A Christmas Cruise Murder

by Dawn Brookes

  “That’s fine, I trust you. Now I too need to go get some sleep.”

  “Me three before evening surgery,” agreed Sarah. “I’ll meet you in the Jazz Bar tomorrow, Rachel. If I’m late, you’ll know I’ve been called to attend someone.”

  They left Creams together and Rachel discretely left the couple to walk away to say their goodbyes in private. She kicked herself for forgetting to mention Marjorie’s concerns about the McCauleys, but Jason was clearly tired and had reached his limit for today. As had she. There was always tomorrow.

  Chapter 11

  The day had flown past with activities she’d booked prior to the cruise to keep her occupied on sea days. She had avoided the Club Restaurant throughout the day to give her brain a rest, and to lull the staff working there into feeling secure. But Rachel and the Bradshaws were in there now, enjoying a pleasant evening meal.

  Mary Bradshaw chatted to Rachel like she was a second daughter and cajoled her into eating more than she would have liked to. There had been little opportunity to speak to any of the waiters in any respect, other than when they were ordering food, as the restaurant was heaving. Passengers had obviously discovered the haven and were flocking in. Pash told them they would need to book in early if they wished to eat there after today. He said it with a smile, but Rachel detected a slight irritation whenever he looked at her. In his eyes, she was clearly Jason’s spy, so he had good reason to avoid her.

  Then again, if he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t need to. When people behaved suspiciously, there was always something going on, experience told her, and the more he kept her at arm’s length, the more she determined to find out what it was.

  “Rachel, you’re miles away again,” Mary chided. “You were just the same as a child, always thinking about something else, and now I expect you’re missing your Carlos.”

  Rachel sat bolt upright, feeling guilty on both counts. Yes, she had been miles away, but no, she wasn’t thinking about Carlos.

  Poor Carlos, how does he put up with me? “Sorry.”

  “That’s alright, dear. I was just asking if you were ready. Gilbert and I are going to the show.”

  Rachel finished the dregs of the after-dinner coffee she was drinking and picked up her handbag. “I’m ready.”

  “Tell Sarah we’ll see her at 10am tomorrow, would you? She’s got the whole day off.”

  “I will, does she know where?”

  “You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? Really, Rachel! We arrive in Lisbon tomorrow and have booked on the tour to Fátima. You’re coming too, unless your amnesia gets any worse. I’m beginning to worry about you. Are you sure everything is alright?”

  “Yes of course. Sorry, I only finished nights the day before yesterday. Not quite with it yet.” She smiled sheepishly and Gilbert winked to let her know he understood.

  The Bradshaws kissed her on the cheek and she left them to book a table for an early breakfast while she made her way towards the Jazz Bar. The public areas were busy with people heading towards the Coral Restaurant for dinner or to the theatre. It was too early for her meeting with Sarah and Jason, but she might as well find a table and order a drink while she waited.

  At this time in the evening, the majority of passengers were in either of the main hubs, so the Jazz Bar was a little less busy. A barman who recognised her from previous sailings nodded an acknowledgement. Rachel found a booth away from the main jazz band, which afforded a little more privacy than the other parts of the bar. Having settled in, she people-watched while waiting for the others, a hobby of hers and one that was useful in the day job.

  Another barman brought her a martini and lemonade.

  “I haven’t ordered yet, how did you know?”

  “I was told to bring it to you, miss.”

  “Surprise!” Bernard jumped up from behind the high seat where she was sitting. He placed a beer on the table and sat opposite, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Thank you, Bernard. It’s lovely to see you.” She liked the mischievous Filipino nurse.

  “Sarah said to tell you she’ll be along soon. She’s just finishing up with a lady who cut her shin. I expect she drank too much, you know how it is. How is the most beautiful passenger on board the Coral Queen?”

  “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her,” she bantered back.

  They both laughed. Bernard was one of the few men who complimented her beauty without any ulterior motive so she didn’t retort with her usual caustic responses when he brought the subject up.

  “Ha, got me. It’s good to have you on board, Rachel. Things are always so much more interesting when you’re around.”

  “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He was about to explain, but saw the twinkle in her eye. “Got me again.”

  “It’s time you stopped allowing people to die on your watch, if you ask me.”

  “Ooh, now that hurts. If you don’t behave, I won’t tell you what I found out.”

  Rachel straightened up and lowered her voice. “Now you’ve got me. Is it something to do with Stefan Sosa?”

  He beamed, but before he got to tell her, Jason arrived, followed almost immediately by Sarah. Jason’s gaze was alert; he had shaved away the shadow from the day before and now cut a handsome figure in his freshly pressed uniform. He sat next to Rachel while Sarah joined Bernard on the bench opposite. Sarah also appeared to have caught up enough on her sleep to present herself in a favourable light – at least from where Rachel was sitting.

  “Sorry we’re late, I had to see to a passenger and Jason had to convince Waverley to stay away from us.”

  Rachel gave Jason a sympathetic glance. “It can’t be easy for him when he’s usually running the show, and now things are personal.”

  Jason let out a deep breath. “I can’t say I’m finding the situation easy either, I want him to be back in charge.”

