Under the Moonlight collection

by MaryAnn Kempher

  Even a hangover didn’t curb Scott’s appetite. He pushed his tray along the buffet, stopping often. Alex watched from a nearby table.

  “How can you eat?” asked Alex as Scott sat.

  “Like this,” answered Scott, shoving a large forkful of scrambled eggs into this mouth.

  Alex sipped some orange juice. “I’m only now beginning to feel semi human again, but food—” he shuddered, “—is the last thing on my mind.”

  “To each his own,” said Scott. Then with his mouth half full, “what’s next on the agenda?”

  Alex looked at his watch and shrugged. “It’s early. Can’t we sit for a while?”

  Scott shrugged. “Okay by me.”

  Alex stood, held his head in his hands, then took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go outside.”

  Scott picked up his tray and followed Alex out onto the deck. They sat on lounge chairs, Scott happily eating while Alex shielded his eyes from the bright sunshine.

  “I actually feel much better,” said Scott. “You should eat something. That’s your problem—you need something in your stomach.”

  “Don’t talk to me about food. Isn’t it bad enough I had to watch you eat your weight in eggs?” Scott laughed.

  “Oh yeah, the eggs.” He smiled mischievously. “But the pancakes with all that drippy, sweet, sticky syrup, and the bacon so crispy except for the pieces that still had the fat on them. Floppy, almost raw fat.” Alex groaned.

  To Alex’s left sat Scott, and to his right sat two older women, one chubby and one skinny. He watched as a man wearing a shirt with security written across the front approached the ladies. He strained to eavesdrop, only hearing bits and pieces of the conversation. When the man walked away, Alex turned toward Scott.

  “Sophie’s not going to be happy,” he said in a low voice. He tilted his head toward the women and said, “Looks like the rumor she heard is true. Someone died on board sometime last night. They’re turning the boat around.”

  “Oh wow, that’s too bad,” said Scott. “And we just got on board. Well, at least we have the return trip right? That’s another week, right?”

  “I think so,” said Alex, “but it does change things. We were supposed to get married next Friday, but I’m thinking we might be getting back then. Gonna have to talk to Sophie, see when she wants to do the ceremony.”

  “I’m gonna give Katherine so much grief,” said Scott.

  “Why?”

  “Cause she’s the reason we missed the ship a week ago. She just had to stop for coffee.”

  Chapter Eleven

  When Jack and Frank walked into Mr. Smalls’s office, it was empty. Jack hesitated a moment but then walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, with a view the ship’s captain might have envied. Not surprising, since Mr. Smalls’s office was down the hall from the bridge. Frank stood in the doorway. Jack turned toward the desk, wide and mahogany and covered with all sorts of paperwork. His plan was to leave a note, asking Mr. Smalls to come see him as soon as possible.

  Jack didn’t like messing with another man’s paperwork. He knew from personal experience that just because a desk was messy didn’t mean it was a mess. He tried to do as little disturbing as possible but couldn’t help looking at pieces of paper; a few caught his eye. He looked up at the door, feeling slightly guilty, then back at the paperwork.

  It was obvious from some of the writing that the ship was in financial trouble. Jack wasn’t surprised. Mr. Smalls had told him that himself. He grabbed a sticky pad and quickly wrote a note to Mr. Smalls.

  “Let’s go take another look at Pam Larsen’s room,” he said to Frank.

  On Pam’s floor, Jack pulled from his pocket the skeleton key and opened Pam’s door. They stood inside, looking slowly around, then walked in. Frank put on some rubber gloves and started going through her suitcase. He held up a short, nearly see-through dress.

  “Damn, look at this,” he said.

  “Doesn’t look like it would have fit Pam Larsen,” said Jack.

  “Well, maybe she and her friend next door shared clothes,” said Frank.

  Jack shrugged and said, “Maybe.”

  It didn’t take long for Jack and Frank to look through Pam’s small room. They already knew she’d been killed elsewhere and were only searching her room as a matter of procedure. Jack sat on the end of her bed, shoving the crumpled comforter out of his way. He looked at the floor, then back at the comforter. Sirens were going off in his head, but he wasn’t sure exactly why.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Frank.

