Guests and Guilt

by Diana Xarissa

  “Let’s back up a little bit,” Mark said. “Why are you here?”

  Fenella sighed. She really wanted to know what had happened to Stephanie, but she didn’t dare argue with a police officer. “My brother and his girlfriend are staying here,” she explained. “They’re visiting from the US and I arranged for them to stay here because I thought it would be more comfortable for them than staying in my apartment with me.” If she could, Fenella thought, she’d prefer to keep Shelly out of the story.

  “Whose house is it?” Mark asked.

  Fenella blushed. “Technically, it’s mine, but I really don’t want my brother to know that,” she said quickly.

  Mark raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know why?”

  “James wanted to contest Mona’s will. I didn’t realize, when I first arrived here, just how much I’d actually inherited. I’d rather James not find out, not until I’ve decided what I want to do with everything.” Fenella spoke as rapidly as she could, expecting her brother to come looking for her at any moment.

  “So the house is yours, and you’re letting your brother and his girlfriend stay here,” Mark checked. He typed a few things into his phone before he looked up at her. “Tell me about the girlfriend.”

  “Her name is Stephanie Arnold. She’s somewhere near forty, and blonde with, um, some cosmetic enhancements, if you know what I mean.”

  “Let’s say I don’t. Can you elaborate?”

  “She’s had her breasts enlarged,” Fenella blurted out. “I believe she’s had other work done, too, but that’s the most noticeable, um, enhancement.”

  “Tell me about your brother.”

  “James? He’s sixty and he’s an author. What do you want to know about him?”

  “Where was he last night?”

  Fenella shivered. “James, Stephanie, and I went to the pub around the corner for dinner and then met some of Stephanie’s friends for drinks.”

  “I thought you said she was visiting here from the US?”

  “She is, but she grew up on the island and still has some friends here. Last night was all about reconnecting with them.”

  “Names?” he asked.

  Fenella supplied them, guessing at the spellings. The man typed them all into his phone, a frown on his face.

  “How much did everyone drink?”

  “Annie and Maureen seemed to drink the most. I saw Courtney sipping her drink throughout the evening, but I don’t know how much she actually drank. My brother had more than he should have, but then he got tired and we came back here.”

  “And how much did you drink?”

  “I stuck to soda. I had to drive home at the end of the evening.”

  “What happened after you left the pub?”

  “As I said, James and I came back here. Stephanie stayed because she wanted to spend more time with her friends.”

  “Why did you assume that something had happened to her when you saw me?”

  “She never came back to the house last night. James called me at five this morning, and I came right over. We’ve been trying to work out what might have happened to her ever since.”

  “Did you try ringing the police or Noble’s?” he asked.

  Fenella frowned. Noble’s was the island’s main hospital. She should have thought to call there to inquire about Stephanie. “No, I didn’t try calling anyone,” she said. “It felt too early to start making phone calls when I first got here. Then James and I took a walk around the neighborhood, hoping she might simply have forgotten which house was theirs. When we got back here, I rang Shelly, my neighbor, to see if any of Stephanie’s friends were in the telephone book. They weren’t. James and I were just talking about what to do next when you knocked.”

  Mark nodded. “What time did you leave here last night?”

  Fenella shrugged. “It was before midnight, maybe even before eleven. I gave Katie a snack, and I was in bed before midnight.”

  “And Katie is the only witness to that?”

  “Actually, Shelly is staying with me at the moment,” Fenella said, feeling her cheeks turning red. “She can confirm what I told you.”

  “And you didn’t go back out after you’d arrived home?”

  “Not until around five, when James called.”

  “And Shelly can confirm that?”

  “I don’t know,” Fenella frowned. “She didn’t wake up when I did go out, so she probably wouldn’t have woken up if I’d gone out again in the middle of the night. When are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Did your brother say anything about going back out last night?” Mark asked, clearly ignoring Fenella’s question.

  “No, he told me that he went straight to bed and slept soundly until around five. That’s when he realized that Stephanie hadn’t come back.”

  “Is there any sort of alarm system on the house?”

  “I don’t think so,” Fenella said in surprise.

  Mark made a few more notes on his phone and then slid the device into his pocket. “At around three o’clock this morning a woman’s body was found,” he said in a dull monotone. “The initial reports suggest that she was around forty and had had some cosmetic enhancements done over the years. She did not have any identification or money on her. The only thing that was found with the body was a slip of paper in her pocket with this address on it.”

  Fenella felt her knees give way. She sat down on the step and took a few slow and steady breaths.

  Mark bent down. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Not really,” Fenella said flatly. “I knew when I saw you that it was going to be bad news, but I was really hoping that she’d just been injured or arrested or something. James is going to be really upset.”

  “It was a serious relationship?”

  Fenella shook her head. “You’ll have to ask James about that, but even if they were just friends, the news is upsetting. I just met her yesterday, after all, and I’m, well, upset.”

  Mark nodded. “I’m sorry to have to break it to you like this, but it’s part of my job.”

  “What happened to her? You said the body was found? How did she die?”

  “She was hit by a car, not far from here.”

