Boats and Bad Guys Read online

  Boats and Bad Guys

  An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy

  Diana Xarissa

  Text Copyright © 2017 Diana Xarissa

  Cover Copyright © 2017 Linda Boulanger – Tell-Tale Book Covers

  All Rights Reserved

  For all of Fenella’s fans.

  Author’s Note

  Welcome to the second book in the Ghostly Cozy Series. I have to say, writing about a ghost is a lot of fun! I hope you are enjoying reading about her. As with all of my series, the books move along in alphabetical order (because I love to read series books, but I’m a bit obsessive about reading them in order). My characters do develop and change as the series progresses, but each story should stand on its own if you would prefer to only read a single title.

  If you’re a fan of Bessie and/or the Markham sisters, this series is a little bit different. As my main character is a transplanted American, the book is primarily written in American English. I hope my readers in the UK and further afield don’t mind.

  Like the Bessie books and my romances, it is set in the Isle of Man. The island is a unique and wonderful place and I urge everyone to visit it, but not all at once!

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Similarly, the restaurants, shops, and other businesses in the story are fictional. I’ve taken considerable liberties with locations within the story, adding shops and restaurants where they are convenient to the story, rather than where any shops actually exist. The historical sites and other landmarks on the island are all real; however, the events that take place within them in this story are fictional.

  I urge everyone to sign up for my newsletter so that you can keep track of release dates. I also run an occasional contest and try to answer some of the questions I get asked the most. You can find a sign-up link on my website; its address is given in the back of the book. I truly love hearing from my readers. Please do get in touch. All of my contact details are also in the back of the book.

  Table of Contents

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  By the Same Author

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “One more round?” Peter asked as Fenella swallowed her last sip of wine.

  “Oh, go on, then,” Shelly replied. “It’s Friday, and Fenella’s the only one who has to get up tomorrow.”

  Fenella laughed. “I’m glad you’re thinking of me,” she said. “But I will have one more, thank you,” she told Peter. “I don’t expect I’ll be drinking at all when I’m in England. I may as well have fun tonight.”

  “There are pubs in England,” Peter told her a moment later as he delivered the fresh drinks. “Some of them even sell good wine.”

  “As good as this?” Fenella asked, raising her glass.

  Peter frowned. “Maybe not quite as good as that,” he admitted. “But the Tale and Tail is a very special pub.”

  “It is,” Fenella agreed, looking around the huge room. New owners had converted what had once been the private library in the home of a very wealthy family into a pub some years earlier. Shelves and shelves of books still lined the room and Fenella had already given up on ever having the time to read even the titles of all of them.

  She and her friends were settled comfortably on couches around a small table on the upper level of the pub. One of the pub’s handful of official pub cats was stretched out on the couch next to Peter, enjoying having his ears scratched. Fenella settled back in her seat and sighed. Moving to the Isle of Man had been something of a whim, she could admit to herself, but so far it seemed as if it had been an excellent decision.

  “So what are your plans for next week?” Peter asked.

  “I’m being met tomorrow by a researcher that I’ve been corresponding with for the last six months,” Fenella said. “He’s kindly offered to put me up tomorrow night and then drive me down to London on Sunday. I have a busy week full of places I want to see, and then I’m going to take the train back to Liverpool to catch the ferry back.”

  “How much do you know about this researcher?” Shelly asked, frowning.

  “Rather more than I’d like to, actually,” Fenella said with a laugh. “He’s a distant relative of some sort and he and my oldest brother went to school together when they were young. They’ve always kept in touch, at least with birthday cards and the like, and now, in the Internet age, they’re social media friends. Once I moved over here, I added him to my social media account. Since then, I’ve seen way too many pictures of the man’s grandchild, I can tell you that.”

  Shelly laughed. “Okay, so at least you know he’s not some creepy stalker.”

  “You can’t be accused of stalking your own grandchild, can you?” Fenella asked. “I mean, the poor baby has this sort of permanently startled looked on his face, no doubt because there’s always a flash going off in front of him.”

  “First grandchild?” Peter asked.

  “Yes, and I’m sure he’s hoping it isn’t the last,” Fenella replied.

  “You’ve only been here what, six weeks, but it’s going to be strange not having you around,” Shelly said.

  “You’ll have Katie to keep you company,” Fenella reminded her. “You can still have her, right?” She hadn’t planned on adopting a stray kitten, but the kitten had more or less moved in with her without asking. Now that Fenella had her, though, she couldn’t imagine life without the small ball of fur and attitude.

  “Of course I can still have Katie,” Shelly said. “I’m looking forward to it. Maybe she can help me make up my mind about getting a kitten of my own.”

  “You should,” Fenella replied. “Then our kittens could play together while we have coffee.”

  Shelly nodded. “I’m just a little worried about becoming a sad and lonely widowed woman with too many cats,” she said a little sheepishly.

