The Voluptuous Vixen (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 9)

by Frank W. Butterfield

  She turned and looked at me with a question on her face. "The Boy Scouts, Mr. Williams?"

  "Always prepared." I looked at the watch on her arm. "I was admiring your diamond watch last night and now I see you have one perfect for keeping time in a race."

  She looked at her wrist and smiled wanly. "Yes, I use it for some of the activities."

  I nodded. "Much more practical than that pretty thing you were wearing last night."

  She nodded absently and looked a little blank.

  Carter leaned in and quietly asked, "Is there something wrong, Miss Kilgore?" He was using his southern charm and registering at about a four out of five on the scale.

  A small tear rolled down her right cheek. I pulled out my handkerchief and handed it over. She laughed and took it. After patting her face, she gave it back. "Thank you, Mr. Williams." Turning her face up to Carter, she said, "I lost my watch last night, Mr. Jones. I can't find it anywhere. My father gave it to me when I graduated from high school. He'll be so upset that I lost it." Another tear rolled down her cheek. This time, she pulled her own handkerchief out of the pocket of her skirt.

  "Are you sure you lost it?" I asked.

  "What else could have happened to it? The clasp comes loose from time to time and it happened last night, just before the captain called me over to meet you gentlemen."

  "Do you remember when you noticed it missing?"

  Miss Kilgore nodded. "I was walking by Miss Thomas on the way out of the powder room during dinner. She seemed to stumble and then she bumped into me. For some reason, I felt for my watch. That's when I noticed it was missing. I went back into the powder room and didn't see it there. I even retraced my steps to the table and looked around my chair. Nothing."

  "When was the last time you remembered looking at it?"

  "When I sat down at the captain's table. If you remember, I was the last to arrive at the table. He was frowning slightly, so I checked my watch to see if I was late. But I was right on time."

  I smiled. "I think he was frowning because, by that time, he'd realized that his plan to make us less obvious using Miss Thomas and Miss Rucker wasn't going to work."

  Miss Kilgore giggled. "I really think it was the other way around. And then when Miss Rucker arrived in a man's tuxedo." She held her clipboard to her chest and shook her head at the wonder of it all.

  I smiled and said, "You might want to visit Mr. Harris's office. We may have found your watch."

  Her face lit up and she impetuously hugged me. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Williams!"

  Carter leaned over so she could hug his neck. As she did, I heard a woman say, "Well, I never!" I turned and saw that it was Mrs. Ruggles, the woman I'd bumped into on the Promenade Deck just before we sailed. She had both hands on her hips and was glaring at me, Carter, and poor Miss Kilgore who was probably just in the line of fire. I suspected the state Republican Party would got an earful about us.

  . . .

  As we entered our suite, I said, "Well, all we've accomplished so far is to reunite Miss Kilgore with her watch, establish that Miss Thomas might be a kleptomaniac, and found a lot of cash."

  Carter was in the bathroom relieving himself. He called out, "Don't forget the wet rag and bar of soap." He flushed and then I heard him washing his hands.

  "Right. What do we do next? There's only two of us and this big ship. I guess we could start going into random rooms."

  Carter walked out of the bathroom, drying his hands, and said, "The only thing that would do is to make us even more unpopular."

  "You noticed that?"

  "Yeah."

  I walked up and pulled his face down. As we were kissing, there was a knock on the door. I said, "Stay right there." I walked over to the door and opened it.

  Standing in the small vestibule were two men. One was somewhere around 50, stood 6'2", had thinning blond hair, a ruddy complexion, and was scowling. The other one was mid-40s, stood 5'7", was wearing a big straw hat over a pale face, and was smiling. The shorter one pushed himself in the room and said, "Frankie Vasco, nice to meet you. Captain sent us here to talk to you about something not so nice from what I gather. How ya doin?" He had a thick New York accent. He took a look around and said, "These are some swell digs you got here. Musta cost a pretty penny. Course I heard you was loaded, so prolly no skin off your nose, am I right?"

  I laughed and said, "Come on in and have a seat."

  The blond one stayed in the doorway and looked around cautiously. Carter offered his hand. "Carter Jones, San Francisco." The man looked at him as if he was an alien for a moment and then finally shook.

