Drunk on a Boat

by Zane Mitchell

  His head bobbed. “Yes, yes. I know you did. It was a mistake. It slipped out. She was in here one day complaining about you. She was upset because you were sleeping with her girls, and she didn’t think you were doing a very good job as resort security. On and on she went. She wanted me to fire you.”

  Francesca quirked a brow and gave me a sideways glance, as if that somehow proved that Mari was indeed Dexter’s snitch.

  “She actually said she wanted you to fire me?” So much for trying to win the woman over with chocolates.

  Artie nodded. “Yes, sadly. I convinced her that you were just going through a tough time and you would do better with time. We just needed to let you have a little time and room to breathe.”

  I smiled at him. “Thanks, Artie. I appreciate you having my back.”

  “Well, I tried,” he said, dipping his head, his hat covering his eyes for a split second. Then he straightened. “She said she didn’t like all of her girls fighting over one of the employees. She said it disrupted their work. And that was when your secret accidentally came out. I told her that I hated to break it to her, but even if I fired you, it was more than likely that you’d just stay living on resort property because you had the money to do it,” he admitted. “Then it was too late. It was like I’d opened a can of worms. She asked me a million questions about what that meant, and I was forced to admit that you’d come into a windfall after that whole Jimmie fiasco.”

  I palmed my forehead as I breathed, “Oh my God, Artie!”

  His head bobbed. “I know, I know. I kicked myself after that. I know I shouldn’t have told her, and I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry, Drunk.”

  “It’s Pam, Mack, and Al that you should feel sorry for. They’re the ones that have had to live through this horrible ordeal!”

  “So now what?” asked Artie. “You just think it’s Mari because she knew about the money and about the relationships between you and those three?”

  Francesca pointed a finger. “And because Danny mentioned that she’s a struggling single mother. She probably needed the money.”

  Artie lifted his brows and his head slowly bobbed like for the first time he might be buying the theory that Mari was involved. “She is trying to save up enough money to send Giselle, her oldest girl, off to college next year.”

  “It’s gotta be her,” said Francesca, shaking her head. “It’s just gotta be.”

  Artie sighed. “But Mariposa is my best employee. I just can’t imagine she’d risk her job to do something like that. It would be very out of character for her.”

  “That’s what I said,” I said to Artie, “but Frankie’s convinced.”

  Artie lifted the handle of his phone. “Well, we’re going to get to the bottom of this once and for all. If she had something to do with Al’s disappearance, we’re about to find out.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Calling her in here. I think it’s time we had a word with Ms. Marrero.”

  38

  “Have a seat, Mari,” said Artie, gesturing towards the empty seat next to Francesca.

  I stood with my back pressed against the wall, watching the woman enter.

  Mari’s brows knitted together as she looked around the room curiously. “What’s this about?”

  “Just have a seat. We’re getting to that,” said Artie.

  Mari took the seat and looked at Francesca. “Who’s she?”

  “Just a friend of mine,” I cut in. I didn’t want Artie accidentally telling Mari that Francesca was a police officer. If she really was Dexter’s informant, that could prove to be fatal for Al and Pam.

  “Well, what’s she doing here?”

  “I’m helping Mr. Drunk and Mr. Balladares with a resort issue,” explained Francesca.

  Mari turned to look back at me and then at Artie. “I don’t understand. What resort issue?”

  I stalked around Artie’s desk so I now stood directly behind him. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest. “We think you know exactly what resort issue.”

  Mari shook her head, seemingly confused. “No, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. What’s going on?”

  “Mari, they know it was you,” said Artie weakly.

  Mari frowned. “Well, I’m certainly glad someone knows something around here, because I sure as heck don’t have any idea what’s going on. Maybe one of you can enlighten me, because I’m confused.”

  “You remember me accidentally telling you how Drunk is worth seven million dollars?” asked Artie, glancing back at me nervously over his shoulder.

