by Ann Mullen
“I’m so glad we found you!” she said with urgency in her voice. “We just went to your room, but you weren’t there. Joe and I saw something we think you should know, Mr. Blackhawk… Jesse.”
“We’re in a real hurry, Maura,” I said. “Can it wait?”
“No, it can’t. I’ll make this brief. Something’s going on in Loukas and Bella Constance’s stateroom. Jacob and Allison are standing guard outside the door, leaving no security in the room. That’s odd considering that Mr. and Mrs. Constance are never without security. And… we saw the captain enter their room through a private back door that very few people know about. Joe has a friend who used to work on this ship a while back. That’s how we know about the door. He told Joe that no one was allowed to use that door, except Bella and Loukas unless there was a dire emergency. So, we decided to come tell you. When we passed their room on the way to yours we heard people yelling, which made us even more concerned. Allison and Jacob just smiled as if nothing was going on. We know someone is trying to kill Mr. Constance. We could be wrong, but we felt obligated to tell someone. Jesse was the first person I thought about. I knew we could trust her… and you.”
“You’re right, Maura,” Billy said. “I’m afraid something bad is going down right now. You might just have saved someone’s life by telling us this. I want you to show me where that door is.”
Billy turned to us and said, “McCoy, is your gun in that bag?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I want you and Savannah to go to Loukas and Bella’s room. Act as if nothing is wrong. See if you can get past Allison and Jacob. Jesse and I will sneak in the back door.”
“It’s locked,” Joe said. “You can’t get in.”
“Oh, yes I can.” Billy pulled out his cell phone, punched in a few numbers, and then waited for an answer. “Tex, this is Billy Blackhawk. I need for you to give me five minutes, and then unlock Loukas’ private door. Don’t ask any questions. Just do it.” Billy closed up the phone and dropped it back in the bag. He pulled out the snub-nosed .38 and slipped it into his swimming trunks’ pocket. He looked at Maura and said, “Thank you so much for your help.” He handed her our beach bag. “Take this for us, and go to your room where you’ll be safe. When you hear my cell phone ring, you’ll know everything is okay. Joe is going to show us where the door is, and then he’s coming back to your room. Is that okay?”
She reached into her handbag, pulled out a small handgun, and then handed it to me. “You might need this.”
“Everyone has guns!” I looked at Maura and then smiled. “And I’m glad they do.”
Joe handed the keycard to their room to her and said he’d see her shortly. She was not to worry.
A plan was set in motion. Billy and I would sneak in through the back door while Savannah and McCoy tried to gain entrance through the front.
Ten minutes later, Billy and I were standing in the shadows of Loukas and Bella’s bedroom listening to the arguing going on in the living room. We crept stealthily to the bedroom door to get a better look, and stumbled onto Captain O’Riley.
“What are you doing here?” Billy whispered.
“Yeah, what are you doing here?” I asked as I crouched down next to him. This was definitely not what I had expected.
The captain was holding a shiny, silver gun in a very shaky hand. It was finally obvious to me that he was not the bad guy, and he was out of his element. He was more scared than I was.
“I got a 911 beep from Loukas,” he said in a whisper. “That’s my signal that something really bad is happening—and it is. Their arguing is really getting heated. I thought about calling the marshal for help, but I was afraid my phone would do something stupid and I’d be heard.”
“You did the right thing by doing nothing,” Billy said. “Has a gun been displayed?”
“Yes,” the captain said. “Steven pulled one out just a second ago.”
“Then we don’t have much time.”
Billy slowly opened the bedroom door a smidgeon more so we could get a better look. My hand shook as I held Maura’s gun by my side… and waited. We didn’t have to wait long. The shocker of it all came when I realized that Jena had obviously been just as surprised at Steven’s display of the gun as her parents were. She stood close to her mother and begged her husband to put the gun away.
“What’s the matter with you, Steven?” she asked. “Where did you get that gun?”
“What does it matter, Jena? You knew it would come down to this,” he replied.
