Savasana at Sea

by Ava Dunne

  “Unless you’re in a dance competition, yes.” Matt smiled.

  Bassio swept past, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Beautiful work, Sophie. You’ve inspired a lot of people today. Must go back to my ladies.” He was gone, like a whirlwind.

  “Did you enjoy yourself?” Matt asked.

  “I did. I can see why performing can be addictive. What now?”

  “We are done until tomorrow night. There’s a tea dance on the final day at sea as we head back to New York, but that should work in between your class schedule.”

  “Great. Can we run everything again tomorrow, maybe in the yoga studio during the day?”

  “That would be wonderful. I’d like to teach you a couple of Tango moves, too. You can handle them.”

  “We’re in port in Florida tomorrow?” I asked. “The only thing I need to do is dash off and hit a Duane Reade or similar. I figured I’d just chill on board, so whenever it’s good for you, I can do it.”

  “I’ll catch up with you,” Matt promised. “Seriously, it was great. Thank you so much. We not only survived, we thrived.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I changed, carefully returned my costume and my underwear, in its lingerie bag to Tobias, to be washed. “I can’t believe the theatre department has its own set of machines,” I grumbled, as he tossed the lingerie bag into a basket and ran his eye over the dress, looking for needed repairs.

  “Only way you’ll get a professional crew in here is to give us our own equipment,” Tobias assured me. “Diamond Line may have its faults; all cruise lines do. But they want the best.”

  Back in comfortable sweat pants and a tee shirt, I headed up to the crew bar for a celebratory drink. Chief Bakshi intercepted me. “Sophie, I need a minute.”

  “Sure, Chief.” I looked up at him. “If you’re going to call me Sophie, do I get to call you Dhruv?”

  He flashed one of his smiles at me. “Sure.”

  “It’s not breaking protocol?”

  “Not unless we’re in a formal interrogation.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Then what’s this?” I was only half-teasing.

  Dhruv sighed. “Fair question. Staff Captain Christakos and I went over the launch. That was no accident. It was sabotage. Was that the launch you came out on?”

  “I don’t think so. I didn’t pay attention to the boats, just the people. When Wendy got injured, I made sure to get on a different launch back.”

  “Why?”

  “Wendy doesn’t like me.”

  “Again, why?”

  “She refuses to believe I’m not going to continue Geri’s blackmail.”

  “Wendy was one of the victims?”

  “Yes. Her,” I stopped as I realized I hadn’t told anyone about the list. I amended, “She approached me to try to pay me a few days ago. She was the dancer I mentioned, but I didn’t know her name until today at Diamond Island. Amy wanted me to talk to her about the routine, but Wendy wanted me to get out as fast as possible.”

  “Wendy doesn’t have a roommate right now, does she?”

  “No. Matt said they were both living solo until replacement dancers arrive.”

  “I’ll talk to her.” Dhruv made a half turn, then turned back. “Good work tonight. You looked beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” I said to his back, as he walked away.

  I continued to the crew bar. Several people applauded when I entered, I gave them a playful curtsey, and the bartender slid over a green apple martini. “I heard you were amazing,” he said.

  “It was fun.”

  “You did a great job,” Andrew said, joining me. “I snuck in for a few minutes.”

  “I saw you. Thank you.”

  He gestured to the scrubs he wore. “I’m on duty tonight, so I can’t stay, but I wanted to nip in here and congratulate you.”

  “Thanks.” I accepted his hug.

  “Going ashore tomorrow?” Andrew asked. “Want to hang out?”

  “Staying on ship,” I said. “Matt and I are going to work on the Tango.”

  “Oh, okay.” Andrew looked disappointed. “Catch up later, then.”

  “Any idea if Gary turned up?” I caught him before he walked away.

  “Gary?” Andrew looked puzzled.

  “Sebastian said he was missing.”

  Andrew frowned. “Last I knew, he was in his cabin. I helped Sebastian put him there.”

  I waved a hand. “Maybe I misunderstood. Sorry.”

  “Catch you tomorrow.” Andrew turned and left.

