by Lori Avocato
After a bit of small talk, I said, “Well, I do have to get going.”
Bobbie Lee never did go get their drinks. I think she didn’t want to leave Jagger’s side. As if I would snatch him away. She looked really upset with both of us as I nodded and walked past the tank, giving a smile to Gilbert and his friends.
When I got to the elevator, I looked back and saw Hunter talking to Jagger with no Bobbie Lee around-Hunter not looking all too pleased.
And Jagger looking very pissed.
I had to smile to myself as I got on the elevator. I’m sure Jagger wanted to deck Hunter and probably throw the Southern belle overboard. How tempting was that on a ship?
With only one wrong turn, I made it back to the infirmary with five minutes to spare.
The rest of the afternoon went calmly with only a few cases of seasickness, two cuts that needed butterfly bandages and one of the swinging singles who’d had way too much sun and rum.
Rico did a good job of showing me around, and I started to feel very comfortable in the job. Hopefully, there’d be no big emergencies. I really wanted everyone onboard to stay safe and have a good time. I was wondering what my friends and family were doing when the door opened and Uncle Walt came in holding his cheek.
I jumped up and ran to him. “What happened? Come sit down.”
I started to show him into the exam room, but Topaz jumped up. “No medical care until I get all his insurance information!” She nearly screamed, as if I was committing some crime.
“He’s my uncle. I’ll give you the info as soon as we find out what happened.”
Uncle Walt took his hand from his cheek, exposing a red mark-in the shape of a hand.
“Oh, my gosh! Someone hit you?” I popped a cold pack with my hands so the chemicals inside would react, and it instantly turned cold. I gently touched it against his cheek. “You may have a shiner tomorrow. Who did this?”
Uncle Walt sheepishly looked at me, then at Rico and at Peter, who had come in the room too. “Seems as if an unhappy passenger didn’t think I was doing my job correctly. She wanted me to spend the entire day with her. Um, alone. I’m not like that, Pauline. You know it.”
I think my face turned redder than Uncle Walt’s. Before I could ask who she was, the door to the reception area swung open and a woman in her seventies, I guessed, swept in. Her white suit with navy trim looked expensive but went well with the aura of wealth she exuded.
“How is Walter, ya’ll? Is he all right?”
I gasped.
Bobbie Lee with a few wrinkles and sags.
But still a looker.
Uncle Walt pulled back as if afraid she’d slug him again, and said, “That is her. Anna Bell Lee.”
“Bobbie’s mother,” I mumbled.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but Bobbie’s grandmother,” Anna Bell corrected as she stepped forward until Topaz blocked her way.
“You can’t go in there,” she said.
I was ready to deck the woman myself. What was with the Lee women? I guessed they were very used to getting their own way with their men.
Poor Uncle Walt looked as if he wanted to crawl under the stretcher to escape.
The doc said he needed to finish examining Uncle Walt’s injury and make sure his vision wasn’t impaired.
A remorseful Anna Bell sat herself in the waiting room and kept repeating that she really didn’t mean anything, but she just wanted Uncle Walt to…keep her company. “The passenger always comes first,” she said.
Since Rico was helping the doc, I walked over to Anna Bell, quite fed up with the Lee clan. “Look, my uncle is the perfect gentleman. Maybe you are used to having whatever you want, but he’s not up for grabs.” I smiled to myself at the pun. “So, I would appreciate if you would leave him alone. Find someone else to keep you busy, or I’ll have the captain notified of your attack on Uncle Walt-and your trip will terminate in Miami.” I wanted to add that her granddaughter would be thrown off along with her, but figured Jagger could handle her.
Anna Bell merely looked at me. In the reflection of the mirror, I noticed Topaz grin and realized I’d gained another brownie point with her.
“Well, as long as he is all right. I only came down here to make sure.” She got up and turned toward the door.
Yeah, right, I thought. “I’m glad we have all of this settled. Enjoy the rest of your cruise, ma’am,” I added. I wanted to give her a swift kick in the butt. However, even I wouldn’t kick an old lady.
