by Zoey Kane
“Okay. Everything all right, babe?” She took a seat and looked at him with concern shining in her green eyes.
“Yep.” He moved a curl away from her eyes and kissed her forehead.
<<<>>>
Gia smiled, nestled beside Tony at the sail away ceremony. Down at her feet was Petey, hooked to a leash. She was happy that her aunt's cruise line was pet-friendly. Not only was there a long strip of grass for her corgi to walk and do his business, but he had his very own buffet called "Doggie Delights." That's where he got the bone he was currently chewing.
At six-foot, Tony was so tall beside Gia, a hand wrapped firmly around her hip. His body felt hard yet soft. Warm yet strong.
“Six down, only around twenty more to go,” Gia said, thinking about the suspects aboard ship.
“Yeah…” Tony replied. “I mean, I didn’t see the watch on any of the guys I met up with tonight.”
“I was just thinking, what if the killer doesn’t wear the watch anymore? What if he got a new watch?”
Remembering Uncle Sal’s comment, Tony shook his head. “I don’t think so. It has to be an heirloom.”
“Okay, we’ll just keep searching.”
“There’s the two lovebirds!” Uncle Sal called through the crowd.
“Hola!” Angelica trilled. “Hello, friends.” Her silky resort jumpsuit was low-cut and had billowy legs.
“Did you enjoy the tour Uncle Sal gave you?” Tony asked.
“Oooh, si. Mucho gusto!” Angelica turned to her sugar daddy and said, “I saw a place we can go tonight... for dannncing.” She did a little Cha-Cha hip swing.
“Woah, cool that engine. You’re going to rock the ship.” Uncle Sal gave her a squeeze followed by an appreciative giggle, and his face reddened.
The four drank some champagne and cheered with the rest of the crowd when the horn sounded and echoed across the waters. The ship shifted in the water and music played.
When the song was halfway through, Petey dropped his bone and stretched up, pawing Gia’s leg. He gave a little whine and she instantly knew what that meant. “I’m going to take Petey to go potty,” she announced to the group.
Gia and Petey walked the length of grass until it curved around to the other end of the ship. The sun was dipping into the horizon, casting an orange glow across the waters. The air chilled. Suddenly, Gia felt hyper-aware of being alone. The pool lounge chairs were stacked in neat rows, casting shadows. There wasn't a person in sight.
“Hurry up, Petey,” Gia said, jangling his leash. But he was headed for the fire hydrant that was simply a prop for dogs, pulling her further away from the party.
Petey took his time sniffing and circling. Gia shook the leash again. “C’mon, boy. Do your thing.”
Gia's blood iced when she heard the lone steps of someone approaching. She glanced all around, but couldn't see who, until the top half of a shadowy silhouette of a man appeared, as he was walking between the stacks of lounge chairs. He wore a hat and muttered into a phone. "Sonny Switch is of no concern to the Giovannis," he said with disdain. "If he even exists."
Petey finished tinkling, and Gia crouched as she tiptoed with him into a dark and empty cabana. “Shhh,” she said. Once inside, she stayed hidden behind the drape of its open curtain.
“No, you listen to me,” the stranger seethed into his phone, his footsteps nearing. “I dare anyone to come at me. They’ll find out what it’s like to be skinned, gutted and filleted like a fish.”
Gia peeked around the drape. He was getting closer. The pale sunlight glinted golden and red off the man’s wrist. “Was that it? Was that the watch?” She narrowed her eyes, wishing she could zoom in and see like a hawk.
“Yeah, well you can send Sonny a message back. That Jack The Dagger will find out who he is, and when I do, he’ll wish he was never born.”
Jack The Dagger, Gia repeated in her mind with a chill.
8
Sleeping that night was hard. Jack The Dagger's threats were haunting Gia's dreams. She didn't want Tony to wind up dead like his mom. So it was no surprise when she woke up the next morning feeling zombie-ish. Her hair even fit the part, frizzing out in kinky curls every which way.
“Rise and shine,” her roommate Belinda announced, tossing a pillow at her head.
Gia pushed it aside to see the woman was already dressed and just doing some touch-up makeup.
