Boats and Bad Guys (An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Book 2)
Page 24
“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.”
“Or I was just lucky.”
“Maybe, but I have some cold cases that I’m working on. I was wondering if you’d be interested in going over them with me? Sometimes it’s helpful to get the perspective of a complete outsider, especially with cases that are twenty or thirty years old.”
“That sound fascinating,” Fenella replied.
Daniel took another step until he was only inches from Fenella. “I’ll ring you before I come over next time,” he said. “And I’ll bring dinner as well.”
“That sounds great,” Fenella said, a little breathlessly.
Daniel stared into her eyes for a moment and then closed the small gap between them. The kiss set off fireworks in Fenella’s brain. When he finally lifted his head, she felt as if her knees were only just barely supporting her body.
“I’ll ring you soon,” Daniel promised as he let himself out.
“Wasn’t that romantic?” Mona said. “And look at the state of you. I’m surprised he wanted to get that close. You’re covered in fur.”
Fenella ignored her aunt and walked into the bedroom to change. When she looked into the mirror, she was surprised to find that she looked the same. She’d half expected to find scorch marks on her lips. Daniel’s kiss had been that good.
Acknowledgments
Another book that wouldn’t exist without the hard work and talents of my editor, Denise, my cover artist, Linda, and my beta readers, Jennifer and Ruth.
As always, many thanks to you, my readers, for letting my characters into your lives. I hope you are as fond of them as I am!
Coming May 19, 2017
Cars and Cold Cases
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy
Fenella Woods is nervous but eager to start driving lessons on the Isle of Man. Having never driven a manual transmission before, she quickly finds herself struggling with having to change gears with her left hand while sitting on what feels like the wrong side of the car and driving on what seems to be the wrong side of the road.
Her friendship with CID Inspector Daniel Robinson is less stressful. He’s going through some cold cases and he asks her to share her thoughts. Daniel seems to think that she’ll have a different perspective on the investigations because she doesn’t know any of the people involved. He’s surprised to find that the first case he mentions, a missing person from thirty years earlier, involves Fenella’s new driving instructor.
Fenella’s aunt Mona, who is either a ghost or a figment of Fenella’s imagination, has her own ideas about both the missing person and an unconnected thirty-year-old murder investigation that Daniel is also reopening. And, of course, she’s eager for Fenella to get involved in both cases.
Fenella isn’t sure she’s ready to try to deal with driving lessons, two cold cases, one nosy aunt, a kitten who needs surgery and three different men who all appeal to her in very different ways. She knew her life was going to change when she moved to the Isle of Man, but she wasn’t anticipating quite this much excitement.
By the Same Author
The Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Series
Arrivals and Arrests
Boats and Bad Guys
Cars and Cold Cases (release date: May 19, 2017)
The Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series
Aunt Bessie Assumes
Aunt Bessie Believes
Aunt Bessie Considers
Aunt Bessie Decides
Aunt Bessie Enjoys
Aunt Bessie Finds
Aunt Bessie Goes
Aunt Bessie’s Holiday
Aunt Bessie Invites
Aunt Bessie Joins
Aunt Bessie Knows
Aunt Bessie Likes
Aunt Bessie Meets (release date: April 14, 2017)
The Markham Sisters Cozy Mystery Novellas
The Appleton Case
The Bennett Case
The Chalmers Case
The Donaldson Case
The Ellsworth Case
The Fenton Case
The Green Case
The Hampton Case (release date: March 17, 2017)
The Isle of Man Romance Series
Island Escape
Island Inheritance
Island Heritage
Island Christmas
About the Author
Diana Xarissa grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, earned a BA in history from Allegheny College and eventually ended up in Silver Spring, Maryland. There she met her husband, who swept her off her feet and moved her to Derbyshire for a short while. Eventually, the couple relocated to the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man was home for Diana and her family for over ten years. During their time there, Diana completed an MA in Manx Studies through the University of Liverpool. The family is now living near Buffalo, New York, where Diana enjoys writing about the island that she loves.
Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future under the pen name “Diana X. Dunn” and fantasy/adventure books for middle grade readers under the pen name “D.X. Dunn.”
She would be delighted to know what you think of her work and can be contacted through snail mail at:
Diana Xarissa Dunn
PO Box 72
Clarence, NY 14031.
Or find her on Facebook, Goodreads or on her website at www.dianaxarissa.com.
You can sign up for her monthly newsletter on the website and be among the first to know about new releases, as well as find out about contests and giveaways and see the answers to the questions she gets asked the most.