by K. J. Emrick
***
“It’s not Avery.”
Jerry looked at her slantways, but at least he didn’t argue with her this time. Ever since the weight of asking her to marry him had been lifted, he’d been more his old self. Well. He was still watching over her like a hawk but she chalked that up to how much he cared for her.
They were sitting in the Captain’s Quarters, just below the bridge, at the top of that staircase with its sign that said only authorized personnel were allowed here. For the purpose of this conversation, Cookie was considered authorized personnel.
“Let me see if I get this straight,” Captain Abrams said, not for the first time. He was wearing a blue robe tied in front over a pair of white pajamas and his usually neat hair was still messy from getting up out of bed to meet with them. “You think you’ve solved the crime, based on a hunch.”
“Not a hunch,” Cookie corrected him. “All the clues lead to one conclusion.”
Abrams turned his bleary eyes on Jerry. “I thought you were the police officer.”
He winked at Cookie. “I told her to keep out of it. She doesn’t really listen to anyone when she’s following her heart.”
“Lucky for you,” she told him, flashing the hand with her new engagement ring. “Now, like we said. I know there’s no video surveillance on the ship right now, but you have photocopies of all the passengers’ IDs, right? You’re able to pull those up on a computer?”
“Well, sure. Passengers and crew and support staff. Does your dog have to do that?”
He pointed down at Cream spinning in circles at Cookie’s feet, chasing a tail that wouldn’t stop wagging. The captain’s room wasn’t quite as spacious as the stateroom that Jessica and Benjamin were staying in but it had plenty of room for a bed and a wide rectangular table and a couch and an entertainment center. They were at the table, and Cream had banged his head into one of the legs several times in his endless circling.
“I’m sorry about him,” Cookie said, even though his antics were making her smile. “I didn’t want to leave him alone in our cabin again.”
“Have you two slept?” the captain asked next. “I know I’m exhausted. I can only imagine how hard this trip has been on you. Jerry, I appreciate all the help you’ve given me and my crew looking into this death. Uh, and you too Cookie, I guess. I’ve been captaining a cruise liner for twelve years now and I’ve never had anything like this happen. Anything I can do to help you in return, just let me know.”
“The pictures will do just fine,” Cookie assured him. “If you can put them all in a computer file and then give me access to that file remotely from my phone, that should be all I need. For now.”
“Look at you,” Jerry teased. “When did you join the technological age?”
“You learn a thing or two,” she said, “hanging out with a teenage girl.”
Clarissa had tried to teach her a lot of things and only some of them had stuck. Usually the ones that did had a direct benefit to her business. Finding new recipes on the internet was definitely one of her favorite uses for her phone. She’d even shared recipes back and forth with other bakery owners from around the country, and around the world, uploaded to a cloud service where she could store them indefinitely. So, yes, accessing files remotely was something she understood.
“I can make that happen...” A yawn took him and he had to cover his mouth with his hand until it passed. “I can get the pictures for you. Sorry. So tired. I’m guessing this can’t wait until the morning? No. Of course it can’t. I’ll get one of my staff to work them up right away. I’ve got your number so I’ll text you when it’s ready and let you know how to get to the pictures.”
“You’re sure this is how you want to do this?” Jerry asked her, also not for the first time.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She bent down to pick up Cream before he could really hurt his little head. “Why?”
“It’s just… she’s been through so much already I don’t want her shutting down entirely as a witness. That happens, sometimes, when you push people too far.”
“I’m just asking her to look at some pictures.”
“A lot of pictures,” Jerry amended.
“Yes, true. I think everything goes back to the money Joseph stole. He didn’t pay it back. That means he either spent it all, or it’s still out there somewhere.”
“Yes, I get that,” Jerry agreed. “And I get that the people he went to prison with probably know if he hid the money or not.”
“If someone from those days is on board, they might have cornered Joseph,” Cookie continued, “to pressure him about the thousands of dollars that are still out there.”
“Hoping to get it for themselves,” Jerry finished.
“And then,” the captain said, “they might have killed him, either because they got the information and they didn’t need him anymore, or because Joseph wouldn’t give anything up and they got angry.”
Jerry and Cookie looked at him in surprise. “What?” he asked. “It looked like fun. I wanted to join in.”
That was all they could do for now. The three of them stood up and the captain followed them to the doors. “All right, you two. I’ll get all this done. Now, you go and get some sleep. That’s your captain’s orders.”
“We will,” Cookie said, “as soon as I take Cream for another walk in your dog park.”
Captain Abrams nodded his approval of that. Reaching out to pat Cream’s head where he perched in Cookie’s arms, he frowned. “You know the rules about dogs wearing their collar and ID tag, right?”
“Yes, I do, but whoever took him from me obviously didn’t care about that. He got returned without it on.”
“Huh. Probably took it off so that if he got caught with Cream while we were searching, he could say it was a different dog. Well. I’ll make sure my people bring you a new one tomorrow.”
Cookie didn’t bother explaining that Cream had mostly likely left the collar behind for them as a clue. Not everyone was a dog person. “Thank you, Captain.”
