Encounters and Enemies

by Diana Xarissa

  “But she never even married him,” Paulette replied. “If she was truly devoted, she should have married him.”

  “They were engaged once,” Phillipa recalled. “I remember your father telling me that Max had bought her an engagement ring worth thirty thousand pounds. I couldn’t imagine it.”

  “And then she threw it into the sea,” Paul laughed. “I remember that evening. It was a spectacular fight.”

  “What were they fighting about?” Paulette asked.

  “I’ve no idea,” Paul replied. “They were always fighting about something. They were madly in love, but they didn’t much like each other.”

  Paulette shook her head. “That just seems all wrong to me.”

  Fenella was relieved when the conversation moved on to other subjects, like a new bookstore that was opening in Ramsey and the uncertain future of a once popular but now disappointing restaurant in Foxdale. As the waitress cleared the table, Phillipa sat back with a sigh.

  “I feel as if I must be extra careful now,” she said. “All of my friends keep having accidents, and I’m afraid something might happen to me, too.”

  “Mum, you mustn’t think that,” Paulette said sharply. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”

  “I’m getting old,” Phillipa replied. “I am going to die eventually.”

  “Not for a very long time,” Paulette said, taking her mother’s hand. “I plan on looking after you for many more years.”

  While Phillipa and Paulette went to the restroom, Paul insisted on paying for tea. “It’s the least I can do after the rather miserable conversation,” he told Fenella when she objected. “I’m just grateful you were here. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been without you.”

  “Are you sure your mother is okay?” Fenella asked.

  “No, not at all,” he replied. “Her doctor switched her medications again, but I’m not convinced he’s worked out the right combination yet. Paulette doesn’t seem to mind, but I don’t like seeing her on too many drugs at any one time.”

  “Paulette still seems angry with your father, even though the memoirs don’t exist,” Fenella said.

  “As I said, when she first told me what out mother had told her, I may not have sounded surprised enough. Now she’s realized that out father was never around and that he had more than adequate opportunities to cheat. It’s difficult for her, as she always thought the world of him.”

  “I’m surprised she hasn’t asked you outright about it.”

  “She’ll probably get around to it at some point,” Paul said. “I think she’d rather not do it in front of Mother, for which I’m grateful.”

  “But your mother has her suspicions.”

  “She must know. That has to be why she had the dream in the first place. But I suspect she’d rather not know for certain. Otherwise, she’d be asking everyone about it, I suspect.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t say anything to Anne Marie at the charity auction.”

  “I believe my sister dragged her out before she could talk to anyone else after her confrontation with you. Paulette said she was trying to keep Mother away from anyone who had been friends with our father. Obviously, she didn’t know who you were.”

  Fenella nodded. “Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken her to the party in the first place,” she said, feeling as if that party had been the catalyst behind a great many unhappy events.

  “Mother wouldn’t have missed it. She insists on supporting Patricia. I’m sure it dates back to the time when they were very close, after they’d both lost their children.”

  “She’s still very sad about losing Paula.”

  “Yes, and so is Paulette. I don’t remember all that much about her, except that she was always on the floor in our sitting room, taking up a lot of space and making a lot of noise. That sounds terrible, but I was twelve when she died, and I’m afraid I wasn’t nearly as sorry as I should have been.”

  “I’m sure having your mother disappear after her death was harder to deal with,” Fenella said.

  “It was, definitely,” he replied curtly.

  “I think we’re all ready to go,” Paulette said. “I’ve left Mum in the lobby. She was too tired to walk all the way back here.”

  Paul nodded and stood up. Fenella was quick to follow. She waved to their waitress as the trio made their way to the door. In the lobby, Fenella stopped at the couch where Phillipa was sitting.

  “It was nice to see you again,” she said.

  “I’m not sure that’s true,” Phillipa replied. “I don’t think I was very good company today.”

  “I had a lovely time,” Fenella insisted.

  “I get too lost in the past,” Phillipa told her. “There are so many things I would do differently if I could. Sometimes I wish I could go and talk to my eighteen-year-old self. I’d tell her so many things.”

  “It’s probably best that we can’t do that. I suspect we’d all make significant changes in our lives if we could,” Fenella replied.

  “I just hope all of the deaths stop now,” Phillipa said solemnly. “No matter what happened in the past, no one deserves to die.” She turned her gaze from Fenella to Paulette, staring at her daughter for a moment before sighing. “And now I must struggle to my feet, mustn’t I?”

  Paul held out a hand and helped her up. Paulette quickly took her arm and began to lead her away.

  “Are you free for dinner one night this week?” Paul asked as he and Fenella followed the pair toward the door.

  “I’ll have to check my calendar,” Fenella replied. “Call me sometime.”

  “I’ll do that,” he said.

  Fenella watched as the trio crossed the parking lot and got into a large car. When the car was out of sight, she climbed into a convenient taxi. She was eager to get home, but her mind was racing. Something that Phillipa had said was bothering her, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

  “How was tea with Patricia?” Mona asked when Fenella walked back into her apartment.

