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

by Ann Mullen

  “I’m going to check on him,” Billy said. “I want the two of you to stay here.” He looked at both of us, and then said, “Please.”

  “Isn’t the doctor supposed to call you back?”

  “That’s why I want you to stay here… to receive his call. And, I don’t want you two going off on your own. The storm hasn’t passed, and I don’t want to have to worry about you two getting tossed overboard.”

  “We’ll stay put,” Savannah said. “I don’t want to be out there anyway. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I think the sea has calmed down,” I added.

  Billy gave me the eye.

  “But we’re not leaving this room until you get back. I promise.”

  “You’re just going down the hall,” Savannah said. “How much trouble can we get into?”

  “You obviously don’t know my wife,” Billy replied as he headed to the door. He turned back around before leaving and said, “If I’m not back, call Bella’s room as soon as you hear from the doctor.”

  “If you’re not back soon, I’ll come looking for you.”

  Billy just shook his head as he closed the door behind him.

  Savannah and I sat on the bed and looked at each other.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “I guess we wait.”

  She stretched out on the bed while I tried to get interested in one of her books. Unfortunately, my mind kept coming back to Billy. I always worried about him when he isn’t with me. I kept reading the same lines over and over, until finally I put the book down and stretched out on the bed beside Savannah.

  “A sad pair we are,” I mumbled.

  “Ain’t that the truth?”

  “Ain’t! You better not let Bella hear you use that word. You being a writer and such. She ragged on me earlier about my use of an improper adverb… verb… or something.”

  We made small talk to pass the time. Ten minutes passed, and then fifteen, and I was getting worried.

  “He should’ve been back by now, don’t you think?” Savannah asked. “All he was going to do was check on Loukas. You don’t think something happened to him?”

  “Billy can handle himself. He’s not the one I’m worried about. Something must be seriously wrong with Loukas.”

  “Should we go…”

  The ship phone rang. I jumped up to answer it at just about the same time I heard the keycard being stuck into the slot of the door.

  “Billy’s back!” Savannah exclaimed. “I’m so glad. I was starting to get really concerned.”

  Billy walked in the same minute I answered the phone. “It’s for you,” I said. “It’s Dr. Whitley.” I handed Billy the phone, kissed him on the cheek, and said, “I was beginning to get worried.” I walked back over to sit down next to Savannah on the bed. We waited to hear the news.

  The phone call was brief.

  “What did the doctor say?” I asked. “And what about Loukas? Is he going to be all right?”

  “I was right about the fork,” Billy replied. “Dr. Whitley said he saw what he believes to be a very tiny metal fragment lodged between two of Peter Dawson’s ribs. They’re going to send him to a hospital as soon as we dock. Dawson has developed a low-grade fever, welts on his back and a rash on the palms of both hands. He isn’t doing so well. The doc seems to think he might have an allergy to the metal.”

  “That’s strange,” I said. “I’ve never heard of anyone having a metal allergy.”

  “I have,” Savannah said. “Nickel.”

  “What?”

  “I have a friend who is allergic to nickel. She has a list of foods she can’t eat, and was told to only use aluminum or stainless steel cookware. I don’t remember all of what she told me about her allergy, but I do remember those ugly pustules on the insides of her hands. They were awful looking. Really nasty.”

  “There’s more,” Billy said as he took off his jacket and laid it across the chair. “Dr. Whitley said he had to stop sedating Dawson. The more immobile he is, the worse it can be. He has to give him antihistamines to fight the allergic reaction, and with him being so sedated it would be like double-dipping. The guy could go into a coma and die. Something like that. Medical jargon. The doc explained it all, but what I got out of it was that Peter Dawson is going to be wide-awake soon.”

  “He might die. Wouldn’t that be poetic justice?”

  “Jesse, you don’t mean that,” Savannah said, softly. “You wouldn’t wish harm on anyone.”

