by Ann Mullen
Bella had explained to me earlier that since the ship was running behind schedule because of the storm, we wouldn’t be cruising to another port. So, we would be docked at St. George for two full days before departing for Norfolk. That meant we had one more day to enjoy the islands. I wanted to spend some of that day on the beach. Isn’t that what coming to Bermuda is all about? Relaxing on the beach, and being served a drink with an umbrella in it by a tanned, handsome, well-built male server? Not that I’d be interested in the part about the server—my man has all those qualities, and more—but at least I could say I had been served by one of them if anyone asked. And you know someone will ask.
I turned to Bella as we strolled along the outer walkway heading to our rooms and asked, “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow, commander?” I looked back at Billy, who was walking with Loukas and McCoy, and gave him a wink. He smiled back at me.
“I’m so glad someone understands my rank,” she replied with a huge grin on her face. “I hate it when I have to tell them who the boss is. It’s kind of like being a Christian. A true Christian doesn’t have to tell people they’re one. Their actions should speak for them.”
“You’ve been talking to my mother!”
“I confess. She called this morning, and the call was put through to me by mistake. We had a lovely conversation. She sends her regards. I told her I would have you call her later. I’m so sorry I forgot to mention it to you. I was so excited when we left to go on our tour that it slipped my mind.”
“Oh, Lord. What did you tell her? Bella, you don’t know my mother. She’s not the kind of person you can joke with when it comes to her family’s safety. She’ll be on the next flight to the Bermuda International Airport, dragging my children, the nanny, the dogs, the cat, and the rest of the Blackhawk clan with her. And let me tell you, you and I don’t want that.”
“Give me some credit, dear. I told her we were having a marvelous time, and that I was sure you’d have plenty to tell her when you returned.”
“What did she have to say about that?”
“She said she was sure you would.”
“Knowing my mother, I bet she’s called my room five times by now. I love my mother, but once she gets me on the phone, she’ll pry everything out of me. Then she’ll worry. Then she’ll call again… and again.”
“We didn’t just talk about you,” Bella added. “She was telling me about having her income taxes done. She said she forgot and waited to the last minute, but her friend, Florence took care of her.”
“Who’s Florence? I don’t think I’ve heard my mother speak of her.”
“Sure you have,” Savannah said. “Flo’s Bookkeeping on Rt. 33 in Ruckersville. You pass by her building every time you visit your mother.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember now. Mom pointed to her place when we drove by. Mom likes to tell me when she makes new friends. They hang out sometimes when she’s not with us.”
“She said your dogs, Thor and Athena, have been sleeping by the door for the last two days, and that the cat has made a home on your bed. I guess they really miss you. The children are marvelous as usual, and she’s really enjoyed being with them… without you hovering over her.”
“I hope she hasn’t been letting them eat a bunch of garbage.”
“I’m sure your mother is smarter than that,” Bella said. “She was happy with what I said to her. Don’t worry.”
“Jesse cherishes her mother,” Savannah said. “And she’s the one person, other than Billy, that Jesse can’t lie to. And if she does, it eats away at her until she spills the beans.”
“How did you know that?”
“Your mother told me about your getting shot when you and Billy first got together, and the little white lie you told her to cover up the truth. She’s uncanny. Not much gets by her. She has something else going for her. She says there are no secrets in her family for long. The truth always comes out in the end. Her daughters can’t help telling each other everything.” Savannah chuckled. “If you’re not good at lying, or should I say, telling little white lies, than maybe you shouldn’t. It’s a waste of time.”
“Lying and covering up stuff is part of my job!” I boasted, and then recanted somewhat. “But not when it comes to my mother.”
“Call her today,” Bella insisted. “You’ll feel better if you do.”
Low and behold, I never did get around to making that call.
Chapter 20
We discussed our plans for tomorrow. I told Bella that I’d love to spend the day at the beach as long as I had plenty of sunscreen.
“Billy told me you wanted to, and he suggested that a little while ago. I think it’s a great idea. What do you say, Savannah? Are you and McCoy up for an exciting day at the beach?”
“I’d love to spend the day on the beach,” she replied. “I guess snorkeling is out for me.” She held up her bandaged hand.
Snorkeling… I don’t think so. I could barely swim! “You snorkel?” I asked. “I don’t think that’s for me.”
“You have to try it first before you rule it out,” Bella added.
“Do you snorkel, too?”
“Of course, I do.” She looked back at Loukas, saw the discouraging look on his face, and then said, “But not this time, I guess. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea under the circumstances.”
I thought about the dangers that could lurk under the water—the two-legged kind—and understood her meaning. “Maybe next time,” I said.
“So, there will be a next time?” Bella asked me.
“You bet. We have our own room on this ship thanks to you and Loukas, and I plan to take advantage of it whenever possible.”
“Good!” Bella stated. She locked arms with Savannah and me, and then added, “Let’s go have a drink, ladies. I need one.”
Loukas and Bella’s group of bodyguards were to stand guard in rotating shifts of two at a time tonight, starting with Raphael and Sanchez. The others were released until their shift came up. Security would be tight.