Uncle Walt was proclaimed in perfect health, should expect a black eye and to watch out for any headaches or nausea. I leaned over and whispered to him, “And stick with Yankee women. You’re out of your league in the South.”
He smiled and left after Topaz finished the insurance information. I looked over her shoulder and had to bite my tongue before I yelled that the fee for the visit was outrageous.
“Isn’t he considered staff?” I asked.
“Nope. Male hosts don’t get paid. They only get a free ride.” With that she turned to the printer and pushed a button to finish her billing process.
I leaned against the wall and thought that I really needed to find out who got all that money. I could see my family doctor ten times for that price. “Topaz, do you ever have trouble getting the insurance companies to pay the claims?” I figured I’d take a shot since she’d become my new best friend.
She took the paper from the printer and looked at me. “Nope. Not that I know of. Some folks in a land office in New York handle the final billing. How could the insurance companies argue anyway? Where else can the passengers go for care when we’re out in the middle of the ocean?”
I nodded. “Oh, right.” But who gets all the money? And who works in that land office?
While I stood there stunned, the door opened and Jagger walked in wearing his black jeans, a black tee and his sunglasses on his head.
As delicious as he looked in the Bermuda shorts, this was my Jagger.
He motioned for me to come to the side of the room.
Topaz gave him the once-over and said, “I have to go fax this.” After one more look at Jagger, she left.
“Some old lady hit Uncle Walt because he wouldn’t…er…spend time with her.”
Jagger’s eyes darkened. “Is he all right?”
I smiled at his concern for my uncle. Jagger had a special spot in his heart for the old man and even let him drive his SUV on occasion-when at his age, Uncle Walt shouldn’t have been driving at all.
“Some of these passengers are…whackos,” he said.
“Yeah. Oh, I’m off duty now so we can start working the case. We’ll be docking in Miami pretty soon, so lots of the passengers will get off for a few hours. We might have better luck snooping together-”
“I’m afraid you’re on your own, Sherlock.”
Thirteen
I’m afraid you’re on your own, Sherlock?
I waited a few seconds to process the meaning of what Jagger had said. No clue. What the hell did he mean? “What are you talking about? On my own?”
“Darling Bobbie got me fired. Made your buddy Hunter’s day, I’m sure. I’m off the ship in Miami, lock, stock and barrel.”
“Whaaat?” I meant to say that Hunter was not my buddy, but couldn’t get it out. Couldn’t get anything coherent out. Jagger was leaving? “Whaaat?” I repeated.
He touched my chin, lifting my jaw shut. “Hunter fired me after Bobbie Lee gave him a piece of her mind.”
“So she has nothing left, then.”
We looked at each other and laughed-although I really wasn’t in a laughing mood after that bomb he’d just dropped on me. “They can’t do this to you. You’re a passenger, for crying out loud.” Then I thought of my threat to Anna Bell.
“It’s a private cruise line, Sherlock. They make their own rules for certain things. They can and did do what the hell they want. After all, I’m not a paying passenger.”
I bit my lower lip before it had a chance to qui
ver.
Jagger took me by the shoulders. “You can do this on your own, Sherlock. You can.”
For a second, I actually believed him. I puffed out my chest and stood taller. “Yeah, I can,” I said, and then realized it was a lie.
Even knowing Goldie and Miles were onboard for emergencies, I wanted Jagger around too. Some girls had their comfort food, like mashed potatoes and gravy or chocolate or wine, but me, I had…my Jagger.
He took me into his arms and held me for a long time. When he let go, he leaned forward and kissed me. On the lips.
And I was so damned glad I’d let him.
And for one magical moment, I believed everything would be all right.
“Oh my God. Oh my God!” Goldie shouted when I told him and Miles about Jagger getting kicked off the ship.
They wrapped me in a group hug, reminding me that they would be there for me. Much more available than they had been. I looked at their lean, sun-tanned bodies and said, “I can’t ask you guys to give up your vacation. Not even a little bit of it. I’m going to be all right on my own.”