  “Don’t bet on it. He has done some pretty bad things.” It suddenly dawned on me what Billy was saying. Peter Dawson was going to be free again. I gasped at the thought. “You mean to tell me that psycho is going to be up and about, free to roam the ship as he pleases? Say it isn’t so, Billy. He almost killed Teresa! If it hadn’t been for us, she’d be dead by now!” I was quickly becoming unglued. The thought of that man lurking around every corner gave me the chills. I could see from the look on Savannah’s face that she felt the same way, too. Her body seemed to shiver the minute I mentioned the prospect of a nutcase being turned loose on society. I was scared, and so was she. We stepped closer together for comfort. Women do that when they’re scared. Men just grin and bear it—or hide it.

  “Billy, I saw the evil in that man’s eyes. If he’s turned loose, I’ll be the next victim on his list. I just know it. He as much as told me so. He was the one who rigged the elevator. He said he could control the ship, and after that death box ride, I believe him.”

  “We stopped him in his tracks, Jesse. He no longer has control of anything. You know that. Remember?”

  “The man has many tricks. I don’t trust him. He has other irons in the fire. I’m sure of it. And now he’s going to be released to prey on the rest of the passengers on this cruise.”

  “No, he won’t,” Billy replied. “He’s too sick, and Marshall Wagner handcuffed him to the rails of the gurney. He’s not going anywhere.”

  I let out a sigh of relief, along with Savannah.

  “Thank goodness!”

  “I bet he’s not going to be very happy when he comes around,” Savannah said with a weak smile on her face. “I surely wouldn’t want to be there when that happens, handcuffed or not.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot. How’s Loukas?” I asked. “It must not have been very serious, or you’d be in a state. That’s all you’d be talking about.”

  “He’s going to be fine. He has a stomach ache and a slight case of….” Billy’s words trailed off as he looked over at Savannah. Slightly embarrassed, Billy continued. “Let’s just say that he might be spending a lot of time in the bathroom.”

  Savannah laughed out loud. “You don’t have to be shy with me Billy Blackhawk! You’ve seen me at my worst. When you and Jesse rescued me, I had blood on my clothes, my nose was all snotty and runny from crying, and I had wet my pants—only a little bit, though. I’m sure I must have smelled rather rank.”

  “I was too busy to notice,” Billy replied.

  “Bull. You don’t miss anything! You’re just being a gentleman.”

  “That’s me! The perfect gentleman!”

  “Yes, you are,” I agreed as I walked over and kissed his cheek. “You’re so perfect in so many ways. I couldn’t have chosen a better man unless my mother had picked one out for me.”

  We all laughed at that.

  A tap at the door settled us down. Billy walked over, opened it, and let McCoy in.

  “I see my girl’s in good hands.” He walked over and put his arm around Savannah. “You okay, honey?”

  “I’m doing fine. Jesse and Billy are good company, especially when they get to talking about bodily functions and psychotic killers. After I’m around them for a little while, my mind goes into book mode. I’m sure there’s a fictional novel working up right now in my head. Yes, I’ll call it, Death on a Cruise, or something like that.”

  “Glad we could be of help,” I said, smiling. “Maybe we should take vacations together more often.” I chuckled.

&
nbsp; “Hey, that’s not a bad idea,” Savannah agreed. “I’d love to visit Egypt, or perhaps Africa.”

  “That sounds pretty good to me. What do you say, Billy? An African safari or the pyramids?”

  “I say we make it through this cruise, and then we’ll see.”

  “I know what that means, “Savannah replied as she rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, no, Savannah. He’s serious. If I want to go to Africa, I can assure you, he’ll take me. Won’t you, heap big warrior… my hero?”

  Someone knocked on the door, startling us all out of our fantasies.

  Billy opened the door to a frazzled looking captain. “Come in, Captain O’Riley. You look as if you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. What’s wrong?”

  “Loukas has taken ill.”

  “Yeah, that’s what we heard. He has an upset stomach. Overindulging will do that to a person.”

  “No, I mean, he’s really sick. Dr. Whitley says he has food poisoning. He said he might have to pump his stomach.”

