Guests and Guilt

by Diana Xarissa

  It would be easier to invite you here and then murder you in your sleep, Fenella thought. “Jack, I’m not pretending,” she said.

  “Yes, darling, you keep telling me that so that you don’t feel guilty. I quite understand. It’s asking a lot of me, asking me to move halfway around the world. I wouldn’t do it for just anyone, you know, but I will for you. You’re worth it.”

  “I’m really not. Please, just stay there. You’ve Hazel and Sue to think of, as well. They’d both miss you terribly if you left.”

  “Hazel has taken a six-month sabbatical to study the eighteenth-century history of Canada, a subject I can’t believe will be at all interesting. And Sue has just become involved with one of the professors from the mathematics department. I can’t imagine what she sees in him, but they seem very happy together.”

  “How nice for both of them,” Fenella said. Hazel and Sue were two other professors in the history department where Jack worked. When Fenella had worked there as well, she’d always felt that the pair of them disliked her and thought that Jack could do better. From what Jack had told her, when she’d first moved to the island they’d each made a play for him, but Jack seemed to have misunderstood their friendly overtures. It seemed that now they’d both given up and moved on.

  “I suppose so. Anyway, you think about my offer. I’ll call you again in a few days and we can talk further. Why don’t you ever call me, though? It seems as if I’m always calling you, and that means I’m the one paying for the incredibly expensive international calls.”

  “I don’t call you because I’ve moved on with my life,” Fenella snapped, “and you don’t have to pay for any more calls. Simply stop calling.”

  “I can’t do that. Not until I’m sure you’re truly happy.”

  “What do I have to do to prove that I’m happy?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’d believe you if I could see you in person. Maybe you should come back to Buffalo to visit me. Then I could see how you really feel.”

  “I’m not coming back to Buffalo. Please stop asking. I have to go.” Fenella put the phone down before Jack could reply. After she’d done that, she banged her head on the wall in front of her.

  “I never did like that guy,” James said. “I only met him once or twice, but he always seemed like an idiot.”

  “He’s a brilliant historian,” Fenella replied, feeling foolish for defending the man but unable to stop herself.

  “Yeah, but he’s not a great human being,” James said. “I should know what I’m talking about. I’m not a great human being, either.”

  “It’s never too late to change,” Fenella told him.

  “Eh, I’m happy the way I am. It isn’t like I want to get married or anything, not at this late date. Maybe if I were a nicer person I’d have found someone to collaborate with on my next book years ago, but that’s all water under the bridge now. But why did Jack ask for Maggie?”

  “I was always Fenella to the family, but outside of home I usually used Margaret, as it was easier for Americans,” Fenella explained.

  “Fenella isn’t difficult.”

  “No, but it’s unusual, which means it was often spelled incorrectly. I don’t know. I suppose when I was younger I just wanted to feel as if I fit in more. Margaret was a more common name.”

  “And Jack calls you Maggie.”

  “Which I’ve always hated,” Fenella sighed. “He’s got it in his head that we belong together, and he keeps trying to find ways to get me to move back to Buffalo.”

  “You should have him come and visit. Once he saw your setup here, he’d stop talking about you moving back to Buffalo. This apartment is gorgeous.”

  “It is really nice, but having him come here might be worse. He seems to think that he should move here if I won’t move there.”

  “And you don’t want him here.”

  “I’d have to marry him in order for him to stay. I don’t want to marry him, that’s for sure.”

  “So stop answering his calls.”

  “I haven’t been answering his calls. You’re the one who answered him today.”

  James laughed. “I did, didn’t I? I am sorry, baby sister. Do you want me to go and talk to him when I get home? I could probably convince him to leave you alone. Maybe I could take John with me. He can be pretty intimidating when he wants to be.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but Jack is my problem. One of these days he’s going to start believing me. I keep hoping he’ll meet someone else, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.”

  “What about you? You told him that you have men in your life. When can I meet them?”

  “Unfortunately, I may have been exaggerating slightly when I spoke to Jack,” Fenella replied. She really didn’t want to explain her love life to her brother, especially when it wasn’t any of his business anyway.

  “I assume the police inspector didn’t find any secret manuscripts hidden in the house, then?”

  “No, he didn’t,” Fenella replied as Mona wandered into the room.

  She looked from Fenella to James and back again before walking closer to James. “He can’t see me,” she said after a moment.

  Fenella shrugged.

  “I thought he might be able to, as you can,” Mona told her. “How very interesting. If he’s staying in the spare bedroom, I shall have to chat with him while he’s sleeping.”

  “Anyway,” Fenella said. “I told Mark about the memorial service. He said we’re not to speak to the three women when we’re there.”

  “We have to speak to them,” James argued. “It would be rude otherwise.”

  “Yes, well, I suppose he can’t object to us saying a few words to them, but he doesn’t want us mentioning murder or Arthur Beck to them,” Fenella clarified.

