Boats and Bad Guys

by Diana Xarissa

  “You must let me buy you something to thank you for coming with me tonight,” Donald told her.

  Rather than argue, Fenella shrugged. “When I see something I want, I’ll let you know,” she said. He could hardly blame her if she never saw something she wanted, could he, she thought as the first item came up on the auction block.

  It was harder than she thought it would be, trying to act like she didn’t want anything, though, as some of the items were amazing. A fortnight’s holiday in France sounded incredible, but Fenella forced herself to feign indifference. She wasn’t ready to spend two weeks with Donald in a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language, she reminded herself.

  An hour later the auction was over. Donald had bought several pieces of artwork, explaining to Fenella that he liked to support local artists and always displayed their art in his offices around the world.

  “But I really did want to buy you something,” he said after he’d written a huge check for his purchases. “Now I will have to send you something from New York.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Fenella told him. “I don’t want anything.”

  “We’ll see,” he said. The drive home was less interesting, as it was very dark and rainy. When the reached Fenella’s apartment building, Donald sighed.

  “I’ll walk you to your door, but I really can’t stay,” he told her.

  “You don’t need to,” Fenella told him. “You go home and get some sleep. It took me weeks to get over my jet lag. I don’t know how you’re functioning.”

  “Not very well,” he admitted. “And tomorrow I’ll be back on New York time. Maybe that will be easier, though. I don’t know.”

  “Go home,” Fenella said sternly.

  He smiled and then pulled her close. “Not without at least one kiss,” he said softly. One kiss turned into several as Fenella felt herself getting lost in an almost overwhelming physical attraction. When Donald finally lifted his head, he stared at her for a moment.

  “Maybe I should come up for coffee, after all,” he said.

  Knowing he wasn’t talking about coffee, Fenella shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said, annoyed with herself for sounding uncertain.

  “I’ll be back on the island by the end of May,” he said. “I’ll ring you.”

  “Thank you for an interesting evening,” Fenella said.

  Donald kissed her very gently on the lips and then nodded at his driver. The man got out of the car and quickly opened Fenella’s door for her. She felt slightly giddy as she walked across the lobby and into the elevator.

  “I did warn you about Donald,” Mona said as Fenella let herself into the apartment. “You look like a teenaged girl who’s just had her first kiss. That simply won’t do.”

  Fenella shook her head. “I remember the warning,” she said. “And I’m taking it slowly and being careful. But I have to tell you, that man can kiss.”

  Mona frowned, but Fenella ignored her and took herself off to bed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Katie didn’t let Fenella oversleep the next morning. After she tried patting Fenella’s nose, to no avail, she jumped up on Fenella’s chest and bounced up and down several times.

  “Really?” Fenella said. “I had a late night and a lot of wine. I don’t want to wake up.”

  “Meerroow,” Katie said, sounding almost sympathetic. She jumped off the bed and raced out of the room. A moment later Fenella could hear her shouting loudly from the kitchen.

  “You won’t starve to death if you have to wait another hour for breakfast,” Fenella called loudly.

  A moment later she could hear Katie walking back toward the bedroom. When everything went oddly quiet, Fenella sat up in bed. It took her a minute to realize that the faint noise she could hear was the toilet paper being unwound. She’d forgotten to close the bathroom door last night when she went to bed.

  “Katie!” she shouted. The kitten’s small head peered around the bathroom door.

  “Errowwoww?” she said in a quizzical tone.

  “Get out of the bathroom,” Fenella said sternly.

  Katie stalked out of the bathroom and through the bedroom back into the kitchen. Fenella sighed as the small animal began to loudly complain about her lack of breakfast again.

  “Maybe I should give you to Shelly,” Fenella muttered under her breath as she climbed out of bed. In the bathroom, the entire roll of toilet paper had been unwound onto the floor. Fenella rolled it back up, thankful at least that Katie hadn’t had time to shred it. With that job done and the bathroom door firmly shut, Fenella went into the kitchen and gave Katie her breakfast.

