Midnight Shimmer: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries Book 3)

by Nancy Warren

  “To tell the truth, I am a terrible baby when it comes to any kind of discomfort. He keeps me stocked with these special tranquilizers. I take a pill when I know he’s coming. It doesn’t put me out, but it makes me so happy I barely even notice what’s going on.”

  “I can imagine.” She could see lines of injection sites, each of them looking painfully swollen, like a series of angry insect bites. The woman’s lips were huge and dimpled with red sores, and her whole face looked as though it had been scoured. Dermabrasion, she was certain.

  Alicia gave a what can you do? shrug. “It’s about as pain-free as an attack of angry killer bees, but I like the results. As I get older, and the women my husbands leave me for get younger, I keep trying harder. The happy pills help. And my grandson is a dear. He brings me ice when I need it and he makes sure nobody bothers me.”

  Toni felt like an unwanted intruder, which she clearly was. She’d all but broken into the woman’s suite. “I am so sorry I let my imagination get away from me. Really. I hope you can forgive me.” Naturally, she didn’t tell Alicia that she’d suspected her own grandson was poisoning her, she simply let her believe she’d been worried that the woman was seriously ill.

  “Honestly, I’m happy to have another woman to talk to. I love my grandson, but obviously, it’s not like talking to a woman.” She twinkled at Toni even though she couldn’t smile. “Also, it seems he’s spending a great deal of time with your daughter.”

  Apart from being happy that her new friend wasn’t being poisoned, Toni was also relieved to find that Wade Templeton was a good grandson, not the murderous, drug-addicted, gambling womanizer her overblown fears had painted him.

  “He told me what happened yesterday, when he and Tiffany were almost stranded. He feels terrible about that. I think he’s also embarrassed that she’s the one who saved the day by having a secret stash of money. Your daughter sounds like a remarkable young woman. I look forward to meeting her when I’m back on my feet.” Alicia fussed with the pillow behind her back, making herself more comfortable. “I hope you won’t hold that unfortunate incident against Wade.”

  Had Alicia believed that Toni had forced her way in here to yell at her for yesterday’s incident? She wasn’t sure, but she decided to squash any fears Alicia might harbor. “It was a very unfortunate incident. But it ended well. The truth is, I’m more worried about their age difference. Tiffany is turning seventeen on Friday. She’s young for her age in many ways.”

  Alicia nodded. “Wade is nineteen but I can assure you he’d never take advantage. I’m biased of course, but I believe my grandson is a true gentleman.”

  Since a biased grandmother was not the most reliable source, she changed the subject. “My mother was going to have some kind of a filler injected today. But the doctor never showed up.”

  Alicia said, “That’s odd. He’s very reliable and he makes a lot more money off his medi-spa treatments than he does dealing with gastroenteritis.”

  Toni tried to find a diplomatic way to ask her next question and then realized there probably wasn’t one. At least, not for her. “Alicia, have you found Dr. Madsen to be proficient at cosmetic injections?”

  Alicia started to smile, then uttered a small cry of pain and picked up an ice pack sitting nearby on the bed. She pressed it to her lips. “I know he doesn’t look it, but he’s very good. Frankly, I often choose my cruises based on whether or not he will be the ship’s doctor.” She placed the ice bag beside her once more. “I’ve tried a lot of clinics and doctors. A number of things I like about Dr. Madsen—he’s good, he takes his time, he makes stateroom visits, and when I get off the ship no one will even realize that the reason I look so much younger and so refreshed isn’t only because I spent some time in the Caribbean.”

  As she shifted in her chair, Toni noticed something flashing from under Alicia’s bed, like glass hit by a shaft of sunlight. She said, “When was the last time you saw Dr. Madsen?”

  “Honestly? I take one of those pills before he comes and frankly I lose track of time. I think he was here yesterday.” She shook her head. “Wade might know. He sometimes lets the doctor in.”

  “It’s strange that he missed my mother’s appointment. They said he’d missed all his appointments today.”