  Jack stood, turned, and looked down at the bed a moment before answering. “Am I crazy or was this bed made when we came in the first time? Now it’s messed up.”

  Frank put his hands on his hips. “Well I’ll be dammed. What the hell?”

  When Jack grabbed the comforter and shook it, something fell to the carpet. He picked it up. “Look at this,” he said.

  “Is that a nametag?” asked Frank. The nametag had a first name and initials in parentheses.

  “Yep,” answered Jack. “Looks like our mysterious RJ is a crew member.”

  “I don’t know, boss. I mean, that name tag could just as easily belong to someone from housekeeping.”

  “Could be,” said Jack. “But it’s all we have to go on right now. If this belongs to our mysterious RJ, at least we know his first name. Do me a favor. Tomorrow, after you wake up, go see the captain, ask to see the ship’s manifest, look at the crew members. See if you can find out the last name of this RJ character.”

  “Will do, boss. Not a problem.”

  As Jack and Frank closed Pam’s door, a woman from housekeeping stopped them.

  “So it’s true then,” she said, “what I’ve heard. Can’t say that I’m surprised though, after that fight.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Jack.

  The woman looked at him sideways. “Oh come on, a murder is not something you can keep quiet, not once the staff knows.”

  Jack shook his head, “Damn, so everyone knows?”

  The woman shrugged. “Well, probably not everybody. But it won’t take long. I heard first thing this morning.”

  “You said something about a fight,” said Frank. “Tell us about it.”

  “Oh, the woman in that cabin and the woman next door had a terrible row. It was last night around eight or so. I was working late, here in my office, and couldn’t help but hear them.”

  “What were they fighting about?” asked Jack.

  “Work,” she answered. “One was angry that they’d come on the cruise and the other had brought work along.” Jack looked at Frank, who shrugged.

  ***

  Jack sat at his desk. Frank had left to start his shift. Jack took out his notepad and drew a line down the middle. On one side he wrote, What we know, or it’s safe to assume:

  Matt was killed by a man.

  There might be a witness to Matt’s murder.

  Pam saw the killer. That’s why she was killed.

  Pam was killed by a woman.

  Pam was seeing a crew member, first name Robert, with the initials RJ.

  RJ was in her room after her murder.

  Side note: have object found in cafeteria checked out. Is it what you think it is?

  On the other side he wrote, What we don’t know:

  Who killed Matt?

  Who killed Pam?

  Is RJ involved?

  Jack saved what was probably the biggest question, one that might answer all the others for last: Why was Matt Smith killed?

  Chapter Twelve

  Alex and Scott lounged by the pool. After they ate some more and drank a lot of water, they began to feel like themselves again.

  “We should probably take care of wedding stuff now,” said Alex. “If the ship’s being turned around and we have to do the wedding early, I should at least check on my tuxedo.”

  Scott sat up and shoved the last bite of a sandwich, his third, into his mouth. He looked at his watc
h. “I’m supposed to meet Katherine here at two. Oh well, let’s go—maybe we can get back before then.”

  Reluctantly, they walked over and got into the elevator. One floor up, two older ladies joined them.

  “Well, I didn’t make you eat that third slice of pie,” said the chubbier of the two women. “You can’t blame me for your tummy ache.” Smiles tugged at the corners of Alex’s and Scott’s mouths.

  “Oh we’re on vacation, you said,” the other woman replied. “We can eat all we want, you said. Now look at me. I’m dying. My stomach is going to explode.”

  “Oh, you’re such a baby.” The elevator doors opened, the woman left, and Alex and Scott were joined by a group of five people. The women wore skimpy dresses, and the men wore Hawaiian shirts and shorts. All seemed to be more than a little drunk. Scott and Alex exchanged amused glances.

  “Man, that was some party last night,” one of the men said.

  “Was? What do you mean was?” one replied. All five laughed.

