

  “This is Annie Lawrence. I’m probably at work, as that’s the only place I go. If you leave a message and you aren’t trying to sell me anything, I’ll ring you back when I get home.”

  “Hi, Annie, it’s Fenella Woods. I spoke to James, and he’s going to have a memorial service for Stephanie back in the US. He would like to attend anything that you and the others have here, though, if that’s okay. Thanks.”

  She put the phone down and shook her head. She should have just asked the woman to call her back, but she really didn’t want to talk to her. As she mentally replayed what she’d said, though, she sighed. It sounded incredibly stupid to her now. “I should have practiced before I called,” she told Katie as she filled up her food bowl. “That would have been the smart thing to do.”

  Katie didn’t bother to reply. After Fenella was done fixing Katie’s dinner, she decided to have some of her own. She had a short debate with herself on the relative merits of frozen dinners over fresh before she threw something into the microwave and ate it at the kitchen counter. When the phone rang, she hesitated before she answered it.

  “Good evening, my darling,” Donald Donaldson’s voice came down the receiver. “How are you?”

  Fenella felt relieved as she dropped into a chair. While she didn’t really feel like talking to Donald, that was better than talking to Annie. “I’m fine,” she replied.

  “Are you? What’s been happening on the island since I’ve been away, then? Didn’t you say something about your brother coming for a visit? I’m disappointed I won’t have a chance to meet him.”

  “He’s here, although he’s at Noble’s at the moment.”

  “Noble’s? What’s wrong?”

  Fenella took a deep breath and then told Donald a very abbreviated version of the things that had happened since James had arrived. She glossed over Stephanie’s death, calling it a tragic accident, and told him only that James has taken a bad fall.

  “My goodness, I am sorry I’m not there to help you through all of this,” Donald said. “Is there anything I can do from here?”

  “I don’t think so,” Fenella replied. “Unless you can tell me anything more about Stephanie’s friends?”

  “Stephanie’s friends? Don’t tell me her death was in any way suspicious?”

  “I’m just trying to find out more about them. They might be having a memorial service for Stephanie.”

  “What were the names again?”

  Fenella told him.

  “The only one I know is Courtney Bridges, although she’s Courtney Fleming now. I know her husband, Sam, quite well.”

  “Tell me about him.”

  “What would you like to know?”

  “I don’t know. Is he nice? Are he and Courtney madly in love? What are his children like?”

  “Are you
sure this isn’t a murder investigation?”

  “It might be. That’s Mark’s problem. I’m just nosy.”

  Donald laughed. “That’s okay, then. Sam is very nice, if a little bit naïve. He is probably madly in love with Courtney, but I’m not sure I would say the same of her. His children are smart and deeply resentful of Courtney and the part she played in breaking up their parents’ marriage.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Don’t misunderstand, Sam and his wife were already having problems before Courtney came on the scene, but I’m sure Courtney helped hasten the inevitable, if you see what I mean.”

  “Someone said that he was a customer at the bank where she works.”

  “He was, and probably still is. They’d have known each other, slightly, for years before they ever got involved. If I’m remembering everything correctly, Courtney was promoted into the business banking department and put in charge of a number of important accounts a few years back. That’s when she and Sam would have started spending more time together.”

  “What do you think of her?”

  “I think she’s very clever and incredibly opportunistic. Before she got involved with Sam, it was said that she was involved with one of the bank’s senior vice presidents. If that was true, the man in question was never going to leave his wife for her. Sam was a better option.”

  “I didn’t really like her when I met her. Now I like her even less.”

  “I find her charming, actually, but completely unable to be spontaneous. That probably serves her well in her career, but I wonder if she enjoys life very much.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “She’s a meticulous planner. I’m sure when she set her sights on Sam she planned exactly how their relationship was going to go, from first kiss to wedding night and beyond. I’ve never seen her really let her hair down, ever, and I’ve seen her at a number of parties were alcohol was flowing everywhere.”

  “She didn’t seem to drink very much at the pub.”

  “I don’t think she ever drinks very much,” Donald replied. “She hates the idea of not being in control.”

  “But how are things there?” Fenella changed the subject. She would think about Courtney later.