“I’ve had my coffee, gone to breakfast, checked out the excursions desk, and come back here to find you still sleeping.” The food critic stood there, re-applying dark pink lipstick. “You somehow managed to sleep through my alarm too. Rough night, huh?”
“You could say that.” Gia rolled over and looked at the bedside clock that said it was 11:32 a.m. She groaned and snatched up the cell phone beside it. Five missed calls. Two from Tony and three from Jennie. Petey came to mind. Worried, she cast her sights every which way. “Where is he?”
“Who? Oh, your fat pooch. I called for the kennel master to come feed him and take him on a walk.”
Gia exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”
“This is your first official day on the job.” Belinda tucked her lipstick into a pocket. “First impressions count. Don’t mess this up. If you do a good job, more opportunities are sure to pop up.”
Sitting up, Gia felt heady. “Do you have a Tylenol?”
Belinda sighed and disappeared into the bathroom. She soon reappeared with a bottle of pain relievers. She shook it with the admonishment, "Partying will get you nowhere fast in this business. Take two of these with two full glasses of water. Judging starts in an hour and a half. Don't be late."
“I won’t be,” Gia promised and caught the bottle of pills that flew at her face.
On her way out, Belinda said, “Oh, and put your dog on a diet.”
Gia grabbed a pillow and threw it at the closed door. “Good riddance!” She then mimicked with a snarl, “And put your dog on a diet. Blah blah blah blah.”
Gia made quick calls, first to Tony and then to Jennie, apologizing for being out cold.
“I was so scared for you,” Jennie said. “I was going to use the master lock and check in on you, but then I ran into your roommate earlier who assured me you simply had a hangover.”
Gia downed two pain relievers with a big chug of the complimentary bottled water. “I didn’t have a hangover. My nerves just caught up with me. Seeing Jack The Dagger, even just a shadow of him, messed with me more than I would ever expect.”
A knock sounded at the cabin door. Tony was there with a breakfast platter.
“I’ll let you go, Jennie. Tony’s here at my cabin with some food.” They said bye and hung up.
“This is amazing. Thank you, babe.” Gia led him to a small corner table. Her eyes went big at the skyscraper of waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat it all, because I have to save some of my appetite for judging.”
“No worries. Most of it’s for me, G.” He revealed two forks and winked.
The two laughed and began digging in.
No more than ten minutes passed, and another knock sounded at the cabin door. This time, Gia was faced with Jennie carrying a couple of dark blue uniform dresses. She briskly entered and displayed them across the bottom of a bed.
Jennie dived into an explanation. "The whole reason we are on this ship, sailing away, isn't to have fun. We have work to do. Important work that no one else can know about. Not anyone! Don't leak any information to anybody. It's like having just varnished a gym floor—not one person can step a foot on it, or the whole job is ruined."
Well, it was obvious Jennie was completely into being a sleuth on a secret mission.
“Yes, agreed.” Tony nodded.
“Whatcha got up your sleeve?” Gia was anxious to hear. “Tell us already.”
"These are frumpy housekeeping uniforms," Jennie stated the obvious. She reached into her pants pocket and came out with two hair nets, then continued, "We’re goin
g to snoop around some Giovanni cabins. Remember, I have an all-access passkey."
“What do I do?” Tony asked. “Surely I’m not putting one of those things on.” He pointed at the dresses.
“Of course not. Tony, you can hang out in the hallway and give us a call if you see someone coming. Gia and I will be the maids. I even have a supplies cart waiting outside the cabin.” She winked. “That will be part of our undercover spy special effects.”
“Great!” Tony had a big smile and then added, “But where do we start? How do we know which cabin is The Dagger’s?”
Jennie folded her slender arms and pridefully said, “Gia, you tell him.”
“She has all of the information online. She signs in as an Admin into the ship’s website and can access guest information.” Gia put her hands on her hips and said, “I’m guessing she searched out the guest name Jack Giovanni.”
