“And this Lance Thomas was an unwelcome reminder of how much she misses him?”
“Yes, I think so. As I said, she wasn’t sure she believed that he was who he said he was, as well.”
“When he left Mrs. Quirk’s flat, he took her number and said that he’d be in touch, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So what happened next?”
“I bumped into the man at a party that same evening,” Fenella replied.
“What party?”
“It was a fundraiser at Peel Castle.”
“You were invited to the party?”
“No, I, um, went with Donald Donaldson,” Fenella said, glancing at the mobile on the desk. Daniel didn’t say anything before Inspector Hammersmith continued.
“Please repeat the conversation you had with Mr. Thomas at the party.”
Fenella did her best to do just that, flushing and stammering over Neil’s behavior as she did so.
“So even though you knew that the man upset your friend, you were happy to arrange for her to have lunch with him?”
“No, not at all,” Fenella replied. “I arranged to have lunch with him myself and promised to invite Shelly to join us. It was still her choice whether she wanted to come or not.”
“And did she go along to the lunch?”
“No, actually, she didn’t.” Fenella swallowed a deep sigh. The inspector had already spoken to Shelly. He had to know the answer to that question already.
“Was that the next time you saw Mr. Thomas, then?”
“Yes,” Fenella nodded and then did her best to repeat the conversation she’d had over lunch with Lance.
“You gave him your phone number. Does that mean you trusted him more?”
“No, not at all. I was hoping that he would call me instead of bothering Shelly, that’s all. I took his number as well.”
“Did you walk back to your building together after lunch?” the man asked.
“Yes, although we ran into Lance’s friends along the way,” Fenella replied. “That got a little bit awkward.”
“How?”
As she told Inspector Hammersmith the story, she could only imagine what he was writing in his notes. Probably something about how deluded she was to think that every man she met was hitting on her. But whatever Mark Hammersmith thought, she knew how Lance’s friends had made her feel and it hadn’t been pleasant. When she was done, he didn’t comment.
“What happened next?” he asked instead.
“I talked Shelly into agreeing to meet the man for a drink on Monday and then I rang and left him a message to arrange it.”
“Did he ring you back to confirm the arrangements?”
“He did. He left a message on my answering machine, asking us to meet him at his apartment instead of at the pub.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did he want you to meet him at his flat?”
“He said it would be more convenient, although I can’t see why.”
“Neither can I. You didn’t challenge him about it?”
“It didn’t seem worth making yet another phone call. We arranged to have Peter come with us and assumed that was good enough.”
“Does that take us to tonight, then?”
“I suppose so.”
“Run me through your entire day, then, please, starting with what you had for breakfast.”
The morning seemed to have been a very long time ago as Fenella struggled to remember what she’d eaten for breakfast. When she mentioned her driving test, the inspector smiled.
“Congratulations. It isn’t an easy test.”
“Thank you.” She felt a little silly talking about the time that she and Shelly spent in the park, but she glossed over the zip line and the swings, preferring to emphasize lunch and ice cream as the least juvenile of their antics. The inspector didn’t interrupt as she told him about dinner and the bottle of wine. She was wishing she could have another drink by the time she got to talking about standing in front of the open door to apartment 312.
“And then you rang 999, instead of going inside the flat?”
“Yes, that seemed like the safest thing to do. When Shelly and I were looking for a missing friend a few months ago and his apartment door was open, we went inside. Daniel told us afterwards that we should have rung the police instead of doing so.”
“Harvey Garus,” Daniel’s voice said.
Inspector Hammersmith raised an eyebrow and then made a note before he continued. “I’d like you to describe Mr. Thomas to me,” he said.
Fenella did her best to describe the man with his oddly smooth face. When she was done, the inspector nodded.
“And can you describe all of his friends for me? Start with Neil Hicks.”
Frowning, Fenella tried. If the inspector needed descriptions of all of them, maybe he wasn’t certain who was dead. Was it possible that more than one man was dead, even?
“I’m going to ask you to avoid speaking to the press,” the inspector said when she was finished. “They already have the beginnings of the story, but I’d rather they not get anything further until we’ve had a chance to identify the body and notify the appropriate people.”
“Someone was dead in the apartment, then?” Fenella asked.
Inspector Hammersmith frowned. “Yes, Constable Corlett found the body of a man in the flat. That’s all of the information that we’re releasing at the moment. I’ll be in touch, probably tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have more questions for you once we’ve identified the body.”
“You don’t think it’s Lance Thomas?”
“As I said earlier, I’m not here to answer your questions,” the inspector replied.
Fenella opened her mouth and then snapped it shut again. There was no point in arguing with the man. Instead, she got to her feet.
“Thank you for your time,” Inspector Hammersmith said politely.
Constable Corlett stood up and led Fenella out of the room. She very nearly said something to Daniel, but she couldn’t work out what to say. Even goodbye seemed wrong somehow. As the door to the office shut behind her, she heard Daniel’s voice.
“That was interesting,” he said.
