Death on the Bella Constance (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 6)

by Ann Mullen

  “I try not to think like that,” a woman standing beside me said. “If I did, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy myself.”

  I thought I recognized the voice, and realized I was correct when I turned and looked at the person talking to me. It was Maggie Anderson. After what Billy had just told me, I wasn’t sure whether or not I liked her anymore. On one hand, she interfered in her daughter’s personal relationship with the man in her life, but on the other, she probably saved Teresa from making a big mistake.

  The jury was still out on my opinion of Maggie Anderson. I needed to know more.

  Chapter 9

  Trying not to show my suspicious side, I decided it would be best to give her the benefit of the doubt. “How are you doing this morning?” I asked her.

  “I’d be better if the captain would take me seriously. He thinks I’m wrong about Peter Dawson. He’s on board. I saw him.” She sidestepped me and spoke to Billy. “I thought you were going to check him out, Mr. Blackhawk.”

  “I am, Mrs. Anderson,” Billy replied. “But right now I have to eat. I’ve been up all night trying to get some answers.”

  “I guess my case isn’t as important as the one you’re working on. I hear someone is sabotaging this cruise.”

  “There appears to be a lot happening,” I said, butting in. “I can assure you that we are giving your problem the utmost attention.”

  “I can tell you one thing, Mrs. Blackhawk,” Maggie said in a not-so-nice manner. “If he harms my daughter, I’ll kill him!” She turned and walked off in a huff.

  “Wow!” I said, looking at Billy. “Maybe she’s the one we should be watching. She’s distraught. She might be on the verge of doing something she shouldn’t.”

  “I think you might have something there, `ge ya,” Billy said, agreeing with me. “We need to keep our eyes on her.”

  Billy and I filled our plates, and then walked over to an empty table in a corner to eat our food in private. Within a matter of minutes, Maggie Anderson sought us out again. She sat down and started going on and on about her fears of her daughter being murdered at the hands of a deranged stalker.

  “It would suit me just fine if he fell overboard,” Maggie continued. “Life would be a lot simpler.”

  Getting rid of Peter Dawson appeared to be at the top of her list, and before long, if someone didn’t do something, she would accomplish her goal. I could see it in her eyes. She was full of hatred.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t say such things,” Billy said, looking around at the other passengers. “People can hear you, and if something should happen to him, you’d be the first suspect on the list.”

  “Whose side are you on?” she demanded. “I can see you’re not going to help me either. You’re just like the rest. You think I’m lying.”

  “I never said that. All I said was…”

  “I know what you said.” She shoved her chair back, got up and left. She stomped out of the dining room like an angry woman on a mission.

  There was no longer any doubt in my mind that Maggie Anderson was going off the deep end. I was afraid she was going to take matters into her own hands. I conveyed this to Billy.

  “What can I do?” he asked.

  “You need to tell her what you know. She thinks she’s fooling us with her anger at Peter Dawson, but what she doesn’t know is that you found out she’s the root of her own problem. What was so awful about the man that she would want to keep her daughter from him?”

  “My guess is she thinks he’s trying to get her money by going through Teresa. Perhaps she fears he will convince Teresa to bump her off for it.”

  I had to chuckle. “Maybe somebody should whack her.”

  “Jesse! You don’t mean that.”

  “No, I guess I don’t. But I’ll be honest with you. I think she’s going to do something bad to that guy if she gets a chance.”

  “Like what?”

  “Kill him. She already said she wished he’d fall overboard. Maybe she’s thought about doing it herself. I’ll bet she’s already figured out when she’s going to do it, and she’s just playing us to get sympathy in case she gets caught.”

  “She does look as if she could handle herself in a real scuffle. She’s no softie. That’s for sure. Anyone with her determination could accomplish almost anything. I have discussed her with Captain O’Riley, and he’s also concerned about her erratic behavior.”