  “Cancelled,” Fenella replied. “Melanie had an accident.”

  “Melanie? What happened?”

  “Apparently she was in a car accident.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “I’m not sure. Inspector Hammersmith took Patricia to Noble’s. I’d call to ask, but I’m sure they wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Mona complained. “Why would the killer target Melanie?”

  “Maybe she just had an accident,” Fenella snapped. “People have accidents every day. Maybe everyone is just having sad and unfortunate and oddly timed accidents.”

  “Are you okay?” Mona asked, clearly concerned.

  “No, I’m not okay,” Fenella admitted. “I ended up having tea with Phillipa, Paul, and Paulette, and it was disturbing; that’s probably the best word for it.”

  “Tell me everything.”

  Fenella took some pills for her pounding head and then obliged her aunt. When she was done, Mona shook her head.

  “They’re a strange family,” she said. “I think Paulette is behind the killings and Phillipa knows it.”

  “Based on what?”

  “I don’t know, instinct, maybe.”

  “Well, I’m thinking something even worse,” Fenella told her. “I think Paulette killed her little sister.”

  Mona gasped. “She was only a child herself when Paula died.”

  “She was fifteen.”

  “Still, her own sister?”

  “Is that much worse than killing several elderly women because you think they might have slept with your father?”

  “Yes, it’s much worse,” Mona said. “She was meant to be looking after Paula. I can’t believe she’d hurt her.”

  “I still don’t see where Melanie fits into it all, though.”

  “Maybe Paulette wanted to inflict maximum pain on Patricia, so instead of killing her, she decided to kill Melanie,” Mona suggested.

  “What a horrible t
hought.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Mona asked. “You need to ring Daniel.”

  “I can’t ring Daniel. He’s working, and anyway, what would I say?”

  “Tell him about your tea with the Clucas family. Tell him what you’re thinking about Paulette. Find out how Melanie is doing.”

  “He’s working,” Fenella repeated herself.

  She was still trying to work out exactly what she wanted to do when Inspector Hammersmith knocked on her door.

  “I was going to ring before I came, but I was in the neighborhood,” he explained. “I hope you have time to answer a few questions?”

  “Of course,” Fenella said with a sigh. “Come in.”

  It was nearly time for dinner, but Fenella wasn’t hungry after eating so much at tea, so she set a pot of coffee brewing and put out a plate of cookies for the man.

  “Thank you,” he said, helping himself. “I don’t remember when I ate last.”

  Fenella thought about offering to cook something for her guest, but she didn’t really want to make him feel too welcome. When the coffee was ready, she poured them each a cup and then sat down across from him at the kitchen table.

  “Can you tell me how Melanie is doing?” she asked.

  “They think she’s going to be fine,” he replied. “She’s badly bruised and banged up, but nothing is broken. She was lucky that her car had several airbags, all of which deployed.”

  “That’s good news, anyway,” Fenella said.

  “And you were meeting her for tea today,” the man said.

  “Okay, you know what? I’m tired and I’m sad and I’m a little angry,” Fenella said. “So I’m going to just tell you exactly what I think is going on, even though you’ll probably think I’m insane.”

  “That sounds promising,” the man said.

  “He’s going to think you’re crazy, but I think you’re doing the right thing,” Mona said encouragingly.

  “I think Paulette and her mother did find something on that computer. I don’t think it was actually any memoirs, I think it was more a fantasy piece, but I think Paulette believed it was all true and I think it sent her over the edge. I think she’s been trying to kill everyone on her father’s list of conquests and as far as I can tell, she’s been pretty successful.”

  “Why tell you about the memoirs if she was planning on killing everyone? Surely she had to realize that would make her a suspect?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe she didn’t think it through before she talked to me. She certainly backtracked quite quickly after that, though.”

  “Yes, she did,” he agreed. He made a few notes in his phone and then looked up. “Why target Melanie?”

  “Maybe Melanie’s accident really was an accident,” Fenella suggested.

  “Actually, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t,” the man told her. “There was fairly clear evidence that the car’s brakes were tampered with. So clear that the reporter from the local paper who arrived not long after I did noticed it.”

  “So maybe Paulette got Melanie’s car mixed up with Patricia’s, or maybe she wanted to hurt Patricia by killing her daughter, or maybe the cases aren’t even connected,” Fenella said, feeling frustrated.

  The inspector nodded. “I appreciate your sharing your thoughts with me,” he said. “I was planning on speaking with Paulette Clucas again. I’ll keep what you’ve told me in mind when I do so.”

  “Tell him about Paula,” Mona suggested. “He should have all of the facts.”

  Feeling as if this was really going to make the man think she’d lost her mind, Fenella cleared her throat. “Paulette had a little sister called Paula,” she said. “Paula had lots of health issues and died when Paulette was around fifteen.”

  “Does that help explain Paulette’s motive in some way?” the inspector asked.

  “Phillipa said something about Paula getting sick at home and then getting better when she went to the hospital,” Fenella explained.

  “That is generally how we expect hospitals to work,” the man replied.

