Boats and Bad Guys

by Diana Xarissa

  “You poor thing,” Shelly said after a moment. “After last month, I thought you’d found your body quota for the rest of your life.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Fenella told her. “I mean, I’m nearly fifty and I’d never found a dead body, ever. Finding two in less than a week was pretty traumatic, but I was feeling like I was getting over it. I can’t really get my head around the idea that I found another one.”

  “Was it a man or a woman?” Shelly asked.

  “A man.”

  “And had he had a heart attack or something?”

  Fenella shook her head. “He was strangled,” she whispered.

  Shelly looked shocked as she sat back in her seat. “How awful,” she said.

  “It really was,” Fenella agreed.

  “Who was he?”

  Fenella wondered for a moment if she was allowed to say, but she knew she could trust Shelly not to repeat what she was told. Anyway, Daniel was having a press conference soon. Surely he’d tell everyone the dead man’s identity. “His name was Robert Grosso,” she told Shelly. “Daniel said something about him working in imports and exports, whatever that means.”

  “It can mean everything from being the owner of a huge multinational trading company to smuggling,” Shelly told her with a wry grin. “If the man ended up dead, maybe he was more towards the smuggling end of things.”

  “Would it be wrong of me to hope he was involved in something criminal?” Fenella asked. “Only it seems like that would be easy for Daniel to discover; it gives someone a good solid motive, and maybe it means they’ll be able to find the killer very quickly.”

  “How old did he look?” Shelly asked.

  “Oh, I haven’t any idea,” Fenella replied. “He was lying on the top berth, and his face was all purple and,” she stopped and shuddered. After a deep breath, she continued. “His wife looked to be in her mid-thirties, anyway.”

  “He had a wife? Oh dear, the poor woman. Unless she killed him, of course. Did she seem devastated?”

  “When I saw her, she was still wondering what had happened to the man,” Fenella explained. “They were supposed to be having a short vacation, I gather, but as far as she knew at that point, he’d never turned up for the ferry.”

  “That’s sad,” Shelly said. “They were planning a holiday together and now she has to plan a funeral instead.”

  Fenella surprised them both by bursting into tears again. Shelly jumped up and found a box of tissues, handing them to Fenella as she tried to get herself under control.

  “I’m sorry,” she said eventually. “It just sounded so sad when you put it that way.”

  “I’m an idiot,” Shelly told her. “I knew you were upset. I should be changing the subject and talking about the weather or politics or something.”

  Fenella shook her head. “I think I need to talk to someone about it,” she said. “My brain won’t settle and I felt a little crazy before you got here.”

  “Well, talk away,” Shelly urged her. “I won’t ask any more questions, but I’m happy to listen if you want to tell me anything.”

  “There was a problem with my cabin assignment,” Fenella said after a moment. Some considerable time later she’d taken Shelly through her entire morning, from boarding the ferry to her last conversation with Daniel Robinson. “So that’s what happened,” she said, blowing out a long breath. “And you must be bored to pieces. I am sorry.”

  “I’m fascinated,” Shelly corrected her. “Possibly more so because I know a few of the people in the story.”

  “Really? Which ones?”

  “Justin Newmarket, for a start,” Shelly replied. “Although I haven’t seen him in years, I had him in school when he was younger.” Shelly had been a teacher before she retired.

  “What was he like?” Fenella asked.

  “Oh, disagreeable,” Shelly replied, laughing. “I would never have admitted that at the time, of course, and if you repeat it to anyone I will deny saying it, but he wasn’t a very nice child.”

  “In what way?”

  “He was mostly just lazy,” Shelly said after a moment’s thought. “He didn’t want to do any of the work, but he still expected high marks. I tried to tell him that he needed to study for his exams, but he seemed to think that his natural abilities would see him safely through.”

  “And did they?”

