“Things are slowly improving, and I’m cautiously optimistic,” he told her. “I’m actually starting to believe that my Phoebe is going to recover eventually.”
“That is good news.”
“It’s going to be a long process, though. I’m working with her doctors on a plan now. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring her back to the island once she’s stable enough to travel, but that will only work if I can find the right people to help with her rehabilitation once she gets there.”
“If there’s anything you can think of that I can do to help, just ask.”
“That’s kind of you. I wish there were, actually, but at the moment I’m mostly just waiting for other people. The good thing is that I have plenty of money to throw at the problem. Unfortunately, no amount of money is going to help if the right sort of specialist treatment simply isn’t available on the island. I’m still working out whether or not that’s the case, however.”
“All I can do is wish you luck, then,” Fenella said.
“If you really want to help, you could always come to New York and keep me company here,” Donald suggested. “I’m probably going to be here for another month or more.”
“Right now, I have James visiting,” Fenella reminded him. “He’s here for three weeks, but maybe after he’s gone, I could think about it. I haven’t been to New York City in years.”
“We could take in a few Broadway shows, have expensive dinners at all the best places, and you could meet Phoebe.”
“You make it all sound very tempting, but I still have to get through another two and a half weeks with my brother before I can even think about it.”
“Maybe you could give it a little bit of thought while James is still there. I do miss you rather desperately.”
Fenella frowned. “I’m not sure…” she began.
“No, no, don’t say it,” Donald interrupted. “I know. I’m pushing you again and I promised you that I wouldn’t do that anymore. The problem is, I’d only just realized how much I was starting to care about you when I had to come to New York. That isn’t your fault, though. You enjoy your brother’s visit and don’t give me another thought. Just know that I’ll be thinking of you.”
“I’ll be thinking of you, too,” Fenella replied, “and of Phoebe.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Fenella set the phone back down and wiped a stray tear from her eye. Her feelings for Donald were far too complicated to even think about in the middle of a murder investigation, she told herself. When the phone rang again, she answered it without thinking.
“Ah, Ms. Woods? It’s Annie, Annie Lawrence. Thank you for ringing me back. I wasn’t sure I had the right number, but you were the only F. Woods in the phone book.”
“Annie, how are you?” Fenella asked.
“If I’m honest, I’m really shaken up about Stephanie,” the other woman replied. “I mean, she was the closest thing I ever had to a sister and I’d missed her terribly while she’d been away. I was so happy to see her again, and I was really looking forward to spending lots of time with her while she was here.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Ah, thanks. The worst part is, it was all my fault, you know.”
“It was?”
“You didn’t know? I thought the police would have told you the whole story. If not them, then someone, anyway. I thought you and James were avoiding me because you blamed me.”
“We aren’t avoiding you. We simply didn’t have a number where we could reach you.”
“I never thought of that,” Annie said. “So you aren’t blaming me for Stephanie’s death?”
“Maybe you should tell me what happened,” Fenella suggested. “I don’t know anything about it.”
“I’ll tell you, but only because you need to know before you make any decision about the memorial service. It really was all my fault.”
“I’m sure that isn’t true,” Fenella lied.
“We had a fight, you see,” Annie said. “Not long after you left, actually. I was drunk and I got too emotional about, well, about everything. I said horrible things to Stephanie about her leaving. I was sorry immediately, but too stubborn to admit to it.”
“I can understand why you were upset,” Fenella said.
“I know I shouldn’t drink. I was never good at it, and I stopped for a few years, but I keep going back to it. Anyway, we argued. We were both crying. Stephanie finally stormed out. Maureen went after her, but she couldn’t catch her. Stephanie never should have been walking home alone after dark. She must have looked the wrong way when she was crossing the road. It was my fault she was even out there.”
“It was still just an accident,’ Fenella said soothingly. She could tell that Annie was crying.
“I know. That’s what the police told me, but I can’t help but feel that it was my fault. I shouldn’t have shouted at her. I should have gone after her. I don’t know.”
“It was a difficult evening. Emotions were running high while I was there, for sure. You hadn’t seen Stephanie in over twenty years. When you add alcohol, it’s hardly surprising that things blew up.”
“Courtney was always the one who kept us under control,” Annie told her. “She never gets emotional about anything, really, but after you and James left, she started drinking a lot, too. By the time Stephanie and I started arguing, she wasn’t in any fit state to calm us down.”
“As I said, it was a terrible accident, but that’s all it was. You mustn’t blame yourself or anyone else.”
“Thank you for seeing it that way. As I said, I thought you and James probably blamed me for what happened.”
“We didn’t and we don’t, and you mustn’t blame yourself, either.”
“I can’t promise I won’t do that. We did try to find her, though. When Maureen came back and said that she’d disappeared, we went after her. We walked around for a short while, looking for her, and then we got a taxi and drove around looking for her for ages. We didn’t have the address for the house where James was staying, or we would have gone there to make sure she was okay.”