  Recognition finally registered on Mari’s face. “Oh. That? Is that what all of this is about?” She put a hand on her chest. “For heaven’s sake, I thought that someone had died by the looks on all of your faces.”

  Francesca and I exchanged a look.

  “Mari, what did you mean when you said ‘oh, that’ just now?” I asked.

  Mari lifted a shoulder along with one thick black eyebrow. “Well, obviously you’re sore because I mentioned it to you the other day. I don’t know what you want me to say. You walk around here acting like you own the place. I’d just kind of had enough. Some of us actually have to work for our paychecks.”

  “Mari, I asked you to keep that information to yourself,” snapped Artie. “I wasn’t supposed to have mentioned it to you. You know that.”

  She waved it off. “It really wasn’t that big of a deal. It just kind of slipped out. I was in a mood, and he had me fired up.”

  I frowned at her. “You told someone else about the money, didn’t you, Mari?”

  Mari’s mouth went to open and then snapped shut immediately. She glanced from me to Artie and then over to Francesca. Then she looked back up at me again angrily. “So what if I did?”

  I took two steps forward and leaned my palms on Artie’s desk. “So you did tell someone. I knew it!”

  “Mari!” breathed Artie, his eyes widening. “So it was you!”

  “Was me what?!”

  “That told about Drunk’s money!”

  “Yeah, I mean, I’m not denying it. What’s the big deal? It takes three people to chew me out over spilling a secret?”

  “What’s the big deal?” I barked, my face now hot. “Mari, you have no idea what you’ve done!”

  “What I’ve done?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “I said it wasn’t a big deal! Okay? You’ve been nothing but a big pain in my ass since you got to the island. You deserve whatever repercussions that money has gotten you.”

  “Mari!” bellowed Artie. With his palms flattened on his desk, he pushed himself up so he was standing now. “How could you?”

  For the first time since she’d gotten into the room, Mari visibly shrank. She looked around at all our faces. “Why are you all getting so upset? You act like I killed someone!”

  “Maybe they aren’t dead yet, but they could be close,” I whispered.

  A deep V formed between her brows then, as if something had finally clicked and she had a reason to be concerned now. “What are you talking about? Who’s almost dead?”

  Francesca, who had been taking everything in quietly, finally turned to face Mariposa. “Ms. Marrero. We’re going to need the names of the person or people whom you’re working with?”

  “Working with?”

  “Who did you tell Mr. Drunk’s secret to?”

  “Just the girls. I only told the girls.”

  “The girls?” said Francesca, unsure of who she was referring to. “Can we have names, please? For the record?” She took a pen and a notepad off Artie’s desk.

  “Names?” Mari’s face paled.

  “The names of the people that you told,” said Francesca, her pen poised to write them down.

  “Oh, well, I mean, I only told Alicia, but I think she told Anita. Okay, I know she told Anita.” She held up her two flattened palms up by her shoulders. “But technically, I personally only told Alicia.”

  “You didn’
t tell anyone else? Someone off resort property, perhaps?”

  “Off resort property?” Mari’s face crinkled again. “Oh no. Absolutely not. Resort business is resort business. I abide by our strict confidentiality policy. I don’t bring work home with me at all.”

  “But you didn’t abide by the strict confidentiality policy when it came to telling Alicia about Mr. Drunk’s money,” said Francesca. “How are we to believe that you abided by the policy at home?”

  Mari frowned. “That’s different. Drunk’s money had nothing to do with work. I considered it personal in nature and just office gossip. Nothing more. But I don’t even bring office gossip home. It’s just me and my kids anyway. They don’t care about who’s messing around with who. Why would they care if some man their mother works with suddenly came into seven million dollars?”

  I’d just about had enough of the back and forth. I couldn’t tell if I should believe her or not, but something in my gut told me she was telling the truth. But I had to be sure. “Mari, you and Al get along well, don’t you?”

  Mari’s brows furrowed. “Yes, of course. Mr. Becker is my favorite long-term guest. He and his wife have even had me and my children over for dinner.”