  Alicia looked up, a worried expression clouding her eyes. “You think something happened to him?” Panic filled her voice. “You don’t think he’s got the Norovirus, do you? I have three more treatments booked.”

  Toni rose, then stepped toward the bed. She didn’t answer, but knelt down and reached under the hanging bedspread. At the last second, she paused and reached for one of the tissues in the box beside Alicia’s bed.

  If the feeling in her stomach right now was a word, that word would be no, as in No. Don’t lift up the bottom of the bedspread. Don’t pry into things that don’t concern you. Don’t find out something that in two minutes you’re really going to wish you didn’t know.

  Of course, Toni didn’t listen to the prompting of her inner instincts. She lifted the cover, she reached under, and using the tissue, grasped a pair of familiar-looking eyeglasses. They were men’s glasses, with thick black frames and thick lenses. She held them up to the light and confirmed that they were trifocals. That feeling in her gut that had softly said no was now rising to a scream. No!

  She dragged in a deep, steadying breath and with the other hand, the one that wasn’t holding the glasses, she lifted the bedspread even higher and peeked underneath.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A physician can sometimes parry the scythe of death, but he has no power over the sand in the hourglass.

  – Hester Lynch Piozzi (letter to Fanny Burney 1781)

  When she looked under Alicia’s bed, she saw that the room steward most likely used the space for storage. A rolled mat of some sort and what looked like a small step stool were stashed under there. And she saw that, most likely because Alicia was always in the bed, there was more dust under there than she would’ve expected. But thankfully, there was nothing more sinister staring at her than a herd of dust bunnies.

  She rose to her feet and held out the glasses mutely, not bothering to voice the obvious question.

  Alicia glanced at the glasses, tried to frown, winced with pain, and then said, “Aren’t those Dr. Madsen’s glasses? He’s blind as a bat without them.”

  “Alicia, it’s really important that you try and remember what happened the last time he was here. Does he use a different pair of glasses for cosmetic procedures?”

  Alicia shook her head. “No.”

  “Does he take them off for any reason?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Does he have a second pair?”

  “How would I know?” She glanced warily at the glasses wrapped in tissue.

  “Did something happen to him while he was in this room? Please, try to remember.”

  Alicia put both hands to her temples and rubbed them as though she could kindle her memories or clarify the pictures in her head. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

  “If you think of anything, anything he said, any detail of his last visit, will you let me know?”

  “What do you think’s going on? Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.” She plucked a couple more tissues from the dispenser and wrapped them loosely around the glasses, then slipped them into her bag.

  She sat back down, thinking that if she acted less hysterically, Alicia might calm down and remember something. “What procedure did you have at your last appointment?”

  Alicia waved her perfectly manicured fingers under her eye area. “Some filler injected beneath the cheek bones. It plumps the cheeks and helps lift the jowls.”

  “And he completed the procedure?”

  “As far as I know. It’s sore enough. You’re kind of freaking me out.”

  Toni forced a smile. “I play amateur detective sometimes.” And never on purpose. “I get carried away. He’s probably wearing his second pair an
d wondering where he left these. I’ll be happy to get them back to him.”

  “It’s strange he didn’t show up for your mom’s appointment. He’s never, ever not shown up for mine.”

  But then Alicia was probably his dream patient. He’d likely move heaven and earth to make sure she remained loyal.

  “Wait. It was yesterday that he came. I know because I changed the time of our treatment. He was supposed to come at ten in the morning. I told you Wade usually lets him in. I take my pill thirty minutes before he’s scheduled to arrive so I’m in my happy place before he gets here.”

  “Right.”

  “But yesterday morning, I discovered I was out of happy pills. We couldn’t get hold of him, so he came at ten and Wade let him in. I explained that I needed the good drugs, so he gave me a new batch, and apologized for not realizing I’d be out of my pills. Then he rescheduled for two that afternoon.”

  “But Wade was on Grand Caymen yesterday afternoon. Who opened the door for Dr. Madsen?”

