by Diana X Dunn
"Shall we order wine?" Alex asked.
"I think the night can only be improved with alcohol," Suzy sighed. She’d already taken a neutralizing tablet before she’d come down to meet Alex, but he didn't need to know that.
Once Alex had finished ordering the drinks, Suzy took a turn on the control panel, trying to check on the levels of monitoring and security within the room. She recognized the security firm that had designed the hardware and software and in a few moments she was able to hack into the central security system. A few taps later she was reasonably certain that she and Alex were no longer bring monitored. She just hoped that hotel security wouldn’t bother to investigate the little glitch she’d just introduced into their monitoring systems. She’d fix everything before they left and, if security at this resort was like that at similar resorts throughout the world, it was probable that no one would even notice.
Luke had an officer watching her, of course, but the room itself was soundproof. Suzy tapped another screen and the sounds from the dining room below filtered into the room. She adjusted the volume until the fuzzy noise almost filled the small space. She’d just finished her adjustments when the wine arrived. The waiter looked a bit uncertain about the level of noise in the room, but he was too well trained to mention it.
Alex dismissed the waiter and poured the wine.
"Shall I whisper?" he asked, his voice low, pitched just under the buzz of conversation coming from below them.
"That wouldn't hurt," Suzy answered, taking a sip of her wine. "This is good," she remarked as she took a second drink.
Alex sighed. "If you are drinking it that quickly, you must have already taken a neutralizer," he complained.
"I'm working," Suzy reminded him.
“You're always working,” Alex answered.
“I know.”
“Obviously, I couldn’t get away from the resort to help with your problem today,” Alex told her.
“I know,” Suzy sighed. “Luke has us all locked up tightly.”
"So tell me what is going on," Alex suggested.
Suzy talked quietly and quickly, filling Alex in on everything that had happened on the ship over the last week or more.
They finished their first two courses before she’d finished her narrative. Finally she sat back and drained her glass. Alex quickly refilled it and ordered more wine.
"I think that hits all of the highlights," she told him. "I needed that, to clear my head and walk through it all."
"Does that mean you've figured out who did it?"
"I wish," Suzy frowned. “I was hoping that walking through it slowly, explaining it to a fresh set of ears, would help me see something I missed before, but it hasn't worked.”
“So now what?”
Suzy shook her head as the main course and wine both arrived at the same time. They spent a few minutes enjoying them before Suzy continued.
“Let's talk through the suspects,” she said eventually. “In theory, anyone on the ship could have done it, but I doubt very much any of the staff or crew were involved. Marta and Captain Grayson are better possibilities, but I think it was possibly even closer to home than that.”
“Who are Marta and Captain Grayson, again?” Alex checked.
“Marta is Max’s housekeeper, staff manager, cook, and just about a hundred other things,” Suzy explained. “She’s been with Max for a very long time. I can’t imagine any possible reason why she would have killed Chrystal. I’m sure they didn’t like each other, but Max wasn’t going to get rid of Marta, no matter what Chrystal thought.”
“And Captain Grayson? He’s the ship’s captain, right?”
“Yes, he’s been the captain of The Mirage since Max bought her. He’s a little bit strange and I think he was somewhat obsessed with Chrystal, but I’m not sure that is a motive for murder. If I had my M-ped, I could do an in-depth background check on him. That might reveal something that might help, but for now, I’m stuck with just what I’ve seen and heard.”
“Could Max have done it?”
Suzy shook her head. “We were together when Chrystal was killed. There is no way he could have gotten to my room and killed her in the short space of time it took me to walk to my room from his, even if there were a secret passage between the rooms, which there isn't.”
“So he’s definitely out,” Alex said.
“He could have paid someone else to do it, of course, but I'm not sure why he would. I can't imagine any scenario where he couldn't just get rid of her without having to kill her. Besides, if he wanted her dead, I think he would have paid enough to have it done properly.”
“Properly?” Alex questioned.
“Yeah,” Suzy told him. “Like where someone disappears and the body is never found.”
Alex shuddered. “Does that really happen, outside of fiction?”
Suzy almost laughed at his innocence. The super rich made their own rules. If Max had wanted Chrystal to disappear, he could have easily made it happen. “Not often,” Suzy assured Alex, not wanting to totally destroy his faith in law and order.
Alex looked unhappy with that reply, but Suzy moved the conversation on quickly. “Now Randy is another matter,” she suggested. “His power and prestige are all based on his position as Max's partner. Chrystal was a threat to that position. I'm not sure how much of a threat she actually was, but what really matters is how much of a threat Randy thought she was.”
Alex shook his head. “I don't think I've met Randy.”
“You'll meet him tonight,” Suzy said. “He'll be the good-looking guy hanging around Max constantly.”
“So you think he might have done it?” Alex wondered.
“Yes and no,” Suzy shook her head, frustrated at her own indecision.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I like him as a person, and I don't want to think that he did it. But he had a very strong motive, and the means and the opportunity.”
