Cruise Conundrum: A Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 5)

by A. R. Winters

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  I nodded my head toward where Raina and Andy were sitting.

  “There’s something weird going on with those two and I want to know what it is.”

  “Ooh, are we spying?”

  I shook my head with a frown. “Of course not! We’re just indulging some idle curiosity. Just now Raina—that’s the woman—she said she had a six-figure proposition for Andy. Doesn’t that sound weird?”

  “Seems like a lot of money for taking pictures,” said Cece nodding. “Is that possible? I bet I could take awesome pictures. Do you think she’d hire me?”

  “You don’t even have a camera,” I said with a laugh.

  She shrugged. “How much could a camera cost?”

  “Got ten grand to spare?”

  She blanched at the figure. “Are you kidding me?”

  I shook my head. “According to Andy, that’s what you should be spending on a high-quality amateur camera.”

  “Maybe I’ll stick with cleaning rooms for now.”

  We leaned back against the railing of the ship, keeping Andy and Raina in view. Of course they were too far away for us to hear what they were saying, but we could read the body language. Andy was awkward, while Raina was friendly. Possibly more than friendly.

  “She’s seriously flirting with him,” said Cece, amused.

  “But he was her wedding photographer!”

  “Well, we already know he doesn’t have any qualms about stepping into other people’s relationships,” said Cece with a shrug.

  “How do you know that?” I asked with a frown.

  “Oh, I ran into Sam. She told me what you guys saw earlier.”

  “Look, she just put her hand on his wrist, but he pulled it back,” I said, nodding my head that way.

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to pay him for photos,” said Cece with a wicked grin.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, maybe she has something else in mind. You know, like in Pretty Woman.”

  “Yeah, right. With him? Six figures?”

  Cece giggled. “Hey, if you’ve got the cash…”

  “I wouldn’t pay six dollars, let alone six figures,” I said shaking my head.

  Cece raised her eyebrows at me. “But you would pay?”

  “No!” I said punching her in the arm.

  “Well what if he paid you?”

  “Cece!”

  She was doubled over with laughter now. She loved teasing me, especially about things she knew would make me blush. This was a classic case in point.

  “Look,” she hissed, straightening back up.

  Andy was shaking his head and standing up at the same time. He left Raina behind at the table. They hadn’t even stayed long enough to order a drink.

  “She doesn’t look like she’s given up.”

  Raina was leaning back in her chair, a finger twirling in her hair as she watched Andy hurry away and a slightly amused look on her face. It wasn’t the look of someone who had been defeated, not by a long shot.

  “Is that the entertainment over?”

  “Looks like it. I’d better make a move.”

  Cece yawned and nodded. “Me too. There’s a siesta with my name on it in an empty VIP suite downstairs.”

  I hugged her and waved her off.

  I wouldn’t be taking a siesta. It was time to start sending out all the pictures I’d taken onto the social media feeds.

  As they say, there’s no rest for the wicked.

  Or me.

  Chapter 10

  By the time early evening rolled around, I had mostly gotten over how rude Awesome Andy had been to me and was settling back to my normal self.

  Seeing him being annoyed and flustered by Raina had certainly helped.

  All in all, it had been an eventful day. I’d been up much earlier than usual thanks to my breakfast date the Croissant Club.

  I hadn’t seen or heard from Ethan since, and I was wondering if we were still on for tomorrow. But it turned out I didn’t need to wonder. As I was making my way along the outside deck just before sunset, I ran into First Officer Hot Stuff himself.

  He was of course still wearing the same bright white and gold uniform as he had been this morning. We were both still on duty.

  “Adrienne,” he said with a smile upon seeing me. “How’s it going?” He leaned against the railing in a casual pose. It would make an excellent picture. Or maybe it was just because of the subject that I thought that. “Are the photographers behaving themselves?”

  I laughed and immediately felt comfortable again. The earlier awkwardness from the morning seemed to disappear as we slipped into easy familiarity.

  “The passenger photographers are fine.”

  “And the professionals?”

  “Don’t ask,” I said, shaking my head with a small laugh.

  “It’s like that, is it? I won’t ask then. If you feel like opening up later though, or just need to rant, how about dinner?”

  “Dinner?” That took me by surprise. I thought we were just doing breakfast dates now. But I guess if he had time, I wasn’t opposed to it. In fact, I would enjoy some quality time with him. “That sounds good.” There was a buzzing from the pocket of my jeans. “One sec,” I said, pulling out my phone.

  It was a message from Sam.

  Unfortunately, it looked like Awesome Andy was again not being in any way awesome.

  According to her message, he was supposed to be mingling with the photographer guests at the pre-dinner meet and greet. The problem was that he was neither meeting nor greeting. He wasn’t there. Awesome Andy was being Absent Andy.

  “Ugh!” I groaned. “I’ve got to go. I’ll let you know about dinner.”

  “Got another fire to put out?” He said, raising his eyebrows and giving me a sympathetic look.

  “Yeah, pretty much. A missing photographer and some antsy passengers. Catch you later.”