  “We won’t let that happen,” Peter said firmly. “One cat isn’t a problem, though, if you’d like the company.”

  “I think I might,” Shelly said. “We’ll see how it goes, looking after Katie.”

  That third glass of wine was really one too many for Fenella. She’d never been much of a drinker, and while she’d already developed a habit of going to the Tale and Tail on a regular basis, she rarely had more than a single drink. As she sipped her wine, she began to feel quite sleepy.

  “I think I should head for home,” she told her friends. “As you said, I do have to be up in the morning.”

  The others quickly finished their drinks and then the trio made their way to the elevator at the rear of the building. The winding staircase in the center of the pub was best used only for going up when fully sober.

  The large apartment building where they all lived was only a few doors away. The lobby seemed too brightly lit to Fenella, and she worried that she might have a migraine coming on.

  “Is it just me, or is it brighter in here than normal?” Shelly asked as the group made its way to the elevators.

  “It’s very bright,” Peter said. “The management said something in the last newsletter about installing new lighting, but I didn’t really pay attention.”

  “You read the newsletter?” Shelly asked.
>
  “There’s a newsletter?” Fenella demanded.

  Peter laughed. “It’s emailed to residents every month. If they don’t have an email address for you, you won’t be getting it,” he told Fenella. “And yes, I read the newsletter, or a least I skim through the newsletter. Sometimes there is some quite good information in there.”

  “Hmmm,” Shelly replied. “I’ll take your word on that.”

  Everyone laughed as the elevator stopped on the top floor. Fenella followed the others into the corridor.

  “Like Shelly said, it’s going to seem strange not having you here,” Peter said as they reached his door. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but then he simply gave Fenella a quick hug and let himself into his apartment.

  “What’s going on with you two?” Shelly asked as the door shut behind Peter. “You went out to dinner a few times and I thought maybe there was going to be a bit of a romance there, and now, nothing.”

  Fenella shrugged. “We went out a few times, but Peter seems quite content for us to just be friends. I’m not going to push for more, not while I’m still recovering from my last relationship.”

  Shelly nodded. “Well, I think you two would be great together, if you ever did decide to push for more. There’s nothing wrong with being friends, though.”

  Fenella thought about Peter. He was a handsome man in his early fifties, just about the right age for her as she sped toward fifty herself. He had salt-and-pepper hair and lovely blue eyes, but he also had two ex-wives, one of whom was significantly younger than Fenella. Shelly was right. They might well be better off staying just friends.

  “Good night, dear,” Shelly said now as she gave Fenella a hug. “I’ll see you in the morning when you bring Katie over.”

  “Yes, I’ll be over around eight, sorry.”

  “No need to be,” Shelly assured her. “As long as you don’t mind that I won’t look quite this fabulous.”

  Fenella laughed as she looked her friend up and down. Shelly was wearing a bright green top with a hot pink skirt. The combination, especially when paired with the woman’s red hair, was striking to say the least. The longer Fenella knew her, the less she noticed what Shelly was wearing. No matter how loud Shelly’s outfits were, her personality was always bigger and better. Shelly insisted that Fenella’s Aunt Mona had been instrumental in pulling Shelly out of her depression when Shelly’s husband had died suddenly. Apparently Mona had encouraged the bright colors and the dyed hair that now seemed inextricably Shelly.

  Fenella opened the door to her own apartment, a smile still on her face. She’d left a few lights on for Katie, and the kitten looked up at her from her favorite spot on a couch in the living room.

  “Merow,” she said softly.

  “Hello, Katie,” Fenella replied. “I know it’s late, but I was having fun with my friends.”

  “Yes, well, it’s high time that little kitten was in bed,” a voice said from the kitchen.

  Fenella shook her head. “Aunt Mona, you know as well as I do that Katie sleeps whenever and wherever she likes. She couldn’t care less what time I go to bed.”

  “That isn’t true,” Mona argued. “She waits up for you every time you go out.”

  Fenella sighed. Mona would know, she supposed. As Mona was either a ghost or a figment of Fenella’s imagination, Mona was nearly always in the apartment. Fenella didn’t think her imagination was all that good, so as time went by and Mona didn’t show any signs of leaving, Fenella was coming to believe that the semi-transparent woman who seemed to pop in and out at random really was the ghost of her recently departed aunt.

  “Well, I’m home now, so I’ll just get off to bed,” Fenella told Mona. “You will keep an eye on things while I’m gone, won’t you?” she asked over her shoulder as she turned toward her bedroom.

  “Oh, I’ll be watching,” Mona replied. “I can’t do anything if burglars break in, for instance, but I’ll be watching for them.”

  “And then you can describe them to me and I can tell the police,” Fenella said. “Although how I’ll explain how I know what the burglars looked like to the police, I don’t know.”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Mona told her. “This building is very safe.”

  “There have been rather a lot of burglaries in Douglas in the last few weeks, though, haven’t there? According to the local papers, that’s quite unusual.”

