An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF

by Diana Xarissa

  “No one has said it was murder,” Fenella reminded her.

  “But it must have been,” Mona argued. “Mortimer didn’t have any reason to be at a closed café in Andreas, after all.”

  “Maybe he didn’t know it had closed,” Fenella suggested.

  “And the shock of discovering that it was killed him?” Mona asked sarcastically.

  “Maybe it wasn’t shock. Maybe he just had a heart attack,” Fenella replied. “Or a stroke or something like that.”

  “I suppose it’s possible, but it seems very odd to me that he died suddenly in a remote corner of the island. It seems more likely that someone killed him and left the body there. They were probably hoping that no one would ever find it.”

  “They had to know that he would be found eventually,” Fenella argued. “The owner of the place might have gone back across, but he would have returned eventually, or decided to list the place for sale.”

  “It still could have been months or even years before the body was found. And the longer it took, the better for the killer.”

  “Well, he’s been found now. I just can’t imagine why anyone would have killed him. From all accounts, he was just an ordinary man.”

  “Maybe someone wanted Fiona,” Mona suggested.

  Fenella looked down at the small dog on her lap. “She’s a lovely animal, but I can’t see anyone killing to get their hands on her,” she told Mona. “She doesn’t look especially valuable, and Mr. Stone said she’d been fixed years ago, so she’s of no use for breeding.”

  “Maybe Mortimer hid a microfilm on her collar or something,” Mona said.

  “Maybe you’ve been watching too many spy movies,” Fenella replied.

  “I had dinner last night with Ian Fleming,” Mona told her. “But that doesn’t make the idea any less likely.”

  “Ian Fleming?” Fenella gasped. “What is he like?”

  “Dead,” Mona replied.

  Fenella frowned at her. “You’ve made that up, haven’t you?” she demanded. “I don’t know why you can’t simply tell me the truth about the afterlife.”

  “Because you don’t really want to know,” Mona told her. “It’s far better for you to imagine it as something wonderful and exciting than to be absolutely certain of exactly how wonderful and exciting it is.”

  “I’m not sure that makes sense,” Fenella told her.

  Mona laughed. “I’m not sure it was meant to,” she replied. “But let’s get back to Mortimer and Fiona. You should check her collar. Maybe Mortimer hid something on the back of it or something.”

  The only thing on the back of the dog’s collar, though, was a sticker with Mortimer’s address and phone number.

  “Are you sure there isn’t any hidden microfilm?” Mona asked as Fenella refastened the collar around Fiona’s neck.

  “I suppose there could be,” Fenella told her. “But I think it’s highly unlikely. Maybe you should ask Mr. Fleming for ideas on how to find it without destroying the collar.”

  “That’s a lovely idea,” Mona said. “It’s the perfect excuse for me to see him again.”

  Fenella swallowed several replies. “But hidden microfilm aside, why would anyone kill the man?” she repeated the question.

  “Maybe he knew something about what happened to Harvey,” Mona suggested.

  Fenella frowned. “I’m afraid that idea has some merit,” she said after a minute.

  “It does, doesn’t it? You should suggest it to Daniel when he comes back later.”

  “He’s going away, you know,” Fenella told her.

  “I know, but only for a short while. It will all work out in the end.”

  “I wish I had your confidence.”

  Mona smiled. “You’ll get there,” she said. “You just need to listen to your Aunt Mona more.”

  Fenella only just resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the other woman. Instead, she headed into her bedroom, intending to try doing some work on her book. She’d only just sat down when Winston bounced into the room.

  “Woof,” he said brightly.

  “You want another walk, don’t you?” Fenella asked.

  “Woof, woof, woof,” Winston replied.

  “Maybe I could just take you for a short walk,” Fenella said. “Fiona doesn’t have to come along.”

  Fiona didn’t agree. As soon as Fenella clipped Winston’s leash to his collar, she raced to the door and began to bark. Fenella sighed and then looked over at Katie, who looked mildly amused.

