Pumpkin Glaze & Murder: An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 5

by Susan Gillard

  “We’ll obviously want to return to land,” Heather said.

  "Yes. Of course," said the captain. "However, this is the most inopportune time in the cruise path. We basically sail out to a certain point and then turn around and return. We're at our furthest point from the shore. We can't speed up our return time by much safely."

  “That is bad luck,” agreed Heather.

  “I suppose you’ll have to investigate,” Captain Braxton said.

  “Are you sure you want us to do that?” Ryan asked. “Not that we aren’t willing. But we would understand if you’d want to wait until we return to land and have access to all the police resources.”

  “No,” Captain Braxton said. “A killer is on board, and if we have a chance to catch him earlier, then I want to do what we can.”

  Ryan nodded.

  “We can interview the guests who were dancing and determine what they saw,” said Heather.

  “And we already saw somebody with a motive to kill Jason Myers,” said Amy. “That angry ex of his who yelled at him before the disappointing movie.”

  “But, Captain, you told us before that you were worried about the crowd,” said Ryan.

  “That’s right,” he said. “Though I obviously wasn’t worried enough. I never thought it would escalate to murder. But I was concerned both about fans who loved the film too much and any jilted lovers. Though I thought the ones that Jason Myers was worried about wouldn’t be allowed on board.”

  “We’ll have to speak to Tanya about the boarding process,” Ryan said. “To see if someone could have slipped past her or tricked her.”

  “Is there anyone we can rule out?” Heather thought aloud. “Besides us.”

  “My first mate was at the helm with me,” said Captain Braxton. “We can both vouch for one another. And if we had both left the controls, then all you passengers would notice.”

  "I have to admit that because you asked us to investigate immediately, it made me discount you as a suspect," Heather said. "It's great to have a firm alibi to back up my gut feeling though."

  “I’ll have to talk to Lucrecia and see what exactly she had planned for the evening. I think we should keep the guests away from the dance floor. I want to give them something to do so they don’t panic. But I don’t want to do anything in poor taste. I wouldn’t want the skeletons to jump out and remind people there is a real dead body on board,” said Captain Braxton.

  “Why don’t you show the movie again?” Heather suggested. “For those who want to watch it. We could say it is a memorial.”

  “Classy move,” said Amy.

  "And we could see if anyone acts suspicious around the film again," said Heather. "Maybe it will shake something loose."

  “Like if it’s an obsessed fan, he’ll need to watch the movie again. But someone with a guilty conscience might not want to be near it,” Amy said.

  “But I think the captain’s idea about talking to Lucrecia is a good idea,” said Heather. “She was so fast dealing with the ex before the movie, and yet she hasn’t come to check on this disturbance yet.”

  “Does she have a sinister reason?” asked Amy. “Could she be the killer?”

  “She had as much chance as anyone on this ship,” said Heather.

  Interview with the Party Planner Vampire

  “The veil between the living and the dead has become even thinner this eve,” Lucrecia said.

  “Sure,” Amy said. “But we’re trying to figure out who did it.”

  Heather, Amy, and Ryan had finally found Lucrecia who seemed not to be aware that anything had happened. Her hair was mussed as if she had been wearing a hat, and was surprised to see the trio descend upon her so purposefully.

  She had to be informed of the murder but seemed to take it in stride. She led them to a table where they could sit down and discuss the evening's horror.

  “They really took things too far,” Lucrecia said. “We might celebrate the dead and the undead at this time of year, but we shouldn’t cause people to join their ranks. We’re not the monsters we dress up as.”

  “You’re the party planner so you know how everything should happen,” said Heather. “Did anything go not according to plan before the murder?”

  “Overall, things went smoothly. Except for the woman who interrupted the movie,” said Lucrecia.

  “Right,” said Heather. “Her name was Celia, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. Celia Curtis,” said Lucrecia. “She was one of the women that we were supposed to stop from boarding. Jason Myers said that she had caused a scene at his theater too.”

  “She was an ex-girlfriend?” Ryan asked.

  "It seems like it," said Lucrecia. "But there were suddenly many ex-girlfriends that were angry with him. I think he was seeing many women at once and then they found out about one another. Jason Myers was only concerned about a few of them causing him trouble though. He gave us three names of women to watch out for."

  “We’d like to have those names,” said Ryan.

  "Of course," said Lucrecia. "I only remember Celia Curtis's off the top of my head because of the incident. But I do have the list, and I will get it for you."

  “If she wasn’t supposed to board, how did she get on the ship?” Heather asked.

  “You’ll have to talk to Tanya about that,” said Lucrecia.

  “You think she made a mistake?” asked Heather.

  “It’s possible,” said Lucrecia. “She started off as such a good assistant, but she’s been making mistakes recently. She’s been distracted. Boy troubles, I think. That’s why we had to order your donuts so last minute. She had been in charge of dessert and miscalculated. I thought she redeemed herself by finding your Pumpkin Donuts. But it’s going to be hard to redeem herself if she let a killer on board.”

