Joy and Jealousy Read online

  Joy and Jealousy

  An Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy

  Diana Xarissa

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Acknowledgments

  Kittens and Killers

  By the Same Author

  About the Author

  Text Copyright © 2019 DX Dunn, LLC

  Cover Copyright © 2019 Linda Boulanger – Tell Tale Book Covers

  All Rights Reserved

  Created with Vellum

  For everyone who loves the holiday season.

  Author’s Note

  Welcome to book ten in the Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy Series. I always suggest reading my series books in order (alphabetically), but each should be enjoyable on its own if you prefer not to do that. Fenella is getting ready for her first Christmas on the island, and I tried to incorporate some Manx and UK holiday traditions into the story.

  As with all books in this series, I’ve primarily used American English except when British or Manx characters are speaking. I’m sure I’ve made a few mistakes throughout the story, and if you find any, please let me know. They are, fortunately, very easy to correct.

  The Isle of Man, a UK crown dependency, is a unique and wonderful place, and I love having the opportunity to write about it and share it with readers. I hope you all enjoy visiting this special location with me through my stories.

  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. The shops, restaurants, and businesses in this story are also fictional. 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.

  My contact details are available in the back of the book. I’d love to hear from you if you have the time to get in touch. I have a monthly newsletter that can help keep you up to date on new releases. You can sign up for the newsletter on my website (dianaxarissa.com). Thank you for coming along on another adventure with Fenella and her friends.

  PS The T-shirts and sweatshirts for the Tale and Tail mentioned in the story are actually available. There is a link to the shop on my website. (You can buy a coffee mug, too.)

  1

  “The flat looks stunning,” Shelly Quirk said as she turned in a slow circle in the middle of Fenella’s living room.

  “You don’t think it’s too much?” Fenella Woods asked her closest friend on the island.

  Shelly shook her head. “I think it’s just right.”

  “It’s too much,” Mona Kelly said from where she was sitting on one of the couches near the windows. “When all the fairy lights are on it’s brighter than the sun in here.”

  Fenella looked at her aunt and then sighed. It was a good thing Shelly was there, because that kept her from having to reply to the woman. Mona was either a ghost or a figment of Fenella’s imagination, which meant that Shelly couldn’t see or hear her. “There are a lot of Christmas lights,” she said slowly.

  Shelly laughed. “That’s what makes it so wonderful. It feels very festive. Mona did something very similar last Christmas.”

  “Did she?” Fenella asked, glaring at her aunt, who shrugged and then faded away.

  “Did you use all of the decorations from her storage room?” Shelly wondered.

  “Oh, no. All of this came from only three boxes. There are probably a dozen more boxes of Christmas things down there, but I thought I’d done enough.”

  “You’ve definitely done enough,” Shelly agreed. “Now come and see what I’ve done in my flat.”

  Fenella didn’t bother to lock her door before she followed her friend into the apartment next to hers. “It looks lovely,” she exclaimed. “I love the tree.”

  “Thanks. It’s a bit large for the space, but John and I bought it about ten years ago and it brings back a lot of good memories of Christmases past.”

  “I don’t think it’s too large at all.”

  Shelly’s husband, John, had passed away unexpectedly over a year earlier. On her own for the first time in many years, Shelly had sold the house that she’d shared with John and taken early retirement from her teaching job. She insisted now that moving in next door to Fenella’s Aunt Mona had been the smartest thing she’d ever done. Mona had helped the woman deal with the worst of her grief and encouraged her to embrace life fully.

  When Mona passed away and Fenella moved in, she and Shelly quickly became good friends. Fenella only knew Shelly as the vibrant woman who wore bright colors and laughed often, but she knew that, in spite of outward appearances, Shelly still missed her husband and their former life together.

  “What time do you need to leave for the airport?” Shelly asked.

  Fenella sighed deeply and then glanced at her watch. “Probably now. Jack’s flight is due to land in about an hour. The last time I checked it was on time.”

  “I wish I could go with you. I’m quite eager to meet Jack.”

  Fenella laughed. “I wish you could go and get him. I really don’t want to see him again.”

  Fenella and Jack Dawson had been a couple for more than ten years, which was about ten years longer than they should have been together, at least as far as Fenella was concerned. It had been a comfortable relationship, so much so that Fenella had never found a good reason to end it, but once she’d inherited Mona’s estate on the Isle of Man she’d finally had the motivation she’d needed to break up with Jack. She’d quit her job as a university professor in Buffalo, New York, sold her house and all of its furnishings, and moved everything else with her to the island.