  "Mike Farnsworth, Olathe, Kansas."

  Carter said, "Come on in, Mr. Farnsworth."

  Once the man was inside, Carter closed the door behind him. Vasco walked over and took a look out the windows. "Gee, this is great. You can see the whole world from here." He turned and peered through the connecting doors. "And lookie, you even have another whole suite. That's the high life for ya." With that, he plopped down on the chair next to the window and grinned up at everyone.

  I walked over to the phone between the beds and said, "Lemme call the steward for some beers. That OK with everyone?"

  Farnsworth said, "I'll take a Coca-Cola if you don't mind."

  Vasco said, "Beer's fine with me but none of that Hamm's. That stuff's the worst!"

  I smiled and said, "Bergie is our hometown brew and that's all we drink. So three Bergie's and a Coke."

  . . .

  Once we were settled in, I asked, "So, how much do you two know already?"

  Farnsworth took a sip of his soda pop and said, "Sounds like there's some gal running around the ship who was in the nuthouse for killing her parents. That it?"

  I nodded. "We came up with a couple of other things, as well." I told them about what we found in the staterooms.

  Vasco asked, "Why all the men's clothing?"

  Carter said, "Rosie liked to dress that way. Maybe you saw her last night? She was in a tuxedo at the captain's table with us."

  Farnsworth shook his head. "Joan and I were at the first sitting. We missed the show. All the gals have been talking about it all day. That and you two." He looked down when he said that and seemed to flush.

  Vasco leaned forward and said, "About that. So you two is queer, right?"

  I crossed my arms and nodded. Carter was standing by the windows. He slowly sipped his beer and looked at Vasco.

  Vasco put out his left hand. "Hey! No skin off my nose. You do your thing and I do mine and we're just fine, know what I mean?"

  Carter and I both nodded.

  I said, "The more important thing to know is that I'm a P.I. Have been since '48. Carter is an arson investigator. We work with a bunch of smart former cops."

  Farnsworth looked up and narrowed his eyes at me. "Policemen is the word you're looking for."

  I nodded. "Policemen."

  Vasco asked, "Former?"

  I nodded and didn't say anything.

  "Oh! So, all youse is the same kinda birds flocking together, you could say?"

  I nodded again.

  "Huh." He took a sip of his beer. "Makes sense."

  "What about you two?" I asked.

  Vasco said, "Retired police sergeant. N.Y.P.D."

  Farnsworth said, "I'm the Chief of Police for the City of Olathe."

  I smiled. "Good. I'm glad the captain was able to track you two down. We need some cops--"

  Carter said, "Policemen."

  I nodded. "Right. We need you. Any ideas?"

  Vasco said, "Obviously we can't go room by room. Even if we had ten guys, the captain wouldn't like it. So we gotta be smart and try to get in the gal's head. Where is she? Where would she go? Things like that."

  Farnsworth took a sip of his pop and asked me, "Why do you think she's missing?"

  "I don't. All I know is the captain wants her under lock and key until we get to Honolulu."

  Vasco asked, "What's this Rosie look like?"

 
I described her and then described Carmen.

  Farnsworth sighed. "First thing I would do is lock them both out of their rooms."

  "Why's that?" asked Carter.

  "Flush 'em out. If they can't get to their clothes and money, they'll squawk. And, if they don't, then we know something's gone wrong."

  I stood up and walked over to the telephone to call the chief steward and ask him to do that very thing.

  . . .

  The four of us walked down the hall to check on the room again. Before we locked them out, I wanted to make sure they hadn't been in there. Leaving Carter in the little vestibule in front of the rooms, I let the other two in the larger room first so they could get a look at what we'd seen. Everything was just as we left it, so I moved over to the smaller room next. As soon as I opened the door, I could smell something. I wasn't sure what it was.

  Vasco asked, "What is that?"

  Farnsworth leaned in and looked around. I walked in so he could get in. "That smells like spirit gum to me."

  I called out, "Carter!"

  He poked his head in, "Yes, Boss?"

  Vasco, who was standing to Carter's side, grinned at me.