I looked at Billy in the dim room and whispered, “This isn’t good.”
“Nothing surprises me anymore, `ge ya.”
Steven Nelson held a gun pointed directly at Bella while Loukas stood next to his wife, holding her hand.
“Stay here for backup,” Billy told the captain. “If one of us goes down, you come out… and shoot to kill. Don’t hold back. It might be your last mistake. If you’re not up to this, say so now.”
“I can handle it,” the captain replied.
Billy and I went into attack mode. We pulled our guns, lunged from behind the door and swung around the room to confront Steven. We both had our guns aimed straight at Steven’s head.
Steven was so shocked, he didn’t have time to react. He stood firm, his arms still outstretched holding the gun in place.
“Party’s over!” Billy yelled defiantly. “Drop your weapon, or I’ll drop you where you stand!”
“He’s not kidding,” I said angrily as I edged over to the other side of Bella and Jena with my gun still aimed at Steven’s forehead. “You’re in over your head.” I glanced at Loukas, Bella, and Jena, and then said, “You know what’s going to happen here, don’t you? He can’t allow the three of you to walk out of this room alive. He has crossed the line and he can’t go back. Am I right, Steven?”
Steven remained silent.
Jena looked at her husband and pleaded, “Put down the gun, Steven. It’s over. Mother has made her choice. I’m not going to argue over it anymore. She wants her boat, she can have it, but she won’t have a daughter.”
“Jena, please don’t say that,” Bella begged. “I love you. I love my ship. One has nothing to do with the other.”
“Oh, Mother, but it does,” Jena said, getting agitated. “I have suffered so much because of this boat. This is where my life took a wrong turn. I was just a child, Mother. I almost drowned because of Bertie Callahan. You praised her, gave her money, and me, you sent to my room. I thought you would be glad I was still alive, but you punished me instead. When I got older, I began to piece it together. I never could understand why it took Bertie so long to come to my aid when I got that leg cramp and couldn’t swim anymore, and then I realized that she did it on purpose. She almost let me drown so she could save me and reap the rewards. Why didn’t she just take me back to my room? That would’ve been the right thing to do. It was late at night, and anyone with half a brain should have known that I wasn’t supposed to be out. No… she saw an opportunity to be a hero and get paid handsomely for her efforts, so she took it. I’ve lived with this lie for too long. It has consumed my life. I swore I would tell you the truth on this cruise.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me?”
“I tried to tell you many times, but I just lost my nerve. Even as an adult, I didn’t think you would believe me.”
“Of course, I would, Jena. You didn’t give me a chance.”
“Well, you have one now. You can dump Bertie Callahan as one of your friends, and you can sell this ship. I can’t even look at it anymore.”
“Would you let your husband kill your mother over it?” Loukas asked.
“He’s not going to kill anyone,” Jena said nervously. She looked at Steven. “Put the gun away.”
“Not this time,” Steven said, looking at Jena for a brief second. “No… this has to be settled now. This ship has ruined everything for us.”
“You can’t stop him, Jena,” Billy said as he edged over closer t
o Loukas. “He’s got too much to lose. Don’t you, Steven?”
Jena looked at her husband and asked, “What’s he talking about, Steven? What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Steven replied, getting a little fidgety. “He’s just running off at the mouth. He’s trying to turn you against me.”
“It’s too late for that.” The look on Jena’s face clearly indicated that she had no idea what Billy was talking about, but it didn’t matter. All she wanted was for Steven to put the gun away. “What are you going to do?” she asked him.
“He’s going to save his butt,” Billy said, slipping back into their conversation. “You see, Jena, your husband has hefty gambling debts. He crawled into bed with some pretty bad people, and now he has only one way out. He used you to get to your mother. He thought that after you told Bella the truth about Bertie and that night, she would see how it has hurt you, and give in. A mother would never allow her daughter to continue to be tormented. The ship would have to go. And… if that didn’t work… well, then he’d just have to kill Bella and Loukas… and you.”