  “I hope he isn’t going to be too angry with me, then,” James said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I have every intention of discussing Stephanie’s murder and Arthur Beck with those three women. I also plan to ask them why they’re lying about the work that Stephanie was doing with me. I’m not going to let them accuse me of anything and I’m not going to let them get away with murder.”

  Fenella frowned. “Mark will be there. He will step in and cut the conversation short if you insist on talking about any of those things.”

  “But we can at least see the reaction that Arthur Beck’s name gets,” James argued. “That should be telling, anyway.”

  “And I’m sure Mark is hoping to see that reaction when he questions them about the man, but not at a public memorial service,” Fenella said.

  “James is right,” Mona interrupted. “Confronting them could be the fastest way to solve Stephanie’s murder.”

  “He’s dragging his feet, not knowing what to believe,” James said. “I have the advantage of knowing that I didn’t kill her or even have any reason to do so. I know those three killed her, probably as a group.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Mona said. “It didn’t sound as if they were getting along particularly well at the pub that night. I can’t see them getting organized enough to kill as a group again.”

  “Except they weren’t getting along very well at the pub,” Fenella repeated what Mona had said.

  “Maybe they were pretending to fight to disguise their intentions,” James replied.

  “Or maybe just one of them killed Stephanie,” Fenella said. “Or maybe she really did have an accident. It doesn’t really matter. Mark will work it all out eventually.”

  “But I don’t want to wait for eventually. Do you know how I felt when your inspector friend was here today? Guilty. And I didn’t do anything wrong. I hate feeling as if I’m being watched and judged. That man actually thinks that I might have murdered Stephanie. It’s a horrible feeling.”

  “I know exactly how you feel, and I’m sorry, but if you start confronting those women on Saturday, Mark will probably arrest you.”

  “Then I can sit in jail and try to work out who
killed Stephanie and who tried to run me down. Don’t forget that. One of them tried to kill me, too. The sooner the police find out what happened, the safer I’ll be.”

  “I was going to tell Annie that you’ve told the police everything that Stephanie ever told you, but I didn’t get a chance.”

  “Tell her when she calls back with the time for the service,” James suggested. “I’ll feel better going if the three of them know I’ve told the police about Arthur Beck.”

  “Remind me when she calls,” Fenella told him.

  “Even if they know, someone might still try to get rid of James,” Mona said. “I hope you’re going to keep a very close eye on him at the service.”

  Fenella looked over at her and nodded slightly.

  “I’m still not convinced that he didn’t just trip over the curb when drunk,” Mona added. “He looks thoroughly disreputable. I’m not very happy with him staying in my flat.”

  Biting her tongue to avoid responding to Mona, Fenella went into the kitchen to get a snack for Katie.

  “What was all that about making me a snack?” James called across the room. “You told Jack you were going to make me a snack, didn’t you?”

  “I was just saying that so that I could get off the phone,” Fenella replied. “You aren’t on antibiotics.”

  “I know, but don’t you feel guilty for lying to Jack? You should probably make me something to eat, just so you weren’t totally lying to the poor man.”

  Fenella rolled her eyes and then sighed. She did feel badly about lying to Jack. She glanced through her cupboards and found a small bag of potato chips. After dumping them into a bowl, she walked back into the living room and handed the bowl to her brother. “There you are,” she said.

  James took the bowl and chuckled. “I’m not sure putting chips into a bowl counts as making me a snack, but I’m not going to complain.”

  “I should hope not,” Fenella replied.

  Annie finally called the next day, just as Fenella was heading out to do some grocery shopping. James had already eaten just about every bit of food that she’d had in the apartment.

  “Hello?” she said when the phone on the table next to her rang.

  “It’s Annie. I just wanted to let you know that the service will be at two o’clock on Saturday. We’re just having it at the community center in Onchan. I don’t know that there will be anyone there besides the three of us, but we’re putting a notice in the local paper.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. James and I will be there. He’s been spending so much time with the police, I’m sure he’ll be happy to speak to other people.”

  “The police? Why has he been talking to them?”

  “I’m not sure why, but they’ve been asking him questions about the things that Stephanie told him about her life when she lived on the island. He’s told them everything he can remember from the stories that she told him.”

  “Has he really? I’m going to be in trouble then, aren’t I? There are a lot of stories from those days that I’d rather the police didn’t know.”

  “There are?”

  “Well, yeah, sure. I mean, we all drank too much, and we may have borrowed a few cars without permission. I’m sure you heard the story about the time we broke into the school to drink. We were a pretty wild bunch, the CAMS. I sure hope he didn’t tell the police all of those stories.”

  “I believe he told the police everything that Stephanie had told him. I wouldn’t be too worried, though. I’m sure they can’t prosecute you for breaking and entering after all these years.”

  “Probably not,” Annie agreed, “but I’ll feel uncomfortable if I ever see that police inspector again. I’d rather he didn’t know about my youthful indiscretions.”

  “I’m sure he’s heard much worse,” Fenella said. “James and I are both looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday.”

  “You don’t happen to know what sort of stories Stephanie told James, do you?”

  “Not at all. I just know that James passed them all on to Inspector Hammersmith.”

