Kittens and Killers Read online

  “That’s nice,” Fenella said during yet another gap in the conversation.

  “It is nice, yes. Marjorie is lovely. She’s a very good teacher, too. You should take her class in Manx.”

  “Manx? I’m not very good at languages,” Fenella replied. As part of her PhD program, she’d had to demonstrate a level of proficiency in a foreign language, a requirement that had very nearly prevented her from finishing the degree. As she understood it, she’d received the lowest possible passing score in French, and now, many years later, she could remember nothing she’d been taught except for the French word for umbrella.

  “You are coming to the class on Monday, though, aren’t you? I’m so looking forward to meeting Mona’s niece.”

  Fenella swallowed a sigh. It seemed as if everyone on the island wanted to meet her and she couldn’t help but feel as if she were a disappointment to them all. Fenella felt rather bland and colorless when she heard stories about her glamorous and somewhat wild aunt. “I’ll be at class on Monday,” she confirmed.

  “Excellent. I’ll just put a little tick next to your name so I don’t accidentally ring you again. I’ve already rung one man three times, you see, because I forgot to put a tick next to his name.”

  “It’s an easy mistake to make,” Fenella assured her. “I hope you don’t have many more people to call.”

  “There are only six on the list and you’re actually the last one. The list was alphabetical, you see. I’m first on the list, but I don’t have to ring myself, do I?”

  “No, I suppose not.”

  The other woman laughed. “So I’m done now, and everyone has promised to be at class on Monday. Marjorie will be pleased. She always worries that no one will turn up, you see. She’s had to cancel a number of classes in the past due to poor attendance.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  “It’s a small island. There just aren’t that many people interested in learning more about its past.”

  “That’s also a shame.”

  “Marjorie said you’re a historian. I hope you’re going to do some research while you’re here. Maybe you could even write a book about the island.”

  “Maybe, one day. For now I’m still getting settled. I haven’t even been here for a year yet.”

  “No, of course not. You only arrived in March, didn’t you? And then you found that dead body, which must have been unpleasant for you. I’m glad it didn’t sent you right back to New York.”

  “It was unpleasant, but it didn’t stop me from falling in love with the island.”

  “That’s just as well, since you haven’t stopped finding bodies ever since,” Donna cackled. “Still, that’s one way to keep that handsome young police inspector at your door, isn’t it?”

  Fenella flushed and then bit her tongue. This time she wasn’t going to reply. She’d just wait it out until the other woman spoke again, she decided. The silence seemed to stretch on and on until Donna finally cleared her throat.

  “We’ll see you on Monday, then,” she said brightly. “I’ve enjoying chatting with you, but I really must go.”

  Fenella didn’t get a chance to reply before the phone went dead. “Yeah, nice chatting with you, too,” she said as she put the phone back in its cradle.

  “You should have let the machine answer that call,” Mona told her as Fenella topped up Katie’s food and water bowls. “Donna Cannon will talk your ear off if you let her.”

  “You should have warned me,” Fenella suggested. “She was just calling to check that I hadn’t forgotten about the class on Monday.”

  “Which you had.”

  “Well, yes, but it’s on the calendar, so I would have remembered eventually. Things have been rather busy with Jack here.”

  “And you very rarely bother to look at the calendar.”

  “I must try harder, actually, now that I’m starting to take classes.”

  “You need to start working on your social life. When I was alive I was never home in the evening, at least not home alone.”

  “I have Katie.”

  “Wouldn’t you enjoy having a strong, handsome man for company, too?”

  “I’m not sure Katie would like that.”

  “Katie won’t mind for the right man,” Mona insisted. “You should be more involved in other things, too, like charity events.”

  “I went to loads of them with Donald. They were all boring.”

  “Now that you’re settled here, you’re going to start getting invited to things yourself. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the invitations to start coming in, actually.”

  “I’ve had a few, but I’m made excuses and not gone to any of them. I don’t like the idea of being invited places because people think I’ll give them money.”

  “But that’s how charity fundraisers work. Oh, never mind. You go and entertain Jack for his last day on the island. I have a party to get ready for, anyway.” Mona faded away.

  “I’m going now,” Fenella told Katie as she slid on her shoes and grabbed her handbag. “You be a good girl. I’ll be bringing Jack by later so you can say goodbye to him before he goes back to Buffalo.”

  Katie stared at her for a minute and then shrugged before heading off to the kitchen. Fenella let herself out and then locked the door behind herself. Today was all about letting Jack see the island for the last time. That would best be done in Mona’s little red sports car rather than in the far more sensible four-door car that Fenella had bought for herself.

  The drive from Fenella’s apartment to the house on Poppy Drive where Jack was staying seemed to take only seconds in the fast car. Jack must have been watching for her, as he was out of the house and into the car almost as soon as she’d stopped.

  “I want to see everything again,” he told her as they headed south. “Both castles, every museum, anything and everything historical or interesting, all of it.”

  “I’ll do my best, but we won’t be able to stop everywhere,” Fenella replied.

  “I’ll settle for just driving past some things, but let’s stop as much as we can. I’m really going to miss this little island.”