  "What's that smell?"

  "Spirit gum."

  Farnsworth sighed. I said, "Didn't mean to second-guess you, Chief Farnsworth, but Carter has a great nose."

  Farnsworth looked around again. Walking up to one of the trunks, he asked, "You see this?"

  I walked over and looked at what he was pointing at. "Looks like dried blood."

  Taking out a penknife, Farnsworth chipped off a piece, put it on his finger, and touched it with his tongue. "That's right. Recent, too."

  I nodded. "Someone has been in here in the last hour, there's no doubt. And there's no way to know what she changed into. But, if she was using spirit gum, it must have involved a wig."

  Vasco added, "Or a mustache."

  "Or eyelashes," said Farnsworth.

  Vasco poked around. "I can think of at least two little playhouses in the Village that ain't got half the costumes these two dames are carting around. What gives with that?"

  Farnsworth cleared his throat. "Off the top of my head, I'd say they are playing out some sort of role."

  Vasco snorted. "Well, yeah. Of course. What I'm wondering is why? What's the benefit? No one hauls all this around for the fun of it."

  The police chief replied tightly, "It could just be that they're both mentally disturbed."

  I looked over at Vasco who was obviously keeping his tongue in check.

  From just outside the door, Carter said, "Nick, take a look at this."

  I walked around Vasco and looked out at Carter who had something in the palm of his hand. It was a bright red curly fiber strand of some sort. I took it from his palm, turned around, and showed it to Vasco. He looked at it. "Wig. No doubt about it. Red but not too red."

  Right then I heard a man say something to Carter out in the vestibule. After a moment, a short man in a steward's uniform poked his head through the door and said, "Mr. Harris asked me to close off these rooms. Are you gentlemen done in here?"

  I looked at Farnsworth, who nodded. Vasco said, "Yeah. We ain't gonna find nuthin' in this mess."

  I said, "I have a master key. Will I be able to get in after you lock it?"

  The man nodded. "Yes, sir. But once you open the door, you'll have to get me to close it up again. The master key doesn't seal off a room."

  I said, "Got it. Thanks."

  . . .

  We made arrangements with Vasco and Farnsworth to meet up after dinner. As we were coming out of the shower, the phone rang. I dried my hands and picked it up.

  "Yeah?"

  "Mr. Williams?"

  "Yeah."

  "This is the chief steward."

  "Yes, sir?"

  "Captain Stratton wishes to speak with you before dinner. Will it be convenient for him to come to your suite in fifteen minutes?"

  "That's fine."

  "Very good. I will inform him. Have a good evening, Mr. Williams."

  "Thank you, Chief."

  With that, the line went dead.

  I walked over to the bathroom and said, "We have company in fifteen minutes."

  "Who?"

  "The captain. Wanting an update would be my guess."

  . . .

  Carter was almost finished dressing, but I was padding around in my socks, wearing only my shirt and tuxedo pants when there was a sharp knock on the door. Carter opened it and said, "Come in, Captain."

  I walked over and shook hands with the man. As he removed his hat, I noticed that he looked worried.

  "I only have a few minutes. What have you discovered?"

  "We found a lot of clothes. There was also strongbox with around two hundred thousand dollars in cash and bonds. It also contained a watch stolen from Miss Kilgore last night. The chief steward has the box and Miss Kilgore should, hopefully, have her watch back by now. Chief Farnsworth found dried blood on one of the trunks in the smaller room. It looked like it was recent."

  The captain frowned slightly. "Blood?"

  "Yes. And no reason for it or any other sign of it. Chief Farnsworth suggested the rooms be closed off. His idea, and I agree with him, is that this will cause one or both of the gals to come out into the open."

  "Don't forget the spirit gum," added Carter.

  I nodded. "When we took Farnsworth and Vasco to see the rooms before they were closed off, we noticed the aroma of spirit gum. That wasn't there when we went through the rooms with Mr. Harris. That means a disguise, probably a wig."

  The captain nodded. "What's next?"

  "We're going to meet with Farnsworth and Vasco after dinner. With the rooms locked off, the gals have to do something."

  The captain nodded solemnly. "The only question is what."