  Shelly chuckled. “Well, he passed everything, but only just barely. He was planning on some sort of technical school after his exams, but I don’t think he ended up getting a place there. I’m sure his marks weren’t strong enough, although I do remember his mother coming to the school and attempting to argue with the head about them. She seemed to think that we should be able to change all of his grades to whatever it was he needed to get accepted to the school. I recall her being very upset when she was told that wasn’t going to happen.”

  “Parents who do that sort of thing aren’t really doing their children any favors,” Fenella remarked. “We saw them at my university all the time. The parents would pull strings or argue with high school teachers to get their kids the grades they needed to get into the university, but once the kids were there, on their own, they couldn’t handle the workload, or the pressure, or the freedom. Often they couldn’t cope with all three. Of course, then the parents would be in our offices, arguing with us to raise their child’s grades again.”

  Shelly shook her head. “Maybe I’m glad I never had children,” she said.

  “Children aren’t the problem,” Fenella said dryly. “It’s the parents who cause all of the trouble.”

  Shelly laughed. “Anyway, Justin was never a favorite of mine, but I am sorry to see him tied up in a murder investigation.”

  “You don’t think he could have had anything to do with it?”

  “I doubt it,” Shelly replied. “Killing someone takes effort, and I can’t see Justin bothering, quite frankly.”

  “Who else do you know, then?” Fenella asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I think I know Sherry Hampton,” Shelly said. “She was another student of mine, if I’m thinking of the right person. She was Sherry Kelly in those days, though, but I do remember hearing that she’d married a much older man for his money.”

  “Which is deeply unpleasant.”

  “Yes, but I do think most women who marry for money end up having to earn it,” Shelly replied. “Unless their dear hubby dies right after the wedding, of course.”

  “Harry Hampton didn’t look as if he is going to be dying any time soon,” Fenella told her.

  “Then Sherry will probably have to work hard to keep him happy. From what you said, they didn’t seem to be getting along terribly well.”

  “No, they weren’t. She did seem to enjoy Justin’s company, though.”

  “They’ll have been in school together,” Shelly remarked. “Although they aren’t the exact same age and they probably didn’t have any classes together, they’ll still have probably known each other.”

  Katie walked back into the room and jumped up on the couch next to Fenella, who was more than happy to give her a cuddle and scratch behind her ears.

  “So what are you going to do about your trip?” Shelly asked.

  “I don’t know,” Fenella told her. “I have to admit that I hated the ferry and it made me feel quite sick. I think I might have to look into flying instead, although I hate to spend the extra money.”

  “You should pop down to the chemist and get some tablets,” Shelly told her. “They’ll settle your stomach for you, no problem.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I take them whenever I have to sail. They do a great job, as long as it’s a reasonably smooth crossing. If you have a cabin and can lie down, you should be fine, even if it isn’t the smoothest.”

  “I told Daniel that I wouldn’t go anywhere for now,” she told her friend. “I’ll have to think about what I want to do, but for now I’m quite happy back at home.”

  “But you haven’t any food in
the house, have you?” Shelly asked. “Would you like me to drive you to the grocery shop so you can do some shopping?”

  Fenella didn’t really feel like shopping. She really wanted to curl up in a ball with Katie and cry. But she needed food, and the offer of a ride was too good to pass up. Being afraid to try driving Mona’s fancy sports car, she nearly always walked to the nearest grocery store to get what she needed.

  “Are you sure?” Fenella asked.

  “Of course I’m sure. While we’re there, we’ll get the ingredients for my world-famous cottage pie, and then when we get back here, I’ll whip that up for us both for dinner. We can get a nice bottle of red wine to go with it and something chocolate for pudding.”

  Fenella felt tears welling up in her eyes. “That sounds wonderful,” she said after she’d swallowed hard.

  Chapter Five

  Shelly went back to her apartment to get her keys and handbag while Fenella quickly got ready to go out.

  “I’ve decided to be gracious and not hold it against you,” Mona said as Fenella walked through the living room on her way to the door.

  “What?”