The constable quickly escorted her away from the door and back toward the building’s lobby. “I’ll have someone walk you back to your flat,” he said. “That way the reporters won’t harass you.”
Fenella nodded and then stood and waited while the constable made a quick phone call. A moment later another uniformed constable arrived.
“Please escort Ms. Woods to her flat on the sixth floor,” Constable Corlett told the man.
“Yes, sir. The people that Inspector Hammersmith wanted to see are all here now,” he replied.
“You can bring them in, and then I’ll take Ms. Woods upstairs, then,” Constable Corlett said.
Fenella stepped backwards as Neil Hicks, Eric Palmer, Adrian Graves, and Jared Welch filed into the room with a police escort in front and behind them. Neil looked as if he wanted to say something to Fenella, but Constable Corlett spoke loudly as they entered.
“No one is to speak to anyone while you’re waiting to see the inspector,” he said. “I’ll be right back,” he told one of the other constables.
As he and Fenella walked out of the door, several flashes went off in Fenella’s face.
“Ms. Woods, what’s going on? What are you caught up in now?” a voice shouted from the small crowd that had gathered in the building’s lobby.
“You were told that you were not to harass our residents,” Josh Witters said sharply, crossing the room to stand between Fenella and the reporters. “You’ll all have to leave if you start bothering our residents.”
Fenella and her escort walked as quickly as they could to the elevators. She was never happier to see a car waiting than she was at that moment. After the crowd in the lobby, the sixth floor felt wonderfully quiet. Constable Corlett walked Fenella to her door and waited whil
e she unlocked it.
“I won’t come inside, as I know you have a cat,” he said.
“I’d forgotten that you’re allergic,” Fenella said. “I am sorry.”
“I have to get back downstairs, anyway,” he replied. “I’m sure the inspector will be in touch soon.”
“Yay,” Fenella said sarcastically as she pushed her door shut behind her.
“What’s happened now?” Mona asked from where she was sitting on the couch by the window. “I’m sure I could hear Shelly crying earlier. What’s going on?”
“We were supposed to be meeting Lance Thomas at his apartment, but when we went, he wasn’t home,” Fenella replied, feeling a tear trickling down her cheek. “The door was open, though, so we rang the police.”
“You rang the police? Why didn’t you just go inside? Maybe you could have worked out what the man is after if you’d gone inside.”
“Someone was already in there, dead,” Fenella snapped.
“Dead? My goodness, you do seem to have a talent for finding dead men, don’t you?”
“That isn’t even funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Fenella dropped into the nearest chair and buried her head in her hands. She wasn’t actually sure why she was crying; she simply felt completely overwhelmed. After a short while, she lifted her head and then took a tissue from the box at her elbow. She didn’t remember leaving the box there, but there was no way Mona could have moved it, was there?
“Who is dead, then?” Mona asked.
“I don’t know. I know who isn’t dead, but that isn’t the same thing.”
“Who isn’t dead, then?”
“I saw Neil, Adrian, Jared, and Eric as I was leaving after talking to the police inspector. That suggests that it truly is Lance who is dead. Inspector Hammersmith said something about him not being who he claimed to be, though. I’m not sure what he meant.”
“And whoever is dead, he was murdered?”
“Yes, or at least I think so. The police certainly seem to be treating it as a murder investigation.”
“You should know,” Mona muttered.
“It isn’t my fault,” Fenella snapped.
“No, of course not,” Mona said soothingly. “But I’ve been busy all day and I’ve missed everything. How was your driving test?”
“My driving test? Oh, it was fine,” Fenella replied, wishing she could recapture the happiness she’d felt earlier in the day.
“Congratulations. Now you must take my car for a ride. Maybe not tonight, though.”
“No, not tonight. I split a bottle of wine with Shelly over dinner. Although that feels as if it was many hours ago, I’m probably still over the limit for driving.”
“I never drank a drop when I was driving,” Mona told her. “Although I doubt most people who knew me would believe that if you told them. I was very good at pretending to drink heavily, even when I was sipping sparkling water.”
“That sounds like a useful skill.”
“It was just one of my many hidden talents,” Mona laughed. “What happened after your driving test, then?”
Fenella told her aunt about the fun she and Shelly had had, and then what had happened when they’d arrived at apartment 312.
“What a horrible way to end the day. At least when you used to find bodies you got to see Daniel,” Mona sighed.
“He was there for my conversation with Inspector Hammersmith, well, on speakerphone. He didn’t say a word, though.”
“I would imagine he’s in an awkward position. I’m sure he wants to come home and make sure that you’re okay, but he probably can’t.”
“He was with another woman when he rang me earlier,” Fenella said, just barely not sobbing.
“Tell me,” Mona demanded.
Fenella repeated the conversation she’d had with Daniel earlier in the day. She’d omitted it from her statement to Inspector Hammersmith.
“It was kind of him to ring to check on you,” Mona said thoughtfully when she’d finished. “The other woman is worrying, though.”
