Kyle shook his head, spraying droplets of water around him. “Number one, it’s not that difficult to get on and off the ship. I spoke to Officer Mulligan, and for the right price, I was able to get on and off the ship without using our room key. Number two, the system they use to keep track of who is on or off the ship is pretty easy to hack into. Number three, I went back an hour later with your ID and had no problem getting off the ship. I had some problem getting back on, but Alex helped me out.”
“So the killer could have done any of that and made it seem like Bruce left. But if the cruise director said…”
“I don’t know how much we can trust our friendly cruise director. You know that bruise at the side of his mouth? According to Meredith, he and Bruce got into a fight last night. Don’t know about what but I think we can add him to our suspect list. I also discovered something interesting while I was poking around Bruce’s cabin this morning.” He moved to the side of her float and leaned in closer. “He was compiling a list of names. Guess who is at the top of the list?”
A group of kids swam past splashing water and spraying each other with a water gun followed by two women in inner tubes who spoke to each other in horrified voices.
“I’m telling you, Gladys, there’s a serial killer on board,” one woman said to her friend. “It’s all over the ship. Larry went skeet shooting this morning and heard all about it.”
Grace swung her head to the other women. She slid off her float and into Kyle’s arms. “Did you hear that? Maybe Bruce was killed by the serial killer.”
Kyle cleared his throat and muttered something unintelligible.
“We may be looking at this case all wrong. What if…” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as he turned his head, refusing to meet her eyes. “You went skeet shooting today.”
“I wasn’t the only one that was there,” he responded defensively. “Meredith was there too. I’m not responsible for her.”
Grace rested her forearms on his shoulders. “So Meredith is the one who came up with the serial killer idea?”
“Is that so surprising?”
She thought about it for a moment. “No, but something tells me that you had a hand in this little rumor floating around the pool.”
“I needed Bruce’s cabin number.”
“So you gave Meredith a brand new disaster to talk about?”
“Yes,” he said with a lopsided grin. “I’m sure it’ll be fine and who knows, it may be true.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The list that I was telling you about? Tucker’s name was at the very top. Penny’s name came next, followed by Louis Rycroft, and then Alex Wright.”
“Louis Rycroft?”
“Yeah, maybe he’s a relative of Leo’s. I don’t know.”
“They’re brothers,” she said before telling him what she learned from Leo Rycroft earlier. “Was Leo on the list?”
“Nope.”
“Anyone else?”
“There was just a single question mark.” His gaze slipped away from hers as he added in a softer voice, “And then one other name.”
Using her fingertips, she tilted his chin back to her. “Whose name was listed?”
“Dragovich,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m assuming he meant me and not you. I must have been a last minute addition. All the other names were written in black ink instead of blue.”
Grace bit her lip. “I wonder why he’d make a list of names.”
“Well, somehow I don’t think it was an early Christmas list. He had placed check marks next to Tucker, Penny, and Alex. Louis Rycroft and I were at the bottom of the page. The only notations next to our names were arrows. Louis had an arrow leading back to Penny and I had two arrows leading back to Tucker and Penny. You want to hear the really creepy thing? Tucker and Louis’ names were marked off the list.”
Her brow furrowed. “So you think it might be a hit list?”
“Maybe. I don’t know what the arrows and checkmarks meant, but perhaps Bruce decided to get rid of the people on the list. He thought he had taken care of Tucker so he marked his name off.”
“I wonder where Louis Rycroft is then? His brother thinks he’s in France.” She shook her head. “But if Bruce was the one who attacked Tucker, then who killed him?”
“Someone on the list? Maybe one of them decided to kill Bruce before he got to their name. My money is on Penny. She dropped by Bruce’s cabin while I was there.”
“What did she say when she found you in there?”
“Nothing. I hid in the bathroom as she searched the place.”
The kids returned yelling and screaming, their voices rising to hear deafening sounds. Kyle pulled her along with him as he swam backwards away from the children.
When they were far enough away she asked, “Did she find what she was looking for?”
“She found a gun. She’s a bit jumpy too. Someone knocked on the door and she looked like she was about to shoot. She left after that.” He held up a finger. “But this is the really interesting part. The knocker came by again and slipped a note underneath the door. It was addressed to Penny and all it said was that it was time to pay the piper.”
“Sounds like someone’s trying to blackmail her.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Kyle said excitedly. “What if someone saw her kill Bruce and now they’re blackmailing her.”
“Who’s Bruce?” a gruff voice on their left asked.
They turned to find an elderly man treading water next to them.
A young woman from behind him shielded her eyes with her hands as she stared at them. “Did you say someone killed him?”
* * *
“It’s got to be Penny,” Kyle said twenty minutes later after making a hasty escape from the pool. Grace, with Kyle’s help, had done her best to allay their fellow passengers' fears and she only hoped they believed her when she said there wasn’t a serial killer on board. She also hoped she was right. It was bad enough that Bruce was dead, but with any luck, there wouldn’t be another murder.
Juggling the two takeout boxes and container of drinks they had picked up from the Mermaid Cafe, Kyle slipped their keycard through the slot. “She’s got plenty of motive.”