  “Did any of you know the future groom?” asked one of the ladies. Scott and Alex looked at each other again, both wondering if they were talking about Alex’s bachelor’s party.

  “No,” answered one of the men. “But I sure hope his bride doesn’t find out what he was doing.”

  “What was he doing, what was he doing?” Alex interrupted, his voice sounding slightly frantic. The group looked at him as if they’d just realized they weren’t alone in the elevator.

  “The party was held in a suite and there was a stripper,” the man answered. The three men laughed. “And she was hot. They went off into one of the bedrooms. The party is still going on. That’s where we’re going.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Alex. I’m sure you didn’t do anything with the stripper.” Scott gave the group an annoyed look.

  There were no more thoughts of checking on flowers or tuxedos. They had to go check out this ongoing party. Though the ship wasn’t huge, it did have ten floors, mostly guest rooms, but the tenth floor was special, and Scott and Alex remembered it well. The party had started at about eleven and somehow word had quickly gotten around. At first only Alex’s friends had been there, but it soon turned into a free-for-all.

  Dozens of people showed up, and that had been fine with Alex, who had wasted no time getting very drunk. He vaguely remembered beer and champagne, chicken wings and hamburgers, and a lot of women. He couldn’t recall if they’d all been gorgeous, or if that memory was more the result of way too much alcohol.

  When the elevator opened, it seemed like the entire floor was a party. They could hear loud music and see people coming and going through the room they’d rented the night before.

  “Oh jeez, this can’t be good,” said Scott. “We’d better go see if the room’s been trashed.” They made their way through the crush of bodies in the hallway and finally made it to the door.

  They’d been to parties before and they’d seen movies that featured out of control parties with drunken men and women, but what they saw when they walked into the suite made them both want to turn around, go back to their rooms, and crawl under the covers.

  “Oh this is bad,” whispered Alex.

  Even as hungover as they were, they had no trouble remembering how beautiful the room had been the previous night. Now it looked like a tornado had blown through. Alex looked around, his hands on his hips, trying to determine whether the room was damaged or just messy. Multiple tables were covered with both full and empty liquor bottles, and even from the doorway they could see at least two kegs of beer. Party hats, streamers, etc… littered the floor and furniture. Music blared and at least two dozen people were still standing around drinking and laughing. A woman was running through the room, with a man in what appeared to be a homemade diaper chasing her.

  “What the hell?” said Alex. “That’s Jason.” Scott looked at the guy in the diaper.

  “Jason,” Both Alex and Scott shouted. The man stopped and looked around, then walked over.

  “Hey, guys.”

  “Man, someone get me a camera,” said Scott laughing. “If the guys at your precinct could see you now …”

  “Jason, what happened?” asked Alex. “It’s a disaster area in here.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Alex. Nothing is broken. Man, what a party.”

  “Dude,” said Scott pointing, “your birthmark is showing.” Jason, grabbed a towel that had been lying on a nearby table and covered his groin area. He had a tiny heart-shaped birthmark, but that wasn’t what Scott had been pointing out.

  “Hey, Jason,” said Alex. “You see those people who just walked in? They were saying something on the elevator about me. They didn’t know it was me, but they said I went off to one of the bedrooms with the stripper.”

  Jason laughed. “Yeah, you were pretty blitzed last night. But don’t worry. I stopped you from doing anything you’d regret.”

  “I don’t even remember seeing a stripper,” said Scott.

  “Well that’s because you didn’t. Not naked anyway. She came in with her cake and went straight to the bedroom. When she didn’t come out, I went to check on her. Alex was already there. Poor girl, she was crying a lot. I don’t know why. I got Alex out of there and then went back in.”

  “Did you …?” asked Scott.