  “And now I’m going back to bed,” she told her pet. “And I don’t want to be disturbed.”

  She was just climbing back under the duvet when someone knocked on her door. Suddenly aware that she hadn’t given poor Peter a single thought since dinner yesterday, Fenella rushed to answer it.

  “I’ve woken you,” Shelly said apologetically.

  “No, Katie woke me,” Fenella told her. “She’s very good at it.”

  Shelly laughed. “I just finished making a nice breakfast for Peter and I thought I would see if you wanted to go on an errand with me.”

  “How is Peter?” Fenella asked.

  “He’s doing well. He has some business associates visiting this morning and then they’re meant to be taking him out for lunch. He has promised me he won’t make any important decisions for a few days, regardless.”

  “That’s probably wise,” Fenella said.

  “Yes, so I told him that I’d come over in time to make him something for dinner. I didn’t know what you had planned for today,” Shelly said.

  Fenella frowned. “I know there’s something, but I can’t think what,” she said. “Maybe it will come back to me after I get showered and dressed.”

  “Did you have a nice time last night?” Shelly asked.

  “I did, thanks,” Fenella said. “It was an interesting evening, but I met far too many people and I don’t remember anyone’s name.”

  Fenella invited the other woman inside, and Shelly played with Katie while Fenella got herself ready for the day. As she walked out of the bedroom, she glanced at the answering machine and remembered her appointment.

  “I’m supposed to go back to the Sea Terminal to meet with Captain Howard this afternoon,” she said with a sigh. “I’m not looking forward to that.”

  “Do you have to go?” Shelly asked.

  “I don’t know. The woman from the ferry company did say that the police were going to be there. I don’t know if that means it’s an official meeting or not.”

  “Ring Daniel and ask him,” Shelly suggested.

  Fenella frowned. She hadn’t seen Daniel in several days; calling him seemed awkward. “Maybe I’ll just go,” she said.

  “Does that mean your morning is free?” Shelly asked.

  “Yes, I think so,” Fenella replied.

  “Would you like to come with me to the animal shelter, then? I think it’s time I found myself a kitten.”

  Fenella grinned. “I’d love to,” she said.

  The nearest shelter wasn’t far away, so the pair decided to walk.

  “I want a white kitten,” Shelly told Fenella. “Or maybe white and black. And I definitely want a kitten. Older cats have their own sets of challenges. I want to be able to bring up a kitten myself, rather than worry about what my cat’s previous owner might have done.”

  “I do think kittens are wonderful, but they can be incredibly mischievous,” Fenella said, thinking about rolling up the toilet paper.

  “I’m home nearly all the time,” Shelly pointed out. “She won’t have the opportunity to cause any mischief.”

  Inside the shelter, dozens of cats of all ages were spread out around the room. Some were lounging on chairs or couches and others were curled up in cat beds that seemed to be nearly everywhere.

  “How can we help you?” the woman behind the desk asked as Fenella and Sh
elly approached.

  “I’ve decided I want to adopt a kitten,” Shelly said.

  “How nice,” the woman exclaimed. “Have a good look around. We have a few kittens scattered around the place. Give them all a good look and then let me know which one you like best.”

  Fenella looked around. “I don’t even know where you should start,” she told Shelly.

  Shelly went over to a nearby couch and sat down. “Maybe I’ll see if anyone comes to me,” she said.

  Fenella joined her, looking around at all the beautiful animals. “I’m glad I already have my Katie, otherwise I might be tempted,” she said as she watched two kittens wrestling with one another.

  A moment later a large grey cat jumped down off of a high platform and strolled across the room. Her eyes were focused on the large picture window at the front of the building. Seemingly accidently, she reached the couch and then jumped into Shelly’s lap.

