Paradise Can Be Murder

by Susan Bernhardt

  I turned to Phil. “You’d think between the two of them, the murder victim would have been George. He was so nasty and to everyone, his wife, co-workers, even the wait staff at dinner, and probably to others on the ship. He would be the one to be offed.”

  When Janey got out of the bathroom, I quickly dressed and left with her to go down to the front desk. I wasn’t sure how to inquire about a death on the ship. I needed to know if it was Sybil or not. If there was a suspicious death, I knew they wouldn’t want it advertised.

  We had to wait in a line before we could talk to a front desk clerk. When it was our turn, I started in. “My niece said that she saw the body of a woman being taken out of a pool this morning on the Lido deck. She claimed that the woman was dead.”

  “No, madam. Nothing like that happened.”

  The clerk who stood next to ours glanced over at us with a knowing look.

  “It did!” Janey said.

  “I’m sorry, Miss. You must be mistaken.”

  “Liar!”

  “Janey, let’s go back to our room. Thank you.”

  As we rode the elevator up to our deck, Janey said, “Kay, I swear that it happened.”

  “I believe you, Janey.” She did have a wild imagination. “There wasn’t any sense arguing with the clerk at the desk. She wasn’t going to tell us anything.”

  She looked down at her camera that was around her neck. “I wish I had gotten a photo of it. Damn!”

  “Janey!” I shook my head and looked at the numbers going up on the elevator.

  “No, I was too upset. Damn it! They must have taken her to the morgue.”

  We reached deck nine and the elevator opened. “I don’t think there is a morgue on a cruise ship, and quit your swearing.”

  Janey looked straight ahead and walked out of the elevator. “There might not be a morgue, but there is a murderer on this ship.”

  * * * *

  At nine o’clock that morning, there was an announcement over the PA system that the problem on the ship was misdiagnosed and they would continue to look for a solution today. They mentioned something about it not only being the propulsion system. Also mentioned was the fact that we would be missing the last two ports, Cozumel and Key West, and that a credit would be given towards a future cruise.

  “I wonder how much,” Phil said at breakfast.

  “Credit? We should be getting a full refund,” Mike said. “It was difficult enough to change my schedule around to get time away for this cruise, forget about a future one.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. Deirdre was right about something terrible happening.

  “Kay, with us being stuck on this ship, that means they can’t take Sybil’s body to the next port,” Janey said.

  “True,” I said. “And no police can come on board the ship for any kind of investigation. They’ll have to rely on the ship’s security.”

  “You’re right. It’s probably a jurisdiction issue,” Phil said. “Maritime law.”

  “I bet she was murdered and her horrible husband did it.” Elizabeth added, “I guess you were wrong, Kay, being suspicious about Sybil.”

  I looked over at Phil, then back to Elizabeth. “I was telling Janey, we don’t know what happened. I’m not even sure what appears to have happened. We don’t even know for sure it was Sybil.”

  “But if Sybil was the victim, her husband would definitely be a suspect,” Elizabeth said.

  “They always look towards the spouse,” Janey said.

  I nodded. “I suppose. There needs to be an autopsy to find out the cause of death. But had the victim been murdered, I doubt it was done by a stranger.”

  Janey cringed. “Quit calling her ‘the victim’. It was Sybil.”

  “An autopsy wouldn’t be done on the ship. I think I know a way to find out more information,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve made friends with the Chief Security Officer.”

  “I saw his photo in the newsletter. He was the one you were dancing with the other night at the blues club,” I said.

  “I’ll see what I can find out from him.”

  “Well, that should come in handy,” Deirdre said. “Being so chummy with the staff.”

  “It does come in handy, Deirdre, and this is just one example. Actually, the Captain asked me to dine at his table on the formal night and I told him I couldn’t leave my friends.”

  “Come on, Elizabeth. You’re saying that the Captain noticed you out of all the women on this ship,” Deirdre said.

  “That’s exactly what I am saying. And shouldn’t you be having some vision about who the murderer is?”