  Fenella drove to Cregneash Village in the south of the island where she and Jack had a slow walk around. Then they headed north, stopping in Castletown as they went. They had lunch in Douglas before continuing on their way north, visiting Laxey and Ramsey before heading to the Point of Ayre. Fenella drove back down through Peel and then across the island past Tynwald Hill on their way back to Douglas. It was starting to get dark when they reached the house on Poppy Drive again.

  “That was just about perfect,” Jack told her as they got out of the car. “I can’t believe how beautiful everything is here.”

  “It is pretty wonderful.”

  Jack opened the door to the house and then stepped back to let Fenella in first.

  “Do you want to get a pizza?” Fenella asked as she dropped onto a couch in the living room.

  “We could. I don’t care what we eat.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m sad,” Jack admitted with a sigh. “I’m sad to be leaving the island, and I’m sad to be leaving you. I still love you, you know.”

  “I love you, too, but not in a romantic way.”

  Jack nodded. “I wish I could change that, but I know it would probably make things even more complicated than they already are. I won’t promise to stop calling you once in a while, but I am going to try to move on with my life.”

  “I hope you do, and I hope you find a wonderful woman with whom to share it.”

  “Pizza,” Jack announced, getting to his feet. “Let’s get pizza from the place around the corner.”

  They ate in the kitchen, carefully chatting about the snowy weather back in Buffalo and other innocuous subjects.

  “Thank your friend for letting me stay in his house, please,” Jack said at the end of the meal.

  “I will,” Fenella agreed, feeling slightly guilty for not telling Jack the truth. The hous
e on Poppy Drive was just one of the many properties that Fenella had inherited from Mona. She’d previously let her brother, James, stay in the house, but she hadn’t told him it was actually her property, either. As uncomfortable as the mild deception made her feel, she felt even worse about discussing the extent of her inheritance.

  “I can do that,” Jack told her as Fenella began washing the few dishes they’d used.

  When Jack had first arrived, he’d piled nearly all of the plates, glasses, and other crockery on a table in front of the house’s main entrance as a makeshift burglar alarm. When Fenella had arrived the next morning and been unable to rouse Jack, she’d had Daniel force the door open, breaking nearly all of the tableware. Mona had boxes and boxes of such things in her storage unit at the apartment complex, so Fenella had replaced everything with somewhat sturdier alternatives. While Jack had only broken a few plates while washing them since, it seemed safer for Fenella to handle the simple task.

  “It’s your last night. Washing the dishes is the least I can do,” she told him.

  “I can’t believe I’ll be back in Buffalo tomorrow. It seems like I just arrived here.”

  “It’s been over a month.”

  “And I’ve changed a lot. I realize that. I’m not going home the same person that I was when I arrived. I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get back to Buffalo, though. I may fall right back into my old habits.”

  “Only you can stop that from happening.”

  “I know. I just hope I don’t let inertia become the ruling force in my life again.”

  Fenella laughed. “That’s a wonderful expression. I’m going to use that one myself.”

  They chatted for a while longer and Fenella found herself remembering everything that had attracted her to him in the first place, a decade earlier. He was witty and interesting and he could talk about just about anything. It was getting late when she finally got up to leave.

  “I’ll be back around nine to take you to the airport.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Jack promised.

  He let Fenella out and then stood in the doorway and watched her walk to her car. She opened the door and then stopped when she heard someone call her name.

  “Fenella?” Daniel’s voice cut through the darkness.

  Daniel lived in the house that was almost exactly across the street from the one where Jack was staying. Fenella watched as he crossed the road to her.

  “I was just going up to bed when I saw you come out of the house,” he explained. “I was going to ring you tomorrow.”

  “I hope nothing’s wrong?” Fenella exclaimed.

  “Not at all. Jack is leaving tomorrow, isn’t he?” he asked.

  That’s the third time I’ve been asked that question today, Fenella thought as she nodded. “Yes, I’m taking him to the airport in the morning.”

  “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow night, then,” Daniel said. “Maybe we could go to that little Italian place with the garlic bread.”

  Fenella didn’t have to think twice about where he meant. That restaurant was one of her favorites. “Sure, that would be great,” she said, wondering if Daniel was hoping to restart their relationship once Jack was gone.

  “Terrific. I have another cold case I want to discuss with you,” Daniel said. “If Shelly isn’t busy, invite her along, too. You have great insights, but she might be helpful as well.”

  Fenella nodded. “I’ll see if she’s free,” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. She enjoyed discussing cold cases with Daniel and was flattered that he valued her opinion, but cold cases were hardly very romantic.

  “I’ll meet you there around seven, if that’s okay,” Daniel continued.

  “Sure, fine,” Fenella muttered. “See you then.”

  She climbed into her car and drove back to her building.

  “He just wants my help with another case,” she told Katie as she climbed into bed a short while later. “He even told me to invite Shelly along.”

  “Meerooww,” Katie said as she curled up in the exact center of the king-sized bed.

  “I could pretend to forget to invite Shelly, but I think it might be better if Shelly did come along. Things are still, well, odd between Daniel and me.”