  I looked up just in time to see Savannah and McCoy standing at the buffet. They appeared to be so much in love. I was glad. Now that I’ve gotten to know them both a little better, I realized they were meant for each other. What happened between them a while back was now behind them. They had moved on. I waved to her when she glanced our way. She waved back, and once they had filled their plates, they walked over to our table.

  “May we join you?” she asked.

  “You most certainly may,” I said, enthusiastically. “I was hoping you would.”

  “Have a seat,” Billy added, looking over at McCoy. “We could use some good company. We just felt the ire of Maggie Anderson.”

  “What did I tell you?” McCoy asked as if he’d already had a conversation with Billy about the panicky woman.

  Savannah looked at me as she started buttering her toast and said, “McCoy has insomnia. He spent some time with your husband last night. Part of that time was at the bar.”

  I looked at Billy.

  “It’s not what you think, `ge ya,” Billy immediately explained. “McCoy and I went to the bar looking for Utah.”

  “This sounds interesting.”

  “Oh, it is,” Savannah said, becoming serious. “Wait until you hear what Billy has to tell you. They were such busy little bees last night. I think Billy might turn him into a private eye, yet.”

  “Okay, you really have my attention now,” I said, looking at Billy and McCoy. “What have you two bad boys been up to? I know you’ve been into something.”

  Billy looked at McCoy, and McCoy looked at him, but neither one of them said a word.

  “Somebody has to start somewhere,” I said.

  “Okay,” Billy said to me. “Just don’t freak out when I tell you what I’m going to tell you. I know you have this thing about how I collect some of my information, but I can promise you we’re not going to jail, so you don’t have to worry.”

  “This is getting weird,” I said, butting in. “Slow down and just tell me the story.”

  “During those ten minutes I spent at the Med Center with Bella, she asked me to do a few things, as part of the job that you and I are going to be paid handsomely for.”

  “Oh, no…”

  “She told me to contact her once I had the details no matter what time it was. So, last night while you were asleep, I spent a couple of hours on the computer. I found everything I needed to help fill in some of the gaps that will lead us to solving this case.”

  “What case?” I asked, confused.

  “Jesse, we’re working for Bella and Loukas. Anything that remotely links to them is part of the case. For instance, the guy who had a heart attack yesterday worked as a peon in Constance Enterprises. How about that? I went to Bella and Loukas’ room and told them what I discovered.”

  “If he was a peon, what was he doing on deck six? Bella said that deck was for special people, remember?”

  “He was listed as a company management employee, so she didn’t think anything about it. She had plenty of rooms available for the people she wanted close to her, and to her, the most important thing was to have her daughters and their husbands as far away from her as possible. She loves her girls, but the guys make her crazy… except for Steven.”

  “You did well, my hero.” I smiled. “I’m sure there’s more to come.”

  “Much more,” Billy replied. “Like why was he on this cruise? Who did he really work for in the company? And why was he bumped off?”

  “I’m sure we can piece it together,” I said as I ate a few bites at a time.

  Billy looked at
McCoy and said, “Remember I told you that Jesse has interesting dreams sometimes, and many times there’s some reality to those dreams?”

  I was surprised that Billy had mentioned my dreams to anyone. Some things are just kept private. People have a tendency to act weird when they find out you have dreams that you believe come true. If Billy got friendly enough to discuss this with McCoy, then surely he had trust and respect for the man. I let him continue without saying anything.

  “She had a dream that Utah swabbed poison on the inside of the champagne glasses.”

  “He tied us up, made us watch as he did it, and then made us drink from the glasses,” I said, with a bitter taste in my mouth, which wasn’t coming from the food. “We all died. It was rather freaky. Fortunately, you and Savannah weren’t there.”

  “No offense, but I’m glad we weren’t in your dream,” Savannah said. “We don’t need any more excitement in our lives, at least, not that kind.”