  That was something even I was unaware of. I rubbed a hand across my forehead and swallowed hard to keep my emotions in check. Al was such a good man. I found it difficult to continue.

  “You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to Mr. Becker, is that correct, Ms. Marrero?” asked Francesca, filling in for me when she saw I couldn’t continue.

  Mari’s eyes widened. “Of course not! He’s a wonderful man. I’d be devastated if something happened to him.” She grasped her hands tightly in her lap, like she was worried now. “Why? Has something happened to him?”

  I swallowed hard. It wasn’t Mari. I could hear it in her voice. She loved Al like I did. There’s no way she would have given Dexter his name. “No, Mari. Nothing bad has happened. I was just upset that you told Alicia about my money. You know, rumors have gotten around and all and it’s frustrating. I’m really sorry I bothered you with this.” I walked around the desk and held the door open.

  Francesca looked up at me curiously.

  Mari looked up at me curiously too, turning her gaze from Artie to Francesca before finally standing up and striding towards the door. “Y-you’d tell me if something bad had happened to Mr. Becker, wouldn’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yes, yes, of course we would. I’m sorry to make you uneasy. But he’ll be fine.”

  “Mari, I’m going to ask that you please keep this conversation completely confidential. No discussing it with the girls?”

  Mari nodded. “Of course, Mr. Balladares.” She looked up at me sheepishly then. “I’m sorry I told Alicia about your money. It was none of my business and very out of character for me to break Mr. Balladares’s confidence like that. And if it’s caused you problems, I am very sorry.”

  I squeezed her arm. “I’m sorry I caused you problems that you had to go to Artie to complain about me, Mari. I promise. Very soon you’ll see a new, improved Danny Drunk. And you can take that to the bank.”

  39

  Sitting atop one of the barstools in my cottage, Francesca shook her head. “I can’t believe you just took that woman at her word, Danny!”

  I threw my arms out wide. “She had nothing to do with it. I could tell.”

  “How could you tell?”

  “Something in my gut. I don’t know what to tell you. Mari isn’t the one.”

  “So if she’s not the one, then who is? Because someone is feeding information to Dexter, and it made a heck of a lot of sense that it was her.”

  I shrugged. I couldn’t answer that question right now. Nothing was making sense to me. “I don’t know,” I finally said, giving Hugo a distracted pat on the head.

  We were silent for a little while, each of us lost in our own thoughts, when finally, Francesca piped up again. “Well, now that we know Mari knew about the money, she admitted that she told Alicia and Alicia told Anita, we have to consider them suspects. Do you know those women?”

  “Of course I do. They both work the front desk.”

  “Could it be either of them?”

  I let my head roll backwards on my shoulders. “I mean, I don’t know Anita very well, so I couldn’t tell you. I do know Alicia.” I swallowed hard and cast a shifty glance in Francesca’s direction. “She’s not real fond of me either.”

  “Yeah? Why not?”

  My lips puckered as I stared at Francesca. “Mmnnmm?” I murmured, shrugging. “Some girls just don’t, I guess.”

  Francesca stared at me hard before putting a hand on each hip. “Danny! You slept with her too?”

  My brows knitted together. “What? I was trying to get over Pam. Whaddaya want me to say?”

  “I don’t know. But it sounds like we need to burn sage in your house when this is all said and done.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You wanna smudge my house? Seriously? It was just sex, Frankie. It wasn’t an exorcism.”

  Francesca’s eyes scanned the walls. “I don’t know, Danny. This place suddenly feels pretty gross.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Listen, if we get Al and Pam back, I will personally smudge the shit out of every corner of this house. Alright?”

  Francesca smiled. “Okay. Now, back to what we were talking about. Alicia doesn’t like you. Could it be her?”

  I shrugged. “I mean, it’s possible.”

  “Do you think those two girls would’ve told anyone else?”

  “It definitely would not shock me,” I said, nodding my head. “Rumors and gossip travel at the speed of light around here.”

  “Did either of them know about your relationship with Pam?”