  Nine months later, she was happily living a very different life from the one she’d left behind, but Jack apparently didn’t want to move on. He’d called in November and informed her that he was coming to visit for Christmas, and nothing Fenella said could persuade him to change his mind. That may have been because she’d struggled to speak with him once he’d announced him impending arrival. He never answered his telephone and he never called her, either. She’d been surprised when a card had turned up in her mail giving his flight details.

  “You will meet my plane, won’t you?” Jack had scrawled across the card.

  It seemed too cruel to leave a negative reply on the man’s answering machine. Fenella reluctantly called to confirm that she’d be there, but found that his answering machine wasn’t turned on.

  “He’s probably turned it off so you can’t refuse to meet him,” Mona had said.

  “Or maybe his electricity has been turned off because he forgot to pay the bill,” Fenella had sighed as she’d put the phone down.

  Jack was the epitome of an absent-minded professor. When they’d first begun dating, not long after Fenella began teaching in the same department as Jack, she’d found his inability to cope with the real world charming and amusing. After ten years of doing nearly everything for him, she’d no longer been charmed or amused. What had remained after her move was a sense of guilt that she’d left him to muddle through on his own. When she’d first arrived on the island he’d called her frequently with dozens of questions, but the calls had slowed some in the past few months. That he’d managed to get himself a passport and arrange for flights to the island suggested that he wasn’t nearly as helpless as he often pretended.

  “What are you going to do with him once
he arrives?” Shelly asked.

  “I’m hoping he’ll be too jet-lagged to want to do anything more than get settled where he’s staying.”

  “Which is where?”

  “I have no idea. He told me that he’d met some man with a house on the island and that the man gave him the keys. I hope he also gave him the address.”

  “The whole thing sounds odd to me,” Shelly said.

  “It sounds odd to me, too, but I don’t want Jack staying with me, so I really hope it works out.”

  “What if it doesn’t?”

  “Then I’ll put him in the house on Poppy Drive, I suppose.”

  Fenella had inherited more than just a large apartment on the Douglas promenade from Mona. Much to Fenella’s surprise, the woman had owned a great deal of property all over the island. Fenella’s lawyer (or advocate to use the Manx term) Doncan Quayle, managed all the properties. A few months earlier, when one of her brothers had come to visit, Fenella had made use of one of the houses she owned in the Douglas suburbs. The house on Poppy Drive was large and comfortably furnished. As Fenella had yet to tell Doncan to rent it out again, it was available if Jack needed somewhere to stay.

  “It’s lucky you have that house,” Shelly remarked. “Then Daniel can keep an eye on Jack for you, too.”

  Fenella flushed. The house in question was right across the street from Daniel Robinson’s home. Daniel was an inspector with the island’s police force, and he and Fenella had become quite good friends after they’d met over a dead body just after Fenella had arrived on the island. When Daniel had been sent to the UK for a lengthy course, both he and Fenella had dated other people. Now they were trying to work out where their relationship was going, although at the moment it seemed more like they were avoiding one another than anything else.

  “I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” Fenella muttered, “but I’d better get going.” She made a face.

  “I can ring Tim and cancel our plans if you want me to go with you,” Shelly offered.

  “No, you go and have fun with Tim. Jack is my problem. I have to deal with him.”

  Shelly had been dating Tim Blake for a few months. They were taking things slowly, and they seemed very happy together. Fenella didn’t want to do anything to get in the way of their relationship.

  “I’ll ring you later to hear how it all went,” Shelly replied.

  “I hope to be back home before too long. Like I said, I’m hoping to just drop Jack off for tonight.”

  “Good luck.”

  Fenella went back into her apartment and quickly brushed her hair and touched up her lipstick. Her hazel eyes looked nervous as she brushed her shoulder-length brown hair. Just last week she’d had it trimmed and had the color touched up. She’d also had a few highlights added. She did want Jack to think she looked well, even if she didn’t want him back.

  “You don’t intend to get back with him, do you?” Mona asked as she walked into Fenella’s bedroom.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Good. He was all wrong for you.”

  “You’ve never met him.”

  “No, but I’ve heard enough about him to know that you were never happy with him. Remember that when he starts begging you to take him back.”

  Fenella shuddered. “I hope it won’t come to that.”

  She grabbed her handbag and headed for the garage under the building. Mona’s little red convertible was tempting, but Fenella opted to drive the much more sensible car that she’d purchased herself instead. It was the sort of car that Jack would be expecting her to be driving, which made her frown as she slid behind the steering wheel. As Jack was bound to have several suitcases, though, it made sense to take the larger car.

