“Let’s not make any firm plans for now,” Adrian said. “I’m sure you both will need to check your calendars and whatever. How about I text one of you later today? Maybe we could do something tomorrow morning or afternoon?”
“Maybe,” Shelly agreed. She wrote her mobile number on a paper napkin and handed it to Adrian. “Text me tonight,” she told him. “Fenella and I will check our schedules and talk about where it might be best to take you, as well.”
“I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate this,” Adrian said as he got to his feet. “It goes without saying that wherever we go, I’ll be paying for lunch or dinner or snacks or whatever. That is assuming you won’t let me pay you for your time.”
“Of course we won’t,” Shelly laughed. “And we can argue about meals later.”
Adrian grinned. “At least I’m buying lunch today,” he said as the waiter handed him the bill.
Fenella and Shelly both objected, but Adrian insisted. After he’d paid, they all made their way out to the street.
“Thank you both for your company,” he said. “I’ll text you later. It would be wonderful if we could arrange something for tomorrow, but I will understand if you are busy.”
“We should be able to manage something. Start thinking about what you’d most like to see,” Shelly told him. “A castle? A museum? A beach?”
“I’ve seen enough beaches in my life,” Adrian laughed. “I think I’d like to start with one of the castles. Whichever is your favorite is fine with me.”
“Fenella and I will discuss it,” Shelly promised. “And see what time works for us. Don’t forget to text.”
“I definitely won’t,” Adrian assured her.
14
Shelly and Fenella walked home silently. While Fenella felt sorry for Adrian, Shelly seemed far more enthusiastic about seeing the man again than she was. Still, a day of sightseeing at one of the castles was always something to look forward to, no matter who her company was.
“I hope you didn’t mind my volunteering us to show him the sights,” Shelly said as the pair boarded the elevator in their building. “I felt sorry for him, stuck here with those awful friends. He seems like the only decent person in the group.”
“Which is worrying in its own way,” Fenella replied. “If I were him, I wouldn’t want to be associated with Neil and the others. He even admitted that he doesn’t approve of them, but he’s still willing to do business with them. That bothers me.”
“I’m not planning on getting involved with the man,” Shelly assured her. “I just thought we could show him around the castles. Surely there’s no harm in that.”
“I suppose not, as long as you remember that we don’t actually know anything about the man.”
“Oh, I’ll remember that. I’m just hoping he might tell me more about Lance,” Shelly admitted. “I want to know where Lance found out about me and John and how he knew that John didn’t like surprises.”
Fenella gave Shelly a hug as the elevator doors slid open. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’d forgotten how upsetting this all must be for you.”
“It isn’t that bad,” Shelly assured her. “Especially now that I know for sure that Lance didn’t know John. It’s just, well, odd, that he sought me out and seemed to know so much about me and my marriage. I want to find out how that happened, if at all possible.”
“And Adrian could help with that,” Fenella said.
“He’s the only one out of that group that I’m prepared to spend any time with,” Shelly said. “So let’s hope he can answer my questions.”
They stopped at Fenella’s apartment and checked her calendar. “As I thought, there’s nothing on it,” Fenella laughed. “You can arrange whatever you like with Adrian and I’ll be able to come along.”
“Excellent. I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, but I’m free for the afternoon. Let’s have lunch together, just the two of us, and then meet Adrian around half one in the lobby here. I can drive us to whichever castle you’d prefer.”
“Oh, goodness, I don’t mind which we do,” Fenella said. “Although we did just visit Peel Castle a few days ago.”
“I was thinking about that,” Shelly said. “Maybe that gives us an advantage. We’ll be on familiar ground, as it were.”
“It’s entirely up to you. I’d offer to drive, but we wouldn’t all fit in Mona’s car.”
“I don’t mind driving,” Shelly replied. “But now I’m going to go home and start going through John’s old papers. I kept everything because he didn’t leave much, really. He wasn’t very sentimental.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Any mention of Lance Thomas or any of the other men involved in the case,” Shelly said. “Also any old photos of John as a child. Maybe I’ll recognize someone in a photo with him.”
“Do you think Lance’s story about knowing John in childhood had anything to do with his murder?” Fenella asked.
Shelly shook her head. “I can’t begin to imagine how it could have, but I suppose anything is possible.”
“Be careful,” Fenella urged her friend. “If you find anything even slightly suspicious, call Inspector Hammersmith.”
“I’ll ring you and we can ring the inspector together,” Shelly told her.
Fenella nodded and then let her friend out. She watched as Shelly let herself into her own flat, and then both women shut their doors.
“What do you think of that?” she asked Katie, who simply looked at her and then curled up and went to sleep.
“I should try that,” Fenella sighed. With nothing else to do and feeling slightly annoyed by the sleeping animal, Fenella decided to clean her apartment. Katie shouted at her when she started up the vacuum cleaner, but it was a chore that genuinely needed doing. By the time she’d finished cleaning the bathrooms, Mona had appeared in the living room.
“You were making enough noise to raise the dead,” she commented as Fenella dropped onto the couch next to her.