“What should I do?” Fenella asked, feeling as if she was just about desperate enough to take advice from a dead woman.
“I’m going to have to think about that one,” Mona replied. “I never had any problem with men chasing other women when they were involved with me. Maxwell never strayed. But you must go and check on Shelly. As I said, I could hear her crying earlier.”
Fenella nodded and then gasped. “I never gave Katie any dinner.” She filled Katie’s bowls as quickly as she could. Katie had been sitting on one of the living room chairs when Fenella had first come home and she hadn’t moved while Fenella had been talking to Mona. Now Fenella walked over to her and rubbed her head.
“I’m very sorry that your dinner is late,” she said. “My evening didn’t go exactly as I’d planned.”
“Meeerrowww,” Katie said crossly. She jumped down and stalked off into the kitchen to eat her meal.
“I’ll be next door if you need me,” Fenella called to Katie and Mona, feeling foolish as she did so. Neither of them could simply pop over to get her if they did need something. She locked her door behind herself and then crossed to Shelly’s apartment. Maybe I should have called her first, she thought as she knocked on the door.
“Are we allowed to talk now?” Shelly asked as she let Fenella into her apartment.
“Inspector Hammersmith didn’t say that we weren’t,” Fenella replied. “Anyway, we aren’t guilty of anything, he has to know that.”
“He didn’t look as if he believed anything I told him,” Shelly said with tears in her eyes. “I started feeling guilty for things I didn’t even do, just because of the way he was frowning at me whenever I spoke.”
“He’s just like that,” Fenella replied with more confidence than she actually felt. “You shouldn’t let him bother you.”
“But what if he thinks that I killed Lance?”
“Why would he think that? What possible motive could you have for killing Lance?”
“He upset me because he brought back memories of John.”
Fenella nearly laughed out loud. “I’m sure there are lots of things in your life that bring back memories of John. You even have his picture on your wall. If you wanted to avoid remembering John, you’d have a lot of work to do before you got around to killing a random stranger who may or may not have known him.”
“Maybe Lance knew some secret about John that I wanted to keep hidden.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t think so, but maybe he hadn’t told me yet.”
“If he hadn’t told you yet, you didn’t have any motive for killing the man.”
“But maybe Lance really did tell me something horrible about John and now I’m just pretending he didn’t.”
Fenella took Shelly’s hands and stared into her eyes. “I know this is all very difficult for you, but you aren’t helping matters any by coming up with a bunch of silly reasons for killing the man. You need to stop letting your imagination run away with you.”
“I keep telling myself that, but it’s hard. Lance didn’t know anyone else on the island and he seemed almost obsessed with meeting me.”
“But he hadn’t met you, at least not really.”
“Unless I did it behind your back,” Shelly suggested.
“When? We were together all afternoon and evening.”
“But I was free all morning. Maybe I went down and paid Mr. Thomas a little visit while you were out taking your driving test. It could have happened.”
“If it did, I’m impressed that you still found time to get the balloons,” Fenella replied.
Shelly chuckled and then shook her head. “I know I’m losing my mind, but I can’t help but feel as if I’m the inspector’s chief suspect.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be. You didn’t even know the man and you hadn’t spoken to him enough to learn what he really wanted with you. If I were Inspector Hammersmith, I’d be investiga
ting Lance’s friends. Surely they’re the only ones with any possible motive.”
“His friends? Why didn’t I think of that? Of course one of them must have killed him. Maybe one of them even came to the island just to get rid of Lance.”
“I suppose that’s possible. Anyway, what isn’t possible is that you had anything to do with it, so you can stop worrying about that.”
“I’d feel a lot better if Daniel were the one investigating,” Shelly said softly.
“Yes, well, I’m sure Inspector Hammersmith is going to do a good job,” Fenella replied. “And he had Daniel on speakerphone when we talked, so he’s including Daniel in the investigation, as well.”
“That makes me feel a little bit better. I thought Inspector Hammersmith asked me some odd questions.”
“Like what?”
“He said something about Lance calling himself Lance Thomas. Do you think it’s possible that Lance wasn’t who he claimed to be?”
“At this point, I think anything is possible. He’d certainly had some work done on his face. He claimed it was because of a car accident, but he might have been lying.”
“What did you tell me about pictures?” Shelly asked.
Fenella frowned. “He said that after his accident he’d destroyed all of his old photographs. He was hoping you might have some photos from John’s childhood that he might have been in.”
“I have a few photos, but not many. People didn’t take as many pictures in those days as they do now.”
“Cameras were costly and so was film,” Fenella recalled. “And you never knew until you got the pictures back whether you’d actually taken any good photos or not. I can remember getting entire rolls of film back from my college days and having maybe two or three good photos out of a twenty-four pack of film.”
“Yes, I remember that, too. We’re rather spoiled now with cameras in our phones and digital photos that we can email or message to one another. I remembering ordering prints and then taking the negatives to the store and getting extras printed of the really good shots. Truly, though, good shots were few and far between.”
An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Collection - DEF Page 60