  “So, you do think it was possible that Celia Curtis’s behavior could have escalated to murder?” asked Heather.

  "It seems the most likely possibility at the moment," said Lucrecia. "He wasn't killed by any of the ghosts on board. It had to be a person who had a problem with him. However, I don't think that Jason Myers believed his life was in danger. He wanted us to watch out for his exes, but if he really thought there was a chance that someone was going to kill him, he wouldn't have been dancing."

  “Where did you take Celia after you brought her away from the movie?” asked Heather.

  "I took her to the nurse's station," said Lucrecia. "I told her to lie down on the cot and collect herself. I thought she stayed there, but there wasn't an armed guard by the room. I had to leave her after a while, and I suppose she could have left and committed the murder."

  “Where did you have to go?” asked Ryan.

  “That’s right,” said Amy. “You weren’t on the dance floor.”

  “I was taking care of other things,” said Lucrecia vaguely.

  “This is a murder investigation,” said Ryan. “We don’t have the luxury of keeping secrets about the party or one’s whereabouts.”

  "After I left Celia, I checked to make sure that everything was ready for the black light dance," said Lucrecia. "The band was still set, and Tanya was going to flip the light switch. Then, after I saw that everything was set for the special dance, I had to visit the storeroom."

  “What did you need from there?” asked Heather.

  “I was looking for more tombstones to add to the front of the ship,” Lucrecia said.

  “We had to do some searching to find you,” said Heather. “And we didn’t see any new tombstones.”

  “I wasn’t able to finish setting them up,” said Lucrecia quickly. “Because of the murder.”

  “I thought we were the ones who told you about the murder,” said Amy.

  “You were,” Lucrecia said. “And so, I wasn’t able to continue decorating. I needed to stop and talk to you. I suppose now it doesn’t matter. There will be no saving this party tonight.”

  “Miss Gravely,” Heather said. “Did you know Jason Myers before tonight?”

/>   “Yes. We met a few times in regard to his movie and showing it on the ship. Much like my visit to your Donut Delights, I went to his theater. And I offered him tickets to any night of the cruise. He chose tonight.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Amy. “He got to choose any night that he wanted to go. We didn’t have the option of choosing Halloween.”

  “We have Halloween plans anyway,” said Heather.

  Amy shrugged. “So?”

  “Wait a moment,” Heather said. “When did Jason Myers choose to come tonight? How many people knew about it?”

  "He decided a few weeks ago after we made the deal to show the movie," said Lucrecia. "But we just announced it on our website the other day when he told us that he would make a little speech before the film."

  “Yeah. Some speech,” said Amy. “Short and pointless.”

  “This was originally a slow night for the cruise, but after we announced that, we had an influx of ticket sales. Basically, everyone who dressed up as the zombie pirates bought their tickets because of the announcement,” said Lucrecia.

  “Well, thank you for all your help,” Heather said. “We’ll be back if we have any more questions.”

  “Of course,” said Lucrecia.

  Heather, Ryan, and Amy left her and started walking. They were near the front of the ship, and Heather stopped short.

  “What’s wrong?” Amy asked.

  “The décor here,” said Heather. “It’s pumpkins.”

  “Does it make you crave a Pumpkin Donut too?” asked Amy.

  “It makes me wonder about what Lucrecia said about the storeroom,” said Heather. “She said that she wanted tombstones for the front of the ship. But this is the pumpkin patch section. The two styles of décor would clash. And Lucrecia is very detail-oriented.”

  “So, she was lying?” Ryan asked.

  “I think so,” said Heather. “But does it relate to the murder?”

  “Let’s talk to the witnesses on the dance floor first and see what facts we can establish about what happened,” said Ryan. “Captain Braxton and Jamie should have separated the witnesses by now so we can talk to them.”

  “Yes,” said Heather. “Let’s question them and see how dancing led to stabbing.”

  The Crowd of Witnesses

  “I’m just glad I could help,” Jamie said after they thanked him for his efforts.

  * * *

  Captain Braxton started to explain how they had set things up. His first mate was steering the ship while he dealt with the passengers. They were replaying Zombie Pirate Caper for those that wanted to watch it as a memorial. Tanya was keeping an eye on the crowd there.

  * * *

  Captain Braxton had separated the partygoers who had been on the dance floor during the murder into a separate room where they were provided with coffee. Jamie was keeping an eye on them to make sure that they didn't start talking about what they saw before they spoke to the investigators. If they began discussing what they saw with one another before giving their own account, then it was possible that the description of the event could be swayed or altered.

  * * *

  "There's a lot of witnesses to talk to and not a lot of time," Ryan said. "Should we split up?"

  * * *

  “Good idea,” Heather nodded.

