Fatal Flirtation: A Cruise Ship Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 13)

by Hope Callaghan

  Nic and the Second Officer, Myron Greaves, were standing on the outboard bridge wing talking. Millie gave them a quick wave, but didn’t slow.

  Thankfully, A4315 and A4317 cabins were forward, so all she and Scout had to do was continue down the steps.

  The Atlantic deck cabin hall was bustling with crewmembers who were hard at work cleaning the passenger cabins. She zigzagged past several of the cleaning carts and then slowed when she reached A4315.

  Millie peeked into several of the cabins before she found the room steward in the cabin three doors down from Jennifer and Aaron’s cabin. She rapped lightly on the outside. “Hello?”

  A uniformed steward popped into view and smiled at Millie. “Yes?”

  “Yes, I uh, was wondering…are you responsible for A4315 cabin?”

  “I am.” The steward patted Scout’s head. “You are Miss Millie, Captain Armati’s new wife.”

  “I am, and this is Scout. There’s also a cabin across the hall where a Mr. Todd Ebenstein is staying. Do you clean that cabin, too?”

  “Yes. They are both mine. Mr. Ebenstein is Miss Jennifer’s boyfriend.”

  “I see. I have a question about Aaron Quillen. It appears that he is…I mean was occupying a cabin with his sister.”

  “He is still here,” the cabin steward said.

  Millie’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean he’s still here? I thought he was removed from the ship, along with another passenger.”

  “They were, but they were returned to the ship. Something about the island was under a hurricane watch and the island authorities refused to take the passengers.”

  “I…had no idea they were still on board.” Millie shifted her feet. “Is Mr. Quillen still under cabin arrest?”

  “No.” The room steward shook his head. “Mr. Quillen, he is allowed to leave his cabin.” The man continued. “A man, he come by here too, looking for Mr. Aaron.”

  “What man?”

  “The man with the ponytail.” The room steward made a motion toward the back of his head. “He fight with Mr. Aaron. I told to keep a watch for him. I think he was trying to cause trouble. I call Mr. Patterson to let him know.”

  Chapter 17

  “What exactly happened?”

  “He say he leave his wallet on the desk and someone take money from it.”

  Millie shook her head, confused. “Which one was causing trouble?”

  “Both,” the steward explained. “Mr. Aaron, he say money missing. I know I not touch his wallet. He tell me right before the man with the ponytail show up. They start yelling at each other. Some older woman, she show up. I not know her, but she screaming.” The room steward waved his hands in the air. “She yell at ponytail and then at Aaron. That is when I radio Mr. Patterson.”

  “What did Mr. Patterson do?” Millie asked.

  “By the time he get here, the ponytail and woman, they leave. I tell Mr. Patterson what happen, he talk to Aaron and then he tell me he take care of it.”

  Millie leaned her hip against the hall wall. “Do you know what they were saying to each other?”

  “Mr. Aaron say, you don’t belong here and leave Ms. Jennifer alone.” The room steward motioned toward Todd Ebenstein’s cabin. “Mr. Todd, he not get involved in all of this. He nice man. I think he have lots of money. He tell me he once a professional baseball player.”

  Millie tried to absorb all the room steward had said. Could it be Aaron and his sister, Jennifer, were using Todd Ebenstein? If Jennifer was stalking Vic Turner as his cousin claimed, what was Vic Turner doing near her cabin?

  The room steward looked down the hall and then leaned forward. “Something funny going on in the Quillen cabin,” he whispered.

  “Funny?” Millie asked.

  “Like they not act like brother and sister.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “No. Maybe it just me and it nothing.” Millie could see the man was not going to elaborate, so she thanked him for the information and then she and Scout wandered to the end of the hall.

  Surely, Dave Patterson was on top of the investigation. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for Millie to drop by to see how he was doing. Before she could do that, they needed to return to the upper deck to wrap up the scavenger/mystery hunt.