  “Now you tell me everything.” Harmonia grabbed me and pulled me out to the crew pool. “First of all, are you okay from this afternoon? What happened?”

  I settled in one of the wonky metal chairs and sipped my martini. “I’m not sure. I must have gotten tangled up in something, although I couldn’t see it. It felt like something grabbed me and pulled me under. Sebastian found a resistance band floating in the water, but we don’t know how it got there, and he couldn’t figure out what caught it.” I shivered. “It felt like a person was pulling me down, not just a piece of rubber.”

  “It was terrifying,” said Harmonia. “Usually, these visions — well, I felt it, I didn’t see much — are precognitive, not simultaneous.”

  “If it happens like this with everyone you know, how do you get through the day?”

  Harmonia shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. It only works with certain people. It works with you because we’re becoming friends. There are some other people, but. . .” she trailed off, biting her lip, then shrugged. “It doesn’t work with everyone. Thank goodness. Or I’d have to keep serious shields up all the time. Have you considered that someone wanted to hurt you?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I seem to have made my own set of enemies, like Geri did. People still assume I’m taking over for her. So, yes, someone might have wanted to hurt me. But I don’t know who.”

  “You don’t think it was Hans, do you?”

  “Hans?” It never occurred to me. I liked Hans. “Why Hans?”

  “He’s big enough and strong enough to push Geri down the stairs, and to tug you under the water.”

  “I didn’t even see Hans at the resort. He’s hard to miss.”

  “Doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”

  I shook my head. “Doesn’t feel right.” I looked at Harmonia and laughed. “Oops, now I’m in your territory.”

  “We’ve all got intuition, if we bother to develop it,” said Harmonia. “Make a list. We can go over it and I can even use my pendulum on it.”

  “I don’t know what that means, but okay.”

  “Roz told me about the launch sinking. That must have been scary, too.”

  “I never thought I’d be grateful for Sebastian nagging me about the life vest, but I was,” I admitted.

  “He’s furious that Amy made you teach your 6:30 class and that she made you learn the routine with Matt,” said Harmonia. “According to Roz, he went roaring over her head into Javier Garcia’s office. I’m surprised he didn’t get fired.”

  “I wonder if he knows the launch was sabotaged?” I frowned.

  “Sabotaged?”

  “Dhruv told me. But even so, I can’t take that personally, because, how could it be directed at me? No one knew which launch I’d take back. I didn’t even know until that last second. That had to be an accident. The part of me being on the launch that went down.”

  “Or sabotage that wasn’t directed at you, but at the ship in general.”

  “Too many layers for me.” I took another sip of my drink. “I’ll work on the list tomorrow. I planned to ask you if there was a way to use your unique skills to find out who was behind Geri’s murder, but it’s been so busy, I didn’t.” I sipped again. “There’s more.” I told Harmonia about the attacker’s scent of rosemary, and smelling it at the resort.

  “Rosemary?” Harmonia frowned.

  “Is it significant?”

  “Yes. But why? Rosemary means a lot
of things. Remembrance, of course, like in Hamlet. It’s also used for purification, love, safe passage on water (which makes total sense on a ship), healing, and magic.”

  “A magician who wants to remember something and have safe passage over water, and is maybe in love?” I hazarded. “It couldn’t be Xerses, could it?”

  “Xerses is an illusionist, not a magician. Not in the sense of practicing Craft magic,” said Harmonia. “He’s got a great individual scent, but it’s not rosemary. I’ll keep my olfactory senses aware. That’s a puzzle. Remembrance Man. That’s what we’ll call him until we figure out who he is.”

  Remembrance Man. A knot of tension released inside me. The name felt right. I wished I’d thought of it. I hesitated, and plunged ahead. “I need to ask you something.”

  “Sure.”

  “Are you sleeping with Costel?”

  Harmonia hesitated. “Sometimes.”

  “I came up to see you the other night and you were kissing some other guy. At your tarot room.”

  Even in the dark, I could see Harmonia blush. “That’s Alan. He works in the steakhouse.”

