A Sprinkle of Tropical Trouble: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 9)

by Constance Barker

  After the whale watching Stormi, Paige and I resumed our sleuthing as to what happened to Andre and Yvette. The boys were having none of it and said they were headed to the resort’s bar and grill to watch a football game on the television. We decide to head to my room and continue our discussion.

  “Paige, what do you think?” I asked as we sat down at the small table in my room. “Do you think it was murder or an accident?”

  Paige sighed. “I’ve been running different scenarios through my head and why would anyone murder these people? For what gain? They were married and seemed to be totally in love with one another, so l would think life insurance would be out of the question.”

  Paige shifted in her chair. “Honestly, I think they were coming back from a late dinner, maybe had too much to drink, and perhaps Yvette stumbled, hit her head and went into the pool. Andre in his drunken state tried to save her, but fell as well. That would explain the small spots of blood Greg said he saw by the pool’s edge.”

  “That’s possible I suppose, but it just doesn’t feel right to me.” I always went by my instincts and this time they were saying that a murderer was in our midst.

  “I wonder which room they were staying in,” Stormi mused.

  “Remember, he said room 374,” Paige answered. “Yvette said she was going back to the room to get something and she’d forgotten the room number and he said 374.”

  I pointed towards the ceiling. “That’s right above our room…we’re in room 274.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Stormi exclaimed. “We could climb up from the balcony and peer into the room from the sliding glass door!”

  “Who’s we?” Paige asked crossing her arms. “And who do you think would be peering back at you from the room….the police and detectives most likely.”

  Stormi was too excited to let this pass. “No no! When we came up I heard the maids say the police were finished in the couple’s room for right now, but that they still couldn’t go in and clean it yet.”

  I had to admit, the more Stormi talked the more motivated I became. “I don’t see the harm in simply looking through the door.”

  Paige looked at me as if I had two heads. “Well, let’s see. You both could fall off the balcony while climbing up and break your necks or you could be arrested. Take your choice.”

  “You’re such a killjoy,” Stormi grumped.

  “No, I’m a realist,” Paige stated as she stood up. “But far be it for me to stop you two…I’m just not joining in.”

  She stopped before stepping out the door. “Just be careful.”

  Stormi and I looked at each other after the door shut and raced to my balcony. We looked at how high their balcony was from mine. It didn’t look that far at all so we placed one of the chairs from the inside table next to the edge. Before I let Stormi climb onto the chair, I looked around the grounds to ensure no one saw us. I could see people off in the distance, but figured we’d be okay if we didn’t take forever to hike up to the next level.

  Stormi stood on the chair and I held her waist to steady her. She grabbed the bars of the balcony above us and then stepped on my balcony railing.

  “Can you hoist your hiney over the railing?” I asked holding Stormi’s legs.

  “You’re going to have to give me a push!”

  I got between her legs. “Put your feet on my shoulders.”

  Stormi got one of her legs on one shoulder and then the other. I’m sure we looked like a couple of clowns as we bobbed and weaved back and forth.

  “Stop moving,” Stormi loud whispered.

  “Stop kicking me in the ear!”

  Finally, I pushed her butt with both hands, and with a kick to my head, she fell over the balcony railing. Once I got my head together, I stood on the chair and was able to climb up the bars of the balcony with Stormi pulling me over.

  “Let’s never do that again,” Stormi said smoothing down her golden locks.

  “I concur,” I said looking around to make sure no one saw the two crazy women scaling the hotel walls. Suddenly Stormi grabbed my arm giving me a start.

  “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I whispered.

  Stormi pointed towards the sliding glass balcony door. It was ajar two inches. Perhaps the police in their search of the hotel room didn’t secure the door before they left. Whatever the case, I knew we were going in.

  “We can’t touch anything,” I whispered.

  Stormi took a hanky from her pocket.

  “That’s great, but what can I use?” I asked.

  “Just let me do all the touching,” Stormi said as she got in front of me and pulled the sliding glass door slowly open.

  We walked into the room, which appeared disheveled but not as bad as I expected after a police investigation. Papers littered the desk, the king size bed remained unmade, and clothes were strewn about the hotel loveseat and coffee table.

  I kept my hands on Stormi’s back to keep from touching anything as I followed her around the room. My heart hammered in my chest. What the heck was I doing in a dead man and woman’s hotel room? I couldn’t blame Stormi…I had a brain and should know better. But too late now, we might as well see what we could find.

  Stormi walked over to the desk, which was strewn with papers. She pushed the papers around with her hanky when she came across the hotel bill.

  Stormi turned to me. “Didn’t Andre say his last name was Garza?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, why?”

  “Look,” Stormi said as she pointed to the hotel bill. The name on the bill said Andre Salazar.