"Yes indeed. I did, BFF." She lifted a finger in emphasis. "I staked out his room this morning and found out he is a late sleeper. I overheard his roommate say his alarm was set for a wake-up time of 12:30… which means he should be showering soon! Which also means… Guess!"
“What?” Gia asked in urgency. “I don’t know!”
“That he’ll be taking a shower very, very soon!”
Tony and Gia looked at each other like Jennie was a weird alien from another planet. Tony said, “I don’t get it.”
“Guys, that means if he has the infamous heirloom watch you’ve told me about, then he’ll take it off for his shower. Duh.”
Tony raised a brow. “It could all go sideways fast, and I’m pretty sure every one of the Giovannis is packing.”
“Packing?” Jennie was bewildered. “We haven’t really gone anywhere yet.”
“I mean weapons,” Tony explained. “I’m guessing they at least snuck in knives.”
“Like a filleter or dagger?” Gia said with a shudder.
“Yes, especially Jack The Dagger would be packing.” Tony shook his head in worry. “I say abort your crazy mission, Jennie,” he admonished. “There’s no way you’re going around that guy. His role in the mafia is an assassin. Do you girls understand? No way, no how are you to sneak into his cabin.”
Both women nodded.
With that, Tony said, “Enjoy those waffles, G. I’m going to call my dad.”
Gia said, eyes wide, but not moving, “Okay.”
Jennie said, “Yep,” not blinking.
When the door closed and she started to relax, Gia grabbed Jennie’s hand. She squeezed it in anticipation while watching the door. It swung back open fast, startling them. It was Tony. “I mean it!” He eyed them before shutting it again.
Jennie threw Gia her uniform. “Hurry, let’s go.”
Gia slipped into it and had help zipping the back. “You can really see my birthing hips in this,” she said more in fascination than complaint.
“I wish I had some Rizzo curves,” Jennie said, turning around for Gia to zip up her own dress. “Unfortunately, I got all of Dad’s genes.”
Gia smirked. Jennie had curves that no man would complain about.
“Now watch this,” Jennie instructed. She rummaged through her purse for a brown makeup pencil and drew extra big eyebrows and connected them together in a unibrow. She then lowered her hair net over the faux brows which shaded them for a more natural look. “Let me do yours.”
“You’ve always been good with makeup,” Gia said with a laugh.
“I know, right? Now hold still. We’ll be unibrow sisters.”
“Big eyebrows are in style, right?” Gia teased.
“Definitely.” Jennie got to work, drawing with wild strokes.
“Don’t get too carried away. I’ll look like Snuffleupagus.”
Her cousin swooshed on a few more hairs before saying, “Perfect. Now pull your hair net down to shade it.”
For added fun, Jennie took a blue eyeliner and drew long lines on her legs and then put on nylons. Varicose veins would appropriately top off the downtrodden-worker disguise.
Once outside the cabin, together they wheeled the maid cart fast, dodging guests as they went. “Excuse us!” Gia called out.
“Watch where you’re pushing, Helga!” Jennie snapped at Gia in a Russian accent.
Once outside of Jack The Dagger’s room, Jennie placed an ear to the door. “I hear the shower. C’mon.” There was no “Do not disturb sign” up, so it was his fault really if maids stumbled upon him in the shower. That’s what Gia told herself to feel safer, anyway.
Jennie unlocked the door and opened it wide to quietly wheel in their cart. “This is our chance!” she whispered loudly.
The bathroom door was shut. Gia hesitantly touched the handle.
“Go on,” Jennie urged.
Slowly, and without a creak, Gia successfully opened it. They peered inside. Immediately, they could see his hulking smudgy silhouette through the shower door. From their vantage point, they couldn’t see the watch. It was nowhere in sight.
Jennie nudged Gia from behind to go on in. Gia obeyed against her better judgment. Her cousin followed behind with some fresh towels over an arm.
The two started quietly turning things over, looking for the watch. At the same time, they were being serenaded by a really bad voice singing Italian opera. “Caro mio ben. Credimi almen. Senza di ti languishe il core.” His voice rose to a shaky octave. “Fettuccine and linguine. Pasta lasagnaaaaaa!”