  “So you’re sleeping with two guys?” I remembered an Alan on Geri’s list. Should I tell Harmonia?

  “Alan and I have a long history,” Harmonia admitted. “Sometimes we get along. Mostly, we don’t. I’m all messed up when it comes to my feelings for Alan. We were together in college. But after graduation, we went our separate ways. The psychic stuff creeps him out.”

  “Did you know he was on the ship when you were hired?”

  Harmonia shook her head. “I was shocked when I saw him the first time. We’d been out of touch for three, four years.”

  “Was he in any kind of trouble?”

  “You mean, was he running from something when he landed the cruise ship job?” Harmonia puzzled. “I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

  “There’s someone named Alan on Geri’s list. I found it.” Technically, Stella Orsini found it, but I didn’t want to get into long explanations. “There’s nothing to say why someone is on the list, but there’s an Alan on the list. I don’t remember the last name. I’d have to take another look.”

  “I could ask Alan. There’s probably more than one guy named Alan on the ship. It’s a common name.”

  “Is that wise? To ask him?”

  Harmonia stared at me. “You think Alan pushed Geri down the stairs? He’s strong enough, but I can’t — I hope — he didn’t.” She shook her head. “I have to think about it. Definitely disturbing. Alan’s got a temper.”

  “What about Costel?”

  “Costel’s irresistible,” said Harmonia. “I can’t see him being blackmailed. I’m sure he has secrets, we all do, but he’s so open, in his way.”

  “Maybe he’s protecting Daciana.”

  “She knows how to play the game better than he does, that’s for sure. That’s why she worked her way up to VIP steward and he’s still working the dining room. Not that he minds. We clicked from the first moment we met. This is the ship, I can’t make any long-term plans, but Costel — just looking at him makes me happy.” She gave me a sideways glance. “I’m not committed to either one of them. The good thing about working on the ship, the double-standard isn’t so severe. Women can be sexually adventurous, too, and not be branded as sluts. You should think about it.”

  “I have been thinking about it,” I said. “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Maybe get you to do a reading for me sometime?”

  “Sure. Anytime,” said Harmonia. “Do you want to talk first?”

  “I’ve always been a serial monogamist, so this is weird for me. I see one guy, I’m attracted; I see another guy, I’m attracted. I’m like a cat in a room full of tinsel. Everything looks enticing.”

  “Part of being on the ship,” Harmonia agreed. “Sex and drinking are the two prevalent pastimes with the staff and the crew. We work hard. We play hard. With each other. Plus, you just went through a life-changing break-up. It’s nice to feel attracted. And attractive. You’re not a ‘bad girl’ if you’re attracted to more than one man.”

  “I’ve never done that. I don’t know if I know how to do it.”

  “Maybe that’s part of the reason you’re here, now,” said Harmonia. “To learn.”

  “I thought I was ready. To play a bit. Not when I first boarded and started trailing Geri. I hurt too much. I wanted to keep my head down and learn the job. Plus, I got the idea that Geri would take it as a personal insult if I had a fling while I was under her supervision.”

  “Either that, or she wondered if you’d make a good target.”

  I shuddered. “I’d like to think I would have told her what she could do with that notion, but you never really know until you’re in the situation, do you? But Geri’s dead, and suddenly, I have to hold my head up instead of trying not to be noticed, and take on the responsibility of doing the job as well as I can. With that, I’m noticing how many attractive men are around me.”

  “The whole sex/death conundrum,” said Harmonia. “There’s a death, so you want to feel more alive through sex.”

  “I’ll be so disappointed in myself if all I am is that cliché.” I rolled my eyes. “Then Duncan Cooke made it clear that he wants to sleep with me, but I’m only another piece of ass to him, and I’m insulted.” I repeated the conversation, as verbatim as possible.

  “Ouch!” Harmonia was sympathetic. “Part of me feels I should congratulate him on his honesty, but that had to sting.”