  McCoy appeared to be a little uncomfortable with Savannah’s remarks, but said nothing. I’m sure he still carried the hurt from the fact that she had cheated on him, even though it was only a one-night-stand. It was still cheating, no matter how you looked at it. You can forgive, but the pain stays. Fortunately, he loved her enough to stay married to her. I had to give him credit for that. Most men would’ve let their egos get in the way.

  “They found traces of poison in the champagne glasses,” McCoy said, not commenting on his wife’s statement. “They haven’t isolated the poison yet, but they will soon.”

  I sucked in my breath, and then slowly let it out. They say you should be excited when dreams come true, but that didn’t apply here. And it really scared me.

  “Utah has a tendency to run off at the mouth when he’s been drinking,” McCoy added.

  “Yes,” Billy agreed, looking at me. “When we told him that Nell had taken ill, he said it was too bad that she didn’t die from the poison.”

  “If Utah spent the night in the bar getting drunk, then how did he know about the poison if he’s not the one behind it? He’s so guilty!”

  “After he said what he did about Nell dying from the poison, I asked him that. Neither one of us had said anything about poison to him. He just laughed and said that we knew what he meant. Then we told him someone was trying to poison the passengers with tainted champagne.”

  “How did he react when you told him that?”

  “Drunk… and uncaring.”

  “But you see, Nell didn’t use the champagne glass,” McCoy said. “However, we didn’t tell him that. We let him think what he wanted to. She drank hers out of a coffee mug that she apparently carries around all the time, normally filled with alcohol, not coffee. Perhaps he thought she drank from the glass and not her mug, and was hoping she would die.”

  “You say Utah was drunk,” I said. “Suppose he meant that it was too bad she didn’t die from alcohol poisoning… not poison. Drunk people can’t seem to get their sentences right. He probably doesn’t even remember the conversation.”

  Billy and McCoy looked at each other as they sipped their coffee.

  “Maybe you two were looking so hard for evidence that you heard what you wanted to hear,” I suggested. “His words were just the ranting of a drunk.”

  “She might have something,” McCoy said.

  “He might have meant something different, but I heard what I heard,” Billy replied. “He said it was too bad she didn’t die from the poison. Word for word. But I will keep an open mind, and see how he reacts to the fact that she didn’t die. He sure didn’t seem to care that she had taken ill, as if he had expected something like this to happen.”

  “What else do we need to know?” I asked. “Other than Utah Hawks is probably a killer, Maggie Anderson is going nuts, and we have three sisters who think they are Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, and Maverick all wrapped up in one.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “I just can’t believe that Utah was in the bar getting drunk while his wife was on the verge of dying. He has no heart.”

  “He sure didn’t rush to be by her side when he found out she was extremely ill,” Billy said with disdain in his voice. “Besides, he has an alibi. The bartender said he had been there for hours before we arrived.”

  “Until we can actually connect him to the poison, he’s in the clear,” McCoy added. “It’s too bad he can’t be locked up just for being the heartless scumbag that he is.”

  “He’s guilty,” Savannah said. “I just know it.”

  The telltale signs of sleep deprivation were starting to show on Billy’s and McCoy’s faces. They both looked exhausted.

  “Look,” I suggested to Savannah. “Why don’t we wrap this up here, and put our husbands to bed. Then we can go shopping. Maybe hit the spa.” I winked at her.

  She was happy to comply. “I think that’s a marvelous idea.” She looked at her husband, and then back at me. “Do we need to take a gun with us?”

  “You have a gun?” I asked, astonished.

  “Don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t, but Billy does.”

  “McCoy has one.”

  “All the men have guns, and the women don’t,” I hissed. “Why is that? Why don’t we get to carry one?”

  “Hey, you can take mine,” Billy said. “As long as you don’t start killing passengers.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I don’t see why either one of you ladies should need a gun,” McCoy said. “All you have to do is talk them to death.” Billy and McCoy almost fell out of their chairs laughing.