  “Yes, well, perhaps a gang of criminals has moved in from across or something,” Mona said. “They’ll soon find that there isn’t much to steal in most people’s houses here and move on again.”

  Fenella glanced around her comfortably furnished apartment. “I’d hate for anyone to take anything from in here, except maybe that lamp,” she said after a moment.

  “The lamp your mother bought me,” Mona laughed. “You really don’t like it, do you?”

  Fenella wrinkled her nose. “It just isn’t to my taste, although nearly everything else is.”

  “You know you don’t have to keep it,” Mona said. “You own the flat and all of its contents. You can redecorate the entire place if you want to.”

  “That wouldn’t feel right, not with you still being here,” Fenella said. “I mean, even if you went, I probably wouldn’t do much. As I said, most of it is exactly right.”

  “Yes, well, as I understand it, it’s mostly computer equipment and jewelry that are being stolen in these break-ins. Items that are small and valuable and are easy to sell on the street. The furniture in here should be safe enough, and you can lock up your jewelry in the safe before you go.”

  “I meant to do that,” Fenella exclaimed. “Thank you for reminding me.”

  In the master bedroom, behind a lovely watercolor painting, was a wall safe. Fenella opened it and put her small jewelry box inside.

  “Are you wearing those earrings to England?” Mona asked.

  Fenella put a hand to her ear and then shook her head. “These are too nice,” she said, taking the small diamond studs out of her ears. “I’ll wear some simple gold hoops while I’m away.” She dropped the studs into the safe with the jewelry box and fished out a pair of plain gold hoop earrings.

  “I was thinking about changing my appearance again,” Mona said from where she was standing in front of the full-length mirror. “But then, I can’t see myself in the mirror if you aren’t here, so maybe it isn’t worth the bother.”

  “I thought you liked being around thirty,” Fenella said. “What were you thinking of changing to?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mona sighed. “I’m just bored, I think.”

  “I hope you won’t be too bored while I’m away,” Fenella said, looking at her aunt with concern.

  “It’s strange being here all the time,” Mona said. “I miss my exciting life and I really miss the Tale and Tail. Maybe it’s time to move on to the next phase of my being dead.”

  Fenella swallowed hard. There were times when she thought it would be nice to have her apartment to herself, but she also knew she’d miss Mona once the other woman moved on to whatever was next. “You have to do what’s best for you,” she said after a moment.

  “Yes, I suppose I do,” Mona mused. “It doesn’t seem as if I’m helping much with your love life, either, does it? Of course, you don’t actually have a love life, so that might be the problem.”

  Fenella thought later that it was good that she’d had that extra drink. She didn’t even bother to argue with her aunt. She just stuck her tongue out at her and then went into the master bathroom and shut the door. Her love life was not something she wanted to discuss with Mona or anyone else for that matter, even if Mona was mostly right. There really wasn’t anything to talk about on the subject.

  She washed her face and brushed her teeth. She’d recently found an excellent hairdresser on the island, and even now, three weeks after her last cut, she loved the way she looked. Her grey was now covered under a rich chestnut brown, with enough blonde highlights sprinkled t
hroughout to make her feel, and she hoped look, younger. Her eyes were somewhere between blue and green and they weren’t doing too badly. She’d worn contact lenses for many years and she knew she was going to need reading glasses or bifocals soon, but she was fighting the idea for the moment.

  After she slipped into her nightgown, she switched off the bathroom light. In the bedroom, Katie had taken up her position right in the center of the bed. Fenella shook her head at the cat and then went into the kitchen to fill up Katie’s water bowl, just in case the kitten got thirsty during the night.

  Her alarm seemed to ring only a few minutes after she’d turned off the bedroom light. “It can’t be morning already,” she said to Katie as the kitten yawned and then snuggled back down into the duvet.

  Fenella sighed and slid out of bed. She had a ferry to catch. As she stood under the shower, she began to feel a tiny bit of excitement. She’d quit her job and moved halfway around the world for a new beginning. Part of that new beginning included writing the book that she’d been thinking about for years. A fictional autobiography of Anne Boleyn had sounded like a great idea when she’d been a hard-working university professor, teaching history to bored undergraduates, but now that she had all the time she needed to get the book actually written, it was proving harder than she’d anticipated. This trip was meant to inspire her. She was planning to visit several of the most important sites in Tudor history.

  Thoughts of Hever Castle and Hampton Court Palace filled her brain as she got dressed and put on a little makeup. It only took her a few minutes to finish packing, which meant she was ready to go as soon as she dropped Katie off next door. She looked at the tiny kitten, who was still in bed, and sighed. She hadn’t wanted a pet, but she was really going to miss Katie while she was away.

  “It’s only a week,” she reminded herself sternly as she double-checked the list of instructions she’d written out for Shelly. “And Shelly will spoil her rotten,” she added, knowing that her neighbor would fuss over her little furry guest at every opportunity.