  “He’s got one of the master key cards so he can let himself in.”

  It was amazing what people could remember when you let them relax. “You’ve obviously known him a long time. What does he do in his spare time? Does he gamble?” That might explain why he’d emerged from A. Vlodovitch’s suite stuffing what looked like a wad of cash into his pocket. Maybe he was, even now, sleeping off the effects of an all-night poker game.

  Alicia shrugged helplessly. “He couldn’t go anywhere without his glasses. He’s half blind without them.”

  “Then he must keep a second pair. No way he could go to sea for months at a time without a backup pair.” She felt more hopeful that he was out there somewhere, even now, thinking, Damn, where did I leave my other pair of glasses?

  But that still didn’t explain why he seemed to be missing in action. “What about among the crew? Does he have friends below deck? A girlfriend, maybe?”

  “He’s never struck me as the lady’s man. I know he has a wife in Fort Lauderdale.”

  “Did he seem different on his last visit? Upset about anything?”

  “I’m always so out of it, I wouldn’t know.” She glanced at the clock. “I’m supposed to have my next injection this afternoon at four o’clock. I was going to take the pill at three-thirty.”

  Toni shook her head. “Hold off on that pill for now. He doesn’t seem to be following his normal schedule today.” And Toni would very much like to know why. Also, why his glasses were under Alicia’s bed. They weren’t broken. It looked to her like one of the earpieces was bent, as though someone had yanked it. Possibly Alicia, under the influence of a combination of pain and narcotics? But then why hadn’t the doctor retrieved his spectacles before he left?

  More to the point, where was he now?

  “Do you mind if I look around a little?”

  “No. Of course not. What are you looking for?”

  What was she looking for? For something out of the ordinary, a clue as to what had happened in this room and where the doctor was now.

  She opened the doors to the balcony and stepped out. From inside the air-conditioned stateroom it was easy to forget sometimes that they were floating in the middle of the Caribbean. The sun glinted off the waves and as far as she could see, there was no sign of land. The balcony contained two lounge chairs—much nicer lounge chairs than the ones on Toni’s—with the table set between them.

  Alicia followed her and stood looking out the open sliding glass doors, but still standing inside her cabin. She tsked with annoyance. “I asked the room steward to leave my lounger stretched out and the table set beside it. I like to lie out here in the morning when it’s still cool and there’s no sun on our veranda. Wade almost never sits out here. He has his own balcony.”

  “Is your room steward often forgetful?”

  Alicia shook her head. “No. Not usually.”

  What did she think she was going to find on a balcony that was swept regularly, if not by the steward, then by the ocean breezes? She peered at the glass panels of the railing, but there was nothing.

  She peered over the edge. Alicia’s balcony had complete privacy. You could do anything out here and no one would be able to see. But she looked down on the balconies below. No privacy for them.

  Alicia joined her at the rail. “When Wade was younger, he always wanted to toss pieces of ice down on unsuspecting sunbathers below.” She smiled at the memory.

  Toni gazed out once more. Nothing floated on the surface of the ocean, not even a piece of seaweed. Toni stepped back into the room and Toni followed, shutting the doors behind her. The atmosphere instantly became both cooler and quieter.

  She checked out all the surfaces in the room, but it didn’t take long. Nothing seemed out of place or unusual. Finally, she said, “I’m so glad you’re not sick.”

  “Thank you for the visit and for the flowers. They’re lovely.”

  Toni smiled at her. “You’re welcome.”

  As Alicia watched, she carefully picked up her bag. “What are you going to do with those glasses?”

  Naturally, she imagined herself taking them to Luke. Which was going to be difficult to do, as she was on a ship in the middle of the ocean and Luke was hundreds of miles away. She stared at Alicia for second and said, “I’ll take them to the captain, I guess. I don’t think anyone’s seen the doctor since yesterday. It might be time to search the ship.” Before she left, Toni turned back. “Does Dr. Madsen always come alone?”