“If he did it, you must have seen him right after the murder. Did he look like he’d just stabbed someone to death?” Alex asked.
Suzy shook her head again. “I don't know enough about his background to answer that. I’d like to think that nobody on that ship could possibly think that I could murder someone in cold blood, but obviously I could if I had a reason to do so.”
Alex shuddered.
“We’ve done full background checks on Randy in the past, of course,” Suzy continued. “Those didn’t raise any red flags, but such things can be faked.”
Alex nodded and moved on. “So who else is on the suspect list?”
"Peter Palmer is a business associate of Max's. I have virtually no information about his background. That's one of the other reasons I want a M-ped from Michael. I want to be able investigate these people properly."
"I haven't met him either," Alex said.
"He'll be there tonight, but you might not get to meet him. Even with only a handful of people on the ship, he never bothered to speak to me unless he had to. He's really only interested in talking to Max or anyone he thinks can help him get Max's ear."
"What would his motive for killing Chrystal have been, then?"
"That's a good question. He and Chrystal seemed to get along very well, almost too well. "
"Were they twirling?"
"I doubt it. Chrystal was too smart to get involved with anyone else while she still had Max on the hook. Anyway, I don't think Peter would have done anything that might jeopardize his chances of sealing the deal with Max."
"Maybe he wanted to take things further and Chrystal didn't?"
"I don't think he would've killed her," Suzy replied. "He’s extremely invested in Max's happiness at the moment. And Crystal seemed to be helping his cause. I can't see any clear motive for him unless there was something going on that I didn’t know about or there’s some past history there."
“Who else is there?” Alex asked.
“Henry Martin. He's another of Max's business associates. He was on th
e ship before Peter got there, but for some reason he didn't get Max to finalize their deal before Peter arrived. Once Peter arrived, I think Max was enjoying playing the two of them off each other, so he wouldn’t agree to anything.”
“Are you sure Max didn't do it? He doesn't seem like a very nice guy.”
Suzy chuckled. “You have to get used to the very rich. They live in their own little bubble and they do things their way. Nothing much matters to them except finding little ways to amuse themselves. I don't have to like him, I just have to do my job.”
“Did you know that I hate your job?”
Of course there was no answer to that remark, so Suzy ignored it and continued. “Genifer Hart is another possible suspect,” she told Alex.
“Now her I have met,” Alex answered. “She’s gorgeous and ruthless and manipulative and mean.”
Suzy laughed. “Tell me what you really think,” she teased.
“I only spent about ten minutes with her, but that was plenty,” Alex frowned. “There is no doubt in my mind that she would kill someone in cold blood if she felt the urge, and not feel a bit of remorse after.”
“I would tend to agree with that,” Suzy told him. “However, I’m not sure that she had enough of a motive to kill Chrystal. The women hated each other, but they both are the type that sees all other women as rivals. No matter how hard Chrystal tried, she wasn’t going to be able to get between Max and Genifer. They’re family and Max values family over just about everything else. Genifer had to know that and couldn’t have been too worried about Chrystal.”
“Genifer is Max’s daughter?” Alex checked.
“Adopted daughter,” Suzy corrected. “She’s really his niece, but her mother and father were killed in an accident when she was about ten. Max was only in his early twenties, but he adopted her immediately and raised her. Of course, for him, raising her consisted mostly of paying for a succession of nannies and private schools, rather than actually doing anything, but in these circles, that counts as parenting.”
“Dare I say that he didn’t do a very good job? She isn’t a nice person at all.”
Suzy chuckled. “She doesn’t have to be nice, she’s filthy rich,” she told Alex. “Most people fall at her feet and do whatever she asks so that they can bask in the reflected glory of the lovely Hart fortune.”
“Yeah, well, that isn’t exactly me,” Alex shrugged. “You are going to have to try to keep her away from me, okay? She scares me.”
Now Suzy laughed. “I know what you mean. She’s a ferocious predator, but I think you can handle her.”
“I would rather not even try,” Alex replied. “Can’t we just pretend that you and I fell madly in love at first sight and be totally absorbed in each other?” He smiled at Suzy and then leaned across the gap between them and kissed her very gently. “I wouldn’t be acting,” he whispered.
Suzy sighed. “The thing is,” she tried to explain, “I need to keep Luke on my side.”
Alex sat back in his chair, anger flashing in his eyes. “So I have to sit back and watch while you flirt with Luke?” he questioned. “Or does it go further than that? Are you sleeping with him?” He was practically yelling now.
“Hush,” Suzy scolded. “I’m not sleeping with him,” she told him. She reached toward him and grabbed both of his hands. “Look at me,” she said.
Reluctantly, Alex looked into her eyes. “I am not sleeping with him,” she told him firmly. “I’m sleeping alone, and I intend to keep sleeping alone until we are both safely back in New York. What happens after that is up to you.”
Alex nodded. “But you are going to be flirting with him?”
“I’m going to be friendly with him,” Suzy replied. “I don’t expect him to push for anything more while I’m a suspect in his murder investigation. And once that investigation is over, I won’t be around.”