  Deirdre disregarded Elizabeth’s last comment, then smirked. “Must be your pheromones.”

  “Your friend, the Chief Security Officer, has a tough job with Sybil’s death,” I said.

  Our food arrived and we started eating. My mushroom omelette was delicious.

  I looked over at Janey. She was unusually quiet, staring down at the French toast on her plate, her mind elsewhere. Suddenly she exclaimed, “Me too!”

  “You too what, Janey?” I asked.

  “I think I know a way to find out about Sybil.”

  Whatever Janey might do was too scary to contemplate. “Janey, you won’t get involved.”

  Janey picked up her knife and fork and started cutting into her French toast. “Right.”

  “And neither will Kay,” Phil said.

  “Right.” I took a forkful of my omelette. We both started eating our food as Phil shook his head in dismay.

  Actually, I knew of a way also. I didn’t know Sybil and George’s room number, and suspected the staff at the front desk wouldn’t offer that information. If there was a body, it would have to be refrigerated until it could be taken to the next port. Like I had told Janey, I doubt there was a morgue on the ship. That would be easy enough to find out. What was refrigerated on the ship? The food, flowers, beverages.

  “Well, I’m off,” Elizabeth said, not finishing her meal. “Let’s meet up for tea this afternoon. Three o’clock.”

  “What about lunch?” Deirdre said.

  She smiled. “I think I may be otherwise occupied.”

  My eyebrows instantly shot up.

  Phil looked at me and frowned. “I hope you won’t be otherwise occupied.”

  Janey downed her orange juice. “I think I’ll go see what the tween club is up to. I’m sure there is something fun going on.”

  I didn’t like the way Janey said her last statement. She was too nonchalant, and she never went there in the morning. “I may check in at the tween club later to see how you are doing.”

  Janey gave me “the look” like I didn’t trust her as she left with Elizabeth. She was right. Phil and Mike also set out for a lecture on the Cayman Islands. Left to our own devices, Deirdre and I remained at the breakfast table drinking coffee.

  “The body would need to be refrigerated.”

  Deirdre nodded.

  “I need to find out if it was Sybil for sure. If it’s anyone else, I’ll totally leave it to the authorities.” Was I feeling guilty?

  “What can we do?” Deirdre asked.

  “I don’t know, but if this was indeed Sybil, I feel like we owe it to her to find out. I feel a bit guilty. I still didn’t know if I believed what she was telling us about George.”

  Deirdre scooted her chair backward. “I agree. We have work to do.”

  “I’d like to finish my coffee before we go. I wish we knew Sybil’s stateroom number.” I sat quietly drinking my coffee. I put my cup down. “You own a business. Part of it having to do with flowers.”

  “Not really. More herbal plants.”

  “Well, you can say it is.”

  Deirdre’s eyebrows drew together.

  “We can’t search the food areas, and I doubt they would keep a body there anyway. But we can inquire about where they store their flowers. There are hundreds of beautiful arrangements throughout the ship. They must have a large refrigeration area. Let’s try and find out
what we can. You could say you were interested in a tour.”

  The ship had advertised floral arrangements for staterooms. We went to the front desk and said we wanted to talk to the person in charge of the floral arrangements. They led us into a woman’s office, the florist on board. Deirdre stated that she had a flower business, and we talked about the different flower and plant arrangements.

  “You must have a huge refrigerated storeroom because of the vast amount of flowers used on the ship?” I said.

  “We do.”

  “I would love to see the facility,” Deirdre added.

  “That isn’t possible. Rules and regulations you know.”

  I sighed. “How disappointing.”

  “We’ve walked every deck on the ship trying to wear off calories.” I smiled. “The food on the ship is incredible. We’ve never seen a sign on any doors regarding flower storage.”

  “You wouldn’t. It’s on Deck 3 near the crew quarters. Deck 3 is a restricted deck. No one other than the crew goes there.”

  I clicked my tongue. “What a shame. Oh, well, thank you for your time.” We left her office.