  “Well, everyone knew about it the day that she arrived. She made a huge scene in the lobby. Word spread around the resort like wildfire.”

  “Okay, so let’s think about this logically. Mariposa knew about the money. She told several of the front office girls, and what was to stop them from telling the maids, you know?”

  I bobbed my head. “Exactly.”

  “And all of those people she told also knew about Pam coming to see you.”

  “Yup.”

  “Did any of them know about your friendship with Al?”

  I nodded. “Oh, sure. Everyone here knows about my relationship with Al. We’re like this,” I said, holding up two intertwined fingers. “We go everywhere together.”

  “Okay, so then it’s not such a stretch to imagine that Dexter knew about that relationship. Whoever told him about the money likely told him about Pam and your relationship with Al. What about Mack? Did any of the front office girls or the maids know about your relationship with Mack?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, that was common knowledge too.” I groaned and let my head fall forward. “In fact, a few of the girls were burned over the fact that I’d hooked up with the new girl. Alicia being one of them.”

  As if he’d just been spooked, Hugo jumped to his feet and trotted back to my bedroom.

  Francesca climbed off her barstool. “Alright, I think we’re getting closer! One of those girls has to be working with the kidnapper. Maybe you pissed one of them off enough to come after you. We’re just going to have to interview all of them until we figure out which—”

  From the bedroom, Hugo started barking wildly again. I sighed. “Shit. Earnestine’s back.”

  “Hugo! Come here!” shouted Francesca.

  His barking continued.

  I grabbed a handful of hair on either side of my scalp and groaned. We had so many people to interview. Now was not the time to hear that bird’s incessant squawking. Why hadn’t I killed the fucking bird when I’d had the chance? I jumped to my feet and went to my bedroom.

  Sure enough, Earnestine was on my headboard again. She was dancing about, her little feet clicking against the wood. Her head bobbed as she moved, as if she were laughingly teasing Hugo.

  “Earnestine!�
�� I barked. I flapped my arms at her to chase her back out the window. “Go! Go!”

  But instead of flying out the window, she flew over my head and out my bedroom door towards the living room. Hugo practically knocked me over trying to chase her out the door. “Woof! Woof!”

  I closed my eyes. Fuck. I didn’t have the energy to deal with a fucking bird and a dog! I was trying to concentrate and figure out who could’ve possibly been Dexter’s informant.

  In the living room, I found that Earnestine had landed on Francesca’s shoulder. “Pretty bird, pretty bird, pretty bird,” she squawked.

  Francesca smiled at her. “She remembers me!”

  “She’s a smart bird,” I admitted. I waved my hand at Earnestine. “Come on, birdy, time to go bye-bye.”

  Earnestine swayed from side to side. “No morning kisses, no morning kisses, rawck!”

  “This bird really doesn’t like morning kisses, huh?” said Francesca.

  I rolled my eyes. “Every fucking morning.”

  “You taught her that?”

  “She overheard a conversation between me and Mack,” I explained. “The morning that Pam showed up.”

  Something about that thought made me take pause. I tipped my head to the side for a moment and furrowed my brow.

  “What?”

  “Well, we sorta just came to the realization that maybe it’s one of the front office girls that’s Dexter’s informant.”

  Francesca nodded. “Yeah?”

  “Mack’s new to the Seacoast Majestic. She’s only been working here a few weeks. And she was actually the one that sought me out down at the pool bar that night. I didn’t even realize that Mari had hired a new girl.”

  “Okay? Where’re you going with this?”

  “Think about it. Mack’s new. She probably heard from the girls about me having that money. She sought out a relationship with me. Then Pam shows up, Mack grills me on my relationship with her, and the next thing I know, Pam’s kidnapped.”

  Francesca furrowed her brow. “But didn’t you tell me that Mack sought reassurance from you that you and Pam were over? If that’s the case, then why in the world would she suggest that Dexter kidnap Pam? I mean, who in their right mind would kidnap an ex that someone detested? It doesn’t make any sense.”