  Mona sighed. “My dear, ‘pardon’ sounds so much better than ‘what,’ don’t you think?”

  Fenella blinked at her, feeling as if she’d wandered into the middle of the conversation somehow. “I’m sorry, but what are you talking about?”

  Mona shook her head. “Never mind. The important this is that I’m not going to get angry with you for refusing to tell me what happened and then telling Shelly all about it,” she explained. “Even though I am a bit, well, hurt.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Fenella said. “But I really didn’t want to talk about it. I only told Shelly because I had to explain why I was back for Katie so early, that’s all.”

  “Yes, well, you go and get some shopping in. We can talk about it later.”

  “Sure, yeah, whatever,” Fenella muttered. She had no intention of discussing the murder with Mona, or anyone else for that matter, aside from Daniel, and then only when she absolutely had to.

  The grocery store felt crowded to Fenella as she made her way through the aisles. She was sure it was just because she was feeling the tiniest bit overwhelmed by everything that had happened that day. She filled her cart with far more than she needed, adding bags of salty snacks and several different varieties of chocolate cookies to the real food, like chicken and rice.

  “Oh, my, it’s Fenella, isn’t it?” someone asked as she was studying the pastries.

  She turned her head and forced herself to smile as she recognized Nick and Brenda Proper. “Hello. This is a surprise,” she said.

  “And not a pleasant one,” Nick muttered. “Oh, no offense, but I was hoping to never see anyone from this morning ever again. I’ve rarely passed a more unpleasant morning anywhere and I’d quite like to put it right out of my head.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Brenda said, smiling brightly at Fenella. “And anyway, that Charlotte Masters was the main problem. Fancy making us all talk about ourselves like that. I suppose you have the same problem we do now.” She glanced into Fenella’s shopping cart. “We’ve no food in our house, either, so we had to rush down here to stock up.”

  “Yes, I cleared out everything in anticipation of being away,” Fenella agreed. “I was offered a spot on the replacement ferry, but I really just wanted to go home.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about that,” Brenda said, glancing sideways at her husband.

  “Why not?” Nick demanded. “I don’t mind people knowing that you turned down the replacement ferry in favor of completely rescheduling everyone’s lives for the next two months.”

  Brenda flushed. “When I heard that a young man was murdered, well, I felt quite unwell. I thought I might faint, if I’m honest. There was no way I was capable of continuing with our plans at that point.”

  “I understand,” Fenella said. “The whole thing is very upsetting.”

  “Yes, and his wife seemed so lovely,” the woman replied. “She was happy about their holiday and so worried about her husband. I have to say, I did wonder if he’d been in an accident or something when she was saying she didn’t know where he was, but I never imagined that he’d been murdered. Did you?”

  “I don’t think anyone ever expects to hear that someone has been murdered,” Fenella said, avoiding giving a direct answer.

  “This is the first time I’ve ever known anyone who’s been murdered,” Brenda said.

  “Except we didn’t know him,” Nick growled.

  “Well, I mean, it’s the first time we’ve been involved in a murder investigation,” Brenda corrected herself.

  “Except we aren’t actually involved,” he retorted.

  “We’re witnesses,” Brenda replied.

  “To what?” he snapped.

  “Well, we must be witnesses to something, or the police wouldn’t have kept us all morning, would they?” Brenda argued. She looked over at Fenella. “I was wondering if that Masters woman is actually a policewoman. Maybe she was there to try to get someone to say the wrong thing or something.”

  “Maybe she’s just a nosy old lady,” Nick suggested. “Anyway, we should be going. I’m sure Mrs. Woods has better things to do than stand around talking to us, and I know we do as well.”

  “Here,” Brenda said, digging around in her handbag. She pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote something on the back of the scrap. “Here’s my number,” she told Fenella. “Ring me if you hear anything interesting, won’t you?”

  Fenella took the paper and glanced at it. “I suppose so,” she said slowly. “Although I can’t imagine I’ll hear anything.”