  We waved goodbye to each other. We definitely weren’t at the stage of public displays of affection out on the deck in public. I wasn’t sure if we ever would be. It probably wouldn’t look professional for a first officer, or indeed any other member of staff, to be seen smooching where the passengers could see them.

  I found Sam in the lounge where Andy was supposed to be schmoozing.

  “Still no sign of him?”

  Sam shook her head. “Nope. Any ideas?”

  “I saw him just after lunch. It looked like he was heading inside toward his cabin, but I haven’t seen him since. Come on. Let’s go for a walk and see if we can track him down.”

  The photography passengers seemed to be happy enough in the lounge. There was a table set up at one end with an array of drinks, and the handsome young blond bartender who usually worked in Hemingway’s was handing them out. He certainly seemed to be keeping the ladies pleased anyway, having drawn a small crowd of the gray-haired set around him.

  Linking arms, we left the lounge and headed outside to walk around the outside of the ship toward the VIP area. Andy, like Xavier and Zara, had managed to snag himself one of the suites. I guessed it was one of the perks of the job for him.

  It was almost sunset, and there weren’t many people around. We were on the wrong side of the ship to admire the setting sun. At this time of the day, most people were inside getting ready for dinner.

  We walked at quite a brisk pace until Sam suddenly snatched my arm. She gestured ahead of us, where a row of planters full of bushes was set up between the walking path along the edge of the ship and outer wall of the interior.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I thought I saw someone. A girl.”

  “Did you? I was looking out to sea,” I said with a frown. “Why would a girl be going back there?”

  Sam poked me with a finger.

  “You know why.” She gave me a knowing look. “You were young once, you know.”

  I blushed. It wasn’t just because I realized what she was getting at, but also because she w
as implying I was no longer young. That didn’t exactly seem fair, since we were exactly the same age.

  Sam held on to my arm and led us forward with quiet steps. She had a finger up against her lips. She didn’t want to disturb them.

  As we walked past the planters, we both peeked to the left. It wasn’t that we wanted to intrude, but we were curious. Who wouldn’t be?

  The dark green bushes were thick, and it wasn’t easy to see who was back there in the dim light, though there was a gap that gave me a clear view for only a second or two. I squeezed Sam’s arm in surprise when I saw who it was.

  We hurried up the deck so that we were away from the clandestine meeting before we spoke. As we had passed the amorous couple, there had been the distinct sound of lips smacking against each other.

  “Was that who I think it was?” said my friend once we were in the clear.

  “You say who you think it was, and I’ll tell you whether I thought it was the same.”

  “It was hard to tell through that little gap, but I’m pretty sure that was Jessica, wasn’t it?”

  I’d had the exact same thought. “Yep. I guess she and Rick made up. I knew they would. They’re on honeymoon after all, right?”

  Of course it had only been Jessica we had seen, and even that was just the side of her head. We probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought if not for what happened next.

  As we approached the outside of the VIP area, we headed back inside. As we did so, we almost bumped into a man. A young man. A rather annoyed looking young man. One who happened to be on his honeymoon.

  “Rick!” I said, unable to mask the shock in my voice.

  He gave me a curious look and tilted his head at me. “The cleaner,” he said shaking his head. “Hi.”

  “I’m not the cleaner. I’m the social media manager. I was just helping out, remember?”

  When I finished correcting him, I felt annoyed at myself. There was no shame in being a cleaner—or housekeeper as was the correct title. Maybe it was just because he didn’t seem to remember me or what I told him before that annoyed me.

  Rick didn’t stay and chat. He just pushed past us and exited the interior of the ship. I guessed he didn’t have much time for housekeepers or social media managers.

  “Are we sure it was Jessica we saw?” Sam said once he was gone. We were standing just inside the entrance where it was pleasantly warm compared to outside, where the temperature was rapidly dropping as night approached.

  “Yep. I guess it wasn’t Rick she was with back there.”

  “Oh no. Do you think we should tell him?”

  “Didn’t seem like he wanted to talk to us. And he’s gone now anyway. It’s probably best if we don’t get involved in the love lives of our passengers. Don’t you think?”

  Sam seemed to hesitate, like she wanted to run after Rick and tell him that his new bride was cheating on him behind the pot plants. Finally, she shook her head to herself, her short blonde locks swinging in the air.

  “I guess you’re right. We’ve got to find Arrogant Andy anyway.”

  We set off, into the restricted VIP area and up to the level where our target’s stateroom was located. As we approached the door to Andy’s stateroom, it swung open as if to welcome us. Of course, that wasn’t what was actually happening.

  “It looks like we’re in luck,” I said.

  When we saw who walked out, Sam shook her head and then pressed her mouth up near my ear to whisper.

  “More like Andy was in luck. Or getting lucky.”

  Raina exited Andy’s room, turning in the direction opposite of where we stood, and walking down the hallway. She hadn’t even noticed us.

  “Is there something in the air this time or what?” Sam had a grin on her face while she spoke. “That’s the third couple we’ve seen today.”

  “It’s bizarre, isn’t it? I’m not sure anything was going on there though. I saw Raina talking to Andy earlier, and he didn’t seem very into it. She had some kind of business proposition for him.”

  “Photography business?”

