“Tucker was stabbed tonight while performing,” Kyle said, “and the one video that might have shown who did it is now missing. You wouldn’t happen to know where it is?”
“The cameras were Bruce’s thing. I had nothing to do with them.” An angry expression crossed her face. “Bruce is just playing a little trick on us.”
“Why would he do that?” Grace asked.
“Because he enjoys being cruel, which is one of the reasons I’m no longer with him. Romantically that is. I don’t know anything about Tucker getting hurt, but if he did, then it wasn’t my fault. I’m always extremely careful when performing. Bruce on the other hand…” She lifted her hands palms up, letting the implication hang there for a moment. “If Tucker wants to complain or sue, I wouldn’t blame him one bit, but I had nothing to do with it.” She glanced off to the side. “Bruce is probably on board somewhere hiding. His reputation can’t handle another scandal.”
“Bruce is dead, Penny,” Kyle said. “Now who would want to kill him? Who would want to hurt Tucker?”
Penny’s gaze lifted towards Kyle. A slow smile crossed her face. “A jealous competitor, perhaps?”
“I don’t want Bruce’s job,” Kyle said.
“Sure you don’t.” Penny turned her attention to Mulligan. “I thought it was your job to provide security around here.”
“It’s all right,” Kyle said to the security guard as Mulligan puffed out his chest. “We’re leaving, but what are you going to do when Bruce doesn’t show up tomorrow, Penny?”
Penny brushed a lock of her opal colored hair off her face. “Oh, I think I’ll manage.”
Mulligan tugged on Kyle’s arm again, this time succeeding in pulling Kyle towards the secret door.
Grace followed Kyle and Mulligan towards the door. She paused at the doorway, glancing back at the smug magician’s assistant. “You wouldn’t happen to know where you husband is right now, do you?”
“Leo? Haven’t seen him since Bruce chased him out of here. Why do you ask?”
“It seems as though he and Bruce have a rather contentious relationship.”
“And you suspect he killed Bruce?” Penny suddenly laughed. “That’s rich. Leo’s nothing more than a pathetic drunk. Trust me; Bruce has nothing to fear from Leo.”
“Do you?”
“I fear nothing and no one.” A cruel look came into Penny’s eyes. “I’ll tell you this, if Bruce is really dead, he won’t be the last one to die. I’ll see to it personally,” she said as she spun around on her heel and strode toward the dressing room.
Grace felt a chill run down her back as the dressing room door slammed shut with a resounding bang.
Chapter Eleven
Day Two
Grace adjusted the straps of her blue and green floral bikini as she climbed out of the pool. She walked to her beach bag, applied more sunscreen, and then stretched out on one of the cruise line’s royal blue lounge chairs lined up along the sparkling blue pool. Feeling the hot sun bearing down on her, she reached for her floppy white hat which she placed over her face. A few minutes later, the sound of music playing, kids laughing, adults talking, and water splashing retreated into the distance, as her mind drifted off.
After their little adventure last night, she and Kyle returned to their cabin determined to talk to Tucker about Bruce and Penny, before banishing him to the living room couch in the hopes of salvaging the rest of their romantic honeymoon.
There was just one problem. When they arrived at their cabin, they found Tucker passed out in their bed with a bottle of pain medication on the nightstand next to them. No amount of coaxing or cajoling could rouse him so they let him be, and moved to the living room where they discussed what to do next.
While Grace was resigning herself to a night on the couch, Kyle was calling the concierge desk.
To her surprise, they appeared a few moments later with a roll up mattress, bedding, and a basket of goodies filled with fruit and chocolate. She wasn’t sure what kind of explanation Kyle gave as to why they needed those items, but in any event, they came and in short order moved the broken champagne bottle out and the mattress in.
She and Kyle spent a comfortable and romantic night out on the deck as a warm breeze blew over them and the ocean sparkled like diamonds under the moon’s silvery light.
Grace smiled at the memory. While it wasn’t how she pictured spending the first night on the ship, waking up in Kyle’s arms with the sun breaking over the horizon was better than she could have imagined.
“He didn’t show up last night,” Courtney said in clipped tones, jarring Grace from her daydream.
Grace lifted the brim of her hat and looked over at the girl.
“I waited up all night long and did he show?” she asked as she claimed the empty lounge chair next to Grace.
Grace opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted by Courtney.
“No, no he did not show.” Courtney’s fingers tightened over the glass of sweet tea in her hand as she stared at the pool. “When I find him I’m going to kill him. I’m going to break him into little bitty pieces. How can he do this to me?”
Concerned with the way Courtney’s knuckles whitened as she griped the glass, Grace touched the girl’s arm. “Courtney—”
“He doesn’t love me.” Courtney’s bottom lip began to tremble. “I guess my daddy was right.” She clutched the glass in both hands now and squeezed. “Just for once I’d like to prove him wrong about something.”
Grace took the ice tea glass from Courtney’s hands and set it on the table between them. “I’m sure Tucker has a good reason for why he hasn’t shown yet,” she said sitting up and facing the girl.
Courtney acted much like Penny had the night before when she found them standing around the locker. “There is no excuse!” She lowered her voice as heads turned to stare. “I heard that he was with some tramp last night.”