Utah and Nell left the group to go wherever, as did Jeff and Ruby, Jena and Steven. The rest of us followed Bella and Loukas to their stateroom for a much needed timeout.
Allison made drinks for everyone, and then disappeared into another room. Jacob went to his room to rest up before his big date. The six of us were left to enjoy ourselves. I really wanted to get Billy alone, but that wasn’t going to happen for a while. So, we spent an hour drinking and discussing our day.
“I thought for sure the cops were going to haul us to the police station for questioning,” McCoy said, looking at Bella, Savannah, and me. “But Loukas had them eating out of his hands before I knew what was happening. He’s amazing.”
“He does know how to handle sticky situations,” Bella remarked. “People respect him. They know we’re good people, and we’ve put a lot of money into this island.”
“I imagine you have,” I said. “You’re both very generous, but I’ve said that before.”
“What good is it to have money if you don’t put it to good use?”
After a calming visit, Billy and I decided it was time to go. When we went to take our leave, Bella came up to me and asked, “Will you join me at the captain’s table tonight? Loukas has his infamous poker game planned as usual. He puts up five hundred thousand dollars prize money, which we write off on our taxes.” She giggled. “But that’s all right, because we get to donate to a good cause and are rewarded for our efforts. Capitalism! I love it! Anyway, Loukas doesn’t play. He oversees the game. Players play for a pre-selected charity, and the winner of the game wins for his charity. No one but the charity selected profits from the game.”
“It sounds like a good deal all around. The guys get to play poker and have fun while they play for a good cause. Good clean fun. I like it.”
“So, you’ll join me for dinner? I’d hate to dine alone.”
“Oh, I doubt you’d be dining alone ever, but sure, I’d love to.” I looked at Billy. “Anot
her dinner with the captain. This should be interesting.”
Tomorrow, we would spend a nice day on the beach.
As soon as we reached our stateroom, I pounced on Billy with my newly discovered evidence. “Bertie and Utah are in on this together! I saw them arguing on the beach when they thought no one was looking. That was just before we were shot at. You should’ve seen the looks on their faces when Loukas said they had someone in custody! We need to go talk to Kody. I know you can get him to tell us who paid him. We can nip this in the bud right now. Let’s slip off the boat and go interrogate him.”
Billy walked around the room, looked in the closet, and then checked the bathroom. He walked behind the folding screen, and then back to where I was standing.
“Kody is dead. He died before he even got to the hospital.”
“What? Why didn’t you… oh… I see. As long as everyone thinks he’s still alive, whoever is behind this will try to silence him. They’ll go to the hospital! Why didn’t you tell me before now?”
“We decided not to discuss this with our wives until we could be completely alone with them. This is hush-hush, `ge ya. The police know it’s not over, and they want to catch the guy. They’re hoping this ruse will bring him out.”
Billy walked over to the dresser and searched the drawer where we kept our guns.
“They’re still here,” he said. “Kody used a snub-nosed .38, which he probably stole from one of the passengers. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t us.”
“Everybody has guns! This was supposed to be a gun-free cruise. At least, that’s what I thought.”
Billy shook his head and smiled. “I guess not.”
“If Kody used a snub-nosed .38, he must’ve been mighty close to the road, maybe hiding behind a bush. The wise way to do it would be to use a rifle at a safe getaway distance.”
“Yeah, I don’t think his getaway was planned out very well.”
“Perhaps he wasn’t supposed to get away. Maybe the one behind this knew he’d be killed, or hoped he would be. Idiot. These young kids today! They don’t think things through. Someone waves money in their face, and they’ll do almost anything.”
“You’re right on all counts.”
“What else am I right about?” I glared at him. “You’ve been keeping secrets from me, Billy Blackhawk! I’m your wife and partner! I want to know everything.”
“You do, `ge ya! You know everything I do, and probably more. I should’ve noticed the argument between Utah and Bertie, but I didn’t. I had my mind on something else.”
“Like what?”
“Like you, `ge ya. I kept thinking about how you must feel. We planned a second honeymoon—and don’t think I forgot about our first one, snuggled together in that cozy little cabin under a couple feet of snow—and now on this one all you got was chaos and mayhem.”
I reached up, touched Billy’s face and said, “I’m having a great time. If I wasn’t you know you’d be hearing about it. Don’t let me cloud your mind. It could get you killed. If that happened, they might as well kill me, too. I wouldn’t be very happy without you.”
Billy smiled. “It’s okay, `ge ya. I didn’t think about it too long.” He leaned down and kissed me. “Shall we… no… never mind. We do have a job to do.”
“We could.” I looked over at the bed, and then batted my eyelashes at him. “We have the time. Dinner’s not until eight.”
Once again, Billy showed me how it felt to be made love to by a man who wanted to please a woman… his woman.
“I don’t know about you,” I said as I crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom, “But even with all the craziness that’s been going on, I’m still having a good time. I didn’t like what happened today, but at least nobody was killed… except Kody. That’s kind of sad.” I turned on the shower and then peeked back out at Billy. “Care to join me?”