  Fenella flushed. “She said something about how it kept happening over and over again until Paula died. There was just something about the way that she said it that made me wonder, that’s all.”

  “Made you wonder what?”

  “Made me wonder whether Paulette, under the guise of being a helpful big sister, wasn’t doing something that hastened her sister’s death,” Fenella said in a rush.

  The inspector was silent for several minutes, typing on his phone without looking up. Eventually he took a sip of coffee and then spoke.

  “I know you’ve been through a lot since you’ve been on the island,” he began. “We see it a lot in the police, actually. Once you’ve been through a few murder investigations, you start seeing every death as suspicious. I don’t blame you for starting to question every story that you’re told.”

  Fenella nibbled her way through a cookie, trying to work out what she wanted to say. “Just ask her about Paula,” she suggested after a swallow of coffee.

  He nodded. “I may do that,” he said. “After I’ve read through any information we have in the files about the case. Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts. Daniel said I should listen and take seriously anything you said. He said you have good instincts.”

  “I hope he’s wrong this time,” Fenella said. “I’d really like all of the deaths to have been accidents.”

  “Because we know that Melanie’s crash wasn’t an accident, we have a police guard at her door. Her mother is planning on staying with her for the time being, so we’re hopeful that she’ll be protected as well. I’m going to have Paulette brought in for a little chat tomorrow morning. If I were you, I’d try to avoid the entire Clucas family for the next twenty-four hours or so.”

  “Can you let me know what happens?” Fenella asked as she walked the man to the door.

  “Probably not,” he said. “But maybe Daniel will be able to answer some of your questions, seeing as you two are close friends. If you’re right about any of this, it should all be in the papers and the courts eventually, as well.”

  Fenella shut the door behind him and leaned against it. She felt like screaming or crying or something, but she wasn’t sure exactly what.

  “You need a glass of wine and a man to rub your back and tell you that you’re wonderful,” Mona said. “Ring Donald. I’m sure he’d be happy to indulge you.”

  “I’m not calling anyone, but I will have a glass of wine,” Fenella said.

  In the kitchen, Katie demanded her dinner. Fenella made herself a sandwich, since she was standing in front of the refrigerator, and then sat down in front of the television. “I wonder what Shelly’s doing,” she mused as she flipped through the channels.

  “She’s out with Gordon,” Mona told her.

  “Oh, good,” Fenella replied, not questioning how Mona knew.

  The pair watched television together for several hours before Mona got up and stretched. “This has been fun, but I have to go and talk to my guardian angel. He seems to think I should move on now and I’m going to have to persuade him to let me stay a while longer.”

  “You have a guardian angel?”

  “He’s more like my immediate supervisor or something,” Mona shrugged. “He’s supposed to make sure that I behave, but I dare say he’s rather fond of me. He never complains when I do things I’m not meant to do.”

  “So you aren’t leaving?”

  “Not yet, anyway. Not while you still need me.” She faded away before Fenella could reply.

  15

  Patricia rang a few days later. Fenella had been scouring the local paper every day for news about Paulette, but hadn’t found anything. She hadn’t heard any gossip either and was starting to think that she had been wrong about everything.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten your willingness to help with our upcoming event,” Patricia said. “But we’re putting everything on ho
ld for a short while.”

  “I hope Melanie is okay,” Fenella replied.

  “Physically, she’s recovering well. Knowing that someone wanted to kill her has taken an emotional toll, though. We’re going to be taking an extended holiday in the south of France. I’ll ring you when we return.”

  Fenella put the phone down and looked at Mona. “Patricia and Melanie are having an extended holiday in the south of France,” she repeated.

  “The police must have the case solved, if they’re letting them go away,” Mona speculated.

  “Patricia seems like the type who would threaten to bring in her lawyers if the police tried to tell her they couldn’t go away.”

  “Advocates, dear,” Mona corrected her. “But you’re right. Patricia may have made a fuss. You should ring Daniel.”

  “You’ve been saying that several times a day since Sunday,” Fenella replied. “And I’m still not doing it. He’ll call me when he can, or else he won’t, and we’ll read all about it in the local paper. I’m not comfortable calling him to ask for information.”

  “So just ring him to see how he’s doing,” Mona suggested.

  Fenella ignored her and got back to work on her book. Both she and Mona were delighted when Daniel called that evening. Fenella thought she was being very kind when she put the call on speaker for Mona’s benefit.

  “How are you?” Daniel asked.

  “I’m well. How are you?”

  “Tired. I’m one of the older students on this course. No one else seems to mind the late nights, even with our early starts, but it’s taking a toll on me.”

  “And you’re there through August. You’ll be too tired to come back to work.”

  “I may be,” he chuckled. “I wish I had time for a good long chat, but I’ve a lecture in half an hour. I just wanted to bring you up to date on Paulette.”

  “Is there news? I keep checking the local paper, but there hasn’t been anything there and I haven’t seen anyone to ask.”

  “There is news, but you can’t repeat any of what I’m going to tell you, not even to Shelly,” he said.

  “I won’t,” she agreed quickly.