“You’re good at not being around,” Alex muttered under his breath.
“It’s my job,” Suzy reminded him. The look on his face told her exactly what he thought about her job, but that wasn’t news to her. That was why her relationships were always short and usually not sweet.
They took their time over dessert, talking about nothing much and just enjoying each other’s company. Suzy kept the conversation off murder and her job by regaling him with stories about some of the other guests he would be meeting later that evening. They finished off the second bottle of wine and were debating a third when someone knocked on the door.
Suzy raised an eyebrow as Alex rose to answer it. She was only mildly surprised to see Luke.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said stiffly, looking from Suzy to Alex and then back to Suzy. “There’s some sort of problem with the hotel’s security systems in this room and they wanted me to check it out.”
Suzy grinned to herself. She had shut down their monitoring systems almost two hours ago. It had taken them an awfully long time to notice the failure, or at least to do something about it.
Luke tapped a few times on the room’s control panel and then tapped something on his M-ped. After a moment he smiled and cleared the control panel screen. “That seems to have sorted it out,” he told Alex and Suzy. “Did you mean to have the volume set that high or is there a problem with that as well?”
Suzy smiled at him. “With all the monitoring and security going on around here, I just wanted to try to keep our conversation private,” she told the man. She stood up and whispered in his ear. “I wanted to warn Alex about certain things about Max that I would hate for Max to hear me saying about him. I’m pretty sure that he could get the security records for the entire island if he asked. I need to stay on his good side.”
Luke didn’t look as if he believed her, but the excuse was a good one because she was likely correct. “Well, in this instance, you didn’t need the volume, because the security system wasn’t working properly,” he told her with a smile. Then he tapped the panel again and turned off the sound from the dining room below. The sudden silence felt strange.
“I guess I should go and get ready for the party anyway,” Suzy smiled at both men. “I’ll see you both there.”
Alex and Luke both opened their mouths to speak, but she slipped quickly out of the room before they could manage any words. She was suddenly tired of both of them, and more than that, tired of her job. She wanted, more than anything, to go back to her room and go to bed. Unfortunately, it was time for a party.
Ten
Suzy spent just a few minutes touching up her makeup and then twisted her hair into an elaborate up-do. “All the stupid technology in the world and I still have to have a thousand pins sticking straight into my head to keep my hair in place,” she grumbled to herself as she finished the complicated style.
She frowned at the skin-tight soft-pink evening gown that was stretched across her bed. It was beaded and sequined, low-cut and sexy, and it had been terribly expensive. She really hated it and the whole lifestyle that it represented to her. The dark body suits that fit just as tightly but gave her complete freedom of movement were much better. She didn’t wear them often, but when she did it was for a job that required every one of her carefully honed skills. Tonight, on the other hand, needed nothing more than a bland and boring acting job and lots and lots of neutralizing tablets.
Shimmering into the dress, she held her breath to do up the zipper. Dessert had been a mistake, she realized, as she struggled to get the material to join. Her shoes were equally awful, bright silver sandals with a five-inch heel that would make her feet ache in less than ten minutes. As she studied her reflection, she thought briefly about finding another job. Then she gave herself a mental shake and headed out, smiling brilliantly as soon as she was in the public eye.
Max had outdone himself, Suzy realized as she emerged from the elevators. Or rather, Marta had outdone herself. The grand ballroom at the resort had been totally redesigned to reflect the opulent taste of the party’s host. Suzy couldn’t help but mentally tally the expense as she
entered the room.
The walls had been hung with elaborate cream-colored fabric panels, all emblazoned with the Hart family crest in golden thread. The carpet beneath her shoes was so thick that it made walking in the heels difficult. It too was cream-colored and must have been brand-new, as it was immaculate.
One section of the room was set with several small tables with chairs gathered around them. On each table was an intricate flower arrangement centered around a single pillar candle. Suzy was surprised to see that the candles were lit with genuine flames. Indoor flames had been made illegal in public places everywhere in the world many years ago. The technology for artificial candles was generally deemed of sufficient quality to provide an adequate replacement. She just hoped that the hotel had appropriate fire-extinguishing systems in place for when the party started getting rowdy later.
There were a number of bars set up around the room, and drinks were being poured at an astonishing rate, considering most of the guests had yet to arrive. A virtual army of tuxedo-clad wait staff bustled between guests, offering drinks, food and what looked like an extensive array of chemical stimulants. Suzy shook her head as a tray of tablets was placed in front of her. She would drink heavily to maintain her cover, but she wasn’t going to touch anything else.
In the exact center of the room was an enormous fountain that looked like it was made from solid gold. It was sending vast jets of liquid high into the sky, until gravity forced the liquid to splash back into the fountain’s base. Suzy looked more closely and discovered that the fountain was dispensing four different types of fruity punch from its four different sections. She took a glass from a nearby waiter and held it under one of the fountain’s streams, watching the orange bubbly liquid as it filled the crystal flute.