“I’m just glad I could do something to help. Being captain is about more than just piloting the ship, you know. You have to be there when the passengers need you. I tell the same thing to all my crew.”
It was going to be a long way down to the dog park from these upper levels of the ship. Once they had started down Cookie suggested again to Jerry that he let her go take care of giving Cream his walk by herself. “There’s no sense in both of us being up all night. Go back to the cabin. I’ll meet you there soon.”
“No,” he said flatly. “I’m not leaving you alone. Not until we’re on dry land again, and maybe not even after that.”
Around them, all the shops were still open and lit up even at this hour, even though there were fewer people around. Cookie leaned into Jerry and then kissed him on his cheek. “You know I love you, right?”
“I do. At least, now I do. I, uh, was beginning to wonder there for a while. It was almost like a wall was going up between us.”
“I know.” So, he’d felt it, too. “I’m sorry.”
“What in the world are you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, “for doubting you.”
He snorted, pushing the button for the elevator. “If I forgive you, will you forgive me?”
She squished Cream between them in a quick hug. He panted, just happy to be included. “There’s nothing left to forgive,” she told Jerry. “We’re together now. Now, and always.”
That sounded sappy enough to make them both laugh comfortably together. She must be tired, she thought, if she was starting to speak in poetry. Right. If she wasn’t tired she wouldn’t feel like her feet were floating in air and her heart was pounding faster than ever before. It couldn’t be love. She was too old for love to feel like this.
Wasn’t she?
The elevator car opened to them just then and they stepped into the empty space. “Do you think she’ll recognize anyone in those pictures?” Jerry asked. “It’s a lot of p
hotos to go through.”
“I know it’s a longshot,” Cookie agreed, “but we still have a day before we make landfall. It’s all up to her. You never know. We might get lucky.”
Not that luck had ever been Cookie’s favorite ingredient in any recipe. No. She much preferred hard facts to sugary dreams. Well. They’d get some facts soon, if this long shot of theirs paid off.
Chapter Nine
They managed three hours of sleep, holding each other tight, before sunrise. That’s when the captain’s text came through telling them the file of photos was ready. Getting dressed after quick showers, they grabbed their phones—and their keycards—and headed out.
Cream had on a spare collar that she had packed for the trip and he was attached to a leash. He wasn’t happy about having a collar on again but there was no way she was going to let him wander off by himself any more. The last time he did that he found Joseph’s dead body.
It was only a few minutes later when the three of them stood outside the door of the person who might find the needle in the haystack of all those photos. Cookie just hoped she was awake. Jerry knocked.
When Benjamin Roth answered the double doors of the estate room and saw them, he looked like he was ready to chew nails.
“You shouldn’t assume,” he said to Cookie, “that because I was nice to you the last time you were here, that makes us the sort of friends you can just drop in on whenever you feel like it. Don’t expect to do that when we return to Widow’s Rest! Oh, look. You found your dog.”
“Don’t worry,” Jerry told him. “We’re not here to see you. We’re here to see Jessica.”
“Well as luck would have it, she’s sleeping. Your girlfriend here has intruded on our wedded bliss so many times that my wife now has to take naps whenever she can fit them in. It’s too much, Jerry.”
“Fiancé,” Jerry said.
Roth cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Cookie is my fiancé, not my girlfriend. We made it official last night. Well, this morning actually.”
“Oh. How very exciting for you.”
Cookie couldn’t keep her tongue silent any more. This man was infuriating. “Benjamin, stop being such a horse’s backside. We need Jessica’s help. We need her to look at some photographs and see if she recognizes anyone.”
“What? Whatever for?”
“We’re looking for someone who might have been a friend of her brother’s.”
Sighing heavily, rolling his eyes, Benjamin nearly closed the door on them. “You already said Jayce wasn’t a suspect, Karen. Why don’t you come back when you’ve made up your mind?”
“Mister Roth, please hear us out,” Jerry said. “We’re certain that Jayce is innocent. Right now we think there’s someone else on board. Someone who knew both Jayce and Joseph from their time in prison. We think he’s on board, and we’re hoping Jessica can see if she remembers anyone from those days.”
Benjamin hesitated, holding the door almost closed. “Why not just ask Jayce?”
“Uh, we’re hoping that Jessica will ask him,” Jerry clarified. “He doesn’t really want to speak to either of us anymore.”
“He’s not the only one.” Benjamin tapped a finger against the doorframe. “Fine. Where are these photos? I’ll ask her to take a look at them when she wakes. I make no promises past that.”
Cookie asked for Benjamin’s cellphone number and then forwarded him the message from the Captain with the instructions on how to access the temporary file that had been created in the ship’s guest WiFi profile.
“Fine. Now, please,” he said, ever polite. “Go away.”
He closed the door, leaving them standing in the hallway. Cream barked once, and punctuated it with a growl.
“I know, boy,” Cookie said to him. “I don’t like him, either.”
“But he hasn’t been guilty of anything other than being a rude man,” Jerry said, taking Cookie’s free hand and leading them back down the passageway. “No crime in that.”
