Guests and Guilt

by Diana Xarissa

  “Oh, yeah, loads of them,” James replied. “She had a list of former boyfriends she wanted to look up, a handful of former coworkers she planned to see, and one or two distant relatives she thought she might try to find as well.”

  “I’ll need all of their names,” Mark said, sounding tired.

  “I don’t have the lists. She kept them in her phone, though. If you have that, I can tell you the passcode.” He gave Mark a short string of numbers and Mark typed them into his phone.

  “I’m going to want to know more about the lists of people she wanted to see, but first I’d like you to take me through your trip, starting with when you left home.”

  “Really? I’m still feeling jet lagged and I didn’t get much sleep last night. I’m not sure I can remember much of anything.”

  “Do your best,” Mark urged him.

  Fenella had to work hard not to yawn too many times as James talked them through the series of flights he and Stephanie had taken, starting from the tiny airport near his home until finally landing at Ronaldsway. “And then Fenella was there,” he said, squeezing her hand.

  “Keep going,” Mark told him. “Tell me about the conversation in the car on the way here.”

  James did his best to oblige but his memory was spotty. Eventually he sighed. “And then, when we got here, I collapsed into the bed and slept like a rock for a few hours. While I was asleep, Stephanie called Annie. That much I know for sure. She may have called half the people on the island for all that I know. By the time I woke up, it was time to leave for dinner. I never really had a private talk with her again.”

  Mark frowned and added something to his notes. “Take me through the conversation at dinner.”

  Again James tried hard, but he didn’t seem to remember much. “I’m sorry,” he said at the end of the recitation. “I was jet lagged and tired and then I started drinking. I also didn’t think any of it mattered at all. We were just having dinner with Fen and chatting about nothing and everything. It was the first day of our vacation and we had three weeks to spend here. I didn’t know, I couldn’t have imagined, I didn’t realize…” he trailed off and another tear slid down his cheek.

  Fenella handed him another tissue. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly.

  Mark cleared his throat. “Tell me what you can remember from when Stephanie’s friends arrived,” he said.

  It quickly became clear that James hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation once Stephanie’s friends had joined them. He couldn’t remember much of anything from the conversations that had taken place between the women. “As I said, at the time it didn’t seem to matter. I’m not used to social situations like that one. I tend to lose myself in my thoughts when I’m confronted by large numbers of people. It’s easier than trying to follow the conversation.”

  “When did you decide to leave?”

  “It must have been close to eleven,” James said, looking at Fenella. She avoided meeting his eyes.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I looked at my watch as I crawled into bed and it wasn’t quite midnight yet. I’d only been here for a short while and I couldn’t resist doing the math to work out what time it was at home, you see. I told myself I shouldn’t have been tired because it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, but as I’d missed an entire night’s sleep due to traveling, it felt like midnight for sure.”

  “What time did you go back out?” Mark asked.

  “Fenella and I walked back over to the pub around seven or eight. I woke up at five to, um, use the bathroom. That was when I realized that Stephanie wasn’t here. I rang Fenella right away and she came over.”

  “You were worried about Stephanie?”

  “Of course I was worried about her. She was in a strange place and she’d gone out without any identification or any money. She never carried money, actually. She always relied on the kindness of others. I was worried that she’d forgotten where the house was and was just wandering around the streets somewhere.”

  “But you waited until seven to start looking for her?”

  “I didn’t want to go out without Fenella. I was worried I might get lost as well.”

  “And Fenella didn’t get here until seven?”

  “No, she got here not long after I called her, but by that time I’d started to think that maybe Stephanie had simply gone home with one of her friends. They’d promised to look out for her, you see. I started thinking that I was overreacting.”

  “So you waited for some time, and then went out and started looking for her?”

  “I felt so helpless sitting here,” James sighed. “We really wanted to call Stephanie’s friends, but none of them are in the phone book.”

  Mark made a few more notes. “And you didn’t go out from the time you and Fenella returned here after the pub until the pair of you went out to look for Stephanie around seven?”

  “I didn’t. I was too drunk and too tired to do anything other than sleep.”

  Mark nodded and added something else to his phone. “I’m going to leave things there for right now,” he said. “I’d like to go through Stephanie’s things before I go, though.”

  “Sure, why not. Most of them are still packed, actually. She just dropped them in the bedroom and left them there while I was napping. I don’t know if she even opened the bags after she arrived.”

  James and Mark left the room. They were back a short time later.

  “I appreciate you letting me take everything,” Mark said. “We’ll return it all to you after we’ve gone through it.”

  “I don’t know that I want them,” James told him. “I mean, they belong to her next of kin, not me.”

  “Do you know who that person might be?”

  “As I said, I believe she had some distant relatives on the island, but I don’t know for sure. She did have a will, though. She had it made up before we left.”

  “Did she now? Did she say why she felt she needed to write her will at that point?”