  “Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “Cece thinks it may have been more of a… personal kind of business, if you know what I mean.” I wriggled my eyebrows at her until she knew exactly what I meant.

  “Yeah, right. Like anyone would pay for that with him.”

  “That’s what I said.” I started walking toward the now closed the door. “Now let’s see if we can drag him out.”

  I rang the doorbell outside the room.

  “Go away! I told you I’m not interested!”

  Sam and I exchanged bemused looks, and I rang the doorbell again.

  “Hello? Andy? It’s Adrienne!”

  “Raina?”

  “No! Adrienne! You’re late!” I finished by hammering on the door with the side of my fist, which I immediately regretted. Once again, I’d forgotten that the doors around here were all fashioned from thick steel.

  The door unlocked and then swung open, revealing a rather distressed looking Andy.

  “Is everything all right?” asked Sam with more concern in her voice than I would’ve been able to muster.

  “I thought you were someone else.”

  “Raina, right?” I said with an appraising look.

  Andy sighed. “Yes. Raina.”

  “Who is she?” asked Sam.

  Of course we both knew who she was in the sense that she was a VIP passenger aboard the ship. But we didn’t know much about her as a person. All I knew was that she was rich enough to afford the VIP stateroom and offer Andy six figures for some kind of ‘business’ proposition.

  “She’s just a fan. An annoying one. She’s so rich she thinks she can buy anything she wants. She can’t seem to understand I’m not interested in her proposals.”

  “Well,” said Sam with a smile, “it must’ve been an interesting proposal.”

  Andy just shook his head, neither confirming nor denying anything.

  “Andy, you’re supposed to be having drinks with the passengers in the lounge, doing a meet and greet, remember? They’re all waiting for you.”

  I had been torn between two choices as to what to say to him.

  Option one was telling him that they were waiting for him so that he would feel guilty.

  Option two was telling him that they were all perfectly happy without him, and thus damaging his ego.

  Even those I chose the former, I was secretly hoping that when he did finally get there, he would notice he hadn’t been missed at all, hitting him the double whammy of guilt plus a bruised ego. There was something about Awful Andy that seemed to bring out the mean streak in me that I didn’t know I had. One of Andy’s untapped talents, I supposed.

  Andy slapped his hand against the wall in frustration.

  “I completely forgot about it.” He looked at Sam. “Sorry about that.”

  Sam just shrugged in response. “Are you ready? Let’s go.”

  “Let me grab my jacket. I bet they’re all going crazy wondering where I am. I feel so bad for them all.”

  After he’d grabbed a sports jacket from inside, we led the rather miserable Andy to the meet and greet session, us ahead and him trailing behind us.

  Chapter 11

  That evening, I ended up having dinner with Sam. Cece was on a date with Dr. Ryan, the ship’s handsome young head doctor. They’d been seeing each other for a while, but she never let us know too much about her relationship. I was never sure whether they were dating or just spending time together.

  “No Hot Stuff tonight, huh?”

  I shook my head and stabbed my fork into a piece of chicken. We were eating in the staff canteen, and I’d chosen the chicken curry for a change. It at least had a decent kick of flavor to it, unlike a lot of the bland offerings available down here in our staff dungeon.

  “Nope. The captain was supposed to be hosting a meal for some of the VIPs, but he called in sick. Ethan had to take his spot. We’re still on for breakfast tomorrow though.”r />
  “Croissant Club every morning?”

  I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “For the moment.”

  “Disaster! Disaster! Disaster!” I knew who it was even before she appeared beside us.

  Of course it was Kelly, waving her hands in the air in urgent consternation.

  “How’s it going? Everything good with you?” asked Sam with an innocent smile.

  Under the table, I gave her a gentle kick. She was being a bit mean to Kelly.

  “No! It’s a disaster! I need your help.”

  I hoped I wouldn’t have to give another lecture. I had gotten lucky with the history of photography talk, but I didn’t think I’d be able to pull off another one.

  “What is it? And bear in mind, I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

  Kelly was dressed all in lime green today, including the four plastic bracelets which hung from her right wrist, which clicked together as she moved her arms around while she spoke.

  “The photographers are booked for the pool deck tomorrow. But so are the Silver Surfers.”

  The Silver Surfers were a club that Swan ran for our older guests who enjoyed water aerobics and other aquatic activities.

  “Oh dear. How did that happen?”

  Kelly hopped from foot to foot uncomfortably. “I messed up. You’ve got to help.”

  “I’m not teaching water aerobics if that’s what you getting at,” I said shaking my head.

  “No, no. Nothing like that. I’ve had to reschedule. I moved the photography to the event space at the stern of the deck. You know, the outside one?”

  Sam and I exchanged a look. We knew the exact space. Before Kelly had joined the ship, someone had been murdered there. We weren’t about to forget it anytime soon.

  “Yeah, we know it.”

  “I printed out the new schedule but I need you to deliver it up to Awesome Andy and Xavier and Zara. Oh, and send out messages to the photography passengers. Can you do that for me?”

  “Is that it?” I asked suspiciously. This seemed to be too easy for something Kelly had described as a disaster.

  “Yep. That’s it. Can you do it?”

  “Sure.”