“That can’t be true!” Bella exclaimed as if she were irate at the idea.
“Oh, but it is, Bella,” Billy said as he edged closer to Steven. “Loukas was never the intended victim—you were. You’re the one with the controlling interest, so all someone had to do was to scare you into selling. Steven used simpleminded tactics to accomplish that—poisoned champagne, sabotaged footwear—the list goes on. Between that and your daughter’s plea for you to dump the Bella Constance, he was sure you’d give in and he’d get plenty of the money. If you didn’t cave, he’d have to come up with another alternative. Do I need to tell you what that alternative is? You see, I’m really good at my job. I just got a text reply from one of my buddies, and Steven’s name came back. A major corporation called Byrd Enterprises is the intended buyer. Sound familiar, Steven? You would use whatever it takes to get Bella to sell the Bella Constance with the rest of the cruise ships in the line, and then you’d get the goons off your back. Wasn’t that the deal they were offering?”
“What’s so important about the Bella Constance that makes everyone so determined to own it?” Bella asked. “All these big corporations…”
“Your ship is an icon,” Billy said. “It’s been around for a very long time. It’s smaller than the rest, but it has so much class. It’s mysterious and everyone wants to take a cruise on it. The Bella Constance is respected.”
Jena looked at Steven and said, “Why didn’t you come to me? I didn’t know about your gambling problem. I could’ve helped. I could’ve saved you all the hassle of trying to kill my mother.” She was definitely being sarcastic. “If that’s all you wanted, to get a bunch of goons off your back, you sure don’t have much ambition. I could’ve paid them off, you idiot. We could’ve worked it out. But, no! You had to use me! I wanted my mother to give up this ship so I’d never have to see it again—not to save your butt!”
“I have plenty of ambition,” Steven said, snidely. “I’m just tired of catering to the great Bella and Loukas Constance.”
As angry or hurt as Jena had obviously been with her mother for however long, his words must have struck a nerve. “I didn’t know you felt that way about my folks. You told me that they deserved to retire on some tropical island and forget about the cruise line. And the only way to make that happen was if I told them how I felt. You lied to me! You weren’t trying to help me.”
“Whose idea was it to kill people?” I asked, looking directly at Steven.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Steven said. “I admit that bad things happened because of a few things I set into motion, but…”
“You sent a young kid out to take potshots at a bus that was being heavily guarded,” Billy interjected. “Did you actually think he was going to get away with it?”
“An unfortunate event,” Steven said.
“What?” Jena asked, fuming at her husband. Her hands started to shake as she continued. “Tell me that wasn’t your doing. Kody was just a young kid.”
“There’s just no honor among killers, is there?” I snidely asked.
She glared at me and said, “I’m not a killer! I had no idea that Steven was the one behind all this. I still can’t believe it.” She started to cry.
“And Jimmy Carlson? Did you kill him, too?”
“A sad moment,” Steven replied. “He wanted to come clean, but I couldn’t allow that.”
Jena gasped, and then stepped back. “I can’t believe it. You’re not the man I married.”
“I haven’t been for a long time, Jena,” Steven said as he shifted his stance and took aim.
“What are you going to do?” Billy asked, gripping his gun tighter. He was one second away from dropping Steven like a fly. “Kill us all? Because that’s what you’re going to have to do. Think about it.”
“I have,” Steven said.
Two words spoken that were to be his last.
Without warning, Billy squeezed the trigger sending a loud blast throughout the room. Steven dropped to the floor with a bullet to the head. The sight of it made me gag. Jena was frozen. Bella was speechless. Loukas let out a breath.
The captain came out from behind the bedroom door with his shaking weapon drawn at the same time that the stateroom door flew open. Within a matter of seconds, the room was filled with men holding guns led by U.S. Marshal Wagner. Allison and Jacob hurried to Bella and Loukas. Savannah and McCoy came up from behind the group. Savannah rushed over to me and asked if we were all right. I nodded my head.
“We’re fine,” Loukas said, taking charge. “My son-in-law is dead.” He looked over at the captain and said, “You might want to lower that gun before it accidentally goes off.”