  “What the heck?” I said. Now I was really curious. Why had he told us a different name? Perhaps Garza was his celebrity name. I know actors change their names all the time. Maybe it was a simple explanation like that, but with possible foul play involved, it may be a clue.

  We continued our journey through the room, not noticing much else of interest. Inside the bathroom, expensive jewelry lay over the long vanity. I was surprised the police would leave it here, but this was the Mexican government so maybe they did things differently. Apparently so since many items I thought they’d confiscate remained in the room. A makeup case with the initials YNM sat in the middle of the vanity.

  “Okay, this is strange,” I whispered. “He introduced Yvette as his wife, yet the initials don’t match up.”

  “Maybe it’s an old makeup case,” Stormi said. “It’s her maiden name.”

  I wasn’t buying it. “That case looks brand new to me. Why all the secrecy about their names? It’s starting to look fishy.”

  As we walked out of the bathroom I said, “We need to get out of here before we get caught. I’ve had enough sleuthing for today.”

  “Me too,” Stormi answered as she wiped a bead of sweat from her temple. “This undercover business is playing havoc with my hair and makeup. Besides, we got the intel we were looking for, even if we don’t know what it means.”

  “Intel? You’re starting to sound like your husband.”

  Ignoring my statement Stormi said, “Let’s go out the front door. I don’t feel like straddling the balcony rail again.”

  I agreed, but before we could budge, movement on the balcony stopped us dead in our tracks. Finally, my brain communicated with my feet and I grabbed Stormi and shoved her into the closet. Frack! The jig was up!

  Chapter Seven

  Stormi and I held our collective breaths as we heard someone enter into the room. Dresses, shirts and pants hung around our shoulders as we stooped inside the closet. With my hand pressed against my mouth, I listened as the visitor walked slowly through the room. Looking down at the bottom of the closet door there was two inches of space in which light filtered. The figure in the room walked over to the closet. We could see the shadow of the person’s shoes as they stopped in front of the closet door. Stormi and I gripped one another’s hands, hoping against hope this person wouldn’t open the door, but knowing it was likely about to happen. Suddenly the person turned and walked away. We both le
t out a quiet sigh of relief. Then we heard the bed squeak as someone sat or lied down. Then we heard weeping.

  Stormi and I looked at each other. What the heck? I moved silently so I could peer out the slat of the closet door. A figure lied on the bed with his back to me. He continued to cry. Okay, this was getting weirder by the moment. Who was this guy? I could see someone breaking in to steal items, but to sit on a bed and cry. Of course, I was a good one to talk as Stormi and I hid in the closet.

  All of a sudden, we heard the angelic voice of Paige outside in the hallway. “Are you two idiots in there?”

  The bed squeaked and we heard footsteps as the man left through the balcony door. I tried to get the closet door open fast enough to get a glimpse of him before he climbed off the balcony, but he was gone in a flash.

  Paige continued to harp at us through the hotel door. “If you’re in there you better open this door right now or I’m getting hotel security.”

  Stormi opened the door. “Cool your jets Momma.”

  “What the heck was going on in there?” Paige asked with that tone that said I told you so.

  “Somebody came in after we did.” I answered, my heart still thumping in my chest.

  Paige nodded. “I know! I went outside to see if I could see you dummies and I saw this guy climbing onto Andre’s balcony. I didn’t know if you guys were in there or not, but thought it best to knock on the door in case you were.”

  “Thank God you did,” Stormi answered as she took a powder compact from her pocket and dabbed her face.

  Paige rolled her eyes and looked at me. “What did he say?”

  My mind was still reeling. “What did who say?”

  Paige was getting impatient. “The guy in the room!”

  “To us…nothing. We were hiding in the closet. He did lie down on the bed and cry.”

  Paige scrunched her nose. “Cried? What the donkey doo.”

  “Yeah, it was strange,” Stormi said as she snapped her compact closed and put it back in her pocket. “Maybe he knew them…but still that’s odd.”

  “As odd as two women scaling the hotel wall to break into a crime scene?” Paige was never going to let us live this down. She had ammo and she wasn’t about to give it up.

  “Yes Mother, we’re sorry,” Stormi lamented. “We won’t do it again. But remember, you hacked into a hospital computer. Anyone ever heard of a little thing called HIPAA.”

  “Yeah, but I learned my lesson,” Paige said as we headed to the lobby.

  “Did you get a good look at him?” I asked.

  “His hair was salt and pepper, curly and unkempt. Plus he was rather hunched over when he walked through the balcony door. That’s when I knew I had to get up there.”

  “Think you could identify him if you saw him again?” Stormi asked.

  “Yeah, I’m sure I could. He doesn’t blend well into a crowd. But I know I haven’t seen him since we’ve been here.”

  “He might be trying to keep a low profile,” I said as we entered the lobby.