Just then, Gia found it! The watch. It was stashed away in the little medicine cabinet. In wonder, she eyed it from all angles. It was missing the one ruby. Yes, this was for sure the same watch that had lost a gemstone at Tony’s mom’s the night she was killed.
The air took on a veil of moisture like a fog had rolled in. The shower door creaked and, suddenly, there was a man revealed in the middle of it, dripping water and standing in his all-togethers with an angry face. Gia silently gasped. It was the same man who had eyed her and Tony when boarding the ship. The same one Petey had barked ferociously at. The veins in his thick neck were unmistakable.
Jennie stepped aside and handed him a towel.
“These towels should have been here already and waiting! What kind of service is it without towels for your guests?!”
“So sorry!” Jennie used another towel and began drying his back.
“Hey!” he snapped. “I can dry my own back.”
In her fake accent, she said, "I think you could have worked a little more soaping up of your furry little rear. Did you want to step back into the shower a moment, sir?"
“No!”
Gia nervously held out his heirloom. “Your watch needs cleaning. It would make that ruby really sparkle. Oh, you lost one that’s too bad. What happened?”
"I don't know what happened. I lost it at a bar." He snatched it out of her hand. "GET OUT!"
"Okay we're going," Jennie said, but not before she quickly toweled off his wet hair, giving it an energized ruffle.
“Enough!”
The two women hastily bumbled for the door.
9
“Helga,” Jennie said, pushing the cart down the hall with a bounce in her step. “Wasn’t that fun?”
"I don't know about that," Gia replied. She was just relieved that their crazy plan had actually worked. The hall of cabins looked never-ending. Her adrenaline rush was making her feel a little jittery, but there was something about surviving breaking into a mafia man's bathroom that gave her a high.
Although there was something Jack had said that niggled at the back of her mind… “He lost the gemstone at the Slim’s.”
“What?”
"His ruby. It wasn't lost in Tony's kitchen. It was lost at Slim's bar."
“He did say that, didn’t he,” Jennie mused.
“And the point is, he wouldn’t have any reason to say that to us. We were complete strangers to him. Cruise-ship maids.”
“So you’re saying we were following the wrong trail all along.”
“Maybe. It’s
interesting is all.”
Jennie shook her head. “Look, it could have fallen into his suit pocket, and then in the scuffle with Rose, it could have fallen out of the pocket onto the kitchen floor.”
Gia wanted to believe it, but it just wasn’t convincing. “We need to find out which Giovanni drove Rose home that night. The last person alone with her would be the killer.”
“True, but then how would they be in possession of Jack The Dagger’s ruby?”
“Ugh!” Gia tossed her head back in frustration as they rounded a corner. “You’re right. Something isn’t adding up!”
A guest walked by, chatting on the phone. "Meet me at the Starlight Buffet at 1:30. That's in fifteen minutes."
Gia froze in place. “Is it really almost 1:30? I’m going to be late!”
“Run!” Jennie shooed her. “Just put the uniform somewhere where we can use it again.” As Gia sprinted off, her cousin called after her, “I’ll be watching your show, Judge Gia!”
<<<>>>
Once inside her cabin, heart racing, adrenaline pumping, Gia rushed to change. The uniform got thrown over a chair, her hair net pulled off, and curls fluffed out. Lipstick was left off so the tasting wouldn't be tainted by its cherry red flavor. Plus, her lips were naturally one of her greatest features, accented by a perfect dot of a beauty mole. On went her heels, out the door she went, and it was a fast run heading toward the set.
All of a sudden her left foot collapsed and she was airborne, culminating in an accidental rollover and skidding to a stop on her stomach. Her heel had broken off. Up she got, and it was a tenacious dash heading for the Starlight Buffet with a clack-thump, clack-thump, clack-thump rhythm. And, finally, she was at the side door entrance.
After smoothing her dress, Gia mustered up some dignity by straightening her posture and entered late.
Everybody was there. Belinda and Pierre sat at the judging panel beside an empty seat. Her seat. An audience was waiting in the main seating area that had been arranged in neat rows. Cameras were already rolling, but there was a job to accomplish, late or not.