Terror at Sea: Three mysteries aboard a cruise ship

by Debby Mayne

  She nodded again. “That goes without saying.”

  I pondered that for a moment. “Are you sure she knows about you?”

  She lifted her chin and leveled me with a look of defiance. “He told me she does.”

  “And you believe everything he tells you?”

  “Of course. Why would he lie to me?”

  “I don’t know.” He obviously didn’t mind being unfaithful if what Aileen said was true, so I doubted a lie here and there would bother his conscience. “Something doesn’t seem right here.”

  Aileen had put me in a very awkward position. If she was right and Myrna wanted to murder her, I’d be smack dab in the middle of it if I couldn’t get rid of Aileen. She absolutely couldn’t stay in my cabin, or I feared that I might get caught in the crossfire if something went down.

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know what you should do, but I do know you can’t stay here.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave your cabin.” Aileen walked over to the door and placed her hand on the knob. Before opening it, she turned to face me. “If something happens to me, it’ll be on your conscience.”

  “Stay out of trouble,” I said. “Don’t go near the captain, and for heaven’s sake, stay away from anyone who resembles his wife, if you think she wants to get rid of you.”

  Aileen made a clicking sound with her tongue. “You sure do have a lot to learn, Autumn.” She hesitated only for a couple of seconds before leaving me alone in my cabin.

  As soon as she was gone, I turned the lock and wedged a chair beneath the doorknob. Then I sat down in the nearest chair and pondered what to do next.

  I wished I hadn’t already spent so much time talking to Summer, but she helped me sort through everything. I still needed to chat with her again, now that more had transpired since our last phone call. Without hesitation, I pulled out my phone and called her.

  She answered on the first ring. “I was hoping you’d call again. What’s going on now?” The eagerness in her voice was obvious, and that made me smile.

  I told her as quickly as I could, and somehow she managed to follow along. “This is one of those times I feel completely helpless … even more than when an entire class of seventh graders decides to plan a mutiny.”

  Summer laughed. “You’ll be fine.” Her voice grew more somber. “But from the sound of things you do need to be extra cautious, now that you’re getting close. Strange stuff happens when the killer gets scared. Do you have any idea … any feeling about who might be doing this?”

  “Feeling?”

  “Yeah, like those goose-bump-up-the-arm moments when you’re around certain people?”

  “I’ve had several of those.” I reflected back on a few times when I knew something wasn’t right before I actually saw it. “And it’s not just around one person. There are several.”

  “You have to trust that feeling,” Summer said. “One of the biggest problems with people is that they try to ignore the instincts God gave them.”

  “But what if I’m wrong? I’d feel really silly for overreacting.”

  “It’s better to be wrong and feel silly than to ignore what could be the biggest hint and get yourself into trouble … or worse, get hurt or killed. Do you think Myrna might be the person trying to murder people? She’s the one with the most obvious motive.”

  “I thought about that as soon as I saw her.”

  “And you couldn’t tell who that person was in your cabin … the one who ran away?” She paused. “Do you know the person’s height?”

  “I still have no idea who it was, but the person seemed a tad on the short side. It’s so strange, though. I wonder why someone would break into my room, just to put a pitcher of water on the desk. I suppose I’ll find out more when they check for fingerprints.”

  Summer sighed. “Don’t count on it. From the sound of things, they’re not likely to find definitive fingerprints, and if they do, they probably won’t tell you much of anything.”

  “I thought fingerprints would be a good clue.”

  “A lot of people think that. Unfortunately, all kinds of things can muddle the results—from more than one person handling the pitcher to smudges.” She paused. “And then there’s always the chance that the person was wearing gloves to prevent detection. Most people have watched enough mysteries on TV to know how that works.”

  “You used to say that most of what detectives do on TV isn’t accurate.”

  She laughed. “The key word being most. They normally get the fingerprints right, but not always.”

  “There has to be a clue.”

  “There always is. Are you sure it’s cyanide?”

  “That’s what I keep hearing people talking about.”

  “Cyanide is rather old fashioned, and it doesn’t always kill people who ingest it. In fact, a lot of fruits have cyanide in their seeds”

  I shuddered. “Now I don’t want to eat fruit anymore.”

  Summer laughed. “Don’t get all paranoid. You’ve probably ingested some cyanide and didn’t even realize it.”

  “That’s horrible. Okay, now I feel worse.”

  “Seriously, Autumn, you need to just pay attention to everything. Be careful what you say and don’t take any chances when you go back to your cabin. It’s important to know if someone is in your room before you go inside. You know about the paper-in-the-door trick, right?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “It doesn’t prevent an intruder, but it’ll let you know if someone has been in your cabin.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  Chapter 20

  “What you do is get a very small piece of paper and stick it in the door. When it opens, it’ll fall to the floor. So before you open the door, check to see if the paper is still there. You’ll have to make sure that you can see it from outside your cabin without making it too obvious.”

  “Won’t an intruder see it?”

  “Maybe, but if it’s small enough, they’ll have to consciously look for it. Don’t have it sticking out where someone who doesn’t know to look for it will see it.”