“Ha, ha. I certainly didn’t mean to wake you.”
Mona smiled. “I wasn’t sleeping. But then, I never do. But you only clean when you have something on your mind. What’s wrong?”
“I clean whenever the apartment needs cleaning,” Fenella objected.
“Really? Then the flat only needs cleaning when you have something on your mind. How odd.”
Fenella shook her head. “I’ve nothing on my mind, really, although I am a little bit worried about Shelly.”
“What’s wrong with Shelly?”
“She’s cultivating a friendship with Adrian Graves in the hopes that he can tell her how Lance knew about her and John.”
“That seems sensible. Lance may well have told at least one of his friends about his plans. If it wasn’t Adrian, perhaps Adrian can ask the others on Shelly’s behalf.”
“Maybe, but, well, I don’t trust Adrian.”
“You shouldn’t trust any of them. Lance was a conman who was planning to try to cheat Shelly out of her money. As the others were all business associates of the man, it stands to reason that they are all conmen, too.”
“I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”
“Well, you should.”
“What about Neil, though? He doesn’t have a great reputation on the island, but I don’t believe anyone has ever accused him of being a conman.”
“Perhaps he saves his cons for when he’s in London,” Mona suggested. “It would make sense for him to do so. He’s too well known on the island to get away with anything here.”
“I wonder if he knew John when they were younger.”
“I don’t believe they grew up in the same part of the island, but anything is possible,” Mona said. “He would be a logical place for Shelly to start if she truly wants to find out how Lance knew about her and John.”
“But he’s not a nice person. Adrian at least pretends to be nice.”
Mona laughed. “Actually, I’d much prefer to deal with Neil. You kno
w where you stand with Neil. As you said earlier, you don’t trust Adrian, even though he seems nice. You know for sure that you can’t trust Neil.”
“It’s all just a big mess,” Fenella sighed. “I wish Daniel were here and we could talk it all through.”
“Ring him.”
“I can’t.”
“Then you’ll just have to talk it all through with me,” Mona suggested.
“We did that yesterday and didn’t get anywhere,” Fenella reminded her. “Maybe I’ll take a nap.”
“Maybe you should go for a drive. That always used to clear my head.”
“Yeah, or maybe not,” Fenella replied, remembering her shock when her aunt had joined her earlier.
Before Mona could reply, the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“I’ve been trying not to get involved,” Daniel said. “But Mark isn’t getting anywhere, and I’m willing to bet you’ve spoken to the main suspects at least twice since the murder took place.”
Fenella flushed. “I haven’t been out looking for them or anything.”
“But you’ve spoken to them just the same, haven’t you?” he demanded.
“Maybe once or twice,” Fenella muttered. She dropped into a chair and switched the phone to speaker mode. Mona smiled her thanks as she moved closer to Fenella.
“Go on, then, take me through everything that’s happened since the murder,” Daniel told her. “I’ll take notes and I won’t interrupt you. Start with finding the body and take me back through that, if you don’t mind.”
I do mind, quite a lot, Fenella thought. “If I’m going to do that, I’m going to need a drink,” she told the man. She walked over to the kitchen and got herself a soft drink before she sat back down. “Okay, Shelly and I were meant to be meeting Lance at his apartment around seven,” she began.
It felt like many hours later when she finally finished bringing Daniel up to date on everything. “So Shelly is going to arrange to meet Adrian tomorrow to visit one of the castles,” she concluded. “But that’s only because Shelly wants to understand how Lance found her.” She sat back and took a long drink of her soda. Daniel was silent for what felt like several minutes.
“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I’m just trying to take it all in. Mark is struggling to get Neil and his associates to talk to him and you seem to bump into them around every corner. It simply doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’ve told you exactly how it has all happened. I haven’t been going out looking for them,” Fenella said. “And I shouldn’t have to defend myself, especially to you. You should know that it isn’t my fault I keep getting caught up in these things.”
“I should, shouldn’t I?” Daniel said with a sigh. “But since you are caught up in this one, who do you think killed Lance?”
“It couldn’t have just been random, the way Neil suggested?”
“Of course it could have, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it wasn’t.”
“Right, okay then, it must have been one of Lance’s associates. They were the only people on the island who knew him, after all.”
“Which one?”
“How should I know?”
“I meant, who do you think might have done it? What do you think of each of the men?”
Fenella shrugged and looked at Mona, who gave her an amused smile. “They’re clearly grasping at straws if they’re asking you,” she said.
“I don’t like Neil, but that doesn’t mean he’s a killer,” Fenella told Daniel. “I don’t like Eric, either. I’ve barely spoken to Jared, but Adrian seems nice enough. I can’t imagine any of that information helping you solve the murder, though.”
“Tell me again what they said about how long they’d known Lance.”
Fenella swallowed a sigh and then did her best to repeat the various conversations she’d had with the men. “Of course they could all be lying, or some of them could be lying, or they could all be telling the truth,” she added when she was done. “We know Lance was a conman. The others may be as well.”