  “Yes, I know, you’re much easier,” she told the kitten.

  Katie smiled and then took herself off to the kitchen while Fenella grabbed her keys and took the dogs for their walk. Again, it was clear that Winston wanted more, but he was good-natured enough not to argue too much when Fenella turned for home.

  “We’ll have a longer walk later,” she promised the animal. “Just you and me.”

  Fiona gave Fenella a sharp look, but Fenella ignored her. The small dog had far less energy than Winston. She didn’t need as much walking, no matter what she thought.

  After the walk, Fenella grabbed a book and settled in with Fiona on her lap and Winston at her feet. This part of dog ownership is splendid, she thought as she relaxed and got lost in her story. Shelly’s knock startled her.

  “Pizza, garlic bread, and wine,” Shelly announced as she walked into the apartment. “I’ve brought your shopping as well, and chocolate sponge cake for pudding.”

  “You’re my favorite person in the entire world,” Fenella told her.

  Shelly laughed. “Even though I’m the one who got you into this mess?”

  “Even then.”

  They ate and then clipped the dogs to their leashes. Once they reached the promenade, Fenella looked at Shelly.

  “Why don’t you take Fiona toward the Sea Terminal while I walk Winston the other way?” she asked. “He needs a good long and fast walk and there’s no way Fiona can keep up.”

  “I’ll try,” Shelly said. “But I’m not sure Fiona will go along.”

  The pair separated. Fenella walked as quickly as she could, not taking the time to look backwards to see how Shelly was doing. Winston seemed to relish the opportunity to stretch his legs, and by the time they’d reached the far end of the promenade and made their way back, Fenella was exhausted. Shelly was sitting on a bench waiting for her, Fiona at her feet. As they approached, Fiona jumped up and began to bark excitedly.

  “She was very good, really,” Shelly said as the two dogs enjoyed their reunion.

  “That’s good to hear,” Fenella replied. “I was worried that she’d try to follow us.”

  “She did, but only for a short while, then she gave up and walked with me very nicely.”

  “That was hard work,” Fenella said as she sank down on her couch when they were back in her apartment. “Next time you can speed walk Winston and I’ll have a leisurely stroll with Fiona.”

  “We need to get Peter involved,” Shelly said. “He’d love a good brisk walk on an evening.”

  “He texted me earlier that he’s tied up at the office and can’t get away to help walk the dogs tonight. He said he’d try harder tomorrow.” A knock on the door interrupted Shelly’s reply.

  “Daniel, hello,” Fenella said as she remembered that he’d said he might stop by, and also that she really needed to run a comb through her hair after her walk with Winston.

  “Hello,” he smiled back at her. “I was in the neighborhood and I thought maybe you could use some help with the dogs.”

  “We just got back from a walk,” Shelly told him. “But they’ll both want to go out again in another hour or so. If you’re willing to stay and help with that, I’ll go home and spend some time with Smokey. She’s not happy that I’m out so much or that I keep coming home smelling like dogs.”

  “Oh, Shelly, you should have said something,” Fenella exclaimed. “I didn’t even think about Smokey.”

  “It’s fine,” Shelly assured her. “I keep reminding h
er that she’s lucky I don’t bring the dogs home with me.”

  Fenella let her friend out and then smiled at Daniel. “Tea? Coffee? I have some chocolate cake left over from dinner.”

  “Chocolate cake sounds good,” the man replied. “I didn’t actually get any dinner.”

  “Then you must have something healthy before you have cake,” Fenella said firmly. “Or marginally healthy anyway. I have leftover pizza and garlic bread as well. I can reheat it in the oven or the microwave.”

  “Whichever is faster,” Daniel said. He sat down at the kitchen counter while Fenella put several slices of pizza into the microwave.

  “Soda? Tea? Coffee?”

  “Oh, a soda would be good,” he replied. “I think I need both caffeine and sugar.”

  “Rough day?”

  “Not any worse than most, I suppose, but most days aren’t particularly good when you’re dealing with crime and death.”