  None of the groups located all of the items and several of the guesses were off. With no clear winner, Millie handed out discount coupons for the High Seas Art Gallery, along with a coupon for a scoop of ice cream at Sprinkles, the new ice cream and sweets shop.

  The last participant wandered off and Millie consulted the tiki bar clock. “We’re making good time, Scout. Let’s stop by Dave Patterson’s office.”

  When they reached his office, she could see the lights were on. Millie twisted the doorknob as she called out a cheery hello.

  Patterson was seated at his desk. He looked up from his laptop as they stepped inside. “Hello, Millie.”

  Millie set Scout on Patterson’s desk and he promptly trotted to the other side to greet the ship’s head of security. “Scout and I were in the neighborhood and thought we would stop by to see how your investigation into Danielle’s incident is going.”

  “Hey, buddy.” Patterson scratched Scout’s ears. “I figured you were here to see how the investigation into Micah Reyes’ death was going.”

  “I found out that Aaron Quillen and Vic Turner are still on the ship.”

  Patterson sighed heavily. “They were off the ship until the port authorities decided that with the impending storm and the fact that some of the residents of smaller, neighboring islands were being evacuated to St. Martin, they didn’t want to be responsible for the troublemakers. Not to mention the liability issues for Majestic Cruise Lines if something were to happen to the ship’s passengers stranded on the island during the hurricane.”

  “I guess I can see their point,” Millie said. “The reason I know this is Aaron Quillen’s room steward mentioned you lifted Aaron’s cabin arrest. Vic Turner showed up and the men argued again.”

  Patterson turned his full attention to Millie. “Let me see if I have this straight. You just so happened to be passing by the Atlantic deck cabins, ran into the room steward and struck up a conversation.”

  “In a roundabout way,” Millie hedged.

  “Uh-huh.” Patterson leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. “So what was your reason for visiting Sharky Kiveski? I stopped by his office earlier and he told me you were down there snooping around.”

  “Rat,” Millie hissed under her breath. “Annette and I delivered a batch of cinnamon rolls to him early this morning. We got on the subject of him finding Micah’s body. I’m sure you’re aware Micah’s radio was missing when Sharky found him.”

  “I am.”

  “One of my theories is Micah became involved in some type of physical confrontation with one of the passengers he was guarding, they wrestled his flashlight away from him and then whacked him on the back of his head. Micah went for his radio to call for help, but his attacker took the radio.”

  “After Micah was injured, he left the scene to seek medical help and collapsed in the hall on his way to the medical center,” Patterson offered.

  “Yep. In a nutshell. Sharky also mentioned another of the ship’s security staff, Johan Visser. He and Micah detested one another. If Johan was working the same shift and in the same area, I would consider him a suspect.”

  “Along with…” Patterson’s voice trailed off.

  “Along with Aaron Quillen, Jennifer Quillen, Todd Ebenstein and Vic Turner, of course,” Millie said. “It would help if you could tell me who Micah was guarding right before his injury.”

  “I can’t divulge that information,” Patterson said. “I can see you’re dying to tell me something else.”

  “Only that Jennifer Quillen was flirting with Vic Turner, unbeknownst to her brother or her fiancé, Todd Ebenstein. I think Jennifer is using Todd and running around behind his back.”

  “What ma
kes you think that?”

  “It was a comment Vic Turner’s cousin, Elyse Bivens, made to me during the wine tasting demonstration. She said Jennifer was pursuing Vic, not the other way around.” Millie stopped short of telling Patterson she’d pulled up Jennifer, Aaron and Todd Ebenstein’s room charges and the only person running a tab was Todd Ebenstein. “Do you know how Micah died?”

  Millie held her breath, wondering if Patterson would tell her what she wanted to know.

  “Yes.” Patterson nodded.

  “Blunt force trauma,” Millie guessed.

  “Yes again. Based on Micah’s injuries and the fact his flashlight was found next to his body, my theory is someone snuck up behind him, wrestled his flashlight away and struck him on the back of the head.”