  “That sounds too easy.”

  Summer laughed. “I know, right? There are other things you can do to know if someone has entered the room, but none of them will stop anyone who really wants to get inside.”

  “What’s another way to know?”

  “If you have baby powder, you can put a little bit on the inside and outside knob. Anyone who touches it will leave a smudge.”

  “Thanks, Summer. I wish you were here with me.”

  “So do I. This is the kind of thing that excites me, which is why I’m still thinking about going back into law enforcement.”

  “I bet your mom will have the big one.”

  “Actually she’s fine with it. At first, they didn’t want me to, but now they’re thinking I was better off doing that for a living since I still keep finding dead bodies. Dad said he likes the idea of my having a partner and constant backup—something I don’t get as a civilian. They worry about me more now than they did when I was an active officer of the law.”

  “So that’s not just talk … you’re really thinking about going back, huh?”

  “Yeah. Everything else bores me to tears. I’ve tried everything from office work to being a day care worker. That actually wouldn’t have been too bad if I didn’t get so mad at the parents. The kids were great.”

  “Maybe you and I can take a trip somewhere before you go back,” I said.

  She laughed. “If you’re having trouble with what you’re dealing with now, you definitely don’t want to take a vacation with me. You’re guaranteed to find a dead body, and of course, that means I won’t be able to go home until I find the killer.”

  “In that case, you’re right. We can take separate vacations and get together later for dinner and talk about it.”

  After we got off the phone, I settled down to ponder what to do next. Sum
mer has always had a way of making me feel like everything will turn out fine while I’m talking to her, but later, I remember that I don’t have her skills, and the small amount I know can get me into trouble and worry me to pieces.

  I stayed in my cabin until my stomach started rumbling, letting me know it was time to eat. How people could fast for days and days I’d never know.

  After experiencing a couple of intruders on this trip already, I decided to try Summer’s paper-in-the-door method of security. I tore a small strip of paper from the scratch pad on the dresser and stuck it in the door as I left, making sure it didn’t show too much from the outside but I could see it when I stood right in front of it and squinted my eyes. Then I made my way to one of the buffets. I would have gone to the dining room, but I wasn’t in the mood to make conversation with a bunch of people at my assigned table.

  There was hardly anyone out and about. Even during the dinner hour, there were typically a few people strolling around on the Lido Deck. However, tonight, I was one of only a couple of people, which concerned me because I wondered if they’d even bother with the buffet.

  When I rounded the corner, I let out a sigh of relief. The buffet table was filled to overflowing with fresh fruit, shrimp on ice, and a colorful array of veggies. I made a beeline to it but stopped when I heard my name.

  I spun around and saw Betty watching me, so I smiled. “Hey, Betty. I thought you’d be in the dining room. Did you get switched to a different seating?”

  She didn’t even try to smile back. Instead, she nodded toward the buffet table. “I’d be careful eating any of that if I were you. You never know what might be in it.”

  Those goose bumps Summer and I talked about started crawling up my arm. I tried hard to ignore them since I doubted Betty had it in her to kill anyone. She might have been annoying, but I didn’t think she was a murderer. “You think there might be something with poison on it, huh?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. Whoever’s doing this is starting to get desperate.”

  My stomach hissed at me, reminding me it was time to eat, but my sense of wanting to stay alive took over. I backed away from the buffet table.

  “Or it could be perfectly fine.” She looked at it and then at me. “Tell you what. We’ll both have the buffet. That way, we won’t have to die alone.” She let out a cackle before nudging me in the side. “Lighten up, Autumn. Where’s your sense of humor?”

  My sense of humor didn’t find this conversation the least bit funny. I decided to change the subject.

  “So why aren’t you having dinner in the dining room?”

  Betty rolled her eyes. “I’m tired of looking at the same old faces. Sometimes I think I’ve been on this boat way too long.” She paused. “Know what I mean?”

  I nodded. I’d only been on the boat a few days, and I felt I’d been there too long. I couldn’t imagine staying on it for two years.

  “I heard the pineapple is really good.” Betty stabbed a couple of spears before moving on to the shrimp. “And I can’t resist boiled shrimp.” She piled a bunch of shrimp on her plate. “Did you know this is an all-you-can eat buffet?”

  “Yes.” I looked everything over and decided to get what Betty got. My reasoning was that if someone wanted to poison the food they’d choose something that didn’t have a shell on it. And if Betty was the person poisoning people, she wouldn’t pick anything that was tainted.

  After we filled our plates, I picked up some bottled water and walked over to one of the tables with a striped umbrella. Betty was right behind me.

  “You know they don’t normally have this much stuff on the buffet at this time, right?” Betty picked up a piece of pineapple, studied it for a few seconds, and stuck it in her mouth.

  “No, I didn’t know that. I wonder why they do now.”

  “I’m sure they had an abundance of extra food since so many people canceled their reservations.” Betty peeled a shrimp, dipped it in cocktail sauce, and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes rolled back as she chewed. “Mmm. That is so good. Beats prime rib any day.”

  “Is that what they’re serving?”