Once the door was open, Grace quickly crossed the foyer and living room and walked towards the large glass dining table next to the floor to ceiling windows. “Such as?” she asked setting her takeout box on the table on the side facing the ocean view.
“You heard her.” He shut the door with his foot. “Bruce was cruel.”
She reached for the other takeout boxes and the carton of drinks. “But why would she stab Tucker or try to push him down the stairs?”
“Who?” Tucker stood at the doorway to their bedroom, his face pinched and white with pain.
“Penny,” Kyle said.
Grace kicked off her flip-flops, and then adjusted the strap of her blue swimsuit cover-up. “How are you feeling?” she asked, looking Tucker over. His face was pale and pinched with pain but other than that, he seemed fine.
“Okay, I guess.” He glanced down at the containers. “Is that food?”
“Yep, cheeseburgers and fries from the Mermaid Cafe,” Grace said handing him a carton. She sat down and opened her own container while Kyle and Tucker took their places around the table. She stared down at the giant cheeseburger and the mountain of fries in front of her, her mouth already watering. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she saw the food. Using both hands, she picked up the cheeseburger and took a bite while Tucker attacked the takeout box like a starving man, not speaking until he had devoured a good portion of the food within. When he finally came up for air, he asked, “Why do you think Penny stabbed me?”
Kyle popped a French fry into his mouth. “We’re not sure, yet.”
“We think she killed Bruce last night,” Grace said.
“Bruce is dead?” Stunned, he sat back as they nodded their heads. “How did he die?”
“We don’t
know,” Grace said. “We found him at the bottom of Davy Jones’ locker.”
“Maybe the ship’s doctor can figure out how,” Tucker said in a daze.
“No, the body’s gone,” Kyle said. “I have a feeling someone tossed it over the side of the ship to get rid of it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shoe buckle. “I found this wedged into the slat under the bottom of the balcony door,” he said handing the buckle to Tucker.
Grace eyed the buckle over the top of her cheeseburger. “Where did you get that?”
“Last night while you were talking to Mulligan and Penny, I snuck out to take a look at the dressing room and found it there.”
“Huh,” she said taking a sip of her coke. “I was wondering where you disappeared to.”
Tucker turned the buckle over in his hand. “It’s part of the Davy Jones costume.”
“That’s not all I found,” Kyle said. “There are some stairs hidden behind a partition on the balcony too.”
Tucker pushed away his container and ran a napkin over his mouth. “Penny’s the last person I suspected of trying to kill me.”
Kyle took the buckle back and shoved it into the pocket of his cargo pants. “Why is that?”
“She likes me, or at least she did.”
Unable to eat another bite of the delicious but huge cheeseburger or the mountain of fries next to it, Grace shoved her container aside. “Just how did you meet these people, Tucker?”
He looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I worked with them a few times. I met Leo Rycroft and his brother Lou in Vegas about a year ago. They had a stage act back then.”
“What did you do for them?” Kyle asked.
“Errands at first. Some backstage work, transporting things around. Building sets, that sort of thing. Sometimes they would have me in the audience.”
Kyle reached for Grace’s food. “Like last night?”
“Yeah. It was kind of fun at first,” Tucker said with a soft smile. “I was even considering becoming a magician. Leo promised to teach me at one time.”
“What happened?” Grace asked.
“He and his brother called it quits a few weeks later and I got fired,” Tucker shrugged, “which was fine by me. I liked Penny, but the Rycrofts were always fighting about something or other.”
“Why did they call it quits?” Kyle asked.
“Lou didn’t like Penny. I overheard him tell Leo that she was just after his money, which I thought was kind of funny.”
“Why?”
“The first check they ever gave me bounced. I ended up working for food the first week. They paid me back a week later, but they weren’t rolling in money. Not like Courtney and her family.”
“Leo told me that he came into some money recently,” Grace said.
“Their grandpa must have died then. Penny told me that he was real rich but kind of snobby. He didn’t like the fact that Leo and Lou were magicians and felt they should have done something else with their lives. Lou overheard us talking about their granddad dying and how much they’d get and got real mad. He became convinced Penny was just after Leo’s half of their inheritance. He and Leo had this big blow out and that was that. I never saw Lou again, and next thing I knew, Bruce was there taking his place.”
“Who brought Bruce in?” Grace was pretty sure she knew the answer to that but asked the question any way.
“Penny,” he said confirming Grace’s suspicions. “She met Bruce when she was a showgirl and he was performing for some kinky dink casino. After Lou left, Leo and Penny got married. I stuck around for a couple of weeks until I got a job at a diner in Reno.”
“How did you all reconnect?” Kyle asked.
“Penny came into my diner for lunch four months ago and we started talking. She said that they had just gotten a job on a cruise ship and asked me if I would like to come along.” He tilted his head back and smiled. “I thought it was a dream come true. All I had to do in repayment was help them out in their act a few times.”
“Like providing them information about certain members of the audience?” Kyle asked.