  “My goodness, but you aren’t at all what I’m looking for,” Shelly said to the animal. The cat blinked at her and then settled into her lap. “Just a quick cuddle, then,” Shelly said. “But then I’m going to find a kitten to take home.”

  Half an hour later, paperwork complete, Shelly was ready to carry the grey cat back to her apartment.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said for the third time as she and Fenella walked out of the adoption center. “She weighs a ton, too.”

  “Yowl,” the cat said as she shifted herself in Shelly’s arms.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Fenella told her. “And she chose you. I don’t think you had much choice.”

  “No, I really didn’t,” Shelly agreed happily.

  They parted ways outside of the Fenella’s door. “I don’t think we want to introduce Smokey to Katie just yet,” Shelly said. “I think I need to get her settled in at home first.”

  “You have everything you need for her, right?” Fenella checked.

  “Yes. I bought a lot of it when I was going to be cat-sitting for Katie, and then I never used it,” Shelly said. “I’m all set.”

  Fenella let herself into her apartment. When Katie came to meet her, she scooped her up and gave her a big hug. “You’ve nothing to worry about,” she told the kitten. “I wasn’t even a little bit tempted to replace you with someone else.”

  “Merow,” Katie said, nuzzling Fenella’s face.

  After making herself some lunch, Fenella changed into clean clothes for her meeting at the Sea Terminal. The black pants and navy sweater she’d been wearing earlier were covered in cat hair. She left a few minutes earlier than she needed to for the walk, expecting to spend time waiting at customer service again. Instead, as she entered the building this time, she was greeted by name.

  “Ms. Woods,” Constable Corlett said. “Inspector Robinson is waiting for you in conference room two.”

  A second uniformed constable escorted Fenella down the corridor. Daniel was sitting at the head of a long table with Captain Howard next to him. They were talking intently as Fenella entered.

  “I hope we’ll get those answers today,” Daniel said.

  “If we don’t, maybe you can just arrest them all,” the captain replied.

  “Ah, Fenella, er, Ms. Woods, thank you for joining us,” Daniel said as he looked up. “Captain Howard, you remember Ms. Woods?”

  “She’s the one who caused all of the trouble,” the other man growled. “She rang you instead of informing a member of my staff about the body.”

  “I believe the murderer should be getting the blame, not me,” Fenella said crossly.

  Before the captain could reply, Stanley and Florence March were escorted into the room. As they found seats, the other cabin passengers seemed to arrive all at once. Within minutes everyone was seated around the table, looking expectantly at Daniel.

  “Thank you all for coming,” he said. “Your meeting with Captain Howard was unfortunately interrupted the other day. When he explained to me why he’d wanted to speak with all of you, it seemed that it might be beneficial to reschedule the meeting with myself in attendance.”

  “So what do you want?” Stanley snapped.

  “We’re trying to work out the order in which everyone boarded the ferry,” Daniel explained. “But the statements we’ve taken don’t seem to match the footage from the security video. I’d like to suggest that if any of you would like to amend your statements, now would be a good time to do so. Keep in mind that we do have some video footage and that we’ve been comparing that with what you’ve all told me. I have constables outside who can take any new information you’d like to share.”

  “I think people are worried that they might get others into trouble,” Fenella said tentatively, not looking at Stanley or Florence.

  “I want to assure you all that we, as a company, recognize that it is more important to solve these murders than to worry about minor infractions of the rules. If someone let you on the ferry early and you’re worried about that person’s job, please don’t be. I won’t be firing anyone for having done that.”

  “We boarded early,” Florence said. “A very nice young lady at customer service arranged it for us. She had a member of the security staff walk us through security and onto the ferry. The girl at customer service sorted our cabin keys for us as well.”

  “How early did you board?” Daniel asked.

  Florence glanced at Stanley. “Maybe about an hour before they started letting everyone else on,” she said.

  Daniel raised an eyebrow and then made a note in his notebook. “Did anyone else board early?” he asked.

