Murder in Bermuda: Book 1 in the Murder in Paradise Series

by Penelope Sotheby

As she wandered the hallways of the hotel, Anna decided talking to Pierre might be a good idea. He would have an idea if anyone came into contact with the cake before it arrived at the hotel and he might have an idea of some other possible suspects as he has always been very observant.

  Taking the stairs to the next floor up, Anna walked up to his room, 203, and knocked on the door. She could hear talking inside and thought she had been summoned to come in.

  As she opened the door, she saw Cassandra with her arms wrapped around Pierre. Her eyes were closed in the embrace, but his eyes turned to Anna and his face became flushed as he took a step back.

  “This isn’t what it looks like.” Pierre’s words were frantic. “I know it looks like I was doing something with Cassandra, but I wasn’t. She came in here and jumped on me when you opened the door. Tell her, Cassandra.”

  “We got lost in the moment.” Cassandra replied. “You guys aren’t dating so I thought it was okay to kiss him.”

  “I’m not your mother. Both of you are free to do as you wish.” Anna replied coldly.

  Then turning to leave, she closed the door to Pierre’s room and hurried to the stairwell. From behind her, she could hear Pierre calling to her, but she ignored him. She didn’t have time to worry about anything but the murder right now. Once she was finished with that, she could revisit what she just saw. For now, she had a murder to solve and was losing valuable time.

  As she walked through the stairwell door and entered the lobby, she noticed Frank sitting at the bar with a glass of bourbon in his hands. He seemed nervous as he was drinking and his hands were shaking.

  “Oh, Frank.” Anna replied as she walked into the room. “I was hoping I’d find you. Would you mind talking to me? You seemed very interesting the other day and now that we are all stuck here, I’d like to talk to you.”

  “We can talk, if you’ll drink with me.” he replied with a smirk.

  “I’ll have a Cosmopolitan.” she replied and gave a double wink to the bartender. When staff would drink with the customers, the double wink served as a way to let the bartender know they were staff and to provide a non-alcoholic variation of a drink that looked similar in color.

  “Of course, Anna.” replied the young man behind the bar.

  “I like a woman who drinks feminine drinks.” Frank said with a smile on his face. “I also like pretty women, such as yourself.”

  “I’m devoted to my job.” Anna replied. “Let’s talk about Tony if we can. How did you guys get along?”

  “Tony, he was popular with the ladies.” Frank replied. “They were always throwing themselves at him. He pretended to not notice and I know he loved my daughter, but I think if he had the chance, he’d be a downright player.”

  “But he married your daughter. Marriage means something.” Anna offered.

  Frank shook his head and looked at Anna. “You are seeing the wrong side of marriage. You have couples in love and wanting to build a life together. That’s great. Some people belong in a marriage. Others do not. When the times get tough and push comes to shove, people tend to leave those they swore they never would. It’s fine though. Relationships end. But in this day and age, marriage seems like a fun and hip thing to do. It doesn’t have the same depth and meaning it once had.”

  Anna looked at the man. His face was stoic and she decided to not press the issue.

  “So, you thought Tony was a player. Is that why you were disapproving of the marriage then?” Anna asked. “If that was all, you’d voice your concerns and move on. At least, most people would.”

  “I suspected he had financial motivations, too.” Frank replied and lowered his voice. “Tony’s business was struggling and I know he had creditors trying to get paid. Part of me felt that my little girl was a nest egg for him. She’d get the money from her trust the day after their wedding and he would drain her account, too.”

  “Wait, so Meadow is inheriting his assets and a trust fund?” Anna asked. “How much is in her trust fund, if I may ask.”

  “Twenty five million dollars.” Frank sighed. “It has been collecting over the years. I would always put extra funds in the account when I could. The accountants told me it would protect the funds the best. She’ll never have to work again if she doesn’t want to.”

  “That seems really strange to me.” Anna sighed. “I really had no idea that Tony was in such bad shape financially.”

  “Doesn’t matter now.” Frank turned his head. “I am just sad that Meadow is going through all this pain right now. I wish there was more I could do for her. The pain of losing someone you love. It doesn’t make sense. I’m a hard father to have. I don’t know how to show compassion and love. My father raised me to be tough and stern. I come across cold, but I would move heaven and earth for my daughter. I want her to be happy. I need her to be happy. But people don’t always understand that.”

  “I understand, Frank.” Anna replied, patting his hand gently. “Do you think you could write your number on a napkin for me? Just in case I have any questions later?”

  “Sure.” Frank replied and pulled a black pen from his pocket and wrote his number on the napkin he had in front of him.