Billy jumped out of bed and was stepping into the shower seconds later. “Yes, it is. It’s sad that one so young was enticed into doing something that cost him his life,” he replied as he grabbed a washcloth, lathered it up, and began washing my back in a most sensuous way.
“That feels so good.” I just stood there and let him do his thing until he had washed my entire body. And then he shampooed my hair! Who wouldn’t have loved this kind of treatment? I offered to return the favor, and Billy gladly accepted. I grabbed a washcloth and tried to make his shower as pleasant as he had made mine. Washing his hair was a challenge considering he’s a foot taller than me, but I gave it my best try. He got a kick out of that.
“I’ll do it, `ge ya.” He grinned. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to wash my hair. What would they say?”
“I knew there was something I loved about this cruise,” I said as I grabbed a towel and then stepped out of the shower.
“What is that?” Billy asked as he lathered up his long, dark hair, and then stood directly under the shower head, rinsing out the shampoo.
“The few brief moments we share together are more important than seven days of lying around, relaxing, and doing nothing. To be honest, when we decided to take this cruise, I wondered if I could handle hanging around for that long without a list of things to do. Ha! That didn’t happen. Which is good. I like the spontaneity of life aboard a cruise ship. It’s seven days of something totally different. Now, if all ends well, it will have been totally worth it.”
I dried off my body and then my hair with the same towel. Billy always thought that was silly. My thoughts, as I explained to him many times, is why dirty up two towels? My body is clean, so why can’t I use the same towel to dry my hair? Besides, most of the time, I was the one who did the laundry. He just went along with my pet peeve. I grabbed the complimentary bathrobe off the hanger on the back of the door, slipped it on, and then walked out of the bathroom.
A few seconds later, Billy walked out of the bathroom with nothing on but a smile on his face. I knew something was up.
“What is it?” I asked. “When you look at me like that, you usually tell me something I’m not going to like. So, give, Tonto! What is it?”
“I do have something to tell you,” he said as he wrapped the towel around himself. “I think you’ll agree that it’s a pretty good plan.”
“I’m listening,” I said as I walked over to the closet and opened the door. “What should I wear tonight? I was thinking of this gorgeous emerald green one that Bella sent over… or maybe the midnight blue. I love them both, almost as much as I do the red one you bought me. I like the two I brought, but they can’t hold a candle to the ones from Bella’s Boutique. Hmm… what to wear?
“You’ll look terrific in any of them.”
“Thank you, dear, but I must choose one of Bella’s. It would hurt her feelings if I didn’t.”
“Come over here and sit down, `ge ya,” Billy said, fearfully, as if he was afraid I’d go off when he said what he had to say. “I hope you’ll understand the significance behind this plan.”
“Stop! Just tell me what you have to say.” I rolled my eyes. Men! They have to beat around the bush. Why can’t they just spit it out? Being the evil demon seed that I am, I let him grovel.
“We have a plan. The women will dine with the captain, while Loukas hosts his poker game. It’s something he does when he’s on the ship, so no one will think anything about it. I’ve agreed to be at that poker game tonight… so did McCoy. Also attending will be U.S. Marshall Wagner, Constable Daily, Gerald Fraser—a big shot from the mental health center—and Terrance Wallington—liaison for the Welsh Clinic. The person behind this will think we think the danger is over, that we’re content, and we won’t be paying attention. Kody, the sniper has been captured. Crime solved. But we know better. We know Kody was just a flunky—sorry, but that’s the way it is—so to maintain an appearance of resolve, we’re going to act as if everything is back to normal. We want the ring leader to think that we are free from the fear that Loukas is going to be killed.”
“And then
the bad guy goes after Kody to silence him.”
“Precisely. The one behind this will have to do something to take care of his problem. Either he will go to the hospital and eliminate Kody, or he’ll get someone else to do it. He knows people will be watching, so he’ll be sneaky. The police are also anticipating this. They have their ducks in a row. They want to find the main man just as much as we do. It’s the only way to draw out the rat that put this into play.”
“What happens if no one shows up at the hospital?”
“Oh, someone will show up, but if he doesn’t, we’ll have to change our strategy. But right now, that’s all we can do. If this doesn’t drag the criminal out in the open, we’ll have to come up with another plan.”
“While I’m out dining and dancing with young, available men, you’ll be sitting around a poker table. I don’t know. That sounds like a raw deal. I’ll be having all the fun.”
“Actually, I’ll be with Loukas, but sitting around a poker table is not on the agenda. The truth is we’ll be monitoring everyone’s moments on the ship via the computer in Loukas’ office. Well, McCoy and I will. Loukas will be overseeing the game.”
“I don’t know, Billy,” I said. “I was hoping we could spend more time together.” I paced back and forth pretending to be contemplating his startling news. I turned and looked at him with the best impression of distress I could muster and asked, “Who will I dance with tonight?”
I had to laugh out loud at the look on his face.
“You guys are so predictable!” I joked. “I love you, Billy. If you have a plan, I don’t care what it is, I’m with you. I can handle a girl’s night out with a bunch of muscular, toned, handsome bodyguards for company.”
“Not so fast, `ge ya,” Billy said. “Just remember who you’re married to. If some guy tries to move in on my woman, I’ll have to scalp him.”