  Rachel believed him. She knew of Jason’s loyalty to his boss and the respect he had for Waverley; it was a difficult scenario all round and a bit surreal. This time she was investigating with the chief’s permission, not something he would usually have entertained. They needed to get to the bottom of this case.

  “Anything more from the coroner?” she asked.

  “Just what we knew already, but Waverley’s getting frustrated that the PM hasn’t been done yet, two days after the event. The coroner doesn’t seem to be in any rush, thinks it’s a clear-cut case. If it is, he will most likely recommend health and safety procedures are tightened up. Usually I would be pleased, but with the finger pointing at a mistake by Brenda, it’s not looking good, and it’s only a matter of time before her link to the dead man is discovered outside our small circle and we have to submit the evidence. Then it’s more likely to be a murder investigation. Captain Jenson’s giving Brenda the benefit of the doubt, but I don’t know what he’ll do if he finds out about the note.”

  “It is already looking like murder,” said Rachel.

  “Yes, but no-one else knows that yet, not even the crew.”

  “Well that might work in our favour because the killer will think they are off the hook and will be happy for the kitchen staff to take the blame for an apparent accident.”

  “Does anyone want to know what I found out?” asked Bernard.

  All eyes moved towards the small man with the jolly face. Jason raised his eyebrows, encouraging him to speak.

  “Enlighten us.”

  “I managed to have a chat with Danielle, the wine waitress. I know her from the crew bar where I hang out sometimes, mainly to keep an eye on their drinking and behaviour. I try to work out which of them is likely to get the sack or end up in the medical centre.”

  Alcohol intake by crew was a cause for concern as many of them would take their free time to extremes. ‘Work hard, play hard’ was how they excused the behaviour, but it could lead to fights, unprotected sex and alcohol addiction. The medical team did their best to encourage fun while explaining the dangers of excess
, but they were fighting a losing battle when it came to the crew bars where the young enjoyed freedom and a bit of spending money for perhaps the first time in their lives. The older crew members also drank heavily at times, some of them behaving like predators, taking advantage of the inebriated youngsters, while others were more like parents protecting the young.

  “I found her this afternoon by the crew pool. It was freezing out there so there was no-one else around. Sarah asked me to chat to her, but this was an unexpected encounter.”

  Rachel wondered what Bernard had been doing out there, but Sarah got the question in first.

  “Why were you out there, then?”

  “I like to get some fresh air away from passengers sometimes and it’s one of the few areas where I can take a brisk walk without having to be polite. Anyway, she was sitting on a poolside chair in the pouring rain, drenched. The pool has been drained for the winter, but the hot tubs are still in use so some of the crew mess around in them, but not today. I warned her she would catch a chill and reminded her she had not had a flu jab yet.”

  “Bernard’s our secret weapon when it comes to flu vaccine non-responders,” explained Sarah. “He knows everyone and has the memory of an elephant.”

  Bernard smiled at the compliment. “Anyway, she said she hadn’t got round to it and would come along to morning surgery tomorrow to see me. I’ve booked her in.” He beamed while Jason shuffled, impatient to find out what Bernard had to tell them. “Then she explained that the death of Stefan Sosa had surprised her and she asked me what he’d died from. I explained I wasn’t able to say and said I was sorry for her, that it must be hard to lose a colleague.”

  “You mean you didn’t come out with some inappropriate joke? That’s a first,” teased Sarah.

  “I can be sensitive sometimes, you know.” He stuck out his chin and continued, “She said she wasn’t upset, just surprised, then it slipped out that she had actually been relieved when she’d heard, and finally she started to cry. I gave her my handkerchief, the one with my initials on, and waited patiently for her to carry on.”

  “Like we are now,” said Jason.

  “Sorry. To cut down a long story short...”

  Rachel smiled. Bernard occasionally got British idioms muddled.

  “...soon after she joined the ship, Sosa seduced her when she had drunk too much whisky. He promised her all sorts of favouritism, which never materialised, and they had a brief relationship. I never suspected there was something going on with her back then. When she got pregnant, she wouldn’t say who the father was and we all assumed it was one of those one-night-stands and she probably couldn’t – or didn’t want to – remember. The relationship was kept hush-hush at Sosa’s request and ended after he punched her in the stomach one night after a row.”

  Jason’s fists clenched at this point and Sarah gasped, “She could have lost the baby.”

  “That’s why she ended it. She told him that she would report him if he ever came near her again, and she also told him the baby wasn’t his, although it was. As soon as the child was born – a girl, delivered in her hometown in Portugal – she decided that in order to protect herself and her daughter, she would be better off leaving the child with her mother. Later she re-joined the Coral and has been sending money home ever since. But around six months ago – she explained – Sosa had started to threaten her with DNA tests and told her he had a right to see his only child.”

  “Horrible man!” Rachel exclaimed. “I suppose he neglected to tell her he already had a son.”

  “He kept the ex-wife secret and told Danielle that unless she slipped him the odd bottle of wine, he would challenge paternity and request access through a lawyer. Told her he would argue she was an unfit mother. Through fear, she did as he demanded. Afterwards he told her that she was now a thief, and unless she wanted reporting, she was to do his bidding.”