  The drive to the airport didn’t take as long as Fenella had hoped it might. She parked near the entrance and then walked inside. A quick look at the arrivals screen told her that Jack’s plane was still expected on time. With half an hour to fill, she wandered around the terminal, looking through the small gift shop and then studying the menu in the café. Nothing was even the slightest bit tempting. Her stomach was in knots and she was dreading Jack’s arrival more than she’d imagined she would. When she heard the announcement that Jack’s flight had landed, she made her way back down to the arrivals area and took a seat.

  Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Jack’s familiar figure. While she was no longer interested in being romantically involved with him, Jack still held a place in her heart after their ten years together. They’d been more like brother or sister than lovers, especially after their first few months together, but she’d once cared very deeply for Jack and for a moment she was actually happy to see him.

  He strode up to the baggage claim and waited patiently while the bags were unloaded onto it. Fenella watched as he gathered up three huge suitcases. She knew he was planning to stay for five weeks, but he seemed to have enough luggage for a much longer visit. She waited until he’d made it through the baggage claim exit and into the arrivals hall before she stood up and waved to him. He blinked at her and then began to shake his head.

  “I hope I have everything,” he said, sounding flustered as she joined him.

  “How many suitcases did you bring?” she asked.

  “Three.”

  “And you have three now, so you must have everything.”

  “I mean I hope I remembered to pack everything,” he countered. “I made a list, but then I couldn’t find it when I was actually doing my packing. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten important things.”

  “You have your medication?” Fenella asked. Jack was in good health, but needed tablets for his blood pressure and cholesterol every day.

  “Yes, of course,” he replied, “but I may have forgotten shampoo.”

  “You can buy shampoo here.”

  “But it won’t be the same shampoo.”

  Fenella swallowed a sigh. “It might be, but if it isn’t, I think you’ll survive.”

  Jack frowned and then shook his head again. “But I was planning to greet you with a hug,” he said. He took an awkward step toward her and then glanced down at his bags. “I don’t want to get distracted, though. Someone might steal my bags.”

  “Let’s just forget about the hug, then,” Fenella suggested.

  “Yes, but, well, I mean, I’ve missed you.”

  “And now you’re here for a long visit. I don’t know what you’re going to do with yourself for five weeks.”

  “I thought I could spend them with you,” Jack told her. “I brought my checkbook so you can help me balance it.”

  Fenella smiled tightly. “Great. Let’s get out of here.” That seemed preferable to starting to shout at him in public, anyway. She was Mona Kelly’s niece and she had a certain reputation to uphold, after all. She turned and began to walk briskly out of the airport. Jack followed, struggling to drag all of his bags along with him. After a few paces, Fenella stopped.

  “Let me help,” she sighed.

  “If you could take this one, I can manage the rest,” Jack told her, handing her the largest of the bags.

  “Why didn’t you get luggage with wheels on it?” Fenella asked as she began to walk again.

  “This was affordable.”

  “Of course it was.”

  The walk back to the car seemed to take forever. The bag Fenella was carrying was heavy, and Jack kept stopping every few feet to shift the bags he had from hand to hand. When they finally reached the car, Fenella was happy to finally put the heavy bag down.

  “This is your car?” Jack asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “I don’t know. It isn’t what I was expecting you to be driving.”

  As Fenella didn’t know how to reply to that, she didn’t bother. Instead, she loaded all of the bags into the trunk and then gestured to Jack. “Climb in.”

  He headed for the driver’s door, which would have been the passenger door on an American car. Fenella smiled and then caught his arm. “Other side,” she to
ld him.

  “I find that very peculiar,” he told her as he opened the passenger door.

  “I’ve gotten used to it.”

  “I suppose I will as well.”

  Fenella bit her tongue before she could reply. Hopefully he wouldn’t be staying long enough to get used to anything, but it would be rude to say that to him.

  “Where are we going?” she asked as they both fastened their seatbelts.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You told me you were staying at some man’s house. What’s the address?”

  “Oh, yes, well, I just thought, that is, couldn’t we just go to your apartment?” Jack asked. “I’m not sure about staying at Peter’s house.”

  Fenella turned in her seat and looked at Jack. “What do you mean?”

  “I just met the man at a party, you see,” he said. “We only talked for a few minutes, mostly about women and what trouble they were. I told him all about you and how you’d moved away and broken my heart. When he heard where you were living now, he immediately offered me the use of his house for Christmas. At the time I was excited, but now that I think about it, it seems rather odd.”

  “It does,” Fenella agreed. “What do you know about him?”

  “His name is Peter Grady. Dr. Peter Grady. He teaches at a university in Liverpool but has a home here as well. He actually said that I’d be doing him a favor if I stayed at his house here, that I could keep an eye on things for him.”

  “I suppose that makes some sense.”

  “He said something about there being a lot of burglaries on the island in the last few months.”

  “There have been, actually,” Fenella agreed.