“I’m sure you did everything you could.”
“We did our best.”
“And now you want to have a memorial service for her.”
“Yes, we do. We were talking about it last night. We met here to talk about Stephanie and, well, celebrate her life, I suppose. Someone suggested that we should do something to honor her memory. There are other people on the island who knew her. They’ll want to pay their respects, I’m sure.”
“James and I would very much like to attend the service when you have it.”
“Oh, yes, of course. We were talking about trying to arrange something for this Saturday, if that isn’t too soon. I know James is in Noble’s, but I don’t know why. Is he okay?”
“He’s going to be fine. He went out for a walk and tripped over a curb, that’s all. He banged his head pretty badly, which is why they’re keeping him at Noble’s for the moment.”
“Oh, dear. I should pop up to see him during my break tomorrow. He’d probably like to see a friendly face.”
“They’re talking about releasing him tomorrow morning, so I wouldn’t bother,” Fenella told her.
“That is good news. I’ll ring you back when we’ve set a time and a place for the service, then. I don’t suppose you know if Stephanie was particularly religious?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it.”
“Yeah, me, too. Maybe we’ll just do something at one of the community centers rather than at a church, then.”
“That may be for the best.”
“I’ll let you know what we decide. Thank you for being so understanding about everything. I was terrified to talk to you, you know.”
“You shouldn’t have been. It was an accident,” Fenella said, wondering if it was possible that she was right. Maybe Mark had changed his mind and written the whole thing off as an accident after all.
“Tal
k to you soon, then,” Annie said before the call disconnected.
Fenella put the phone down and looked at Katie. “That’s quite enough phone calls for today,” she said.
The phone rang as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
“It’s Shelly. I was wondering if you’d like to go to the pub.”
Fenella laughed. “Finally a phone call that I’m happy I answered,” she said. “I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”
She gave Katie a few treats and refilled her water bowl before changing into a pretty flowery shirt. After combing her hair, she touched up her makeup and splashed on some perfume. A trip to the pub was exactly what she needed after what had been a very long day. She grabbed her handbag and checked that she had everything she needed.
“I won’t be long,” she told Katie as she headed for the door.
“Merrew,” Katie replied.
Fenella let herself out and locked the door behind her. A moment later, she tapped on Shelly’s door.
12
“I suppose it makes sense that the police haven’t mentioned that they’re investigating the story that James told them,” Shelly said after Fenella had brought her up to date on everything that had happened since she’d last seen her. “They’re probably keeping it quiet until they know for certain whether it’s true or not.”
“I understand that, but I’d be less worried about James if the three women knew that he’d told them Stephanie’s secret,” Fenella replied.
“I can see that. Maybe you should tell them yourself.”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“I don’t mean confront them about Arthur Beck, I mean say something about how James spent hours with the police, telling them every single thing that Stephanie ever said to him, or something like that.”
Fenella took a sip of wine and leaned her head against the nearest bookshelf. “That might be a good idea, but I’d really rather avoid talking to them at all. I really hope that Stephanie’s death was just an accident and that the police find Arthur Beck happily living out his golden years in Liverpool or somewhere.”
“What’s really bothering you?” Shelly asked.
“Daniel seems to think that I’m doing this on purpose or something,” Fenella complained, “and he’s found someone else, as well.”
“He has? I know Mark said something about him going to Scotland for a visit, but that doesn’t mean it has to be romantic, does it?”
“There was a woman with him when he called me. I heard her urging him to get off the phone. That’s the second time that’s happened, and I’m pretty sure it was the same woman both times.”
“Maybe they’re just friends. They’re on a course together, after all. Didn’t you ever become friendly with someone at a conference or anything like that?”
“Not really. I usually went to conferences with Jack, though.”
“Why don’t you wait until Daniel is back before you start worrying about what he’s doing in Milton Keynes? I’m sure he’ll tell you everything. He isn’t the sort to lie about it.”
“And I’ve been seeing Donald while he’s been away, so I can’t complain if he has found another woman. It just seems as if he’s a lot less patient with me now when it comes to this murder investigation.”
“If it is a murder investigation,” Shelly said.
“Mark and Daniel both seem to be treating it like one,” Fenella sighed. “I don’t suppose you’d like to come to the memorial service with me on Saturday? Obviously, I’ll be taking James as well.”
“I’m not sure that I want to come, but I will come if you need the moral support.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I should be okay. I just thought you might be interested in meeting the three suspects, that’s all.”
Shelly frowned. “Now that you mention it, I am. What time is the service? I’m meant to be having lunch with Gordon on Saturday.”
“I don’t know yet. Annie is supposed to call me back to let me know. I’m planning on letting the machine answer all of my calls for the next week.”
“And James is being released tomorrow?”
“Hopefully in the morning. He’ll have to stay with me for a short while. The doctor said he shouldn’t be alone.”