  “I’m not offended when anyone on the crew hits on me,” I said. “I figured we’re all just playing, and I’m not taking it seriously. I mean, when Viktor Horvat comes on to me, I don’t take that seriously. He’s kind of fun to flirt with, and he’s so upfront about what he wants. I make sure not to lead him on, but I don’t mind the verbal sparring. He’s clear that if we, you know, it wouldn’t be anything more than sex. But it hurt when Duncan made the same thing clear.”

  Hurt. It felt better to name it.

  “What a bastard,” Harmonia muttered. “Look, you’re a healthy woman who is in touch with her own body, or you wouldn’t be such a good yoga instructor. Give yourself permission for some adventure. If you want Duncan, have him. On your terms. If you don’t, then don’t. What about Dhruv?”

  “He’s attractive, but I’ve broken his trust,” I said, and I repeated our conversation about race and my suspicions. “What if he’s right? What if I was being racist and didn’t even realize it?”

  “Well, there is the whole wondering if he was one of Geri’s blackmail victims,” said Harmonia. “As to race, as your fellow white girl, I can’t answer that. Minerva, she’s Roz’s roommate who’s rotated off right now, she talks about these issues a lot. She’d say we don’t even notice certain times we’re making decisions based on race and ethnicity, because it’s the way we’ve been conditioned. All we can do is be aware of it and build on not doing it.”

  “My parents would be so disappointed,” I said. “All those civil rights marches they were involved in, before we were even born. All that social justice awareness they tried to instill in us. I’d hate to think I failed and didn’t even notice.”

  “Just because we’re on a ship doesn’t mean we’re immune to prejudice or conditioning,” Harmonia pointed out. “We are a merry mix here, all kinds of skin tones and nationalities and religions. We interact a lot, make friends we might not make in other situations. But there are still times we gravitate to our own. Disagreements break out along race lines or religion lines or national lines. Usually, they can be worked out. We’re cooped up in a small space. There are bound to be tensions. It doesn’t change that you and Dhruv have chemistry.”

  “If I followed up on it now, he’d think I was trying to manipulate him.” The realization made me sad.

  “You’ve got options. Especially after tonight’s dance routine. Dance is sexy. Part of the mating ritual. Guys who didn’t notice you before will look at you in a whole new way. Look,
don’t force yourself into doing something that feels wrong, but don’t avoid doing something that feels right.” Harmonia sipped her drink. “Sebastian would be a good choice, at least to start. He’s a good guy. Not a user.”

  I remembered seeing Sebastian and the woman on the island. “I think he’s got something going with that female FBI agent. Besides, Veronika wants him.”

  “So?” Harmonia said. “He’s not committed to either one of them, unless he’s keeping it on the down-low with the agent. I know he’s not committed to Veronika.”

  I risked the question. “Did you sleep with Dean?”

  “Hell, yes. But then, it’s a rite of passage on the Charisma.”

  “I’m starting to feel left out,” I pouted. “I haven’t slept with him.”

  “Yet,” said Harmonia. “He’s available if you want him. He’s a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. He communicates through touch. And sex. Besides, he stayed with you when you were half unconscious in the water. It would be a nice way to thank him.”

  I laughed. “Another cliché.”

  “If the cliché hits the right g-spot.” Harmonia raised her glass.

  “Now you sound like Roz.” I tried again. “Xerses?”

  “Oh, yeah. When we first started working together. He likes to take his time.” Harmonia sipped her drink. “I see the way he looks at you sometimes. He’d be open, if you made the overture.” She looked at me. “Ewan Drummond’s interested. He’d be fun.”

  “None of this gets us closer to Geri’s killer,” I said. “I’ve focused so much on the blackmail and the sex aspects, what if it was something else that got her killed?”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I’m trying to figure it out. What if someone on the ship murdered somebody else and Geri found out about it? Wouldn’t that be worse than musical beds and money?”

  “It would,” Harmonia agreed. “The only hole in that theory is that there haven’t been any other deaths on the Charisma. Not for years. I mean, there’s an occasional heart attack or stroke if someone overdoes it, but I don’t think anyone’s died since I’ve worked here. I don’t remember anyone going overboard, either. They’ve got a great safety record.”