  “Man, that doctor can do almost anything, can’t he?” I suggested.

  “He should be able to. He was a general surgeon until… well, that’s another story. The point of the matter is, Loukas is very ill, and Bella wants to know why. She has asked me to come get you.” He looked at Billy and then me. “You, too, of course.”

  “Of course,” I remarked in the same tone of voice.

  “I have to check on everyone who was at their luncheon to see if anyone else is sick, so please excuse me. I have to run.” He looked at Savannah and McCoy and asked, “Both of you feeling all right? No stomach problems?”

  “Not yet,” Savannah replied, looking over at McCoy.

  “I’m fit as a fiddle. No stomach problems, but I do have a headache.”

  “Take an aspirin,” the captain replied. “It’s probably coming from the damp air and the change in the barometric pressure. Storms will do that to a person. It shouldn’t last long.”

  “Thanks for the advice,” McCoy responded kindly.

  As soon as the captain left, I turned to McCoy and said, “I don’t like him. He was being rude to you.”

  “I’ll get over it.”

  “I don’t trust him,” Savannah said. “But I thought it was just me.”

  “No, it’s not just you,” I said. “He’s not what he appears to be. He’s a fake. I think we’re going to see the real side of him very soon.”

  The beast was about to come out of hiding, changing Loukas and Bella’s life forever.

  Chapter 17

  After the captain left, Billy suggested that the three of us stay together while he went to see Loukas. There wasn’t any need for me to tag along, he explained. He knew of my aversion to someone vomiting. I would gag, and before long, I’d be doing the same thing. I had to agree with his decision.

  “I’ll be back shortly,” Billy said. “As soon as I find out the severity of Loukas’ illness, I’ll know more about the situation. It might not be anything. I’m sure he’s just like everyone else. Upset stomachs are a part of life. Everyone gets one sometime.”

  “You think someone did this to him, don’t you?” Savannah asked.

  “Right now, I don’t know what to think. I don’t have all the facts.”

  “People don’t die from food poisoning,” McCoy said as he looked at Billy. “Do they?”

  “I would say not, but it depends on what they ate and how long they waited to seek treatment. It’s like being bitten by a copperhead. Rarely does one die from the bite unless they wait too long to get treatment. However, it could be a distraction for what’s waiting.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone eating food so foul that they wouldn’t know something was wrong. When food goes bad, usually it smells bad.”

  “You’d be surprise at the bacteria that lives in what you eat, and you’d never know it by the smell.”

  “We’ll stay here with Jesse until your return,” McCoy said. “I know you don’t want her to be alone.”

  “Thanks,” Billy replied as he turned to leave. “By the way. How is Maggie holding up?”

  “She’s going to be okay. She’s still a little out of it. Teresa said her mother made up the bit about the acid. I thought as much. If she’d been handling any kind of acid, I’m sure she’d have burns on her hands. You can’t just play around with that stuff. The woman is really out of whack. Those meds she was taking have made her delirious. I’m glad you called me in to help her. There’s no telling what she would’ve said without someone there to stop her.”

  “That’s why I got you involved. I knew you would get at the truth.”

  Billy left with a promise to return as soon as possible, so Savannah, McCoy and I sat around and talked about what had happened so far. We talked about everything from the minute we stepped foot on the ship, until now, and then went down the list of people we suspected of being the one behind the plot. At one point, we decided that almost anyone could be guilty. We came to the conclusion that this cruise was going to be a rough ride, and not because of the storm.

  “It’s scary to think there’re so many devious people in this world.”

  “There is,” I said. “I see so much ugliness sometimes, I just want to scream. People do bad things. What gets me the most is…”

  “Oysters!” Savannah said out of the blue. “Loukas was the only one I saw eating oysters. I noticed because I can’t stand oysters, and I said so when he offered them to me. And then I noticed that no one else was eating them. I just thought they were like me, and disliked the slimy little creatures.”