“If he starts making you crazy, you can always come and visit me.”
“He’s been surprisingly easy to get along with thus far,” Fenella told her. “He hasn’t said much about his money troubles or hinted that I should give him some of my inheritance. We’ve actually been getting along surprisingly well. That may all change when he sees Mona’s apartment, of course.”
“Maybe the shock of being mixed up in a murder investigation will keep him from pestering you about money.”
“I’d rather he were pestering me.”
Shelly laughed. “I know what you mean, but surely it won’t take Mark long to work out what happened, with only three suspects.”
“There could be others that we know nothing about.”
“Who else even knew the woman was on the island?”
“I have no idea. James was taking a nap when Stephanie called Annie to set up the meeting at the pub. We’ve no idea who else she might have spoken to at that time, or what other arrangements she might have made.”
“So she could have arranged to meet someone later in the evening and that someone might have killed her,” Shelly said.
“Exactly. Although that brings up the question of motive.”
“We do have a pretty compelling motive for the three women, at least.”
“If the story about Arthur Beck is true.”
“Well, yes, there is that,” Shelly sighed. “Let’s keep things simple, then. Which of the three women do you think killed Stephanie?”
“My first inclination is to say Annie. She’s incredibly bitter about Stephanie leaving, not that I blame her, but that could have given her a motive beyond Arthur Beck. She also admitted to having fought with Stephanie after I left. Maybe she got home and started feeling even more upset. She could have driven back to the pub and found Stephanie still wandering around lost.”
“And then stolen a car and run her down,” Shelly finished the story as Fenella swallowed the last of her wine.
“The stolen car feels like a complication,” Fenella admitted. “I could almost see Annie running Stephanie over in a fit of anger, fuelled by far too much alcohol, but stealing a car requires some level of planning or premeditation, and I’m not sure I can see Annie managing that.”
“Are you ruling Annie out?”
“I’m moving her down the list and thinking about Courtney. She absolutely seemed capable of planning to murder someone. And she was the least drunk of the trio when I was at the pub. Annie said she started drinking heavily after I left, though.”
“Can you see her knowing how to steal a car?”
“Someone suggested the keys might have been left inside. It doesn’t take any specialist knowledge to steal a car if the keys are inside it.”
“Does that mean Courtney is your number-one suspect?”
“Maybe. If the Arthur Beck story is true, she has a motive, but beyond that I can’t see any reason for her to kill Stephanie.”
“We need to find out if the story is true or not,” Shelly sighed.
“Daniel said that they’d found a missing person report on the man, which suggests it might be, but just because a man went missing doesn’t mean he was killed by four teenaged girls twenty-something years ago.”
“I can’t believe that they’ve all kept the secret for this long. I’m surprised none of them told a partner or their mothers or someone.”
“Maybe one of them did tell someone else, but that other person is also keeping things quiet,” Fenella replied.
“We haven’t talked about Maureen. What about her as a suspect?”
“I feel as if I didn’t really get to know her, not as much as the other two, which makes me suspicious of her, probably unfairly.”
<
br /> “You said she’s been engaged six times?”
“It was something like that. She was, I don’t know, slightly flighty, or maybe she had something on her mind. She didn’t talk that much, really.”
“Maybe because she was busy plotting how to kill Stephanie.”
“I suppose that’s one possibility.”
“She is the one who went after her, right? Maybe she caught up with her and told her to meet her later somewhere. Then she went back and told the others that Stephanie was gone. Once she got home, she only had to get in her car and drive back to wherever she’d told Stephanie to meet her.”
“But where was Stephanie for the hour when the three women were looking for her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she just hid in the loo.”
Fenella nodded slowly. “No one has said that they checked the bathroom, but I assume they must have. She could have hidden in a stall, I suppose.”
“Maybe you should ask Annie for more details.”
“Or maybe I should just let the police do their job,” Fenella retorted. “If it was all perfectly straightforward, Mark would have arrested someone by now.”
“From where was the car stolen? Do you know that?”
“Mark said it had been taken off someone’s driveway. I got the feeling that it was somewhere in the area near the pub, but I don’t know that for sure.”
“It was too much to hope that it had been stolen from Courtney’s next-door neighbor, I suppose.”
Fenella nodded. “As I said, if it were that easy, Mark would have arrested someone by now.”
They finished their drinks and then made their way back to their apartment building.
“Are you going to be okay on your own tonight?” Shelly asked as they rode the elevator to the top floor. “I could stay tonight, if you need company.”
“I’m fine. It will be nice having my apartment all to myself for tonight, what with James moving in tomorrow.”
They hugged in the corridor and then went to their respective apartments. Once in bed, Fenella tossed and turned for a few minutes before falling into a restless sleep.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve reached your limit,” Mark Hammersmith said. “We have no choice.”
Guests and Guilt Page 18