  “Well, give me your number, too,” Brenda suggested. “I’ll let you know if we hear anything as well.”

  Unable to think of a reason to say no quickly enough, Fenella wrote her mobile phone number on another fragment of paper that Brenda produced from her bag.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Brenda promised as Nick began to walk away with their shopping cart. “Maybe we could get together for tea one day or something.”

  Before Fenella could reply, the woman had turned and followed her husband. While Fenella picked out a chocolate croissant and an apple cinnamon muffin, she wondered if Brenda would ever call and what she would say to the woman if she did. The lines at the checkouts were long, and Fenella was happy to find herself behind Shelly.

  “I was afraid you were done and waiting for me,” she told her friend.

  “Not at all,” Shelly replied. “I spent rather a long time studying the pastries, and then I got sidetracked by some new things I’d not seen before in the chocolate section. I only just remembered to get everything I needed for tonight’s dinner.”

  In spite of the lines, the pair was out of the store and on their way back to their apartment building before too long. Fenella sighed happily as Shelly pulled her car into the parking garage under their building.

  “I should have brought my little wheeled shopping trolley,” Fenella said as she tried to gather up all of her bags. “I think I have more than I can carry in one trip here.”

  “Me, too,” Shelly laughed. “But the second trip will be good exercise,” she added as they both gathered up what they could easily carry.

  “And I shall need it. I bought a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have,” Fenella replied.

  “You’ve had a very stressful and upsetting day. You deserve a few treats,” Shelly replied.

  By the time they’d made the second trip, it was getting late.

  “Would you rather just come over to my flat once I’ve prepared dinner?” Shelly asked in the corridor. “Or I can bring everything to your flat and make the meal there. I thought maybe you’d rather do that so you can be comfortable at home with Katie.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Fenella asked. “I’d much rather be at home, but I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

  “I used to do this
all the time with Mona,” Shelly told her. “Mona didn’t like to cook very much, but she loved my cooking. Sometimes I would cook at my flat and sometimes at hers. Anyway, you’ve had enough stress for today. Go inside and put on your most comfortable clothes and just relax. I’ll be over in a few minutes with everything I need for our dinner.”

  Fenella didn’t have to be told twice. She let herself into her apartment and carried the second lot of shopping into the kitchen. After quickly putting everything away, except for the muffin that somehow managed to get eaten while she worked, she changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “That’s what you’re wearing?” Mona asked from the bedroom doorway.

  Fenella glanced into the mirror. “What’s wrong with this?” she demanded.

  “It’s horrible,” Mona told her.

  “It’s comfortable,” Fenella retorted. “I’ve had a difficult day.”

  “That’s no excuse for dressing sloppily,” Mona said. “You can be comfortable and still look elegant for your guest.”

  “It’s just Shelly.”

  “You should make more effort for your female friends than for your male ones,” Mona said. “They’re the ones who will be there for you when the men let you down, after all.”

  “Shelly doesn’t care what I wear. She suggested I should get comfortable,” Fenella argued.

  “Try something from my wardrobe,” Mona suggested. “I have some lovely and very comfortable loungewear that will be elegant and suitable.”

  Fenella opened her aunt’s wardrobe and found herself smiling at the racks of gorgeous clothes inside.

  “In the bottom drawer,” Mona told her.

  Fenella opened the drawer and looked inside. There were several pairs of beautiful pajamas in bright colors and patterns. She pulled out the top pair, which had a stunning turquoise and white design all over it.

  “They’re incredibly soft,” she said as she rubbed the fabric between her fingers.

  “They’re silk,” Mona replied. “Try them on.”

  Fenella pulled off her sweatpants and T-shirt and slid on the pajamas.

  “Much better,” Mona told her.

  Fenella looked in the mirror and smiled at herself. She looked elegant and exotic, but Mona was right. The outfit was incredibly comfortable and the smooth silk felt amazing against her skin.