  “She just said something about wanting to have everything in place in case the plane crashed or whatever. I never actually saw it, but I know she got it done. She was going to have me witness it, but her lawyers took care of it. She told me that it was okay if I’d had to do it, because I wasn’t getting anything,”

  “Were you disappointed by that?”

  “Not at all. As far as I know, she didn’t have anything to leave anyone anyway, or nothing with much value, I should say. She had a few nice pieces of jewelry, I suppose. Anyway, as far as I was concerned, she could leave her things to whomever she wanted. She isn’t named in my will, either, for what it’s worth.”

  “Do you know who I should contact to get a copy of the will?”

  “She used the same lawyer that I do,” James told him. “I have his address and phone number in my address book. It’s upstairs. It will just take a minute to get it for you.”

  While he was gone, Fenella looked at Mark. “So what now? One of her friends must have killed her, surely.”

  “Now, I’m doing my best not to jump to any rash conclusions,” Mark told her. “It’s far too early to start narrowing down the list of suspects. At the moment, just about everyone on the island is on the list.”

  Fenella nodded. “But her friends are at the top,” she said.

  Mark chuckled. “You may believe that if you choose. If you speak to any of them, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention the word murder. I may not share that little detail with them, at least not initially.”

  James was back before Fenella could reply. He handed the inspector a slip of paper. “Here’s the man’s name and address. It’s just remotely possible that Stephanie had a copy of the will in her bag, though. She was weirdly obsessed with it once it was done.”

  “I’m hoping to find all sorts of interesting things in the bags you’ve given me,” Mark told him. “I appreciate your cooperation to this point.”

  “I’m always happy to cooperate with the p
olice,” James replied. “Especially on something like this. I want to know what happened to Stephanie, and if she was murdered, I want to know that her killer is behind bars.”

  “I’m going to do my best to get you some answers,” Mark told him. “I’ll be in touch again soon. I assume you’ll be staying here?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  “And Ms. Woods, will you be staying here or at your flat in Douglas?”

  “I’m not sure,” Fenella replied. “I don’t really want to leave James alone right now.”

  “Don’t be silly, little sis,” James scoffed. “I’ll be fine on my own. All I need is a bottle of wine and the phone number for a pizza delivery place.”

  Fenella nodded. “Try my apartment first if you’re looking for me,” she told Mark, not wanting to start an argument with James in front of the inspector. She had no intention of leaving her brother on his own, though, at least for the moment.

  Mark nodded and then he and Constable Corlett left. Fenella shut the door behind them and then walked back into the living room. James was sitting on the couch, sobbing.

  “It’s okay,” Fenella said soothingly as she sat down next to him and began to rub his back. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Are you completely sure it was her?” he demanded.

  Fenella wanted more than anything to lie to her brother, but she couldn’t do it. “I’m sure,” she said softly.

  James nodded and then pressed his lips together and swallowed hard. After a moment he wiped his eyes and then stared at Fenella. “One of those three women killed her. Which one?”

  “You can’t be sure about that. The police haven’t even said that she was murdered. It might just have been an accident.”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” James argued. “She must have said or done something last night that upset one of them. Do you think the others will cover for their friend?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s not talk about it, even. Let’s let Mark do his job.”

  “Mark?”

  “Sorry, Inspector Hammersmith. He and I have met before.”

  “You have? When?”

  Fenella sighed. “I haven’t told you a lot about the things that have happened since I’ve been here, have I?” It was a rhetorical question. She and James hadn’t spoken since she’d moved, aside from when he’d rung to tell her that he was coming to visit. She hadn’t told her other brothers much, either, not wanting any of them to worry. Now she took a deep breath and began.

  “I went grocery shopping right after I arrived,” she began, “and on the way home, I tripped over a dead body.” It took her over an hour to tell James about all of the unfortunate things that had happened since she’d been on the island. The job was made more difficult because she couldn’t include Mona in the story, even when Mona had played a part in solving a case. When she was done, he was staring at her, open-mouthed.

  “I’m surprised Inspector Hammersmith didn’t just arrest you when you opened the door,” he said after a long moment. “I mean, I know you didn’t kill Stephanie, but with that sort of history, you must be a suspect. How did you go from being a boring old history professor to getting tangled up in murder investigations every time you turn around?”

  “I’m certainly not doing it on purpose,” Fenella replied. “I just seem to have developed a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “At least you didn’t find Stephanie’s body. I suppose we should be thankful for that. But now I’m surprised that your police inspector friend didn’t arrest both of us.”

  “He isn’t my friend.”

  “No, you sounded much more fond of the other one, Daniel, was it? Why isn’t he investigating Stephanie’s death?”

  “He’s away on a course and has been for months. He’s supposed to be back soon, though.”

  “Will he take over the case, then? Everything you said about him sounded better than this other guy.”

  “I don’t know if he will take over or not, but Mark is a good investigator, anyway. He’ll find out what happened to Stephanie, with or without Daniel’s help.”