  “Time for bed,” I demanded. “You’re both starting to act like Maggie Anderson.”

  That shut both of them up.

  We finished our breakfast and left the dining room, heading for our staterooms. I told Savannah to put on something warmer since it appeared the weather was going to get worse. The chill in the air was sure proof of that. The ship, although not as big as most cruise liners, could surely hold up against the rough seas. That’s what Billy said.

  Once out on the outer walkway, I could tell the ship was rocking. A couple of times Savannah and I had to grab hold of the hand railing. Few people were up this early, and if they were, they must have been in their rooms. The walkway was clear.

  “It sure is dark out here,” Savannah said. “It’s almost eight o’clock.”

  “That’s because the sun is behind the clouds,” McCoy said. “It’s going to get rough, so I want you ladies to be careful. I don’t want to wake up and find out one of you fell overboard.”

  Savannah and I glanced at each other.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of each other, won’t we, Savannah?”

  “We’ll be fine. Besides, we don’t plan on hanging around out here. We’re going shopping.”

  The two of us giggled as if we had big plans to do our own thing, but that wasn’t what was going to happen. Savannah and I were going to snoop around on our own, and see what we could uncover. If she didn’t know what I had in mind when I winked at her at breakfast, she would soon. If she wasn’t interested in my idea, I would behave myself and actually go shopping. That wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to drag her into something she didn’t want to get into.

  We parted ways when we reached our rooms with the agreement that Savannah and I would meet up again in ten minutes after we had time to change clothes.

  Once Billy and I were in our room, he flopped down on the bed without bothering to take off any of his clothes. “I don’t want you to go out and get into trouble,” he said. “Promise me, `ge ya.”

  “How much trouble can one get into while shopping?” I asked as I started to undress. “I might spend your money though.”

  “Bull,” he replied. “I know exactly what you have in mind. Don’t think I didn’t see that wink.”

  “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”

  “I know you too well.”

  “Then you should know that you can trust me. I’m not going
to let anything happen to Savannah, and I’m sure not going to get into something I can’t handle.”

  “Just in case,” Billy said, trying to stay awake long enough to finish his sentence. “Put on a pair of jeans, and wear that windbreaker I bought you. That way you can stuff my snub-nose in the back pocket of your pants, and the windbreaker will hide it.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t let me go out empty-handed with all these criminals running around!” I jumped on the bed and started smooching on him. “You’re such a good husband.”

  He stretched out and dozed off while I was kissing him.

  “Hmm. My poor guy is so tired,” I whispered, and kissed him on the forehead one last time. I crawled off the bed and started to get dressed. After slipping into a pair of jeans, I pulled out a T-shirt from the top drawer of the dresser, slipped it on, and then walked over to the closet to get my tennis shoes and windbreaker. My mind was racing! I picked up the keycard off the nightstand before heading to the door, and then remembered I had forgotten to take Billy’s gun.

  “It’s in the top, right drawer,” Billy whispered, not moving or even opening his eyes. “If you’re not back in four hours when I wake up, I’ll send out a search party.”

  I walked back over to the dresser, pulled out the gun from the drawer, and said, “If I’m not back in four hours, please do.”

  I closed the door behind me, chuckled at the idea of a search party looking for Savannah and me, but then I stopped in my tracks. What was I doing? This cruise was loaded with drama. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the middle of it, but I was, and now I was dragging Savannah into what could turn out to be a dangerous situation. She’d had enough drama in her life. She’s a famous author, and along with that notoriety a few crazies want to be your best friend.

  That’s how we met. She was involved in a situation with a guy who turned out to be a bit obsessed, not to mention loony, and Billy and I were in the middle of hunting down a killer in Greene County. Our two paths crossed, and the rest is history.

  “Okay,” I said to myself under my breath. “I’m going to see how she acts, and then go from there. If she really wants to go shopping, and didn’t get the hint, we’ll go shopping. Ugh.”