  “Yuck!” I added. “I tried them once, and that was enough for me. If I could get past the way they look I might like them.”

  “The worst part is they were raw oysters from a jar. Loukas told me so. He said they were delicious, and I told him to help himself. I didn’t want anything to do with them.”

  “Now that you mention it, Savannah,” McCoy said. “I don’t remember seeing anyone else eating oysters either. I made a comment about them being raw. I don’t mind cooked ones, but I sure don’t want to eat them raw. Loukas offered to have some cooked oysters brought in, but I told him not to bother.”

  “That’s like eating raw fish,” I concurred. “I’m sorry, but I want my seafood cooked. You can have your sushi and all that mess. Just give me a good old piece of fried flounder or steamed crabs.”

  An hour passed before Billy returned. The news wasn’t all bad.

  “Dr. Whitley says Loukas doesn’t have food poisoning,” Billy said. “He called it sour stomach, and said he’d keep an eye on him. Of course, dinner in their stateroom is off. Loukas isn’t going to be far away from a bathroom for a while, and he’s in no condition to have guests. Bella sends her regrets, and suggests we all get together tomorrow for lunch. She’s going to stay in her room with her husband. I told her that was fine, and I’d check on Loukas later. She said not to bother. She wants us to enjoy our evening. She assured me she would summon me if she needed me. I said okay, and I’d see her in the morning.”

  “Summon, huh?”

  “You know how she talks.” Billy smiled. “She’s a fine lady.”

  “That she is.”

  “I’m sorry Loukas is feeling sick,” McCoy said. “I’m just glad he’s going to be all right.”

  “Same here,” I said. I looked at Billy. “What’s on the agenda for the evening now that we’re not going to dine with Bella and Loukas? Other than the nasty weather and the crazed killers on board, we have nothing to fear. I suggest we dress down and hit the buffet. You know, lay low.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that,” Billy replied. “I’m not in the mood to get all fancy. I could sure use a quiet, relaxed evening.”

  McCoy looked at Savannah and said, “I think we should go and leave these two lovebirds alone.”

  “Why don’t you join us?” Billy asked, looking at me for a sign that I didn’t mind. I shook my head in agreement. “See, Jesse’s all for it, t
oo. Unless you two want to be alone…”

  Savannah and McCoy looked at each other, and then Savannah said, “How about seven? That will give us time to relax a little also before we go out and do battle with the uglies.”

  “The uglies? Hmm… I like that,” I said, smiling. “That’s a good name for them. And you’re right, Savannah. Just going out in public you’re liable to run into at least one ugly at any given time.”

  Savannah snickered. “Jesse, you’re so funny sometimes.”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  As McCoy and Savannah headed for the door, Billy said, “We’ll stop by around seven. If anything changes, let us know.”

  “You do the same,” McCoy replied as the two of them left.

  “Alone at last,” I said the minute the door closed. I put my arms around Billy and hugged him. “This has been a wild trip, hasn’t it?”

  “I’ll just be glad when this storm passes and we dock.”

  “So will I! The captain says we’ll dock in the morning. A lot can happen between now and then.”

  Billy kissed me on the cheek and said, “That’s why I want to check out that doctor.” He let go of me, walked over behind the screen to the computer, and started pecking away on the keyboard.

  I walked up behind him and said, “Forget the doctor. Concentrate on the captain. He’s the key. It’s a conspiracy, you know. There’s no way one person could get close enough to Loukas to kill him, unless that person had help. One man… or woman… could not do it alone. Not with the way Loukas is protected.” I thought for a minute, and then said, “You suspect the doctor now because of what the captain so conveniently let slip… the bit about him being a general surgeon until—the operative word being until—until something happened. The captain paused long enough to get our attention, if we were paying attention, and then went right on rattling away. I picked up on it. I know you did. It’s what the captain didn’t say that was meant to cast doubt. I know he planned it that way. It sure wasn’t a Freudian slip. I can tell you that!”

  Billy craned his head and said, “I bet you got that from Savannah.”