  “It was an accident?” Fenella checked.

  Mark frowned. “Do you have any reason to believe that it was anything other than an accident?”

  “No, not at all,” Fenella said hastily. “She’d been drinking heavily. She must have forgotten which way to look when she was crossing the road or something.”

  “Or something,” Mark echoed. “We still need someone to make a formal identification of the body.”

  “I just met her yesterday,” Fenella protested.

  “Perhaps your brother could do it?”

  “Maybe. He should have her passport and things, as well. Can’t you simply use them?”

  “It would be best if he identified her for us. Of course, I’ll want the passport, and any other identification she had with her as well.”

  “What did the driver say when he or she reported the accident?” Fenella asked.

  “The driver didn’t report the accident. The body was found by a man returning home from his late shift.”

  “It was a hit and run?” Fenella asked. Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know why, but that seems to make it worse. Any leads on the car involved?”

  “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but we’ve already found the car. It was parked in front of the pub. We have reason to believe that it was stolen from the owner’s drive.”

  “But you aren’t sure?”

  “We’re sure the owner didn’t have anything to do with the accident,” Mark told her. “She’s in hospital at the moment, recovering from an emergency appendectomy. She’s a single mother with two kids who are currently unhappily staying with their father and his second wife. They were all tucked up in bed when all of this happened, and that’s been confirmed by their home security system.”

  “Home security system
?”

  “Yeah, it seems the father had it put in fairly recently because the older child, a boy of fourteen, had started sneaking out of the house. Now if he tries it, an alarm goes off and wakes up not just his father but everyone on the street. So far it seems to be keeping the boy where he belongs.”

  “Unless he found a way around it and snuck out, took his mother’s car, and accidently killed Stephanie,” Fenella suggested.

  “It’s a possibility we are considering, but I suspect it’s more likely the car was stolen from the drive. There are quite a few teens in this area who like to take cars and go for rides around the island in the middle of the night. Usually they just hit stone walls or road signs, though, not people.”

  “We should go and tell James. He’s been so worried.” Fenella got to her feet.

  “You may tell him, if you think that will be easier for him,” Mark said.

  “It might, although it still isn’t going to be easy.”

  Fenella opened the door and led the man into the kitchen. James was sitting at the table with his head tipped backwards. He was fast asleep and snoring loudly.

  “He looks really worried,” Mark said wryly.

  “James,” Fenella said. She put a hand on his arm. “James, wake up.”

  James jumped and then looked around, blinking. “Where am I? What’s going on? Fenella? What’s happened? Where’s Stephanie? I thought she was at the door?”

  Fenella shook her head and then sat down next to James at the table. “This is Mark Hammersmith. He’s a police inspector.”

  “Police? Has Stephanie managed to get arrested? I’m sure she was drunk and she was probably disorderly, too, but she isn’t a bad person, really.”

  “There’s been an accident,” Fenella said as gently as she could. She took James’s hand. “Stephanie was hit by a car.”

  “I never should have left her to walk home alone,” James said as his eyes filled with tears. “The other three, they were going to make sure she got home safely. I’ll never forgive them if she doesn’t recover. How bad is it?” he asked.

  Fenella glanced over at Mark. He raised an eyebrow. Fenella wasn’t sure if he was offering to take over or not, but she didn’t want James to hear the news from a stranger. “I’m afraid she didn’t survive,” she told James in a low voice.

  James stared at her and then shook his head. “You’re wrong. She’s tough and she’s strong. She’ll be fine. I’m sure of it. The doctors will be able to patch her up. That’s what they do, doctors, they fix people. As soon as she gets to the hospital, they’ll fix her right up.”

  Fenella sighed. “I’m sorry, but it’s too late for that.” She squeezed James’s hand tightly.

  “Her passport is here. How did the police even identify her? They’ve probably simply mixed her up with someone else,” James said desperately.

  “Mark would like you to go with him to identify the body,” Fenella said. “She had the address for this house in her pocket.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything,” James yelled. “Anyone could have this address in their pocket. Maybe one of her friends took down the address from her so that they could visit. Or maybe whoever it is knew the previous residents. That body doesn’t have anything to do with me or with Stephanie. Wait until she gets home. She’s going to laugh when she hears about all of this.”

  “Maybe we should go with Mark,” Fenella suggested. “Then we can find out for sure if it is Stephanie or not.”

  “It isn’t,” James insisted. “She’s fine. She’s just with her friends. If the police want to do something useful, they can call Stephanie’s friends and track her down. Then they’ll have to find out who the body really belongs to, though. It’s easier for them to just assume it’s Stephanie, I suppose.”

  “Mr. Woods, we aren’t looking for easy answers,” Mark said stiffly. “We’re looking for the truth. I would be grateful if you would come with me and see if you can identify the body or not. If you choose not to do so, perhaps your sister would be willing to make a preliminary identification for us.”

  “Maybe we could both go,” Fenella said. “Then if you don’t want to do it, I’ll do it.”

  “I don’t want to leave here. Stephanie won’t know what to do if she gets here and we aren’t here,” James protested.