  Millie pressed the palms of her hands together. “Which also means more than one person could have been involved in Micah’s attack.”

  “Correct and all of the people you suspect are under investigation and the flashlight is in a safe place. I plan to have it examined for fingerprints.”

  “I’m curious. Why would you lift Vic Turner and Aaron Quillen’s cabin arrest if you suspected they were involved in Micah’s death?”

  “That’s a very good question, Millie. Why don’t you tell me why I would do that?”

  Millie tilted her head and studied Patterson. “To see what they would do. You gave them some rope to see if the culprit would use it to hang himself.”

  “Very good,” Patterson nodded.

  “Which means you have someone following them around the ship.”

  “Correct. It also means I know you sent one of the kitchen staff to the coffee bar this morning to interact with Jennifer Quillen in hopes of gleaning more information.”

  “You were spying on me?” Millie gasped.

  “Yes,” Patterson grinned. “So you better be on your best behavior. I plan to follow all three of them around until they leave the ship Saturday. The attacker is bound to slip up and I plan to be there when they do.”

  “Your spying is going to cramp my sleuthing style,” Millie joked.

  “Don’t you mean the other way around?” Patterson shot back.

  Millie grumbled under her breath and reached for Scout before heading to the door. “I better get back to work. I’m sure Andy is wondering what happened to me.”

  Patterson followed Millie into the hall. “Have you heard anything on the revised itinerary?”

  “Not yet. Last I heard Andy was trying to add a port stop on a small tropical island somewhere in the Bahamas.” Millie shifted Scout to her other arm. “Are you going to follow the passengers off the ship if we stop in port?”

  “Of course. My job is to get to the bottom of what happened to Micah, and if it takes following passengers around an island, then that’s what I’ll do.”

  Millie told Patterson good-bye and then hustled to the library for the painting class she was co-hosting. Several passengers were already waiting for her in the hall when she arrived.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting folks.” Millie swiped her keycard and unlocked the door, holding it open while the participants filed into the room. Several stopped to greet Scout and the small pup basked in all of the extra attention.

  The class instructor arrived and after everyone was inside, she shut the door and set Scout on the floor. “Scout is helping host the paint class. He’ll be wandering around the room, so please be sure to watch your step.”

  While Scout worked one side of the room, Millie and the instructor began distributing the blank canvases. After they finished passing out the canvases, Millie made another round, placing trays of paint, paintbrushes, rolls of paper towels and cups of water on each of the tables.

  The class offered two unique artwork choices. One was a ship anchor and the other was a palm tree with an island sunset in the background. Millie chose the anchor, deciding she had the perfect spot for it in the apartment hallway.

  Before starting her creation, she made another round to make sure all of the artists had everything they needed. Scout followed her to her chair and she settled him onto her lap before grabbing a clean paintbrush.

  The two-hour class flew by. Millie bantered back and forth about the stormy seas, the passengers’ favorite activities on board, and their favorite food as the art instructor walked around.

  “What’s it like being married to the captain of the ship?” One of the women at Millie’s table asked.

  Millie paused, paintbrush in midair as she thought about her answer. So far, it had been wonderful. Much the same as her life before, except for the fact she was married to her Prince Charming and living her happily ever after while sailing to exotic locations. “It’s a dream come true,” she simply said.

  Millie sometimes missed her late night chats with Danielle, and she worried about the young woman, who still hadn’t been assigned a new cabin mate. In a nutshell, life was the same, but so very different from before.

  “I work the same hours and report to the same boss. I eat the same food and keep the same routine. The only major change is that my living quarters are much nicer and I wake up next to the most wonderful man each morning.” Millie left it at that, feeling slightly uncomfortable over the question, yet not sure why.

  The ship’s crew and staff didn’t treat Millie any differently, at least she hoped they didn’t. Admittedly, it was one of the things she’d secretly worried about.