  “Then he better rake a comb over that hair because that’s the first thing I noticed,” Paige answered.

  We decided to catch up with the boys and see if the game was over. We vowed not to tell them about our escapade into Andre and Yvette’s room, which was a simple decision to make. It was halftime and the guys were sitting at a table sipping their brews. As we sat down with them, a news report broke into regular programming. The reporter began talking about the deaths of two actors and models, Andre Salazar and Yvette Morris, found drowned in a hotel swimming pool. Seems the couple was married to other people, a Brady Morris and Alaina Salazar but was rumored to be having an affair. We could attest to that.

  The news report also mentioned their latest film in which they starred together. It was a horror film, but it flopped almost immediately out of the box office. The director of the film, Scott Davidson was furious with the couple, saying they’d ruined his career with their lackluster performances. Fortunately, our resort wasn’t named in the report.

  “They still haven’t said if there was foul play involved,” Paige said.

  “The police may not know yet, and even if they did, they may be holding their cards close,” Greg answered. “They won’t leak anything early unless it benefits the investigation.”

  “So they weren’t married,” Stormi mused. “I wonder why they said they were?”

  “Maybe they wished they were,” I said.

  The guys decided to remain at the bar and grill to watch the rest of the game, so Paige, Stormi and I told them we were going to sit by the pool, which had just been reopened, and watch the waves roll in, and then head up to bed.

  We sat down in the comfy loungers and I was almost lulled to sleep by the crashing waves. As the sun set behind us we sat in silence, enjoying the calm breeze as it filtered through our hair. I’ve always loved the ocean, especially the noise of the waves. However, I also respect that it can be deadly at the same time. I’ll walk along the edge, allowing the water to kiss my feet, but plowing my way into deeper waters doesn’t interest me. I’ve read about enough shark attacks and undertows to know I don’t want to become a statistic. I know the odds are very high for that kind of situation to occur, but there’s an intuition about it I don’t want to push against.

  As I laid there with my eyes closed, contemplating the mass of water crashing and banging on the beach below us, I was unexpectedly jolted out of my peaceful existence when Paige grabbed my arm.

  “Thanks for the heart attack,” I said clutching my chest. “Can’t a girl get any peace around here?”

  Paige leaned over and whispered, “He’s here…the guy in the room.”

  I started to turn around when her iron grip tightened on my arm. “Ouch,” I cried.

  “Don’t look yet,” she said peering over my shoulder. “Okay…now.”

  I looked behind me, saw a strange man mumbling to himself, and knew it had to be the man in the hotel room. Like Paige said, he had curly salt and pepper hair that appeared disheveled. Paige quietly alerted Stormi who was gazing at him too. He didn’t appear to notice us or anything at all really. Deep in thought, he stood near the edge of the pool where the bloodstains were spotted.

  “Time to get my hands dirty,” Paige said as she stood up.

  “Paige!” I whispered. “What are you doing?”

  Paige looked at the mumbling man. “Going to find out what this guy is all about.”

  She started off and both Stormi and I jumped up to join her. No way is she getting near this lunatic by herself. Hopefully the three of us could fight him off.

  “Sir?” Paige said as she approached him with Stormi and me flanking her on each side. “Are you alright?”

  The man looked up startled. I wasn’t sure if three women standing and looking accusing was enough to scare him, but apparently, it did. He ran off as if he’d seen the devil.

  “Well, that was odd,” Stormi said placing her hands on her hips.

  “What…you don’t think three women with red in their eyes is scary?” Paige asked.

  “Wait, look,” I said pointing to a paper lying on the ground. I picked it up. “He dropped this when he ran away.”

  It was a brochure for a zip line adventure with a time and price circled.

  “Think he might be going there tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Even if he isn’t, it would be a fun adventure,” Stormi stated. “Why don’t we get the guys on board and see if we spot him there?”

  We agreed it was a good idea and something we’d all wanted to do and what better place to zip line than in the jungles outside of Cancun. The boys agreed to go, but we didn’t tell them about the strange man we encountered.

  That night I couldn’t sleep so while Brandon snoozed I got on my laptop to perform a bit of research on the celebrity couple. Seems that the infidelity rumors were true. Andre’s last name was Salazar and most people thought he was in a loveless marriage…that Alaina only stayed with him because
of his money. Yvette on the other hand had a prenup with her husband Brady.

  I continued reading various articles and then stumbled upon one about their latest movie flop. The director, Scott Davidson, was in a world of hurt as the movie was supposed to be his comeback from the depths of film doldrums. A short video showed reporters asking him about why the film flopped and he blamed his two stars, Andre and Yvette, for the disappointment. It was also reported he was drinking heavily and since the interview he’d been involved in a couple of violent outbursts with reporters.