  “No,” answered Jason. “I’m not a dick. She was crying, I held her for a while, then walked her back to her room. We might get together later.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Saturday afternoon, Katherine’s eyes traveled from left to right, searching for Scott. He was off somewhere with Alex and Jason, but she was sure she and Scott had agreed to meet. However, it seemed like everyone but Scott was on the lido deck. Amy was near the tiki bar ordering a drink, and she could see Sophie’s and Scott’s mothers sipping drinks. Luckily they didn’t see her. The last thing Katherine wanted was more awkward conversation. She knew she needed to make more of an effort to get to know Scott’s mother, but didn’t it go both ways? Shouldn’t she be making an effort too? Katherine couldn’t help feeling like they wished Scott would come to his senses and get back together with Kimy. The way they fawned over her at the brunch was sickening.

  As her eyes scanned the crowds, her head jerked back to where she’d been looking seconds before, then she quickly looked over at Amy, who hadn’t seen what Katherine saw. But there stood Jack Harney. Her mind rebelled. She’d known he was in Tampa. She and Amy had even discussed looking him up after the ship returned to port. What was he doing on board?

  With one last apprehensive look at Amy, Katherine hurried toward Jack, who had walked into the restaurant. She watched him get himself a cup of coffee and sit in a booth, taking out a notepad and flipping it open. Katherine also got herself some coffee. After adding cream and sugar she took a sip and wrinkled her nose. It was no Starbucks, but it would have to do. She took a deep breath, walked over, and sat across from Jack. He looked up.

  The surprise on his face probably matched the surprise that had been on Katherine’s when she’d seen him outside. She laughed. A smile lit Jack’s face, and Katherine was warmed. She’d forgotten how completely contagious Jack Harney’s smiles were, or how his gray eyes seemed always filled with mischief.

  “Hi, Jack. What are you doing here?”

  “Me?” he answered. “What are you doing here?” Katherine laughed. It was nice to see him.

  “Scott’s brother Alex is getting married later this week. Scott and I are here for the wedding.” Jack looked toward the door, hesitant, and Katherine knew what he wanted to ask.

  “Yes,” she said. “Amy’s here too. I can’t believe you didn’t see her. She’s right outside.” Jack rubbed his chin. He didn’t speak right away, first taking a sip of coffee.

  “Well,” he said, “to answer your question, I’m working on board. Doing an old Army buddy a favor. I’m head of security, temporarily.”

  “Oh wow,” said Katherine. “Of all the ships, right?”

  “Yeah. I alm
ost said no. Well, how is she?”

  “Oh, Jack, she’s a wreck. She knew she’d made a mistake as soon as you’d left. She loves you. You have to know that, right?”

  Jack shook his head. “No, I don’t know that. Besides, it’s too late. I have a new life here, or rather there, in Tampa.”

  “Is it too late Jack?”

  Jack’s expression seemed stern and resolute. “Yes. But enough about me. What about you and Scott? How are you two doing?”

  Katherine laughed. “Oh you know Scott—still a goofball. But we’re doing well. We’ve been engaged for a month now.”

  “Oh, well congratulations.”

  “So, Jack, I heard a rumor yesterday about someone getting hurt on board. Is the ship really turning around?”

  “Well, I can’t tell you much,” he answered. “But yes, the ship has been turned around.”

  “Sophie, the woman getting married, she’s freaking out. When do you think we’ll get back to Tampa?”

  “I was told that we’d dock on Friday.”

  “What about Amy, Jack? Now that you know she’s here, are you going to go talk to her?”

  Jack snapped his notebook shut. “No,” he answered. “Look, Katherine. I loved Amy, but she wanted to date other guys. So fine, now she can. I moved to Tampa to start over. I’m in a good place and I’m not sliding backwards.”

  “Well, I’m not going to tell her I saw you. It will ruin the cruise for her. Right now she’s having a good time. She’s not expecting to see you. But if she knows you’re on board, she’ll wonder every time she turns a corner if she’s going to run into you.” Katherine and Jack both stood.

  “I think that’s for the best,” he said. “This is a big ship. It’s possible that she and I won’t see each other.”

  Katherine searched Jack’s face. Moments earlier, she’d gotten a glimpse of the man she remembered, friendly and happy. Now he seemed so serious.

  “It was great to see you, Jack,” she said. They hugged.