“Too bad,” Cookie said. “If there was a law against it then we could lock away all the worthless men and women in the world. Wouldn’t the planet be a nice place if that happened? Although, I saw Benjamin with Jessica before, and he was actually laughing. Can you believe it? I think she’s going to be good for him.”
“Yeah, the right woman can do that for a man,” he said, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“Flatterer.” Cookie hugged Cream closer, then set him down, letting him walk at the end of his leash. “So. What should we do now?”
“I think breakfast is definitely in order,” he suggested. “And then maybe a nap.”
“A nap? Why Jerry, when did you get old?”
“I’m as young as a man half my age,” he promised. “But I’m tired. My fiancé didn’t let me get much sleep last night.”
“Mmm. I remember. There might not be much sleep tonight, either.”
His kiss was warm against the rim of her ear. “Anyway,” he said, “we can’t do much of anything until either Jessica finds a picture of someone who used to hang out with Jayce, or we get back to port and Joseph’s body can be examined by a coroner for clues.”
Cookie shivered as a chill ran down her spine.
“Uh, sorry,” Jerry told her. “That was kind of cold for me to say it that way. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“I know.” She walked with her eyes straight ahead, trying to see into the future. “It’s just that Madison is going to have to rearrange her life now. Her marriage has ended prematurely, Benjamin’s and Jessica’s is just starting. Ours will happen… when?”
“Soon,” he said hopefully. “I don’t want to wait. I understand what you’re saying about the whole circle of life thing and I don’t want to waste any more time. Life’s too short, as they say.”
“Shorter for some than for others.” When had the mood of their conversation turned sour? Cookie shook her head and tried to think more positively. Maybe they hadn’t caught Joseph’s killer yet but they had eliminated a few people as suspects. Cream was back with her. Jerry was back on her arm where he belonged. The trip had been a horrible one, to be sure, but there was a lot of good that had come out of it, too.
Still, Joseph was dead. Someone on the ship was a killer. Once again, she couldn’t help feeling like everything should stop because he was dead.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that life goes on even at the worst of times.
There were two buffet rooms that allowed pets inside on the ship. They were smaller than the regular ones and offered less of a selection but she and Jerry weren’t looking for anything fancy. Jerry loaded his plate down with eggs and waffles drowned in syrup. Cookie took a couple of pastries with white icing and more bacon than she wanted because Cream was already prancing and begging.
They ate in silence, both deep in their own thoughts, listening to the sounds of the people around them eating and talking while dogs barked for attention. Cream picked his head up from his small metal plate of food every time he heard one of the other pets in the room before going back to his munching. Next to his broken up bits of bacon Jerry had added a small portion of eggs. Cookie’s little doggie friend was in heaven.
Staff members hustled back and forth in the room, into the attached kitchen with dirty dishes and out again with more food. Some of them were in the white shirt and pants of the kitchen staff. Others had the black slacks and red vests of the crew. It was quite the bustling place.
“Can you imagine,” Jerry said around a mouthful of waffles, “feeding and taking care of this many people all at once?”
“This many people, plus their pets,” she reminded him. “And yes, I bake food for an entire town for a living. I certainly can imagine how hard it is to meet all of the needs of this many passengers.”
Still, she watched the ship’s employees running around in what could only be described as organized chaos and she had to marvel at the way they kept from running into each other, or the pass
engers, or the furniture for that matter while getting all of their work done.
She’d been on the ship long enough to recognize a few faces among the crew. There was the young kid who had brought their bags to their room. Those two… she didn’t know them. Or that one over there. She knew him, though. If she hadn’t recognized his face she certainly would have recognized that black metal watch he wore. She’d only seen him the one time but he’d made quite the impression. Not the good kind, either. He was getting a plate of food for himself from the buffet line. Odd. Didn’t the crew have their own dining room? Something away from the guests?
“Do you know him?” Jerry asked, noticing how she was watching the crewman.
“Hmm? Oh, yes. He’s the one who told me that the cameras hadn’t been working since the start of the cruise. Shame. That would have made everything so much easier. I’m sure the killer took out the security cameras to keep from being noticed. It makes you wonder, did he just not want to get caught, or did he intend on killing Joseph the whole time?”
“Hard to say. We’ll have to catch him first, I suppose.”
“True.” She thought about it some more and realized something else was bothering her. It connected up with what she had realized back in their cabin. “Jerry, how would someone get access to the equipment to sabotage it?”
“They’d have to have a keycard,” he suggested. “It’s the only way. The Captain showed me where they keep the recording equipment. It’s always locked. No entry without an authorized keycard. Last I heard he was doing an audit on all the cards issued but there’s literally thousands of them. It could take weeks before that’s finished and by then the killer will have escaped at port.”
“Just like our room,” Cookie pointed out.
“What?”
She set her empty plate aside. “It was something I was thinking about earlier. When Cream showed up back in our room. How did someone get in to steal him in the first place? All of the cabins have electronic locks. So whoever took Cream had to have a keycard that could open our door.”