They glared at me.
Goldie bit down on his pinky fingernail, today a royal, ocean blue.
“Jagger said so.”
They paused then nodded. “Go for it, Suga.”
I winked and told them I wanted to see Jagger one more time before he left the ship to fly back to Hope Valley. I would have thought an emptiness should settle in my insides now, but I actually felt pretty good. I touched the necklace of pepper spray Jagger had given me and symbolically told myself it would give me strength and the knowledge to finish this case…alone.
My friends offered to go watch the passengers leave the ship and see if we could find Jagger, but I said I’d be fine on my own.
Soon I stood on the upper deck, watching all the activity below. Passengers disembarking. Cabs honking to get fares, and loading and unloading of supplies from the side of the ship.
Several security people were obviously keeping very close tabs on who left the ship. The dock bustled with so much activity that my head hurt flipping it back and forth to search the crowds for Jagger.
When the last of the passengers left, I started to turn, disappointed that I’d missed him. Then I noticed two security officers walking down the plank with a man in between. Even from this distance I could tell it was my buddy.
My Jagger.
No one else had that good a physique from the back. A cab sat waiting at the curb, and I became angry that they were treating him like some kind of criminal. I pictured the Lee women falling overboard and made a mental note not to get too close to Bobbie when on the decks for fear that my fantasy would come true-at the touch of my fingertips.
“Bye,” I whispered.
As if he could hear, Jagger turned around, zoomed in on me, gave me a salute of encouragement and mouthed, “You can do it, Sherlock.”
After a shaky wave to him, I watched the cab drive off with my sometimes partner inside. It wouldn’t surprise me if I got an email in a day or so, checking up on me.
What a guy.
I treated myself to a Coors Light after watching Jagger leave. Most of the passengers had disembarked at the Miami port for several hours. When I looked around the Bottlenose Lounge, an eerie feeling took over.
Other than myself and Edie, who was busy restocking the supplies along with several other crewmembers, there was only one man, reading a book, sitting in the lounge near the tank.
Johnny, Jake and Gilbert swam lazily around in circles. Even they must have sensed the quiet of the ship. I looked at the bar staff and decided they weren’t going to be of any help. I had to get back to work. So I finished my Coors and left a tip for Edie, then walked toward the tank. Without touching the glass, I put my hand up as if to wave.
Gilbert swam over, his eyes saddened while he nuzzled the glass. I had to smiled. “Atta boy.”
Atta girl, Sherlock.
Damn. Jagger always said that to me when I did something right during a case. I shook the cobwebs of nostalgia out of my head, actually did wave to Gilbert and turned to leave.
“Interesting creatures,” the man sitting near the tank said as he set his book down on the table.
“Oh. Yes, they are.” I really wasn’t in the mood to give him my zoology lesson about the buffeo dolphins. Besides, by the looks of him, he probably already knew more about them than I did.
Looking very much the professor, with wire-rimmed glasses, a houndstooth jacket with suede patches on the elbows and a peppered gray-and-brown beard to match his shoulder-length hair, he came across as being quite the scholar.
I froze on the spot. Jagger! He’d been known to disguise himself and show up at the opportune time. I leaned near and said, “You dog, you. And here I thought you were gone!”
The man looked at me as if I were “gone.”
“Pardon me, ma’am?” He eased back a bit.
I pulled the chair next to him with my foot and flopped down. “How the heck did you manage that? Getting back and changed so fast? You are a Houdini, for sure.”
I went to slap him on the back, but he pulled away. “What? Well, I never. You’ll have to leave or I’ll call someone.”
I winked at him.
I leaned even closer to whisper but bit my tongue when I noticed the pale blue eyes, which certainly were not contacts. Oops. I realized my error. How to get away without being reported to security?
“Henry, right?”
He hesitated. “No. Jonathan. Jonathan Wentworth.”
“Oh my.” I laughed and flew up from my seat. “I’m so sorry. I’m mistaken. You look very much like Henry…Tan…Tanker from New Jersey.”