  “I can leave a constable here,” Mark offered. “He can sit outside, and if your friend returns, he can let me know.”

  James stared at the man for a minute. “You really think she’s dead, don’t you? She can’t be dead. We have so much more work to do.”

  Mark shot Fenella a questioning look. “They were working on a book together,” she explained.

  “I don’t want to see her,” James said. “Not if she’s, not if she’s, I mean, I want to remember her as she was, vibrant and full of life. I can’t stand the thought of seeing her, um, not at her best.”

  “But you’re the only one on the island who knew her,” Fenella said.

  “Her friends knew her better than I did,” James shot back. “I mean, they know her better than I do. I won’t talk about her in the past tense, and I won’t go and see the wrong body. Your police inspector friend can get Annie or Courtney to take a look at her. They’ll tell him how wrong he is.”

  “I’ve sent their names to the office,” Mark replied. “We’re working on locating all three women. We’re going to have them brought in for conversations once they’ve been found.”

  “While you’re conversing, you can have them look at the body,” James said. “Except Stephanie will probably turn up by that time. She’ll be here any minute, I’m sure.”

  “Fenella, perhaps you’d be willing to come and have a look at the body,” Mark said.

  “Of course,” Fenella replied. “Can you wait for a few minutes? I’d like to have Shelly come over here.”

  James looked at her and then started to laugh. “You don’t want to leave me on my own, do you? You’re worried that I’ll realize Stephanie truly is dead and then what? Are you afraid I might take my own life? My dear baby sister, you must know I have far too much ego for that. And I checked last night. There isn’t any alcohol in the house, so I can’t even try to drown my sorrows. You go with your policeman friend. I’ll just wait here for Stephanie to return.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a constable sit with you while Fenella is gone,” Mark said. “If Stephanie does return, I’ve quite a few questions for her.”

  James shrugged. “I can’t stop you, can I?”

  “Technically, maybe,” Mark replied, “but then I could simply arrest you and take you down to the station to wait for your sister.”

  “Bring on your constable,” James laughed.

  Mark nodded and left the room. Fenella patted James’s arm, but he didn’t say anything to her as they waited. As she couldn’t think of anything to say, Fenella was silent as well.

  “Mr. Woods, this is Constable Corlett,” Mark said a few minutes later as he walked back into the kitchen. “Constable, Mr. Woods is waiting for his girlfriend to return. I’d appreciate it if you’d wait with him.”

  “Yes, sir,” the constable said.

  “It’s nice to see you again,” Fenella told the young uniformed officer. “I’m sure that baby of yours is getting big.”

  “He is, aye,” the man replied. “He has three teeth now and he likes nothing better than biting my finger every chance he gets.”

  Fenella laughed. “Let’s hope he outgrows it.”

  The constable grinned. “I’m sure once he’s allowed solid food, he won’t want to bite me anymore.”

  “Shall we?” Mark asked Fenella.

  She nodded and got to her feet. After giving James one more reassuring pat, she followed the police inspector out of the room.

  “I’ll drive,” he said as they walked out of the house.

  Fenella climbed into the passenger seat of the man’s car and fastened her seatbelt. Once they were underway, she sighed. “You’re pretty sure
it’s Stephanie, aren’t you?”

  “Based on your description, yes. Her clothes were American brands that aren’t readily available on the island, although these days anyone can get anything if they put their mind to it, I suppose. Still, everything points to her being exactly who you said she was.”

  “Can you take my word for it?”

  “I believe the coroner would rather hear from someone who’d known her for longer than a single day, but your identification is enough for me, anyway. It’s crucial to my investigation, and once you’ve given it, I can get properly started.”

  “I can’t imagine what happened to her. Her friends were going to make sure she got home safely.”

  “Maybe they had a disagreement,” Mark suggested. “I’ll be talking to them as soon as we find them.”

  “I hope you find the driver soon. I can’t imagine hitting someone and then just driving away.”

  “They didn’t go far, just around the corner, really. If you were driving a stolen car, you probably wouldn’t want to risk getting stopped.”

  “Can you get fingerprints from car interiors?”

  “Sometimes, if we’re lucky, but in this case it seems the car was wiped clean.”

  “Wiped clean? Someone stole a car, ran over Stephanie, and then wiped the car clean? That sounds like a planned attack. It sounds like murder.”

  “Try this instead,” Mark suggested. “Someone, probably a drunk teen, steals a car. He or she accidently runs someone over. He or she then panics, parks the car in the nearest car park and runs a cloth over everything to try to remove fingerprints. That seems like a more likely scenario, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Fenella said quickly. She much preferred that version to murder. The last thing she wanted was to find herself caught up in another murder investigation.

  Mark chuckled. “I thought you’d like that better. Especially as your brother would have to be top of the suspect list if it were murder.”

  “James? Why would James want to kill Stephanie?”

  “I don’t know, but I can tell you that we always start with spouses or significant others when we investigate murders.”

  “Well, even if it was murder, James didn’t have anything to do with it,” Fenella said firmly. “He cared for Stephanie a lot and she was helping him write his next book. He, maybe more than anyone, wanted her alive.”