Tucker’s smile fell. “Yeah, I really wish I hadn’t. If I knew Leo was just going to act like a jerk to Courtney that night and embarrass her, I wouldn’t have done it. When I told him about Courtney’s stepsister, I never dreamed he’d say anything about it. I shouldn’t have said anything but I didn’t know it was a secret.”
“What about her stepsister?” Grace asked.
“She died when she was thirteen. Some kind of drowning accident. It wasn’t Courtney’s fault the girl drowned, but her father has never forgiven her. It was just a freak accident. Her hand got stuck in the pool filter and Courtney wasn’t strong enough to pull her loose. She’s really sensitive about it. The only reason I even mentioned it to Rycroft was because he had been a jerk to her that day and I wanted him to be kind to her.”
“Why did her father blame her for the accident?”
Tucker’s voice became hard. “Because he’s a monster. Nothing’s his fault. He blames everything on Courtney. He doesn’t deserve her.”
“I’m surprised Leo would bring up something so personal,” Grace said. “Making fun of an audience member seems like a good way to alienate everyone else in attendance.”
“He was just mad. He knew Penny was cheating on him so he was just taking his anger out on everyone around him. He shouldn’t have taken it out on Courtney. She never did anything to him.”
Grace leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell Courtney the truth, Tucker? She might understand.”
His face paled. “Are you crazy? She’d kill me if she found out that I’ve been lying to her all this time.”
“I’m shocked she doesn’t already know,” Kyle said. “If she’s as rich as you say, her father should have checked you out.”
“He did, which is why he doesn’t like me very much.”
“Then why hasn’t he told her you used to work for Leo Rycroft and his brother?”
“Well,” he said slowly, “there’s no record that I worked for them. They sort of paid me under the table.”
“I see,” Grace said. “Are you really a writer?”
“Depends on who you ask. Courtney says yes. Her father and over a dozen agents and publishers say no.” He picked at a tear in his trousers. “I sent my latest book out just before we left. I think it’s my best ever.”
“What’s it about?” Grace asked.
“Courtney.” He smiled shyly. “It’s a love story about how we met. I just know that someday I’ll be a famous author. Then we won’t need her father’s money.”
Grace stood up and began gathering the containers. “What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“I don’t know. I love Courtney. I really do. I don’t want to lose her. You know, ever since my parents died I’ve been by myself just trying to survive. I finally have a family now with Courtney and I don’t want to lose it.”
“Then why are you in hiding in here?” Grace asked as she placed the containers in the trash. “Why aren’t you with your wife?”
He looked panic stricken at the very thought. “Because I think she might be trying to kill me.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “We weren’t always like this. When I first met her, everything was perfect. She was funny and loving and sweet.”
“What changed?” Kyle asked as he helped Grace clean up the table.
“Her father got to her. He told her that I was just after her money. It’s not true. I even signed a pre-nup to prove it.” He scowled. “I have a feeling that if this marriage ends, I’ll end up owing him money. But you know what? That wasn’t good enough for him. He then told her that I was cheating on her. You know what he gave her for an engagement present?”
Grace glanced behind her shoulder at him. “No, what?”
“Detectives. He hired a detective agency to follow me around for a few weeks to prove that I was cheating.” Tucker snorted. “He wasn’t too happy with their report. Refused to pa
y them just because they said they couldn’t find any evidence that I had been unfaithful. Through it all, Courtney said that she believed in me. But then at the wedding, I overheard him tell her that I was a con man.”
Kyle leaned over the back of his chair and faced Tucker. “Are you?”
“Once, but not anymore.” Tucker chuckled softly. “I guess I wasn’t very good at it. It’s not about the money though. It never was. Most of the time, I was just trying to find a place to eat and sleep. I wasn’t picky either. You know I really do love Courtney. More than I have ever loved anyone in my life. The worst part is that he told her that no one would ever love her. What kind of father says something like that to his own daughter?” His fists tightened. “He threatened to disown her if she went through with the wedding, and then afterwards, he told her that the only way he’d take her back is if she was a widow.”
Grace stiffened. “A widow?”
“Yeah,” Tucker said with a hint of fear in his eyes. “Ever since he said those things to Courtney, she’s changed. She doesn’t look at me the same. She doesn’t act the same with me.” He rubbed his hands across his face. “She’s been picking fights ever since we left home.”
“What about?” Kyle asked.
“Penny. Her dad showed her pictures of Penny and me standing on the ship a few months ago talking to one another. We weren’t doing anything, just talking, but Courtney now has it into her head that Penny and I are planning on killing her for her money. She keeps bringing up how rich her father and she is and how poor I am, and how if she died, then me and Penny could run away together and be happy for at least a few days before her father tracked us down and cut us up in little pieces with his hunting knife.” He smiled wryly. “She should be a writer. She’s very good at painting a picture with words. It’s gotten worse since we boarded this ship. I thought maybe when I got her away from her father, she’d calm down some and I could convince her that her father is wrong and that I do love her. It seemed to be working, but then she saw Leo.”
“Do you think she attacked you last night?” Grace asked.
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 13