  “That’s a dead end,” Deirdre said.

  “Not really.”

  Deirdre smirked. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot. You love breaking into places along with Elizabeth.”

  “How could we possibly get down to that area? There must be some elevators to the crew areas behind some of the doors that read, ‘No entrance’. The numbers on the elevators don’t go down that low.”

  “There’s an awful lot of square feet on a ship that can’t be accounted for,” Deirdre said.

  “Quick, Deirdre.” I sped up practically running down the corridor. “George! George!”

  George turned around. His eyes were bloodshot. “I didn’t know you knew my name.” His lips started to tremble.

  “We heard it in conversation sitting at our table,” I said, then added, “I’m sorry about your wife.”

  He looked surprised. “Thank you. It’s terrible.”

  Deirdre and I looked at each other.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No. I just talked to the authorities on the ship. I still don’t understand how it could have happened. Sybil, her name was Sybil, she was such a good swimmer. I’m still in shock over her death.”

  “Sybil told us at tea about the mishap with the mouthpiece separating when you went scuba diving.”

  “I don’t know what that has to do with anything now, but it was quite a fright. Sybil had checked my equipment before I went down. I don’t know how the mouthpiece could have separated. I didn’t hit anything. I started taking on water and panicked. Luckily the tour guide was swimming nearby and saved my life. Now, please excuse me. I need to lie down.”

  He walked away.

  Deirdre and I both remained in the hallway with our mouths hanging open not believing what we had just heard.

  “Who had checked whose scuba equipment? Was George negligent in checking Sybil’s equipment or was Sybil negligent in checking George’s?” Deirdre asked.

  “I would think that George’s story should be easy enough to check out. An incident report would have to be filled out since the guide supposedly ‘saved him’. Had Sybil lied about that also?”

  “We don’t need to worry about finding the body now.”

  * * * *

  When Phil and Mike sat down at our table for lunch, I said, “Where’s Janey?”

  “She’s in the Medical Center.”

  I pushed my chair away from the table. “And you left her there alone? What’s wrong with her?”

  “She said she had sharp stomach pains. She came to the lecture looking for us, said she couldn’t find you. I took her to the Medical Center. The doctor examined her. They gave her antacids and said they were going to observe her for a while.”

  “And you came to lunch?”

  “She told me she wanted to rest, that I should leave. She said she couldn’t rest with me in the room.”

  Taking my napkin off my lap, I placed it on the table. “What do you mean? She sleeps in our stateroom all night. You should have insisted on staying.”

  I quickly got up, leaving the three of them, and hurried to the Medical Center.

  “I’m here for Janey Driscoll. My husband said she’s here.”

  I was led to Janey’s room. She was sitting up in bed. I went over to her and put my hand on her forehead. “Janey, are you okay?”

  A nurse walked into the room right behind me. She had a white pantsuit on with the obligatory stethoscope around her neck. “Where is your uncle?” she asked. “He was here when you laid down to rest.”

  “That’s okay. This is my Aunt Kay. I’m feeling much better now. Can I leave?”

  The nurse left for a few minutes to check with the doctor. Within minutes, she returned, giving us the okay to leave.

  After we left, Janey said, “Sybil’s body isn’t in the medical center. After the doctor left me, I searched every room when I was able to. He was there when Sybil’s body was taken out of the pool. I had to wait for the medical staff to leave some of the rooms or I would have been done sooner.”

  “Don’t you ever do this again, young lady? Disturbing sick people, and what if you had come in contact with someone who was contagious?”

  “I was only trying to save you the trouble of searching the place. Did you come up with anything?”

  I covered my mouth trying not to laugh, but I did anyway. “What makes you think I was trying?”

  Janey smiled. “I knew you would be.”

  “It happens you were right. Sybil drowned. We saw George and he told us.”

  “Now that we know, we need to prove it was murder.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Sybil’s death was indeed a terribly sad affair, but now I didn’t know what to believe about Sybil and George.