  Carter asked, "Are the crew on alert?"

  The captain smiled tightly. "Yes. But they have their jobs. This is an efficient ship. It may not look like it, but we are very cost conscious. It helps us keep the rates within reason, even on the high end. We don't have one more man than we need. So, we don't have the ability to police the ship."

  I nodded and said, "That isn't the sort of thing you wanna plan for."

  "Precisely, Mr. Williams."

  Chapter 5

  Diamond Head Room, "B" Deck

  S.S. Hilo at sea

  Thursday, August 12, 1954

  Second sitting for dinner

  In place of Rosie and Carmen, two young women, each traveling solely with elderly relatives, were asked to join the captain's table.

  Miss Emily Howard was from Pomona and was obviously excited about going to Hawaii. She was traveling with her Great-Aunt Harriett Smith-Taylor, of the famous Smith-Taylor ranch in Texas. Aunt Harriett took her meals in her stateroom as she preferred to read over dinner and didn't care for the crowds and noise of the big dining room.

  Miss Jane Griffin was from Portland, Oregon, and was traveling with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Griffin. Her grandfather had been a political bigwig in Honolulu in the 1930s and was returning to Hawaii for good.

  Miss Kilgore had shuffled us around from the night before. To the captain's left was Miss Griffin. Mr. Bunnell, Gale Storm's husband, was to her left. To his left was Ros. To her left sat Carter. To his left was Gale Storm. To her left sat Freddie. Miss Kilgore was to his left. I sat to her left. And Miss Howard sat between me and the captain.

  As the first course was being served, Miss Howard leaned into me and said, "I just adore a simple consommé, don't you?" She took a spoonful and said, "It's just yummy."

  I was eating a cream of asparagus soup and asked, "You don't like cream soups, Miss Howard?" I felt like I was an actor in a bad movie set in an English country house.

  "In this heat? Goodness, no." She took another sip of her soup and pulled her shoulders in as if she was eating the very nectar of the gods. "Have you tried the pineapple juice? It's just yummy. They make it fresh every day. My
friend Marjorie Stokes wrote me and said I just had to have it every morning with breakfast." She took another spoonful of soup. "And she was right! Don't you think so?"

  "Miss Russell suggested the same thing to me last night. And, yes, it was very good."

  "Isn't she a doll? A real-live movie star! Right here at the table. And her husband. He's no Cary Grant, but he's so handsome."

  I nodded as I slurped my soup.

  "And Gale Storm. I adore her on TV She's so funny!"

  I nodded and had another slurp.

  "Who were those strange women who were here last night? That one in the tuxedo--"

  The captain asked, "Miss Howard, is it true that your great-aunt lives on a ranch in the middle of Texas on her own?"

  Miss Howard eagerly turned to the captain. "She does. She lives all alone. Well, practically. There's no family to speak of. Her brother was my grandfather and he moved west to Pomona and that's where I was raised. We go see Auntie every Christmas. It's a huge spread and there are just acres and acres of cows. And oil wells. And Indians. Oh, and of course, cowboys."

  Ros, who'd been listening, winked at me from across the table and said, "Well, she's not alone! What with all those cows and cowboys!"

  Everyone at the table laughed, although Miss Howard didn't seem very amused.

  "Tell me, Miss Russell," asked the captain. "Did you enjoy playing Ruth in Wonderful Town?"

  Ros smiled and said, "Very much so. I love the story. I enjoyed playing the role in My Sister Eileen on the screen and was so honored to be asked to read for the musical."

  Freddie said, "I was so proud of Ros. She was really marvelous in it."

  Carter asked, "Didn't you win the Tony?" I wondered how he knew that.

  Ros nodded and smiled without saying anything. She was a real class act.

  Gale Storm piped up. "Carol Channing took over your role back in January, isn't that right?"

  Ros turned and nodded. "Yes, she did. I had a great run and she did marvelously well with it. Freddie and I were in the audience the night the show closed in June. So nice to see it all the way through." I wasn't sure, but I had the sense that there was a slight edge to both the question and the answer.

  Miss Kilgore jumped in and asked, "Miss Storm, isn't this your first trip with us?"