  Betty nodded. “That’s one of several things on the menu. It’s getting boring to keep having the same menu over and over. I tried to talk them into changing things up, but they told me they have their menu down to a science, and they’re not about to change things up for just one passenger who doesn’t want to leave the ship.”

  “Who told you that?” I couldn’t imagine anyone with this cruise line being so blunt.

  “Tom.” She laughed. “He can get away with saying stuff like that to me.” She lifted her fork but paused it a couple of inches from her lips. “Wait a minute. I thought you were supposed to have dinner at the Captain’s Table tonight.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  “Tom won’t like that one single bit.” She tipped her head forward and gave me a look my mother used to give me. “Did you tell him you wouldn’t be there?”

  “I sent him a message through the front desk.”

  “He’ll probably never get it.” She snorted. “This cruise line has gone downhill since my first cruise. Take the cruise director, for instance.”

  “Are you talking about Andrea?”

  Betty nodded. “That girl is such a flake.”

  “Since she’s new, maybe he won’t—”

  Betty interrupted me. “Being new is no excuse. She should be able to step into the job knowing what to do.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “I don’t know why they hire such ditzy people.”

  “She seems nice to me.” I thought back to the times I’d spoken with her, and I couldn’t remember a single incident of flakiness.

  “Oh, she might seem nice, but there’s a side to her you’ll probably never see.” She leaned forward and whispered, “There’s some speculation she and the Doc Healey are involved.”

  “Involved?” I put down my fork. “As in a relationship?”

  “Yep. And that’s not all. She’s been known to sabotage people when she doesn’t get her way.”

  “She has?” I tilted my head. “I thought she was new.”

  “This started on her first day on the job. There’s something odd about that girl, and I haven’t figured it out yet.” She lifted her index finger as if to make a point. “But mark my word, I will someday.”

  “Maybe there’s nothing to figure out.”

  “Oh, trust me there is.” Betty leaned toward me, cupped her hand, and whispered, “She might even have something to do with what’s been happening.” She bobbed her head. “Just sayin’ …”

  I couldn’t see that at all. “Maybe it just seems that way.”

  “Goodness, Autumn, you are even more naïve than I thought. Have you always been that way?”

  “I like to look for the good in people.”

  “But some people haven’t got an ounce of good in them—even some folks who pretend. You need to stop looking at the world through rose colored glasses.”

  The mother of one of my students told me that during my first year of teaching. It wasn’t long after that when I became more realistic about the fact that most of the seventh graders in my classes weren’t eager little sponges, hoping to soak up knowledge.

  Betty tipped her head to the side and squinted her eyes as she stared at me. “What are you thinking about that’s making you look so goofy?”

  I chuckled. “My students.”

  “Stop thinking about those brats. You’re supposed to be on vacation, remember?”

  “They’re not all brats.” I might have had a rough year, but I hated when someone said something not so nice about my students.

  “Oh yeah? I’ve never met a kid yet who wasn’t.”

  I thought about some of the sweeter kids, like Danielle who turned all of her homework in on time and never once gave me a lick of trouble … and Anna who liked telling me funny jokes when she saw that I was having a rough day.

  After I remained silent for a while, Bet
ty spoke up again. “I reckon there might be some nice kids, but like I said, I haven’t seen them. Maybe it’s just all the ones who come cruising are a bunch of spoiled brats. Their parents should leave them at home with sitters.”

  “Is that what you did?” I asked.

  “Yeah, pretty much. By the time school was out every year, I was ready for the loony farm. My late husband and I took them to their grandmother’s house, and that was when we really lived it up.”

  “Did y’all go on cruises?”

  Betty shook her head. “He didn’t like anything to do with the water. He was more of a mountain man.” She looked off in the distance with a dreamy expression. “A couple of years we went abroad—once to Japan and then another time to Europe.” She shrugged. “Other times we just rented a place in the mountains. He fished all day, and I read.”

  It bothered me that she couldn’t wait to get away from her children, but there was nothing I could do about it now. “Which did you like better, Japan or Europe?”

  “I preferred Japan, but my husband liked Europe.” She snorted. “His favorite tourist place was the Nestle factory in Switzerland. Of course, it was in the mountains, and he was a chocoholic.”

  “It makes sense that he would like it.” I agreed.

  Our conversation went on like that until her eyes widened, and she dropped her fork. There was clearly something behind me, and I wasn’t sure whether or not I should turn around.

  Chapter 21

  “Betty, we’d like to have a chat with you.”

  I recognized Aileen’s voice, so I looked over my shoulder, and I almost dropped my fork too. Now I knew why Betty was so shocked. Not only was Aileen standing there, Myrna was right beside her. Neither of them wore even a hint of a smile.

  “Okay, so chat.” Betty’s voice cracked, so she cleared her throat.

  Myrna looked down at me. “We’d like some privacy, please.”

  “Sure.” I started to stand, but Betty yanked me by the arm, throwing me off balance. Fortunately the chair was right behind me, so I didn’t have far to fall.

  “Anything you have to say to me, say it in front of my friend.” Betty gave me a quick glance.