“Mark is checking into exactly who they all are,” Daniel told her. “But that fact isn’t to be repeated.”
“Neil said Lance was really someone called Robert Hanson. Maybe the motive for the murder is tied to that in some way.”
“Mark is also checking into that.”
“So there you are. Mark is checking into everything, and now you know that I know exactly nothing. Are you satisfied?”
“If you had to pick one of the four men to be pulled in for additional questioning, which one would it be?”
“I’ve no idea. Probably Neil, because he is the one who’d known Lance the longest. I find it hard to believe that he knew someone for that many years and never knew his real name.”
“I’ll pass that along to Mark. Thank you for your time.”
“Thank you for your time? Seriously? What is going on?” Fenella demanded. “A few days ago you practically accused me of being involved in Lance’s death in some way. Now you call and have me tell you about every little thing I’ve done since the murder. Then you thank me for my time? Why are you even involved in this? If Mark Hammersmith thinks I had something to do with Lance’s death, why isn’t he beating down my door? Or is it just your opinion that I’m involved?”
“I don’t think you had anything to do with Lance’s death,” Daniel said. “But I do think that you have a knack for finding yourself in the middle of murder investigations. Mark chose to believe that you simply happened to stumble across the body and that the murder has nothing to do with you. I was certain that you’d find yourself involved, whether you wanted to be or not. As it happens, I was correct. As I said earlier, you’ve spent more time with the suspects than Mark has.”
“And as I said, it has all been coincidental. You can’t imagine that Donald planned for us to have dinner with those men at the next table.”
“No, I don’t suppose he did. I’m surprised he didn’t whisk you off to Paris or somewhere as soon as the body turned up, actually. I’m sure he offered.”
“He may have. I don’t remember. Donald is always offering such things.”
“Yeah, great. One of these times, you’ll probably take him up on it as well.”
“I don’t know. If I want to go to Paris, maybe I’ll just take myself.”
“Look, I have to go. Believe it or not, I thought this was going to be a quick phone call. I actually thought you’d probably only seen one or two of the men, maybe once since the murder. I didn’t realize…” he trailed off. “But never mind. I’ll pass all of this along to Mark and he can decide what he wants to do next. Don’t be surprised if he turns up on your doorstep later today or tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I won’t,” Fenella sighed. “When someone gets murdered in his bed, I would hope the police would be chasing every lead.”
“What makes you think Lance was murdered in his bed?” Daniel asked.
Fenella frowned. “I don’t know. I suppose I just heard that somewhere. I really don’t remember where.”
“You need to try,” Daniel said. “Really, really hard.”
Fenella sat back and closed her eyes. Someone had said those words at some point over the past few days. But who was it? She tried to think, but she was tired and grumpy and her brain didn’t want to cooperate.
“I can’t remember,” she said. “It was one of the men, during one of the conversations I had with them, but I can’t really recall which one or when.”
“I’m going to ring Mark now. While you’re waiting for him to come to see you, I want you to do your best to remember the various conversations again in as much detail as you can. Even if you could simply remember if it was when you were with Donald or with Shelly, that would help.”
“I’ll do my best,” Fenella promised.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” Daniel told her.
Fenella pushed the end call button on the speakerphone and then sat back in her chair.
“I don
’t remember you telling me that anyone said that,” Mona said. “I’m sure I would have picked up on it as well.”
“Yes, of course you would have,” Fenella said sarcastically. “I can’t believe I missed it.”
“But who said it?” Mona asked.
“Yeah, that’s the question, isn’t it?” Fenella got up and began to pace around her living room. She’d only made a few trips back and forth when someone knocked on her door.
“Inspector Hammersmith, I wasn’t expecting you quite this quickly,” she said as she pulled the door open.
“Call me Mark,” he replied. “Daniel tells me you’ve solved my case.”
“I hardly think so. I can’t remember who said the part about someone being murdered in his bed, and even if I could, they may have heard it somewhere themselves.”
Mark nodded. “It isn’t much, I agree, but it’s a tiny wedge that I can definitely use at this point. We just have to get you to remember who said it.”
“Do you want tea or coffee? Maybe a soft drink?” Fenella asked.
“Sure, whatever you’re having,” he replied.
Fenella was too distracted to trust herself with hot water, so she got them each a soft drink and then sat down on the chair next to the man.
“So let’s start with your dinner with Donald,” Mark suggested. “Shut your eyes and let yourself relax. We aren’t worried about exact words or who is saying what, just try to take me through the conversation as it went along.”
Fenella did her best, but her mind kept wandering. She so desperately wanted to remember who had said the words that seemed to matter that she couldn’t stay focused on anything else.
“I’m sorry,” she said after she’d stopped and started about ten times. “It’s all just a muddle now. The more we talk about it, the more muddled it gets. I’m pretty sure it was the night I was out with Donald, rather than at the pub with Shelly, if that helps at all.”
“What if I have Donald join us? Do you think he would help or hinder the process?”
“I don’t know,” Fenella told him. “I don’t know how reliable his memory is, really.”
Friends and Frauds (An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Book 6) Page 22