  “Oh, dear,” Fenella said sympathetically. “It’s never too late to go back to school. You’d make a wonderful teacher.”

  Daniel chuckled. “It isn’t so bad that I’m thinking of changing careers,” he assured her. “I’m just tired. Ramsey CID put through a request for our assistance on the Morrison case, but the inspector there doesn’t actually seem to want any help. He’s, well, let’s just say rather independent.”

  Fenella reached across the counter and gave the man’s hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  The microwave’s bell cut through any reply that Daniel made. The steaming pizza smelled wonderful and Fenella was tempted to heat up another slice for herself as she put Daniel’s plate in front of him.

  While he was eating, Fenella poured out dinner for the dogs and cat. Winston was already halfway through his meal by the time Fiona began to nibble on hers. Katie simply sat and watched the pair, waiting until they were finished to begin her own meal.

  “That was wonderful,” Daniel said as he pushed his empty plate across the counter.

  “There’s more, if you’re still hungry.”

  “I’m not, but I could manage a slice of cake if it’s still on offer,” he replied.

  Fenella sliced them each a generous serving of the cake, feeling only slightly guilty that she’d already had a slice with Shelly. When the cake was gone, Daniel sat back and sighed.

  “I feel almost human again,” he told Fenella. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome. Please don’t feel as if you have to stay to help walk the dogs. If you’re tired, go home and get some rest.”

  “I’d rather stay, if you don’t mind,” he replied. “I’ve been looking forward to walking the dogs all day. I’d love to have a dog, if my work hours weren’t so unpredictable.”

  “Come and sit in the living room and relax,” Fenella invited. “Maybe someone warm and furry will crawl into your lap.”

  “Maybe you should crawl into his lap,” Mona said softly as Fenella followed Daniel across the room.

  Fenella felt her cheeks redden. She glared at her aunt, but Mona simply smiled and slid into a chair. Daniel sat down on the couch. Within seconds, Katie had jumped into his lap.

  “Ah, Katie, how are you?” Daniel asked, scratching the kitten’s head.

  “You can put her down if you’d rather cuddle up with one of the dogs,” Fenella said.

  Katie gave her an angry look, but Daniel shook his head. “She’s fine,” he said. “Just what I needed.”

  Fenella sat down next to him on the couch. Winston flopped at her feet and Fiona dropped to the ground next to him. No one spoke for several minutes.

  “For goodness sake, ask him about Mortimer,” Mona demanded eventually. “He must have seen the crime scene photos by now. Was it murder?”

  “I’m sure you don’t want to talk about work,” Fenella said. “But I’m very curious about what happened to Mortimer.”

  Daniel nodded. “I know, and as Fiona’s temporary guardian you have a right to know at least some of what’s going on.” He glanced over at her and then frowned. “I wish I could tell you more, but Ramsey CID is holding back quite a lot of information, not just from the public, but from me as well.”

  Fenella could hear the frustration in his voice. “Why would they do that?” she asked.

  “They’ve given me half a dozen different reasons, but I think it all boils down to the fact that I’m new to the island and they don’t trust me yet,” Daniel told her.

  “But that’s stupid. You’re meant to be working together. How can you help them if you don’t know anything?”

  “Exactly what I said,” he sighed. “But I can see their point. They don’t know me and they don’t know how I work. This is probably the biggest thing to happen in Andreas in a long time. They want to make sure they get the bulk of the credit when the case is solved.”

  “Credit? Who cares who gets the credit?” Fenella asked.

  “They do. And to some extent, I do, as well,” Daniel told her. “High-profile cases gather a lot of interest from the general public and the media as well. The Chief Constable also keeps a close eye on them. If you want to make policing your career, you need to do everything you can to impress all three of those audiences.”

  Fenella sighed. “Have you thought about going back to school to learn a new skill?” she asked.

  Daniel chuckled. “I love what I do, even when it does get bogged down in jurisdictional issues. I just want to find out what happened, and if it was foul play, I want to see the perpetrator behind bars. I don’t really much care who gets the credit.”

