A Cuppa Cruise Conundrum: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 7)

by Constance Barker

  "Lily," Captain Fredericks said. "I'm thrilled that you chose our little ship to celebrate your engagement. Sarah and Margery have planned an outstanding evening for tomorrow."

  "Thank you for being so accommodating," I said.

  "Nonsense. Any friends of Margery's are friends of mine."

  "I hope you like the food," Margery said. "I created a special menu for this cruise in honor of your engagement."

  “We created a menu,” Sarah said from behind me.

  She nodded politely then took one of the remaining empty seats. The man with her also sat and smiled tightly.

  “Of course. We. Sarah was a big help during the planning and execution.”

  “You’ve already met your cruise director and this is Mikey Bovic our chief engineer.

  The two newcomers to the table waved. After an awkward silence attention turned back to me.

  "That is so sweet," I said. "Isn't that sweet Jules?"

  Jules took a moment to answer, shaking her head as if to clear it of a lingering fog. "Right, very sweet."

  Based on the friends speech I guessed that it was Margery who was Toe's contact on board. Though I had no idea how that happened I was grateful now. A cruise never would have crossed my mind but I was having a great time so far. Even Eli was feeling a little better after taking some extra strength medication. I hoped the feeling lasted.

  “I can’t wait to try it,” I said.

  My stomach grumbled at the thought of food. After the pool Jules and I had eaten sandwiches and French fries at one of the bars on board. Anyone I talked to who had been on a cruise raved about the food and then complained about how much weight they’d gained. I was still trying to lose a few pounds before the wedding so I didn’t want to over do it with large meals. If I ate like a bird for breakfast and lunch I could treat myself at dinner and maybe even have dessert.

  “So how do you know Toe?” Essie asked Margery.

  Hildie’s cutlery clinked as she plunked down her glass and sputtered water. Sarah gasped. I shot Essie a glare and she scowled back at me. She was never one to cower from a situation and if she wanted to know something she didn’t beat around the bush. It gave her more straight answers than tall tales that way since the person didn’t have time to think about their response.

  Margery smiled seemingly unaffected by Essie’s question. “We go way back. Well a few years anyway. We used to date.”

  This time Jules sputtered water from the big sip she’d just taken. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her mouth. I’d known Toe dated a lot of women but I still couldn’t picture him with Margery. I glanced at Essie who had a smile plastered to her face. One of those too wide, fake smiles that didn’t reach her eyes but Hildie and I would be the only ones who would notice it wasn’t real.

  “How nice,” Essie said. “Did you date very long?”

  “Not long,” Margery said.

  “It was a long time ago,” Toe said. He picked up his glass of water and took a large gulp.

  I willed the food to arrive. The sooner it did the sooner everyone would stop asking questions and eat. No more third degree from Essie making the table all awkward. I glanced at my aunt and then at Margery. While Essie’s smile was obviously fake, at least to me, Margery’s smile was genuine. Like she was remembering fond memories and was sitting with a dear friend now.

  I thought back to some of my own past relationships. I didn’t keep in touch with any ex-boyfriends. And I would be more than a little upset if one of Eli’s exes came out of the woodwork. Essie and Toe weren’t officially dating but that didn’t stop her from getting jealous.

  "I was just starting out as a chef when we knew each other," Margery said.

  "Chef on a cruise ship sounds like a pretty great job," I said ignoring the dagger stare I got from Essie.

  "It's awesome. I'd love to show you around the kitchen tomorrow. Toe tells me you run a coffee shop."

  "Yes, we serve lots of different hot drinks and a few baked goods."

  "Sounds delightful."

  "I'd love a tour tomorrow."

  "You let me know what time you're free and I'll clear anything in my schedule that might be clamoring for my attention," Margery said.

  Sarah frowned and picked up her water to take a sip.

  I nodded and wondered at Sarah’s frown. Was the chef supposed to help her with something tomorrow? When the food finally arrived. The delicious aromas from the braised beef and roasted vegetables made my mouth water. I would love to see what kind of desserts she did as well. If they gave me ideas for the shop I'd keep them to myself for a while until the memory of Margery was gone from Essie's mind and she didn't realize where I'd thought of it. I was sure a chef for a cruise ship would have a variety of pastries and cookies in her recipe box.

  We ate the meal with little conversation after that for which I was thankful. I glanced over at Essie a few times and saw her savoring the food. I bet it drove her nuts to admit, even to herself, that the food was delicious.

  After dinner, dessert and wine most of us went to the nightclub where the party was going to take place tomorrow. I wanted to check it out to see how big the space was, what the dance floor was like and where the buffet would be.

  We got a table near the dance floor by some miracle. The second seating for dinner probably had something to do with it. If we'd waited until the 8 o'clock seating the club would have been packed by the time we got here.