  Millie segued the conversation back to a safer topic and after finishing her own masterpiece, she and Scout made their rounds, oohing and aahing over the classes’ paintings.

  After the class ended and the last participant departed, Millie cleared the tables and returned the paint supplies to the cabinet.

  Scout’s energetic prances were turning into slow trots. Millie decided he’d had enough excitement for the day and headed to the bridge to drop him off.

  Captain Vitale and another captain were on the bridge. They gave Millie a cheery wave as she crossed the bridge and let herself into the apartment.

  “Shall we visit the deck before I return to work?” Millie followed Scout to the sliders. They stepped onto the deck and she stood near the railing waiting for Scout to take care of business.

  It didn’t take long for Scout to trot back inside and head to his doggie bed where he flopped down, right next to his favorite stuffed giraffe.

  Millie dropped to her knees and rubbed his front paws. “I tuckered you all out, poor Scout,” she cooed.

  Scout let out a small sigh and closed his eyes.

  Millie slowly stood and gave him one last look before tiptoeing out of the apartment and quietly pulling the door closed behind her.

  The men didn’t look up this time as Millie strode across the hall to the bridge door. She swung the door open and nearly collided with her husband, who was barreling up the steps.

  “Millie!”

  Millie jumped back. “Sorry.”

  “I’m the one who is sorry. Are you on break?”

  “Yes, a quick one. I brought Scout home. He’s all tuckered out and napping in his bed.” Millie briefly ran down her list of hosting events, left off the part about dropping by the Quillen cabin and Patterson’s office and then asked how his day was going.

  “Better than expected. I just spoke with Nadia and Regan and got an update on St. Martin and Grand Bay Beach Club. I have some good news and some bad news.”

  Chapter 18

  “I’ll take the good news first.”

  “The island was spared a direct hit, although most of the power is out.”

  “Regan and Nadia told me Grand Bay is equipped with generators with enough power to keep most of the resort up and running.”

  “It is,” Nic nodded. “I’m guessing it will be several weeks before all of the island will have power back.”

  “What about the port? Will we be able to dock next week to drop the Leclercs off?”

  “The port authorities are waiting for the remnants of the storm to pass be
fore inspecting the docking area and the port for damage.”

  “Oh dear. If the port is damaged, they’ll be trapped on board the Siren of the Seas.”

  “We have options,” Nic said. “If the Siren of the Seas is allowed to return to the port, we drop them off, or we can arrange for a smaller shuttle boat to take them to the island.”

  Nic told Millie they were still waiting for word on the condition of the Princess Juliana International Airport, the island’s airport, as well. “Thankfully, the storm took a last minute turn and the brunt of it missed the islands, including St. Kitts. There’s a good chance we won’t have to reposition as I previously mentioned.”

  “Thank goodness.” Millie pressed a hand to her chest. “Not that I’m not thrilled about seeing the rest of the world, but a little more notice would be appreciated.”

  “I’m not sure what your plans are for the rest of the day. Regan has been busy working. I think Nadia is going a little stir crazy,” Nic hinted.

  “Perhaps she would like to tag along with me the rest of this afternoon.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea.” Nic gave his wife a warm kiss. “You’re a wonderful, thoughtful wife, Millie.”

  “And you’re the best husband I’ve ever had,” Millie teased.

  Nic chuckled. “I hope so.” He gave his wife’s hand a squeeze. “Now you and Nadia better stay out of trouble.”

  “We shall try.” Millie blew him a kiss and breezed out of the bridge. She climbed the stairs, taking them two at a time until she reached the spa suites.

  Nadia and Regan’s door was ajar. “Hello?” Millie called out before giving it a light tap.

  The door opened wider and Nadia’s smiling face appeared. “Millie, how are you?”

  “I’m fine. Busy as a bee. I’m here to ask if you would like to tag along with me this afternoon.”

  “Would I ever,” Nadia beamed. She threw the door open and Millie could see Regan seated at the desk, his laptop open and his attention focused on the screen. “Let me grab my things.”