Gilbert swam by that second to help me with my lie. The man smiled and seemed to buy it. With that I apologized again and hurried out before he changed his mind.
My first thought was to go back to the infirmary and look around, but figured the staff would think I was too strange, coming back on my time off, since I’d already made it through my first shift without incident. So I went to my cabin to change out of my uniform. Once I was more comfortable, I’d get back to work.
Even if I had no clue as to where to go to do it.
Betty was sitting in the chair by the porthole doing a seascape needlepoint. She told me that another nurse, who had sailed with her before, joined the crew in Miami.
“Oh. Is she taking Jackie’s place?”
Betty looked up. “Yes. She’s a seasoned cruise-ship nurse, so no need for orientation. Kristina Archambault. She just worked her last cruise on this ship a month ago. Great luck.”
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s still so sad about Jackie.”
Betty stuck the needle through the material with more force than necessary. I wondered if she really missed the woman whom she seemed to dislike or maybe was more frightened that the killer hadn’t been caught yet.
The investigation continued behind the scenes so the passengers and crewmembers weren’t privy to much of what was going on. Obviously my parents hadn’t even heard about the murder-or I’m sure they would have been on the flight home with Jagger.
I took some jeans and a lightweight top from my drawer then turned to see Betty still working on her needlepoint. After working a cruise for a long time, I would think it could get kinda boring when off duty. “Don’t you leave the ship on your time off, Betty?”
“Not much to see or do in Miami when you’ve been here oodles of times.” She chuckled.
“I hadn’t thought about that. So, what do you like to do?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions.”
Yikes. I couldn’t tell by her tone if that was a casual remark or not.
Without taking her head from her work, she asked, “How come you haven’t gone ashore?”
Good question. “Oh. Well, I really don’t like the heat and humidity that much,” I lied, when I really had been eager to step on dry land to at least say I’d been to Miami. But I had work to do and now that a new, ex
perienced nurse was here-and she might shed some light on my case-there was no way I could leave the ship.
Betty seemed to buy my excuse and kept to herself even after I came out of the bathroom all changed. I said I’d see her later and went out the door. I looked both ways and wished I’d asked her what cabin Kristina was in so I could pay a “welcome wagon” call.
Someone on duty might know, so I went to the infirmary. Topaz and Rico were off duty since they worked the shift with me. Peter was sitting at the desk with a dark-haired woman who looked about my age. She looked up and said, “May I help you?”
Before I could speak, Peter was up and introducing us. “Pauline is a new nurse onboard. Filling in for…Remy. Pauline, this is Kris Archambault.”
Kristina, I thought. Great. I did the usual cordial welcome and sat on the edge of the desk while Peter got up to get us all coffee. If I drank coffee at this time of the night, I’d be awake until dawn, when my next shift started, but at least sending him for drinks got rid of him. I thought it strange that a doctor would offer to get nurses coffee, but I wasn’t going to argue. He always appeared to be a gentleman.
“I understand you’ve worked on the Golden Dolphin before?” I asked Kris. Not much taller than myself, Kris looked about my age.
She nodded and seemed very pleasant and, despite her last name, which was French Canadian-and her ex-husband’s, she told me-she spoke with a slight German accent.
I wasn’t sure if she knew whom she was replacing, but decided the only way to find out was to ask. “Did you know Jackie?”
“Jackie. I’m so terribly upset about that. When personnel called me to fill in for the rest of this cruise, I was shocked to hear about her.”
Not as shocked as I was to find her.
“Did you know her very well?” Please. Please give me something to go on here.
Unlike the very proper Betty, Kristina was very open. She reminded me of the free spirits of the sixties (the ones I’d seen in movies, since I was way too young to have experienced it. I don’t think she even wore a bra although if she did, it would be an A cup).
I looked toward the kitchenette to see if Peter was on his way back. No sign of him. Good. Maybe he had to make a new pot of coffee or face the wrath of Topaz.