  “He only has three suspects to choose from, how difficult can it be? He really should be able to work out what happened as soon as he talks to Annie and the others. One of them must have left with Stephanie and killed her.”

  “It probably won’t be that simple,” Fenella warned him. “Remember that they might all lie to protect one another, as well. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Who would lie to protect a killer?” James demanded. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he sat back in his seat and looked startled.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, um, nothing, really. I just remembered something that Stephanie said about something. It doesn’t matter. Anyway, what do we do now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, Stephanie is gone. I don’t know anything about her family or friends back home, but I feel as if they need to be notified.”

  “I’m sure the police will take care of that job.”

  “That’s good. I don’t really want to have to tell anyone about it. Her lawyer will have the list of people named in her will, anyway. That should be everyone who matters, I suppose.”

  “We just have to sit back and wait while the police conduct their investigation.”

  “How did she look?” James asked.

  Fenella frowned. “I don’t know how to answer that. It was clearly her, if that’s what you mean.”

  “No, I mean, did she look, I don’t know, startled or scared or like she’d suffered any before she died?”

  Fenella patted his hand. “No, none of those. I don’t think she knew she’d been hit, if that makes sense.”

  “It does. Thank you. I hate the thought of her suffering in any way. She was so full of life. If she had to die, I just hope it was quick and painless.”

  “Yes, let’s hope so.”

  “But I still don’t know what to do now.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean?”

  “I mean, it’s only just noon on the first full day of my three-week vacation and I’ve no idea what to do with myself. I’m also starving, although it seems odd to be thinking about food at a time like this.”

  “You have to eat. You have to take care of yourself. We should go out and get some lunch somewhere.”

  “It seems wrong to go out,” James argued, “but we don’t have any food in the house, either, aside from bread and milk.”

  “We can go grocery shopping, if you’d prefer. Then you can come home and cook your own lunch.”

  James made a face. “I hate cooking, and I’m not very good at it, even with all the years of practice that I’ve had. Let’s find a pub or something and have some lunch. We can work out what to do with the rest of the day after that.”

  “I assume you’d rather not go back to the pub around the corner.”

  “I don’t want to go in there ever again,” James said firmly, “but I’m acting as if you have all the time in the world to take me places. I’ve no idea what your life on the island is like. What do you do all day?”

  “I’ve been working on a book, actually,” Fenella told him. When she’d first arrived, she been passionate about her book, but lately she’d found that she’d lost interest in it. She wasn’t going to share that with James, however.

  “What sort of book?”

  “A fictional autobiography of Anne Boleyn.”

  James raised an eyebrow. “That sounds difficult, but fascinating.”

  “Yes, it’s both of those. Anyway, as I’m only doing it for my own satisfaction, I can certainly take a few days off and spend them with my big brother. Let’s go and get some lunch.”

  “Did Mona leave you a lot of money, then?” James asked the question that Fenella had been dreading.

  “She left me enough, with my pension, that I don’t have to work. My advocate and I are still working through settling the estate.”r />
  “Advocate?”

  “It’s what they call lawyers over here,” Fenella explained. “Mine is excellent, but everything seems to take a very long time.”

  James nodded. “I’ll buy lunch, then, if you are watching your pennies.”

  “Oh, no, lunch is on me,” Fenella insisted. “It cost you a lot to fly over here to see me. I’ll pay for your meals and entertainment while you’re here.”

  “Are you sure? I’d really appreciate it. I had to remortgage again to pay for my flights. If I can work with Stephanie’s notes, I may still be able to write that second book, at least.”

  “I’m quite sure. Now let me call Shelly and have her feed Katie and we’ll be away.”

  It only took a minute to get Shelly to agree to make sure that Katie got both lunch and dinner. That gave Fenella the rest of the day to spend with James. Once they were in Fenella’s car, she looked over at him.

  “Anywhere in particular you wanted to go?” she asked.

  James shrugged. “When I was a kid, one of my friends lived in Laxey. Do you remember Henry Clucas?”

  Fenella shook her head. “I was only two when we moved,” she reminded him.

  He laughed. “I forgot. Okay, well, Henry moved to London and then to Birmingham. We still send each other Christmas cards every few years. Anyway, when I used to visit him on a weekend, sometimes his mum would take us to the local pub there for fish and chips. I don’t even know if the pub is still around, but if it is, I’d love to go there.”

  “What was it called?” Fenella asked as she backed the car out of the driveway.

  “The Cat and Longtail,” he replied. “It wasn’t like the pub we were at last night, all modern and fancy. This was a real pub, and I’m not sure why his mum took us there, except the food was good. There were always a few drunks at the bar and you could barely see because of all the cigarette smoke, but we used to sit at a table in the back and feast.”

  “I haven’t been to Laxey yet, but I’m sure we can find it,” Fenella said, mentally crossing her fingers. “I’ve seen loads of signs for it.”

  “It’s just up the coast from here,” James told her. “I can’t imagine the roads have changed much since I was a kid.”