  “That’s evil. I never liked him, but had no idea he was this low. What bidding?” asked Sarah.

  “Favours. She had to keep tabs on the waiters and report what they were saying, so she gave him information that she could glean to convince him that she was doing what he demanded. Some things she kept back.”

  “Did these favours include sex?” Rachel asked, not really wanting to know the answer, but it was necessary for motive.

  “No. Apparently he tried to make it part of the deal, but she said she would rather get the sack or throw herself overboard than let him come near her again.”

  “Good for her,” said Sarah.

  “It seems he let that one drop, knowing the line had been drawn. I believe her – she is mortified at the crimes she has committed for him and said she was glad to finally get it off her chest. It was her daughter she was protecting, not herself. She even gave me permission to report her.”

  “You’re not going to do anything, are you, Jason?” Sarah pleaded.

  Jason thought for a few minutes, scowling into his lemonade glass while clenching and unclenching his fists. Rachel knew the feeling. He was battling between rage against the dreadful man and his conscience. They let him ponder until finally he looked softly at Sarah.

  “I will have to have a word with her, but it will be a gentle warning, I promise. She was coerced so I don’t feel the need to come down too heavily over this.”

  Sarah placed her hand thankfully on his.

  “But she is now a suspect in a murder investigation,” said Rachel quietly.

  “Yes, I’m afraid she is,” agreed Jason.

  “Well I don’t believe she did it,” said Sarah angrily. “And I hate to say this, but that man got what was coming to him.”

  “Sarah!” Bernard exclaimed. “That’s something I would say, but not you.”

  “I’m sorry, that was horrible, wasn’t it?”

  Jason squeezed her hand. “He was a brute, Sarah. We won’t be shedding any tears, but we still need to find his killer and clear Brenda’s name.”

  Sarah nodded. “Did Danielle say anything else?”

  “No, she was shivering so I took her inside to get warm and left her in the crew café to get something hot to drink.”

  “Would you like to join me when I speak to her, Bernard? Perhaps that way she might tell us if she did actually hear any suggestion of a murder plot coming from the other waiters. You never know, she might have heard something.”

  Bernard nodded. “No problem.”

  “I don’t think she’s the killer because she wouldn’t have told Bernard all this if she was. She’d just be glad to be rid of the man. I expect she’s wrestling with guilt about feeling pleased he’s dead more than anything else.”

  “And she will have alienated her colleagues if they suspect she was spying on them, which it sounds like they did from what they told you yesterday morning, Jason,” added Rachel.

  “Why don’t we speak with her in surgery tomorrow morning?” said Bernard. “That way it will be less threatening and I’ll be able to see if she’s forgiven me for telling you.”

  With a plan in place, they decided to call it a night. Rachel made her way back to her stateroom feeling angry about what she’d heard. Was there no end to what some people would do to get their own way?

  Chapter 12

  Rachel slept in until 8am having gone out like a light as soon as she got to her room the night before. The moment she came to consciousness, the investigation was at the forefront of her brain. She slapped her head at still not having mentioned anything about the McCauleys to Jason or Sarah and wondered if she should call Waverley before going on her trip today.

  Deciding against it, she reassured herself that it was unlikely that any harm would come to them while the ship was in port. If there was a plan to murder them, it would be done during sea days, and she suspected that to avoid much of a chance for investigation, it would happen on the return journey after the visit to the Canary Islands. She would gamble that she was right and discuss it with Jason or Waverley well before then.

  Having par
ked that worry, she got ready to meet Sarah and her parents in the main atrium before they went ashore for the tour to Fátima. It wouldn’t have been her choice, but Mary Bradshaw was fascinated by spiritual places and Rachel was happy to go anywhere as long as it involved land and hopefully a long walk. She was missing her exercise routine.

  Mary and Gilbert Bradshaw were already standing among a crowd waiting for Rachel and Sarah to arrive. Rachel heard running behind her and turned to see Sarah rushing.

  “Is something the matter?”

  Sarah panted and stooped to catch her breath. “I thought I was late. What time is it?”

  “Quarter to ten, we’ve got fifteen minutes.”

  “Blast this watch!” Sarah glared at her wrist. “It’s gaining time again, I thought it was fixed.”

  Rachel knew about the watch problems as her friend had mentioned it on the phone a few weeks before the trip. It was an old favourite watch that Sarah clung on to. Rachel also knew that the Bradshaws had purchased a solar charging watch for their daughter for Christmas because they had discussed presents prior to the cruise so as not to overlap. Sarah was a keen advocate of environmentally friendly living as much as she could be and tried hard to reduce her carbon footprint, as did Rachel.

  “Well that’s it, you’re going to be confined to my memory box.” Sarah spoke to the watch, much to Rachel’s amusement and Mary Bradshaw’s horror.

  “Sarah, I do wonder about you sometimes.” Then, without pausing for breath, “Good to see you made it, Rachel. We weren’t sure you would remember, were we, Gilbert?”

  “It was never in doubt,” answered her husband. “Don’t be a tease, Mary.”