  Toe, Harvey and Eli went to the bar to grab drinks while Jules, Essie, Hildie and I people watched the couples dancing to a pop rock beat.

  "Don't look now," Hildie said. "But Margery has arrived."

  Essie followed Hildie's gaze and saw Toe and Margery talking at the bar. She frowned. "It was a long time ago," she reminded us.

  Toe didn't seem romantically interested in the woman now. He was his usual jovial self and I got the feeling Margery was spoken for though she hadn't said anything about dating anyone.

  A few minutes later the guys returned to the table and plunked the drinks down. Hildie took a sip then grabbed Harvey's hand to guide him to the dance floor. Eli was starting to look a little green again so he took Hildie's seat and leaned back closing his eyes.

  "Still nauseous?" I asked.

  "A little. I think the medication is wearing off."

  I made a mental note to see the ship's doctor tomorrow to see if there was industrial strength anti nausea medication. Hopefully after a good sleep and smooth waters Eli's stomach would stabilize. I hated to see him in any discomfort especially when there was little I could do to help him.

  Even though the evening wasn't late I yawned loudly. It had been a long day, with a lot of activity and I needed some rest.

  "Jules, we're headed back to the rooms," I said.

  "Sure, maybe I'll go too." She looked up and her eyes widened, a smile crossed her face and she leaned back in her chair. "On second thought maybe I'll stay here a little while. Work off dinner."

  I followed her gaze to the entrance of the bar and saw Patrick approaching. His smile widened when he spotted Jules.

  "Have fun," I said. I waved to Hildie on the dance floor.

  "Good night, Essie."

  Essie's face softened when she looked at me. “Night dear.”

  ***

  I felt like I’d just put my head against the pillow when I heard someone banging on Eli’s door. I thought I was dreaming and waited in bed to see if the knocking came again. Frantic quick rapping on his door spurred me out of bed in a sleep induced fog. I shook my head to clear it, rubbed my eyes to wipe the blurriness away.

  I walked to the adjoining door and pulled it open. Neither side was locked but we’d pushed them closed just short of latching. I heard Eli inside moving around. A soft curse floated on the air when he bumped into something. I reached inside and flipped the light switch illuminating the room and his path.

  He looked over at me and grimaced. “The medication is long gone,” he said.

  “Let me get t
he door,” I said.

  “What time is it?”

  I glanced over at the clock radio on the bedside table. “It’s four in the morning. Who on earth could be knocking at your door this early?”

  The frantic knocking increased in speed. I hurried over to the door and yanked it open. Toe almost fell into the room as his arm came down hard through mid air.

  “Toe, what’s wrong?” I asked.

  He rushed into the room his face pale, his eyes wide. He kept shaking his head.

  “What is it?” Eli asked sounding a little more awake.

  “Something terrible has happened. Margery, the chef, she’s dead.”

  Chapter Four

  "What?" I asked thinking I must still be sleeping and this was a bad dream.

  Toe nodded his head vigorously. "She's dead. Found her right outside my stateroom door."

  Eli yanked on a t-shirt and jammed his feet into his shoes. He shoved his legs into the pair of jeans at the foot of the bed and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. There must be some mistake. Maybe Margery was drunk and had passed out.

  We followed Toe out of the room and saw Patrick, the first mate, hovering around Toe's cabin.

  "Good, someone else is here. You're a police officer, right?" Patrick asked Eli.

  Eli nodded.

  "Stay here then and I'll inform the captain."

  "We'll need to secure this area. Tell him to bring caution tape if the ship has it. And get the rest of the crew here but tell them to wait at the end of the corridor.”

  Patrick nodded and hurried down the hall. By now people were peeking out their doors. Soft gasps filled the corridor. Jules and my aunts rushed over.

  "What happened?" Hildie asked.

  "I don't know. She was just there when I came back to my cabin," Toe said.

  The fact that he was returning to his cabin at four in the morning surprised me and I filed that information away for later. I was sure he didn't do it. Toe wouldn't hurt a fly let alone kill an old flame.

  Eli looked a little green again so I hurried back to my cabin, dug in my purse for more anti nausea medication then grabbed a ginger ale out of the mini fridge. I rushed back, handing them to him without a word. He looked up and smiled gratefully, taking them from my hand and popping the pill in his mouth.

  "Lily, can you get everyone back in their rooms?"

  "Sure. I guess we'll need to relocate everyone in this corridor too."

  He nodded grimly as he continued to look at the body. If it weren't for the red smear coming from the hole in her chest I would think Margery had indeed had too much to drink and passed out. She looked almost peaceful slumped against Toes door. Had she been coming to visit him? Were they both coming back to his room at four in the morning? But if that were the case how could Toe not know what happened?