The captain obliged.
Jena walked over and looked down at her dead husband.
Bella followed. “Oh, my poor baby,” she said, hugging her daughter. “I did this to you. If I had been a better mother…”
“No, Mama. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes, it was. Ruby told me about the medication you’ve been taking. I should’ve known you needed help. A child should never have to deal with what you did at such a young age without some kind of professional help. I see that now.”
“I got help, Mother. That’s how I managed to get up the nerve to talk with you about Bertie.” She looked back down at her husband, and then looked around the stateroom. “For some reason, I don’t see this ship as my enemy anymore. My true enemy is the lie Bertie Callahan has told all these years.”
“We’re going to fix that,” Bella said.
“Steven is the one we’ve been looking for,” Loukas told the marshal. “He was going to kill us all because of money. Can you believe it? Fortunately, Billy and Jesse came to our rescue.”
“Loukas is safe,” Billy said. “The threat is over. We can all relax now.” He looked at me as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
I felt the same way.
Bella walked over to us and said, “We can talk later. Thank you so much for saving our lives. I’m so glad we had you on our side.”
“We’re glad we could help,” Billy said. “We’re still here for you, so if you need anything just give us a call. We’re going to leave you alone. You need time with your daughter to sort this all out.”
Billy and I stuck our guns in our pockets, turned, and walked out the door.
Another case solved.
Epilogue
The two days it took us to get back to Norfolk were strange ones. The weather was fabulous and there wasn’t an angry cloud in the sky. We tried to enjoy ourselves, but after what had happened it wasn’t easy. Jena was distraught over the loss of her husband, but was even more upset by the fact that he had betrayed her. Steven had been her rock all those years she had suffered through her mental anguish, but now because of all his misdeeds and criminal acts, he was just a bad memory. It didn’t take long for Billy to discover that Steven had spent just ab
out all of Jena’s money, and that before the cruise they were on the verge of bankruptcy—something she knew absolutely nothing about. Of course, Bella would see to it that her daughter would not suffer financially. She would take care of the situation.
Billy also discovered the plot to separate Bella from her ship had started out as a joke among two drunken men discussing their unhappiness over the sale of the cruise line without the inclusion of the Bella Constance—Utah Hawks and Steven Nelson. The joke turned into a plan. They would use Jena’s mental situation to further their cause. Jeff and Ruby Reed were purposely left out of their little scheme because they considered both of them to be too lily-liveried and weak. Nell would also be left out of the loop. They were afraid she might spill the beans during one of her drunken tirades. Besides, it was only going to be a prank—a harmless prank they hoped would work. Jena would be an asset, Jeff, Ruby and Nell would be in the dark where they always were, and Utah and Steven would get a chance to enjoy every minute of it. But when incidents started happening, especially the attack on the tour bus and the subsequent shooting of Kody, Utah started having second thoughts. Manipulative Steven convinced him that he would get the blame. Everyone hated Utah Hawks, Steven told him. Utah got paranoid and set out to visit Kody at the hospital. He wanted to make sure that the boy would tell the truth. Utah was innocent and wasn’t going down for something he didn’t do… and… this had not been part of the plan. No one was to get hurt. His sudden mistrust for Steven surfaced quickly. Unfortunately, the police were waiting for someone to show up, and he was taken into custody. Once released, Utah went back to his stateroom where he secretly planned his exit from the company. He knew his days with Constance Enterprises would be numbered, especially when Nell found out about his true involvement. He told all this to Billy when questioned, and he was right about Nell’s reaction.
Nell Hawks is a smart woman. She knew her husband was involved somehow, but couldn’t prove it. So… she drank to keep from thinking about it. Once Utah confessed his involvement, she saw a way out of a very unhappy marriage. She told him she would give him five million dollars, and all he had to do was disappear. She would immediately file for a divorce. He took her up on her offer. He would catch a cab to the airport as soon as the ship docked, and she would never see him again.