  * * *

  “And I think we should split the Sherlocks up,” said Amy. “That way we don’t spend half of the interview explaining why there’s two of you.”

  * * *

  "You and Amy can work together. You're already partners," said Ryan. "Captain Braxton, will you conduct interviews with me?"

  * * *

  “I’d be happy to,” said the captain. “I know two rooms that we can use to have these meetings.”

  They all agreed and were soon set up in the two rooms. Heather and Amy spoke to their first witness. He was a man named James McDonald, and he was one of the many men dressed as a zombie pirate in a blue jacket.

  * * *

  "Is there any chance that this is all part of some sort of Halloween prank?" he asked. "If anyone were going to fake their death, I'd guess it was Jason Myers."

  * * *

  “I’m afraid there’s no chance of that,” Heather replied. “He’s definitely dead.”

  * * *

  “But, of course, you would say that if you were in on the trick,” he responded. “And you’re already dressed up as Sherlock. That’s a nice touch.”

  * * *

  “And I thought we wouldn’t have to discuss the detective costumes,” Amy sighed.

  * * *

  “I’m sorry. This isn’t a prank,” Heather reiterated. “We’re treating this as a murder, and we would appreciate your help in telling us anything you noticed on the dance floor.”

  * * *

  "Well," James said, trying to recollect everything that happened to determine whether he really believed it was murder or not. "The regular lights went down, and the black lights turned on, so I knew the black light dance party was going to begin. There were some spiders dancing about, and it was cool."

  * * *

  “That was about the time we left,” Amy muttered. “Because it was getting crowded.”

  * * *

  “There were a lot of people on the dance floor,” James said. “And lots of pretty pirate ladies.”

  * * *

  “Did you notice Jason Myers on the dance floor?” asked Heather.

  * * *

  "No," said James. "Now that I think about it, it makes sense that he was there, being a part of the party. But I didn't realize it at the time. It was dark. And there were a ton of zombie pirates dancing."

  * * *

  “That is true,” Heather said, frowning.

  * * *

  "Hey," James said. "This was even more dangerous than I thought it was before. There were a bunch of us zombie pirates dancing. I have the same coat as him. What if the killer had stabbed me by mistake?"

  * * *

  “It was really dangerous having a sword on the dance floor,” Amy said.

  * * *

  “But it was a part of so many of the costumes,” said James. “It’s an important part of Scarlet Zombie’s outfit. That’s why it didn’t seem weird to see it until it stabbed the guy.”

  * * *

  “You saw the whole incident?” asked Heather. “Please tell us everything.”

  * * *

  "I was dancing and trying to impress a Scarlet Zombie nearby. Then I saw another Scarlet Zombie with her sword out. I thought it was fake. Like I thought it was a prop at the time. I still didn't think it was a good idea to have it out in case someone bumped into it. But then she walked over to the zombie guy who turned out to be Jason Myers, and she stabbed him," said James. "I think most of froze. We weren't sure it was part of the show or not. Until we saw the guy on the floor. I was looking at him and didn't see what happened to the killer. She just blended in with the crowd and got away."

  * * *

  “But it was someone dressed as the zombie pirate lady who killed him?” asked Amy. “Great. There’s only about fifty of them on board.”

  * * *

  “Did she have any distinguishing features?” Heather asked.

  “In the dark and with the crowd, the only thing I noticed that was unusual was how shiny the sword was. It ended up being for a deadly reason and not just to look cool,” said James. “She had the same red dress as everyone and the boots and the long black hair.”

  * * *

  “Could you see her face?” Heather asked.

  * * *

  James frowned. "Most of the ladies had makeup on to look like zombies. It might obscure some features, but you could still see their faces. Now that I think about it, she wasn't wearing makeup. She had a zombie mask on."

  * * *

  "The only time you could get away with wearing a mask and not have anyone notice," said Amy, "is at a Halloween costume party."

  * * *

  They asked if he could
remember anything else, but he couldn’t recall anything helpful. The killer was dressed like the many other women and was average in her size.

  * * *

  Heather and Amy questioned the rest of their half of witnesses and then met up with Ryan and Captain Braxton. They all had similar accounts. A woman dressed as the female zombie pirate in red had stabbed Jason Myers. She was wearing a mask, and no one noticed anything special to differentiate her from the other zombie pirate partyers.

  * * *

  “So, the only thing we’re sure of is that the killer is a woman?” Captain Braxton asked.

  * * *

  “And that she had access to a costume and a sword,” said Heather.

  * * *

  "Though I didn't get a strong killer vibe from any of the ladies we interviewed as witness, any of them could have been the murderer," said Amy. "And there were a bunch more in the same costume that were on other parts of the ship."

  * * *

  “There was something interesting that our first witness said,” Heather thought aloud. “He said it was dangerous because the wrong pirate might have been stabbed.”