  * * * *

  Elizabeth was the last to arrive at tea. After our tea was poured, she said quietly, “Sybil was the woman who drowned. Janey was right.”

  “We know,” Janey said.

  Elizabeth had a pained look.

  “It was priceless,” Deirdre said. “Kay gave her sympathy to George and—”

  “He spilled his guts,” Janey said.

  I nodded towards Janey. “Janey was busy. She pretended to be sick.”

  Janey took a bite of her roast beef tea sandwich. “Yeah, Phil was totally clueless. He left me so I could search the Medical Center for the body.”

  “Janey, be respectful.” She was right. Phil was clueless.

  “So how did you find out?” I asked Elizabeth.

  “John, the Chief Security Officer let it slip.”

  Janey wiped her mouth. “Another John? You must have a thing for Johns. I mean guys named John.”

  “Yes, Janey.” Elizabeth looked up in the air. “You guessed it. I’ll only talk to men named John.” She turned and looked at Deirdre and myself. “They took some blood tests thinking it was important to know the cause of death because we’re stuck on the ship.”

  “I suppose in case there is a murderer on board,” Deirdre said.

  “And there is!” Elizabeth said. “Sybil was poisoned. John mentioned cyanide poisoning and something about her skin color.”

  “What?” Deirdre exclaimed, putting her cup down.

  “Oh, my gosh!” I said. “Cyanide kills almost instantly. It must have been in the drinks.”

  “What drinks?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Before Sybil and George started arguing in the pool, George motioned to the bartender to bring drinks over to them,” Janey said.

  “I wonder how cyanide would have gotten into their drinks?” Deirdre said quietly.

  I was ready to comment as to what Deidre had just said when Elizabeth started in. “Anyway, after I got the news from John, I stopped by to see the Captain and told him we suspected the husband of the murder and that you are a detective.”

  I cringed. “Why did you say that?”
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br />   “What did he say?” Janey asked.

  “He was angry at first that I even knew about the death. He asked, but I didn’t tell him my source. Then he asked if I’d like to have a drink before dinner tonight.” She smiled. “Oh, he did say he wouldn’t tolerate any interference with the privacy of their passengers. He was quite firm about that.”

  Deirdre and I both looked at each other and then at Janey. She looked up in the air.

  “A drink? I forgot, your pheromones,” Deirdre mumbled.

  Elizabeth looked over at Deirdre and said, “Try charisma with a capital C.” She then smiled and said, “Of course, he doesn’t know our Kay.”

  “It’s probably fairly easy to get away with a crime on a cruise ship,” I said.

  “If we don’t do something about it, when this cruise is over, Sybil’s husband is going to get away with it,” Janey said.

  “Janey, we don’t know for sure George was the murderer. If they knew for sure, he’d be under arrest already.” I told Elizabeth what George said about Sybil being the one who checked his equipment and that the tour guide saved him. He also looked terribly upset when Deirdre and I talked to him.”

  “That or else he’s a great actor,” Janey added.

  My eyes narrowed. “I know you all liked Sybil and George was a terrible bully, but there is something going on here that’s disturbing. She might have been a great actor also. We need to keep an open mind.”

  Janey looked at me. “Are you saying that perhaps George got to Sybil, before she got to George?”

  “And if it wasn’t George, who else?” Deirdre asked. “And what would the motive be?”

  “I can think of others. What about George’s secretary? What if she wanted to get rid of Sybil? You heard his phone conversation at the dinner table. Sybil saw that the secretary on the phone was upset when George was talking to someone who was on the ship. What do we really know? Sybil’s old boyfriend was on the cruise. What if he was afraid that Sybil would reveal all to his wife?”

  “What about the guy’s wife?” Janey said. “She might have seen Sybil kiss him the other night.”

  “Could be, Janey. If George is telling the truth about his scuba equipment, suppose, just suppose, Sybil was in fact trying to kill George. She was an expert on scuba equipment. There are two sides to every story. We need to find out about the scuba equipment.”