  “I did, but only a few minutes early,” Justin said. “I went to school with one of the girls who works in the gift shop on the ferry. I bumped into her as she was walking through the terminal building and we were chatting. She said I could walk on with her, as I had a proper ticket and everything. Once I got there, she dug out my cabin key for me.”

  “I see,” Daniel said. “Anyone else?”

  “Brenda and I boarded early, too,” Nick said. “Like the other couple, we asked at customer service and they said that we could. The girl there had someone walk us through and that person got us our cabin keys.”

  “Do you know who it was who escorted you onto the ferry?” Captain Howard asked.

  “It was some man,” Brenda said. “He was about twenty-five and his head was shaved.”

  Daniel flipped through a file in front of him and held up a photograph. “Is this the man?” he asked.

  Brenda shrugged. “It could have been,” she said. “I know that’s the other man who was killed, but I’m not sure if that’s the man who took us onto the ferry or not. It looks like him, but I wasn’t really paying attention.”

  “Mr. Proper, do you recognize the man in the photo?” Daniel asked.

  Nick shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. “If it wasn’t him, it was someone who looks quite like him.”

  “But you didn’t think to mention that to me when we talked earlier,” Daniel said as he made notes.

  “You asked if I knew the man in the photograph,” Nick said. “His showing us onto the ferry a few days earlier isn’t exactly the same as knowing him.”

  “What time did you arrive on the ferry?” Daniel asked.

  “I don’t know, not too early,” Nick said. “Just long enough to get ourselves settled into the cabin. We were quite happy to just wait out the journey there.”

  “But I saw you,” Fenella blurted out.

  Daniel looked over at her and she blushed under his stare. “You saw them?” he asked after a moment.

  “Yes, when I first walked out of my cabin, I saw them. They came up the stairs and looked at me and then let themselves into one of the other cabins.”

  “We went down to get a newspaper,” Brenda said quickly.

  “Did they have a newspaper?” Daniel asked.

  “It was in my bag,” Brenda snapped.

  “I don’t like the direction this is going,” Nick said. “I think Brenda and
I have had quite enough for today.” He stood up and motioned to Brenda, who jumped to her feet.

  “Just a few more questions, please,” Daniel said.

  “I don’t think so,” Nick replied.

  “We can continue the conversation in my office, if you’d prefer,” Daniel said in a pleasant voice.

  Both Nick and Brenda sat back down, but neither looked happy about it. “Fenella,” Daniel said, “who else did you see in the corridor while you were waiting for the police?”

  Fenella closed her eyes and tried to think. She’d told Daniel all of this on the day it had happened. He had to have it all in his notes. “Mr. and Mrs. March came up the stairs as well,” she said after a minute.

  “We did,” Florence agreed. “I wanted to change some of my Manx money for English, so we went down to see about that, but they weren’t open yet.”

  “I see,” Daniel said. “And why did you both need to go?”

  “I wasn’t letting my wife wander around the ferry with several thousand pounds in cash in her pocket,” Stanley said tersely.

  Daniel made another note and then looked at Justin. “And you were safely tucked up in your cabin while all of this was going on?” he asked.

  “I suppose so,” Justin said. “Once I got in there, I didn’t leave until we were ordered out by the police. I was, um, going to wait until we were underway before I went out to see if there were any pretty girls around.”

  Fenella knew he was lying, but she bit her tongue. That he was prone to seasickness didn’t seem relevant at this point.

  Nick had relaxed slightly while Daniel had been talking to the others; now Fenella watched him tense up as Daniel looked at him. “Mr. Proper, your wife said you went down to the gift shop to get a newspaper. Is that correct?”

  Nick swallowed hard. “I don’t recall,” he said after a moment. “We got on the ferry and into our cabin. After a while, Brenda said something about going to the gift shop, so we went. When we got back up the stairs by the cabin, Ms. Woods was standing outside her door, looking all pale and upset. The next thing we knew, we were being escorted off the ferry.”