  “Can you write your name for me in block letters, too? It would make it easier for me to remember whose number it is. I can read block letters easier. Cursive is beyond me at times.” Anna lied.

  Frank did as instructed and Anna looked at the number in her hands. The handwriting was more of a chicken scratch than the note that was written in the room. None of the characters even remotely resembled the note that had been written.

  “I believe you.” Anna replied. “I know that you’d do anything for your daughter. Thank you so much for your time. I really don’t want to continue to pry into your life. You’ve actually helped me more than you can imagine.”

  With that, Anna gave the man a warm hug and left the bar. Her mind was overwhelmed with ideas about what could have happened. Frank wasn’t the killer. She was comfortable ruling him out at this point. But now, she believed the murder was money related. Either someone who was looking to get their hands on Tony’s money or someone Tony was in debt to. Most likely, it was the latter.

  At the moment, she really wanted to talk to Pierre, to ask the questions she had for him now more than ever. But he’d betrayed her. Sure, Cassandra knew she was interested, but never did move forward. So, she couldn’t blame her assistant for stealing a kiss. But Pierre knew she liked him, they had talked about it. She wanted to see him. Now, everything was ruined because those two would end up together and Anna would be stuck waiting for someone else to eventually come along and sweep her off her feet.

  She paused, put her back against the wall, and slid down to the floor. There was too much going on right now and she knew she needed to put an end to this infatuation she had with Pierre. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he would never be hers unless something came between him and Cassandra at some point.

  “Stop being the crazy ex-girlfriend who just won’t let go.” she scolded herself and then paused. Roger was the crazy ex-boyfriend and he wouldn’t let either Meadow or Tony out of his life. Maybe he decided he needed Meadow back and in the sudden realization that the wedding was definitely the end of their relationship, he took matters into his own hands to get Meadow back.

  Nancy was there, too, of course. She could have been upset about the marriage she never had and poisoned Tony, as if to say, “If I can’t have him, no one will.” It was possible, but unlikely. Nancy seemed far too interested in Frank from what she could see. Going after Tony didn’t seem logical.

  The best thing she could do right now is find whoever wrote the note. If she could get enough writing samples, she could determine who the killer was and help to finally put this entire matter to rest. After all, she didn’t like having the thought of her job hanging by a thread unless she managed to do something.

  “Don’t give up.” The words were friendly and from a familiar voice.

  “Hi, Pau
line.” She looked up as her friend sat down next to her. “I was just thinking we need to get handwriting samples. I figure we can start getting people to write things for us so we can compare their writing samples until we figure it out.”

  “Or we can look through this.” Pauline whispered and pulled the wedding registry from under her shirt.

  “How did you get it?” Anna asked with her eyes wide.

  “It was simple. I went in there and grabbed it and shoved it up my shirt when no one was looking.” Pauline said, beaming. “Now, let’s go through the book and see who the killer is.”

  Anna opened the white lace cover and could feel her heart beating hard. She looked at Pauline, who encouraged her to hurry up. With the registry opened, she scanned the first page. None of the handwriting looked familiar. Grabbing the corner of the page, she turned it.

  Where the next page should have been, there was the edges of a torn sheet of paper. Behind that was the same red lettering that she had seen from the threatening note on the door. It read,

  “You’re smarter than she said. Too bad you will soon be dead”

  Pauline looked at Anna and was noticeably shaken. “That’s a death threat meant for you.”

  Anna shook her head. “I don’t think that was intended for me. I think it was backup in the event someone eventually put two and two together. It isn’t directed at anyone in particular. If it was for me, I would likely have seen my name on it. I’m starting to think the notes are being left as red herrings to steer us off course.”

  “But why risk being caught?” Pauline asked. “The killer wouldn’t have known where to look.” “Follow me.” Anna replied and walked up to the front desk. “Hi, Manuel.”

  A young man in his 20s with jet black hair and brown eyes turned. “Hi, Anna. How can I help you?” “Can I see the registration book guests sign?” Anna asked.

  “Of course, it was out earlier today. Did you have it then, too?” he asked. “Not at all,” Anna smiled.

  Flipping back to the day the guests checked in, there was permanent marker over the bulk of two pages, with the words, “Good Luck” written in big letters.

  “They got to this book, too?” Pauline whispered.

  Anna nodded. “They were just covering their bases. They don’t know who is on to them, or if anyone else is, but they are covering their tracks. The fact they are this smart suggests we are dealing with someone who has experience with manipulation. We need to figure out who this is right away and avoid tipping our hand. Otherwise, we’re dead. The second the killer knows we know, we have to be right, otherwise we won't make it out of the Grand Palatial Hotel alive."

  Chapter 6