  “Was it foul play?” Fenella and Mona asked at the same time. Fenella glanced at her aunt and sighed.

  “From what I could work out from the photos of the scene, maybe,” Daniel replied. “If it was my case, I’d be working it as a murder investigation, at least until I had solid evidence to the contrary, but it isn’t my case. The lead investigator is still treating it as an unexplained death, or at least he was as of six o’clock tonight.”

  “And meanwhile, Harvey is still missing,” Fenella said sadly.

  “He is. Just remember that the cases may not be related.”

  “But it seems likely that they are,” Fenella replied.

  “We’re going through all of the missing person cases on the island and also across, looking for a pattern,” Daniel told her. “It’s unusual, at least in my experience, for older men to disappear, at least for this length of time. Sometimes older folks with memory issues or other mental health problems wander off, but they generally turn up within hours.”

  “I was wondering about where the body was found,” Fenella said tentatively.

  “What about it?”

  “You said it was quite remote. Is it possible that Harvey has been left somewhere similar?”

  “Anything is possible,” Daniel replied. “While there are obvious similarities to the two cases, there are some differences as well. One of those differences is that Harvey’s car is still parked in the parking garage under the building next door. Gloria and her team went through it, but couldn’t find any clues as to where Harvey might have gone.”

  “But wherever he went, he must have gone on foot,” Fenella said thoughtfully.

  “Or in a taxi, or with a friend. From what I’ve been told, though, the man liked to walk everywhere, usually with Winston in tow. His car certainly has very low mileage.”

  “Let’s not talk about cars,” Fenella said with a grimace.

  “How are the driving lessons going?” Daniel asked.

  Fenella shook her head. “Mel thinks I’m ready to try the test, and I think I need another year of practice first. I suppose I’m getting the hang of the manual transmission, but when you combine that with driving on the wrong side of the road and roundabouts, which I do think only exist to confuse me, well, I’m still a bit overwhelmed.”

  “I should take you out for a drive in my car. Maybe I could give you some pointers.”

  “At the moment, I don’t want to l
eave the dogs alone,” Fenella told him, grateful to have an excuse. She was terrified of the idea of driving the man’s car. What if she crashed it? He’d never forgive her.

  “Once the dogs are rehoused, then,” Daniel said firmly.

  “There aren’t any other missing person cases, then?” Fenella clumsily changed the subject.

  “Oh, there are others, but none involving older men with dogs. We’ve had two teenagers reported missing, but we’ve every reason to believe that they’re together and that they’ve gone by choice. We’ve also had a report of a missing woman in her early thirties. Gloria is working on that one quite hard, but so far there’s nothing that ties it to Harvey or Mortimer.”

  Fenella nodded. “Do you know when Mortimer actually died?” she asked.

  “The coroner is working on that, but his initial report suggests that he won’t be able to give us more than a fairly large window, possibly as much as days rather than hours. As far as I know, Mr. Stone and his staff are still the last people who saw him alive.”

  “I wish I’d taken the time to talk to him more the day I saw him on the beach. He doesn’t have any family on the island?”

  “Ramsey CID is trying to track down family and friends, but they haven’t had any luck thus far. Remember that no one reported him missing until Mr. Stone got worried. It may be that he was alone in the world, aside from Fiona.”

  The small dog looked up when she heard her name and then settled back down again.

  “So why on earth would anyone want to kill him?” Fenella asked.

  “If I knew the answer to that, I’d have the killer,” Daniel said.

  Feeling as if they were just talking in circles, Fenella suggested that they get the dogs walked. “I’d like an early night, although I’m not sure I’ll get one. I suppose all three of the animals will want to sleep with me tonight.”

  “No doubt,” Daniel said with a grin.

  Daniel took Winston for a long walk while Fenella kept Fiona closer to home. When the little dog began to look tired, Fenella found a convenient bench and sat with Fiona on her lap until Daniel and Winston rejoined them.