  “Not always. Sometimes he brings a nurse and sometimes he comes by himself. I think it depends on which treatment I’m having, and, probably, how busy they are in the spa and salon.”

  “What about yesterday? Was he alone?”

  Alicia closed her eyes for a second as though trying to remember. She opened them after a moment. “I think there was someone else in the room. It might have been a nurse, but it could have been Wade.”

  Toni left and headed in the direction of the bridge.

  When she passed a crew member she had never seen before, she said, “I think this key belongs to the florist. I saw her drop it.”

  She returned to where she had borrowed the protective gear and, seeing no one there, quickly stuffed the suit into a bin already containing other used coveralls. Now the only thing in her possession that didn’t belong to her was the doctor’s glasses.

  Captain DuFresne had been at the helm of the Duchess of the Caribbean for sixteen years, according to the biography she’d read in the ship’s newsletter. He was British, trained in Greenwich, and from his picture, he appeared to be in his mid-forties.

  Before Toni got to the bridge to see him, she was politely stopped by a clean-cut young Englishman in a white uniform. “Can I help you, madam?”

  “Yes. I’d like to see the captain.”

  A glint of amusement flashed across the young man’s eyes. She had a feeling she wasn’t the first woman to ask to see the captain. “May I ask what it’s about? We no longer offer tours of the bridge, you know, due to security reasons.”

  “I’m not interested in a tour.” It hadn’t occurred to her that it would be difficult to see the captain, and she hadn’t even rehearsed what she would say when she got there, so here she was confronting this very polite young man who clearly had no intention of letting her near the bridge. A few seconds of silence passed. Only the tiniest movement beneath her feet gave any suggestion that they were at sea.

  “Perhaps I could give him a message?” the young officer said at last.

  “Yes. I found Dr. Madsen’s glasses. I thought perhaps the captain would know where I could find the doctor so I can return them.”

  The young guy in uniform suddenly went from looking bored and officious to attentive and keenly interested. “Dr. Madsen? Have you seen him? You know where he is?”

  So he had disappeared. She shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen him. Only his eyeglasses.” She didn’t bother telling the crew member that Dr. Madsen couldn’t see without them, sinc
e it must be obvious to anyone who’d ever met the doctor that his vision was poor.

  “Where are these glasses?”

  If she handed them over, they would no doubt be passed from hand to hand and if there was any trace evidence, it would be lost. She had no idea when she had begun thinking in terms of trace evidence, but she suspected it was the minute she had seen those glasses peeking out from under the bed. “If you don’t mind,” she said as politely as she could, “I think I should give them to the captain.”

  He regarded her for a moment, rather the way Luke did when he was trying to decide whether to take her seriously or not. Of course, she had known Luke long enough now that he pretty much always took her seriously. But this young man didn’t know her at all. Finally, he said, “Follow me, please,” and led her down the long corridor and through a door. He didn’t take her to the bridge, but to a small meeting room containing a boardroom table and half a dozen chairs. There was no one there. “Please have a seat, madam, and I’ll see if the captain is available.”

  Toni didn’t have very long to wait. Within ten minutes the door opened once more and Captain DuFresne entered the room. She knew he was the captain because he looked exactly like his photograph. The young man she’d previously spoken to followed him inside, as did a third man.

  The captain stepped toward her, scrutinizing her much as the younger officer had done. He held out his hand. “I’m Captain DuFresne.”

  “I’m Toni Diamond. Thanks for seeing me.”

  “How can I help you, Ms. Diamond?”

  She shook his hand, finding the grip firm and strong, exactly the kind of hand that should be at the helm of a large ship. Her initial instinct was that he was capable and resourceful. She nodded slightly and reached carefully into her bag, taking out the eyeglasses using the tissue.

  The captain glanced at her and then at the glasses. He didn’t attempt to touch them or take them away from her. Instead, he said, “How did these come into your possession, Ms. Diamond?” At another time she’d have found his British accent sexy. She told him briefly how and where she had found the glasses.