Grace waved a hand in dismissal. “Oh, where did you hear that? You shouldn’t listen to gossip.”
“One of the porters told me that he saw Tucker drunk as a skunk with his arms wrapped around some redheaded floozy last night.”
Grace tugged the brim of the white hat she was wearing down on her head. “Oh?”
“They were on the elevator, cozying up to one another, and right in front of everyone. He’s probably sleeping in her bed right this minute.”
Grace thought about Tucker sound asleep in her bed at the moment and said, “I’m sure that’s not true at all.”
Courtney’s face crumbled. “I can’t believe my husband spent our first night together in the arms of another woman.” She swept a finger across her cheek. “I love him so much. I just want to talk to him. I just want to know why. That’s all.”
Grace sighed at the pain in Courtney’s voice. Courtney was so upset and hurt by her husband’s behavior that Grace’s natural instinct was to tell her the truth. While she had suspected Courtney was plotting to kill Tucker last night, now in the bright light of day and after a good night’s rest, she wasn’t so sure. The girl’s pain and anguish just seemed so real and raw. Surely, the girl crying in front of her would never even consider hurting her husband. “Uh, Courtney…”
“Then after he tells me, I am going to rip him limb from limb.” Her tears dried suddenly as a furious look came into her eyes. “They’re going to need dental records to identify his body. That is, if I don’t toss him from the ship.”
Grace swallowed whatever she was about to say and simply nodded.
“My daddy was right about him. As soon as I get off this stupid ship, I’m getting a divorce.”
“I wouldn’t make any hasty decisions.” Grace reached for her sunglasses. “Tucker may have a legitimate excuse for why he stayed away.”
“Name one?”
“Perhaps he truly was sick last night.”
“He didn’t go to the medical center. I know. I checked, several times.”
“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t sick.” She spo
tted Leo Rycroft walking towards the pool. “Maybe he has a head injury and can’t remember.”
“He better hope that’s what happened,” Courtney vowed as she reached for her own beach bag.
“Where are you going?”
“To check the medical center again. I’m going to find him, Grace, and when I do…” She let the threat hang in the air as she walked away.
Grace turned her attention to Leo Rycroft who had taken a seat on a lounge chair on the other side of the pool.
Swinging her legs over the side, she rose to her feet and made her way over to the magician. She gestured to the empty lounge chair next to him. “Is anyone sitting here?”
Leo Rycroft looked up in surprise. He lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head as he stared at her. A pleased smile lit up his face as his eyes slowly raked over her bikini-clad body. He eagerly sat up and faced her. “Not at all. Please.”
Grace looked at his eyes in surprise. Considering the beating he took last night, she expected to find his face covered in bruises. She stepped closer, only then spotting the huge amount of concealer and makeup covering his face and the bruises underneath.
He reached out a hand. “Leonardo Rycroft. Call me Leo.”
“I know.”
He looked at her with a confused expression on his face.
“We met yesterday,” she explained. “Several times in fact. Once on the deck before we set sail and then again in Bruce and Penny’s dressing room last night.”
His face flushed in embarrassment. He dropped his sunglasses back down on his nose then winced. “Not my finest hour I’m afraid.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been rather ill lately and wasn’t expecting Bruce’s attack. He was lucky I wasn’t completely back to my old self.”
Grace clucked her tongue. “I couldn’t believe the way he acted. I’m surprised you didn’t call security and have him thrown into the brig.”
He reached over towards an umbrella-topped coconut sitting on the table between their lounge chairs. “I should have.”
“Why didn’t you? I would have.”
“I’m afraid I burned some bridges when I was last here,” he confessed. “I’m not sure how much help I would get. Bruce will calm down in a few days.” He took a sip of his coconut. “I don’t suppose you know why he was so hot under the collar?”
“I gathered Tucker messed up one of the tricks.”
Leo laughed. “That’s not terribly surprising.”
“Why?”
“Tucker is a nice boy, but not terribly reliable. He worked for my brother Louis and me for a few weeks last year. We were magicians once like Bruce. Louis wanted to fire him, but I wouldn’t let him.”
She looked him over in surprise, judging his age to be in his late thirties to early forties. “Were magicians? You seem rather young to be retired.”
Leo took the flattery with a smile. “We can afford to be retired now.”
“Oh.”
“Sadly, we had a rather wealthy relative that passed on three months ago. Louis retired instantly. He’s in some villa in the south of France. Me…well let’s just say I was forced to take an early retirement.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I try not to dwell on the past, which is just as well since I don’t remember much lately.”
“You said the same thing yesterday morning after we boarded. Forgive me for asking, but were you in a car accident or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I’ve had some difficulty with my memory for the past few months, which is why I was forced to take an early retirement. I am getting better. I came back here hoping to jog my memory but there is still so much I don’t remember. For instance, the young woman with Tucker. She seems to know me, but I can’t recall anything about her.”
“She was a passenger three months ago and participated in one of your shows.”
“Ah.” He nodded shortly. “Judging from her behavior toward me, I must have done something to upset her greatly. I would apologize to her if I could recall what I did.”