  Katie almost seemed to roll her eyes at Fenella before she put her head down and went to sleep. Fenella sighed and then shut her own eyes, certain she’d never be able to get to sleep herself.

  2

  The alarm startled both Fenella and Katie the next morning. Fenella switched it off and then looked at Katie. “I’m sorry, but I need to get up a little early if I’m going to get Jack to the airport on time.”

  Katie turned her back to Fenella and snuggled back down into the bedclothes. It was six-thirty, half an hour before the time Katie usually woke Fenella. Clearly, the kitten didn’t appreciate being woken herself.

  As Katie was still in bed, Fenella took a shower before she went into the kitchen to get breakfast for herself and the kitten. Katie strolled in at exactly seven o’clock and began to nibble daintily at her breakfast. Fenella was being far less delicate with her toast, which she’d liberally smothered in jam.

  “I shouldn’t feel this sad about Jack leaving,” she told Katie.

  “Maybe you’re more upset about Daniel than Jack,” Mona suggested as she appeared at the kitchen counter.

  Fenella jumped, launching her toast into the air. It landed, jam side down, on the kitchen floor. Katie pounced on it as if it were a mouse and began to wrestle with it. Jam spread everywhere as Fenella tried to get the mangled piece of her breakfast away from her pet.

  “You put a lot of jam on your toast,” Mona said as she surveyed the huge smear of jam that seemed to cover nearly the entire kitchen floor.

  Fenella threw the toast in the trash and then picked up Katie and cleaned off her jam-covered paws and face. The kitten complained loudly the entire time. When Fenella was done, she tucked the animal into the bathroom so that she could clean the kitchen floor.

  “She’s going to make a mess in there,” Mona predicted.

  Fenella grinned. “I put the toilet paper in a drawer and the tissues under the sink. There isn’t too much for her to destroy, although I’m sure she’ll find something.”

  It didn’t take Fenella long to wipe up the jam, and when she opened the bathroom door to release Katie, she found the animal sitting in the middle of the floor calmly washing her paws. A quick glance around the room suggested that Katie had actually behaved herself during her short imprisonment.

  “Is there any way you could signal your arrival so that I don’t jump when you talk to me?” Fenella asked Mona as she slid a fresh piece of bread into the toaster.

  Mona shrugged. “I could make the lights flicker,” she suggested. She waved an arm and the kitchen lights began to turn on and off.

  “How are you doing that?” Fenella demanded.

  “I’m flipping the switch,” Mona laughed. “I can’t really control electricity.”

  “How are you flipping the switch, though? You aren’t solid.”

  “I’m solid enough to flip a switch if I want to,” Mona told her.

  A dozen questions about the subject sprung into Fenella’s mind, but she didn’t bother to ask any of them. “What makes you think I’m upset about Daniel?” she asked instead.

  “You told Katie that he’d invited you to dinner but told you to bring Shelly along as he wants to discuss a cold case with you.”

  Fenella tried to remember exactly what she’d said to Katie, but she couldn’t. “Even if I did tell Katie that, when did you talk to Katie?”

  “I didn’t talk to Katie. I don’t speak enough of her language to communicate all of that. I overheard you talking to Katie, but I didn’t materialize, as I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  Again, Fenella ignored the questions that rushed into her head. “Right, okay, whatever. I’m not upset about Daniel, anyway. I’m upset about Jack.”


  “Of course you are. He was part of your life for ten long, boring, seemingly endless years, and now he’s going away. While you’re happy to see the back of him, you’re going to miss feeling needed, aren’t you?”

  “Not at all,” Fenella snapped. “Jack didn’t need me, anyway, he just liked to pretend to be helpless.”

  “And you were happy to play along.”

  “I was hoping you might try to make me feel better.”

  “I am trying to make you feel better,” Mona countered. “I’m pointing out where you went wrong with Jack so that you don’t make the same mistakes with Daniel.”

  “I’m not going to make any mistakes with Daniel. We’re just friends. He just likes to go over cold cases with me, that’s all.”

  “You need to give Daniel time. He’s still working his way through everything that happened when he was away. As long as he’s making excuses to see you, then I don’t think you need to worry.”

  Fenella sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. I’m going for a long walk on the promenade before I have to get Jack to the airport.”

  She grabbed her handbag and was out the door before Mona could respond. The elevator wasn’t on her floor, so she headed for the stairs, racing down them to the ground floor almost as if she were being chased. The physical exertion helped her forget about her problems. When she reached the promenade she started to walk at the fastest pace she could manage, determined to tire herself out before her emotions could get the best of her.

  She’d only gone a few hundred yards when she heard excited barking. When she turned around, she was nearly knocked over by the huge dog that was straining at the end of his leash.

  “Winston, my goodness, it’s good to see you, too,” she exclaimed as she hugged the giant animal. A few sharp barks reminded Fenella to say hello to Winston’s companion, Fiona, as well.

  “He nearly pulled me off my feet,” Harvey Garus said as he caught up to his dogs. “He’s always so excited to see you.”

  “I’m always excited to see him, too,” Fenella admitted. She lavished as much attention on both animals as she could, basking in their affection.