  Harvey was there too and he guided Toe away. “He can sit in my room for now,” he said.

  I was pretty sure none of the Sweet Home people killed her. Not even Karen. Albert hadn't done more than stare at Margery at the bar. At least I hadn't seen him do anything more than that. But if Margery visited Florida often when they docked there maybe she had a guy in every port and Albert was the Florida catch.

  I didn’t believe that for a second. Karen and Albert had a good marriage on the surface and they doted on their daughter Moira. They’d raised a good kid and I couldn’t see either of them ruining it with an affair. Still, there could have been a reason Moira stirred up gossip during Valentine’s Day week that had nothing to do with her given excuse of just having some fun.

  Margery hadn't seemed like that type of woman to have a lover in every port but why did it always have to be men who liked to fool around?

  “Everyone, please get back to your room until Eli can interview you,” I said. I shooed the onlookers away, my aunts helping me corral people back to their staterooms. Jules hovered near Eli to observe the scene.

  My thoughts drifted to Toe again. He took another long glance at the scene before disappearing into Harvey’s cabin. I couldn't imagine him killing anyone for any reason. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary earlier. No, it had to be someone else on board. One of the other passengers or a crewmember. They would have to interview all the crewmembers and at least some of the passengers.

  What was taking the captain so long to get here? I thought about all the evidence that would probably get destroyed the longer we waited. Not that we had anything to collect it in. No way to preserve anything at the moment. The ship must have something we could use until we made it back to shore. Would they turn the ship around?

  Finally the captain, looking groggy and disheveled, hurried down the corridor stopping short when he reached Toe's stateroom. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He covered his mouth with a hand, shook his head as if to clear it of the image of Margery slumped against the door then focused his attention on Eli.

  "What the heck happened? Did she fall?"

  "No idea yet," Eli said. “But the blood would indicate it was more than a fall.”

  Patrick ran down the corridor carrying a bright yellow roll of caution tape. He handed it to Eli then stepped back. He glanced over at Jules who blushed then he averted his gaze to focus on the task at hand again.

  “Thanks. Have the crew assembled yet?”

  Patrick shook his head. “Most of them but Mikey is taking his time getting out of bed.”

  I filed that bit away to retrieve later as I looked down the corridor to see who had shown up right away. Sarah was there standing close to a deckhand we’d been told was Alec. A few other members of the crew chatted quietly amongst themselves making me wonder if this was a usual occurrence on the ship. Though a little groggy no one seemed surprised to be woken up at four in the morning and told to report here.

  "Captain, we'll need to keep this area clear while I investigate. And we need to turn the ship around,” Eli said.

  "The first part will be easy. But the second part, no can do."

  Eli stood, straightening to his full height, about an inch taller than Nate. "What do you mean you won't turn the ship around?"

  "It's not protocol. In any such event we continue to our destination with the body in the ship's morgue. We turn it over when we get back to port."

  "That's not acceptable," Eli said.

  "Sorry, that's protocol.”

  More guests opened their doors to gawk at the unfolding scene. I shooed them back into their rooms again. Having a bunch of people lingering, looking over Eli’s shoulder wouldn’t make it any easier for him to do his job. Was it even his job on a cruise? I thought I remembered something about international waters. Thinking about that made me think about pirates. I shoved the thought aside and focused on the crime scene again. I assumed it was the initial crime scene. Why kill her somewhere else and drag her here unless someone was trying to frame Toe? Further proof in my mind that he didn’t do it. If you killed someone you didn’t go knocking on a cop’s door and bring them to the scene of the crime.

  “My protocol is investigating the crime scene, talking to potential witnesses and finding the killer,” Eli said.

  “So you don’t think this was an accident?” I asked.

  “She accidentally stabbed herself then got rid of the knife?” Eli asked.

  The captain leaned in closer to get a better look at the body. “Didn’t see that hole.”

  He stared down the captain who stared back and I suddenly felt like I was back in high school watching two jocks testing who had the most testosterone.

  Essie, Hildie and Jules returned to the crime scene area waiting for something to do. As much as they didn’t want to be watching a dead person I knew they didn’t want to be sequestered in their rooms either and miss out on all the action.

  “Essie, Hildie can you station yourselves at either end of the corridor and make sure no one else slips by? And watch the crew for anything suspicious.”

  The captain raised an eyebrow at Eli.

  “I know they
didn’t do it.”

  “You think they didn’t,” the captain said.

  “I know,” Eli countered.

  Essie smiled and Hildie nodded.

  “In any case you really should let my crew handle this. We have more professional training and bearing.”

  It was Eli’s turn to raise an eyebrow.