“I’m not sure myself but it appears you hypnotized her and embarrassed her somehow.”
“And for that I’m very sorry. It seems like all I’m doing lately is upsetting people. Are Bruce and Penny friends of yours?”
“What makes you think that?”
“You were backstage. Bruce was very insistent that no one be allowed backstage. I figured you two must be friends of his.”
“No, not at all. We let ourselves in…to pay our respects.”
He looked at her curiously as he arched one eyebrow.
“My father-in-law is a magician,” she said by way of explanation.
“Oh? Who?”
“Ilya Dragovich.”
He looked at her with renewed interest. “I understand Bruce worked with him once, or at least that’s what my wife told me when she convinced me to hire him. I thought Penny was lying.”
“I’m not sure if he used to work with Ilya, but my husband knew, or rather knows him,” she said quickly correcting herself. “That’s all I know.”
“Well, I would love to meet your husband. I must admit that I’ve always been a fan of Ilya Dragovich. Is your husband here right now?”
“No, he’s skeet shooting, but he should be back soon.” Leaning forward, she smiled at him. “Forgive me for asking, but I’m just dying of curiosity. What happened after you all ran out of the theater last night?”
“I might not be much of a fighter lately, but I can still disappear with the best of them.” He grinned. “I turned a corner and ducked behind a family of four on their way to the pool. As soon as Bruce and Penny passed by, I took off in the opposite direction.”
“And you didn’t see Bruce after that?” she asked lightly trying to keep the suspicion out of her voice. The last thing she wanted was for him to think that she was interrogating him.
“No, I went back to my room to lick my wounds.” He took another long drag from his straw, draining the coconut. Frowning at his drink, he rose to his feet. “If I could give you and your husband some friendly advice, stay away from Bruce and my wife. They have a very nasty tendency of stabbing people in the back.”
Chapter Twelve
“No,” Meredith loaded the shotgun, “absolutely not.”
“Oh, come on, Meredith.” Kyle ducked as she swung the gun around. “I just want to check on Bruce and make sure he’s okay.”
“I’m not giving you people’s cabin numbers.”
“It’s not people. It’s Bruce Pritchard.”
She paused, a thoughtful reflection on her face, before jerking her head to the side. “Nope, not even his.”
Kyle pushed the gun muzzle, which had wandered up to point at his chest back up and away from his body. “He’s not going to know I was even there.”
“Then why do you want to go to his cabin?”
“I told you I’m worried about him. If he’s there, I’ll leave.”
“What will you do if he’s not there?”
He shrugged lightly. “Same.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “No.” She stepped to the side and addressed the group surrounding them waiting to begin skeet shooting. “All right. Listen up. Skeet shooting is one of the safest activities on this ship. All you have to do is point and shoot. It’s not at all dangerous.” They cringed as she brought the gun up and around as she spoke. “Pull!”
A single shot shattered the disc into a thousand pieces.
“See, easy peasy. It’s not like that zero gravity machine they have on Ruby Deck. I keep waiting for someone’s head to explode in one of those things. Or like the wave machine on the Turquoise Deck. They had to send someone to that quack down at the medical center this morning. Who knows if he’ll survive? It’s anyone’s guess as to what will kill him first. His injuries or the doctors they have on board. Then there’s that wind turbine thingy they have us pushing on you poor unsu
specting saps. Have you ever seen anyone with whiplash? You’ll probably get your wish by the end of the cruise. Why anyone would pay thousands of dollars to kill themselves is beyond me, but to each their own.”
Everyone’s eyes widened as the gun lowered and swept over the group.
“Then there’s the petri dish they call a pool.”
With a deep breath, Kyle stepped in front of Meredith. He gently shoved the muzzle down to the floor and braced himself. It was risky but desperate times call for desperate measures.
“What are you doing?” she growled. “I am in the middle of teaching.”
“Meredith, I need you to remain calm but I have some bad news.” He leaned in close, dropping his voice to a whisper. “News they’re trying to keep hidden from all the passengers.”
Her attention riveted to him like a magnate. “I knew something was up. Which virus do we have? Ebola? Norovirus?”
“No, nothing like that.”
Her brow furrowed. “Pirates?”
“No, worse than that.”
She gasped. “I knew it. We’ve sprung a leak.” Her face darkened as she shook her head in disgust. “They keep adding more and more decks to these things and they’re bound to sink eventually. I’m shocked we haven’t capsized by now.”
“No,” he said silencing her rant, “someone’s been murdered.”
“Murdered?” she shrieked.
Heads turned to stare. The passengers took a few tentative steps toward them, murmuring to one another as they approached.
Kyle took hold of Meredith’s elbow, leading her away from the other passengers. “Bruce Pritchard has been murdered and I think his body was tossed overboard last night.”
She looked disappointed. “Oh, is that all. I’ve been expecting someone to kill him for months now.”
“Why?”
“Penny’s sick of him. She moving on, but says he’s not getting the hint.” She snorted. “He acts all suave and debonair, but really, he’s just weird. Most magicians are.”
Kyle scowled.
She gazed at her gun in concentration. “Could have been Alex,” she said suddenly.
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 11