  “Okay, well, thanks. We’ll see you on Saturday.”

  Fenella put the phone down and looked over at James, who was stretched out on one of the couches. “The service is at two. I hope I’ve told her enough to keep you safe.”

  “At this point, I’d almost relish another attempt on my life. I’m so bored I can barely stand it. I can’t believe you aren’t letting me out of the apartment.”

  “I’ve told you that you’re welcome to come with me to the grocery store.”

  “That isn’t what I mean.”

  “The doctor said no alcohol for a week. You know if you go to a pub that you’ll have a drink, no matter what you promise me or yourself. Let’s get through the memorial service and then have this argument, okay?”

  James nodded, and Fenella had to be happy with that. Having him staying with her was proving challenging. Mona seemed to have disappeared, as well. Fenella could only hope that the police would hurry up and solve Stephanie’s murder so that James could move back into the house on Poppy Drive.

  14

  Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, but by the time Fenella made lunch it was raining and grey outside.

  “The weather looks like I feel,” James said as he ate.

  “Yeah, me, too,” Fenella replied. “Maybe we should skip the memorial service. They probably wouldn’t even miss us.”

  “You don’t have to come. You barely knew Stephanie. I’m going, though. I was her, well, significant other, and I need to be there.”

  “If you’re going, I’m going.”

  “I wish I could go,” Mona sighed. “It will be nice to have my flat to myself for an hour, though. James does seem to take up more than his fair share of space when he’s here.”

  Fenella only just stopped herself from agreeing out loud. “You can load the dishwasher when you’re done,” she told her brother when she’d finished eating. “I’m going to go and find something to wear to the service.”

  “You know I don’t know how to load the dishwasher,” James replied. “You’ve shown me every day since I’ve been here, but I’m still not getting it.”

  “Do your best,” Fenella told him. “I’m getting tired of waiting on you hand and foot. Try to help out a little bit, okay?”

  “I’m sorry to be such a burden, baby sister. I didn’t ask to come over here and get targeted by a serial killer.”

  Fenella rolled her eyes and then walked out of the room. James had grown increasingly demanding and difficult as the days had progressed. Now he seemed convinced that if he left the apartment he would be murdered by one of Stephanie’s friends. Apparently, even that threat wasn’t enough to keep him home from the memorial service, though.

  “What should I wear?” Fenella asked Mona after she’d shut and locked her bedroom door.

  “To a memorial service at a community center? I would think just about anything would be fine. People probably won’t bother to wear black, even though they should.”

  “I want to wear black.”

  “Then try the set of dresses on the right side of the long hanging bar,” Mona said, gesturing toward the huge wardrobe that was still packed full of her clothes. “That’s my funeral collection.”

  “You had a special collection for funerals?” Fenella asked as she opened the wardrobe.

  “In the last ten or so years of my life, I lost a great many of my friends,” Mona told her. “I attended a lot of funerals.”

  Fenella pulled out a beautiful black dress. “This is gorgeous,” she said.

  “I’d rather you didn’t wear that one, actually,” Mona said in an odd tone.

  Fenella looked over at her. “Are you crying?”

  “No, of course not. It’s just that I wore that to Max’s funeral. It was a very difficult day for me, not least because Max’s sister refused to speak to me.”

  “I am sorry.”

  Mona shrugged. “Max and his sister didn�
�t get along very well, but that’s a long story for another time. Let’s worry about today.”

  “As much as I love this dress, it’s far too formal and nice for where I’m going,” Fenella said as she slid the dress back into the wardrobe. “What about this one?”

  The next dress along was also lovely, but far less formal.

  “It’s probably too nice for where you’re going as well, but if you really want to wear black, it may be your best option.”

  “I really want to wear black,” Fenella said firmly. “I think Stephanie deserves that.”

  With the dress decided upon, Fenella did her hair and makeup before finding shoes and a handbag that she liked. When she was all ready, she turned slowly in front of the full-length mirror. “What do you think?” she asked Mona.

  “I think you’ll be the best-dressed woman there,” Mona replied, “but then I’d expect nothing less from you.”

  James looked surprised when Fenella walked into the living room a moment later. “You look great,” he said. “That dress looks like it cost a ton of money.”

  “It was one of Mona’s.”

  “It fits you like it was made for you.”

  “Yes, we seem to have been the same size,” Fenella replied. Mona laughed and then faded away.

  “Where are we going, again?” James asked as they boarded the elevator.

  “The Onchan Community Center. It’s just like a hall that anyone can rent for any purpose,” Fenella explained.

  “Seems an odd place to have a memorial service.”

  “Take that up with Annie and the others.”

  “I already have a long list of things to discuss with them.”

  Fenella drove her car to the community center and parked next to the only other car that was there.

  “Quite the turnout,” James said sarcastically.

  “We’re a few minutes early. We can wait in the car for a little while, if you want.”

  “I’d rather not be the first ones in,” James said. “I’m sure Annie and the others are waiting for me.”

  “No one else might be coming,” Fenella reminded him.